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INSANE ASYLUM1
LONDON ONTARIO
13th Sept 18912
My dear, dear friend
It is now Sunday evening—8-15—Dr Bucke3 & I
have recently finished supper, & I think I will write you a few lines.
A beautiful day, clear, with warm sunshine. This morning I attended chapel—tallying
in my own experience your "Sunday with the Insane"4—sat afterwards
for an hour and a half on a bench in the grounds here scribbling—the
sun shining warmly, crickets shrilling, the lawn, flower beds &
trees (some changing colour)
beautiful in the sunshine.—In the afternoon
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I attended the Catholic service—At 5 oclock Dr took
me for a drive to town & round the country near.
Enjoyed it immensely. Quite struck by the general air of comfort &
prosperity—the neat houses with grounds or
garden attached, the elbow room & air space enjoyed by each—the
total absence of the overcrowding, smoke, dirt, & foul air with which I am familiar.
The country—fertile & beautiful—has not the mellow
domesticated character of English landscape, but retains a suspicion of wildness
& unreclaimed Nature still. But, at every turn, it has its
own changeful beauty, & always suggests freedom, expansion,
healthful conditions, & room for growth.
A beautiful & typical September evening, mellow & golden, but with a cool
air & a steely zenith that made it bracing & stimulating.
The moon shining down added to its beauty.
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I shall not soon forget our ride, & our talks of you.—I
find, as I expected to find, that Dr Bucke grows upon me
with further knowledge of him & is a worthy friend of yours.—
I had quite a talk yesterday afternoon with Mrs Bucke5—about
the Dr & about your visit here 11 years ago. It seems that I occupy your room!6 Am not I a proud man?
It gives an additional interest to the view from my window to know that you used to admire it.
I write this in the Library—Dr B sitting to the right
reading—Pardee7 on the other side of the table.
Dr shewed me a short time ago two books on Egypt that you used to read.
By the way, Mrs Bucke told me a short time ago that
Revd Richardson8 is coming here on Tuesday, & I
hope to get him to talk a little about you.—
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This afternoon I read an article on Carlyle9 by
Thoreau,10 & one sentence hit me rather hard.
T. said that many people went to see
Carlyle who were not worthy to be seen by him.
"That's me" In writing to you, & in coming to see you,
I feel that I am not worthy of so great & dear a privilege.
But it is said that "love is a present for a mighty King,"11 &
I suppose it is for a mighty poet too. And you have my love for ever, &
more so as I know you better. And behind mine is the love of fellows who are
affectionate & true & good. Love & honour to you from us all.
My letters from home contain such sentences as these.
"If you dare, give Walt's hand a grip for my wife12 & me"
(Wentworth Dixon.13)
"I would very much like you to give him my love,"
(R K Greenhalgh14).
"Please give my love & best wishes to Walt Whitman" (W.A. Ferguson15)
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I have had 2 or 3 drives with Dr B. round the extensive grounds here.—Acres
& acres of vegetables & fruits in first rate condition.
Everything excellently arranged & carried out.
Have spent some time too in his office—looking over his collection of books &c,
& his series of photos of you. All intensely interesting to
me—too interesting indeed, for it
affects my sleep.
It is a great & wonderful privilege to me to be here in many ways,
& I am thankful to Dr Bucke for his kindness & to God for his mercy.—
But I won't write any more now. With love to you, which only grows more tender,
& with love to Mrs Davis16
& Warry,17 & to Traubel.18
J.W. Wallace
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see notes Sept 21 1891
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Correspondent:
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).
Notes
- 1. This letter is addressed:
Walt Whitman, | 328, Mickle St | Camden | New Jersey | U.S. It is postmarked: LONDON | AM | SP 14 | 91 | CANADA; CAMDEN, N.J.
| SEP15 | 4PM | 91 | REC'D. [back]
- 2. 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]
- 3. 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]
- 4. Wallace is referring to
Whitman's essay "Sunday with the Insane" from Specimen Days
and Collect, which details a church service Whitman attended during his
time visiting Dr. Bucke's Asylum for the Insane in London, Ontario, Canada, in
1880. The first issue of Specimen Days was published by
the Philadelphia firm of Rees Welsh and Company in 1882, and the second issue by
David McKay. Many of the autobiographical notes, sketches, and essays from the
volume that focus on the poet's life during and beyond the Civil War had been
previously published in periodicals or in Memoranda During the
War (1875–1876). For more information on Specimen Days, see George Hutchinson and David Drews "Specimen Days [1882]," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D.
Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 5. Jessie Maria Gurd Bucke
(1839–1926) grew up in Mooretown, Upper Canada. She was the daughter of
William Gurd, an army officer from Ireland. Gurd married Richard Maurice Bucke
in 1865. The couple had eight children. [back]
- 6. From June 3 to September 29,
1880, Bucke traveled with Whitman from the poet's home in Camden to Bucke's
residence near London, Ontario, Canada. After spending the summer on the grounds
of the Asylum for the Insane, the two went on an extended trip that included
journeying by railroad to Toronto and taking a steamship on Lake Ontario before
going to Chicoutimi, Quebec, on the Saguenay River. On the return journey, Bucke
traveled with Whitman as far as Niagara, at which point the poet retuned to New
Jersey on his own. [back]
- 7. Timothy Blair Pardee
(1830–1889) was a Canadian lawyer and politician, member of the
Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontaria, Canada, and Minister of the
Crown. Pardee appointed Richard Maurice Bucke, with whom he was a close friend,
as the Superintendent of the Asylum for the Insane in Hamilton at its founding
in 1876, and then the next year as Superintendent of the Asylum for the Insane
in London. For more on Pardee, see H. V. Nelles, "Pardee, Timothy Blair," Dictionary of Canadian Biography Vol. 11 (Toronto:
University of Toronto Press, 1982). [back]
- 8. Reverend George L.
Richardson (b. 1834) was a London, Ontario, Methodist minister, who in 1881,
when Whitman visited London, had talked with the poet about the role of religion
and science in Leaves of Grass and about his views of the
orator and agnostic Robert Ingersoll. Bucke describes these conversations in his
biography of the poet (Walt Whitman [Philadelphia, PA:
David McKay, 1883], 67). [back]
- 9. Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881)
was a Scottish essayist, historian, lecturer, and philosopher. For more on
Carlyle, see John D. Rosenberg, Carlyle and the Burden of
History (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1985). [back]
- 10. Henry David Thoreau
(1817–1862) was an American author, poet, and abolitionist best known for
writing Walden; or, Life in the Woods (1854) and Civil Disobedience (1849). He was a contemporary of Ralph
Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman. For more on Whitman's relationship with Thoreau, see
Susan L. Roberson, "Thoreau, Henry David [1817–1862]," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 11. Wallace is referencing the
poem "The Church-Porch" by George Herbert (1593–1633), a poet and priest
of the Church of England. Herbert writes "Scorn no man's love, though of a mean
degree; / Love is a present for a mighty king" (The Temple:
Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations [London: Pickering, 1835], 13). [back]
- 12. Mira (sometimes spelled
"Myra") Jane Gregory Gerrad (1857–1931) married Wentworth Dixon in 1878.
The couple were the parents of at least four children: Myra Dixon, Nora Dixon,
Wentworth Dixon, and Ellen Dixon. [back]
- 13. 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]
- 14. 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]
- 15. Little is known about W. A.
Ferguson, who was affiliated with the Little Hulton branch of the Bank of Bolton
and was a member of the Bolton College group of admirers of Whitman in Bolton,
Lancashire, England. [back]
- 16. 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]
- 17. 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]
- 18. 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]