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Anderton, nr Chorley.
Lancashire, England1
6. February. 1891
My dear Walt Whitman,
I was extremely pleased, last evening, to receive the copy of Ingersoll's2 lecture3 you were kind enough to
send me, & I thank you for it with all my heart.
I have read it over tonight for the first time.—I was hardly prepossessed in
its favour. I had previously known but little of Ingersoll. And I learned from
Carlyle,4 long ago, to care little for loc_vm.01088.jpg platform "oratory" as such, & to
consider the main question always (as you do) "What does
it amount to?" And the newspaper reports (necessarily brief & imperfect) did not
make it appear to amount to very much.
But the full report, as I read it, swept away all prepossession & criticism,
& filled me with a great & dilating joy. It is a great & notable
utterance—strong, manly brave & free—worthy of its subject, &
worthy of a great American orator to an American audience.
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I feel as though I should like to write to Ingersoll himself to thank him for it. And
I rejoice, with all my heart, that at last you should have
heard so strong a public declaration of the value of your work. Honour to Ingersoll
for it! and gratitude & love to him from all your friends here.
But my rejoicing is greatly disturbed & overclouded by intelligence received at
noon today of your relapse & ill health. Dr J.5 sent me a copy of a paragraph in yesterdays "Daily Graphic" as follows:— loc_vm.01090.jpg"A post card received from Walt Whitman
says:—'Am having an extra bad spell these days. May blow
over; may not.'"
No date is given so that I do not know when it was written. But we shall be very
anxious indeed till we hear further. I will write to Traubel6 by
this mail to ask him to send word at once.
Dearest & best of friends! Most honoured of benefactors! What can we say to you?—but that our warmest love &
sympathy & our hearts' best wishes are with you always.—
With best love
Yours affectionately
J.W. Wallace
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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. This letter is addressed:
Walt Whitman | 328 Mickle St | Camden | New Jersey | U.S. America. It is
postmarked: Bolton | 58 | FE 7 | 91; PAID | B | ALL; New York | Feb | 15 | [illegible]; Camden, N.J. | Feb | 16 |
7AM | 1891 | [illegible]. [back]
- 2. 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]
- 3. John H. Johnston (of New
York) and Richard Maurice Bucke planned a lecture event in Whitman's honor,
which took place October 21 at Philadelphia's Horticultural Hall. Robert
Ingersoll delivered the lecture. See Ingersoll's October
12, 1890 and October 20, 1890, letters
to Whitman. Planning for the event had been underway for about a month. In his
letter to Whitman of September 17, 1890, Bucke
quoted a letter from Johnston: "This morning an hour talk with Ingersoll and I
got his promise and authority to proceed and get up a lecture entertainment by
him for Walt's benefit—in Phila I guess—Shall I put you on
committee?" [back]
- 4. Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881)
was a Scottish essayist, historian, lecturer, and philosopher. For more on
Carlyle, see John D. Rosenberg, Carlyle and the Burden of
History (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1985). [back]
- 5. 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]
- 6. 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]