As no cablegram came this morning we conclude that "no news is good news" & our
anxiety is greatly relieved & tho' we fear what the morrow may have in store for
us we hope & trust that it may bring us nothing but good news, about you. loc.02538.002_large.jpg What a terrible
time you must have had no one but you can know but we sincerely hope that the crisis
is past & that you are now recovering from the frustrating attack &
regaining a portion of your lost strength.2 God grant that this may be so & that
out of the darkness may come forth light & Blessing for you & for us Crown
your affliction!
It has deeply grieved us to think what a loc.02538.003_large.jpg poor sort of Christmas you must
have had: but we rejoice to know that you are still with us & we pray that the
New Year may begin auspiciously & find you fairly on yr. way to
convalescence—God bless you now & always!
Some of the Boys3 were here on Mon: Evg: by invitation.
Mrs Teare4 of
Ballacooil—The farm house in the Isle of Man where I stayed last
summer—sent us a big fat goose & the boys came to help us to dispose of
it. We loc.02538.004_large.jpg spent a
good time tho' it was overshadowed by the knowledge of your illness & we read
from Carpenter's5 "Towards Democracy"6—a copy of wh: he kindly presented to me—Burns7 &c.
The boys all send their continued love & sympathy to you & hope to hear better news of you.
My best heart love to you now & always. Yours affectionately J. Johnston.PS Please tell Warry8 & Mrs Davis9 that I send my affectionate regards & best wishes for a happy new year to them. They must have had a trying time.
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).