
There is great excitement here over the returns of yesterdays elections, as I suppose there is the same in Washington also—the Democrats look blue enough, & the Republicans are on their high horses. I suppose Grants' success is now certain. As I write, the bands are out here, parading the streets, & the drums beating. It is now forenoon. To-night we will hear the big guns, & see the blazing bonfires. It is dark & cloudy weather here to-day. I was glad to get your letter of Friday, 9th which is the last—also a Star at same time. Also this morning, Star an Express of 12th. I suppose you rec'd mine of the 9th & the papers. I am about as well as usual. Mother is well, & my brothers the same. I am going to-morrow to Providence, R. I. to spend a few days. Should you write any time within four or five days after receiving this, direct to me, care of Hon. Thomas Davis, Providence, R. I.
My friend O'Connor is quite unwell, and is absent from Washington away down
on the New England coast. I received a letter from him yesterday.
I believe I told you I was finishing up about 230 copies of my book,
expecting to sell them. I have had them finished up & bound &c. but there
is a hitch about the sale, & I shall not be able to sell them at present.
There is a pretty strong enmity here toward me, & L. of G., among certain classes—not only that it is a great mess of crazy talk & hard words, all tangled up,
without sense or meaning, (which by the by is, I believe, your judgment about it)—but others sincerely think that it is a bad book, improper, & ought to be denounced
& put down, & its author along with it. There are some venemous but laughable
squibs occasionally in the papers. One said I had received 25 guineas for a piece
in an English magazine, but that it was worth all that for any one to read it.
Another, the
World, said "Walt Whitman was in town yesterday, carrying the
blue cotton umbrella of the future." (It had been a drizzly forenoon)—So they go it.
When they get off a good squib, however, I laugh at it, just as much as any one.
Dear Pete I hope this will find you well & in good spirits. Dear boy, I send you my love. I will write you a line from Providence. So long, Pete.
WaltI have been debating whether to get my leave extended, & stay till election day to vote—or whether to pair off with a Democrat, & return, (which will amount to the same thing.) Most likely I shall decide on the latter, but don't know for certain.
