I wish this letter to convey some aroma of our sweet English air today—fresh & life giving—& the cheer of our English sky perfectly pellucid & clear after the storms, & bright with sunshine.
From my window (4 pm.) I look out to the hill—Rivington Pike—standing loc_vm.02042_large.jpgwhile (dark here & there with trees) against the sky.—The whole scene wintery—but exquisitely beautiful & cheering.
And as I sit here to write, & think of the winter of your fate, I am cheered & strengthened. The same spirit of beauty is revealed in winter as in summer, & love whispers immortal hopes.
Love to you, dear Walt, tenderer than of old, & everlasting. Love's kiss & prayerful blessing to you2
Wallace loc_vm.02043_large.jpg loc_vm.02044_large.jpg loc_vm.02045_large.jpg loc_vm.02046_large.jpgCorrespondent:
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).