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Dr. John Johnston to Walt Whitman, 6 January [1892]

About This Item

  • Title: Dr. John Johnston to Walt Whitman, 6 January [1892]
  • Date: January 6, [1892]
  • Creator(s): Dr. John Johnston
  • Whitman Archive ID: loc.02539
  • Source: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Transcribed from digital images or a microfilm reproduction of the original item. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
  • Contributors to digital file: Ethan Heusser Cristin Noonan Marie Ernster Amanda J. Axley Stephanie Blalock
  • Cite this page: Johnston, Dr. John. "Dr. John Johnston to Walt Whitman, 6 January [1892]." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 03 May 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: loc.02539.xml (TEI)
 loc.02539.001_large.jpg 54 Manchester Road, Bolton. England Jan 6. 911 My Dear Old Friend

It is a cold wintry day here—a hard frost, with snow on the ground & occasional showers of snow flakes whirling & dancing in the air.

I have just finished my morning's round of visits, had dinner & seen the folk in the surgery & as  loc.02539.002_large.jpg this is mail night I thought I would sit down & write a line or two to you, just to cheer you up a little in your sickness & your—perhaps—loneliness. For it must be lonely for you at times in spite of all the dear & kind friends near you, & I wish you to take this letter as a token of my continued & unchanged affection for you & of my  loc.02539.003_large.jpg heartfelt sympathy in your illness.

You are much in my thoughts at all times & I long with a great inexpressible longing to help you But if I cannot help you I can at least love you & that will perhaps help you—who knows?

From the cables' silence we conclude that you are at least holding your own against that pros loc.02539.004_large.jpgtrating attack—and the Doctors! You'll "beat them" all yet!

Later

I had got thus far with my letter when I was called away to take in a box wh. had come by rail

Opening it I found it contained the Clay Head2 of yourself from Costelloe3

I have hastily unpacked it & placed it upon my table where it now stands at my elbow and  loc.02539.005_large.jpg seems to look at me as I write this & it dominates the whole room with its Homeric massiveness & rugged grandeur.

It is a great prize for the College & I am proud to be honoured by the custody of such a treasure—for of course I recognise no actual ownership in it. It is ours & I am its custodian.

But I must thank you for your great kindness in ordering it to be sent to us & this I do most cordially. It is a  loc.02539.006_large.jpg noble gift & we will all value it very highly indeed

Thanks, & again thanks to you for it!

7p.m.

Wallace4 has been in to tea & to see the Head & has just left for home by train.

He too is delighted with it & sends his thanks to you with his love

I sincerely trust that you are keeping better & that we shall soon hear good news about you

With kindest regards to Warry5 Mrs D6 & Harry7 & with best love to yourself

I remain Yours affectionately J Johnston [1892]

Correspondent:
Dr. John Johnston (1852–1927) of Annan, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, was a physician, photographer, and avid cyclist. Johnston was trained in Edinburgh and served as a hospital surgeon in West Bromwich for two years before moving to Bolton, England, in 1876. Johnston worked as a general practitioner in Bolton and as an instructor of ambulance classes for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railways. He served at Whalley Military Hospital during World War I and became Medical Superintendent of Townley's Hospital in 1917 (John Anson, "Bolton's Illustrious Doctor Johnston—a man of many talents," Bolton News [March 28, 2021]; Paul Salveson, Moorlands, Memories, and Reflections: A Centenary Celebration of Allen Clarke's Moorlands and Memories [Lancashire Loominary, 2020]). Johnston, along with the architect James W. Wallace, 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 Johnston, see Larry D. Griffin, "Johnston, Dr. John (1852–1927)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998).

Notes

  • 1. The date of this letter is actually January 6, 1892. Johnston has misdated the letter, accidently writing "1891" rather than accounting for the new year. The date is confirmed by Whitman's conversation with the Canadian physician Richard Maurice Bucke regarding the plaster bust. In his October 20, 1891, letter to Bucke, Whitman had asked Bucke to write to Johnston and send the bust to Bolton. [back]
  • 2. Johnston is referring to one of the four plaster busts of Whitman that were sculpted by Sidney Morse. [back]
  • 3. Benjamin Francis Conn ("Frank") Costelloe (1854–1899) was an English barrister and Liberal Party politician. He was the first husband of Mary Whitall Smith (1864–1945), a political activist, art historian, and critic, whom Whitman once called his "staunchest living woman friend." [back]
  • 4. James William Wallace (1853–1926), of Bolton, England, was an architect and great admirer of Whitman. 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. Frank Warren Fritzinger (1867–1899), known as "Warry," took Edward Wilkins's place as Whitman's nurse, beginning in October 1889. Fritzinger and his brother Harry were the sons of Henry Whireman Fritzinger (about 1828–1881), a former sea captain who went blind, and Almira E. Fritzinger. Following Henry Sr.'s death, Warren and his brother—having lost both parents—became wards of Mary O. Davis, Whitman's housekeeper, who had also taken care of the sea captain and who inherited part of his estate. A picture of Warry is displayed in the May 1891 New England Magazine (278). See Joann P. Krieg, "Fritzinger, Frederick Warren (1866–1899)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998), 240. [back]
  • 6. Mary Oakes Davis (1837 or 1838–1908) was Whitman's housekeeper. For more, see Carol J. Singley, "Davis, Mary Oakes (1837 or 1838–1908)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
  • 7. Harry Fritzinger (about 1866–?) was the brother of Warren Fritzinger, who would serve as Whitman's nurse beginning in October 1889. Harry worked as an office boy in Camden when he was fourteen. He also worked as a sailor. Later, he became a railroad conductor. Mary Davis, Whitman's housekeeper, took care of both Harry and Warren after the death of their father, the sea captain Henry W. Fritzinger. Davis had looked after Capt. Fritzinger, who went blind, before she started to perform the same housekeeping services for Whitman. Harry married Rebecca Heisler on September 15, 1890. [back]
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