[London, Ont.,]1
23 March [188]9
Yours of 21st2 just to hand with
card from Mrs O'Connor.3 The latter is gloomy, indeed we must
not expect much good news from that quarter, I had a note from O'C's Dr, Dr Hood,4 which I enclose, it shows a bad state of things.5 O'C.6 may go on a long time but that
is hardly to be expected or desired—we much make up
our minds to his death or worse—for should he live
much longer his life would necessarily become a burden to himself and others. I do
not like to write this way but I think you ought to know my candid opinion. The case
was bad enough before the development of the epeleptoid attacks [/] now it is simply
desperate. That is as far as we can see—beyond and outside of that is another
story and I have no doubt (as you have so well taught) that all is well provided for
and is as it should be. We must have faith and keep cool whatever comes or goes.
The weather here today is perfect, like Mary7—warm, bright, lovely, and I am
enjoying it. Yes, I have enough to do it that is a good thing (suppose it is) but I
often wish (we are never content you see) for a little more freedom and
leisure—but if I had them I guess I should not be a bit more satisfied.
I shall be glad (very glad) to get a few copies of that McKay8
picture—I hope thay will make a good job of it. The 1864 picture you gave me
the other day is setting up on the bookshelf at my right hand looking at me in the
most friendly way
Love to you
R M Bucke
Correspondent:
Richard Maurice Bucke (1837–1902) was a
Canadian physician and psychiatrist who grew close to Whitman after reading Leaves of Grass in 1867 (and later memorizing it) and
meeting the poet in Camden a decade later. Even before meeting Whitman, Bucke
claimed in 1872 that a reading of Leaves of Grass led him
to experience "cosmic consciousness" and an overwhelming sense of epiphany.
Bucke became the poet's first biographer with Walt
Whitman (Philadelphia: David McKay, 1883), and he later served as one
of his medical advisors and literary executors. For more on the relationship of
Bucke and Whitman, see Howard Nelson, "Bucke, Richard Maurice," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998).
Notes
- 1. Horace Traubel's note,
"see | notes | March 26 | 1889," appears in the upper left-hand corner of the
recto. The reference is to Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman
in Camden, Tuesday, March 26, 1889. [back]
- 2. See Whitman's letter to
Bucke of March 21, 1889. [back]
- 3. Ellen M. "Nelly" O'Connor (1830–1913) was the
wife of William D. O'Connor (1832–1889), one of Whitman's staunchest
defenders. Before marrying William, Ellen Tarr was active in the antislavery and
women's rights movements as a contributor to the Liberator and to a women's rights newspaper Una. Whitman dined with the O'Connors frequently during his Washington
years. Though Whitman and William O'Connor would temporarily break off their
friendship in late 1872 over Reconstruction policies with regard to emancipated
African Americans, Ellen would remain friendly with Whitman. The correspondence
between Whitman and Ellen is almost as voluminous as the poet's correspondence
with William. Three years after William O'Connor's death, Ellen married the
Providence businessman Albert Calder. For more on Whitman's relationship with the O'Connors, see Dashae
E. Lott, "O'Connor, William Douglas [1832–1889]" and Lott's "O'Connor (Calder),
Ellen ('Nelly') M. Tarr (1830–1913)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 4. Dr. T. B. Hood was
O'Connor's physician, and he wrote to Richard Maurice Bucke, one of Whitman's
own physicians, about O'Connor's declining health. Bucke would forward the
letter he received from Hood to Whitman later in March 1889. When Horace Traubel
and Bucke went to Washington, D.C., in early March to visit O'Connor, Bucke met
with Dr. Hood and discussed O'Connor's condition. See Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Tuesday, March 2, 1889. Later, Whitman discussed Hood's letter and
O'Connor's condition with Horace Traubel. See Traubel, With
Walt Whitman in Camden, Tuesday, March 26, 1889. [back]
- 5. See Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Tuesday, March 26, 1889. [back]
- 6. William Douglas O'Connor
(1832–1889) was the author of the grand and grandiloquent Whitman pamphlet
The Good Gray Poet: A Vindication, published in 1866.
For more on Whitman's relationship with O'Connor, see Deshae E. Lott, "O'Connor, William Douglas (1832–1889)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 7. This is likey an error in
Artem Lozynsky's transcription. Bucke likely wrote "May" instead of
"Mary." [back]
- 8. David McKay (1860–1918) took
over Philadelphia-based publisher Rees Welsh's bookselling and publishing
businesses in 1881–82. McKay and Rees Welsh published the 1881 edition of
Leaves of Grass after opposition from the Boston
District Attorney prompted James R. Osgood & Company of Boston, the original publisher,
to withdraw. McKay also went on to publish Specimen Days &
Collect, November Boughs, Gems
from Walt Whitman, Complete Prose Works,
and the final Leaves of Grass, the so-called deathbed edition. For
more information about McKay, see Joel Myerson, "McKay, David (1860–1918)," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]