The Heat

About This Item

Title: The Heat
Date: 13 July 1857
Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Whitman Archive ID: per.00741
Source: Brooklyn Daily Times, 13 July 1857: 2. Our transcription is based on a digital image of a microfilm scan of the original issue. Microfilm of original issue held at Pennsylvania State University Libraries. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the journalism, see our statement of editorial policy.
Editorial note: This piece is unsigned, as was the case for most of Whitman's journalism. However, this editorial is part of a series of texts that deal with a coherent theme that has been identified by the Whitman Archive journalism team as likely authored by Whitman. This decision is based on a combination of historical and (auto)biographical accounts, similarity to contemporary Whitman writings, a history of scholarly attribution, extant clippings retained by Whitman, computational stylometric analysis, and, in some cases, manuscript evidence in Whitman’s hand.
Contributors to digital file: Kellee Forkenbrock Kaylen Michaelis Cassandra Jannel Simms Stefan Schöberlein Karie Cobb
Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "The Heat." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 16 July 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
Source File: per.00741.xml (TEI)

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Really, the heat is here to last—the burning, drying, tanning, sweltering days! Now strawberries have departed, and raspberries begin. Now the young fellows take the young women out to ice-cream saloons of an evening, and put on airs, as of persons having an unbounded command of cash. Now sensible men, and all the boys, pant for the advantages of bathing, as the hart panteth for the water-brooks. Heavens! is'nt it hot! One throws off all the clothing he can spare, and still there is too much left. The air, the water—these seem now to be clothing enough, by night or by day. Yet, be it remembered, this hot weather comes in very welcome. It sends up the corn, which sadly needed it; and it makes a splendid opportunity for the farmers to cut, cure, and cart in their hay. These three or four hot days will save millions upon millions of dollars worth of the hay crop.