Search Results

My dear Rudolf Schmidt , My lonesomeness & sickness here, (for I am still sick, & here,) have been much

rejoiced to–day today by my getting your good & copious letter of 28th February, on your return to Kopenhagen

copies Demokratiske Fremblik , & one copy in sheets—also three copies picture paper Folkeblad , with my

Tribune ) my two latest pieces Song of the Redwood Tree , (California,) and Prayer of Columbus , which

the head—walk hardly any, (from the paralysis,) but maintain good spirits, keep up in body & face, (my

Dear boy Pete, Nothing particular or new in my condition—I have been to the Doctor's to-day—had quite

Good bye my loving son. I will try to do better next week.

Immediately after my return from Germany (28 February) I did write to you and sent you a long article

If my thoughts did not weaken and wither, when I try to give them expression in the English language,

something rotten in the state of Denmark, still are true, I have the greatest belief of the vitality of my

peasant on Fijen (one of our fertile isles) wrote to me in the spring for two years ago to thank me for my

Clausen, termed in Schmidt's letter "my old friend and countryman," corresponded with Schmidt after he

Saw the doctor (Grier) day before yesterday—he made a careful ausculation of my heart—pronounced it all

Drinkard , a great talker, & very demonstrative)— Nelly, you needn't send the photos of my nieces back

Thanks for your letter of 20th—give my love to Mrs.

Without any thing very definite at this moment, my idea is of a poem, fitting in not unappropriately

All the pay I would want would be enough to pay my expenses, transportation &c., probably between 30

Schmidt April 4, '74 Copenhagen, April 4, 1874 My dear Walt Whitman, Coming home from our "Athenaeum"

Norwegian "Aftenbladet" (Evening Paper) for April 1 the the first real criticism of your book, I found on my

The author is a young man in my years; his name is Kristian Elster, he is living at present in Throndhjeim

Here follows a photography that gives a true idea of my stature;—the face is not good.

April 10, 12 M Dear Pete, 74 Nothing very new or different in my condition, or any thing else—have hardly

Not much of a letter this time, my loving boy—as I dont don't seem to be able to write much—though, as

Thanks for your letter, statement of acc't. account , of my books Leaves of Grass &c. which have just

Forty One Dollars, fifty-four cents, on acc't of sales of my books, in 1873.

Dear son, I send you my letter a day ahead this week —Nothing new with me—rec'd the letter of last Sunday—also

Comparing your rec't receipt of my books from Doolady , April 28, '73 (239 Leaves of Grass, &c.

&c)—with the of books handed over by you to Butts (168 Leaves of Grass, &c &c)—see my last letter to

Deduct 25 copies sent to Boston by my order, & 3 copies to Graphic , leaves 43 copies (@ $1.40) to be

My dear niece, I received your nice good letter—and also Hattie's a week or two before —& have been very

I am not much different in my health—no worse. All the rest here are well.

This little cut picture was one I intended to send last Christmas, but it got lost in my papers—so I

enclose it now, for fun— Best love to you, dear child, & to my dear Hattie too, from Uncle Walt— I will

criticism—when it comes I shall have it carefully translated to me—if you communicate with him, please give him my

Clausen, who Rudolf Schmidt called "my old friend and countryman," corresponded with Schmidt after he

Washington to New York, & so was some in hopes of seeing you in Philadelphia)— No change in my condition

or prospects—the young man, Walter Godey, still works as my substitute in the Solicitor's office—I havn't

—My sister has just called me to my dinner—so I will close for this time.

alternations—not perhaps quite as well, of late, (the last ten or twelve days)—& yet I dont don't abandon my

& hope— feel to , which is a main thing with me—I have a good deal of pain, more or less steady, in my

been so since—(though not enough to prevent me from eating some nice stewed oysters in moderation for my

needlessly apprehensive, Nelly dear—for I shall get better, & we will meet yet— When you write tell me about my

Tell me all the news—tell me about Charles Eldridge—& all my other friends.

minnesota Wright Co Howard Lake may 12 1874 Walt Whitman my dear friend I received yours dated April

be good for your the there are some comming coming from the different Stats states for their health. my

friend Whitman I love you when I think of the kindness you shew show to me my heart is swelled with

gratitude to you may the lord preserve you and giv give you a home in heaven my friend i have bin been

in a bad stat state of health for 10 months I have the dropsy of the heart I am getting better & my

May 14. 1874 My dearest Friend Two papers have come to hand since I last wrote; one containing the memoranda

A great deal of needlework to be done at this time of year; for my girls have not time for any at present

May is in a sense (& a very real one) my birth month too, for in it were your Poems first put into my

My children are all well and hearty I am thankful to say, & working industriously.

Good bye my dearest Friend. Anne Gilchrist. Anne Gilchrist to Walt Whitman, 14 May 1874

all night afterward—But this morning as I write, (9 o'clock after breakfast—fish, Graham bread, tea, my

in the parlor alone by the window, it is very pleasant—soothing—it is a sweet balmy, not hot morning—my

, but the day has been so beautiful & the charm of the open air so great that I could not long keep my

My bees are working like beavers & there is a stream of golden thighs pouring into the hive all the time

I spend all my time at work about the place & like it much.

letter of May 14 has come to hand to-day, reminding me of your being in Armory Square Hospital & of my

I send you my love, & to your dear children & wife the same.

it is just comfort enough to be together, almost without any thing else)— I remain about the same in my

red, (though looking now very old & gray, but that is nothing new)—weigh 185 now—am badly lamed in my

am well situated here—but very lonesome —have no near friends, (in the deepest sense) here at hand—my

plate are ready —I shall be coming along—will send you word when— I have hardly any thing to tell about my

I am very much the same—My being disabled & want of Exercise for 16 months, (and many other wants too

what the doctor calls gastric catarrh, very obstinate, causing me really more suffering & pain than my

I have bad spells enough, thank God I also have middling good ones—& as I write this have just had my

Tennyson, It is a long time since my last to you.

illness—some three months, afterward was recovering at Washington, when called here by the death of my

To-day, a cloudy & drizzly Sunday, I have taken it in my head, sitting here alone & write—follow the

Walt Whitman Esq Dear Sir I will Sell My Lot on Royden St—for $450—all clear of incumbrance.

March 29, 1874: "It seemed hard to see the great man afflicted, bowed down, and I could not suppress my

Grier on June 2, 1874: "He reiterated his theory that my sufferings, (later ones) come nearly altogether

the very great distress & pain I have been under in breast & left side, & pit of stomach, & thence to my

begin the use of an injection syringe, (Fountain No. 2. tepid water for clysters)—was favorable to my

June 5 Am getting along somewhat better last two days—As I write this, (3 p. m.) have had my dinner—&

Johnson one with the greatest pleasure—(it is one of Brady's photos)—I wish you to give my best respects

inaction—but upon the whole not so severely—& I think very decidedly gradually growing less—The worst is my

—(Unfortunately it was, however, at a time when I was feeling almost at my worst.)

My dear Rudolf Schmidt , As you have rec'd received my letter of April 25, you know that the copies of

Commencement Poem to a College near Boston city—the College is the headquarters of the Universalists—my

I intend to send Kristian Elster a copy of my poems, & my photograph—how shall I address him?

Clark Dear Sir, In answer to your note I send enclosed a copy of my poem for Tuft's College on the 17th—which

Newark, New Jersey June 21st, 1874 My Dear Friend Your Letters & papers came duly at hand.

I left New York in Oct. 1868, and me and my Brother started A Milk Depot here And we until the Spring

When we separated and I commenced to Paddle my own Canoe: I have A small route And keep A Depot.

Enclosed you will find A Card which my friends say resembles your Humble Servant Very Much you shall

I suppose this is your last production: My Best Wishes from your friend, William H.

the Attorney General that in any changes in the Solicitor Treasury's office, I be not disturbed in my

position as clerk in that office—all my duties to the government being & having been thoroughly & regularly

performed there, by a substitute, during my illness.

134 East 38th St, New York, June 23/1874 My beloved Walt— I have read thy sublime poem of the "Universal

It raised my mind to its own sublimity. It seems to me the sublimest of all your poems.

I return to it as a fountain of joy My beloved Walt.

While my soul exists, the worship must be ever new.

How I would like to see you, in order to temper my heat, and expand my narrowness How absurd it is to

Singing Thrush" (later titled "Wandering at Morn") on March 15, 1873; "Spain" on March 24, 1873; "Sea Captains

Do you understand my bad English?

Howard Lake June 28, 1874 My Dear Friend I Receivied received your kind & Most Welcome Letter A Short

Well My Health I But Verry Very little Better But If I Had Stayed In W Va West Virginia dont don't Suppose

when I went In the army I had a Com fortable Home Was a good Lover My Mother Leives Lives In My Father

Not Seen Her For 8 year My Brothers & Sisters Lives too I Will Close My letter By Saying I Hope you

kindness And Care to me My Children Sends their Love to you Now My Dear Friend I Hope you will write

abolished one of the third class clerkships in the office of the Solicitor of the Treasury, and upon my

It is, therefore, my duty to inform you that your services will not be required from and after the first

Who would suspect that this comic strain proceeded from the author of "My Study Window," and "Among my

I'm dull at prayers: I could not keep awake Counting my beads.

I love my fellow-men: the worst I know I would do good to.

Now, when storms of fate o'ercast Darkly my Present and my Past, Let my Future radiant shine With sweet

The "In Memoriam" explains itself,—the "Watchman of Ephriam," as Osee says, "was with my God."

Sir: Yours of June 30, informing me of the necessity of terminating my services in the Solicitor's office

This is the first letter I have written for weeks, and I am afraid I write rather obscurely, for my hand

did not answer and acknowledge them I regret to have done so; but if you knew how great the mass of my

July 10 1875 Dear, dear son, I am still here—still suffering pretty badly—have great distress in my head

, & an almost steady pain in left side—but my worst troubles let up on me part of the time—the evenings

Eldridge to see to the sending on here of my boxes at Dr. Whites.

Pete didn't you get my last Saturday's postal card? I wrote you one.

I got yours last Monday—Did you get the Camden paper with my College piece in? I sent one.

My dear friend It is just dawn, but there is light enough to write by, and the birds in their old sweet

My first knowledge of you is all entangled with that little garden.

My chief reason for writing (so I put it to myself) is that I can't help wishing you should know that

Because you have, as it were, given me a ground for the love of men I thank you continually in my heart

And for my sake you must not mind reading what I have written.

Friend It is with Pleashure Pleasure I take the oppertunity opportunity of writing you a letter As my

written. they Are Splendid. their There is a Preaspeterian Presbyterian Minister Liveing living with my

My Mother & Father was My Mother Is very old I dont don't Suppose She will Be with us on the 4 day of

In the Comeing coming year Well I hope you will get your Health Better, you Will Please Excuse this My

two weeks ago it took ago a new bridge as easily as I am flowing a feather away with the breath of my

Though some bad spells still, things decidedly more favorable in my condition. I shall get up yet.

August 5 Dear Nelly, Your good letter came all right—it is pretty much "the same subject continued"—with my

square frame, with thin strip of gilt inside, & good plate glass)—I shall look for Charles Eldridge— My

But so you know my dear friend they are all real to me—and I often keep them months before I destroy

Many and many a mile have I rode on a Locomotive while in charge of a Freight-train and had you by my

Walt write to me and acknowledge the receipt of this—If you cannot, I shall still keep writing, in my

Meltonsville (my home office) Mr.

About that time I also, obeying an "impulse" or "law of my being" which was effectual if not "irresistible

" went for a Poet for my county.

Again this summer learned in my backwoods hermit home that Walt's Poems were in books, and that "English

In my disappointment and vexation I then said to my family "the Publisher who would publish and the Bookseller

since I last wrote you has passed on, bringing no decided change in my condition—in my bad spells, (&

I have them often enough) I 'most think the end is not far off—but I get over them & my natural buoyancy

reässerts itself—(& in the main keeps control of the helm)—though to a man of my lazy-activity this

I was discharged from my clerkship on the last of June, by B.

My Dear Sir, Last February, from Hong Kong, I sent you a line or two regarding an original edition of

But I, with silent Tread, Walk the spot my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead.

Whitman's poem "O Captain! My Captain!

"O Captain! My Captain!"

For more information on the poem, see Gregory Eiselein, "'O Captain! My Captain!'

I.E. by being sold in what is termed the "remainder sale" of course my own feeling respecting this is

silent, and while at oxford I wandered through the Marketplace (for I love to mingle with all kinds of my

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

editorial decisions, which included editing potentially objectionable content and removing entire poems: "My

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

This I suppose that "nearest friend" or yourself intended as answer to my inquiry whether you were reduced

real, and immediate , I can spare you something of the small store of capital that is helping me in my

dollar I send, to report occasionally whether my idol still lives and how he fares.

I am 13 miles from the nearest village Post-script My family Physician quite lately borrowed from me,

all my money except 2 10 ct scrips, 1 gold dollar, and 8 silver quarters, which I bought to pay my (

Singing Thrush" (March 15, 1873; later called "Wandering at Morn"), "Spain" (March 24, 1873), "Sea Captains

man—so careful in all business matters, but I have so written it, both for information and to amuse my

Whitman who has done me the greatest honor of my life.

I know the style of my letters is queer, but if you had thought them absurd insincere you would not have