Sir Edwin Arnold to Walt Whitman, 26 December 1891
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Form No. 11
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12P
SENT BY SB Cu
REC'D By [illegible]PA
CHECK 10 Pd Received at 321 FEDERAL ST.2 12/26 189 1 Dated St Paul Minn 25 To Walt Whitman Camden
Our hearts are with you great & noble friend3
Edwin Arnold Edwin Arnold. 18
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Correspondent:
Sir Edwin Arnold
(1832–1904) was a British writer and editor best known for his The Light of Asia and over 6,000 leading articles for the
Daily Telegraph (Mary Ellis Gibson, ed., "Sir Edwin
Arnold," Anglophone Poetry in Colonial India,
1780–1913 [Athens: Ohio University Press, 2011], 259–260).
He visited Whitman in 1889 and in 1891. For an account of Arnold's 1889 visit,
see Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Thursday, September 12, 1889 and Saturday, September 14, 1889. There are at least two additional
accounts of this visit; "Arnold and Whitman" was published anonymously in The Times (Philadelphia, PA) on September 15, 1889, and a different article, also titled "Arnold and
Whitman" was published anonymously in The Daily Picayune
(New Orleans, LA) on September 26, 1889. Arnold also paid a surprise visit to Whitman in
Camden on November 2, 1891. An account of the visit was published in the Philadelphia Press with the title "A Poet's Greetings to
a Poet." See Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden,
Tuesday, November 3, 1891 for more information. In his commentary,
Traubel described the account of Whitman's visit with Arnold as "almost
idiotic—certainly foolish." See also The Springfield
Republican article published on November 7, 1891.
Notes
- 1. This telegram is addressed: Walt Whitman | 328 Mickle. The following information is printed on the recto of the envelope: Form 116. | Western Union Telegraph Co. | Pay no Charges to Messenger unless written in Ink in Delivery Book. The telegram has been labeled "No. 12" and the "Charges" have been marked as "Pd." The verso of the envelope includes the following printed information: NIGHT MESSAGES AT REDUCED RATES. | MONEY ORDERS BY TELEGRAPH. [back]
- 2. This address has been added with a stamp. [back]
- 3. On December 17, 1891, Whitman had come down with a chill and was suffering from congestion in his right lung. Although the poet's condition did improve in January 1892, he would never recover. He was confined to his bed, and his physicians, Dr. Daniel Longaker of Philadelphia and Dr. Alexander McAlister of Camden, provided care during his final illness. Whitman died on March 26, 1892. [back]