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I have offered & agreed to return her $5.00—one of Wm's subscriptions, thinking one of my books w d be

Gardner of Paisley, accepting my MS. "Walt Whitman the Poet of Humanity."

suppose his idea is that people will buy L. of G. more if they are not given the passages in question in my

He bites hard—says "it wd be a vast pity if the book were to fall through," owing to my obstinacy I suppose

—However, with all my deep chagrin, I c but laugh (long & well), over little Stedman & Holmes (I suppose

You say in it "as to my alleged opinion of Stedman: I have no such opinion.

My feeling toward S. is one of good will & thanks markedly—O'C says he is a good fellow, & I say so too

Stedman w never forgive my trying to comfort him . Ha! ha!

I think I shall now pitch overboard fr my book the Hartmannian lading (supplement) entirely.

I have abt 10 minutes a day to my self!

Wilson has my MS now. Am going to take a vacation in a month.

Do drop me a line dear & revered papa, & relieve my anxiety abt you. W. S. Kennedy.

Wilson will tackle in some way my Whitman .

Belmont Mass Oct 3. 89 Dear Old Quaker Friend of the horse-taming sea kings of Long Island: My thorn

He drew those pictures of yr home for my book; but takes the blackguard view of you.

My dame laid him out flat after calling on you. She can do such things, is keen as steel.

White's pitiful parody of L of G. in my face & thot he had floord me, he said he ahd heard that Edwin

I have to do it for my writings now.

It took me several days to absorb it and make my extracts &c.

(I fear my digestion must be poor to-night judging from the tone of the foregoing!)

I keep toiling away kicking my MS into shape, adding touches &c &c W S Kennedy William Sloane Kennedy

My window hyacinths in fragrant bloom. (honey bunches) W. S. K.

My yard is looking finely. 2 doz. hyacinths out. bye bye W. S. K.

Belmont Oct 27 '89 To Walt Whitman I am immensely pleased (tickled) with the result of my little Wifekin

I rubbed my hands in glee after quoting some of the good great fellows (in England & America) who stand

She says, "I saw with my own eyes, his nobility & manners," &c.

Give my love to Dr. B.

My Dear W Whitman, Yr letter & papers both rec'd with thanks.

My article is scientific , I even reverently analyze Shakespeare's technique & prove that he inclined

I had been reserving this piece of work until I moved into my new house.

I sent my article on poetry to the Century. They ordered an article on E.E. Hale, wh.

Dont get down-hearted, my boy, say I! We read yr strong verse in November Century.

Whitman's poem "My 71st Year" was published in the November 1889 issue of Century Illustrated Monthly

Just as my MS pkg was consigned to steamer Roman of the Warren Line, comes crawling along—like a fly

Commemoration Ode," which has often, since its publication, been contrasted with Whitman's own tribute, "O Captain

My Captain!"

I always forget to say that while several times in my MS I seem to have ignored yr notes, in reality

I go now & get a wrap up: I have not given up, & never shall the pub. of my apotheosis of W.W.

It just meets my ideal. A book is doubled in value by pocket-form. My cousin has gone.

You dear (young) old F'ellow: — I was just feeling to-day a lack in my soul—a gap—an idea that you had

I continue at my typographical business Hope I hear from Paisley in a fortnight goodnight & love—gloomy

Robert Browning (1812–1889), known for his dramatic monologues, including "Porphyria's Lover" and "My

30, 1868, Whitman informed Ralph Waldo Emerson that "Proud Music of the Storm" was "put in type for my

I mean give him my regards. & to Dr. B. whose last I shall answer soon W. S. K.

Belmont Sept 15 '89 (Sunday afternoon) Dear Walt:— I never meant my last poor postal to be the answer

to write the bk I told you of, I must bore you with a letter—just to say how'd'e, & to tell you that my

staunch little dame, my brave frau kin is going to make a little visiting tour, & will some day make

for my freedom! [Here I cut a caper] Now for six weeks of thought . I wrote to F.

My gloire di Dijon rose has grown 12 feet high in many rigorous shoots.

It is worth all of my book put together.

I also send you per express paid a couple of jars of my nice currant jam put up by myself fr fruit raised

Grant, the General's father, addressed to my great uncle Granger, (Judge William G. of Ohio very wealthy

Jesse came very near marrying my uncle's sister he says. I may publish the letter. So keep mum .

volumes of Horace Traubel's With Walt Whitman in Camden (various publishers: 1906–1996) and Whitman's "My

Whitman has written at the bottom of the page in blue pencil: "I rec'd the currants—wh' I eat with my

In his letter to me I alluded to in my letter of this date to you, O'C says, "I sincerely hope no memoir

It is firstrate I did make that condition in my letters to Gardner —i.e. that my corrections on proofs

10 th 89 O Good Gray Poet, When I read the notes on your life made by Ernest Rhys the tears came to my

feeling of the boundlessness of the universe, of the greatness of a man—perhaps, only perhaps, it may be my

glory to help others to "justify" your work; it surely is my heart's desire.

My excuse for writing you is the sending of a book; a first utterance, called "Voices & Undertones"—it

My dear Sir.

think of you, and I am sure that it affords me much more than that to give this personal expression to my

say entirely my own way, and put it unerringly on record."

In another place the feeling of pride leads to this exclamation: "My Book and I—what a period we have

These snowy hairs, my feeble arm, my frozen feet, For them thy faith, thy role I take, and grave it to

Whitman referred to Rossetti's edition as a "horrible dismemberment of my book" in his August 12, 1871

let me have ten or Fifteen Dollars have been having pretty hard luck of late and find myself Broke My

My dear Mr.

Whitman:— I have thought of you often since my call upon you the other day (and before, too, for that

matter), and felt, that although I have a copy of your works in my library, I would like one from you

Chairman Grey delivered the address of welcome, to which the poet responded briefly as follows: "My friends

All I have felt the imperative conviction to say I have already printed in my books of poems or prose

Deeply acknowledging this deep compliment with my best respects and love to you personally—to Camden—to

Give more than my regards to Walt Whitman, who has won such a splendid victory over the granitic pudding-heads

And in my own day and maturity, my eyes have seen and ears heard, Lincoln, Grant and Emerson, and my

I have put my name with pen and ink with my own hand in the present volume.

I felt it all as positively then in my young days as I do now in my old ones: to formulate a poem whose

, and has been the comfort of my life since it was originally commenced.

Then the simile of my friend, John Burroughs, is entirely true.

But you must know that I am an artist, and am able, out of my craftman's knowledge, to separate Art as

I am a native Texan, but my father belonged to the Georgia branch of the Whitman family.

its Dantesque horror, and then, brooding over brotherhood, union, democracy, sang 'Leaves of Grass,' 'My

Captain,' 'Calamus,' and all that me quoque which forms the essential germ of the Whitman gospel: egotism

People who know absolutely nothing of his writing, either prose or verse, who have not read even "O Captain

, My Captain," do not hesitate to assail him, to excoriate him, to blackguard him with a vehemence which

I will also want my utterances to be in spirit poems of the morning.

I have wished to put the complete union of the states in my songs without any preference or partiality

Then the simile of my friend, John Burroughs, is entirely true, 'his glove is a glove of silk, but the

or ambition to articulate and faithfully express in literary and poetic form, and uncompromisingly, my

say entirely my own way, and put it unerringly on record."

In another place the feeling of pride leads to this exclamation: "My Book and I—what a period we have

Difficult as it will be, it has become, in my opinion, imperative to achieve a shifted attitude from

These snowy hairs, my feeble arm, my frozen feet, For them thy faith, thy role I take, and grave it to

Whitman referred to Rossetti's edition as a "horrible dismemberment of my book" in his August 12, 1871

like to read—(T B Aldrich's also tho' short is very friendly & eulogistic—not sent here)— Nothing in my

, I have had a notion for, & now put out partly to occupy myself, & partly to commemorate finishing my

For the regard, the affection, which convoyed your noble argosy to this my haven,—believe me, my dear

Well: there is too much taking off of hats, but I certainly should doff my own to the Sun-God.

Pray give my kind regards to M. Traubel. Walt Whitman to William Sloane Kennedy, William D.

Camden Jan: 22 '89 Still keep up & read & write ab't the same—but remain cribb'd in my room.

Camden May 8 '89 Y'rs of 6th rec'd—thanks—yes, I am agreeable to your sending S[tedman] my former letter

O'C[onnor] (f'm the wife ) to day, & I am gloomy—Dr B[ucke] writes me every day & cheerily—Horace & my

Bucke's letter to me, mentioning y'r last wh' I lent him)—Nothing specially new or significant with my

out—I hear f'm Buck Bucke often, he is well & busy—Was out yesterday (after three weeks' embargo) in my

35 quai des grandes Augustine"—279 pp. handy beautiful French style, paper—Nothing very different in my

affairs—the N Y Literary News for May has a notice —did you see that infernal farrago of my opinions

thanked Walt Whitman for the copy of Complete Poems & Prose, and expressed his "admiration . . . with all my

love for one I considered, from my first reading of him, as one of the best and the greatest men of

89 Y'r card just rec'd —papers come regularly—thanks—Nothing very different with me—Still imprison'd—my

dilapidation not mending (slowly gradually worse if any thing, but not much change)—am preparing my

Camden New Jersey Oct: 17 '89 Thanks for the nice currants (I have had some for my breakfast) & the good

was better three days ago, but weak & in bed—Dr B[ucke] here yet— I sit here alone same as ever, in my

Camden Monday 9 A M '89 Am sitting here just ended my breakfast, an egg, some Graham bread & coffee—all

wh' I relish'd—rec'd my morning mail, & send you this f'm Dr B —with my scribbling on back—fine sunny

hours down to the Delaware shore, high water)—sky & river never look'd finer—was out also at one p m to my

bottle of champagne—(lunch, or dinner, but I ate nothing)—So you see I am getting around sort o' in my

summer—I want to get out somewhere (sea side or mountains) but it is a fearful job for me to be moved from my

Camden April 16 '89 Nothing very different or new in my affairs—the past ten days bad rather—sort of

last rec'd—have no opinion or comment or suggestion to make —did you receive (& send on to O'C[onnor]) my

Camden Saturday Evn'g Sept. 14 '89 Nothing particular or new in my affairs or condition—feel bad enough

13 P M '89 Nothing important—y'rs rec'd & welcomed—Dr B[ucke] writes me frequently—still anchor'd in my

Robert Browning (1812–1889), known for his dramatic monologues, including "Porphyria's Lover" and "My

I am still confined to the room & chair—eat & drink moderately—my meals mostly mutton-broth with bits

badly off—worse—& I am much worried ab't him—he is laid up, mainly bed fast, in his house—very bad, at my

volumes of Horace Traubel's With Walt Whitman in Camden (various publishers: 1906–1996) and Whitman's "My