Life & Letters

Correspondence

About this Item

Title: John H. Johnston to Walt Whitman, 22 September 1890

Date: September 22, 1890

Whitman Archive ID: loc.02575

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: Blake Bronson-Bartlett, Ian Faith, Alex Ashland, and Stephanie Blalock



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The Lotos Club.
New York1
Sept 22/90

Dear Walt

Reading your letter2 over again—let me say—There was no solicitation whatever on my part3

Ingersoll4 and I were talking about you. I remarked that I was sorry his speech of last May5 was not saved.

Then your condition of health, and then he said, "Why not get up a lecture. The results to go to Whitman," and I said "you just authorize me to proceed and the thing will be done. That's all. It's all right, you may rest assured—

As to New York or Phil, I wish it might be here & if you could come over, we would cram the Opera House. Could you come? If not, then Phil, by all means, but you must be present. Ingersoll is enthused, and it will be a grand culmination—No one lives who will better handle the subject or make it a great occasion,6

Sincerely Yours
JH Johnston


Correspondent:
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).

Notes:

1. This letter is addressed: Walt Whitman | Camden | N.J. It is postmarked: New York | Sep 22 | 7 PM | D; Camden, N.J. | Sep | 23 | 6AM | 1890 | [illegible]. The envelope has a printed return address: J. H. Johnston & Co., | Diamond Merchants and Jewelers, | 17 Union Square, New York. | Cor. Broadway & 15th St. [back]

2. Whitman wrote two letters to Johnston on September 20: one early in the day, and another after the writer and Whitman disciple Horace Traubel mentioned the Robert G. Ingersoll lecture plan to him. The letter at hand is the second of two replies that Johnston wrote to Whitman on the 22. The first reply expresses enthusiasm about the Ingersoll lecture without considering Whitman's objections to it. [back]

3. Johnston is referring to the idea of holding a lecture event in Whitman's honor. The event took place on October 21 at Philadelphia's Horticultural Hall. Orator and agonostic Robert Ingersoll delivered the lecture, which was titled "Liberty in Literature. Testimonial to Walt Whitman." See Ingersoll's October 12, 1890, and October 20, 1890, letters to Whitman. [back]

4. Robert "Bob" Green Ingersoll (1833–1899) was a Civil War veteran and an orator of the post-Civil War era, known for his support of agnosticism. Ingersoll was a friend of Whitman, who considered Ingersoll the greatest orator of his time. Whitman said to Horace Traubel, "It should not be surprising that I am drawn to Ingersoll, for he is Leaves of Grass. He lives, embodies, the individuality I preach. I see in Bob the noblest specimen—American-flavored—pure out of the soil, spreading, giving, demanding light" (Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Wednesday, March 25, 1891). The feeling was mutual. Upon Whitman's death in 1892, Ingersoll delivered the eulogy at the poet's funeral. The eulogy was published to great acclaim and is considered a classic panegyric (see Phyllis Theroux, The Book of Eulogies [New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997], 30). [back]

5. Whitman's friends gave him a birthday supper in honor of his 71st birthday on May 31, 1890, at Reisser's Restaurant in Philadelphia, at which the noted orator Col. Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) gave a "grand speech, never to be forgotten by me" (Whitman's Commonplace Book, Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.). Daniel Brinton (1837–1899), a professor of linguistics and archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania, presided, and other speakers included the Canadian physician Richard Maurice Bucke (1837–1902) and Silas Weir Mitchell (1829–1914), a writer and a physician specializing in nervous disorders. The Philadelphia Inquirer carried the story on the front page on the following day. The Camden Daily Post article "Ingersoll's Speech" of June 2, 1890, was written by Whitman himself and was reprinted in Good-Bye My Fancy (Prose Works, 1892, ed. Floyd Stovall, 2 vols. [New York: New York University Press: 1963–1964], 686–687). Later Traubel wrote "Walt Whitman's Birthday" for Unity (25 [August 28, 1890], 215). [back]

6. Whitman later recorded in his Commonplace Book his impressions of Ingersoll's October 21, 1890, speech: "Well the Ingersoll lecture came off last evn'g in Horticultural Hall, Broad st: Phila:—a noble, (very eulogistic to WW & L of G) eloquent speech, well responded to by the audience. There were 1600 to 2000 people, (choice persons,) one third women (Proceeds to me $869.45)—I went over, was wheeled on the stage in my ratan chair, and at the last spoke a very few words—A splendid success for Ingersoll, (& me too.) Ing. had it written, & read with considerable fire, but perfect ease" (Whitman's Commonplace Book, Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.). [back]


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