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Something New Under the Sun

About This Item

  • Title: Something New Under the Sun
  • Date: 13 July 1858
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
  • Whitman Archive ID: per.00780
  • Source: Brooklyn Daily Times, 13 July 1858: 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: Joe Stouffer Kaylen Michaelis Tara Ballard Stephanie Blalock Karie Cobb
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "Something New Under the Sun." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 16 July 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: per.00780.xml (TEI)
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SOMETHING NEW UNDER THE SUN.—

We had supposed until now that it was the general opinion of Temperance people that the use of tea or coffee, or both, tended to give a distaste for alcoholic beverages. At least we have noticed that most total-abstinents were great imbibers of strong Java and the Chinese herb.1 But a correspondent of the Tribune of this of the morning comes down on hot drinks i.e. tea and coffee, with immense force, clearly demonstrating the fact, to his own satisfaction, at any rate, that they debilitate the system, creating thereby a depression of spirits which invariably leads to the use of stimulants.

Notes:

1. Whitman had been associated with the Temperance movement earlier in his career, culminating in his anti-alcohol novella Franklin Evans.For more information, see Jennifer A. Hynes, "Temperance Movement," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]

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