
I am so charmed with the account, in to days Press, of Sir Edwin Arnolds interview with you, that I must obey the impulse to write about
it, & to congratulate you, upon having, & so justly deserving, the high esteem of such news,
& this after your early many conflicts—Indeed it is fascinating to me to study such a life as
yours has been—The New York Herald & Recorder of Sunday last contain as I
suppose you know, long articles about your life full of disappointments & mean
treatment, now culminating in such honors & appreciation, as few of our authors
or poets have reached—
Oh, what exquisite happiness it would have given me to be present yesterday &
witnessed your interview—to see such a gush of
affection between two
congenial, noble men—
I myself feel honored to have known you & proudly regard you, as one of my childrens names & a member of the Whitman family, whom my noble, grand, old father-in-law would have dearly loved—I wish you could have known each other—
I am going to make another attempt very soon to see you—May you be "good for fifteen years more"
With great respect & affection Lavinia F Whitman