loc.02497.001_large.jpg
54 Manchester Rd
Bolton
England1
July 18/91
My Dear Walt Whitman
Just a few lines to supplement Dr Bucke's2 letter to you
this morning & to tell you what a good time we are having.3
Yesterday & today have been red letter days for us all. What a splendid fellow
the doctor is! He has won all our hearts & we shall grudge to part with him.
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Yesterday we had a glorious drive all round Belmont & Rivington. The day was
magnificently fine & not too hot & we all enjoyed it greatly. Had tea at the
Revd JW Thompson's4 house in Rivington—a charming little
rural retreat all embowered in honeysuckle, foxgloves & roses.
Evening spent here. Nearly all the boys present.5 A downright good time. Dr read us
your kind messages & gave us lots of interesting talk about you.
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After supper came songs, recitations—Will Law,6 our comic man
in great form—speeches &c, from Wallace,7
Hutton & Dr B. Fun & frolic kept up till midnight.
We gave Dr "a touch of our quality" & I think he enjoyed it.
He stayed indoors this forenoon, writing & this aft. a few of us
went to Rivington with him & making our way to the secluded spot
where we celebrated your birthday—a tree
there has carved on it "May 31 '91"8—we sat down while Dr read to us his paper
upon you (intended for the forthcoming book)9 while the trees waved
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overhead, the birds sang, the cattle lowed, the haymowing machine whirred & now
& then the strains of a band of music belonging to a Sunday school party
having their "field day" floated on the breeze.
Wallace made a neat speech in praise & partial
criticism of that most impressively striking essay of the Dr's &
we all enjoyed our hour & a half there immensely—
Altogether a most memorable afternoon
Returning we had tea at Wallace's where I left them to attend to some professional
work here.
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Please thank Warry10 & Mrs Davis11
for the Canary bird12 which the Dr brought safely.—I have given
it to Wallace as Warry just mentioned it in a letter to him & we had the
impression that it was originally intended for him. But we
regard it as a joint possession & it now graces Wallaces mantelpiece directly
underneath your portrait
They all send their love to you as does
Yours affectionately
J Johnston
over
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PS I hope you are keeping better these days.
Please thank Traubel for the photos wh Dr B thinks do not do him
justice—they give a wrong impression of him.
All the same we are glad to have them as we now know
something how our friend looks
Love to Warry Harry13 & Mrs Davis
I took a photographic group, with Dr B in it, at Rivington y'day.
Will send you copy if successful
JJ
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see note Aug 1st 1891
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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:
Walt Whitman | 328 Mickle St | Camden NJ | U. S.
America. It is postmarked: Bolton | R | JY18 | 91; Bolton | R | JY18 |
91; Bolton | R | JY18 | 91; Paid | B | All; New York | JUL | 31; Camden, N.J. | Aug |
1 | [illegible] | 1891. [back]
- 2. 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]
- 3. See Bucke's letter to
Whitman of July 18, 1891. [back]
- 4. Little is known about
Reverend J. W. Thompson, the Unitarian minister at the Rivington Parish Church
and a member of the Bolton College of English Whitman admirers. [back]
- 5. Johnston is referring to the
"Bolton College," a group of English admirers of Whitman that he co-founded
along with the architect James W. Wallace. [back]
- 6. Little is known about Will
Law, who was part of the Bolton College group of English Whitman admirers.
Johnston describes Law as the group's "comic man" in a July 18, 1891, letter to Whitman. Johnston also notes that Law was
among those who were in Liverpool to see James W. Wallace and the Canadian
physician Richard Maurice Bucke before their departures for the United States in
August of 1891. See Johnston's August 26, 1891,
letter to Whitman. [back]
- 7. 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]
- 8. Whitman's 72nd (and last)
birthday was May 31, 1891. [back]
- 9. Horace Traubel and Canadian
physician Richard Maurice Bucke were beginning to make plans for a collected
volume of writings by and about Whitman. Bucke, Traubel, and Thomas
Harned—Whitman's three literary executors—edited In Re Walt Whitman (Philadelphia: David McKay, 1893), which included
the three unsigned reviews of the first edition of Leaves of
Grass that were written by Whitman himself, William Sloane Kennedy's
article, "Dutch Traits of Walt Whitman," and Robert Ingersoll's lecture Liberty in Literature (delivered in honor of Whitman at
Philadelphia's Horticultural Hall on October 21, 1890), as well as writings by
the naturalist John Burroughs and by James W. Wallace, a co-founder of the
Bolton Whitman Fellowship in Bolton, England. [back]
- 10. 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]
- 11. Mary Oakes Davis (1837 or
1838–1908) was Whitman's housekeeper. For more, see Carol J. Singley,
"Davis, Mary Oakes (1837 or 1838–1908)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 12. When Whitman's canary
died, Warry (Whitman's nurse) and Mrs. Davis (Whitman's housekeeper) had it
stuffed and placed on the mantle beneath a photograph. According to Dr.
Johnston's letter on May 19–20, Warry had
apparently suggested that the poet give it to the Bolton group. Bucke duly took
it with him when he went to England, and on July
23 the co-founder of the Bolton group of Whitman admirers, James W.
Wallace, thanked Whitman for "a very affecting & precious souvenir of you to
me." On August 3 he wrote to Mrs. Davis: "I need not to tell you how deeply I
prize it. It is a very precious & affecting souvenir of Mr. Whitman—of
his lonely room, his thoughts & memories, & the cheer received from the
canary's (also caged imprisoned) joyous warblings. It connects itself with
memories of my mother's like condition—her only companion often a canary
too." See the letter from Wallace to Mary Davis in the Papers of Walt Whitman
(MSS 3829), Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H.
Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia. See also Johnston and
Wallace's Visits to Walt Whitman in 1890–91
(London, England: G. Allen & Unwin, ltd., 1917), 60–61n. [back]
- 13. Harry Fritzinger (about
1866–?) was the brother of Warren Fritzinger, who would serve as Whitman's
nurse beginning in October 1889. Harry worked as an office boy in Camden when he
was fourteen. He also worked as a sailor. Later, he became a railroad conductor.
Mary Davis, Whitman's housekeeper, took care of both Harry and Warren after the
death of their father, the sea captain Henry W. Fritzinger. Davis had looked
after Capt. Fritzinger, who went blind, before she started to perform the same
housekeeping services for Whitman. Harry married Rebecca Heisler on September
15, 1890. [back]