Feinberg/Whitman Box 14 Folder 12 General Correspondence "P" Miscellany June 1865 - Jan 1892 & undated[envelope] LOUISVILLE K Y JUN 25 '65 [ 3 ยข US postage stamp] Mr Walt Whitman Washington D. C. [letter] Camp Near Louisville June 24th /65 Mr. Whitman. Dear Sir I concluded I would like to talk a few words to you. through this instrument I am well and hope the Safe arrival of this [???iz] finds you the same. there is not much talk of the Vetterens Getting out yet if you have any thing in the way of advice to Give Concerning my imployment when I am Discharged namely talk Plain to me Mr. Whitman I have been [?] the world more times than you would imagine there are a gratmeny last of My are - one of hundreds I talked with, & occasionaly showed some little kindness to - I met him, talked with him some, - he came one rainy night to my room & stopt with me I am completely - in the dark as to what "such houses as we were takl'g about," are - Upon the whole not to be answered - (& yet I itch to satisfy my Curiosity as to what this yng man can have realy taken me for)[?uel] terms and there [?] variety of ways of making a living. Leaving hard [?k] out of the Books [?] have thought that [?] were bigger fools [?] me making a living very Easy. although I admit my Education is Limited [?] any thing you Please and if I Do not Propose to accept: that is as far as it will Go I will blow on no one. What about such houses as we were talking about and [?] if it Could be made agreeable for me to take up Lodgeing in Close Proximity with yours. I should be Pleased in the Superlative Degree. Please write amediately after you receive this and Give me Some. advice No metter what Sort I conclude Hoping to hear from you Soon. Until then. I remaine your Friend as Ever, Nicholas D. Palmer Co. E" 80th Regt O. V. V. 1st Brig 2nd Division 15th [A?] [*June 28th '65 I have rec'd many curious letters in my time from one and another [??????] persons ( women others) who have been reading "Leaves of Grass" - & some singular ones from soldiers - but never before one of this description - I keep it as a curiosity. The writer was one of the soldiers in Sherman*] [blank back of envelope]PERRIGO & FINN, U. S. ARMY AND NAVY Bounty, Pay and Pension Agents, No. 20 ARCADE BUILDING, - - LOCKPORT, N.Y. Claims of Soldiers and Heirs of deceased Soldiers, against the Government, prosecuted at low rates. Information relative to Bounty and Pension Laws given free of charge. Business entrusted to our care will be [promptly?] attended to. OFFICE DRAWER 72 GEO. W. PERRIGO Late U.S. San. Com. Claim Agt. REFE[?]S HON. BURT VAN HORN, Newfane, N.Y. HON. F.E. BISSELL.Dubuque, Iowa HON. T.T. FLAGLER, Lockport, N.Y. HON A. HOLMES, Lockport, N.Y. E.V. GOODRICH Boston, Mass. HON. G.D. LAMONT, Lockport, N.Y. Lockport, N.Y., August 26, 1867 Walt Whitman Esq Washington DC. Dear Sir:- Send me two (2) copies "C.O.D."of Your "Leaves of Grass" -- best style & oblige Yours Very Truly Geo W. PerrigoRev A P Putnam Brooklyn books sent by Express April [27] 26 & rec'd Brooklyn, N.Y. April 25, 1876 Dear Sir - Enclosed please find a Postal Order for $10. which I believe is the price of your two volumes, embracing your entire published work up to date. I find that books come less battered at the end & - when sent by Express. If it is all the same to you, therefore, will you please send them, well-protected in that way, writing your autograph on the fly leaf of each? Yours very truly AP Putnam Full address as follows: Rev. A. P. Putnam 263 Hicks St. Brooklyn, NY.Cambridge - Feb. 20, 1885. Dear Mr Whitman. I want to thank you for the beautiful photograph of yourself sent me through Miss Smith. It is too true a likeness of you as you are now to represent the author of the Leaves of Grass. The picture which hung on yr wall showed that person better. his paganism, his full [?], his readiness to identify himself with all things, his insubordination, & his recklessness of the fine relationswhich change a world of things into a world of persons. If I could prefer a poet to a man, I should like that picture better. But this will be the best reminder of the beautiful refined spirit who met me in Camden & said, "I did the work sincerely. So it is honorable. God shall use it to help men, or else let him throw it away." With warm regard, I am Sincerely yours, G.H. Palmer[envelope] from Prof. Palmer Feb '85 [cancel stamp] [cancelled 2 cent US Postage stamp] Mr Walt Whitman, 328 Mickle St. Camden, [Pa] New Jersey see notes May 6 1888 [back of envelope] [cancel stamp] 7 AM 1885 REC'D JAMES B. POND. GENERAL AGENT AND MANAGER. EVERETT HOUSE, CORNER 4TH AVENUE AND 17TH STREET, NEW YORK. CONCERTS, LECTURES AND ALL DESCRIPTIONS OF MUSICAL, LYCEUM AND LITERARY ENTERTAINMENTS. ENGAGEMENTS WITH ALL THE MOST CELEBRATED ARTISTS EFFECTED BY THIS AGENCY. All engagements for REV. HENRY WARD BEECHER's Lectures made through J. B. Pond; Sole Agent for MARK TWAIN; MR. GEO. W. CABLE's Readings; CLARA LOUISE KELLOGG Concert Company; MR. HENRY M. STANLEY and MR. ED. HERON-ALLEN. SEASON OF 1887-88, LECTURERS. ABBOTT, REV. LYMAN ALLEN, Mr. ED. HERON, Science of the Hand (new). ARMSTRONG, WM. JACKSON BASSETT, R., "A Pek-in-China." (new.) BEECHER, REV. HENRY WARD BLACKBURN, HENRY. "Art in Every-Day Life." Illustrated. BENJAMIN, Hon. W. G. S., "Persia." Illustrated. BUNNER, H. C., (Editor of Puck.) CABLE, MR. GEO. W. CLEMENS, SAMUEL L. ("Mark Twain") CARLETON, WILL CONE, Col. T. C. (of Georgia.) CONWAY, MONCURE D. DOREMUS, DR. R. OGDEN (Scientific) DAUGHERTY, HON. DANIEL. GEORGE, HENRY. INGERSOLL, EARNEST. "Railroading in the Rockies." JOYCE, COL. JOHN A. Anvil Sparks. MOWBRAY, ARTHUR H. (Illustrated). NAST, THOMAS (If he Lectures). NEWELL, WM. WELLS. "Pompeii and Roman Life," and Michael Angelo. O'RELL, MAX RICHARDSON, LEANDER P. STANLEY, HENRY M. The African explorer. SCHURZ, HON. CARL SCHWATKA, LIEUT. FRED'K, U. S. A. SERVISS, MR. GARRETT P. (Astronomy.) Illustrated. STEWART, JOE H. (of Texas.) TALMAGE, REV T. DEWITT VON FINKELSTEIN, MISS L. WOOD, DR. WALLACE, Italy and the Renaissance (new). RECITALS. BROWN, MISS NELLA F. (Through the Redpath Lyceum Bureau, Boston.) BLUME, MISS SETTIE BRADFORD, WILLIAM. CALHOUN, MARGARET CUSTER FABIAN, EDWARD LINCOLN, FRANK TAYLOR, MISS NETTIE. WATSON, MRS. T. CHARLES WEBB, MRS. HARRIET WILDER, MARSHALL P. PIANISTS. CARRENO, THERESE GLOSE, MR. AOLF GILDER, MR. FRANK KING, MADAME JULIA RIVE SHERWOOD, WM. H. VIOLINISTS. TORBETT, MISS OLLIE LANZER, MR. CARL MUSIN, MONS. OVIEDE COMBINATIONS. BOSTON STAR CONCERT CO. CLARA LOUISE KELLOGG CONCERT CO. MISS OLLIE TORRETT CONCERT CO. BELLE COLE CONCERT CO. GILMORE'S 22d REGIMENT BAND MEIGS SISTERS VOCAL QUARTETTE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC CLUB EICHBERG QUARTETTE (String.). TEMPLE QUARTETTE, Boston. WEBER QUARTETTE, of Boston. I am simply agent, without proprietory right in any of these entertainments, except Henry Ward Beecher's Lectures and Geo. W. Cable's Readings. JAS. B. POND. All engagements made by this Agency are conditional upon the ability of the Artists or Lecturers to fulfill them. In case of detention by sickness, accident or any legitimate or unavoidable cause, it is understood that there shall be no claim for damages, though a new date will always be given during the same season, if possible. Everett House, New York, Apr. 25th, 1887. Walt Whitman, Esq., Camden, N. J. Dear Mr. Whitman:- Your second postal received. Mr. Gilder told me of Mr. Carnaghie's kind subscription. I congratulate you on your remarkable success. How would you like to go to Boston about Tuesday, May I0th? That would be a good time. If this meets your approval let me know and I will fix the date. I have had some very nice letters from Holmes, Norton, Grant, and others, expressing the wish that you will visit the "hub". Yours Sincerely, J. B. Pond I am now booking time for Mr. Henry George for next season. Associations desiring him will find it to their advantage to apply early. Please do not write letters on Postal Cards. They are liable to get overlooked. -- J. B. P.JB Pond JAMES B. POND, EVERETT HOUSE, NEW YORK. NEW YORK APR 25 5 PM D Walt Whitman, Esq., Camden, N. J.[back of envelope] [three postmarks] PHILADELPHIA PA. APR 26 [?] M TRANSIT NEW YORK APR 25 5 PM TRANSIT N N. J. [?] R AM [?]C'DCROSS-REFERENCE GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE Phares, M. Ida to Whitman, 1888 See Verso Notes & Notebooks Notes -- Reference Carlyle's Words, (Nov. 1888), Box 42CHICAGO ILL APR 8 730 AM 89 Walt Whitman c/o David McKay Publisher 23 South Ninth St. Philadelphia Pa.RECEIVED APR 9 230 PM 1889 PHILA.CHICAGO [DAILY NEWS EDITORIAL ROOMS.] 1601 Prairie Ave April 7, 1889. My dear Sir. As one of the wide circle of the friends whom you have never seen or heard of, I take the liberty of addressing you a word of thanks for the pleasure with which I have read your "November Boughs", and of sending you two articles upon the subject which I have recently published. No one knows better than I how little the opinion of the world can matter to you one way or the other, but I have thought that it might afford you a moment of satisfaction to know how kindly some of us out here think of you, and I am sure that it affords me much more than that to give this personal expression to my feeling. Yours faithfully, [WmMPayne?]THE CHICAGO EVENING JOURNAL: SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 1889. WALT WHITMAN'S BOOK A Striking Collection of Essays and Poems--A Backward Glance O'er Travel'd Roads. The Soul of Eastern Civilization--A Suggestive Work by Percival Lowell--Review of Minor Publications. Walt Whitman. The time is past when Walt Whitman could be dismissed with a smile or a sneer, and he has already taken his place in the foremost rank of our writers. The public has been slow to recognize the power and value of his work, but no public, possessed of any degree of intelligence, could long hold out against the verdict rendered in his favor by the consensus of English and American critics. No writer of ordinary powers could win the approval and praise of such men (to name but a few) as Tennyson, Swinburne, W. M. Rossetti, J. A. Symonds and M C. Stedman, and this praise and this approval have been bestowed by them in generous measure. It will appear then, at the present day, neither paradox nor extravagance to say that "November Boughs" (Philadelphia: David McKay) is an important permanent contribution to American literature. The contents of this suggestively named volume are diversified. There are some twenty pages of poems, half a dozen essays in literary criticism, several miscellaneous prose papers, and much fragmentary reminiscence of a varied and well-spent life. Of most interest, perhaps, is the "Backward Glance O'er Travel'd Roads,"which serves as the volume's preface. In this admirable paper the veteran poet, with the objective vision of age, takes a long retrospective survey of his activities, admitting the reader more closely than before into the secret of his endeavor, and giving clear and forcible expression to the aims for whose accomplishment he has striven. "At the age of 31 to 33," he tell us, he found himself possessed by an overmastering impulse. "This was a feeling or ambition to articulate and faithfully express in literary and poetic form, and uncompromisingly, my own physical, emotional, moral, intellectual and esthetic Personality, in the midst of, and tallying the momentous spirit and facts of its immediate days, and of current America--and to exploit that Personality, identified with place and date, in a far more candid and comprehensive sense than any hitherto poem or book." The outcome of this ambition was the collection of pieces known collectively as "Leaves of Grass" and the prose papers also put forth from time to time. "The best comfort of the whole business is that, unstopp'd and unwarped by any influence outside the soul within me, I have had my say entirely my own way, and put it unerringly on record." This is what he tells us, with a pride as pardonable as the occasion for its exhibition is rare even among writers of more than usual sincerity and earnestness of purpose. In another place the feeling of pride leads to this exclamation: "My Book and I--what a period we have presumed to span! those thirty years from 1850 to 1880--and America in them! Proud, proud indeed may we be if we have culled enough of that period in its own spirit to worthily waft a few live breaths of it to the future!" Upon the two matters in which Whitman's work has mainly given offence--its disregard respectively of the conventional requirements of morality and of literary form--this introduction is clear and outspoken. Concerning the latter of these matters we read: "I know well enough, too, that in respect to pictorial talent, dramatic situations, and especially in verbal melody and all the conventional technique of poetry, not only the divine works that to-day stand ahead in the world's reading, but dozens more, transcend (some of them immeasurably transcend) all I have done or could do. But it seemed to me, as the objects in Nature, the themes of estheticism, and all special exploitations of the mind and soul, involve not only their own inherent quality, but the quality, just as inherent and important, of their point of view, the time had come to reflect all themes and things, old and new, in the lights thrown on them by the advent of America and democracy--to chant those themes through the utterance of one not only the grateful and reverent legatee of the past, but the born child of the New World--to illustrate all through the genesis and ensemble of to-day; and that such illustration and ensemble are the chief demands of America's prospective imaginative literature." While this plea may by no means be accepted as justifying Whitman's literary form, which has faults of which his defective sense does not allow him to dream, it is valuable as a statement of his aim in writing, and for its hearty recognition of the conventional types of excellence in literary composition. This recognition, indeed, finds further and ample expression in the papers on Tennyson, Burns and Shakspeare which are given in the present volume. Of the real purpose of literature, whether conventional or not in form, Whitman is substantially at one with all the great writers from Shakspeare downwards. "I say the profoundest service that poems or any other writings can do for their reader is not merely to satisfy the intellect or supply something polished and interesting, nor even to depict great passions or persons and events, but to fill him with vigorous and clean manliness, religiousness, and give him good heart as a radical passion and habit." These words are as noble as they are profoundly true. The other matter, brought into prominence by the moralists, who have made themselves mainly responsible for the tardiness of the recognition bestowed upon Whitman's work, is thus met, and the opinion is enforced by years of careful reflection. "From another point of view, 'Leaves of Grass' is avowedly the song of Sex and Amativeness, and even Animality--though meanings that do not usually go along with these words are behind all, and will duly emerge; and all are sought to be lifted into a different light and atmosphere. Of this feature, intentionally palpable in a few lines, I shall only say the espousing principle of those lines so give breath of life to my whole scheme that the bulk of the pieces might as well have been left unwritten were those lines omitted. Difficult as it will be, it has become, in my opinion, imperative to achieve a shifted attitude from superior men and women toward the thought and fact of sexuality as an element in character, personality, the emotions, and a theme in literature. I am not going to argue the question by itself: it does not stand by itself. . . . In respect to editions of 'Leaves of Grass' in time to come (if there should be such), I take occasion now to confirm those lines with the settled convictions and deliberate renewals of thirty years, and I hereby prohibit, as far as word of mine can do, any elision of them." The few pages of poetry included within this volume should be reckoned with Whitman's most remarkable work. They exhibit, of course, the peculiarities of diction and the general formlessness of the "Leaves of Grass." The reader who is not prepared to accept the writer's theories, or, rather, who is not willing to acquiesce in them for the time being, will not be appealed to by these "Sands at Seventy." Admitting the peculiarities as a constant and consistent factor, there is much that is both striking and fine. Take, for example, this epigram on "The Bravest Soldiers:" "Brave, brave were the soldiers (high-named to-day) who lived through the fight; But the bravest press'd to the front and fell, unnamed, unknown." Here is a touch of nature that is admirable in its thought and feeling: "Simple and fresh and fair from Winter's close emerging, As if no artifice of fashion, business, politics, had ever been, Forth from its sunny nook of shelter'd grass-- innocent, golden, calm as the dawn, The Spring's first dandelion shows its trustful face." The following fragment is based upon an incident of the Greely expedition-- the hearing of a solitary snow-bird's song by the explorers in 83 degrees of north latitude: "Of that blithe throat of thine from Arctic bleak and blank, I'll mind the lesson, solitary bird--let me, too, welcome chilling drifts, E'en the profoundest chill, as now--a torpid pulse, a brain unnerv'd, Old age land-lock'd within its Winter bay-- (cold, cold, O cold!) These snowy hairs, my feeble arm, my frozen feet, For them thy faith, thy role I take, and grave it to the last; Not Summer's zones alone--not chants of youth, or south's warm tides alone, But held by sluggish floes, pack'd in the northern ice, the cumulus of years, These with gay heart I also sing." There is something haunting about these lines, with whatever species of composition we may choose to class them, and this haunting quality appears upon every one of the too few pages which contain the poet's latest songs. At his best, Whitman has a genius for style and for apt expression of thought which allies him with the greater poets and insures for him the recognition and the respect of the future.HE CHICAGO EVENING JOURNAL: SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 1889. HAVING FUN WITH SPIES Experience of an American in France in the Days of the Second Empire. How He Was Dogged by the Persistent Spies of Emperor Louis Napoleon. The police system of Russia, intolerable as it is, is not a whit more dangerous to the liberties of the people than the French system under the last Napoleon was. In the last years of his reign he brought the spy corps to perfection. Outside of the criminal police, the Emperor had thousands of political spies in his pay. No work was too degrading for these men. They had the contempt of the regular police and the hatred of all honest men, but Napoleon increased their number and encouraged them in their high-handed measures. He feared investigation, revolution, assassination; he believed, or pretended to believe, that he lived over a slumbering volcano. French sentiment was drifting toward liberty, and he aimed to kill it. The Russian masses are fifty years behind the French. When the time comes they will do just as the French did, and the Czar and his spies and police will be helpless. Napoleon smothered liberty by threats, insults, imprisonments, confiscation and other bull-dozing methods, but when the alarm came he was helpless. In one single hour his power and greatness fled away, his numberless spies turned traitor or hid themselves, and the people threw off the yoke forever. In the early days of the war I was selected by our Government to perform a certain mission in France. I had traveled all over that country, could speak French like a native, and President Lincoln honored me enough to believe in my wisdom and discretion. This mission was connected with the attitude of France toward this republic. If Napoleon was not personally hostile to the United States, and had not plans to further his boundless ambition, he was at least causing great anxiety in Washington by his hesitancy and half-heartedness. When I landed in Havre I was surrounded with all the safeguards one could ask for. I had my certificate of American citizenship, a passport, a letter to the American Minister, and my movements were to be controlled from his headquarters "Yes, trying to." "They are not grand, monsieur, but it is a pleasant place. Has monsieur been long from London?" "Only a few days." "Ah! And monsieur can only speak English. It is too bad." "Yes, so it is." I understood that his object was to find out something about me, and that it did him lots of good to have me tacitly admit that I was an Englishman when he knew better. I could speak French, and he knew it, but he encouraged me to deny it. In this way he could make me out a suspicious character. He was with me for about two hours, and we seemed to part with regret. That evening as I walked out he followed me in a new disguise. He lost sight of me only as I slept until I took the train for Paris. At Rouen we had a delay of half an hour owing to accident, and a second spy took me in charge. He was got up as a shopkeeper on his way to Paris on business, and he addressed me in French and I answered him promptly enough. I felt sure of his identity, and as we rode together he exhibited the despicable side of character for which the political spies were notorious. He had discovered that I was an American traveling for pleasure. "Ah! how glorious to live in a republic where the masses reign!" he exclaimed. "The Americans are right to detest monarchy. Monarchy is corruption and oppression." "Your people don't seem to think so." "But they do, monsieur." "Then why don't they make a republic here?" He was delighted at my expression. That was "information" for which he would get credit with his chief. He entered Paris with me, drove to the same hotel, and as soon as I had gone to my room, he disappeared. Two hours later a very genteel-looking man paid me a visit and introduced himself as an official of the Bureau of Public Safety. I was a foreigner. It was his duty to inspect my papers. "Monsieur is English, I believe, and from London?" he queried. "No. I am an American, from New York." "So! Does monsieur travel for pleasure?" "Oh, no. I am in France to buy chestnuts for the American army." "Chestnuts for soldiers?" he queried. "That is strange. Monsieur speaks French?" "Sorry to say that my French is a failure." "Ah, so! I will look at the papers." They were papers, as I have said, that no official would dare question, and, after looking them over, he bowed very low, and inquired: "Will monsieur remain long in France?" "That will depend on the state of the chestnut market," I replied. During the day I called upon the Secretary of Legation for consultation, and when I told him of the spies, he said that every American in the country was under surveillance to a greater or less degree. The war in the United States was exciting the French people and making them restless, and the political police had been doubled in number. Revolution was breeding, and Napoleon was determined to apply the knife with vigorous hand. Suspects were arrested and imprisoned in the most arbitrary manner, and no one felt that he could trust any one outside his own family. I was to go from Paris to Reims. Spies had followed me everywhere in Paris, and I planned to get out of the city without being shadowed. The clerk of the hotel office hoped I would give him a day's notice of my intended departure. He wanted to inform the spies, but I determined to beat him. I ate my dinner as usual, went out for a stroll, and when I returned I rushed for a valise, already prepared, demanded my bill on the instant, and was out of the house in ten minutes, pleading a case of life or death. I went on foot for three squares, engaged a cab to take me to the station from which I could depart for Versailles, and as soon as he had put me down and departed I walked away and engaged another vehicle to convey me to the right depot. We arrived ten minutes before the departure of the train, and I purchased my ticket and got away with the rush. As I came to know subsequently, there was a great row raised over my departure. Spies were sent out by the dozen, telegrams dispatched by the score, and I arrived at Reims to find a crowd of no less than six officials waiting to arrest me. It was not exactly an arrest, either. As I left the train an official touched me on the arm and respectfully said: "Monsieur the American will oblige me?" "If possible," I replied, knowing well what was coming. "Then monsieur will accompany me in my carriage to make a call at headquarters." Two carriages followed ours, and after a drive of a mile we drew up at the headquarters of the Bureau of Public Safety in Reims. It was a misnomer. It should have been called the Bureau of Public Peril, for the arbitrary measures of this department were making fresh enemies every hour in the day. The chief was a very pompous and dignified man. He received me politely, but coldly, and the first question asked was: "Is monsieur guilty of some crime that he leaves Paris so secretly?" "I left when I got ready, and after my own fashion. Here are my papers. Examine them and satisfy yourself." He looked them over. No official in France dared dispute them or put me under arrest after seeing them. "But why did monsieur claim to be an Englishman?" he asked. "I never did." "So! But you speak French, and yet you denied it." "I never denied it." "But you say you want chestnuts for American soldiers. What do they do with them?" "Make soup, of course." "Oh! That is different. It must be good soup. Monsieur asked why the French did not make a republic." "That was to please one of your political spies." "Spies! Have we spies?" "Thousands, sir. They are at every station, in every hotel and cafe, on the steamboats, in the omnibus, in the theater and church. They have dogged me ever since I landed. Napoleon is afraid I have come to usurp the throne. You had better search my hind pockets and see if I have a usurper with me." They looked puzzled, and, after a consultation, I was bowed out of headquarters and sent in a carriage to a hotel. Twice afterward, at Amiens and Lille, I was brought up in the same way and sent off after examination; and during my three months' stay in the country there was never a day that I was not under surveillance and suspicion.--New York Sun.CROSS- REFERENCE GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE Perkins, Julia J. to Whitman, Aug. 7, 1890 See Verso LITERARY FILE Prose "Autobiographical Case History," 1890. A.MS. draft. DCN 109. Box 34Dear Mr Whitman - I send you by the same mail with this a copy of "The Home, School and Nation" which contains a short article on your life and work. If the article is inaccurate in important particulars, will you kindly let me know, that I may correct the mistake. I felt, when the editors asked me for an articleon your life and work, that I had not the proper material, since I had never even seen you, and know nothing of your personal history. But my debt of gratitude to you, through your writing, is so great that I could not refuse the opportunity of introducing new readers to you. For you have been literally an inspirationin my life. I can not analyze the subtle something which comes to me through your poems; but it is new life. It rouses many questions. May there be before you long and peaceful years of happy life, and may you be to many other lives what you have been to mine Sincerely yours, Jennette B. Perry Vassar College, Poughkeepsie September 16th, 1890.[envelope] Miss Jennette B Perry Vassar College Poughkeepsie New York [cancel stamp] POUGHKEEPSIE SEP 16 4 PM 90 N.Y. [2 cent postage embossed stamp] Walt Whitman - 328 Mickle Street - Camden - New Jersey.[back envelope] [cancel stamp] CAMDEN N.J. SEP 17 6AM 1890 REC'DCROSS- REFERENCE GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE Prosser, William F. to Whitman, Sept. 18, 1890. See Verso Notes & Notebooks Notes--Printing & publishing John Johnston's photographic plate, (1890?) Box 42No 11 E. Lafayette ave Baltimore M.d June 2d 1891 Mr Walter Whitman, Dear Sir, Yesterday's "Sun" of this city contained a notice of the celebration of your seventy-second birth day; and called to my mind events which took place at [Base] "Armory Square Hospital" at the close of the War of the Rebellion.-- I had two wounded brothers there, one Colonel C. K. Prentiss of the 6th Maryland Volunteers; in the Officers Ward, and the other, Willie S. Prentiss, private from a MarylandRegt in the Southern Army. They had both been wounded in the Same battle before Petersburgh on the 2d of April; the two Regts having met face to face. = I mention these facts in the hope that they might bring the case to your memory. = They were both desperately wounded, and lay in Wards separated from one another, and I was in attendance upon them both, passing from one to the other as their needs required; and dreadfully anxious for them. Going into Willies Ward one day, I found a stranger2 seated by his side, in kindly converse with him. ( = He had had a leg amputated = ) This gentleman proved to be none other than your self, and I have never ceased to feel deeply grateful to you for your kindness to my dear brother; for your visits to him were repeated again and again, until his death; and I know gave him great pleasure. = My one object in now writing is to thank you for your kindness to him with the hope that thecase may not have wholly passed from your memory, and to tell you that the lapse of quarter of a century has not lessened my appreciation of the attention shown my brother. = May Gods best blessings rest upon you. Yours gratefully T M. Prentiss See p: 74 Spec: Days I remember the case wellThe Philadelphia Times Sept. 14, 1891 Dear Mr. Whitman: Will you kindly inform me on enclosed postal the date of Colonel Ingersoll's Lecture at the Academy in this city, and oblige Yours truly, The Times Gordon245 Schenck St. Brooklyn, L. I. Jan. 6, 1892. Dear Walt Whitman, Though unknown to you, I cannot forbear in this way to take you by the hand and tell you that I am glad to call myself your friend. Your "Leaves of Grass" is a precious possession of mine and each time I take it up I find something new and inspiring in it. I want to thank you for it all. It has helped me to see and understand more the beauty and truththat is in the world, and given me a broader sympathy for all mankind. and an insight into the reality of life. You say - "Long, long hence, "Then only may these Songs reach fruition". They surely will, and to have a grand, uplifting ennobling influence on those who read them. That is worth living for. In these days of your sickness my thoughts and sympathy are with you. Please pardon the familiar manner of my writing, this letter is just for you alone and is from the heart of a friend. With affectionate regard - Mrs. J. L. Pittman[*1/*] BROOKLYN, N Y JAN 6 630 PM 90 Mr. Walt Whitman Camden New Jersey Mickle St. CAMDEN N.J. JAN 7 6 PM 02CROSS- REFERENCE GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE Proudfit, D. L. to Whitman, n.d. Partial see Verso LITERARY FILE Prose "Modern Refinement," [1883?] A. MS. draft. Box 33