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John H. Johnston.
Albert Edw.
Johnston.
J. H. JOHNSTON & CO.,
Diamond Merchants and Jewelers.
17 Union Square, New York.
Cor.
Broadway
& 15th
St.
Established, 1844.
Telephone Call: 916 21st Street.
New York, Sept 22 18901
Dear Walt:
It is very nice to know that you are well enough to write two such nice letters.2 It is wonderful—the rallying power that dear Nature gives us.
I am glad you are pleased with my idea of Ingersoll3
lecturing. It will be a great event.4 One that us Whitmanites will rejoice over as long as we
live. I got Ingersoll interested two years ago in Saratoga. Since then he has dipped into L. of G. very often,
(I can tell) and now—what do
you think?! The other
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day he said to me "Johnston do you know that I think there is nothing greater in
Poetry in our language than Walt's tribute to Lincoln"5
Ingersoll has a great soul, and it did me good to hear him say it. And it was then I
suggested the lecture, I want an address by him in permanent shape, that dinner
speech6 ought to have been saved for posterity—Now we will perhaps have
something as great or greater.7—
Excuse great haste. Regards to Mrs Davis.8
Yrs sincerely
JH Johnston
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See notes Sept 23, '90
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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 letter is addressed:
Walt Whitman | Camden | N.J. It is postmarked: New York | Sep 22 | 7 PM | D;
Camden, N.J. | Sep | 23 | 6AM | 1890 | [illegible]. The envelope has a printed return address: J. H. Johnston
& Co., | Diamond Merchants and Jewelers, | 17 Union Square, New York. | Cor.
Broadway & 15th St. [back]
- 2. Whitman wrote two letters to
Johnston on September 20, 1890: one early in the
day, and another after Whitman's
biographer and disciple Horacel Traubel mentioned Johnston's idea to hold a
lecture event for the poet that would include a lecture by Robert
Ingersoll. [back]
- 3. Robert "Bob" Green Ingersoll
(1833–1899) was a Civil War veteran and an orator of the post-Civil War
era, known for his support of agnosticism. Ingersoll was a friend of Whitman,
who considered Ingersoll the greatest orator of his time. Whitman said to Horace
Traubel, "It should not be surprising that I am drawn to Ingersoll, for he is
Leaves of Grass. He lives, embodies, the
individuality I preach. I see in Bob the noblest
specimen—American-flavored—pure out of the soil, spreading, giving,
demanding light" (Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden,
Wednesday, March 25, 1891). The feeling was mutual. Upon Whitman's
death in 1892, Ingersoll delivered the eulogy at the poet's funeral. The eulogy
was published to great acclaim and is considered a classic panegyric (see
Phyllis Theroux, The Book of Eulogies [New York: Simon
& Schuster, 1997], 30). [back]
- 4. Johnston is referring to the
idea of holding a lecture event in Whitman's honor. The event took place on
October 21 at Philadelphia's Horticultural Hall. Orator and agonostic Robert
Ingersoll delivered the lecture, which was titled "Liberty in
Literature. Testimonial to Walt Whitman." See Ingersoll's October 12, 1890, and October 20, 1890, letters to Whitman. [back]
- 5. Johnston is referring to
Whitman's poem, "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd." [back]
- 6. Whitman's friends gave him a
birthday supper in honor of his 71st birthday on May 31, 1890, at Reisser's
Restaurant in Philadelphia, at which the noted orator Col. Robert G. Ingersoll
(1833–1899) gave a "grand speech, never to be forgotten by me" (Whitman's
Commonplace Book, Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman,
1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.). Daniel Brinton
(1837–1899), a professor of linguistics and archaeology at the University
of Pennsylvania, presided, and other speakers included the Canadian physician
Richard Maurice Bucke (1837–1902) and Silas Weir Mitchell
(1829–1914), a writer and a physician specializing in nervous disorders.
The Philadelphia Inquirer carried the story on the front
page on the following day. The Camden Daily Post article
"Ingersoll's Speech" of June 2, 1890, was written by Whitman himself and was
reprinted in Good-Bye My Fancy (Prose
Works, 1892, ed. Floyd Stovall, 2 vols. [New York: New York University
Press: 1963–1964], 686–687). Later Traubel wrote "Walt Whitman's
Birthday" for Unity (25 [August 28, 1890], 215). [back]
- 7. Whitman later recorded in
his Commonplace Book his impressions of Ingersoll's October 21, 1890, speech:
"Well the Ingersoll lecture came off last evn'g in Horticultural Hall, Broad st:
Phila:—a noble, (very eulogistic to WW & L of G) eloquent speech, well
responded to by the audience. There were 1600 to 2000 people, (choice persons,)
one third women (Proceeds to me $869.45)—I went over, was wheeled on
the stage in my ratan chair, and at the last spoke a very few words—A
splendid success for Ingersoll, (& me too.) Ing. had it written, & read
with considerable fire, but perfect ease" (Whitman's Commonplace Book, Charles
E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library
of Congress, Washington, D.C.). [back]
- 8. 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]