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[Among the Supervisors elect of]

About This Item

  • Title: [Among the Supervisors elect of]
  • Date: 3 April 1858
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
  • Whitman Archive ID: per.01309
  • Source: Brooklyn Daily Times, 3 April 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: Kaylen Michaelis Cassandra Jannel Simms Stefan Schöberlein Karie Cobb
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "[Among the Supervisors elect of]." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 16 July 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: per.01309.xml (TEI)
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☞Among the Supervisors elect of Westchester Co., we notice the name of our friend William Cauldwell1 of Morrisana. We cannot say, as R.W. Emerson2 did to the author of Leaves of Grass, “We greet thee on the threshold of a great career;”3 but we do say, with all our heart, full as it is, at the moment, of ancient reminiscences of many halcyon days passed with our friend Cauldwell, when we both were wont to read the Declaration of Independence, on our cotton pocket handkerchiefs. All hail! brother Cauldwell; and we congratulate our fellow citizens of Westchester that they will have continued in their local legislature, a man so good and true as our worthy friend. We assure him that “Our flag is there!”

Notes:

1. William P. Cauldwell (1824–1907) published the New York Sunday Mercury, one of the leading weekend papers in the country. In his youth, Cauldwell worked with Whitman at the New York Aurora. [back]

2. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) was an American poet and transcendentalist. [back]

3. "I greet you at the beginning of a great career" is a quote from a private letter by Emerson to Whitman regarding his 1855 edition ofLeaves of Grass. Whitman then publicized the letter and even used it in future printings of Leaves of Grass. [back]

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