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Frank Cowan to Walt Whitman, 17 February 1892

 loc.01216.001_large.jpg Walt Whitman, Esq. Camden, N.J. Dear Sir:—

Accompanying this note, I send you a copy of the first volume of my collection "Poetic Works," Just published, in the hope that, before the shallop of Charon1 shall have touched the shores of New Jersey, you will find something in it & reward the swallow-dip of a moment's freedom from the oppressions of age, and say, with Bully Bottom, when you lay it aside, "I shall desire you of more acquaintance, good Master Cobweb,"2—on this or the other side of the river.

Please accept it with my compliments and my best wishes for your welfare

I am yours very truly, Frank Cowan  loc.01216.002_large.jpg

Correspondent:
Frank Cowan (1844–1905) was born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, and later moved to Washington, D.C., where he studied law while working in a clerk position on the Committee of Patents under his father, Edgar Cowan (1815–1885), a United States Senator from Pennsylvania. Frank would go on to work as a lawyer and to study medicine at Georgetown Medical College. After moving back to his native Greensburg, he started a newspaper focused on Western Pennsylvania, titled Frank Cowan's Paper. His three-volume work The Poetical Works of Frank Cowan was published by the Oliver Publishing House in Greensburg in 1892.


Notes

  • 1. Cowan is referring to Charon, or the ferryman of Hades from Greek Mythology. Charon ferried the souls of the dead that had received their burial rites across the river that separated the world of the living from that of the dead. [back]
  • 2. Cowan is quoting lines spoken by the character of Bottom from William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream; see Act 3, Scene 1. [back]
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