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Jan 5th 1889
Ashfield House
West Malvern
Dear Mr. Whitman
I am perched up high on the side of Malvern Hill in a rediculous little red. brick
house, and out of the window I see a great plain being splashed with rain. I am
paying a visit—it is a vacation—to Benjamin Jowett,1 the Head of my college, a venerable and dreadful person
in whose presence we all
loc_jc.00144_large.jpg tremble at Oxford. But here he is very good, and talks about the
old times when England was full of venerable abuses. It makes one realize how much
your generation—my father's generation—has done for progress, I only
hope we young ones will do half as well. I hear of you from Alys,2 she is our great tie with America now. I have put myself into the machine
at Oxford, and
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shall not be turned out for about two years, then I hope to see America again.
My father3 is extremely well, and enjoying life. Mrs.
Costelloe4 has got a pair of spectacles, and is as
strong as she ever was. Whenever I go away from London Ray Costelloe5 grows visibly in the meantime. I met the other day a great
loc_jc.00146_large.jpg friend of yours,
Mr. Yorke Powell,6 he is coming over to see you sometime.
He spoke of "November Boughs"7 with enthusiasm, some of the
prose he set in an examination at Oxford. If I were at home I am sure all would send
love—as I do—from your friend
Logan Pearsall Smith
Correspondent:
Logan Pearsall Smith
(1865–1946) was an essayist and literary critic. He was the son of Robert
Pearsall Smith, a minister and writer who befriended Whitman, and he was the
brother of Mary Whitall Smith Costelloe, one of Whitman's most avid followers.
For more information on Logan, see Christina Davey, "Smith, Logan Pearsall (1865–1946)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998).
Notes
- 1. Benjamin Jowett
(1817–1893) was elected master of Balliol College in 1870, which he turned
into the leading college in Oxford. He fostered a network of friends that
included Tennyson, Browning, Sir Robert Morier, and Florence Nightingale. He had
a great interest in advancing young men's lives and reforming his university,
and was remembered for his fond friendship and sometimes overbearing nature
(Peter Hinchliff and John Prest, "Jowett, Benjamin," Oxford
Dictionary of National Biography [2006]). [back]
- 2. Alyssa ("Alys") Whitall Pearsall
Smith (1867–1951) was born in Philadelphia and became a Quaker relief
organizer. She attended Bryn Mawr College and was a graduate of the class of
1890. She and her family lived in Britain for two years during her childhood and
again beginning in 1888. She married the philosopher Bertrand Russell in 1894;
the couple later separated, and they divorced in 1921. Smith also served as the
chair of a society committee that set up the "Mothers and Babies Welcome" (the
St Pancras School for Mothers) in London in 1907; this health center, dedicated
to reducing the infant mortality rate, provided a range of medical and
educational services for women. Smith was the daughter of Robert Pearsall and
Hannah Whitall Smith, and she was the sister of Mary Whitall Smith
(1864–1945), the political activist, art historian, and critic, whom
Whitman once called his "staunchest living woman friend." [back]
- 3. Robert Pearsall Smith
(1827–1898) was a Quaker who became an evangelical minister associated
with the "Holiness movement." He was also a writer and businessman. Whitman
often stayed at his Philadelphia home, where the poet became friendly with the
Smith children—Mary, Logan, and Alys. For more information about Smith,
see Christina Davey, "Smith, Robert Pearsall (1827–1898)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 4. Mary Whitall Smith Costelloe
(1864–1945) was a political activist, art historian, and critic, whom
Whitman once called his "staunchest living woman friend." A scholar of Italian
Renaissance art and a daughter of Robert Pearsall Smith, she would in 1885 marry
B. F. C. "Frank" Costelloe. She had been in contact with many of Whitman's
English friends and would travel to Britain in 1885 to visit many of them,
including Anne Gilchrist shortly before her death. For more, see Christina
Davey, "Costelloe, Mary Whitall Smith (1864–1945)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D.
Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 5. Rachel Pearsall Conn Costelloe
(1887–1940), known as Ray Strachey, was the first daughter of Mary Whitall
Smith Costelloe. She would later become a feminist writer and politician. [back]
- 6. Frederick York Powell
(1859–1904) was a lecturer and tutor of Christ Church at Oxford and became
the Regius Professor of Modern History. He focused on Icelandic scholarship,
English history, modern French poetry, and helped to found the English Historical Review (Oliver Elton, Frederick
York Powell: A Life and a Selection from His Letters and Occasional
Writings [Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1906]). [back]
- 7. Whitman's November Boughs was published in October 1888 by Philadelphia
publisher David McKay. For more information on the book, see James E. Barcus
Jr., "November Boughs [1888]," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]