Walt Whitman to Harry Stafford, 27 January [1881] a machine readable transcription Walt Whitman Kenneth M. Price Ed Folsom Transcription and encoding Alicia Bones Nima Najafi Kianfar Stefan Schoeberlein Nicole Gray Kirsten Clawson Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln University of Iowa National Historical Publications and Records Commission 2013 The Walt Whitman Archive
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 hyb.00011 Walt Whitman Edwin Haviland Miller The Correspondence New York New York University Press 1961–1977 3 207–208 Walt Whitman Walt Whitman to Harry Stafford, 27 January [1881] January 27, 1881 The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, New York Public Library The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Walt Whitman Harry Stafford added schematron declaration added envelope images, updated ID checked, corrected checked proofed encoded 431 Stevens Street Camden Thursday noon Jan: 27 Dear Hank—

Dear boy—your letter rec'dreceived & read—Take it easy about the minister & the Ingersoll business—the best answer you can make is to be quiet & good natured & even attentive & not get mad worth a cent—True religion (the most beautiful thing in the whole world, & the best part of any man's or woman's, or boy's character) consists in what one does square and kind & generous & honorable all days, all the time—& especially with his own folks & associates & with the poor & illiterate & in devout meditation, & silent thoughts of God, & death—& not at all in what he says, nor in Sunday or prayer meeting gas—My own opinion is that Ingersoll talks too much on his side—a good life, steady trying to do fair, & a sweet, tolerant liberal disposition, shines like the sun, tastes like the fresh air of a May morning, blooms like a perfect little flower by the road-side—& all the blowing, talking & powowing both sides amounts to little or nothing—Glad, dear boy, you had a good little visit, you & Mont, with me—I enjoyed it too—I am writing this up in the room—the sun shines, but sharp cold & the wind whistling—

Your Walt