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When it was first published, it began with the line "Here my last words, and the most baffling."

They are his "frailest . . . and yet my strongest lasting."

have survived as positive examples of homosexual desire.Whitman admits in this poem, "I shade and hide my

PatrickMcGuire"My Boys and Girls" (1844)"My Boys and Girls" (1844)While this sketch first appeared in

"My Boys and Girls" (1844)

"You look as if you had come in out of the mists," he said—as I had—the fog strong—my coat collar up—moistened

Called my attention to Herbert Aldrich's book, turned—open—face down—on a pile of papers.

But as to my proposed letter quizzing Edward Emerson he was still doubtful.

Remarked with considerable vehemence: "This starts my ire again: I think, here these papers will go to

Yet I can send a book straight through to Europe on the single postage: it goes direct to my man, unquestioned

Yet as if saying all along 'I've more than this in reserve: this is not the end of my string.'"

The last few days has habited himself to my reading his postals and mailing them for him.

"They'll give you about the kernel of my health affairs."

He wished to read Morse's "My Grandmother's Religion."

smoke; By these, crowds, groups of forms, vaguely I see, on the floor, some in the pews laid down; At my

staunch the blood temporarily, (the youngster's face is white as a lily;) Then before I depart I sweep my

resume as I chant—I see again the forms, I smell the odor; Then hear outside the orders given, Fall in, my

smoke, By these, crowds, groups of forms vaguely I see on the floor, some in the pews laid down, At my

stanch the blood temporarily, (the youngster's face is white as a lily,) Then before I depart I sweep my

resume as I chant, I see again the forms, I smell the odor, Then hear outside the orders given, Fall in, my

smoke; By these, crowds, groups of forms, vaguely I see, on the floor, some in the pews laid down; At my

staunch the blood temporarily, (the youngster's face is white as a lily;) Then before I depart I sweep my

resume as I chant—I see again the forms, I smell the odor; Then hear outside the orders given, Fall in, my

smoke, By these, crowds, groups of forms vaguely I see on the floor, some in the pews laid down, At my

stanch the blood temporarily, (the youngster's face is white as a lily,) Then before I depart I sweep my

resume as I chant, I see again the forms, I smell the odor, Then hear outside the orders given, Fall in, my

Feb 1868 wensday Wednesday 19 My dear Walter i thought i would just write a few lines and send you marys

wait till next week i dident didn't hardly know how to spare the envelope i have been looking over my

stock and i find i have got three more i suppose you have got my letter to day in answer to yours of

By coming on I could bring my MS with me, & stay three days at least.

I have already made out a long one—going over all my scraps & records for the purpose Our brilliant young

Will send you my Herald article on him when it appears.

My spell of let up & feeling somewhat more comfortable continues, with some interruptions—night before

behindhand— I have thought frequently of Parker Milburn—all his ways, & his good points, come up in my

Sumner —Your letter came Monday, & the Herald — Friday, March 13—12 M Not very well to-day—To add to my

54 Manchester Road Bolton England Oct 14th '91 My Dear Old Friend Your kind pc of Oct. 3rd '91 reached

My best thoughts to you for your p.c. & for its affectionate message to Fred Wild which I will convey

Many thanks to you for mentioning my dear old Annan on your p.c. Dr.

I have very little time tis true, yet I endeavor by writing rapidly to have time to keep up my correspondence

Have I not my hands full by the way you wish to know what Jones Hotel is.

I send my Photo and shall expect one of the Prince of Bohemia by return I will write in a few days.

A few days ago I picked up a paper through my Friend Hamilton containing an article regarding Walt Whitman

I would like very much to read your works for I have heard my Father speak a few days ago of your Leaves

I must draw my letter to a close for this time, and hope I shall hear from you soon again.

London Dec 6 th —81 To my Dear Friend M r Whitman, I sit now in my hall on duty, to write you these few

I gus guess I will bring my letter to a close, By sending the Love of all the asylum Employies Employees

American country & the west — Nothing very new with me—I am well as usual for me—As I write I am up in my

moderate snow & ice on the ground, but sun shining bright—quite a good deal of sleighing— —I am busy with my

writing in moderation—write four or five hours every day—My new book is doing reasonably well (better

your book on the market advertised as the suppressed edition, and invite the authorities to dispute my

Morse, Quincy, Mass., the sculptor, whom you know, and who has long been one of my intimate friends.

He does not know of my design in this matter, but he will tell you that I am thoroughly reliable, and

Hence I consider myself one of your sisters—albeit we may never meet on this planet, and this must be my

Under cover of this envelope I send you copies of my little magazine and hope you will do me the honor

Hoping I have not tired you with my letter and that you have not felt it an intrusion I am Very Sincerely

Sep 1891 My dear Walt Whitman, Another perfect day. I write this in D r's office @ 4.30pm.

I have no special news since my last letter—We drove into town yesterday afternoon—everything of interest

A long pause here—discussing future arrangements as to my trip with Dr.

Your "November Boughs" has been my companion during the last week.

I shall try to obtain it through my London bookseller.

Each time I have attempted to do so, I have quailed before my own inadequacy to grapple with the theme

My Dearest Friend: Your card (your very voice & touch, drawing me across the Atlantic close beside you

) was put into my hand just as I was busy copying out "With husky, haughty lips O sea" to pin into my

Before the window where I do my morning work, there is an old lilac tree, dating from my grandmother's

Forgive my assurance, and, if possible give me that pleasure of that great recompense for being so unknown

, 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.

Dec 23 d 1888 Dear Walt: I am sitting here in my bark-covered study this bright sharp day, writing you

I am feeling well, better than one year ago this time, my summers work I think has put something into

If I could only continue my farm work or else hibernate like a woodchuck I should be glad.

It is now some two years ago since your poems were first brought under my notice (by my friend Mr A.

Ladell Balls) and their effect upon my life from that time has been most marked.

May 7, '90 Walt Whitman My dear Friend How best can I introduce myself to you?

And then I read the Leaves of Grass and met my dearest friend!

I will write again if my disjointed rhapsodies are bearable and I hope to come down and see you very

, Dear Sir, I wrote to you a week since, as to call upon you and since I have received no I presume my

My former letter was, then, a formal request for permission to see you.

Your permission would be a favor and, if it must be so, your denial would put an end to my suspense.

My Dear Walt— I got your pleasant letter, and thank you for the attention you paid my note through Mr

I feared over aggressiveness (perhaps my mulishness) on the 20 percent and other mooted questions had

That the papers are in my hands you probably are informed of at present.

I am at present composing my article; in the of March it shall be in your hands.

Democratic Vistas" to the Professor Rasmus Nielsen, one great Scandinavian philosopher and according to my

Wicklow My dear Walt I have to tell you that towards the end of December I sent back to the German publisher

Democracy To a Boy of the West Doubt of Appearances Give me the Sun To one about to die (KK) That Shadow My

Who Learns my Lesson complete What am I— Square Deific. O Poverty, wincings—.

My dear friend, I was glad to hear by your postal that you are getting along without an increase of suffering

My old enemy "melancholia" spreads its vampire wings still over my life and will I presume go with me

worst is this inveterate horrible costiveness—then the water works give me great annoyance & trouble—my

strength, equilibrium, power to stand up of my own volition & mastery are quite gone—Ed is very good—I

strong & clear—I am going to stretch out on the bed (rest, tide over , lay fallow , & such—are probably my

time, ab't the 12th or 13th)—They are thinking of a sort of dinner in Phila May 31 in compliment of my

beginning on my 72d year, but we will see.

mind-clouding was temporary—(the worst of course is the eligibility of returning & worse)—¼ to 2—I have had my

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

far I like them & the work—had a bowel motion this morning (took a calomel powder last night)—I eat my

I had two moderate roast apples for my supper Mrs.

to night—If I can get over the great debility & the bad feeling (jellity & soreness & half pain) in my

over hereabout—but I keep a stout oakwood fire—& read & write & while away the time imprisoned here in my

room—hope you get the papers I send—often think of you there more than you know—(my favorite notion

the foundation of L of G, they are banded together in spirit and interest essentially all the earth) My

All my sceptical rejection of creeds and dogmas is giving place to a sense of the eternal fitness of

In my blind unreasoning egotism I mistook the shadow for the substance, and thought that "religion" was

Forgive my illogical desultory manner of writing. I think you will understand all I would convey.

Brooklyn September 21, 1867 My dear friend, As you see by the date, &c.

I am home, on a visit to my mother & the rest.

My brother George is very well, looks hearty & brown as ever—much like he used to, only more serious—Jeff

Camden NJ— 1891 Nov: 12 —Sunny fine Nov. day—have pann'd oysters for my meals—continued bowel stoppage—rise

pay same am't more wh' is certainly 1/3d more (altogether) than square—But I wanted much to collect my

parents' & two or three relatives' dead relics with my own—& this is the result—& I am & think I shall

Whitman's preface was also included in Good-Bye My Fancy (Philadelphia: David McKay, 1891), 51–53.

My ambition points to this branch for myself I feel qualified for an inspector of Hospitals and I think

Give my kind regard to Amos [Herbert] and others of Campbell Hospital.

The Army of the Potomac "Oh my" what has to come of it I hope to hear of brilliant achievements in that

Watersboro Sept 17th Mr Whitman I take the liberty of addressing you at the request of my cousin Milton

among our sick & wounded soldiers, who indeed must feel very grateful to meet with such a friend as my

My cousin seems to be gaining slowly, & his friends does not think him strong enough to return for two

[am] feeling decidedly better than usual this morning—I have spent an hour in the bath room, (quite my

For I suppose you know that my condition is very tantalizing in its fluctuations—Like today as I write

G. of 7th March is my last no. —did you get it?

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.

been, & am quite well, considering—though I have had trouble from a cold during the winter & spring—My

them, at their house— I am still boarding at the same place—I expect to bring out the final edition of my

Don't be mad at me because I have been so negligent—You all have my love & "best respects" to boot—how

, wh' I enclose, with slips—Send to Dr Bucke, after reading—As I write, I am sitting down stairs in my

big arm chair—My sister Lou (George's wife) has just been here—It looks like such a fine & bright weather

I shall try to get out in my rig.

In my teaching and lecturing I find no difficulty in getting Converts to the new doctrine and find your

Greenport Dec 23 Dear Brother Walter I received a letter from you last night and an order for my annual

thing about it in your letter I am not feeling well at all this winter not sick abed but a pain in my

expect pains and aches as we are growing old but I am thankful I am no worse can get around and do my

Perhaps my objections are whimsical."

Harned had just been at my house, discussing affairs with me.I received today a note from Ingersoll,

always understood that I feel a never-ending gratefulness for those abroad who helped me, that time of my

Then they came forward, took my book, took me—and saved me.

Of course for me, from my person, the great moral, emotional, testimony the story bears is never to be

Much obliged to S. for wanting to cut out my speech (!) & to you for saving it.

s eye: New York, June 21. 91 My dear TraubelCountless congratulations to you and Mrs.

You must give him my very best regards with a "good luck" to boot.For you and your wife I ask for the

"Yes, wrote my name and two or three lines. It is horribly tiresome business."

GilderMy kindest regards—& those of my sister—to W. Whitman.

ever had such a bad coughf cough before i know how i should have got the meals if he had been home my

is somewhat better to day i have had mustard plasters acrost across my chest and i think it has done

me good i feel the soreness of the mustard but the soreness and distress in my side is much better)

last winter for all it was so very cold on the park i had to cover up my head to keep my ears from freezing

old days if i had none i believe i cant can't wr ite any more to night good bie walter dear my love

Louis, Monday Feb 24th 1873 My dear dear Mother Since Matties death I could not write you before—there

 she was cheerful to a degree and at noon of the day she died sat up in her chair and directed how my

and then took my horse and buggy arriving at the house abt 3ck—I found Mattie dressed—furs &c on—sitting

awaiting me—I took her in my arms and carried her out to the buggy as I sat her in—she said "wait now

'till I fix my dress"—these were the last words she spok—She then fell over on her side I immediately