
Again have I to thank you for your kindness in writing to me. Your p.c of June 18th reached me on the evening of June 29th while J.W.W—who had dropped & had tea with me—& I were sitting here talking about you; thus realizing the old proverb—"Speak of the Angel & you hear the flap of his wing!"
Its arrival then was doubly welcome & we thank you most cordially for it.
Wallace at once took a rough facsimile of it for himself.

We are especially pleased with the brightness & cheeriness wh: pervades it—W. called it "a reamer!"—& for the good spirits in which you evidently were at the time of writing & to which the presence of those "two dear little boys" & "their delicious chatter" no doubt contributed.
God bless them for cheering you with their childish prattle; & may it be long before their young hearts lose their freshness and charming naiveté.
And they are fortunate little boys too, though of course they cannot know that; but some day when they are
grown up
they will perhaps think so & be able to tell their little boys that
they were friends of Walt Whitman!
We rejoice to hear that you were "emerging as before" from the prostration of those "fearful, unprecedented, three days' hot spell" which "pulled you down like a pack of hounds" & we hope soon to hear of your getting out & enjoying the fresh air with all its delights.
Do you know that this is the anniversary (by the day of the week, tho' it is tomorrow by the calendar)
of my sailing from England to America, last year?
Today I have been pondering over the events of that ever memorable month of July 1890; beginning with
the long sea voyage, during which you were so often the topic of talk on board & you were my chief
object of desire for so many days; thinking of the time when I sat for countless hours [illegible] the
ship's prow, facing America & watching
our steel Leviathan wedging her way thro' the green waters of the broad Atlantic, & every moment
bearing me nearer and nearer to you; when, anchored in the Delaware I lay
in my berth and
looked across the water at the gleaming lights of Camden where I knew you
were; when, next morning I ferried the River, booked at the West Jersey Hotel & with a palpitating
heart made my way to 328, Mickle St. & was at length shewn up stairs by Warry,
heard your welcoming words:—"Come in, doctor! Come right in!"
and was received by you with such open-hearted loving-kindness, not once but many times.
When I think of
those two happy, happy days I spent with you & all you have been to me since, my heart
swells with reverential grateful love to you, my Benefactor, my dearest & best friend.
How appropriate are your words!—
"Out of the rolling ocean the crowdcame a drop gently to me Whispering I love you, before long
I die, I have travel'd a long way merely
to look on you, to touch you, For I could not die till I once
looked on you, For I feared I might afterwards
lose you.

we are safe Return in peace to the ocean
my love I too am part of that ocean
my love, we are
not so much separated Behold the great rondure, the cohesion
of all, how perfect! But as for me, for you, the irresistable
sea is to separate us As for an hour carrying us diverse
yet cannot carry us diverse for ever."
Though we shall probably never see each other again with mortal eyes, yet "we shall surely meet again"!'
Later
A good letter just to hand from H.L.T. from
wh. I am glad to note that he thinks you are "much better this last
ten days"—letter dated Jn
22nd & wh I took to the train by wh. JW.W leaves town. Had
a few minutes there with him & have since recd a telegram from him wh. says that he has
recd the "Good-Bye," & the Pictures & asks me to thank you & Traubel for all—
I am glad to say that the effects of my accident are passing off.
Disappointed at not finding H.L.T's articles in July Lippincott
My best love to you now & always, Yours affectionately J Johnston