Lake Huron1
June 202
Here I am way off in Canada West at a place called Sarnia3 (800 miles northwest of Phila: )—I am writing this on Lake Huron. Weather fine, country ditto—these noble waters, the lake, & the St Clair river, dotted with steamers & sail craft, suit me first rate. Everybody is kind & hospitable. To-morrow I visit a Chippewa Indian village—next day an excursion up the lake—Thursday back to London.4
W W
Notes
- 1. This letter is addressed:
Tilghman Hiskey | Care of Ed: Lindell | ferry foot of Federal St: | Camden New
Jersey | U S A. It is postmarked: Sarnia | (?). [back]
- 2. Hiskey and Captain
Respegius Edward Lindell worked for the Camden ferries (Specimen Days, ed. Floyd Stovall [New York: New York University Press,
1963], 183). Lindell, who was also a viola player, wrote to Whitman on July 4: "The boys read your little postal cards
with much pleasure" (Whitman's Commonplace Book, Charles E. Feinberg Collection
of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington,
D.C.). [back]
- 3. Whitman was in Sarnia,
Canada, from June 19 to 24 (Whitman's Commonplace Book). See also Walt Whitman's Diary in Canada, ed. William Sloane
Kennedy (Boston: Small, Maynard & Company, 1904), 3–10. [back]
- 4. Whitman's printed
accounts of his activities in Canada were more colorful than his personal
letters, usually cards, as also was his Canadian diary. Whitman was especially
attracted to a number of young Canadians; see his letters to Thomas Nicholson of
October 14, 1880, December 17, 1880 and October 12, 1881.
A young man named Norman McKenzie, a high school student in Sarnia, wrote to
Whitman on June 29: "Do you remember the nice sail
we had that night on the lake and river, I will never forget it, you, and I had
such a pleasant time up in the bow of the boat when I sat on your lap and asked
you questions about the which you wrote about in your book named Two Rivulets."
McKenzie wanted to visit Whitman in London, Canada, during the school vacation
period. The poet undoubtedly met the boy when he visited a public school in
Sarnia (Walt Whitman's Diary in Canada, 8–9);
probably McKenzie accompanied the poet on "A Moonlight Excursion up Lake Huron"
(7–8). Whitman replied (lost) to the boy's letter on July 4 (Whitman's
Commonplace Book). [back]