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possible, though I don't know why I need to say that, either, for I know the importance, the necessity, of my

getting out clearly enough of my own notion!"

And further: "My question anyhow has no application to his platform addresses, his public work, writing

saying it—to having it known to come from me—but it would not seem to me in good taste to print it over my

And yet the other way excites my distaste. I can hardly tell you why.

is in so I could send for it.If it is as good as "The Evening Breeze" piece I shall begin to think my

To my mind "The E.B." piece is one of the most wonderful he has ever produced—its inner spiritual meaning

Not yet done with my manuscript. "I want to give it still another reading," he said.

I think the old man would see me or my son who saw him before.

Traubel—I saw Whitman because my father could not go, but he will go when he can.

I told him Doctor thought he [W.] ought to write something for my paper.

After this, I shall not aspire to write anything—to assume that anybody wants my handiwork.

"You should take my copy—it is on the other side of the table there." I found it.

a portrait—the Lear—for Jacob Lychenheim: promised him many months ago—but forgotten till today, on my

Nor had the check-book turned up yet—I should bring him a National State Bank check from my father.

Yet, "I shall try my second powder first. I took the other the night you brought it.

W. much interested in my letter from Mrs. O'Connor: 112 M St. NWMarch 5, 1891.Dear Mr.

But that again is an evidence in my favor, for these men who grow unconsciously get mad as hyenas to

W. was intensely attracted by my description of a mail car.

Said, "One thing I have always wanted to do—trace the passage of one of my letters to Dr.

And, Horace, I have really eaten very little—a dish of peaches for my breakfast, for dinner, peaches!

I have been fortunate in many of my friends, Horace.

treat them decently—but, you know, I'm head and ears in work and I'm going to get you to take them off my

paper out of his pocket—he always carried it—and indicate by a few deft lines, which of course excited my

He long, long wandered out of my ken. And there were others, too—Tilden, for one. O yes!

Therein: "Walt Whitman's note on his new book, 'Good-Bye My Fancy,' though it but fills half a page,

You know its history—that it came into my mind to write when I understood from you that Joe intended

He wanted my name over it. He is an inveigling cuss, anyhow—so good, too.

My main complaint of it is, that it is vague, misty, that it effects no end—hits nothing, so far as I

Whitman's Tribute to Lowell — The Good Gray Poet Speaks Feelingly of the Dead Poet's Fame": Let me send my

Having neither the funds nor disposition to pass my little term of ruralizing at the fashionable baths

That is, my lodging place is at Greenport; but, in truth, I "circulate" in all directions around.

found on the coasts of Long Island between spring and late fall. however, are the most delicious, to my

Can there be any thing of the old gossip in my composition?

Bathing in this pure, clear, salt water, twice every day, is one of my best pleasures.

My article has gone to the Tribune with a note to Whitelaw Reid, and we await the result.

My object is to smoke the hidden movers in this business out of their holes, and I kept this in mind

Marston was behind the Boston attorney, I took care not to even mention his name, but focussed all my

It is all right for you to take such an attitude as you do toward them—for you personally; but my part

—I hope my letter will appear and be satisfactory to you.

but I must not wait any longer now, though there is a fog outside & a fog or something of the sort in my

Llwyngwril, a primitive little village, quite away from town- ways & fashions, I stayed for four weeks with my

Having it in my drawer or on the table as I write, it makes me feel as if you yourself had been in the

For my own sake, as well as yours, I wish it were!

thought over it very seriously, besides asking Dr Bucke's opinion about issuing a 2nd Edn at all of my

enclose you $50.00 and am sorry that I cant send you more, but Mother if you need more before I get my

I have a nice wall tent all alone to myself and if I have some one to look out for my grub, I shall be

Mother I believe I mentioned in my last letter about your haveing some of my pictures taken and sent

Dear Mother, give my love to all and let me hear from you often. Direct Capt G. W. W.  

. * "No one will get at my verses who insists upon viewing them as a literary performance, or as aiming

Leaves of Grass has been chiefly the outcropping of my own emotional and other personal nature—an attempt

day, there can be no such thing as a long poem, fascinated him: "The same thought had been haunting my

flashes of lightning, with the emotional depths it sounded and arous'd (of course, I don't mean in my

"I round and finish little, if anything; and could not, consistently with my scheme.

He started it "My dear comrade," and signed himself as having "the ardor of a regular—or irregular—dyed-in-the

Several times my voice almost betrayed me, and W.'

How my heart leaped into every action of others that went to the finer significance of the occasion.

At another time in the midst of things W. himself motioned to me across the hall and put into my hands

Out of all this, how deliberate the process of my content!

would print me correctly—use the right marks—not misrepresent: I hate commas in wrong places: I want my

i's dotted, my t's crossed."

"Here's a slip too: Democracy in Literature: my own: it's yours if you want it: file it away: I have

My dear Walt,I regret to say I was unable to do anything with the proof of Personalism.

He said: "Give my love to your mother." And he picked up a big apple from the table.

I was a good deal uncertain about the title until your unanimous vote removed my uncertainty."

My first experience with that sort of a character was an unfortunate one: it has become a mere memory

a man I think I of all men doubt: a pious, sanctimonious, unctuous, oily individual: his victim was my

—or something or other of that sort—contracted with my father, who was a builder, for the construction

It was a sample case—I could match it with many incidents that have come my way since.

How deliciously like my old friend Henry Peterson is that critical exegesis on your lines!

So it would seem my words were prophetic.

Don't let Scovel print it (as the divvle did my note to him—wasn't I astonished!)

I wonder if my life-saving career draws to an end. March fourth comes near.

I can't put my hands on it just now." Friday, April 13, 1888.

"I have a card from Aggie" (my sister) "on which she announces her marriage." "So, she is married.

Still inquires after my progress with manuscript.

Interested to know of my going to "Richelieu" tonight.

My dear Traubel:Today, I received from W. W. some poems on Old Age, for The Arena.

BakerAlso, serious letter from Bucke:London, 23 Nov 1890 My dear HoraceI have yours of 20 & 21 inst.

At my reminder he gave me the "Good-Bye" for Morse and with it a "sculptor's profile" and a copy, unmounted

"He saw trouble ahead, or possible—my iron hand, my death—that he now sells without contract—don't know

I am finally determined to act upon your counsel (which is my own, too), to put 'A Backward Glance' at

And to set the book now into a shape in which, if my wishes are regarded, it will always remain—marked

, sealed, with my final word, hope."

told me at the door that W. spent a good day, but he shook his head and said: "This has been one of my

Whitman:During my absence your note of the 4th, inst was left here by Mr. Traubel.

S. & act & settle it in my place.

in your first colloquy with the man I venerate so deeply, you should have handed him the reprint of my

This expresses the mere fact, so far as I can read my inner self, though perhaps my own industry in life

But this is not the case with my present subject.

—My subject deserves a very favorable notice.

The further development of these ideas, as soon to be tested, will no doubt confer on my subject the

My subject is a jovial, good humored man (who indeed ever knew a big stout man that wasn’t?

The real aristocrat is not you, but my subject.

They seemed charged with a new beauty and a new meaning addressed to my individual soul; and long did

—After a refreshing night's sleep I awoke to the singing of some sweet little songsters at my window.

I did not see him again for about forty years, when one day he came to my house and asked me,— " 'Do

I believe, too, that I once existed before I lived in my present form, and that I shall again live as

an individual after I have changed my present form."

Eats now, sleep— "have my very bad hours, of course"—but on the whole is "out of danger."

Again: "Beecher once said to me: 'I thank my good fortune that nature almost from the first possessed

but if I had the path to go over again—knowing what I know now—I should put that among the first of my

I said: "That 'sThat's my idea for Leaves of Grass—that 'sthat's the book I mean."

I shall keep my eyes wide open; and the volume with O'C.'

It plainly reached my hands too late for this year.

Well—you told what was true: I wouldn't turn on my heel for it.

I closed my review with a wish that you might try a voyage across the Atlantic.

"The sentence, 'you annex your friends so closely,': that's my guess."

may be a little afraid of some of my friends.

he saw a carrier in Bedford aven Avenue so i thought you was worse and the thoughts that run through my

with symptoms that Walt had listed in an early February letter: he had described a "severe cold in my

Earlier in the month, Walt Whitman reported a "severe cold in my head" and "bad spells, dizziness" (see

sixty-five poems that had originally appeared in November Boughs (1888); while the second, "Good-Bye my

Whitman occasionally referred to Stafford as "My (adopted) son" (as in a December 13, 1876, letter to

Before undertaking to comply with the requisition upon me of this Resolution, which it would be my pleasure

—It will, therefore, be entirely out of my power to furnish any part of this information concerning convictions

information, sought for the means of comparison between the convictions and pardons, & as it is wholly out of my

to the Senate to submit myself to its direction as to whether the partial information which it is in my

On my entrance was reading a newspaper. Started a considerable hunt for a copy of the Transcript.

I, for my part, rejoice in the opposition—in the whole turmoil—it evokes declarations from the other

But this is not my view—not at all.

s credit in the office, and W. said: "I hope my 50-centses and whatnot always go direct to the men?

tonic—I have been taking it—I am sure it contains strychnia: it does me good in general, but affects my

I have had trouble with my hearing for several months past—quite a decided loss of power": which I have

be merely transitory.Last night I had mentioned to W. that the printer wanted a paragraph added to my

I can see the Duchess now as so often in my young days,—thrusting her head in at the flies."

Added, however: "Did I ever quote you my favorite couplet? I've no doubt I have."

something like this— 'Over the past not God himself has power,'For what has been has been, and I have had my

I have no distinct idea at all where my couplet is from—nor of the words of the couplet itself—except

through Gilder's [illegible] that the Century took its great step forward in illustrations: this is my

of the poem—"This print strikes me with envy—I never see anything so good but I am persuaded out of my

Asked me about my father's portrait, whose now complete state I described to him.

It came into my mind I had not written to him for a fortnight, so today I sent off a short message, but

a more rapt auditor and that I weighed every word—with this advantage: that I was here, read it at my

W. said on my entrance: "Someone has been sending me a copy of The Scottish-American in which there is

blustering, swearing creature—going about with a red shirt on—sleeves rolled up—quid of tobacco in my

I for my part have never been deeply convicted on the point of the late poems—never absolutely certain

Gilchrist's solicitude—and she was one of the cutest women ever born, and signal among my friends—; her

Seemed satisfied with my views.

Leaves things in my hands.

of a fortnight ago—brief, beautiful—addressed "Harringford, Freshwater, Isle of Wight" and reading: My

Miss Porter and Miss Clarke promptly acquiesce in my invitation, the former writing me.

"They are poems—that is one of my purposes: to show the universal beat of the poetic.

How clearly I remember my anxiety—to get terms straight, to express the technicality of the trade, then

W. protests, "I am very weak—seem to lose my ambition.

On his bed "often and often," for "it is my only thorough relief."

2 O maidens and young men I love, and that love me, What you ask of my days, those the strangest and

without noise, and be of strong heart.) 3 Bearing the bandages, water and sponge, Straight and swift to my

knee, the wound in the abdo- men abdomen ; These and more I dress with impassive hand—(yet deep in my

a fire, a burning flame.) 5 Thus in silence, in dreams' projections, Returning, resuming, I thread my

To my knowledge it is understood by Col. M ULFORD , Major John E.

In my opinion the Secretary has taken and obstinately held a position of cold-blooded policy, (that is

B UTLER , in my opinion, has also incorporated in the question of exchange a needless amount of personal

In my opinion, the anguish and death of these ten to fifteen thousand American young men, with all the

Well I sold my cotton bales. The market . Compelled to sell to get money tax.

Then I can it to my friends—and one's self likes to read a good book over many times—that is if one's

anything, and I always distrusted getting right names from our composite, mongrel population, and also my

published in Blackwood's Magazine —it was copied by an American newspaper which accidentally fell into my

O maidens and young men I love, and that love me, What you ask of my days, those the strangest and sud

Bearing the bandages, water and sponge, Straight and swift to my wounded I go, Where they lie on the

knee, the wound in the abdo- men abdomen , These and more I dress with impassive hand—(yet deep in my

Thus in silence, in dream's projections, Returning, resuming, I thread my way through the hos- pitals

I had asked my usual questions.

He followed my mild "yes" with a sort of joy. "Wasn't it a rouser?

I was putting the letter in my pocket.

It gives me a new conception of my own importance in the world.

(Give him my hearty greetings!)

I met Harned up the street, he to his, I to my home. Afterwards both to W.'

W. said: "I can't bring my heart to say amen to that."

I said: "That makes my definition of heaven apropos." W. asked: "What's that?"

W. looked over at Tom: "Do you think the world would accept my poem?"

10.30 on my way back passed 328. I did not intend to go in.

When my bundle was ready he produced this from the table—pasted it on.

personal affairs—and, as is my habit, made it a sort of combination matter: sent it to Kennedy with

I received Bucke's letter of the 2d to-daytoday, answering my first report of W.'

He pressed my hand gently. "Oh!

My recollection is that I confessed my judgment, and proposed to Mr.

All of us well, especially my two little boys, who enjoy the country life very much.

My dear Mr. Whitman:Please excuse me for not having answered your letter two months ago.

Of my German-English anthology I have no proofs; but my publishers will bring out a new edition (revised

friend—has sworn his big oath in my interest and battled for me without reservation.

"Oh my yes! it tickled him immensely.

I would not have put it a cent below ten dollars if I had had my way.

W. and Harned both broke in on my reading vigorously.

"When I get out again my first visit will be to that baby."

ideas—break my spirit."

"That's the copy I used to take to the play with me—in my pocket: carried along in my walks: kept with

—that I invited him here, that he was my guest!—the young scamp that he is!

You know, my friends tell me I am very slow to get mad: very slow: I rarely get mad but when I do I'm

"But Mary respected the death-wish: the situation grew worse and worse: I had my carriage then: Bill

I suppose it comes from my being much run down.I am glad you liked the photo.

I have no doubt her article is good, and when I have read it, I mean to write her my thanks.

"I just started my fire—I am always anxious to know."

I wrote to Bucke this morning on hospital matters, and explained to W. the substance of my note.

As to Harrison's historic position W. said: "Take due note of my prophecy: it will come true."

W. asked for details about my visit to Shillaber with Morse.

On my description W. very readily perceived the differences. At W.'

Was in bathroom on my arrival, but came shortly over into his bedroom.

way across the room to find, then back again to the stairway to send flying down: would not accept my

They call this noise 'patriotism'—a queer patriotism it is, to my mind!"

Before I left he called my attention to a long sad letter from Mrs.

As to my protests that this was a rally on friends, who did not come for analyses but for celebration

W. spied my figure but could not distinguish who it was. "Who is that?"

My eyesight is not much good at such a distance!" Longaker then questioned him about his condition.

"I try to do a little writing and reading: my worst affliction is to have to lie still so much of my

He was in warm mood—held my hand all the time we talked.

He grasped my hand ardently. Does he sometimes think it may be the last?

His mail like my own—scarce. I had no letter concerning W.'

Described to him my talk with Arthur and its result.

Our talk pretty brief though I was there with him for some time—he holding my hand, I his.

Upon my rising to leave, he finally suggested, "Make your contract with Arthur just as if it was for

yourself—I could not make my own ideas clearer by telling you more."

A hint of my own private affection, of indebtedness to O'Connor."

Showed him proof of my matter for Poet-Lore. "You will leave it till morning? Yes, do.

I can then read it at my ease."

He greatly enjoyed my father's big crayon of W., saying of W.'

own view of Hugo "is undoubtedly in great part a reaction from O'Connor's attempt to ram Hugo down my

Why do you tremble, and clutch my hand so convul- sively convulsively ?

Aye, this is the ground; My blind eyes, even as I speak, behold it re-peopled from graves; The years

night of that, mist lifting, rain ceasing, Silent as a ghost, while they thought they were sure of him, my

him at the river-side, Down by the ferry, lit by torches, hastening the embar- cation embarcation ; My

But when my General pass'd me, As he stood in his boat, and look'd toward the coming sun, I saw something

keep, if not fairly, at least not markedly worse and I hope to find you "right side up with care" on my

But the main thing I want to talk about to you today is my visit yesterday to Lord Tennyson.

a little before 4 P.M. got out, rang the bell—a footman opened the door, I gave him your letter and my

T. is not much for compliments, very blunt and downright—he spoke of you with much good feeling but my

But after all I fear I can give you but a faint notion of the pleasure my visit was to me.

Why do you tremble, and clutch my hand so convul- sively convulsively ?

Aye, this is the ground; My blind eyes, even as I speak, behold it re-peopled from graves: The years

night of that, mist lifting, rain ceasing, Silent as a ghost, while they thought they were sure of him, my

him at the river-side, Down by the ferry, lit by torches, hastening the embar- cation embarcation ; My

But when my General pass'd me, As he stood in his boat, and look'd toward the coming sun, I saw something