Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Happy Birthday, Brother!

My brother and I are close.

You may know that I'm a Walt Whitman fan. Whitman had six brothers and two sisters and he was closest to his brother, Thomas Jefferson Whitman (often called, "Jeff"). They exchanged many letters. Here's an excerpt from one, dated March 3, 1863:

Dear Walt:

That she bitch of Hell, the Brown, is trying her strongest to clear us out and I honestly think Walt that I shall just take and belt old Johny 3 under the eye if he attempts any of his last summers games...

To day the bitch could do nothing better than spend an hour or two in getting the lid of the cistern up and has left it in the old dangerous style half on and half of[f] the hole...

Jeff.
The "she-bitch" Jeff was referring to was the landlord. Toilet talk - in 1863, perhaps? It reminded me of my brother and I shootin' the breeze.

Happy Birthday, Jason.
Love, Jeff

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