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Camden
1889
Sept: 6—early P M1—
A warm rather oppressive day—these middle
hours—not well—lying down a good deal—bowel action yesterday—
y'rs rec'd2—out to river side last evn'g by wheel chair3—
Sept: 7—P M—ab't same—rather bad, but nothing extreme—had a
partially good night—a card from Kennedy,4 nothing very significant5—
good memoriam article in "Liberty" Boston Sept. 7, by Horace6 ab't
O'Connor7—I expect some copies & then I will send you one—Ed8 has been
over to the big launch, the new war ship "Philadelphia" noon to-day—
weather middling to-day, warmish, a little air—Horace's dinner9 book10 will
be out next week—I am sitting here in big chair—alternate to bed—
Sept: 8—noon—a shade easier—rather extra breakfast, a rare fried
egg, Graham toast, roast apple & tea—bowel action—cloudy, still day, not
warm—T B11 and Mr Green, English Unitarian preacher, just
here—card f'm Kennedy enc'd: just rec'd—also an old letter12 f'm Dowden13—
Walt Whitman
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Sept 5.14
Dear Dad:
I wish I cd give your dear hand a good grip to-day, I am now reading 1st proof at
Riverside Press,—a nice berth for me. I have abt 10 minutes a day to my self! I find
that that Gardner15 publishes highly respectable religious books
(not our cosmic=pantheistic kind, of course)! I suppose Fredk. Wilson16 has my MS now.17 Am going to
take a vacation in a month. Do drop me a line dear & revered papa, & relieve my
anxiety abt you.
W. S. Kennedy.
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Correspondent:
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).
Notes
- 1. This letter is addressed: Dr
Bucke | Asylum | London | Ontario | Canada. It is postmarked: Camden, NJ | Sept
8 | 5PM | 89; Philadelphia, PA | [illegible] | 6 PM | 1889 | Transit; Buffalo, NY | SEP | 9 | 11AM | 1889
| Transit; London | AM | SP 10 | 89 | Canada. [back]
- 2. Whitman is likely referring
to Bucke's letter of September 5, 1889. [back]
- 3. Horace Traubel and Ed
Wilkins, Whitman's nurse, went to Philadelphia to purchase a wheeled chair for
the poet that would allow him to be "pull'd or push'd" outdoors. See Whitman's
letter to William Sloane Kennedy of May 8,
1889. [back]
- 4. William Sloane Kennedy
(1850–1929) was on the staff of the Philadelphia American and the Boston Transcript; he also
published biographies of Longfellow, Holmes, and Whittier (Dictionary of American Biography [New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1933], 336–337). Apparently Kennedy called on
the poet for the first time on November 21, 1880 (William Sloane Kennedy, Reminiscences of Walt Whitman [London: Alexander
Gardener, 1896], 1). Though Kennedy was to become a fierce defender of Whitman,
in his first published article he admitted reservations about the "coarse
indecencies of language" and protested that Whitman's ideal of democracy was
"too coarse and crude"; see The Californian, 3 (February
1881), 149–158. For more about Kennedy, see Katherine Reagan, "Kennedy, William Sloane (1850–1929)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 5. Whitman is referring to
Willam Sloane Kennedy's letter of September 5,
1889. [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]
- 7. William Douglas O'Connor
(1832–1889) was the author of the grand and grandiloquent Whitman pamphlet
The Good Gray Poet: A Vindication, published in 1866.
For more on Whitman's relationship with O'Connor, see Deshae E. Lott, "O'Connor, William Douglas (1832–1889)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 8. Edward "Ned" Wilkins
(1865–1936) was one of Whitman's nurses during his Camden years; he was
sent to Camden from London, Ontario, by Dr. Richard M. Bucke, and he began
caring for Whitman on November 5, 1888. He stayed for a year before returning to
Canada to attend the Ontario Veterinary School. Wilkins graduated on March 24,
1893, and then he returned to the United States to commence his practice in
Alexandria, Indiana. For more information, see Bert A. Thompson, "Edward
Wilkins: Male Nurse to Walt Whitman," Walt Whitman Review
15 (September 1969), 194–195. [back]
- 9. For Whitman's seventieth
birthday, Horace Traubel and a large committee planned a local celebration for
the poet in Morgan's Hall in Camden, New Jersey. The committee included Henry
(Harry) L. Bonsall, Geoffrey Buckwalter, and Thomas B. Harned. See Horace
Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Tuesday, May 7, 1889. The day was celebrated with a testimonial
dinner. Numerous authors and friends of the poet prepared and delivered
addresses to mark the occasion. Whitman, who did not feel well at the time,
arrived after the dinner to listen to the remarks. [back]
- 10. The notes and addresses that
were delivered at Whitman's seventieth birthday celebration in Camden, on May
31, 1889, were collected and edited by Horace Traubel. The volume was titled Camden's Compliment to Walt Whitman, and it included a
photo of Sidney Morse's 1887 clay bust of Whitman as the frontispiece. The book
was published in 1889 by Philadelphia publisher David McKay. [back]
- 11. Thomas Biggs Harned
(1851–1921) was one of Whitman's literary executors. Harned was a lawyer
in Philadelphia and, having married Augusta Anna Traubel (1856–1914), was
Horace Traubel's brother-in-law. For more on him, see Dena Mattausch, "Harned, Thomas Biggs (1851–1921)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). For more on his relationship with Whitman, see
Thomas Biggs Harned, Memoirs of Thomas B. Harned, Walt
Whitman's Friend and Literary Executor, ed. Peter Van Egmond (Hartford:
Transcendental Books, 1972). [back]
- 12. Whitman may be referring
to Edward Dowden's letter of June 26 1889, but it
is also possible that he enclosed a different "old letter" from Dowden. [back]
- 13. Edward Dowden (1843–1913), professor of
English literature at the University of Dublin, was one of the first to
critically appreciate Whitman's poetry, particularly abroad, and was primarily
responsible for Whitman's popularity among students in Dublin. In July 1871,
Dowden penned a glowing review of Whitman's work in the Westminster Review entitled "The Poetry of Democracy: Walt Whitman," in which Dowden described
Whitman as "a man unlike any of his predecessors. . . . Bard of America, and
Bard of democracy." In 1888, Whitman observed to Traubel: "Dowden is a book-man:
but he is also and more particularly a man-man: I guess that is where we
connect" (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden,
Sunday, June 10, 1888, 299). For more, see Philip W. Leon, "Dowden, Edward (1843–1913)," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 14. This postal card is
addressed: Walt Whitman | Camden | New Jersey. It is postmarked: Camden, NJ |
Sep 7 | 10AM | 1889 | Rec'd. [back]
- 15. Alexander Gardner (1821–1882)
of Paisley, Scotland, was a publisher who reissued a number of books by and
about Whitman; he ultimately published William Sloane Kennedy's Reminiscences of Walt Whitman in 1896 after a long and
contentious battle with Kennedy over editing the book. Gardner published and
co-edited the Scottish Review from 1882 to 1886. [back]
- 16. Frederick W. Wilson was a
member of the Glasgow firm of Wilson & McCormick that published the 1883
British edition of Specimen Days and Collect. [back]
- 17. Kennedy's manuscript, "Walt
Whitman, the Poet of Humanity," eventually became two books, Reminiscences of Walt Whitman (1896) and The Fight
of a Book for the World (1926). [back]