Camden
Dec: 7 P M
Yours rec'd to-day—Rhys1 has arr'd & in N
Y—Expect him here now every day—I have just written a few lines on
Whittier (by request & moderate cash) for an illustrated Phila: periodical, wh'
I will send you when printed2—Morse3 decidedly likes the Art Museum as the place to put the bust
(& I am inclined the same) but as I said leave it to you & B[axter]45—Affectionate regards to Mrs.
Fairchild6—O'Connor7 is poorly
—I had a letter from Mrs. O'C.8 I continue ab't the
same—Write often as you can—Have Hartmann9 & the
"Society" completely fizzled?10
W W
Correspondent:
William Sloane Kennedy
(1850–1929) was on the staff of the Philadelphia American and the Boston Transcript; he also
published biographies of Longfellow, Holmes, and Whittier (Dictionary of American Biography [New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1933], 336–337). Apparently Kennedy called on
the poet for the first time on November 21, 1880 (William Sloane Kennedy, Reminiscences of Walt Whitman [London: Alexander
Gardener, 1896], 1). Though Kennedy was to become a fierce defender of Whitman,
in his first published article he admitted reservations about the "coarse
indecencies of language" and protested that Whitman's ideal of democracy was
"too coarse and crude"; see The Californian, 3 (February
1881), 149–158. For more about Kennedy, see Katherine Reagan, "Kennedy, William Sloane (1850–1929)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998).
Notes
- 1. Ernest Percival Rhys
(1859–1946) was a British author and editor; he founded the Everyman's
Library series of inexpensive reprintings of popular works. He included a volume
of Whitman's poems in the Canterbury Poets series and two volumes of Whitman's
prose in the Camelot series for Walter Scott publishers. For more information
about Rhys, see Joel Myerson, "Rhys, Ernest Percival (1859–1946)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 2. Walt Whitman's greeting
to Whittier ("As the Greek's Signal Flame") appeared in the New
York Herald on December 15 and in Munyon's
Illustrated World in January 1888. Whitman received $10 from the
latter (Whitman's Commonplace Book; Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers
of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.).
Whittier wrote to Whitman on January 13, 1888 to
thank him for the greeting. [back]
- 3. Sidney H. Morse (1832–1903)
was a self-taught sculptor as well as a Unitarian minister and, from 1866 to
1872, editor of The Radical. He visited Whitman in Camden
many times and made various busts of him. Whitman had commented on an earlier
bust by Morse that it was "wretchedly bad." For more on this, see Ruth L. Bohan,
Looking into Walt Whitman: American Art,
1850–1920 (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press,
2006), 105–109. [back]
- 4. Sylvester Baxter (1850–1927)
was on the staff of the Boston Herald. Apparently he met
Whitman for the first time when the poet delivered his Lincoln address in Boston
in April, 1881; see Rufus A. Coleman, "Whitman and Trowbridge," PMLA 63 (1948), 268. Baxter wrote many newspaper columns
in praise of Whitman's writings, and in 1886 attempted to obtain a pension for
the poet. For more, see Christopher O. Griffin, "Baxter, Sylvester [1850–1927]," Walt Whitman:
An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 5. On December 5 William
Sloane Kennedy, (Reminiscences of Walt Whitman, 1896)
reported his reaction to Morse's bust ("a fine, nay a great, work"), and
observed that although Baxter was trying to persuade the Boston Public Library
to accept the work, he "preferred the Art Museum" (Charles E. Feinberg
Collection, the Library of Congress). On December 29 the library declined "the
proposed gift"; William Sloane Kennedy, (Reminiscences of Walt
Whitman, 1896), noted, "They tho't it too sketchy, they said" (Trent
Collection, Duke University). [back]
- 6. Elizabeth "Lily" Nelson
Fairchild (1845–1924) was a Boston socialite and writer, and the wife of
Colonel Charles Fairchild. She assisted in the Boston fundraising for Whitman's
proposed (but never built) small cabin. [back]
- 7. William Douglas O'Connor
(1832–1889) was the author of the grand and grandiloquent Whitman pamphlet
The Good Gray Poet: A Vindication, published in 1866.
For more on Whitman's relationship with O'Connor, see Deshae E. Lott, "O'Connor, William Douglas (1832–1889)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 8. Ellen M. "Nelly" O'Connor was the
wife of William D. O'Connor (1832–1889), one of Whitman's staunchest
defenders. Whitman dined with the O'Connors frequently during his Washington
years, and he speaks often in his letters of their daughter Jean, by nickname
"Jenny" or "Jeannie." Though Whitman and William O'Connor would break in late
1872 over Reconstruction policies with regard to emancipated black citizens,
Ellen would remain friendly with Whitman. The correspondence between Whitman and
Ellen is almost as voluminous as the poet's correspondence with William. For
more on Whitman's relationship with the O'Connors, see also Dashae E. Lott, "William Douglas O'Connor,"
Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, J.R. LeMaster and Donald
D. Kummings, ed., (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 9. Carl Sadakichi Hartmann (ca.
1867–1944) was an art historian and early critic of photography as an art
form. He visited Whitman in Camden in the 1880s and published his conversations
with the poet in 1895. Generally unpopular with other supporters of the poet, he
was known during his years in Greenwich Village as the "King of Bohemia." For
more information about Hartmann, see John F. Roche, "Hartmann, C. Sadakichi (ca. 1867–1944)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 10. Walt Whitman informed
Horace Traubel that "The Whitman Club in Boston has petered out"—a
conclusion he approved of: "I seem to need to be studied by each man for
himself, not by a club." For Whitman's recollections of the failure of the club,
see Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Tuesday, April 24, 1888. [back]