Jan 23 '92 pm1
Am deadly weak yet2—otherwise inclined to
favorable—bowel drain sufficient—appetite
fair—The plaster cast come safe3 to
Dr J[ohnston]4—Bolton5—Ralph Moore6
is dead—Tom Harned7 well—my
doctors & attendants cont[inue] first rate—Horace8
ever faithful—am propp'd up in bed—
God bless you all—
Walt Whitman
Correspondent:
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).
Notes
- 1. This letter is addressed:
Dr. Bucke | Asylum | London | Ontario | Canada. It is postmarked Camden, N.J. |
Jan 24 | 5 PM | 92 (?); London | PM | Ja 25 | 92 | Canada. [back]
- 2. 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]
- 3. Whitman is referring to
the bust by Sidney Morse that he sent to the minister Robert Pearsall Smith in
September, 1887; see Whitman's letter to Smith of September 12, 1887, and Whitman's letter to Richard Maurice Bucke of
October 20, 1891. Whitman had asked the Bolton
physician Dr. John Johnston if he or the Bolton architect James W. Wallace would
like to have the bust in his August 16–17,
1891, letter to Johnston. Johnston replied on August 29: "I would do much more than care for it—I would prize
it very, very highly & would give it a place of honour in my home second to
none of my possessions." [back]
- 4. 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]
- 5. On January 30, 1892,
Horace Traubel wrote to the Bolton architect James W. Wallace: "He [Whitman] is
greatly pleased that the Morse bust has reached you safely. He has many kind
words to say of that piece of work, and really thinks that 'Our dear, dear
Sidney,' as he spoke of him the other day, comes nearer the 'critter,' and is
more faithful to the truth as it is in Whitman, than any other man who has
attempted to 'do' him; and he moreover declares the figor and breth of Morse's
work, quick with the instinct and generic quality of life. This is his last word
on that head" (Traubel, Bucke, and Thomas Harned, ed., In Re
Walt Whitman [Philadelphia: David McKay, 1893], 420). In the last
months of the poet's life, Traubel kept Johnston, Wallace, and the members of
the Bolton College of English Whitman admirers informed and answered their
letters to the poet. [back]
- 6. Ralph Moore was the
superintendent of Harleigh Cemetery, where Whitman had had his marble tomb
built. [back]
- 7. Thomas Biggs Harned
(1851–1921) was one of Whitman's literary executors. Harned was a lawyer
in Philadelphia and, having married Augusta Anna Traubel (1856–1914), was
Horace Traubel's brother-in-law. For more on him, see Dena Mattausch, "Harned, Thomas Biggs (1851–1921)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). For more on his relationship with Whitman, see
Thomas Biggs Harned, Memoirs of Thomas B. Harned, Walt
Whitman's Friend and Literary Executor, ed. Peter Van Egmond (Hartford:
Transcendental Books, 1972). [back]
- 8. 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]