The Letters of Anne Gilchrist and Walt Whitman Part 15

ANNE GILCHRIST TO WALT WHITMAN

_112 Madison Ave.

14 Jan., '79._

DEAREST FRIEND:

The pleasantest event since I last wrote has been a visit from Mr.

Eldridge. We had a long, friendly chat that did me good. Sat.u.r.day evening we went to one of Miss Booth's receptions--met Joaquin Miller there, who is just back from Europe--of course we talked of you. Mrs. Moulton too is hoping so you will come to New York during her stay here, which is to last a week or two longer. John Burroughs has just sent me a post card to say he has returned from a 3-weeks stay with his folks in Delaware Co.--that he hopes to come here soon--wants Mrs. Burroughs to come too & board for a month or so--wants also "Walt to come--& lecture"--but "Walt will not be hurried." Did I tell you that we found boarding here a young man, Mr.

Arthur Holland, one of the family who were so very friendly to me & made my stay so pleasant both in Concord & Cambridge? He often comes to our room of an evening for an hour or two's chat, & by the bye, being connected with the iron trade he has been able to make some enquiries for me as to what Per's chances as a scientific metallurgist would be in this country--& I am sorry to say he thinks they would be very poor indeed.

Prof. Lesley said the same thing; so it is clear I must not urge him to try the experiment, seeing he has a wife & child. Herby & Giddy both well.

Love from us all. Good bye, Dear Friend.

A. GILCHRIST.

Friendly greeting to your brother & sister.

LETTER XLV

ANNE GILCHRIST TO WALT WHITMAN

_112 Madison Ave., Jan. 27, '79._

MY DEAREST FRIEND:

Are you never coming? I do long & long to see you. I am beginning to like New York better than I did and to have pleasant times. Had some friendly chats with Kate Hillard last week, & went with her to call on Mrs. Putman Jacobi, who has a little baby 3 weeks old & is still in her room, but has got through very nicely--She talks well, doesn't she? & has a face with plenty of individuality in it. Also we went together on Sat.u.r.day again to one of Miss Booth's receptions, & there met Mrs. Croly, & had the best talk about you I have had this long while. I like her cordiality--we are going to her reception on Sunday & to one at Mrs. Bigelow's Wednesday. It is true there is not much that can be called social enjoyment at these crowded receptions, but they enable you to start many acquaintances.h.i.+ps, some of which turn out lasting good. We had some fine harp playing & a witty recital at Miss Booth's. Miss Selous is back in America. I should not wonder if she comes on here soon. Bee is living at the Dispensary now, instead of in the Hospital, & finds the comparatively outdoor life--& the freedom from being "whistled" for all hours of the day and night as she was there--a wonderful refreshment. That coloured lady, Mrs. Wiley, whom you met once at our house, is her fellow labourer & room mate at the Dispensary. Bee likes her much. I am not sure whether you know the Gilders? We spent a couple of hours delightfully with them yesterday afternoon. She has a very attractive face, a musical voice, & such a sweet smile. They are going to Europe for a four months' holiday this spring. I admire the simple, unconventional way in which they live. Herby is working away in the best spirits. He is going to paint that bowling alley subject on a large scale. Giddy is sitting by me with her nose in the French Dictionary, working away at a novel of Balzac's. I have had scarcely any letters from England lately!--and the papers bring none but dismal tidings; nevertheless I don't believe our sun is going down yet awhile--we shall emerge from this dark crisis the better, not the worse, because compelled to grapple with the evils that have caused it, instead of pa.s.sively enduring them. Please give friendly remembrance from me to your brothers & sister. Have you been at Kirkwood lately, I wonder? I suppose Timber Creek is frozen over. Good-bye, dear Friend. Write soon, or better still Come!

A. GILCHRIST.

LETTER XLVI

HERBERT H. GILCHRIST TO WALT WHITMAN

_New York 112 Madison Avenue February 2nd, 1879._

DEAR DARLING WALT:

I read your long piece in the Philadelphia _Times_ with ever so much interest, & with especial delight the delicately told bit about the dear old Pond, artistic, because so true. I know that it will please you to hear that I have gained tenfold facility with my brush since the autumn.

It has agreed uncommonly well with me having enlisted under such an experienced & able painter as Chase; as a manipulator of the brush he is agreed by the experts (Eaton) to have no rival. I may yet be able to paint a head of you in _one_ sitting that will do justice to you. Three of my pictures are nicely hung at the Water Colour Exhibition Academy of Design, the first time that I have exhibited in New York. We had two & three engagements every night (with one exception) last week, & go to Mrs.

Croley's to-night. Your friend John Burroughs called last Wednesday--came to try Turkish baths for his malarious trouble, but it seemed to bring on his attacks of neuralgia worse. I am sorry that I can report but poorly of his health, so painfully excruciating was his neuralgia about his arms at times that a Dr. was sent for & morphia injected in his wrist, but I am glad to say he reported himself a little better. He hopes that you will come and give the lecture on Lincoln this winter; why not, confound it, it would be most interesting.

Quite often we go to Miss Booth's receptions. Sat.u.r.day evening, they are gay & amusing. Met Mr. Bliss, the gentleman that talked like "a house afire" one Sunday at your house last winter, you remember.

Last Wednesday I, mother, Giddy, & Kate Hillard went to Mrs. Bigelow's reception. Miss H. was asked to recite & she recited the "Swineherd"

(Anderson's) charmingly, & "The Faithful Lovers," which took every one.

"Walk in" Miller was there (I can't spell his name) & lots more.

This morning being Sunday, I took my skates to the Park. The wind was high & whirled us about fantastically; ladies seated in wicker chairs were pushed rapidly along the Pond's smooth icy surface by their gentlemen escorts, tall men kissed the ice or sprawled full length on their backs, while others flew by like swallows; all this with a church spire peeping behind hills dappled with snow & suns.h.i.+ne: what more inspiriting than this?

And now dear Walt.

Good-bye for the present.

HERBERT H. GILCHRIST.

LETTER XLVII

BEATRICE GILCHRIST TO WALT WHITMAN

_33 Warrenton St.

Feb. 16, 1879._

DEAR MR. WHITMAN:

Although not in word, I have thanked you for your letter & papers by enjoying them thoroughly.

Down at this Dispensary we work just as hard as at the Hospital, but our spare minutes are our own (no records to write out); our work is under our own control; we are out in fresh air half the day, sometimes half the night, making intimate acquaintance with all sorts of people & places & with far distant parts of Boston.

We have all the responsibility that it is good for young doctors to have, i. e., in all difficult or obscure & dangerous cases we are obliged to call in older heads & are obliged to report verbally to the visiting physician of the month all our cases & our treatment. Only two students live at the Dispensary--Dr. Wiley (the coloured Philadelphia student you saw) & myself. In tastes we have much in common & on the whole I prefer to live with her rather than with any of the other students. We share rooms.

We have a bedroom, a drug-room, a treatment room, waiting room for patients, & take our meals in the kitchen.

A widow woman with two children housekeeps.

I think Boston a very beautiful city. The public Gardens & Commons in the busiest part, sloping down from the gilt domed state house on Beacon hill, threaded by paths in all directions, traversed by the business men, the fine ladies, the beggars, etc., etc. One broad, sloping path is given up to the boys who want to coast, temporary wooden bridges being thrown over the cross paths. Then, crossing South Bay to South Boston is a beautiful walk I take from one to four times a day. South Boston looks rather dingy; it is inhabited mostly by artisans & mill hands & fishermen, but walking up 3rd St., as you cross the lettered streets A, B, C, D, etc., you look down upon the harbour--on bright days bright blue, & a few sails to be seen--at sunset the colours of course are reflected gorgeously.

Somehow or other the sea looks doubly beautiful set in dingy S. Boston.

Far over in the West End too we have patients. Last Tuesday I had twins all by myself; only one, however, was born alive; the other had been dead a week. How delightful that you are feeling so much better. Shall you not be coming to Boston sometime before I leave, 1st June?

The Boston I know is not the Boston I knew in books; I am as far off from that as if I lived in England--is not the "hub"--I was reminded of that last Sunday when I had time for once to go to church & went to hear Mr. E.

E. Hale preach and went home to dinner with him....

I like his daughter whom we knew in Philadelphia. She is a clever young artist. Dr. Wiley is very popular with her patients, far more so than I.

Please remember me to all the Staffords & give my especial love to Mrs.