Dr. John Johnston to Walt Whitman, 24 October 1891

 loc.02524.001_large.jpg 54 Manchester Road, Bolton.1 England Oct 24th 1891 My Dear good Friend,

My best thanks to you for yr kind p.c. of Oct 12th2 recd two days ago, from which I was pleased to gather that there was then no [torn away] for the worse with you. [torn away]d too to know that you find Hodgkinson's3 undershirt "just right fit & all"—& I know that he will be pleased to hear that you like them.

Along with your dear p.c. came good letters from J.W.W.4 H.L.T.5 & Thos B. Harned6—the latter in acknowledgement of the copy of my "Notes I sent."7 J.W.W. also sent me The Long Islander.8  loc.02524.002_large.jpg I shall not write to J.W.W. by this mail as usual, as he will probably have sailed by the time this gets to you,9 perhaps by our Steamer the British Prince—associated with you through the visits of Herbert Gilchrist,10 J.W. Wallace & myself.

Last night I deliverd my Lecture on "My trip to America"11 & shewed all my pictures by the oxyhydrogen, lime light to a large hall full of working men, their sweethearts & their wives & succeeded in holding their interest for an hour & a half while I talked about my American experiences—you & your surroundings coming in for a good share of attention.

Yesterday afternoon I took  loc.02524.003_large.jpg Fred Wild12 with me to our new Turkish Baths13—of wh. I am a director—& this being his first "Turkish" experience it was as good as pantomime to see him, & better, to hear his uniquely & inimitably quaint & humorous remarks & criticisms all given in broad "Bowton" dialect—of the various operations & processes to which he was subjected at the hands of the shampooer. For example the scrubbing brush was "a cat let out of a bag and clawing at him." The wooden pillow had "the feathers the wrong way up": the tapping & pounding was "playing the piano on his ribs" &c &c. At the end he felt so invigorated that he wanted to know if there was anybody, about his own size & weight, who wanted to fight! He is a born humourist & a downright good fellow.  loc.02524.004_large.jpg He afterwards came along & had tea with my wife14 & me & we were joined by R. K. Greenhalgh15 & spent a jolly two hours together.

I send you a copy of the Workman's Times16—The paper for which "Nunquam"17 now writes, instead of the Sunday Chronicle18 He is a friend of yours, & you wd notice that "Walt Whitman Junr" is on the staff.

I also send you a copy of an amusing p.c. frm I c[torn away] in the Medical Journal19 Glo[tornaway]

The weather here continues very damp with a good deal of mist & clinging moisture. The sun has just gone down in a golden haze with rosy edged cloudlets.

Kindest regards to all & best heart love to yourself from yours affectionately John Johnston.

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"The Michigan State Board of Health recently took Health officer Davis20 to task for failing to send in his weekly reports—His reply is said to have been facetious. He said:—There has not been enough sickness here in the last two or three years to do much good. The physicians find time to go to Milwaukee on excursions, serve as jurors, in justice courts, set around on dry goods boxes, beg tobacco, chew gum & (sic) swap lies. A few sporadic cases of measles have existed but they were treated & mostly by old women & no deaths occurred There was an undertaker in the village, but he is now in the State prison It is hoped & expected that when green truck gets around melons plenty & cucumbers in abundance that something may revive business If it does I will let you know."

J. J.

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Notes

• 1. This letter is addressed: Walt Whitman | 328 Mickle St | Camden | New Jersey | U. S. America It is postmarked: BOLTON | OC24 | 91; PAID | D | ALL; New York | [illegible]; CAMDEN, N.J. | NOV 2 | 6 AM | 91 | REC'D. [back]
• 2. Johnston is referring to Whitman's letter of October 12, 1891. [back]
• 3. Sam Hodgkinson, a hosiery manufacturer, was a friend of the architect James W. Wallace and the physician Dr. John Johnston, both of Bolton, Lancashire, England (Johnston and Wallace, Visits to Walt Whitman in 1890–1891 by Two Lancashire Friends [London : G. Allen & Unwin, ltd., 1918], 104). [back]
• 4. James William Wallace (1853–1926), of Bolton, England, was an architect and great admirer of Whitman. Wallace, along with Dr. John Johnston (1852–1927), a physician in Bolton, founded the "Bolton College" of English admirers of the poet. Johnston and Wallace corresponded with Whitman and with Horace Traubel and other members of the Whitman circle in the United States, and they separately visited the poet and published memoirs of their trips in John Johnston and James William Wallace, Visits to Walt Whitman in 1890–1891 by Two Lancashire Friends (London: Allen and Unwin, 1917). For more information on Wallace, see Larry D. Griffin, "Wallace, James William (1853–1926)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
• 5. Horace L. Traubel (1858–1919) was an American essayist, poet, and magazine publisher. He is best remembered as the literary executor, biographer, and self-fashioned "spirit child" of Walt Whitman. During the late 1880s and until Whitman's death in 1892, Traubel visited the poet virtually every day and took thorough notes of their conversations, which he later transcribed and published in three large volumes entitled With Walt Whitman in Camden (1906, 1908, & 1914). After his death, Traubel left behind enough manuscripts for six more volumes of the series, the final two of which were published in 1996. For more on Traubel, see Ed Folsom, "Traubel, Horace L. [1858–1919]," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
• 6. Thomas Biggs Harned (1851–1921) was one of Whitman's literary executors. Harned was a lawyer in Philadelphia and, having married Augusta Anna Traubel (1856–1914), was Horace Traubel's brother-in-law. For more on him, see Dena Mattausch, "Harned, Thomas Biggs (1851–1921)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). For more on his relationship with Whitman, see Thomas Biggs Harned, Memoirs of Thomas B. Harned, Walt Whitman's Friend and Literary Executor, ed. Peter Van Egmond (Hartford: Transcendental Books, 1972). [back]
• 7. Johnston published Notes of Visit to Walt Whitman, etc., in July, 1890 (Bolton: T. Brimelow & co., printers, &c.) in 1890. Johnston's notes about his visit to Whitman were later published with Wallace's own accounts of his Fall 1891 visits with Whitman and the Canadian physician Richard Maurice Bucke in Visits to Walt Whitman in 1890–91 (London, England: G. Allen & Unwin, ltd., 1917). [back]
• 8. Whitman founded the Long Islander newspaper in 1838. He published his poem, "Our Future Lot," in the paper. During the summer of 1839, he sold the newspaper and moved to New York City. No copies of The Long-Islander edited by Whitman are known to exist. For more information on the newspaper, see Karen Karbeiner, "Long Islander, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
• 9. At this time, Wallace was preparing to return to his home in Bolton, Lancashire, England, after spending several weeks traveling in the United States and Canada. During his trip, Wallace visited Whitman in Camden, and, after spending a few days with the poet, Wallace traveled with the Canadian physician Richard Maurice Bucke to Bucke's home in London, Ontario, Canada, where he met Bucke's family and friends. Wallace departed early in the morning of November 4, 1891, on board the City of Berlin. His account of his time with Whitman was published—along with the Bolton physician John Johnston's account of his own visit with the poet in the summer of 1890—in their memoir, Visits to Walt Whitman in 1890–1891 by Two Lancashire Friends (London: Allen and Unwin, 1917). [back]
• 10. Herbert Harlakenden Gilchrist (1857–1914), son of Alexander and Anne Gilchrist, was an English painter and editor of Anne Gilchrist: Her Life and Writings (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1887). For more information, see Marion Walker Alcaro, "Gilchrist, Herbert Harlakenden (1857–1914)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
• 11. Johnston visited Whitman in the summer of 1890. Accounts of Johnston's visits can be found in Johnston and James W. Wallace's Visits to Walt Whitman in 1890–91 (London, England: G. Allen & Unwin, ltd., 1917). [back]
• 12. Fred Wild (d. 1935), a cotton waste merchant, was a member of the "Bolton College" of Whitman admirers and was also affiliated with the Labour Church, an organization whose socialist politics and working-class ideals were often informed by Whitman's work. A painter and scholar of Shakespeare, he was also a lively debater. With James W. Wallace and Dr. John Johnston, Wild formed the nucleus of the Bolton Whitman group. For more on Wild 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. [back]
• 13. Turkish baths sprang up across England in the nineteenth-century. Offering scrubbing, washing, and massage, they became spaces for relaxation and social connection. They were also considered therapeutic for various ailments, and, therefore, were of particular interest to physicians and medical professions. [back]
• 14. Margaret Beddows Johnston (ca. 1854–1932?) of Bolton, England, was the daughter of Thomas Beddows—a wheelwright—and his wife Mary. Margaret was a millinery worker and a dressmaker; she married Dr. John Johnston in Bolton in 1878. The couple did not have any children. [back]
• 15. Richard Greenhalgh, a bank clerk and one of Whitman's Bolton admirers, frequently hosted annual celebrations of the poet's birthday. In his March 9, 1892, letter to Traubel, Greenhalgh wrote that "Walt has taught me 'the glory of my daily life and trade.' In all the departments of my life Walt entered with his loving personality & I am never alone" (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Sunday, March 20, 1892). James Wallace described Greenhalgh as "undoubtedly a rich, royal, plain fellow, not given to ornate word or act" (Sunday, September 27, 1891). For more on Greenhalgh, see Paul Salveson, "Loving Comrades: Lancashire's Links to Walt Whitman," Walt Whitman Quarterly Review 14.2 (1996), 57–84. [back]
• 16. The Workingman's Times was a socialist and pro-trade union journal published in England and edited by Joseph Burgess. [back]
• 17. Robert Peel Blatchford (1851–1943) was an English journalist, socialist campaigner, and author, who often wrote under the pseudonym of "Nunquam." He published The Nunquam Papers from the Sunday Chronicle in 1891, and The Nunquam Papers from The Clarion in 1895. Blatchford began writing for the Workman’s Times in October 1891 but quickly left to start The Clarion, where he pushed for the formation of an Independent Labour Party. [back]
• 18. Founded by Edward Hulton (1838–1904), the Sunday Chronicle was an English newspaper that was published for seventy years, from 1885 to 1955. [back]
• 19. As yet we have no information about this publication. [back]
• 20. As yet we have no information about this person. [back]