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T HERE is as yet nothing distinctive in American literature except its tendency.

discovered an American poet.

probably had in his pockets whilst we were talking.

These were all inarticulate poets, and he interpreted them.

soldiers who were in the hospitals.

It is inexplicable that they cannot be exposed like the doors after which they were modeled upon the

The city of Dayton divides with Cleveland the reputation of being the most beautiful city in Ohio.

Mobs were frequent, news papers were torn out, Vallandigham's door was beaten in with muskets, his friends

went armed and people were shot dead.

Breakfast brought florid faced cockneys; at dinner there were Americans—ladies and men—making haste to

While in the market, the other day, with a party of us, we were all weighed; his weight was 200 pounds

Next the very finely gotten up Boston edition of 1860, in ordinary 12mo., which size has been adhered

All stood up, ready, as it were, to fall into the ranks for him.

It first commenced with a letter from the English laureate, full of courtesy to his American brother,

I rubbed my eyes a little to see if this sunbeam were no illusion; but the solid sense of the book is

I looked at him closely; his hands were strong and clean, his nails cared for.

subjects—make all except inspirations and intentions; must mould mold and carve and sing the ideal American

I wanted to know what the surroundings of this man were.

I always had an idea that poets were fed on finer food than falls to the lot of ordinary mortals, but

prevented from growing tedious—was the marked absence from the spot of every popular poet and author, American

Camden is reached by a ferry crossing the Delaware River from this city, and, but for being in a different

No American publisher will issue his works: the booksellers seem to regard him as a fair victim for fraud

magazine will accept his MSS., and the orthodox compendia of poetry contain none of his notably American

These notes were pencilled down sometimes on battlefields, and are often very thrilling.

We struck a paragraph, yesterday, about Walt Whitman, and thought to wrench a joke out of it, but were

On the floor at his feet was a "paper file," containing a small sheet on which some memoranda were written

, and on a larger table, in the centre of the room, were several letters bearing English postage stamps

already begun to wear the grizzled beard and silvering locks that have become almost the badge of American

been a confirmed invalid, he has assumed more entirely the grayness that was ascribed to him, and were

It was in April, 1860, when I had been seized at night by the Untied States marshal, under an unlawful

Whitman, who is inspector of gas-pipes in the city of Camden.

Thoreau was also a writer for the Democratic Review in those days before the flood,—so were Hawthorne

The floor around it, and one or two chairs near it, were strewn with scrawled half-sheets of note-paper

His tone and manner were perfectly cheerful, and went far to explain the affectionate interest he is

You were explaining the plan of your work?"

And the good women—God bless them—who were the first at the sepulchre and the last at the cross—how kind

his oral opinion that I might drink some light wine once a day till the returns in South Carolina were

host of English friends whose words of praise, warm and earnest, have kindled up the great poet's American

admirers, till Longfellow himself begins to appreciate the poet of American manhood, whose large utterances

They were very sad. No welcome had the poet for Art or Face, but to Death his door flew open wide.

moderation, has been all the past month visiting, riding, receiving, and jaunting in and about the city

audience to the most cultured and elegant society of New York, including most of the artists of the city

been thrown open on two special occasions for informal public receptions in compliment to him, which were

Whitman has explored the city and neighborhood, often as near possible after the fashion of old times

spirits, believes thoroughly not only in the future world, but the present, and especially in our American

The poet's face was just as ruddy as the bright face above him, and his eyes were as bright and his smile

he would accept such a position, but still I would like only too well to put a feather in his cap were

"And those conditions were?"

"Better than twenty years ago, when you were in Boston getting some book printed?"

I think American boys are very companionable, the friendliest in the world.

As I have noted in my poem, I think American youths, more than any other, are possessed of that high

Two Visitors TWO VISITORS, Each Widely Known, Stopping Briefly in the City. Col.

Forney of Philadelphia and Walt Whitman, the poet, arrived in the city yesterday and with their party

The train arrived three hours late, but as the party only intended to stop one day in the city, they

"What a superb city St. Louis is!" exclaimed he.

It's a great city." "Quite a town, isn't it?" "Yes, indeed.

Hearing of the arrival of "the good Gray Poet" in the city, on a short week's visit, a T RIBUNE man was

At the American House, where Mr.

"I have lived in or visited all the great cities on the Atlantic third of the Republic—Boston, Brooklyn

this very Denver, if it might be so, I should like to cast my lot, above all other spots, all other cities

Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University; gaps were filled by reference to a digital

Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University; gaps were filled by reference to a digital

Walt Whitman: His Ideas About the Future of American Literature WALT WHITMAN.

His Ideas About the Future of Amer- ican American Literature.

"What will be the character of the American literature when it does form?"

They are appearing in the Eastern cities and in the West.

They are very American. Emerson is our first man. He is in every way what he should be.

He is in love with Denver City, and speaks admiringly of Missouri and Indiana.

not suited for the expression of American democracy and American manhood.

The great painters were as willing to paint a blacksmith as a lord.

How monotonous it would become, how tired the ear would get of it, if it were regular!

"That any American woman should say, 'Ah, me!

It pleased him very much, yet the tears were in his eyes. He asked me if I enjoyed religion.

How he Commenced to Write and the Way his Works were Received.

"How did you know we were aboard the train?"

You may say, in fact, that with true American instinct I feel like lecturing.

"Thought you were throwing away your life, did they?" asked the doctor.

Legally, however, the blacks were slaves.

not quite suited for the expression of American democracy and American manhood.

The man, the American man, the laborer, boatman, and mechanic.

The great painters were as willing to paint a blacksmith as a lord.

How monotonous it would become—how tired the ears would get of it—if it were regular.

(Query—Why only American?) Bryant he likes.

They were especially interested in the old Whitman burial hill and cemetery, containing the poet's ancestors

The house, barn, and other buildings were all gone and the ground ploughed over.

Near by were a pile of corrected proof-sheets bearing the heading "Leaves of Grass."

His ruddy features were almost concealed by his white hair and beard.

making the book is to give A Recognition of All Elements compacted in one— e pluribus unum , as it were

I have also accepted as a theme the modern business life, the streets of cities, trade, expresses, the

"Of the American poets," he said, "I would place Emerson first, then Bryant, Longfellow and Whittier.

Several ladies called, and a number of "outsiders," and all were received with due empressment empressement

There were over three hundred visitors in the course of the evening, some from England.

gave some times of his printer life, as a young man (1838 to 1850), and his working in different cities

In the course of the evening various little speeches were made, and Mr.

The publishers were capital fellows.

I like the city itself exceedingly, and I think it will in a short time become a cosmopolitan city such

I cannot class it with other cities, and you must not compel me to talk about it.

No copies w orth me ntioning were sold of any issue.

"You have eliminated, then, none of the lines which were deemed objectionable?"

In that city they have had a Philosophical society for some years, and now Griggs & Co, the principal

The papers in the volume were chiefly written in Canada since Mr Smith has lived there, and several of

They were collected into a book in Canada, but subsequently taken by the publishing house of Macmillan

The American features are not all that the æsthetic fancy craves, but they are not so hopelessly lost

If it were possible to see the genius of a great people throwing itself now into this form, now into

to his old habit, the poet spent an hour or more on the ferry, swinging pendulum-like between this city

The publishers were capital fellows.

I like the city itself exceedingly, and I think it will in a short time become a cosmopolitan city such

Don't ask me to class Philadelphia with Boston, New York, or the wide-awake Western cities.

I cannot class it with other cities, and you must not compel me to talk about it.

While answering freely, Walt wound up this part of the conversation by saying that those were problems

As for American poets, Mr.

The others present were Mrs.

WHAT HE HAS TO SAY—ESTHETIC TAFFY FOR THE AMERICANS—THEY LOVE THE TRUE AND THE BEAUTIFUL—MR.

AMERICANS SHOULD NOT COPY. "Would the standard be the same for all countries?" "By no means.

The Americans should not copy the decorations of England.

American decoration should be entirely different from that of England r any other country.

Whitman's book on the ground that it was obscene literature, unless a long list of passages and poems were

Blaine's South American policy?" "I do, decidedly.

The United States, as the biggest and eldest brother, may well come forward and say to the South American

I think no American can object to it. I believe Blaine is going to be elected.

think, too, there is wisdom in what Conkling says of the late contest at the polls, that the people were

said the "Good Grey Poet" to a North American reporter.

"If it were not for the new President I don't know what the papers would do for something to talk about

Walt was a newspaper man when most of the newspaper men of the present day were boys, and he preserves

poets, however conservative they may be, tend to the same democratic humanitarianism as our great Americans

The handsome third (1860-61) Boston edition, published by Thayer & Eldridge, commenced well and paid

Whitman's darkest times were from 1873 to 1876.

Whitman had made a good fight, but the fates were adverse.

Lists of purchasers of the $10 edition were sent over to Whitman, accompanied by the money.

Among the names were those of G. H. Lewes, Vernon and Godfrey Lushington, Dante G. and William M.

The car jogs up Market street, the principal thoroughfare of the city.

The bright energy which marks the growing Western city is absent.

Camden is monotonous and for a city of its age and opportunities unlovely.

The walls were adorned with a number of portraits, engravings, and photographs.

HIS VIEWS OF AMERICAN BARDS. "The old poets are dropping off," said Mr.

have been olive-colored when put on in the silurian age, and the window sills, bordered with white, were

The furniture was of the plainest old-fashioned type; there were the old wooden rocking-chairs, with

Piles of papers and magazines were stacked in chairs, on the floors and stands.

"My opinion of other American poets?

Cleveland seems to me like a huge wall, great on his impediments, as it were.

The furniture was of the plainest old-fashioned type; there were the old wooden rocking chairs, with

Piles of papers and magazines were stacked in chairs, on the floors, and several oil paintings were pendant

"My opinion of other American poets?

For a long period I placed Emerson at the head of American poetic literature, but of late I consider

Cleveland seems to me like a huge wall, great on his impedimenta, as it were.

The poet's sleeves were rolled above the elbows, exposing a pair of arms white as a woman's, but symmetrical

GRANT, A TYPICAL AMERICAN.

"Washington and all those noble early Virginians were, strictly speaking, English gentlemen of the royal

era of Hampden, Pym and Milton, and such it was best that they were for their day and purposes.

, irrefragable proof of radical Democratic institutions—that it is possible for any good average American

P HILADELPHIA , September 15 —The last sunbeams were shining through the rustling leaves of the elm trees

side street in Camden this evening, and the last honey bee hovered over the fragrant blossoms that were

Several large sheets of paper were folded up within.

On them were scrawled the names of a number of prominent men in the various walks of life, but not a

"Some of them I do not know; some are very dear friends; a great many other friends were not sent to.

with their lists of carpenters' tools and "barbaric yawps," their delight in the smoke and roar of cities

silence of mountains, and seas of prairies,—seemed to me to breathe something distinctive, national, American—with

In the recesses on either side of the chimney were portraits of the poet's father and mother.

some of them were on the floor.

Of books there were many, and, like the pictures, they were scattered everywhere around the room; on

They were young ladies just ready to bloom into early womanhood—pupils from Bryn Mawr College.

Pretty soon the writer made an incidental remark about the growth of the new Philadelphia City Hall,

The profits on 'Leaves of Grass' were only $20 for the same time.

When I read my poem on Lincoln in Philadelphia the other day, the profits were $700.

Poetry is a font of type, to be set up again consistently with American democratic institutions."

"How were these changes made?" "Structures grew and were made by use and lost by disuse.

Such study shows clearly how structures developed or were lost.

On first acquaintance, or perhaps even on second and third acquaintance, the unprepossessing city of

Camden on the banks of the Delaware,—a city which serves as an over the river suburb of cheap homes for

"They cost me their weight when they were printed."

"They were just setting up in business and they were very anxious to get the work," he continued.

Many of them were returned to me with insulting letters."

Two handsome cats were purring contentedly about the ankles of the benign old man, and did not seem to

cablegram containing a reference to his needy condition and the circular alleged to be circulating England were

A cable dispatch printed yesterday in an evening paper announced that Walt Whitman, the American poet

"If we were not in the midst of the holiday trade," he said, "I would jump on the next train for Philadelphia

An autograph letter of Walt's was sold in this city last Spring for $80 to my knowledge."

reporter regarding the paragraph which appeared in this morning's papers, stating that subscriptions were

Though I do not think (if the Queen herself were to come here) any people would go now.'

There were a number of youths, boys and girls who had read a good deal, but had had little chance of

'Depend upon it the Greek sculptors were right.

'Since you were last here, Herbert, I have read Bulwer's What will He Do with It .' Do you like it?

spent in roving, were the best, the most important of our life."

There were offerings from E. C.

They were hale fellows, chewed tobacco or smoked if they chose and each had a nickname.

Johnston how much the receipts of the lecture were.

When told that the profits were $190, he said: "Put me down for enough to make it $200."

These were the only attacks of autograph hunters during the evening.

On the floor were strewn, with the genuine abandon of carelessness books, magazines, newspaper clippings

Thrown here and there loosely were the skins of animals; one on the chair which is claimed as the "poet's

The coal-black eyes of the housekeeper were cast upon him. He seemed to wilt.