Then, too, the young men at the ferry, and the drivers and conductors on the cars, came to know and like him, helping him as he hobbled to and fro.[552] He was often refreshed by the sunsets on the river, and by the winter crossings through the floating ice;[553] while the sound and sight of the railroad cars crossing West Street, less than a quarter of a mile away, reminded him constantly of Pete Doyle, now a baggage-master on the "Baltimore and Potomac". He had a companion, too, in his little dog,[554] which came and went with him, and all these pleasant, homely little matters go to make his letters as cheerful as may be. If only he could be in his own quarters, and among his friends, he would be comparatively happy. It is the home-feeling and affection that he craves all the time; even a wood-fire would help towards that, but alas, brother George has installed an improved heater! About midsummer, 1874, a new Solicitor-General discharged Whitman from his post at Washington.[555] Hitherto Walt had employed a substitute to carry on his work. But he had now been ill some eighteen months, and the prospect of his return was becoming so remote that he could not feel he had been treated unjustly. From this time forward his financial position became precarious. The amount of his savings grew less and less, and his earnings were not large. Besides beginning to edit his hospital memoranda for publication, he wrote for the papers and magazines whenever his head allowed him to do so; and in England, as well as at home, there was still some demand for his book. But even the scanty sales-money did not always reach him, being retained by more than one agent who regarded the author's life as practically at an end.[556] FOOTNOTES: [528] Camden, viii., 238-40; Calamus, 86. [529] Bucke, 46; _In re_, 73. [530] Camden, ix., 200. [531] _In re_, 79. [532] _In re_, 89. [533] Calamus, 99; Bucke, 46. [534] _Comp. Prose_, 272. [535] _Comp. Prose_, 274 n. [536] Calamus, 104, 109. [537] _L. of G._, 105. [538] See Calamus. [539] See Calamus, 106. [540] _Ib._, 111. [541] _Ib._, 106. [542] _Ib._ [543] _E.g._, the late Mr. Wm. Ingram. [544] Calamus, 109. [545] see _supra_, 204. [546] Calamus, 145; _L. of G._, 323. [547] _L. of G._, 181. [548] _Ib._, 165. [549] Number 431; Calamus, 118. [550] Calamus, 119, etc. [551] Calamus, 126, 127. [552] _Ib._, 133. [553] _Ib._, 143. [554] _Ib._, 137. [555] _Ib._, 155. [556] Bucke, 46. CHAPTER XVI CONVALESCENCE All through 1875 the weakness continued; but in November he was well enough to pay a visit to Washington, accompanied by John Burroughs; and, the public re-burial of Poe taking place about that time in Baltimore, Doyle appears to have convoyed him thither.[557] There, sitting silently on the platform at the public function, he seems once again to have been cordially greeted by Emerson, but O'Connor, who was also present, made no sign.[558] * * * * *