I now take up the thread of my narrative about Dr Bucke2 & his doings amongst us3 at the point where I left off in my last letter4
Sunday morning (July 19th) he stayed indoors resting, reading & writing letters. After dinner the Dr, W Dixon5 & I took train out to Wallace's6 place where we spent the rest of the day.
It was a grand afternoon—cool & pleasant (after a wet morning) & with
some loc.02500.002_large.jpg magnificent
cloud effects.
After a talk in the house we strolled out through the field & lanes of beautiful Rivington & enjoyed the sight & show of that rural paradise & the sweet converse of friend with friend, returning, with JW Thompson,7 to Anderton where we all had tea (—bread & butter, nice fresh country eggs & delicious strawberries & cream—)
I had to leave early but the rest stayed there till 9 pm when they came on here &
were joined by Fred Wild,8 RK Greenhalgh,9 Thos
loc.02500.003_large.jpg
Shorrock10 & Mrs Dixon11 and W. Gass12—another friend but not
of the inner circle who gave us a Lancashire
reading—& we talked & joked—where Fred is there do jokes
abound—till bedtime—
On Monday morning the first event was the arrival of letters from you13 & from H.LT.14 which were heartily welcomed & eagerly read—the more so because they contained what was on the whole good news of you
After breakfast the Dr, J.W.W. & I drove in my phaeton round the town visiting the Town Hall where
T. Shorrock accompanied us
through the really very loc.02500.004_large.jpg fine building as I think the Dr. will tell you.
At 11.20 a.m we saw him off to London & I have not yet heard from him.
On his return journey he will probably stay with Wallace for a day or two
I need not tell you how much we have all enjoyed the Dr's visit, how much we like and appreciate him for his cordiality & bonhommie & what extremely pleasant impressions he has left behind him in Bolton.
We feel, too, that his visit has done us good loc.02500.005_large.jpg It has seemed to bring you nearer
& it has certainly made you dearer than ever to us.
Nay more to some of us it has almost seemed as if you yourself had been here; for the resemblance between the Dr & you was remarked
upon—Fred told him that if ever you wanted to have your photograph taken and
couldn't go you might send the Dr! And then Dr B told us the story about the Camden Hackman who asked him where
he was to drive loc.02500.006_large.jpg to—"Oh," said the Dr, "you know well
enough."
"All right sir" said the man "I suppose you want to go to your brother's!"
He very kindly gave us your letter to him in which you referred to us in such high terms—I could see that it cost him a wrench to part with it & he did so because he "felt to" & thought it would please us; but of course we are to let him have a copy of it.
We are indeed pleased to have it & we shall prize it very
highly indeed as another token of your loc.02500.007_large.jpg affectionate regard for us for
which we desire to thank you most cordially.
I regret to hear from yr letter that you were suffering from "lassitude & headache"15 & trust that they were only temporary. & that you are now keeping better, on the whole.
Many thanks to you for promising me a copy of the tomb16 picture.
Dr B has of course told us a good deal about the tomb amongst other things. But you are not going there yet awhile, dear old friend! loc.02500.008_large.jpg We cant spare
you yet. For what should we do without you?—and Wallace has to see you yet! No
No! Granite & marble edifice! You must be content to be tenantless for a very long time yet!
Forgive my seeming levity. Upon such a grave subject.
We have had a good deal of rain here this week wh is bad for the hay crop.
Please convey my warmest regards to all & accept the heart love
of yours affectionately J. JohnstonCorrespondent:
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).