Feinberg/Whitman Box 6 Folder 5 General Correspondence Bucke, Richard M. Letters to Bucke (DCN 212) August 1889-Apr 1890 Includes verso letters from William S. Kennedy and Mary Whitall CostelloeUNITED STATES POSTAL CARD. ONE CENT NOTHING BUT THE ADDRESS TO BE ON THIS SIDE CAMDEN, N. J. AUG 14 8PM 89 Dr Bucke Asylum London Ontario CanadaCamden Aug: 14 '89 Middling - nothing very new. Specimen of the photos: have come & I like pretty well a large half-size sitting figure - have requested some & shall reserve [for] one for you when I get them - I send you another paper a'bt the "elixir", - If you want any more send me word - if not, not - Do you remember the blue glass furore of ten or twelve yr's ago? My picture collation goes on - I send papers &c: to Mrs: O.C at North Perry, Maine. Your's of 12th has just come W W(Postmark) CAMDEN AUG 8 8PM 89 Dr Bucke Asylum London Ontario CanadaCamden noon Aug: 8 '89 Yr's of 6th since rec'd that the two books have come Feeling pretty well - sitting here in 2d story den - rec'd a letter from Logan Smith they are all down in Surrey - Haslemere - all well - -hope you have got the two copies little pocket bound L of G I sent - - letter frm you yesterday - Ed went over to "Chimes of Normandy" Eng: Opera last Evn'g - good - Herbert Gil: here last evn'g - superb weather here. this the third day. Walt WhitmanUnited States Postal Card One Cent Nothing But The Address To Be On This Side CAMDEN, N.J. AUG 5 8PM 89 Dr Bucke London Asylum Ontario CanadaCamden Aug: 5 ‘89 Feeling fairly - moist continued less warm - yes I like the Tennyson head in ‘Century’ too (that T Johnson engraver is best of ‘em all) - A T is getting splendid notices in the papers for his old birthday to-morrow & deserves them - Mrs. O’Connor is at North Perry Maine - I have just sent her a packet of papers there Walt WhitmanUnited States Postal Card One Cent Nothing But The Address To Be On This Side Dr Bucke London Asylum Ontario CanadaCamden Aug: 2 '89 The sun is out - quiet & warm & very moist - nothing very new - Dull & rather poorly with me - - I send two copies of the little new morocco bound ed'n L of G. by this mail - is it that way you wanted? Yr letters come, always welcome Had a letter fim Hamlin Garland - with first rate carte photo: notice a good portrait of Tennyson (in old age) in Aug: Century - All well - Walt WhitmanCamden New Jersey ‘89 PM Aug: 3 - Moist & warm continued, but the sun is out this afternoon - - I am 50-50 - from sitting in the big chair (as now) to reclining on the bed, with palm leaf fan in hand - getting along fairly with all - I hope you will receive the two little L of G. sent by mail yesterday - Am slowly easily occupying myself. (must have something to do or pretend) with getting the photos & prints of different stages on uniform sized cards or sheets, to be put in a good handsome fitting envelope (? perhaps album) - you shall receive one collected of all the portraits (there are 6 or 7 or more) soon as prepared - though you have them all now - Sunday Aug: 4 towards noon - Fine & clear & quiet - feeling fair as usual - cut up peaches, an egg, &c for my breakfast - am sitting Here alone in my big den - - bowel action an hour ago - Mr Stafford here yesterday afternoon - they are all well - rec’d a long good letter from a German scholar writes English good by being XXXX Edward Betz (Bertz), Holzmarkt Str. 18 Potsdam, Prussia - He bids fair to be or rather is one of the first class friends of L of G. - I have sent him (& he rec’d) the big vol. & your book - I send you a paper with interesting piece ab’t Tennyson by Gosse (a pleasant blanc-mange bit for the palate) W W - A lengthy article in the “Eagle” upon the Kings Co. farm for its lunatics and paupers at St. Johnland, aims to show that, despite the contentions and perhaps wasteful expenditure over the site and structure, the experiment itself, under the capable direction of Dr. D A Harrison, medical superintendent, has been a remarkable success. On July 1 there were 660 patients, including epileptics, and the physical and mental benefit derived from their treatment - moderate daily exercise in the open air - is declared to be most noteworthy and gratifying. The “cottage system” of caring for and treating the insane, has proved in actual fact all that its advocates anticipated. AGAIN THE NORTH POLE. To win that bubble, fame, there is always a valiant “six hundred” who will rush into the jaws of death or into the mouth of hell. One of the outlets for these dauntless spirits has long been the quest for the North Pole. Whether its discovery is a sufficient value to science to warrant the tremendous hardships and risks to be run is not the question. It is a fruitful field for harrowing disaster, hence its attraction to the venturous. Next year there will be another attempt made to penetrate its frozen mysteries, this time by Dr. Nansen, a Norwegian, whose journey across Greenland last summer will furnish interesting reading when his book, which he is writing, is finished. His plan of campaign is bold and daring. He will ascend the east coast to a higher point, if possible, than the German and Lockwood expeditions, after crossing Greenland in its broadest part, starting from the west coast settlements. By this route he will practically have completed the mapping of Greenland’s coast line. Reaching the highest point possible on the Greenland coast, he will strike out over the frozen sea for the pole, severing all connections, and wasting no time in establishing bases of supplies. He has taken for his motto the old Norse proverb, “There is before us only heaven or hell,” and says that he expects it will be the North Pole or death. Many well-equipped expeditions have been sent into these regions, but none have gained their ends. The elaborate preparations that were made for disaster in establishing a line of retreat exhausted their energies too soon. It would seem that a flying expedition like that proposed by Nansen might penetrate farther north than the former cumbrous ones. The scheme is backed by $100,000 capital, to which Mr. Gamel, whose name is already associated with arctic exploration, is the chief subscriber.Same letter transcribed on Page 10Camden '89 Aug: 16 near noon - superb sunny day - poorly to-day & yesterday - brain and belly lesions -eat little - am sitting in my big chair in 2d story room alone - moderately cool - y'r letters come - some of the biggest officers land office at Washington spell it adobie & I like it best - David McKay has just return'd - I have not seen him - heard no word lately from Kennedy or Mrs O'C. nor John Burroughs - Herbert Gil: comes over quite often - Horace regularly, Daily - Ed W keeps well Aug. 17 - perfect day again - half-bad night last -ate an egg, graham bread and cut-up peaches for breakfast -am sitting here - sufficiently cool - slightly clouded over Aug 18 - Sunday, just after noon - fine weather continued - sitting here pretty weak & ill, but had a fair night - have been looking over the proof slips of Horace's Dinner book - curious - all honey & sweet meats - a nice girl has just bro't me a bouquet a great fine tiger lily in a lot of fluffy green sprigs loose - queer & very pretty Am going to lie down on the bed - Love to you Walt WhitmanCamden am Aug 24 '89 Am easier than during the week, but bad enough yet - Have made away with my breakfast (wet Graham toast, honey & tea) though - (living mostly on toast & tea the last three or four days) - am sitting here in the big chair, by window - cloudy & half rainy to-day - a jolly letter f'm Ernest Rhys f'm Wales wh I enclose - y'rs rec'd this mng. thanks. - - was formally requested (did I tell you?) to write an article "Tennyson at 81" for the Oct. No of the N A Review - by the new owners - - but have been too ill to try it & shall probably give it the go-by - (I don't know but I have said all I want to say ab't T any how) - the sun out - & warm - It is ab't noon as I finish - I am feeling sort o' comfortable - Mrs. D and one of the boys have gone over to Phila: wharf somewhere to see an old staunch ship the "Emily Reed" involved in their family history - Ed is here taking care - Luck & prayers Walt WhitmanCamden '89 Friday noon Aug. 30 - Another perfect sunny day plenty warm enough - am feeling middling fair - toast and hard fried egg: & cup of tea for breakfast (demolished all) - the vibrating voices of the loud crying peddlers in the streets. Quite a musical study, some of them have wonderfully fine organs as they peel and drawl them along - & it is fine, healthy, strengthening, expanding, blood-circulating & blood-clarifying exercising, calling loudly out in the open air this way throwing the voices out freely, slowly walking along - I almost envy them, (with their cabbages, fish or what not & their old vehicles & nags.) - Dick Flynn & Ed are over in Phila - I sent Ed for the pictures again - I hope yr's will come right - - Dick is very quiet - we all like him he has left & will get there before this [?] - I sent off the little piece to Harpers' last evn'g - written in an hour - it is to accompany a fine engraving "The valley of the shadow of Death" - I just ask $25 - - (of course it may not suit them - we will see) - - Herbert Gil: was here last evn'g. He is very good company - Horace was here - the dinner book will be soon out now - Saturday - noon - Aug. 31 - Suppose Dick has reached home by this time - give him any best regards & wishes, - rather warming weather (fine) here - I am middling fairly - have been writing this forenoon - Harper's has accepted the little piece & sent the pay and proof (not to be printed, I fancy soon) - also just rec'd from Century a little eight line poemet proof, "My 71st year" (I believe for Nov.) - I enclose Pearsall Smith's good letter rec'd last evn'g - they have evidently great inward intestinal agitation & unsettledness in Great Britain, (we too here in America, but our belly is so large) - then the unsettledness on the Continent too - as Dear Mrs G said we are all "going somewhere" indeed - I suppose the dyspeptic Carlyle would say "Yes, to hell" - But per contra old black Sojourner Truth was always saying "God reigns yet I tell you" Walt WhitmanUnited States Postal Card. One Cent Nothing But The Address To Be On This Side CAMDEN, N. J. SEPT 4 8PM 89 Dr Bucke London Asylum Ontario CanadaCamden near noon Sept: 4, '89 Fine weather - nothing very different or new - am feeling passably comfortable -rec'd yr's of Dick Flynn's safe return & of y'r satisfaction with the picture! - Did it come in good order? - We too all like it well - T.B. and Frank and H. Tranbel and Herbert G. all here last evn'g - & Mr and Mrs Ingram this forenoon - - I am sitting as usual in the big chair in second story rooms as I write - was out in the wheel chair last even'g Walt WhitmanUnited States Postal Card. One Cent Nothing But The Address To Be On This Side CAMDEN, N. J. SEPT 2 8PM 89 Dr Bucke London Asylum Ontario CanadaCamden Evn'g Sept: 2 '89 Am feeling middling well-ab't as usual - sort o' busy all day -bowel action this forenoon - -a long letter from Mrs. O'C from North Perry Maine - nothing special - am going out in the wheel chair for a short turn- Walt WhitmanUnited States Postal Card. One Cent Nothing But The Address To Be On This Side CAMDEN, N. J. AUG 29 8PM 89 Dr Bucke London Asylum Ontario CanadaCamden Aug: 29 '89 Am writing this just before sunset feeling pretty fair - been requested by Alden the editor to write a piece for Harper's Monthly & shall send it off this evn'g - If printed I shall either send it you or inform you - Dick Flynn came last evn'g, & he & Ed: are off to-day in Phila - I believe Dick goes hence Saturday - Shall probably send the picture by him - just had to pay nearly $40 for taxes to the banditti who govern our city here - - word from Burroughs yesterday he is well back in West Park Walt WhitmanUnited States Postal Card One Cent Nothing But The Address To Be On This Side. CAMDEN, N. J. AUG 27 8PM 89 Dr Bucke London Asylum Ontario CanadaCamden Aug: 27 89 Am pretty comfortable & easy upon the whole - breakfast toast, honey & tea - have just written to Mrs O'C - also an "autobiographic note" for Horace's dinner book, (a page, fine type) - bowel voidance this forenoon (first during a week) - sit here alone abit the same - the weather markedly changed cooler to-day - - the Japanese Hartman call'd yesterday - - have been idly reading & scribbling a little to-day - one of my let-ups Walt Whitman Yr's of 25th comes - shall be glad to see Dick Flynn (Postmark) CAMDEN, N. J. AUG 22 8PM 89 Dr Bucke Asylum London Ontario CanadaCamden pm Aug: 22 '89 Hot & oppressive weather - bad spell for me - one of the very bad ones (like when you were here fourteen mo's ago) - now the sixth day Sunset - am certainly easier -have a fine photo: for you shall I sent it on, or keep it (as it is pretty big.) - Herbert Gil: here last evn'g - good visit - yr's came - am sitting here alternating bet: ch'r & bed Walt Whitman Camden 1889 Sept 6 early pm - a warm rather oppressive day - these middle hours - not well - lying down a good deal - - bowel active yesterday - yr's rec'd - out to river ride last evn'g by wheel chair Sept: 7 - pm - ab't same - rather bad but nothing extreme - had a partially good night - a card from Kennedy nothing very significant - a good 'memoriam' article in "Liberty" Boston Sept. 7 by Horace ab't O'Connor - I expect some copies & then I will send you one - - Ed has been over to the big launch the new war ship "Philadelphia " noon to-day - - weather middling to-day warmish a little air - Horace's dinner book, will be out next week - I am sitting here in big chair - alternate to bed Sept 8 - noon - a shade easier - rather extra breakfast a rare fried egg. Graham toast, roast apple & tea - bowel action - - cloudy, still day, not warm - TBH and Mr Green, English Unitarian preacher just here - card fr'm Kennedy enc'd just rec'd also an old letter f'm Dowden Walt Whitman Camden as usual Saturday pm Sept. 14 '89 - The sun shining this afternoon & pleasant after four or five days of rain & gale, very bad around here and at sea but nothing specially alarming here - I am much the same - not feeling at all easy & free fr'm disturbance - Sir Edwin Arnold here yesterday afternoon ab't an hour - a tanned English traveler - I liked him - an actor from Phila. theatre also here yesterday. - I sit here in 2d story room, alive - I rather expect to go out later in wheel chair, first time in ab't a week - - Ed is well went to see "Bohemian Girl" Eng. opera - Horace comes regularly - you will see Mrs OC's letter just rec'd - yrs come & welcomed always - I will keep you posted when any new little pieces of mine come out Walt Whitman (Postmark) CAMDEN, N. J. SEP 22 5PM 89 Dr Bucke Asylum London Ontario CanadaCamden pm Sept 22 '89 Quite cool here - I have an incipient fire to-day & yesterday, Am feeling as usual , - middling fair - very quiet to-day, Quite a strong "last word" from J A Symonds f'm Switzerland - you will see it in Horace's book that will be out next week I guess - Walt WhitmanUNITED STATES POSTAL CARD ONE CENT NOTHING BUT THE ADDRESS ON THIS SIDE CAMDEN, N.J. SEP 18 8PM 89 Dr Bucke Asylum London Ontario CanadaCamden noon Sept: 18 '89 Yr's f'm "Star House" rec'd - I send herewith "Liberty" with Horace's piece ab't O'C - cloudy, dark, rainy here several days & now - So-so with me - Nothing I suppose very bad, but bad enough - - am sitting here in my "den" as usual - growing cooler weather - a poor night last - indication that "fall" & even winter & the need of fire are approximating - - haven't been out in the wheel chair some days - eat bread, honey, & drink tea - relish all - No sales of L of G Walt WhitmanCamden early pm Sept 25 '89 Dark & rainy weather continued - mild cold - moderate bowel action - still eat mutton & rice broth, graham bread, honey & tea. Am sitting here in the 2d story room, alone, trying to while away the day - but this is all the old, old story - Am feeling fairly to-day but dull, dull - i told you that Harper's Monthly (H M Alden editor) had accepted & paid for "Death's Valley" a little peomet to illustrate an engraving fr'm a picture "the shadow of the Valley of Death" by the N Y painter Ennis (or Inness) - the Harper's Weekly (John Ford editor) has accepted & paid for "Bravo! Paris Exposition!" - Ed is making up the bed as I write - I have been anxious ab't the French election - glad republic canism has done as well as it has (for want of better) - it is the lodgement of free institutions in Europe that pends - I enclose John Burrough's last - haven't heard f'm him since - thanks f'r yr's Walt Whitman Camden noon Sept 27 89 Bright sunny day - quite cool - Ed has just built a fire - I am sitting here as usual in the big chair - suppose you get the "Harper's Weekly", I sent yesterday with my little poemet "Bravo Paris Exposition!" - Nothing very new or notable - bowel action - no medicines no doctor visits for a long time - Mrs O'C must be still in Boston, (she went temporarily thence to Nantucket but I guess has returned) - I guess R P Smith has return'd to 44 Grosvenor Road, London - (I have sent of late by mail to him at Haselmere) yr's rec'd - welcomed have not been out in wheel chair many days - shall probably get out this afternoon Sept. 28 noon - sunny & cool continued. Am feeling fairly - John Burroughs is here this afternoon - has been at Asbury Park (a nice place on the Jersey sea shore) the last week, with his wife & boy - all well - the last two have gone back to Po'Keepsie & John jaunts on here & to New York to night, & back to West Park J is well, & looks well, works in his vineyard & farm, & feels well, Dr Brinton here last evn'g (with Horace) - talked interestingly of Arabia where he has lived lately - of the common people & their ways, looks, & life - the bulk of Arabs - - I have grapes quite copiously of late, & eat them Shall send this off Saturday night Walt Whitman letters to-day (28th) f'm Mrs. O'C and Kennedy all wellhere enclosed is an old letter of Kennedy - may interest you - may not. Camden Saturday noon Oct 5 '89 Sunny & coolish & fine - have a good oak fire - I think the press work of Horace's Dinner book must have been done yesterday or day before, & the binding will follow soon & you shall have it. -There is quite a (I suppose they claim first class) pretensive magazine "The New England Monthly". out in Boston & Horace has been formally invited to write them a ten page article ab't me (life works, L of G, etc I suppose of course) wh he is going to do - $25 pay - nothing new or special with me, condition etc. - the old dulness & heaviness - head (catarrhal?) & bladder - have laid in a cord of good hard dry oak, all sawed - eat pretty heartily - nights so-so - havn't been out for a fortnight - are you interested in this All-Americas Delegates' visit here at Washington Convention? - their trip RR, 50 of them between five and six thousand miles in US without change of car interests me much - it is the biggest best thing yet in recorded history - (the modern is something after all) - they say this racket in the interest of protection - but I sh'd like to know how it can be prevented fr'm helping free trade & national brotherhood - - you fellows are not in this swim I believe - but you tell the Canadians we US are "yours faithfully" certain, & dont they forget it - Walt Whitman (Postmark) PHILADELPHIA OCT 10 11PM 89 (Postmark) CAMDEN, N. J. OCT10 8PM 89 Dr Bucke Asylum London Ontario CanadaCamden Oct. 10 '89 Yr's of 8th rec'd - weather pleasant here - - nothing very new - shall send you the sheets of the "Dinner Book" as soon as I get them (or Horace will) - the press work seems to have been delayed, but I believe it is now done - McKay was here yesterday - pd. me $88.56 royalty &c (the past six months) - will send the NE Magazine - the carpenter &c here to-day making repairs, shores, &c - (the old shanty some danger of sagging, tumbling &c.) Walt Whitman(Postmark) CAMDEN, N. J. OCT 8 8PM 89 Dr. Bucke Asylum London Ontario CanadaCamden Oct 8 '89 Yr's of 6th rec'd - Did you get the Harpers' Weekly Sept. 28 with my little "Bravo Paris Exposition!" I sent? Nothing very new- I am poorly and depressed enough - (a very near relative has been seriously ill- last news better) - had very good buckwheat cakes for breakfast - cold and sunny - am sitting alone here in chair as usual W W(Postmark) CAMDEN, N. J. OCT 3 8PM 89 Dr Bucke Asylum London Ontario CanadaCamden Oct 3 after dark '89 Nothing special--sunny & coolish--I have fire-- good bowel action yesterday-- -- have been reading Sarrazin in full -- it is both immense & definite--have we had any thing up to it yet? --& to think it comes from Paris! W WCamden toward noon Oct. 12 '89 Horace was here last evn'g - the Dinner B it seems was not put to press yet f'r some reason but was to be this forenoon - Miss Gould's little "Gems from W W" is out, (a finished specimen any how) - it makes a neat looking little oblong booklet - what it may am't to we will see-- - the most uncanny item of my news is that Ed is going to leave here & go back to Canada (London I believe) for the purpose of finishing his veterinary studies-- - I am abt as usual (my less uncomfortable feet foremost) to-day - bowel evacuation - -breakfast an egg & bread & honey- Mrs. O'C seems to be in Boston yet - I guess fairly well - weather fine here to-day - Harry Stafford was here - he is well - Kennedy is busy at MS of Whittier's life (something of a pot boiler I fancy fr him) - nothing lately fr'm Mrs. Costelloe or the Smiths - New York Johnston was here (returning fr'm Templars racket at Washington) - I am going to try & get out in the air in wheel chair to-day - Love to all Walt WhitmanCamden Oct: 15 noon '89 Well Maurice you must have rec'd Horace's "Camden's Compliment" sheets, as he sent them to you last evn'g, as soon as he could get a copy f'm the printing office - I have just been looking over them - a curious & interesting collection - a concentering of praise & eulogy rather too single & unanimous & honeyed for my esthetic sense (for tho' it has not got around, that same esthetic is one of my main governments, I may candidly say to you) I am sitting here alone & pretty dull & heavy - fairly, though I guess - bowel movement - - rainy, raw, dark weather - oak wood fire - - nothing further ab't Ed's leaving here, but I suppose he intends leaving - he is here yet - We have got along very well indeed - A book rec'd fr'm Edwd Carpenter "Civilization, its Cause & Cure" (the disease part of all) - few visitors lately - a steady shower of autograph applications by mail - Carpenter & Mason here propping up this old shanty - it was giving out & down - - I have been reading (4th time probably) Walter Scott's "Legend of Montrose" and other of his Scotch stories - Dave McKay sent them over - Mary Davis is good to me, as always - had a pretty fair night. (Ed generally gives me a good currying before) - had an egg cocoa & bread & honey for breakfast - Walt WhitmanCamden Oct. 16 '89 Noon - Sunny splendid day - have had a good bath &c - feeling so-so - Ed has gone over to my friend Tom Donaldson's - D seems to take a fancy for Ed & he reciprocates - I am sitting here in the den in my big chair - Ed is leaving here soon Londonward - is there any special thing you want to commission him to get or bring for you? - - McKay has gone off on a short drumming trip to New York and Boston & yr's rec'd last evening - - mutton & rice broth, graham toast & tea f'r my breakfast 3 1/2 pm Sun & splendor continued - no visitors - no letters - Kennedy sends Boston Transcript regularly - I sent it on to Mrs O'C in Wash'n - but she is now in Boston - Ed still over in Phil - have been looking over Horace's book further - some pages are very inspiriting & encouraging especially Sarrrazin's and Symonds - but the main wonder fact of it all is that L of G seems quite decidedly to have or begin to have a real and respectable and outspeaking clientelage - - am having a pretty comfortable day - they have hung an electric at the corner above & it glints in here line moonlight after dark very pretty - I sit in the dark & enjoy it - God bless you all in your risings up & goings down - Walt WhitmanCamden Oct 18 toward noon '89 Feeling middling - am scribbling a little - I believe the ensuing Century is to print my little poemet "My 71st Year'" - & I think of sending off a piece to Harper's - sent it off Friday evn'g - w'd make a page - fine sunny weather now the third day - A young rather green fellow, Charles Sterrit, came over here as candidate for my new nurse & helper - - could not tell only from practice trial - is to come Monday - what slight impression I had was rather pleasant - we are all sorry Ed is going - every thing has been smooth & good without anything - no hitch or anything of the kind - bowel action this forenoon - pretty fair I guess these late & current days - am sitting here in my den, alone as usual, - have rec'd the Boston "Transatlantic", it is like Harper's Weekly in form & semi monthly - Y'r letters come - thanks - O how beautiful it looks out - the sun shining clear - & the active people flitting to and fro - - 9 pm am sitting here alone - comfortable enough- Ed has gone over to the theatre with one of Mrs. D's boys - - Alys Smith (the dear handsome gay-hearted girl) has come back and was here this afternoon - all are stout & well & hearty over there in London - Mary least so, but she not ill - I guess "society" (a great humbug) is a bad strain on her & the responsibility of household & two little children - & Mary is not a rugged girl - Saturday pm, ab't same - right as can be expected - have rec'd Arnold's printed letter in Lond. Telegraph & will send you by-and-by - A is on the Pacific en route - Horace comes regularly - the nurse:dislocation bothers us (but all goes into a life time) Love to you all Walt WhitmanCAMDEN, N. J. OCT 22 8PM 89 Dr Burke Asylum London Ontario CanadaCamden pm Oct: 22 '89 Fine sunny weather continued - Warren Fritzinger one [of] of Mrs D's sailor boys is acting as my nurse & helper - I have just had a good massage - - get along fairly - send you the London Telegraph with Sir E A's letter yr's rec'd - Suppose [is] Ed is there all right by this time - Shall I send you my N Y Critic after reced? - You shall have the 1872 ed'n L of G. & I think I have Harrington for you too W WCAMDEN, N. J. OCT 21 8 PM 89 Dr. Bucke Asylum London Ontario CanadaCamden Oct: 21 pm '89 Ed has left - goes in the 4.15 train - I send you by him a parcel of portraits - tell me if they reach you in good order - - Am feeling in one of my easier spells just now - the man, who was to come to-day has not put in an appearance - am sitting here as usual - Mrs: D is just making up the bed - cloudy raw to-day - Don't be uneasy ab't me in any, respect. - nature has not only endowed me with immense emotionality - but immense bufferism in (so to call it) or placid resignation to what happens W WCamden, early pm Oct: 23 '89 Quite a spiteful east wind snow storm all this forenoon (it melted as it fell) - have some fulness & pain in head but am getting along fairly - bowel action (middling) - I have been sitting here, trying to interest myself in the mn'g papers - have three of them - & my mail - hasty note frequently fr'm Kennedy (one enclosed) - McKay sent over yesterday for one of the big books (the "complete") for a customer - - McK has them from me for $4 - I suppose you got Tennyson's "Throstle" I sent - (rayther funny) - y'r letter just rec'd - - you must have all had a jolly time Delaware ward & there - Where is Pardee? & how is he developing? tell the boy I have not forgot him - Best love & respects to Mrs B too - - Is Beemer there yet? & how is he? if there give him my love, W F Warren Fritzinger has just (1 pm) given me a good currying (with a horse brush) & will give me another ab't 9 1/2 - they are very acceptable to me - sting a little & make my flesh all red - - One of the Cambridge, Mass: College fellows has just sent to get L of G. the pk't b'k ed'n - sent the money - several have been b't there before - I shall have some adv: circulars printed soon, & will send you some - It is stormy looking enough out, n e wind, but the snow fall stop't & no signs of it on the ground - Love to you & God bless you all, Walt WhitmanCamden Saturday Oct: 26 pm '89 Am so-so - sitting here as usual - had the old half trembling sapless leafless tree in front cut down & the walk brick-paved over this forenoon (was afraid it wd fall & perhaps hurt some one) - - all done by a stout young black man in less than two hours $2 1/2 (& I gave him a glass of sherry) - - was satisfied with the whole job - good bye old tree - how long shall I linger behind? ("Why cumbereth it the ground?") - Harper's Monthly man rejects my poem - says it is too much an improvasition - An Englishman (in a eulogism with the money) sends in a letter rec'd this m'ng for a pk't-b'k L of G - Alice Smith, the dear delicate cheery girl, is over this afternoon & pays me a good long sunshiny visit - - I have been down in the little front room for a change - dark cloudy half raw weather - inclined to rain - Evn'g - 8 1/2 - moderate & rainy - Tom Harned here - Horace too Have been reading of T Fields's "Yesterday with authors" read the Hawthorne piece every line - then the others, [????] of letters good idea If any one throws up to you the praise (or sweetness or eulogism) of your W W book - let him read these two pieces ab't Hawthorne and Dickens - gossipy but very interesting this book of Fields - am sweating moderately to-night - Sunday forenoon Oct. 27 - Rainy & dark - buckwheat cakes & honey & coffee for breakfast - a fairly good night - sitting here alone by stove - bowel action at 10 - head mussy (?catarrhy) sore & aching half uneasy - reading the Sunday Phil. Press - this enclosed piece is (I suppose) in Nov. Century - as I take it Mrs O'C is yet in Boston Walt WhitmanNY 10-24-89 11PM CAMDEN, N. J. OCT 24 430PM 89 8 AM OC 26 Dr Bucke London Asylum Ontario CanadaCamden Oct: 24 '89 A fine sunny cold day - yr's rec'd this mn'g - I send you papers this mn'g - (a mistake that they were sent Horace had them) - am feeling middling - appetite good - - sleep not bad - (must have a quite uninterrupted nap of say four hours f'm 12 to 4 nearly every night) - an egg (fried very rare) with graham br'd for my breakfast - tea, cocoa or coffee - no medicine or spirits at all - bad or half-bad head 'muss' (catarrhal - ? cold in head feeling) 5/6th of the time - & more or less bladder trouble same - not so weak as four months ago W WCamden '89 Sunday night - Oct: 27 - Strange I did not get word by to-night's mail of the arrival of Ed or y'r picture-packet I sent - due by noon 21st - & y'r letter 25th rec'd to-night - a dull day no visitors - I wriggle f'm the chair to the bed - read & write &c &c - but keep up pretty good spirits - will see what to-morrow brings forth - Oct: 28 - It is near noon - yrs of 26th rec'd - Give my best remembrance and love to Pardee, to Maurice, and to Dr Beemer - want to hear soon as Ed W arrives whether the packet of pictures reaches you in good order - you will see Tennysons "Throstle" in one of the papers I sent - I send you last "Critic" - (I think there is more piled on & more honey plaster'd on Fields's Hawthorne and Dickens papers in the "yesterdays" than I said they are both good tho') - - I enclose a "Viking Age" notice - my tho't is we are (myself among the rest) more genesis'd f'm those far-back Danes and Norwegians than we have any idea of, or have allow'd for - Dull and heavy & alone yesterday, & to-day - head in a rather bad way - - dark & half-rainy weather continued - am writing a little but not feeling ab't it - is now 2 pm - no Horace yesterday - Walt WhitmanCamden Monday night Oct. 28 '89 Horace has been in & bro't a copy of the actual finish'd "Camden's Compliment" book - & I suppose you will have some copies sent on to you to-morrow (before this gets to you I fancy) It looks very well - & it has seem'd to me as I have just been looking over it an almost 'incredible book' - deliberately I never expected to live to read such explicit things ab't L of G - probably the last pages are the most curious & incredible - Have had some New England (Fall River, Mass) visitors this afternoon, who bo't books (two ladies & one man) - cloudy & moderate to-day all Tuesday 29th - began sunshine but soon clouded and rain-looking - a rare egg Graham bread & tea for my breakfast - extra bad fullness & uncomfortableness in head - sitting here alone as usual - good letter (enclosed) f'm Pearsall Smith - - had a good currying (kneading) ab't 1 - - a letter f'm Kennedy this midday mail but no news of Ed's arrival safe in Canada - - the Unitarians are having a sort of general convention in Phila - & Tom Harned and Horace are interested & attending - unpleasant this ab't Mary Costelloe's ailing health & strength - I think quite a good deal ab't it - my sister at Burlington Vermont is sick - makes me somber - (primp'd here like a rat in a cage) sometimes the old Adam will burst forth - perhaps does good to let out the gall for a little - have been reading a book ab't Voltaire - I wonder if some of his caustisity han't got in me Walt WhitmanCamden Oct: 30 '89 - near noon Still cloudy, dark & threatening rain - My sister Lou this forenoon with a nice chicken & some Graham biscuits - Warren (my nurse, my sailor boy) drove her out in a little wagon to the cemetery "Evergreen" where my dear mother & Lou's baby children are buried - as she wanted to go out there to see to the graves - Ab't the same as usual with me - have been sitting here trying to interest myself in the morning papers, - Tom Harned took 200 of the little book & has sold 100 of them - they have not yet been delivered - Horace sold one last night yours had not yet gone - I urged him to see they were sent forthwith - (there is a good deal in the little book - partly as a curio - partly as a momento of L of G. history) PM - Of course still sitting here - - "Potter" around, bathe or partly bathe, hitch around, &c: &c: to while away time - have quite a mail of papers &c: sometimes the queerest letters imaginable - - No news yet of Ed's arrival & y'r reception of the packet of pictures - - A friend has just been in with a lady's album for autograph - - These two scraps I cut from Boston Transcript just rec'd - Kennedy's letter enclosed - (Mrs: K lately visited me - very pleasant & good) - Walt Whitman New York is to have a monument to Goeth. It is to be erected in Central Park, at an expense of $30,000. The sculptor is Henry Baerer, who designed the Beethoven monument in New York and the John Howard Payne statue in Brooklyn. The Goethe monument is to be twenty- four feet high, with a colossal bronze figure of the great German poet at the summit, and four life- size sitting groups in bronze around the granite pedestal, viz., "Faust and Margret," "Iphigenia and Orestes," "Herman and Dorothea at the Well," "The Harpist and Mignon." The cost will be defrayed by the students and admirers of Goethe, with the cooperation of the Goethe Society. EMIN BEY AND HIS WORK In person Emin is a slender man, of medium height, and tough and wiry figure. He is swarthy, with black eyes and hair. His face is that of a studious professional man, and that impression is heightened by the glasses which he always wears. His attitudes and movements are, however, very alert. He stands erect and with his heels together, as if he had been trained as a soldier. He was always reticent about himself, and his history was known to no one in the Soudan or the Provinces of the Equator. He was supposed to me a Mohammedan. I am not sure that he ever said that he was, but I am quite sure that he did not deny it when I knew him. It has become known later that he is a German, of university education; but there were many at that time who thought that he was a Turk of extraordinary acquirements. He is certainly a man of great ability in many ways, and of strong character. Just why such a man should have gone where he has and stayed there is hard to see. Probably it was largely force of circumstances and a spirit of adventure. Certainly when he went there there was no prospect of much pay or distinction, and he was actuated by no great philanthropic ardor. Responsibilities gradually came upon him, and he rose to them. It is easy to see how, in a character like Erin's - sympathetic, reflective and enthusiastic - noble purposes were developed with a noble example before him and great opportunities around him. Emin's uncertain power in a savage land is all that remains of the late khedive's central African empire. (Colonel H. G. Proud, in November Scribner.Camden Oct: 31 '89 "The same subject continued" - good bowel passage last evn'g - my sailor boy nurse (Warren Fritzinger he is just making up the bed) had a letter from Ed this morning - so he got there all right any how - buckwheat cakes & honey for my breakfast - did you not see he got £250 for it Tennyson's "Throstle" & a burlesque of it in one of the papers I sent you? - Gosse I sh'd call one of the amiable conventional wall flowers of literature (see Thackeray - "yellowplush" I think) - we too have numbers of good harmless well-fed sleek well-tamed fellows, like well-ordered parlors crowded all over with wealth of books (generally gilt & Morocco) & statuary & pictures & bric-a-brac - lots of 'em showing first rate - but no more real pulse and appreciation than the wood floors or lime & sand walls - (one almost wonders whether literary even Emersonian culture dont lead to all that) - - toward noon weather here turns to rain both also - bet'n 12 and 1 I had a good massage, pummeling &c [?] have had a visit fr'm some of the Unitarian conference - - yr's of 29th rec'd - my head, hearing, eyes, bad to-day, yet I am feeling pretty fairly - a present fr'm R P Smith of a cheque for $25 to-day - sent him the pk't-b'k Morocco ed'n L of G - Mrs: Davis off to-day to Doylestown, Penn: (20 miles from here) to visit &. comfort a very old couple - returns to-night - my sailor boy has just written to Ed & has gone to the P O to take it - it is towards 3pm & dark & glum out & I am alone - - have a good oak fire - am sitting here vacant enough, as you may fancy (but it might be worse) - have myself for company, such as it is, any how - God bless you all - Walt WhitmannCamden '89 Friday 8pm Nov. 1 - Been in the room here of course all day - yr's rec'd - of Ed's safe arrival & call on you - is the pocket of prints in good order? - I have sent letter & some prints to R P Smith, Eng: - send you papers & quite freely but not much in either - Have been looking over Nov. Century - lots of poetry! in it - a good word. eng: (T Johnson) of Esop. fr'm photo of pt'g by Velasquez (Spain) - wonderfully good I looked at it frontispiece for ten minutes - By what the fellows (expert) tell me who have traveled in Spain I guess there is no portrait painting existing any better than V's - Nov. 2 toward noon - cloudy & dark & rain looking - buckwheat cakes & honey for breakfast - bowel action - Herbert G here last evn'g - rec'd fr'm Century (& sent back) proof of my little 8 line poemet "Old Age's Ship & Crafty Deaths" - Have you rec'd the dinner books? How does that print of Morse's bust seem to you? 1/2 past 2 - still dark & raining - had a good pummeling an hour ago - & shall have another at 9 evening - My sailor boy is first rate at it - he gives me the best curryings of all - - goes into it (as the great painter Corot. Demanded his pupils to go to work) with conscience - Am sitting here the same - weather temperature mild - (I am half sweating a good deal of the time) God bless you all - Walt WhitmanCamden Monday noon Nov 4 '89 Fine sunny day - perfect temperature - bowel action - Alys Smith here last evn'g (a beautiful holly branch with red berries & green leaves), a nice long visit - Mary C not at all as well as c'd be expected. (her letter to me enclosed) - She is going off to Spain and France on a half-jaunt half-racket (by advice of the doctor) - also rec'd a good letter from Ernest Rhys (wh I will send you) - by this time E R is back in London - I don't hear any thing of Mrs. O'Connor but I suppose she is yet in Boston - I hear often (& very welcome) fr'm Kennedy - - Tom Harned was here - he has sent off the "Compliment" to nearly a dozen people (purchasers) in parcels of fr'm one or two copies to a dozen - all like it - (T H you know signed to take & pay for 200 copies to McK) The big general Unitarian Conference in Phila: is over - had lots of speeches, discussions advises pro, & con &c: I suppose all part of the great intestinal agitation that seems to be perhaps the great feature of the civilized world old & new - our times - & no or few markedly individualized specimens (perhaps a good mark - "happy is that country era that has no history") - have sent off the little MS cluster "Old Age Echoes" to English "Nineteenth Century" - if not rejected I will of course send you a slip - I am sending a Compliment to Sarrazin and to Bertz Berlin - of course very dull & stupid with me here but I guess every thing going with me fairly considering - am sitting here alone in my den by the oak-wood fire alone as usual - my sailor boy is off to the dentist for a long, bad job with teeth - Fair appetite & night's rest continued - Fair spirits &c - in fact congratulating myself I get along as well as I am & do-- Walt WhitmanCamden Wednesday Nov: 6 am '89 Feeling fairly - bright sunny day - cool - was out yesterday ab't 2 in wheel chair (first time in three weeks) but it was markedly coolish, & I didn't feel to stay out long had turned cool since noon - send you French paper Le Temps with "Bravo! Paris Exposition" - I am still scribbl'g a little - yr's (two) came last evn'g - thanks - We have sent the Compliment to most of the foreign friends - am a good deal exercised ab't Mary Costelloe - I too feared a sort of collapse or break-down - (am a little fearful that the Spanish journey & racket will feed the enemy as much as it saps him) - 2pm - Have had a strong currying & pummeling - good - quiet election yesterday & guiet to-day - (Harrisonian, Republicanism is losing its grip as is to have been expected - - the party-politics business here is a sad muddle every way. - Scrawl just rec'd fr'm Kennedy - enclosed Walt WhitmanCamden Saturday noon Nov: 9 '89 Yr's rec'd - Ab't same as usual with me. - Dark & glum & rainy to-day - have been scribbling a memorandum of what I saw (ab't 1831) of Aaron Burr New York - (I wrote one three yr's ago, but seem to have lost it & the MS - he was one of our most important & curious 1776 - 1836 characters - died in the last mention'd year - - 1pm Have had a good kneading massage & back rubbing &c - very helpful - F B Sanborn has sent a letter to Horace, wh' H will someday tell you more fully ab't, but S don't want it published (? at present) - is ab't Edw'd Emersons sneaking lying note anent of me in his late b'k ab't R W E - B is cool & collected & conservative but I consider him a real honest permanent friend of self and L of G - 3 1/2 pm - Still glum & rainy pouring down hard now & most dark - of course have been in all day occupying the big arm chair - dull enough, & yet, better perhaps than you might suppose (this virgorous pummeling treatment is a sort of salvation) - have been looking (2nd time) again at the Hawthorne in Fields's "yesterdays" - H seems to have been quite a good deal of what we Unionists & Anti-Slaveryites call'd a Copperhead - yet somehow we take to such characters - not pure silver or gold - quite mixed even questionable - like Burns Mary Stuart Aaron Burr (perhaps Shakespeare) Lord bless you - Walt WhitmanCamden, just pm Nov: 12 '89 Bright sunny day - yr's came last evn'g - expect Mrs. O'C now en route for Wash'n - shall try to get out in wheel chair a little to-day - nothing very different in my affairs or condition - pretty dull & heavy as I sit here mostly alone (left to latent resources, but somehow get along) Evn'g - had a good hearty massage at 1 & went out in wheel chair soon after 2 quite - a jaunt - went to the bank - went down to the river side sun, river & sky fine - sat 15 minutes in the Nov. sun - find my head & bodily strength pretty low yet (no improvement) I like my sailor boy nurse I cannot move without his help - my grub to-day rice-and-mutton broth, bread, and stewed prunes - appetite fair - feeling pretty fair as I sit here just after 6 - (it is dark here now by 5) - bowel action not bad & this head botheration (heaviness, stuffiness, half ache) unintermitted - at times quite bad - but consider myself blessed to have it all as well as I do - you fellows in the Asylum must have gay times - God bless you all - Walt WhitmanUnited States Postal Card. One Cent Nothing But The Address To Be On This Side Camden, N.J. Nov 13 8PM 89 1 Dr Bucke London Asylum Ontario CanadaCamden Evng Nov 13 '89 Mrs: O'C. has been here most of the day (returns to Wash'n Friday or Saturday evening) - looks better a good deal than I anticipated - is pretty well for her - a very good visit & talk - all the particulars of last hours of O'C, and then the funeral - & many things - but especially the evidence & presence of my dear friend Mrs: O'C herself - WWCamden Saturday noon Nov: 16 '89 Bright sunny cold day - feeling fairly - bowel action - an egg, Graham toast, stewed peaches & cocoa for breakfast - reading & scribbling aimlessly - - a lull in visitors, mail &c - Mrs. O' C. must be in Washington DC same address - Wm left two great boxes of MSS wh' she is to overhaul - - he had for many years been at intervals on a story "The Brazen Android" - quaint and old & mystic - - was once sent out & party set in type (by the Atlantic) & then recall'd by O'C - - I am sitting here as usual (the same old story) - have a good oak-wood fire - am ab't to have my "currying' - makes a good mid-day break indeed - very sunny out WWIF NOT CALLED FOR IN FIVE DAYS RETURN TO White-Hall-Hotel S. M. CRALL, PROPRIETOR HARRISBURG, PA. WALT WHITMAN ESQ. CAMDEN. N. J. HARRISBURG, PA. 9 30 AM OCT 28 89 United States Postage Two Cents 2 CAMDEN O [?] 4 PM 1889 REC'D.Camden 1889 Nov: 13 7 1/2 pm - Rainy & dark moderate temperature all day - - stewed oysters, Graham bread, apple sauce & coffee for my 4 1/2 supper - great show of all color'd chrysanthemums this season hereabout you must have a splendid show of them - the yellow (canary) & white in a bunch are my favorites - but all are beautiful & cheery - - I told you (in a p card) of Mrs: O'C's visit here Nov: 14 11am - Fine bright sunny forenoon - I suppose Mrs. O'C will return to Wash'n to-morrow - she is lodging with a friend in Phila - I am sitting here as usual - no letter mail yesterday & this forenoon, (except my usual daily stranger's autograph application) - pretty dull with me these days - yet I think I keep fair spirits (a blessed hereditament probably f'm my dear mother - otherwise I sh'd go up forthwith) - am interested in that program of lectures, concerts, balls, &c: for the patients there - good, good - - 1 1/4 pm Have had a good massage & now I am going out in the wheel chair - the sunshine bright & alluring indeed, The Lord be with you Walt Whitman 3 1/2 - have been out a little while in the wheel chair & return'd - all rightCamden Evn'g Nov. 19 '89 Feeling fairly - dark, wet day- bowel action - have just written a ten or twelve line welcome sonnet to Brazil) "A north star to a South" & send it off to Harpers Weekly - yr's just rec'd - sold a big book & sent it off by express to Maine - Dull & stupid as can be here, - Capital massages tho' rough & rasping as I can stand like the ones ordered by my old Washington physician in '73 - went up to Tom Harned's & took a glass of champagne- H full of work (making money too) - - the new baby growing & splendid - - I forget whether you ever got the really good & full edition of Robert Burns Globe edition 636 pages 16 mo (or 12 mo) Macmillan pub'r Alexander Smith editor - if not get one - the common cloth bound is 3s 6d sterling I sh'd give you mine bot I cannot spare it - Burns shows deeply (they all do) how the personnel the fortunes ups & downs & concrete & worldly & physiological facts are indispensable to getting really in his meaning & works Walt WhitmanBelmont, Mass Oct 18 '89 To W. W. - Yes, dear Heart, I have - a copy of the Transatlantic, sent me gratis, & I had laid it by to send you, & do so. I go now & get a wrap up. I have not given up, & never shall the pub. of my apotheosis of W. W. Wilson has the MS. I keep fondling that pocket ed of L. of G. It just meets my ideal. A book has doubled in value by pocket-form. My cousin has gone. Shall send her yr word. Her 160 acres in Dakota has risen to $50 per acre - 4 miles fr. Pierre. They call the Missouri river terraces "benches" out there she says. She speaks of bull - berries or buffalo berries, small, red, set in thorns good jelly. "Bull - berries" sounds strong & good. I dont think I shall choose to be alone on a hill-top five days again (as will her here): It's too exciting & tantalizing!! And she a widder, too! Must go to supper Wilhelm S. Kennedy.Camden Nov: 21 '89 - Cloudy now the third day - nothing very new - my little poemet (welcoming Brazil republic) return'd from Harper's Weekly rejected - - I am feeling fairly - the suspicion (not at all decided) of fairer strength continued - the bad weather however has kept me in the last four days - rest &c last night satisfactory - rare fried eggs, Graham bread, stewed prunes & tea for my breakfast - I'm sitting here (same, same old story) in the big rocking chair alone in den - - the elder of the two young sailor men, Harry Fritzinger has just been up to see me - I like the two fellows & they so me good (his brother Warren is my nurse) - I sent you "The American" with the notice of Sarrazins book in it - send me word if you get the bundle safe - the Boston Transcript has printed a good little notice of the Compliment wh I have given to Horace as he likes to collect all such - I enclose Mrs: O'Cs card just rec'd - she has in view to get an appointment as woman clerk in some Dep't there & will probably get such - Donnely's (cryptogram) pubr's have issued a little livraison of favorable criticisms - & sent me one - shall I send it to you? or have you rec'd one? - I send another piece ab't Dr Sequard - - it is just past noon & I am ab't having my currying, God bless you all Walt WhitmanCamden Dec: 3 '89 Yr's of 1st rec'd & welcome - Much the same as of late continued with me - I saw the Ill: London News portrait - not satisfactory - have sent off the little "Northern Star-Group to a Southern" (welcome to Brazilian Republic) wh' if printed I will see that you get copy - rec'd a good letter f'm Ed: Wilkins - (think it very likely that veterinary business is a good move for Ed: in the future) - lots of bad or half-bad weather here - but I go out a little in the wheel chair - was out yesterday - have just had my mid-day currying - The enclosed printed bit ab't Edw'd Carpenter comes f'm Chicago - (If you write to E C & choose, you can send it to him) - the other is f'm Mrs: O'C who is back in her old quarters in Wash'n - I see you are busy enough - & fulfilling it all - I almost envy you. Walt WhitmanSat: Evn'g - 6 1/2 - Mrs: O'C did not go - leaves Monday - has been over here a couple of hours - is having a nice visit to Phila - Alys Smith & a fellow student girl have been here this evn'g - good visits, talks &c - - Clear weather continued - yr's rec'd & welcomed - Am feeling fairly - suspicion of more strength in me - splendid effect f'm electric light shining in on big bunch of snowy white chrysanthemums - Love - W WPostmark: Nov 8 5 PM [18]89 Walt Whitman Camden N.J.Camden Saturday 1pm Dec: 7 '89 Bright sunny perfect day - have just been out an hour or two a drive in a smooth cab in the rural roads & to Harleigh Cemetery - enjoy'd it well - was out early last evn'g to Tom Harned's to supper & to meet Prof. Cope & others - Herbert Gilchrist there - am feeling fairly - but extremely lame & feeble - get out largely for the change wh' is important - short jaunts & the eating & drinking in moderation (I have not forgotten) - So Jefferson Davis is dead - the papers to day are full - he (will remain) stands as a representative for a bad even foul move - & himself a bad & foul move - that's the deep final verdict of America's soul - - had my currying &c to-day (since above written) - last night & to-day perfection of weather, sky, &c. - I stopt the chair last evn'g & look'd at the full moon & clouds & brightness a long time - - am sitting here alone in my den - one bunch of flowers on the table at my left & another on the right - & Warren my nurse downstairs practicing a violin lesson. Prof: Cope (above) gave a lecture last evn'g in Unitarian ch here on the "Descent of Man" - (a pretty formidable theme ) - they say a good lecture - I came home here at 8 - cant find a cutting fr'm the London "Piccadilly " I desired to enclose - so I put in an old letter fr'm Kennedy - Regards & love to you & Mrs: B & all Walt Whitman Alys Smith here to-day - Mary's trouble is fr'm the eyesCamden Dec 9 '89 9 pm - Rather dull & stupid but all the organs, secretions &c fairly condition'd I guess. - The enclosed is fr'm Rolleston who is or has been in Germany. (Seems to have a magnetic draw thither) - My poemet greeting Brazil US is bo't by McClure's newspaper syndicate & will be printed in them at Christmas - he has sent the pay for it (I told you it was rejected by Harper's Weekly) you must have just rec'd my ad'v circulars I sent four - (you can have any more you want) - damp & dark & very mild here - I have had a bath, & am sitting here alone - Warren my nurse has gone off to get a violin lesson - Horace has been here this evn'g - I have rec'd the 10th & concluding Vol. of Stedman's "American Literature" collect - good I fancy Tuesday, 1pm - Fine sunny, day - just had a good currying & pummeling - fair bowel action this forenoon - so far so good - am going out in the wheel-chair - I believe nothing more this time - God bless you all- Walt Whitman[*London AM DE 16 89 CANADA*] [*CAMDEN, N.J. DEC 13 8 PM*] UNITED STATES POSTAL CARD ONE CENT NOTHING BUT THE ADDRESS TO BE ON THIS SIDE. Dr Bucke Asylum London Ontario CanadaCamden Evn'g Dec: 13 '89 Continuing fairly - have been out in the wheel chair I guess two miles - sunny, mild weather here - So Browning is dead - as it has happened I never read him much - (Does he not exercise & rather worry, the intellect - something like a sum in arithmetic?) - Am sitting here alone as usual in my den - all right I guess Walt WhitmanCamden, Dec: 18 '89 3pm - Every thing, feelings, appetite, bowels, vim, &c: continuing on much the same monotonously but I guess fairly - Have written to Mrs: O'C - no news from her lately - Rec'd word fr'm John Burroughs (wh' I Enclose) - also fr'm Rhys, - have had a good currying bout - I sometimes fancy I get the vitalest ones I ever had, fr'm my present nurse, - young & strong & magnetic he is - - Dark and rainy here now & yesterday not cold - not many visitors - no book sales - suppose you get a bundle of circulars just sent - have just rec'd the news of my friend Chas: W Eldridge's marriage at San Francisco - (g't chum of O'C in war times in Wash'n - of mine also) - 20th - toward noon - feeling so-so - dark & rainy - sold one of the big books yesterday - heard fr'm E C Stedman he is quite prostrated ill nervous lassitude, &c: am sorry - - yr' letter rec'd - you must have lively times there at the Asylum - Wm Ingram here quite a long visit this forenoon - Herbert G. last evn'g - plenty callers - -temperature continues moderate - was out afternoon an hour in wheel chair Saturday noon Dec: 21 Bright sunny day & fair temperature - am ab't same as usual - The Harleigh Cemetery Supt: has just been here - They propose to give me a lot, & I wish to have one in a small side hill in a woods - I am going out soon to locate it - am impress'd pleasantly with the Supt: Wm Wood - nothing special - Merry Christmas to you Mrs: B & the children Walt WhitmanCamden '89 Dec: 25 6pm - have been out to-day in the wheel chair - & down to the kitchen at the table for my supper - now sitting as usual up in my den - J A Symonds from Switzerland has sent the warmest & (I think sh'd be call'd) the most 'passionate' testimony letter to L of G. & me yet - I will send it to you after a little while - yesterday went out (two hours drive) to the Harleigh Cemetery & selected my burial lot - a little way back, wooded, on a side hill - lot 20 x 30 feet --think of a vault & capping all a plain massive stone temple, (for want of better descriptive word) - Harleigh Cemetery is a new burial ground & they desire to give me a lot - - I suppose you rec'd the Critic Dec 26 noon Perfect sunny day. - Tom Donaldson here last evn'g - sold a little pocket-book L of G. to day, & got the money - am feeling fairly (inclined to heavy) to-day - plain indications of rheumatism in my right arm - both my parents had r but not yet in me - - Shall have a currying & then get out in the wheel chair Walt Whitman Sudden death of a special friend & neighbor I have known from her 13th - a fine young handsome woman - typhoid - buried to-dayCamden Sat: Evn'g Jan: 4 '90 Am sitting here toward 8 - nothing very new - am so-so, heavy-headed feeling & the same old insuperable inertia - was out this afternoon in the wheel chair, the sun half-out in starts & rather cool - supper of rice & mutton stew - I continue my non-mid-day meal or dinner - appetite fair - as I sit here my nurse Warren is down stairs practicing on his fiddle Sunday 3 pm - Nothing amiss today - but dull dark rainy weather - am pottering over an article prose essay "Old Poets - and Other Things" probably to be offer'd to NA Review - as they have asked me to write someth'g for them - bowel action - had a good currying two hours ago - breakfast oysters, toast & tea - y'r letters rec'd - am floating along carried idly by the momentum of things I suppose - stupidity may be a strong word but it suggests if not describes my cond'n these times Walt Whitman[*CAMDEN, N. J. JAN 15 6AM 90*] [*NY 1-15-90 11am 12*] [*LONDON AM JA 16 O CANADA*] UNITED STATES POSTAL CARD ONE CENT NOTHING BUT THE ADDRESS TO BE ON THIS SIDE. Dr Bucke Asylum London Ontario CanadaCamden Evn'g Jan 14 '90 Yr's came welcom'd as always, Sunny but colder - out to-day in wheel chair - matters continuing ab't same - did I tell you Kennedy has gone to Transcript news paper office as proof reader? Symonds's letter was not mail'd to you. Am clear of the grip yet - Walt WhitmanCAMDEN, N. J. DEC [?] 5 PM 89 LONDON AM DE 31 89 CANADA Dr Bucke Asylum London Ontario CanadaCamden Sunday Evn'g Dec: 29 '89 Much the same things &c: continued - feeling dull & stupid - dark bad weather - my nurse is laid up sick - Tom Harned here - no serious defection in sleep, appetite or bowel ability - We have had five splendid days till now - Walt WhitmanCamden noon Jan 7 '90 Close to my den the last two or three days - pretty dull every thing - alone nearly all the time - very moderate temperature (but cold probably by the time you get this) - -I guess matters physiological are as well with me as could be expected considering - - when exhilarated with visitors or friends here I probably feel & throw out sort o' extra (wh probably acct's for Horace's glowing picture probably having a very flimsy back ground or none at all) - the main things are a pretty good (born) keeping heredity heart & stalwart genesis constitution - these the main factors - y'r letters always welcomed Walt WhitmanCamden Saturday 8pm Jan 18 '90 Been out a little in the wheel chair this afternoon - yesterday also - Horace here every evening - I write a little - 3/4s people here & hereabouts have the grip - I am free so far (perhaps Beelzebub himself having possession keeps out the smaller devils) - weather variable beyond example - pleasant enough now - sunny to-day - very cold yesterday - - this "cold in the head" (or gathering) continues thru all - bladder business troublesome at night - am sitting here in my den alone as usual by the stove - My nurse gone to the P O - yr's of 17th came to night welcome - corn beef (good) & good roast potato for my supper - appetite sharp enough Sunday am Fine bright day - shall probably get out soon after noon - some stew'd chicken for breakfast - - no doctors & no medicine-taking for many months - - have been formally invited to the Browning memorial testimonial Boston but of course cannot go & do not feel the spirit move me to write them any thing - few letters &c. lately - a good sprinkle of visitors - Good luck to you & all Walt Whitman[Chicago, Oct. 1, 1889. Mr. Walt Whitman, Camden, N. J. Dear Sir:- I would be highly pleased to receive your autograph to place in my collection and hope you will do me the honor of favoring me with it. Resp'y, yours, [Loiscis?] Kelley.]Camden 11am Jan: 22 '90 finish'd toward 4pm - all right Sunny & cold & dry to-day - (most yet this winter) - I keep on much the same - probably slowly certainly ebbing - fairly buoyant spirits - - rare egg & tea & bread for breakfast - good bowel action - shall probably have a poemet (8 or 9 lines) in Feb Century - shall send it you in slip soon as out - Stead has sent me his "Review of Reviews" f'm London - shall I send it to you? - Horace has it now I have written to Mrs. Costelloe - Alys comes quite regularly - RPS is well - Logan writes - am sitting here dully enough - stupid - no exhilaration - no massage or wheel chair to day - my nurse has disappeared for the day - now 3 1/2 o'clock - If I had a good hospital well conducted - some good nurse to retreat to for good I sometimes think it w'd be best for me - I shall probably get worse & may linger along yet some time - of course I know that death has struck me & it is only a matter of time but maybe quite a time yet But I must get off this line - don't know why I got on it - but having written I will let it remain enclosed (I have just come across it & I tho't I w'd send it to you) is Sylvanus Baxter's Pension proposition two years ago - Peremptorily declined by me - but for all that & against my own decision put before the U S H R pension committee at Washington & passed. (Did I send you the the U S H R Committee report?) - but not definitively passed by Congress - perhaps I had better tell you dear Maurice that the money or income question is the one that least bothers me - I have enough to last. This is a sort of crazy letter but I will let it go - Walt Whitman Boston Transcript Jan 18 Mr. Hamlin Garland will begin next Tuesday afternoon at the Boston School of Oratory a course of twenty lectures, to be continued on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, on modern American literature and art. The preliminary lecture on Tuesday will be free to all. Mr. Garland will discuss living facts and novelists, with special reference to Americanism in art. Here are some of the subjects included in his scheme having distinctive interest: Bryant, Cole and Cooper; art beginnings. "The Balladists;" readings from Whittier, Longfellow and Holmes. "Hawthorne and Poe;" the romance. "The Literature of Democracy;" the genre and landscape poetry of Whitman. "The Epic of the Age;" the novel; the American novel. "Americanism in the Novel;" Howells and James. "The Local Novelists;" their significance as precursors. "The Pioneers"; Harte and Miller. "Some Representative Names;" Joseph Kirkland and E. W. Howe; "The Prairie West." Cable, Harris and Miss Murfree; the South. Miss Wilkins, Miss Jewett and Ross Terry Cook; New England unparalleled vitality and importance of the movement. "Poets from the Soil"; farm-life dialect; James Whitcomb Riley. "Sidney Lanier and His Art"; the question of future verse-form; the modern landscape school; cosmic feeling for nature.Camden Jan 31 '90 pm early Ab't the same as usual - a rare egg & Graham bread & prunes & coffee for my breakfast - I am pretty moderate in eating & w'd be abstemious, but I fancy a fairly efficient fortification in stomach helps keep at bay quite many of the wolfs & wolflets of old fellows' physical (& perhaps all fellows) attacks. - I take no medicines at all - hardly any alcoholic drink - never beer - eat plain fare - never risk - the trick is to steer between that last mentioned need to keep the wolf away & the benefit of very light food-eating, wh- is desired for an old fellow - I enclose my latest pieces - - (have not yet seen the Feb: Century but suppose the poemet is in it) - have just been engaged to write some little bits for Munyon's Illustrated World (monthly Phila) - will send you when printed - $10 each, one paid - - So far have escaped the grip (but I guess I have the am't of it in my physical brain already, & have had two years) - Alys Smith comes regularly - does me good to see her - she is the handsomest healthiest best balanced young woman in the world known to me - have quite many visitors - sold a big book yesterday - God bless you & yours - Walt WhitmanBelmont Mass. Dec 27 '89 Dear good Friend, What does this mean - this solemn cemetery business? And yet it is well. It has a solemn = tragic, solid magnificent resoluteness - a kind of secular range of vision - one might expect fr. Walt Whitman - Down then, climbing sorrow! & let us have it over with. & pass on to hope that the burial business wont be mentioned again for many years. Dont get down=hearted, my boy, say I! We read yr strong verse in November Century. Mrs. K & I think yr poems in old age are just as fine as any of the others - softly suffused with an after=glow flush - dream=like & pensive. I'm afraid a kind of grip has got hold of you this weather! Merry Xmas, dear Walt! Your toiling friend. W.S. Kennedy Am reading the Century Life of Lincoln in back numbers.Camden Evn'g Feb. 2 '90 Am half or rather quarter busy writing little things ("pot boilers") to-day and yesterday - help while away the time if nothing else - - get pay moderately in cash (more than they are worth) - - have written the "Common Place" and "Unknown Names" (the masses of common slain soldiers buried after the Secession battles) - and a prose ¶ The Voice - &c &c - I am here alone by the fire - Mrs D has just been in & taken away the supper tray - Am ab't same as before - a little bit of mine "A Death Bouquet" in the Press to-day - I will send you - - the big papers here in America wont publish my welcome to Brazil - but I hear it is printed in Europe Feb 3 - pm - Still going on same an artist been here an hour & more sketching my phiz for something - dull cloudy wet day - a letter fr'm Ed: Wilkins this mn'g - I enclose an old screed f'm Kennedy - God be with you all Walt WhitmanCamden Noon Feb: 5 '90 A rare egg & Graham br'd for my breakfast - y'r good letter rec'd - - the sun is out after clouding for several days - I shall get out a little in wheel-chair (I got out even yesterday) - am moved (as the Quakers say) to write some poemetta these days - partly small orders & part to please myself. - This cold or gathering in the head, & the bladder trouble continued, sometimes quite bad, sometimes less bad - massages unintermitted - appetite, night-rest & bowel action fair to fairish wh' I am thankful for as it is, as no worse - -Some of the fellows hereabout notice that the departing grippe leaves an eye bother, or liability - & there probably is something in that - I have mark'd defection & weakness in my own eyesight (but something of it before) - nothing serious yet - shall try to send you any new thing I give out printed these days without fail prose or verse - Enclosed the "Cipher" bit also another slip of "Old Ages Ship" - Suppose you rec'd the "Death-Bouquet" ¶'s (bad typo errors in it) - God's peace & health to you all Walt WhitmanCamden Feb: 15 '90 - noon Fine sunny weather - I sit here alone pretty dull - this physical brain business (whatever it is) uncomfortable enough - (I have not probably the grip but I suppose must pay my toll one way or another) - - have been writing a little poemet "Twilight Song" & sent it off to the Century - so you see I have not escaped the harness yet. Yr's rec'd - then Matilda Gurd is dead - I remember her well & most favorably - my sympathies & condolences to Mrs. B and you - Mrs: Davis has gone off for a couple of days (more or less) to see an old relative & friend a sea captain, appears to be very sick perhaps dying - in Bucks Co: Penn - Harry Stafford has been very ill but better now - an addition also to his family, baby boy - Alys Smith here yesterday - - have had my midday massage have two one bet: 12 & 1 - & one at 9 before I go to sleep - rather gusty wind - keep a good fire - the great vulgar excitement here is the LeConey murder trial - an unusual muddle & paradox - - Finish this up in my den - am now going down in the little sitting room while Warren goes out on some errands - Love to you & all Walt WhitmanCamden March 6 pm '90 The sun out & fine this afternoon - but we have had a dark cold storm two days - I keep on ab't same as usual - in doors these times - my MS returned fr'm the "Nineteenth Century" Shall find some other market perhaps - (if not shall print in a little another "Annex" - for I contemplate such) - have had my mid-day massage - am sitting here at the table in my den - good oak fire Walt WhitmanStonecroft or Squirrel preserve or cat meadow. Belmont Mass Oct 3, 89 Dear Old Quaker Friend at the horse-taming sea-kings of Long Island; My thorn just writes me a scrawl saying she had a pleasant call on you. After receiving yr somewhat melancholy card saying that "they all came" in on you, preachers & all, I felt rather sorry I asked her to go. But I'm glad she did. She visits always in Philad. at house of her friend Mrs Leslie Miller. "Lel" the husband runs a city school of design up there near Girard College, or nearer the synagogue on Broad St. Well he used to be a progressive man when young & in Boston, wore slouch hats, long hair & read Whitman. But he has grown contemptibly conforming, conventional, since going to Philad, married, & 2 childrn. He drew those pictures of yr house 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. She writes me he will never mention you again to her. He told me once (he is really good fellow at heart) that he actually saw you in a livery stable, several times!!! I wanted to ask him if that was not the place for an artistling to be occasionally, too. & if Rosa Bonheur & Messonier wd nt be apt to be seen a great deal in [liver] stables. Then a poor librarian 'tother day thrust that gigantic snob R. G. White's pitiful parody of L of G. in my face & thot he had floored me. He said he had heard that Edwin Arnold had been calling on you & tried again to like L. of G. & - could'nt - aw! Please excuse clipping of Transcripts. I have to do it for my writings now.Camden Feb 28 '90 4 pm Dark wet & warm (almost) to-day - stay in to-day - yesterday out nearly two hours in my wheel chair - have read & sent off the poemet proof to "Century" is to be printed I believe in the May number (Gilder ask'd for a sub-title to it) - it is (did I tell you?) an emotional & poetical mention of the immense unknown & unnamed soldiers north & south slain in the Secession war - Nothing new - Am ab't as well as usual - appetite, digestion, sleep, pulse &c. not notably bad - wh I suppose is quite a good deal to brag of for me. - Much sickness, failing, dying, death itself here - a play'd out sailor pneumonia following grippe over 50 has had a funeral ceremony & burial to-day - I sent a little ivy-woven anchor & white initials to be laid on the corpse or coffin, as I took a notion to & was acquainted with him - keep up the massages - am sitting here alone in my den - lots of fog here lately - my supper is coming March 1 early pm - weather "same subject continued" to-day - have rec'd a letter from John Burroughs wh - I enclose - (also send Stead's "Review" & a French and Italian pamphlet) - have just drink'd a mug of milk punch - - dull & heavy enough here - read the papers, & read again - - 1 1/2 Have had my massage - Tom Harned is well & flourishing - told me he is ready (& favorable) to take the meter (for gas) & make a good big thing for you & Gurd & all - I take it wanted me to tell you - a heavy dark look out in the weather as I close God bless you all Walt Whitman40 Grosvenor Road Westminster Embankment S.W. March 14th 1890. Dear Mr. Whitman, Thy cheering card of March 2nd came to day, just as I am starting off for the country with the babies. It is always cheering to hear from thee, thy messages bring a breath of fresh air. It is the best object lesson that any one could possibly have to read they description of thyself as in buoyant spirits. It always helps me to see thy handwriting and to read thy words. I am very busy as usual. England is not like America "taking stock" and resting, it is on the contrary very active politically. I am sending the the "Review of Reviews", that most interesting of journals. I wish hee would write a letter to the editor. He would be sure to print it. Women are taking their share here in all that it going on, but this means of course a great deal of work for those who are most interested in things. I have not time to send a longer letter now but I will write soon again. With Love Thy friend Mary Whitall CostelloeCamden noon March 23 '90 Nothing specially notable with me - fine sunny weather - T.B. Harned and Mrs. H here yesterday - all well - I sit here ab't same as usual - got out yesterday in wheel ch'r first time in a week - good vehement massages continued - am worried ab't Harry Stafford afraid it is going badly with him (death & sickness & prostration at every hand all around me) - had a good little letter from Ed Wilkins - buckwheat cakes & honey for my breakfast - fair rest last night - God bless you all Walt WhitmanCamden April 1 noon '90 Sun shining brightly & gayly as I write - - The grip has seized me at last - bad case of aggravated cold in the head &c &c with chest, throat, joints &c: badly affected -bad enough, this is the fourth or fifth day but if it passes off at these (wh - I think it will) will think myself lucky - as one thing I wish to speak the "Death of Abraham Lincoln" once more April 15 - (probably the last 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. Every thing is going on much the same - am sitting here as usual by the fire - weather mostly unpleasant and dark & stormy - I get out at intervals in wheel chair - appetite & sleep not even as well as before, - but I hardly call them real bad yet - good bowel action day before yesterday - eye sight failing, bad sometimes - - suppose you rec'd 2nd number of Stead's magazine I sent - Did I tell you the (London) Universal Review Feb 15 prints an article (mark'd "in French") ab't me - I don't know whether it is the old article we know or a new one. - the May Century coming is to have a little poemet of mine - I will send you a couple of printed impressions on slips. - Harry Stafford has given up his telegraphing & R R job and moved to a nice (hired) farm with his wife & two children - he is poorly - the mind -clouding was temporary - (the worst of course is the eligibility of returning & worse) - 1/4 to 2 - I have had my massage - yr's of 30th comes & is welcome - - the April Century comes - the pretty deep snow of yesterday diminates - the spring shows itself apace - what a tough old rosy earth it is after all (& itself saying nothing ab't it - no bragging or whining or chinning) God bless you all - Walt WhitmanCamden April 6 '90 Still down sick - it holds on day & night (well have they call'd it the grip) - I am sitting up in my chair to write this but I feel more like lying down & shall presently do so - I am quite sure nothing serious or at all alarming - will probably blow over this coming week - No I do not know either the origin nor purpose of the McDermot piece - nor do I care a straw - I have sent you Dr Brinton's fine monograph abt Bruno - (if you want one or two more I can send them) - We are having quite a clientage among scientists & doctors - a while ago it was actors & artists - - Could not eat any breakfast - drank a cup of near-hot milk - shall try to take a bowl of chicken & rice soup at 4 - pretty dismal with me - Warren is very good & kind & so Mrs. D - Of course the massages are given up for the present - two days ago (f'm weather & other reasons) I sweat freely & was better after - but these two current days are cold. - near 3 pm - have been lying down - up to finish this & send it off - weak & miserable & phleghm-suffocated to an extreme - O the beautiful bright clean sunshiny day & the young ones out in their pretty clothes - Love to all Walt WhitmanCamden April 7 '90 3 pm Tho't I w'd send a line as you prob. want to know - I think I shall pull through, but it is really the toughest whack of all coming over the rest & the condition I am & have been in - one of the best points is a good bowel discharge an hour ago, the first of a week - fortunately too the weather is favorable again sweat freely - eat little or nothing - drink milk punch - have gr't thirst - phlegm accumulations in throat & chest pretty bad still but not as bad (half strangling me at night) as they were - I am at this moment sitting here in big chair, some headache &c but more comfortable than might be expected Walt Whitman[postcard] UNITED STATES POSTAL CARD NOTHING BUT THE ADDRESS TO BE ON THIS SIDE (Postmark) CAMDEN N.J. APR 10 8PM 90 Dr Bucke Asylum London Ontario CanadaCamden 4 1/2 pm April 10 '90 Very bad night- stupid day- Horace Furness and his father the old doctor (88) here to see me this afternoon - a splendid antique, but looks like a cadaver tho - Horace very deaf, gets along sort o' with ear trumpet both real friends of mine & L of G. I sit here tiding it all over, & am just taking my supper - a bit of toast bread & rasperry jam & small cup of coffee (first time in 10 days) God bless you all Walt WhitmanUNITED STATES POSTAL CARD (Postmark) CAMDEN N.J. APR10 6AM 90 (Postmark) N.Y 4-10-90 10 30AM Dr Bucke London Ontario CanadaCamden 4 pm April 9 '90 Still in the woods & badly - but the breathing machinery working easier to-day wh' is a good point gain'd - Pass my hours half the time stretch'd out on the bed sometimes in a partial doze & half up in the chair & rather miserable - sweat easily - God bless you all Walt WhitmanUNITED STATES POSTAL CARD NOTHING BUT THE ADDRESS TO BE ON THIS SIDE (Postmark) PHILADELPHIA APR 8 90 Dr Bucke Asylum London Ontario CanadaCamden 3 pm April 8 '90 Sick yet & pretty badly - still feel however that it is more hubbub & misery than any thing deeply serious. I doubt if I shall be well enough to go over to Phila: 15th (wh' I much regret) I have rec'd the London Universal Review of Feb: 15 - Sarrazin's article appears to be the same old one in French (& good as ever) If you want one you can get it from the New York International News Co: I drink freely of hot flax seed tea, flavored with lemon & sugar - am half killed from phlegm W WCamden noon April 11 '90 Bad night ag'n - heavy tussel strangling spell (phlegm &c) bet: 12 and 1 - & more or less all night but fell asleep utterly worried & tired out toward morning - must have had sleep of a couple of hours - a suspicion of better, very faint but palpable this forenoon - ate all my breakfast (egg, toast, coffee & dab of raspberry) for the first time in three weeks - & have a slight glint of strength instead of the deadly weakness & inertia of past month - head ache all the forenoon - - rather pleasant day, sun out most of the time - - anxious abt the Tuesday evn'g engagement next, want much to carry it out - but very uncertain as I write - Yr's of 8th rec'd last evn'g - have just sent off a "Bruno" to Burroughs and Stedman (at Horace's request) also to Edw'd Bentz Potsdam & R P Smith London 5 pm - have had my supper - beef & onion stew to which in moderation I have seriously inclined - - have just had to deny myself to a bevy of visitors - - yr's of even'g 9th just: rec'd - thanks - have not had any doctor in yet & probably will not - what I have is mainly an expansion & perhaps concentration of my long long chronic botherations, bad enough before & when this is off, I sh'l feel sort o' well -- how long the light day is getting - the sun is well up here yet - Walt WhitmanCamden Sunday noon April 13 '90 Had a much better night & got up late & better - Horace came & I told him I w'd try to go thro' the Lincoln Death Piece Tuesday night (I can't bear to be bluff'd off & toward the last, even in minor ways) - But I am by no means know how it will go off - or but I sh'l break down - no strength no energy - a little stimulus (the personal exhiliration of calling friends & talk) keeps me up ten minutes but then down flops everything. It is a beautiful sunny warm April day & I want to get out a little yet - fortunately keep up pretty good spunk but the body & physical brain are miserable yet - the enclosed note is fr'm Dr Brinton to whom I had sent the big book in response to his many kindnesses & liberalities &c. As I sit here every thing is beautiful & quiet - Warren has gone over to T Donaldsons - I expect him (W) back presently - have a headache (not severe) - of course we shall post you of all happenings &c. Of course all will [be] well "What are yours and Destiny's O Universe" said Marcus Aurelius "are mine too." Have sent word to Kennydy and John Burroughs. God bless you & all - Walt WhitmanCamden April 14 pm '90 Feeling fairly had an easy night -superb weather sunny & warm - am going out presently in wheel chair - ate four raw oysters for my breakfast - expect to give the Lincoln Death piece to-morrow evn'g Phila: (Shall probably skip my daily letter to you tomorrow) - a little headache as I write God bless you all Walt Whitman[letter and newspaper clipping] Camden April 16 11 am '90 All goes well - & has gone well - Had a fair sleep-night, & have eaten & relished a heartier breakfast than usual - The piece last night went off all right - got thro all without dishonor - feel my sight & voice not what they were - presence (self possession &c) perfect - audience large & very cordial - It is probably my "last public appearance" - as near as I remember the Cape May place not a show place is call'd "the aldine" - it is or was (& I think they owned it) by German family my nieces liked - Walt Whitman THE RECORD Philadelphia, April 16, 1890. Walt Whitman at the Contemporary Club. Walt Whitman was the lion of last evening's reception by the Contemporary Club. He gave an address on the death of Abraham Lincoln, and in concluding called him the "first great democratic martyr of his race." The aged poet sat during his address and his readings from his poems. His voice was so distinct and steady that all of the audience, which filled the room to overflowing, could hear every word. His well-know venerable appearance was heightened by a shaded lamp placed beside him to light his manuscript.Hon Wa tman favor den autogr private of the of the c additio and ho honor favor in anCamden near noon April 17 '90 Much the same - stupid condition - fine sunny day - passable night - buckwheat cakes honey & coffee for my breakfast - eat pretty light - appetite not really bad - - the reading Tuesday night seems to have been satisfactory -- get the "Illustrated American" of April 19, (25 cts New York) it has a pretty good portrait from Sarony's old photo &c -- Did you note what I told you ab't the (London Eng.) "Universal Review" of Feb. 15 last, with Sarrazin's piece in French in full? -- I have lots of visitors & compliments -- yesterday one the sweetest red cheek'd prettiest young naieve Boston women did me good to see & hear her - I have had the Canadian cloth made up in an entire suit & wore to appear in Tuesday night last went first rate & just opportune -- dull monotonous heavy times with -- publishers Dodd, Mead & Co NY: have written for me to furnish [with] them in MSS [for] a new book (60,000 words) on Abm Lincoln for a new series Makers of America my pay to be 10 per cent on sales, or $500 in lump -- I think favorably -- God be with you Walt WhitmanCamden Sunday pm April 20 '90 Fine sunny day -- expect to get out a little in wheel chair -- was out yesterday -- feeling dull & leaden four or five days -- -- nothing very new -- some oysters for my breakfast -- drink a little sweet champagne -- yr's rec'd thanks -- sit here as usual in big arm chair with the wolf-skin spread on back -- generally get down stairs in the little room an hour after supper God bless you all Walt WhitmanEnclosing "A Twilight Song" Camden pm April 28 '90 Yr's of yesterday rec'd - the steadiest reliance bet'n Cape May and Camden is the RR wh- runs twice a day & (I think) at times to give one six or seven hours in Camden or Phila - back to C M at a middling late hour in the afternoon - Nothing very different with me - am probably easier from the grip but weak - decline invitations out - (to dinner &c) y'r "L of G & Modern Science" is in type & the proof has been or is forthwith to be sent to you - The enclosed is the May Century piece - growing warmer here - sunny - they have sent me the deed for the cemetery lot (so that is settled for) - I rather think I shall have a plain strong stone vault merely made for the present - - I have just been foolish enough to eat a great piece of sweet cake (filled in with cocoa-nut) bro't up by Mrs. D (baking today) - & now wish I hadn't - was out in wheel chair yesterday & sh'd probably go out again this afternoon - have nearly always a dull (?sick) head ache & the eternal inertia - rec'd a letter fr'm Edw'd Dowden (Ireland) he speaks of his father 95 yr's old he is just visiting -- God bless you all Walt Whitman[Postmark] 8 AM AP 28 [Postmark] CAMDEN APR25 8 PM 90 UNITED STATES POSTAL CARD. ONE CENT NOTHING BUT THE ADDRESS TO BE ON THIS SIDE. Dr Bucke Asylum London Ontario Canada [Postmark] LONDON AM AP28 90 CANADACamden April 25 '90 Dark rainy day - warm - still under the bad influence of the grip - A London Eng: Pub'r (I suppose pub'r) has sent to McKay asking my price for 100 sets sheets complete (big) book - I have ans'd $320 for them complete - - suppose you rec'd the printed item acc't of the 15th April show - y'r letters rec'd & welcomed - Have sent off a page of poetic stuff (new) to Lippincott's - Did you know Tennyson has been talking very strongly in favor of L of G? - Ditto some big college gun at Boston WW[*LONDON PM AP 22 CANADA*] [*CAMDEN APR 22 130PM 90*] UNITED STATES POSTAL CARD. ONE CENT NOTHING BUT THE ADDRESS TO BE ON THIS SIDE. Dr Bucke Asylum London Ontario CanadaCamden noon April 22 '90 Still holding the fort but sort o' wretched feeling enough yet -- (the comet tail of the grip I guess) -- Am sitting up here in chair -- Delightful weather to-day warm -- many visitors (to whom most of denials) -- Compliments & offers -- -- this grip is the most unkindest cut of all -- God bless you all -- Walt Whitman[*CAMDEN APR13 5PM 90*] UNITED STATES POSTAL CARD. ONE CENT NOTHING BUT THE ADDRESS TO BE ON THIS SIDE. Dr Bucke Asylum London Ontario Canada [*LONDON PM AP15 9 CANADA*]Camden pm April 12 '90 Grip continued bad as ever continued heavy headache -- ate my breakfast -- am sitting up most of the time -- rest very poorly -- still calculate on this grip trouble passing over but not in time for my 15th lecture in Phila: I have now sent you word by letter or card every day the last week wretched week for me -- Tom Donaldson here last evn'g 1/4 to 5 -- headache easier -- have just eat a fair supper -- weather fine -- Walt Whitman