Camden New Jersey U S America
Sept: 13 '901
All as usual with me—Sit here in the big ratan heavy-timber'd old yellow chair
much the same as when you were here—pleasant weather (frequent
showers)—Warry2 is somewhere down in the cellar
with the wood-fuel preparations & cleaning up—the massage book came safe
(valuable book)—I have sent a 2d copy of p'k't-b'd L of G.3 to our friend Wallace4—enclosed letters f'm Dr Bucke5 to me rec'd
lately—(I just send letter to Dr B who writes me ab't twice a
week—welcome)—Warry has just come in & made the bed—A sudden
quite heavy shower—Loving salutation to you, to Wallace & to all the
friends6
Walt Whitman
Correspondent:
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).
Notes
- 1. This letter is addressed:
Dr Johnston | 54 Manchester Road | Bolton | Lancashire | England. It is
postmarked: Camden, N.J. | Sep 13 | 3 PM | 90. [back]
- 2. 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]
- 3. Whitman had a special
pocket-book edition printed in honor of his 70th birthday, May 31, 1889, through
special arrangement with Frederick Oldach. Only 300 copies were printed, and
Whitman signed the title page of each one. The volume also included the annex
Sands at Seventy and his essay A
Backward Glance O'er Traveled Roads. See Whitman's May 16, 1889, letter to Oldach. For more
information on the book see Ed Folsom, Whitman Making Books/Books Making Whitman: A Catalog and
Commentary (University of Iowa: Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, 2005). [back]
- 4. 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). [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. Johnson's gratitude in
his letter of September 27, 1890 was overwhelming:
"Thanks too for the domestic details and glimpses into your daily life which you
favour me with, all of which possess a genuine and deep interest for me and
which serve to vivify and deepen the ever present and ineradicable image &
memory of yourself and your surroundings and to recall the numerous &
unexampled kindnesses you had shewn me." Johnston appended the following note to
Whitman's letter: "In the gummed envelope of this Letter there is a white hair
which was probably detached from the beard of Walt Whitman." On December 16, 1890 Wallace related with the sobriety
of his devoton that a friend had set this discovery (or revelation) to music in
a line reading, "[Dr. Johnston] triumphantly has shown us a hair from off your
beard!" [back]