H B140
JP 218
FP 189
OMC 57
about 19 June 1861, when Edward ("Ned"), eldest son of Austin and Susan was born
ink
watermark/embossment: ?
14 x 12.5 cm.
LL 53. Bottom has been torn away (see brackets above), missing as of 6/20/63 (noted
on folder), but Johnson says that Sue's note at the bottom of the letter-poem reads:
1860 - written on Ned's birth-day -Johnson mistranscribes "I" for "you" in the line "If you could shut him up." Since this letter has often been used to suggest that Dickinson was jealous of the newborn, this is especially important, for the loving aunt instead writes a gleeful note about swaddling the baby. If Sue indeed wrote "1860," she refers to the decade, since Ned was born in 1861.
Toby was the cat -
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Transcription and commentary copyright 1996 by Martha Nell Smith, all rights reserved
Last updated on May 2, 2001
Maintained by Tanya Clement <tclement@umd.edu>