Content:
A short note in which Whitman refers to his 1879 railroad trip to Kansas. Whitman travelled west to attend the quarter-centennial celebration of the Kansas settlement and to visit his brother Jeff in St. Louis. Whitman journeyed as far as Denver and the Rockies before returning to Camden on January 5, 1880. Though no direct lines from this manuscript can be traced to Whitman's published prose, it is clear that this note is related to portions of
Specimen Days
, specifically the section titled, "Lawrence and Topeka, Kansas." Whitman first published this short piece in
Specimen Days & Collect
(1882), and reprinted it unchanged in
Complete Prose
(1892).
Content:
Pages of notes from Whitman's western railroad journey in September 1879. The pages describe his travels through Missouri and Kansas, and large portions of the notes would find their way into
Specimen Days
(specifically, the sections entitled "Missouri State," "Lawrence and Topeka, Kansas," "Art Features," and "A Silent Little Follower—The Coreopsis").
