loc.02570.001_large.jpg
Camden New Jersey1
April 18 1887
Both yours rec'd—Major Pond2 has sent me $250—I came thro' Friday Evn'g
in good order & am now here—Chewing on my good time in N Y3—& that every thing went off so well.
Walt Whitman
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Correspondent:
John H. Johnston (1837–1919) was a New York
jeweler and close friend of Whitman. Johnston was also a friend of Joaquin
Miller (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Tuesday, August 14, 1888). Whitman visited the Johnstons for the
first time early in 1877. In 1888 he observed to Horace Traubel: "I count
[Johnston] as in our inner circle, among the chosen few" (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Wednesday, October 3, 1888). See also Johnston's letter about
Whitman, printed in Charles N. Elliot, Walt Whitman as Man,
Poet and Friend (Boston: Richard G. Badger, 1915), 149–174. For
more on Johnston, see Susan L. Roberson, "Johnston, John H. (1837–1919) and Alma Calder," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and
Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998).
Notes
- 1. This postal card is
addressed: John H Johnston | Diamond Merchant | 150 Bowery cor: Broome St | New
York City. It is postmarked: Camden, N.J. | Apr 18 | 12 M | 87; P O | 4-18-87 |
5 [illegible] | N.Y.| 4–18–87
| 5 [illegible] | N.Y.; [illegible]| 4–18–87 |
5–1 |[illegible] [back]
- 2. James Burton Pond (1838–1903)
was a famous lecture-manager and printer. He was also awarded the Medal of Honor
for his services in the Civil War. In his 1900 autobiography Eccentricities of Genius (G. W. Dillingham Co: New York), he writes of
Whitman: "Whitman gave a few readings under my management during his life. They
were mostly testimonials from friends, and benefits given in the theatres of New
York City"; Pond concludes with an anecdote about the poet's meeting with Sir
Edwin Arnold (497–501). [back]
- 3. Whitman is referring to his
lecture entitled "The Death of Abraham Lincoln," which he delivered in New York
City on Thursday, April 14, 1887. He first delivered this lecture in New York in
1879 and would deliver it at least eight other times over the succeeding years,
delivering it for the last time on April 15, 1890. He had published a version of
the lecture as "Death of Abraham Lincoln" in Specimen
Days (1882–83). For more on the lecture, see Larry D. Griffin,
"'Death of Abraham Lincoln,'" Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings, ed. (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998), 169–170. [back]