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forenoon & fair temperature—warmish—yours of 17th rec'd to-day—I wonder if you are not to be envied there—my

Yes, I shall, unless prevented, bring out a volume this summer, partly as my contribution to our National

S—population, 4½ millions, very advanced, very sound, a good race, ⅔ds English ⅓ French)—I am now on my

of type, binding, general appearance &c. with L of G—same price—As I write (Sunday afternoon) up in my

Street)—Nothing very new or different—arctic cold here for the last fortnight—best regards to you & my

Camden Evn'g Jan 31 '89 Have had a favorable day in my condition—fine sunny pleasantly cool weather—hope

fresh lilacs—beautiful—am cogitating of a strong out-door push chair to get out in, to be propell'd by my

big books by this time—I can hardly tell why, but feel very positively that if any thing can justify my

—weather rainy wh' we wanted—temperature mild—I have a big bunch of lilacs on the table near, (from my

B[ucke] is well & busy—I was out driving to-day, 11 to 1—Nothing definite done to my "November Boughs

Jersey Evn'g Oct: 3 1890 Y'rs asking me to write piece for Review &c: rec'd —Yes, (and thanks)—Just now my

me the 10 (by Horace ) bowel action this forenoon—a little afraid I got a chill yesterday (worse for my

better—get out almost daily in the open air, push'd on a wheel'd chair by a stout Canadian friend, my

Just finish'd my supper—mutton chop, &c.

—the fellows are aroused—Horace especially—McKay has just sent me $44.80 for royalty for my two books

vault proper—the stone quarried at Quincy Mass: will be a month yet—Splendid day yesterday enjoy'd my

but I am prostrated with a weak & gone-in condition to day worse than ever, hardly strength to hold my

431 Stevens street Camden N J Jan: January 25 '83 My dear friends Would "the Bible as Poetry" suit you

to write special letters of thanks &c. to you & T[alcott] W[illiams] for your kindness & labors in my

The let up & somewhat favorable condition mentioned in my letter of Sunday still continues.

Am so fixed that it is very convenient for my friends to call—Love to you.

Y'rs of 28th rec'd—Symonds' letter is here somewhere am'ng my stuff & I will send it you soon as I get

Whitman occasionally referred to Stafford as "My (adopted) son" (as in a December 13, 1876, letter to

My canary is singing loud & fast, as I write—Cloudy half-dripping weather, promising cold—clear skies

fire—the silence; Like a phantom far or near an occasional figure moving; The shrubs and trees, (as I left my

Camden Monday Evng Evening Feb 26 '83 At the breakfast table this morning we all agreed—my sister most

W. said, "It is a good book—it has my cordial regard right through.

Asked me again of "my Jew constituency"—the young fellows, etc.

Who knows but after all the youth are my natural friends?"

And after my reply: "Oh! that they may know about it 60 years hence."

They are totally genuine—we could say of them what Gilder said of my poetry—that they stand specifically

All the fellows of any value put the brakes down—all of them: among my personal friends I know of no

Even my dear mother long ago saw that, for she said to me there were two things I could never do and

And every time I read that piece I grow in my perception of the capaciousness, amplitude, of the man.

My God!

I first met him after my sickness, on coming north.

He was full-blooded, large, splendid—a real human being—full of unction—a man after my own heart: much

He called my attention to a remark of a Methodist minister at a recent conference: "I propose to discuss

esteemed and venerable friend, Walt Whitman, has just published a booklet which he calls 'Good Bye My

For my purposes—having my schema—I had almost to go ignorant of anything else.

—"But I was a devoted lover of the Church all my days on earth."

": "My tread scares the wood-drake and wood-duck on my distant and day-long ramble, / They rise together

these lines may relate to the following line in the poem ultimately titled "Song of Myself": "I take my

To the Poor— I have my place among you Is it nothing that I have preferred to be poor, rather than to

I am rather gratified to find that my first sketches were generally recognized, and their fidelity admitted

My subject is wealthy, and a bachelor—and I need hardly add, therefore, that he likes fun, amusement,

—My subject never runs for office, seldom or never attends a public meeting; and, we verily believe never

But I ought not to call my subject “a little man,” after all—for is he not a great man?

Wilde came to see me early this afternoon," said Walt, "and I took him up to my den, where we had a jolly

things I said was that I should call him 'Oscar;' 'I like that so much,' he answered, laying his hand on my

the æsthetes, I can only say that you are young and ardent, and the field is wide, and if you want my

My idea is that beauty is a result, not an abstraction."

I had a couple of pears in my pocket for him, from my sister Agnes.

It is seriously a question, whether I want that given to the world as my estimate, summing up, of Whittier

s addresses, he remarking, "My friends always used to do that—do it still.

You remember my friend in Washington with his stacks of trunks—the Adam Express man?

McKay had called my attention to what was a defect in copyright page—W.'

He was as cordial as ever, and held my hand all through the talk, which lasted 20 minutes or more.

And again, "If you ever have occasion to write to Walsh or meet him, give him my congratulations."

My doctors and attendants cont. first rate. Horace ever faithful. Am propped up in bed.

Only a word, my friends, only a word.

After all, the main factor, my friends, is in meeting, being face to face and meeting like this.

I thought I would like to come forward with my living voice and thank you for coming and thank Robert

And further: "I have wanted for a long time to say something to this effect of the Queen to bear my testimony

She said (to my question) she could not tell me who "The Lounger" was in the Critic, nor who had written

I take it, this dinner is a good deal like my Lincoln lecture, which I did not write because I thought

As to physicians spoken of yesterday, said: "I have often resolved I would some day record my testimony

warmth penetrates I penetrate those cities myself, All islands to which birds wing their way I wing my

Complains of the day, that "it has been a bad one—not one of my worst, but a bad one decidedly."

He laughed, "Pretty good—but not quite my knock."

s letter to them on the 1st: Camden NJ—US AmericaJune 1 '91—Well here I am launched on my 73d year—We

Called my attention to the Review of Reviews—copy sent by Johnston.

the samples I had had—asked them to give the postal to the man with the job in hand and to give him my

Had left my manuscript at door this morning, now he returned.

"This is my Hindoo kerchief.

With W. for full half an hour, though I was on my way to Philadelphia and intended to stay only a few

"I was just about to get up—go to my chair"—doing so now (the cane always on the bed beside him).

My idea was—"make yourself whole and have the plates as profit." To this he assented.

Meantime I make about enough to pay my expenses by hacking on the press here, and copying in the paymasters

thing is favorable here, namely, pay for whatever one does is at a high rate—I have not yet presented my

letters to either Seward or Chase —I thought I would get my forces all in a body, and make one concentrated

Mother, I have not felt well at all the last week—I had spells of deathly faintness, and bad trouble in my

—My head was the worst, though I don't know, the faint weak spells were not very pleasant—but I feel

(near 3d st)—it is not a very good place, I don't like it so well as I did cooking my own grub—& the

My dear Walt Whitman, Thank you for the copy of " Once a Week " you sent me & which I received on the

I have long been deeply interested in his books, & it used to be one of my main desires to give them

Pardon my writing to you thus.

Whitman, late in life, said to Horace Traubel: "[I] take my Ruskin with some qualifications."

not done befor before in years i dont don't think it done me any good one or t w o nights i thought my

lunatic assiliym asylum if he had some light employment but that seems hard to get i could not find it in my

little california is splendid she s fatter than ever i hope these lines will find you well good bie my

I used to read your "Leaves of Grass" to my children.

Once with my back to the door entering the parlor, in a large chair, my children before me on the sofa

The date below your photograph in the Two Rivulets had caught my eye that morning—and after some pondering

I have left Ireland and pitched my tent temporarily (that is for a few years) in Germany, a sojourn which

But of course my impression may be, probably is, utterly wrong: how could it be more than a random guess

By the way, I made a little mistake in my reckoning of the nett net profits of the Simpson benefit; Mr

Nothing of progress has been accomplished in the way of a Washington Monument; and my private impression

hour and gazed on that picture; and if I were to attempt describing the feelings that passed through my

the corner" is a very fine public park, which we take a walk in every night I believe I told you in my

My work is good and light.

well now, in fact I have not been sick much at all Dear Mother good bye your son Jefferson Whitman My

indeed fill me best and most, and will longest remain with me, of all the objective shows I see on this, my

Cincinnati and Chicago, and for thirty years, in that wonder, washed by hurried and glittering tides, my

Here in this very Denver, if it might be so, I should like to cast my lot, above all other spots, all