Camden
noon Sept: 26 '90
Am getting along ab't as usual—Some nice oysters (with a bit of
lemon) for my breakfast—cloudy & wet inclined to chilly to-day
here—was out in wheel-chair1 last even'g—I enclose my Preface note
ab't O'Connor2 for the new book of his tales3—written
off hand—Col: Ingersoll4 is to speak anent of L of G &c. in Phila.
probably last part of coming month,5 (the piece in Trans[cript]
rec'd—thanks)—sold a big book6 yesterday—have just lit a little fire
in my stove—
Walt Whitman
Correspondent:
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).
Notes
- 1. 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]
- 2. 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]
- 3. On May 29, 1890, Ellen O'Connor asked Whitman to write
a preface for a collection of tales by her husband, the late William Douglas
O'Connor, which she hoped to publish—The Brazen Android
and Other Tales (later entitled Three Tales).
After the poet's approval was conveyed to her through Bucke, Mrs. O'Connor wrote
on June 1, 1890: "Your name & William's will
be associated in many ways, & this loving word from you will be a comfort to
me for all time." [back]
- 4. 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]
- 5. Whitman is referring to the
lecture in his honor, which would take place on October 21 at Philadelphia's
Horticultural Hall. The New York jeweler John H. Johnston and the Canadian
physician Richard Maurice Bucke planned the event, and the orator and agnostic
Robert Ingersoll delivered the lecture: "Liberty in
Literature. Testimonial to Walt Whitman." See Ingersoll's October 12 and October
20 letters to Whitman. [back]
- 6. Whitman's "big book" is a reference
to his Complete Poems and Prose of Walt Whitman (1888).
Whitman published the book himself—in an arrangement with the Philadephia
publisher David McKay, who allowed Whitman to use the plates for both Leaves of Grass and Specimen
Days—in December 1888. [back]