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Camden1
July 7 '91
Yr's rec'd this forenoon always welcomed.2 Fine weather, sunny,
perfect, now the fourth day. Quite a hearty breakfast, oysters,
(good here)—Warry3 got me up
& dress'd & has gone off to NY to see Dr Bucke.4
(W returns this evn'g.) Dr B goes over in the Britannic5 7½ am
July 8. to be gone till end of Aug:6—will go to see
Tennyson7—will see a cluster of g't L of G.
friends in Bolton, Lancashire, (Dr Johnston8 &
J W Wallace9 leaders)—
—I am fairly to-day—the birth-day10 rep't is to be printed
(article by Traubel11 in
Lippincott's12 August13—gives
a very good acc't of all—(of course I did not
attempt a line of L of G)—amazed myself by keeping up three hours,
chattering, interpolating, drinking champagne & moderatley eating—enjoyed
it all muchly—most of the time continuing these days sitting here
in big chair alone—keep pretty good spirits—horribly feeble
extreme inertia cannot move across the room without help.—right
arm, power good—nights fair—a stout massage14 every ev'ng—eat
blackberries—Love to the dear wife15 & write often as
convenient—Yes I fancy Eliz: P Gould16 is a noble woman
Walt Whitman
noon17–just refresh'd by a mug of iced buttermilk this hot day.
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Correspondent:
William Sloane Kennedy
(1850–1929) was on the staff of the Philadelphia American and the Boston Transcript; he also
published biographies of Longfellow, Holmes, and Whittier (Dictionary of American Biography [New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1933], 336–337). Apparently Kennedy called on
the poet for the first time on November 21, 1880 (William Sloane Kennedy, Reminiscences of Walt Whitman [London: Alexander
Gardener, 1896], 1). Though Kennedy was to become a fierce defender of Whitman,
in his first published article he admitted reservations about the "coarse
indecencies of language" and protested that Whitman's ideal of democracy was
"too coarse and crude"; see The Californian, 3 (February
1881), 149–158. For more about Kennedy, see Katherine Reagan, "Kennedy, William Sloane (1850–1929)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998).
Notes
- 1. Whitman wrote this letter on
stationery printed with the following notice from the Boston
Evening Transcript: "From the Boston Eve'g
Transcript, May 7, '91.—The Epictetus saying, as given by Walt
Whitman in his own quite utterly dilapidated physical case is, a 'little spark
of soul dragging a great lummux of corpse-body clumsily to and fro
around.'" [back]
- 2. Whitman may be referring to
Kennedy's letter of July 4, 1891. [back]
- 3. Frank Warren Fritzinger
(1867–1899), known as "Warry," took Edward Wilkins's place as Whitman's
nurse, beginning in October 1889. Fritzinger and his brother Harry were the sons
of Henry Whireman Fritzinger (about 1828–1881), a former sea captain who
went blind, and Almira E. Fritzinger. Following Henry Sr.'s death, Warren and
his brother—having lost both parents—became wards of Mary O. Davis,
Whitman's housekeeper, who had also taken care of the sea captain and who
inherited part of his estate. A picture of Warry is displayed in the May 1891
New England Magazine (278). See Joann P. Krieg, "Fritzinger, Frederick Warren (1866–1899),"
Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and
Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998), 240. [back]
- 4. 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). [back]
- 5. The SS
Britannic was a transatlantic ocean liner that traveled the
Liverpool-New York City route from 1874 to 1899. It was known for many years as
one of the fastest steamships traveling the Atlantic. Bucke was a passenger on
the SS Britannic when he traveled to England in the summer of 1891. [back]
- 6. At this time, Bucke was
departing for England in an attempt to establish a foreign market for the gas
and fluid meter he was developing with his brother-in-law William Gurd. [back]
- 7. Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) succeeded
William Wordsworth as poet laureate of Great Britain in 1850. The intense male
friendship described in In Memoriam, which Tennyson wrote
after the death of his friend Arthur Henry Hallam, possibly influenced Whitman's
poetry. Whitman wrote to Tennyson in 1871 or late 1870, probably shortly after the
visit of Cyril Flower in December, 1870, but the letter is not extant (see Thomas Donaldson,
Walt Whitman the Man [New York: F. P.
Harper, 1896], 223). Tennyson's first letter to Whitman is dated July
12, 1871. Although Tennyson extended an invitation for Whitman
to visit England, Whitman never acted on the offer. [back]
- 8. 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]
- 9. James William Wallace
(1853–1926), of Bolton, England, was an architect and great admirer of
Whitman. Wallace, along with Dr. John Johnston (1852–1927), a physician in
Bolton, 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 Wallace, see Larry D. Griffin, "Wallace, James William (1853–1926)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 10. Whitman's seventy-second
(and last) birthday was celebrated with friends at his home on Mickle Street. He
described the celebration in a letter to Dr. John Johnston, of Bolton, England,
dated June 1, 1891: "We had our birth anniversary
spree last evn'g —ab't 40 people, choice friends mostly—12 or so women—[Alfred,
Lord] Tennyson sent a short and sweet letter over his own sign manual . . . lots
of bits of speeches, with gems in them—we had a capital good
supper." [back]
- 11. 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]
- 12. Lippincott's Monthly Magazine was a literary magazine published in
Philadelphia from 1868 to 1915. Joseph Marshall Stoddart was the editor of the
magazine from 1886 to 1894, and he frequently published material by and about
Whitman. For more information on Whitman's numerous publications here, see Susan
Belasco, "Lippincott's Magazine." [back]
- 13. Horace Traubel's article
"Walt Whitman's Birthday, May 31, 1891," was published in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in August 1891. It offered a detailed
account of Whitman's seventy-second (and last) birthday, which was celebrated
with friends at the poet's home on Mickle Street. [back]
- 14. Whitman's nurse at the time,
Warren Fritizinger, regularly gave the poet massages. [back]
- 15. William Sloane Kennedy
married Adeline Ella Lincoln of Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1883; they lived
for forty years in a house they built in Belmont, Massachusetts. [back]
- 16. Elizabeth Porter Gould
(1848–1906) was a Massachusetts writer and reformer who edited the
collection Gems from Walt Whitman (1889), a selection of
poems from Leaves of Grass that she condensed to create
short poetic "gems." [back]
- 17. Whitman wrote this
postscript in the top right corner of the letter. [back]