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Anderton, nr Chorley
Lancashire, England
25. Feb 1892
Dear Walt,
Horace's1 letter of Feb 12th to hand with your loving
message to us all & your special message to George Humphreys,2
Fred Wild3 & myself. Our deepest & tenderest love to you in return,
& our prayerful good wishes.4
Tomorrow night I expect that there will be
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a good meeting at Johnston's5 which I shall attend. I shall have to do most
of the talking & it will be about you. And our
loving thoughts & blessing will go out to you, with our earnest best
wishes.
I send a kiss to you again in token of tenderest love.
Your loving comrade & son
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. 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]
- 2. Little is known about the
millwright and machine-fitter George Humphreys, who was a member of the Bolton
College group of Whitman admirers. [back]
- 3. 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]
- 4. On December 17, 1891,
Whitman had come down with a chill and was suffering from congestion in his
right lung. Although the poet's condition did improve in January 1892, he would
never recover. He was confined to his bed, and his physicians, Dr. Daniel
Longaker of Philadelphia and Dr. Alexander McAlister of Camden, provided care
during his final illness. Whitman died on March 26, 1892. [back]
- 5. 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). [back]