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JOHN H. JOHNSTON.
ALBERT EDW. JOHNSTON.
J.H. JOHNSTON & CO.,
DIAMOND MERCHANTS AND JEWELERS,
17 UNION SQUARE,
CORNER BROADWAY & 15TH STREET.1
ESTABLISHED 1844.
All Communications should be addressed to the firm.
TELEPHONE CALL: "916 - 18TH STREET."
New York,
Oct. 29th
1891
Dear Uncle Walt:
Yesterday Major Pond2 brought Sir Edwin
Arnold3
in to meet Father,4 but as Father is still quite
ill5
and confined to the house, I represented him and had the pleasure of a
delightful little chat
with Mr. Arnold. Almost his first word was an inquiry for you
and he asked me to send you his love and hearty greetings
and say that he hopes to be able to see you while in America,
but as his engagements are so numerous he cannot positively
promise himself the pleasure.
I wish I might myself give you the special hand grasp
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which he gave me for you, but I can only send you
my best love with the hope that these bright days find you quite well.
Affectionately yours
May F. Johnston
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Correspondent:
Mary Frances (May) Johnston
(1862–1957) was the daughter of John H. Johnston (1837–1919) and his
first wife Amelia Johnston. She was the younger sister of Bertha Johnston
(1872–1953), who was involved in the suffrage movement. May later married
Arthur Levi, of London, England ("Mrs. A. C. Johnston, Author, Dies at 72," The Brooklyn Daily Eagle [May 3, 1917], 3).
Notes
- 1. This letter is addressed:
Walt Whitman | Camden | New Jersey. It is postmarked: NEW YORK | OCT29 | 5 PM |
D; CAMDEN, N.J. | OCT30 | 6 AM | 91 | REC'D. [back]
- 2. James Burton Pond (1838–1903)
was a famous lecture-manager and printer. He was also awarded the Medal of Honor
for his services in the Civil War. In his 1900 autobiography Eccentricities of Genius (G. W. Dillingham Co: New York), he writes of
Whitman: "Whitman gave a few readings under my management during his life. They
were mostly testimonials from friends, and benefits given in the theatres of New
York City"; Pond concludes with an anecdote about the poet's meeting with Sir
Edwin Arnold (497–501). [back]
- 3. Sir Edwin Arnold (1832–1904)
was a British poet and journalist best known for his long narrative poem, The Light of Asia (1879), which tells the life story and
philosophy of Gautama Buddha and was largely responsible for introducing
Buddhism to Western audiences. Arnold visited Whitman in Camden in 1889. For an
account of Arnold's visit, see Horace Traubel, With Walt
Whitman in Camden, Friday, September 13, 1889 and Saturday, September 14, 1889: "My main objection to him, if objection
at all, would be, that he is too eulogistic—too flattering," Whitman
concluded. Arnold published his own version of the interview in Seas and Lands (1891), in which he averred that the two
read from Leaves of Grass, surrounded by Mrs. Davis,
knitting, a handsome young man (Ned Wilkins), and "a big setter." There are at
least two additional accounts of Arnold's visit with Whitman; "Arnold and
Whitman" was published anonymously in The Times
(Philadelphia, PA) on September 15, 1889, and a different article, also titled "Arnold and
Whitman" was published anonymously in The Daily Picayune
(New Orleans, LA) on September 26, 1889. [back]
- 4. John H. Johnston (1837–1919) was a New York
jeweler and close friend of Whitman. Johnston was also a friend of Joaquin
Miller (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Tuesday, August 14, 1888). Whitman visited the Johnstons for the
first time early in 1877. In 1888 he observed to Horace Traubel: "I count
[Johnston] as in our inner circle, among the chosen few" (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Wednesday, October 3, 1888). See also Johnston's letter about
Whitman, printed in Charles N. Elliot, Walt Whitman as Man,
Poet and Friend (Boston: Richard G. Badger, 1915), 149–174. For
more on Johnston, see Susan L. Roberson, "Johnston, John H. (1837–1919) and Alma Calder," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and
Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 5. May's father, the New York
jeweler John H. Johnston, had recently written a letter to Whitman in which
Johnston stated: "Alma and I are both just recovering from a hard cold,
otherwise, all well." See Johnston's letter of October
13, 1891. [back]