The Doctor Is In

This letter, held in the archives at Franklin & Marshall, finds Lloyd at a very low time in his life. He shares these private thoughts with his brother, Dr. Houston Mifflin. It reads:

. . . . .

Feb. 5, 12 PM, 1892

I feel that I am dying — Be pleased to edit any poems of mine you find fit. I think I have been dying for a month while I wrote the 25 sonnets you will find. I fell over in bed as I wrote “Poem”—I can scarcely hold the pencil & these last words are for my beloved. But—tears blind me and I grow colder—I wanted to write 100 Sonnets & to illustrate them but it is all over.

I believe in God—and in the justice of God—and think annihilation will await me but, like Gray, have a trembling hope of immortality.

Adieu—

Lloyd Mifflin

I have no fear of death—not at all! It is rest.

. . . . .

His handwriting appears quite labored. Indeed, 1892 was the year Lloyd experienced a life-sobering heart attack. Lloyd blamed it on the photography chemicals he was often inhaling. That belief caused him to stop photography for awhile, picking it up later but limited his usual active enthusiasm.

As is often the case, as I research one particular aspect of Lloyd's life, another appears without warning. I have often been curious about the location of Dr. Houston Mifflin's medical office. Did he work out of a few rooms in the Mifflin House? Or, did he lease space? If you take a look at the bottom right corner, a very clear 'hint' appears—upside down. Seems that Lloyd was using Houston's stationery. And, as it clearly states, Dr. Houston held offices (rooms) at the corner of Commerce and Walnut Streets. Mystery solved (unless he leased in various spaces). Of course, the address is, today, an empty lot. Additionally, on one of the images in our archives, that address refers to The Bruner House.