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54 Manchester Road
Bolton, Lancashire.
England.1
Aug 29th 1891
My Dear Old Friend.
Please accept of my warmest thanks for your kind postcard of Aug 16th2
from which I was glad to hear that you were
"keeping around much as usual," but sorry to know
that you were troubled with insomnia & had bad nights. It grieves me to hear of
your continued prostration & suffering & to know that I can do nothing for
you but write
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stupid letters, while you are constantly showering Blessings & Gifts upon me.
I have received so many of these from you that I hesitate about accepting your last
generous offer to "order the W.W. clay head3 at 40 Grosvenor r'd London" to be
sent to me or to Wallace4
You ask me if I "wd care for" it. Indeed, and I would do much more than care for
it. I would prize it very, very highly & would give it a place of honour in
my home second to none of my possessions
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About the time you receive this letter my dear friend, Wallace,
will arrive at Phila.5 & will shortly after see you face to face & hold brief
& loving converse with you, if you are well enough to see him, as I sincerely trust you
will be. The mere thought of his meeting you fills me with undescribable emotion
& my heart fairly wells with love for you both & I long to be with you &
to enjoy the sweet communion which will be his.
But I must content myself with retrospective
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pleasures which to me [illegible] very very
precious; & henceforth will be doubly so now that my dear friend can enter
fully into them.
God bless you both!
A good letter from him, at Queenstown—all going on well with him—in
good spirits & not ill at all.
P.C. from Dr. Bucke6 ditto
I am sending a bundle of photos to Dr. wh. he will let you see & give you first
choice out of. Wallace has a lot with him for you all.
With kindest regards to Mrs Davis7
Warry8 & Harry9 & with best
heart-love to your self
I remain
yours affectionately
J. Johnston.
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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 N.J. | US
America. It is postmarked: Bolton | 56 | AU29 | 91; A | 91; PAID | G |
ALL; NEW YORK | SEP [illegible];
CAMDEN, N.J.
| [illegible] | 6AM | 91 | REC'D.
Johnston wrote his initials, "JJ," in the bottom left corner of the front of the
envelope. [back]
- 2. See Whitman's postal card to
Johnston of August 16–17, 1891. [back]
- 3. Johnston may be referring to
one of several reliefs of Whitman by Sidney H. Morse, sculpted in clay and cast
in plaster. [back]
- 4. 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]
- 5. In September 1891, Wallace
traveled to the United States, arriving at Philadelphia on September 8, 1891
(Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Tuesday, September 8, 1891). Wallace's arrival was shortly preceded
by that of the Canadian physician Richard Maurice Bucke, who had recently
returned from two months of travel in Europe, where he had spent time with
Johnston, Wallace, and the Bolton College group of English Whitman admirers.
Both Bucke and Wallace visited Whitman in Camden, and, after spending a few days
with the poet, Wallace returned with Bucke to London, Ontario, Canada, where he
met Bucke's family and friends. Wallace's account of his time with Whitman was
published—along with the Bolton physician John Johnston's account of his
own visit with the poet in the summer of 1890—in their memoir, Visits to Walt Whitman in 1890–1891 by Two Lancashire
Friends (London: Allen and Unwin, 1917). [back]
- 6. 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]
- 7. 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]
- 8. 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]
- 9. 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]