loc.02500.001_large.jpg
54, Manchester Road
Bolton, Lancashire
England.1
July 22nd 1891.
My Dear Old Friend,
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. Johnston
loc.02500.009_large.jpg
see note July 31 1891
loc.02500.010_large.jpg
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 | New Jersey | U.S. America It is
postmarked: Bolton | T | JY22 | 91; New York | [illegible]; 91; All; Camden, N.J. | JUL 31 | 4PM | 1891 | REC'D. [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. During the months of July
and August 1891, Dr. Richard Maurice Bucke traveled in England in an attempt to establish a foreign
market for the gas and fluid meter he was developing with his brother-in-law
William Gurd. While in England, Bucke spent time with Dr. John Johnston and
James W. Wallace, the co-founders of the Bolton College of Whitman admirers, and
visited the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson. [back]
- 4. Johnston may be referring to
his July 18, 1891, letter to Whitman. [back]
- 5. Wentworth Dixon
(1855–1928) was a lawyer's clerk and a member of the "Bolton College" of
Whitman admirers. He was also affiliated with the Labour Church, an organization
whose socialist politics and working-class ideals were often informed by
Whitman's work. Dixon communicated directly with Whitman only a few times, but
we can see in his letters a profound sense of care for the poet's failing
health, as well as genuine gratitude for Whitman's continued correspondence with
the "Eagle Street College." See Dixon's letters to Whitman of June 13, 1891 and February
24, 1892. For more on Dixon and Whitman's Bolton disciples, see Paul
Salveson, "Loving
Comrades: Lancashire's Links to Walt Whitman," Walt
Whitman Quarterly Review 14.2 (1996), 57–84. [back]
- 6. 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]
- 7. As yet we have no information about
this person. [back]
- 8. Fred Wild (d. 1935), a
cotton waste merchant, was a member of the "Bolton College" of Whitman admirers
and was also affiliated with the Labour Church, an organization whose socialist
politics and working-class ideals were often informed by Whitman's work. A
painter and scholar of Shakespeare, he was also a lively debater. With James W.
Wallace and Dr. John Johnston, Wild formed the nucleus of the Bolton Whitman
group. For more on Wild and Whitman's Bolton disciples, see Paul Salveson, "Loving Comrades:
Lancashire's Links to Walt Whitman,"
Walt Whitman Quarterly Review 14.2 (1996),
57–84. [back]
- 9. Richard Greenhalgh, a bank
clerk and one of Whitman's Bolton admirers, frequently hosted annual
celebrations of the poet's birthday. In his March 9, 1892, letter to Traubel,
Greenhalgh wrote that "Walt has taught me 'the glory of my daily life and
trade.' In all the departments of my life Walt entered with his loving
personality & I am never alone" (Horace Traubel, With Walt
Whitman in Camden, Sunday, March 20, 1892). James Wallace described Greenhalgh as
"undoubtedly a rich, royal, plain fellow, not given to ornate word or act" (Sunday, September 27, 1891). For more on Greenhalgh, see Paul
Salveson, "Loving
Comrades: Lancashire's Links to Walt Whitman," Walt
Whitman Quarterly Review 14.2 (1996), 57–84. [back]
- 10. Thomas Shorrock was a
clerk in the Bolton police court. [back]
- 11. Possibly Mira (or Myra) Jane
G. Dixon (1857–1931), who married Wentworth Dixon in Bolton, England, in
1878. [back]
- 12. As yet we have no information about
this person. [back]
- 13. Johnston may be referring to
Whitman's letter of July 8–9, 1891. [back]
- 14. Horace L. Traubel (1858–1919)
was an American essayist, poet, and magazine publisher. He is best remembered as
the literary executor, biographer, and self-fashioned "spirit child" of Walt
Whitman. During the late 1880s and until Whitman's death in 1892, Traubel visited
the poet virtually every day and took thorough notes of their conversations,
which he later transcribed and published in three large volumes entitled With Walt Whitman in Camden (1906, 1908, & 1914).
After his death, Traubel left behind enough manuscripts for six more volumes of
the series, the final two of which were published in 1996. For more on Traubel,
see Ed Folsom, "Traubel, Horace L. [1858–1919]," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 15. See Whitman's letter to
Johnston of July 8–9, 1891. [back]
- 16. Whitman was making plans to
be buried in Harleigh Cemetery, in Camden, New Jersey, in an elaborate granite
tomb that he designed. Reinhalter and Company of Philadelphia built the tomb, at
a cost of $4,000. Whitman covered a portion of these costs with money that
his Boston friends had raised so that the poet could purchase a summer cottage;
the remaining balance was paid by Whitman's literary executor, Thomas Harned.
For more information on the cemetery and Whitman's tomb, see See Geoffrey M.
Still, "Harleigh Cemetery," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]