I can hardly tell you what pleasure it gave me to meet you2—to look into your
eyes, to hear your voice, to grasp
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your hand and to thank you for the brave and splendid words you have
uttered.—
I recd copies of the Camden Post3 and I think that I recognize your work in the
wonderful tribute
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paid to me. Sometime I will pay, so far as may be in my power, a fitting tribute to
your character and genius. Of course what I said was fragmentary—almost
incoherent—giving only the faintest outline—indicating here and there a
mountain peak, leaving the rich & beautiful valleys without a word. May many
happy years be yours—With thanks I remain
Correspondent:
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).