James W. Wallace to Walt Whitman, 21 September 1891

 loc_vm.00941_large.jpg London,1 Ontario, Canada 21 Sep 18912 Dear Walt,

I think I will address you in future by your "nighest name,"3 for I think you will know that my doing so is consistent with deepest reverence, & is only adopted from affectionate motives.

We think of you always as "Walt"—our nearest & dearest friend. And this afternoon I have been reading some old letters of yours to Pete Doyle,4 & their wonderful loving kindness & warm affection stir my heart anew.

Indeed, I have been quite busy all afternoon copying  loc_vm.00942_large.jpg some of them, with the Dr's5 permission. For I want to read them to "the College"6 on my return. How delighted they will be with them, & how strongly they will feel that you are indeed one of us.

Dearest of friends, responsive love to you from us all! Not for nothing has your heart of love shed its bleeding drops through life. Every manly affectionate heart that comes to know you will throb in warm response. And I know well that the friends in Bolton will feel their hearts grow big, & their eyes fill, as I read to them these loving words of yours.

 loc_vm.00943_large.jpg

As I read them I thought often & often of my dear friend Fred Wild.7 Your writing curiously reminded me at times of him. And I can even now see his face vainly contending with the emotions that will fill him as I read your words. And every man like him—fresh, spontaneous, wild (in a sense—as opposed to tame & spiritless) & loving, will respond with deepest joy & devotion to your words & love.

I scribble this hurriedly as the afternoon is nearly gone. I received the two papers you sent, & thank you again for your constant thought & kindness.  loc_vm.00944_large.jpg I am delighted to hear of your drive & of your present condition. I hope that this glorious weather may benefit you still further.

Dr back—& nearly tea time & must close. Wonderfully beautiful evening.

Am going with Clare8 & 5 lady friends9 of hers to the Theatre tonight!—to hear Madame Modjeska.10

With love & best wishes Yours affectionately J.W. Wallace  loc_vm.00939_large.jpg  loc_tb.00032.jpg

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Notes

• 1. This letter is addressed: Walt Whitman | 328, | Mickle St | Camden | New Jersey | US. It is postmarked: London | SP 22 | 91 | CANADA; Camden N.J. | Sep 24 | 6AM | 91 | REC'D. [back]
• 2. When Wallace wrote this letter, he was visiting the Canadian physician Richard Maurice Bucke at Bucke's home in London, Ontario, Canada. Wallace had traveled to the United States from Bolton, England, landing at Philadelphia on September 8, 1891 (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Tuesday, September 8, 1891). After spending a few days with Whitman, Wallace traveled with Bucke to Canada, where he met Bucke's family and friends. Wallace's accounts of his travels were later published with the Bolton physcian John Johnston's account of his own visit with the poet in the summer of 1890 in their book Visits to Walt Whitman in 1890–91 (London, England: G. Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1917). [back]
• 3. Wallace is quoting from Whitman's poem "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry." [back]
• 4. Peter Doyle (1843–1907) was one of Walt Whitman's closest comrades and lovers, and their friendship spanned nearly thirty years. The two met in 1865 when the twenty-one-year-old Doyle was a conductor in the horsecar where the forty-five-year-old Whitman was a passenger. Despite his status as a veteran of the Confederate Army, Doyle's uneducated, youthful nature appealed to Whitman. Although Whitman's stroke in 1873 and subsequent move from Washington to Camden limited the time the two could spend together, their relationship rekindled in the mid-1880s after Doyle moved to Philadelphia and visited nearby Camden frequently. After Whitman's death, Doyle permitted Richard Maurice Bucke to publish the letters Whitman had sent him. For more on Doyle and his relationship with Whitman, see Martin G. Murray, "Doyle, Peter," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
• 5. Richard Maurice Bucke (1837–1902) was a Canadian physician and psychiatrist who grew close to Whitman after reading Leaves of Grass in 1867 (and later memorizing it) and meeting the poet in Camden a decade later. Even before meeting Whitman, Bucke claimed in 1872 that a reading of Leaves of Grass led him to experience "cosmic consciousness" and an overwhelming sense of epiphany. Bucke became the poet's first biographer with Walt Whitman (Philadelphia: David McKay, 1883), and he later served as one of his medical advisors and literary executors. For more on the relationship of Bucke and Whitman, see Howard Nelson, "Bucke, Richard Maurice," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
• 6. The "Bolton College" was a group of Whitman admirers located in Bolton, England. Founded by Dr. John Johnston (1852–1927) and James William Wallace (1853–1926), the group corresponded with Whitman and Horace Traubel throughout the final years of the poet's life. Johnston and Wallace separately visited Whitman 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 on Whitman's disciples, see Paul Salveson, "Loving Comrades: Lancashire's Links to Walt Whitman," Walt Whitman Quarterly Review 14.2 (1996), 57–84. [back]
• 7. 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]
• 8. Jessie Clare Bucke (1870–1943) was the daughter of the Canadian physician Richard Maurice Bucke and his wife, Jessie Maria Gurd (1839–1926). [back]
• 9. As yet we have no information about these people. [back]
• 10. Helena Modjeska (1840–1909) was a well-known Polish actress, particularly famous for playing Shakespearean heroines. In 1878, Whitman met Modjeska while visiting with writer and editor Richard Watson Gilder (1844–1909). The poet later said of the actress, "She is a fascinating, bright woman. I have never seen her act—saw her at Gilder's, in New York—handsome, agreeable, magnetic" (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, August 28, 1889). [back]