Postcard from Walt Whitman, Camden, New Jersey, to Anne Gilchrist, 1881 January 1 : autograph manuscript signed.

Expressing his regret that Gilchrist has been ill; specifying it was her son, Herbert, who informed him of her condition; continuing to say that the books Herbert sent for Susan Stafford (Whitman stayed with the Staffords on their farm near Camden, New Jersey, periodically for years) have arrived; mentioning he received a long letter from Gilchrist's daughter, Beatrice; writing that the Staffords are well; saying that things are "getting along capitally for me this winter so far" and that he has been "and am writing quite a deal to order (astonishing, isn't it?)"; assuring Gilchrist that once his sketches are published in he will send her a copies of them; requesting that she forward the draft of "Cedar-Plums Like" (a working title for what would become "Specimen Days") to Rossetti; observing "what silly fictitious items appear about me in some of the English papers"; trusting Gilchrist and her family had a good holiday season; closing with observations about the deepening snow in New Jersey.