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London,1
Ontario,
Canada
21 Sep 18912
Dear Walt,
I think I will address you in future by your "nighest name,"3
for I think you will know
that my doing so is consistent with
deepest reverence, & is only adopted from affectionate motives.
We think of you always as "Walt"—our nearest & dearest friend.
And this afternoon I have been reading some old letters of yours to Pete Doyle,4 & their
wonderful loving kindness & warm affection stir my heart anew.
Indeed, I have been quite busy all afternoon copying
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some of them, with the Dr's5 permission.
For I want to read them to "the College"6 on my return. How
delighted they will be with them, & how strongly they will feel that
you are indeed one of us.
Dearest of friends, responsive love to you from us all!
Not for nothing has your heart of love shed its bleeding drops
through life. Every manly affectionate heart that comes to know you will throb in warm response.
And I know well that
the friends in Bolton will feel their hearts grow big, & their eyes fill,
as I read to them these loving words of yours.
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As I read them I thought often & often of my dear friend Fred Wild.7
Your writing curiously reminded me at times of him.
And I can even now see his face vainly contending with the emotions
that will fill him as I read your words. And every man like
him—fresh, spontaneous, wild
(in a sense—as opposed to tame
& spiritless) & loving, will respond with deepest joy & devotion to your words & love.
I scribble this hurriedly as the afternoon is nearly gone.
I received the two papers you sent, & thank you again for your
constant thought & kindness.
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I am delighted to hear of your drive & of your present condition.
I hope that this glorious weather may benefit you still
further.
Dr back—& nearly tea time & must close. Wonderfully beautiful evening.
Am going with Clare8 & 5 lady friends9 of hers to the Theatre
tonight!—to hear Madame Modjeska.10
With love & best wishes
Yours affectionately
J.W. Wallace
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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 | US. It is postmarked: London | SP 22 | 91 | CANADA; Camden N.J. | Sep
24 | 6AM | 91 | REC'D. [back]
- 2. When Wallace wrote this
letter, he was visiting the Canadian physician Richard Maurice Bucke at Bucke's
home in London, Ontario, Canada. Wallace had traveled to the United States from
Bolton, England, landing at Philadelphia on September 8, 1891 (Horace Traubel,
With Walt Whitman in Camden, Tuesday, September 8, 1891). After spending a few days with Whitman,
Wallace traveled with Bucke to Canada, where he met Bucke's family and friends.
Wallace's accounts of his travels were later published with the Bolton physcian
John Johnston's account of his own visit with the poet in the summer of 1890 in
their book Visits to Walt Whitman in 1890–91
(London, England: G. Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1917). [back]
- 3. Wallace is quoting from
Whitman's poem "Crossing
Brooklyn Ferry." [back]
- 4. Peter Doyle (1843–1907) was
one of Walt Whitman's closest comrades and lovers, and their friendship spanned
nearly thirty years. The two met in 1865 when the twenty-one-year-old Doyle was
a conductor in the horsecar where the forty-five-year-old Whitman was a
passenger. Despite his status as a veteran of the Confederate Army, Doyle's
uneducated, youthful nature appealed to Whitman. Although Whitman's stroke in
1873 and subsequent move from Washington to Camden limited the time the two
could spend together, their relationship rekindled in the mid-1880s after Doyle
moved to Philadelphia and visited nearby Camden frequently. After Whitman's
death, Doyle permitted Richard Maurice Bucke to publish the letters Whitman had
sent him. For more on Doyle and his relationship with Whitman, see Martin G.
Murray, "Doyle, Peter," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia,
ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing,
1998). [back]
- 5. 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]
- 6. The "Bolton College" was a
group of Whitman admirers located in Bolton, England. Founded by Dr. John Johnston (1852–1927) and James William Wallace (1853–1926), the group corresponded with
Whitman and Horace Traubel throughout the final years of the poet's life.
Johnston and Wallace separately visited Whitman 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 on Whitman's disciples, see Paul Salveson,
"Loving Comrades:
Lancashire's Links to Walt Whitman," Walt Whitman
Quarterly Review 14.2 (1996), 57–84. [back]
- 7. Fred Wild (d. 1935), a
cotton waste merchant, was a member of the "Bolton College" of Whitman admirers
and was also affiliated with the Labour Church, an organization whose socialist
politics and working-class ideals were often informed by Whitman's work. A
painter and scholar of Shakespeare, he was also a lively debater. With James W.
Wallace and Dr. John Johnston, Wild formed the nucleus of the Bolton Whitman
group. For more on Wild 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]
- 8. Jessie Clare Bucke
(1870–1943) was the daughter of the Canadian physician Richard Maurice
Bucke and his wife, Jessie Maria Gurd (1839–1926). [back]
- 9. As yet we have no information
about these people. [back]
- 10. Helena Modjeska (1840–1909)
was a well-known Polish actress, particularly famous for playing Shakespearean
heroines. In 1878, Whitman met Modjeska while visiting with writer and editor
Richard Watson Gilder (1844–1909). The poet later said of the actress,
"She is a fascinating, bright woman. I have never seen her act—saw her at
Gilder's, in New York—handsome, agreeable, magnetic" (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, August 28, 1889). [back]