I have been perplexed how to express to you my feelings of gratitude for the gift of
the letter which you wrote to our mutual friend, Wallace,1 with
instructions to give it to me "if I cared for it."2 I do
indeed care for it and shall always prize it for your sake. I am especially pleased
to learn from it that you share my admiration for the noble stoic Epictetus,3 and I am quite with you in thinking that the Stoic
teachings "are specially needed in a rich & luxurious & even scientific
age." Worthy all admiration & honor are those brave spirits who have withstood
loc.01474.002_large.jpg the forces
& temptations of the age & given us examples of lives lived according to
nature in the Stoic sense—in harmony with the highest reason, simple just,
brave, free, cheerful & beneficent & magnanimous; and all honor to you dear
friend whose example is so striking & encouraging. Your philosophy &
practice approximate in many respects, as was pointed out by Wallace, to the Stoic
ideal. You however superadd to their teachings the doctrine of immortality, which as
a belief in the continuance of conscious identity hereafter, the Stoics or, at least
Epictetus, do not seem to have professed. Whether this doctrine be an
loc.01474.003_large.jpg addition to the
truths they taught I have not yet been able to determine though I perceive from your
works it has been of commanding importance in your life giving to it force buoyancy
& hope; and I look upon it as a circumstance of great weight that one who has
had your unique experience of life & death, & who is so conversant with the
latest teaching of science should be so profoundly convinced of its truth. This fact
at any rate is sufficient to make one pause before coming to a negative
conclusion.
I have also to thank you, Mr Whitman, for inscribing my name in the copy of Leaves of
Grass which the "Boys of the College" gave to me on my birthday. It was a loc.01474.004_large.jpg thoughtful
kindness both on your and their parts which I highly appreciate. The book has become
almost the bible of the College & a vade mecum4 in our country walks &
holidays adding light & interest to almost every scene. I therefore need not say
how pleased I was to possess a copy containing your and their autographs.
I have seen your letter to Dr. Johnston5 about your birthday and also "Warry's";6 both of them are full of deep interest. Many thanks for the kind messages to the boys (in which I always include myself) contained in them & your numerous other letters which have all been read to us.—I am pleased to observe that your health was better after the "spree." May it long continue to improve & may you enjoy many such sprees.
My loving sympathy to you in your painful infirmities and wishing you the best of good cheer, in which my wife joins
I am yours sincerely Wentworth DixonCorrespondent:
Wentworth Dixon
(1855–1928) was a lawyer's clerk and a member of the "Bolton College" of
Whitman admirers. He was also affiliated with the Labour Church, an organization
whose socialist politics and working-class ideals were often informed by
Whitman's work. Dixon communicated directly with Whitman only a few times, but
we can see in his letters a profound sense of care for the poet's failing
health, as well as genuine gratitude for Whitman's continued correspondence with
the "Eagle Street College." See Dixon's letters to Whitman of June 13, 1891 and February
24, 1892. For more on Dixon and Whitman's Bolton disciples, see Paul
Salveson, "Loving
Comrades: Lancashire's Links to Walt Whitman," Walt
Whitman Quarterly Review 14.2 (1996), 57–84.