Camden, N J.
Dec. 15 '91
Good comfort for me to get the letter rec'd from you today1—(A
fellow likes so to be made much of). Probably the word
"finished" abt the L. of G. I sent2 is Horace's,3 not mine. As I go over the book two points
satisfy me as well as any—those are the atmosphere & the notion
of all, whatever it is being in process (evolution) from first page to last.
Of course I know its numberless deficiencies—but I hope I have provided for them.4
Sit here alone in big chair this cool weather with big wolf-skin spread
back ag't draughts—bad days & nights,5 every hour its
suffering—inveterate gastric inertia & bladder troubles all eventually started from and
germinating from the Washington paralysis through and at end of war.
Am not in want of anything—y'r noble help (toward $900) from the
Phila. lecture6 has directly benefitted me & does to–day, in ways w'd please
you well if you c'd know.
Blessings on you & on Mrs. I.7 & all
from
Walt Whitman
Correspondent:
Robert "Bob" Green Ingersoll
(1833–1899) was a Civil War veteran and an orator of the post-Civil War
era, known for his support of agnosticism. Ingersoll was a friend of Whitman,
who considered Ingersoll the greatest orator of his time. Whitman said to Horace
Traubel, "It should not be surprising that I am drawn to Ingersoll, for he is
Leaves of Grass. He lives, embodies, the
individuality I preach. I see in Bob the noblest
specimen—American-flavored—pure out of the soil, spreading, giving,
demanding light" (Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden,
Wednesday, March 25, 1891). The feeling was mutual. Upon Whitman's
death in 1892, Ingersoll delivered the eulogy at the poet's funeral. The eulogy
was published to great acclaim and is considered a classic panegyric (see
Phyllis Theroux, The Book of Eulogies [New York: Simon
& Schuster, 1997], 30).
Notes
- 1. See Ingersoll's letter to
Whitman of December 12, 1891. [back]
- 2. Whitman wanted to have a
copy of the final Leaves of Grass before his death, and
he also wanted to be able to present copies to his friends. A version of the
1891–1892 Leaves of Grass, often referred to as the
"deathbed edition," was bound in December of 1891 so that Whitman could give the
volume to friends at Christmas. The following year, the 1891–1892 Leaves of Grass was published by Phildelphia publisher
David McKay. This volume reprints, with minor revisions, the 1881 text from the
plates of Boston publisher James R. Osgood. Whitman also includes his two
annexes in the book. The first annex consisted of a long prefatory essay
entitled "A Backward Glance O'er Travel'd Roads" and sixty-five poems; while the
second, "Good-Bye my Fancy," was a collection of thirty-one short poems taken
from the gathering of prose and poetry published under that title by McKay in
1891. For more information on this volume of Leaves, see
R.W. French, "Leaves of Grass, 1891–1892 edition,"
Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and
Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 3. 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]
- 4. On December 12, 1891, Ingersoll thanked Walt Whitman
for an inscribed copy of Leaves of Grass, and observed:
"The only objection I have to the book is that it purports to be
finished—with you, while there is life there will be song. . . . While a
grain of sand remains within the glass of time, there's something left unsaid
that we, your friends, would gladly hear." [back]
- 5. Whitman's condition would
continue to worsen during the month of December 1891. On December 17, Whitman
came 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]
- 6. Whitman is referring to the
lecture in his honor that was also a benefit for him, which took place on
October 21, 1890, at Philadelphia's Horticultural Hall. The New York jeweler
John H. Johnston and the Canadian physician Richard Maurice Bucke planned the
event, and the orator and agnostic Robert Ingersoll delivered the lecture: Liberty in Literature. Testimonial to Walt Whitman. See
Ingersoll's October 12, 1890 and October 20, 1890, letters to Whitman. [back]
- 7. Eva Amelia Parker Ingersoll
(1841–1923) of Groveland, Illinois, was the daughter of Benjamin Weld
Parker and his wife Harriet E. Lyon Parker. She married Robert G. Ingersoll in
1862, and they had two daughters, Eva Ingersoll Brown (1863–1928) and
Maude Ingersoll Probasco (1864–1936). [back]