IV.
(White paper, unlined, with Harper's official
heading,
8" x 5")
Franklin Square,
New York, November 1, 1873.
Mr. Walt Whitman,
Dear Sir,
I send enclosed Messrs Harper & Brothers' check for One
Hundred Dollars ($100), in payment for your poem, "Song of the
Redwood Tree."
The Messrs Harper do not object to the subsequent publication of
the poem in book form, provided such publication is not made until
six months after the appearance of the poem in their Magazine.
With thanks for your poem (of which I will send you proof in a
few days), & the best wishes for your welfare, I am
Sincerely yours
H. M. Alden.
Ed. Harper's Mag.
P.S. The poem will appear in an early number. H. M. A.
Whitman's "The Song of the Redwood Tree" appeared in
Harper's
Monthly for February, 1874 (XLVIII, 366-367). It first appeared
in book form in Two Rivulets, published in 1876.