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Correspondence
Letter from Thomas Jefferson Whitman to Walt Whitman, 7 February 1873
St. Louis,
Feb 7th 1873
Dear brother Walt,
I wrote you a few days since about Mattie
The next day I saw in one of the papers here that you were confined to your room with sickness—is this true? 1 I have written mother again this morning—there is no particular change in Mattie—I have been able to take her out for about an hour's drive for the last three days—this helps her more than anything else
In writing you I spoke to you about coming on—I also mentioned it to Mother—since then I have wondered if—supposing you to feel pretty good—you could'nt come by way of Philadelphia and bring Mother with you Mat seems to want to see you two so very very much
I will write or telegraph you if any change occurs before I hear from you
affectionately Jeff
About the Text
The text presented here is derived from Dennis Berthold and Kenneth Price, eds., Dear Brother Walt: The Letters of Thomas Jefferson Whitman (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1984). For a detailed description of discrepancies between this electronic edition and the print source, see our statement of editorial policy .
The manuscript of this letter, dated February 7, 1873, is held in the Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839-1919, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
For more information on the letters of Thomas Jefferson Whitman, see Dennis Berthold and Kenneth Price's introduction to the print edition.
Notes
1. In the "Personal" column for February 4, 1873, the Missouri Republican tersely noted, "Walt Whitman is ill with paralysis." WW's sad letter of February 8 made clear both his affection for Mattie and the serious nature of his illness: "Dear, dear, dear, sister Matty—O how I have been thinking of you, & shall all day—I have not now the use of my limbs to move from one room to the other—or else I should come on immediately to St. Louis...Your unhappy, sorrowful, loving brother" (Edwin Haviland Miller, ed., Walt Whitman: The Correspondence [New York: New York Univ. Press, 1961-77], Vol. II, p. 196). (Back)
Whitman Archive ID
loc.00462