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James W. Wallace to Walt Whitman, 7–8 August 1891

 loc_vm.02571_large.jpg My dearest Friend,

Yesterday morning I received a long & most kind & affectionate letter from our dear friend Horace Traubel.1 When I got to Bolton I took an opportunity of calling in at Johnston's,2 & asked if the American mail had brought anything. Johnston hadn't returned (came back today) but his "locum tenens"3 shewed me your postal of July 28th,4 & the parcel of photos5 &c (which I opened) & a  loc_vm.02572_large.jpg short good letter from Traubel.

I at once appropriated the tomb6 photo. for myself & have it here.

I like the tomb itself very much—Its massive simplicity & woodland surroundings are perfectly fit & appropriate.

But I cannot write the thoughts it arouses.—Too much love goes out to you,—you fill too precious & dear & warm a place in my heart for me to think of it with equanimity.

Of course I know; & rejoice in the knowledge that you will not enter it, but that  loc_vm.02573_large.jpg for you is only joyful "transfer & promotion."7 But alas! for us whom you will leave.

You said in a letter to Dr Bucke8 which he gave us, that the response from Bolton "cheered & nourished your very heart."9 It was an inexpressibly deep & sacred joy to me to know that. But it is impossible for you to know how the converse holds true, how life giving & sacredly dear & sweet your more than paternal loving, kindness & benefactions have been, & are, to me. They are my chiefest treasure, the supreme joy & blessing of my life.

 loc_vm.02574_large.jpg

May God bless you for all you have done for me, & for my friends. And how many myriads more will have cause to love & bless your name!

I hope that our little band of friends in Bolton,10 may indeed prove a "church"—united in brotherly love, & consecrated to the highest ends. May God help me, & help us all to realize that ideal more & more! And so may our love to you, our exemplar & dearest friend, increase & deepen as time goes on.

For a long time back now I have not been able to continue my old work in & for "the College."  loc_vm.02575_large.jpg But I hope to resume my old place, & to do all I can to cement it more firmly together, & to advance your cause, & continue (within our little sphere) your work.—

I haven't seen Johnston yet, but I partly expect him here tomorrow. I know he will be proud & pleased to receive the portraits &c that you sent him.—And thanks to you, from our hearts, from us all.

You have added a new & deeper value to our friendships. You have given us new friends (Traubel, Dr Bucke Warry11 &c)  loc_vm.02576_large.jpg who amaze us by the cordiality & affectionate warmth of their friendship & kindness, you have given to us new & brighter hopes for the future—(friends increasing & love deepening) & in your own love you have given us the supreme gift & blessing.

I feel very full tonight as I think of it all. For my lot is not without troubles just now, & it stirs me with deep thankfulness to think how divinely & wonderfully they are off set & recompensed. And thanks to you for it all, & to God through you.

 loc_vm.02577_large.jpg

I cannot write any more tonight. I think of you sitting in your room, perhaps alone, unwell, with sacred & solemn thoughts about the future & memories of the past, & with love in your heart, deep & tender as a mother's, towards all your friends. & I could kiss you if I were there, & had only courage to do it!

My best love to you anyway, & best wishes & prayers.

Yours filially J.W. Wallace  loc_vm.02578_large.jpg

Saturday aftn.

A "Rose Festival" procession just passed here. Got up by the children of the village (assisted by older people), & composed almost completely of children. All kinds of disguises,—the most amusing, merry, & pretty thing of the kind I have ever seen.—Very cleverly done, too.


Correspondent:
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).


Notes

  • 1. 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]
  • 2. 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). [back]
  • 3. The term "locum temens" is a reference to the physician who was taking over Johnston's professional duties while he was away. [back]
  • 4. Wallace is referring to Whitman's postal card to the Bolton physician John Johnston of July 28, 1891. [back]
  • 5. According to Whitman's July 24, 1891, letter to Dr. John Johnston, Whitman sent two photos of his tomb—an elaborate granite tomb of his own design—that was then being constructed in Harleigh Cemetery in Camden, New Jersey. One of the photos was intended for Johnston and the other was for Wallace. [back]
  • 6. Whitman was buried in Harleigh Cemetery in Camden, New Jersey, on March 30, 1892, in an elaborate granite tomb that he designed. Reinhalter and Company of Philadelphia built the tomb, at a cost of $4,000. Whitman covered a portion of these costs with money that his Boston friends had raised so that the poet could purchase a summer cottage; the remaining balance was paid by Whitman's literary executor, Thomas Harned. For more information on the cemetery and Whitman's tomb, see See Geoffrey M. Still, "Harleigh Cemetery," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
  • 7. Wallace is alluding to Whitman's "Song of Myself," Section 49: "O grass of graves—O perpetual transfers and promotions. . . ." [back]
  • 8. 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]
  • 9. Wallace is referring to Whitman's letter to Bucke of June 25, 1891. [back]
  • 10. This is a reference to the "Bolton College," a group of Whitman admirers located in Bolton, England. The group was co-founded by Johnston and Wallace. The members of the Bolton College group corresponded with Whitman and Horace Traubel throughout the final years of the poet's life. [back]
  • 11. 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]
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