Book Description:
PREFACE. THE following Notes, extracted from a Diary record of a visit to America, in July, 1890, were written at the time, mainly for a small group of friends, referred to as The Eagle Street College, and without any idea of publication. They were afterwards printed in pamphlet form, for private circulation, and a copy having been sent to Walt IThitman, he not only endorsed them, but requested that copies should be sent to a large number of his friends. See letter on page 147. Their reception among these and others interested in Whitman having been so favburable, and requests for copies so frequently coming to hand, it is xi. now decided to give them con plete publication, with the addition of some of the photographs taken during the visit. It has also been thought best to let them go as they were originally written so that, whatever they may lack in literary form, they may present, in the most direct and perfect manner possible, the actual impressions of the time. In this way, it is hoped that they will preserve a certain life likeness which might otherwise be lost. And, anyhow, it is the method which Whitman himself approved, as will be seen by the following. On January gth, 1891, he wrote to me I1Next time you write give me a list of whom you have sent the Notes to. I think you have builded better than you knew. At the celebration of his seventy second birthday at Camden, X. J., on May y s t , xii. PREFACE. 1891, a handsomely bound and illustrated copy of the pamphlet, with illuminated inscription, was presented to him from me, whereupon he said Say, you fellows, who dabble in the bigger streams of literature, there is a splendid lesson that such notes as these of Dr. Johnston teach. It is the same lesson that there is in the play of the Diplomatic Secret. At the end of that interesting play, h i c h I have seen, a great fellow who is in pursuit of it comes in, crying, At last I have found it I have found the Great Secret The Great Secret is that there is no secret at all That is the secret. The trick of literary style I almost wonder if it is not chiefly having no style at all. And Dr. Johnston has struck it here in these Notes. A man might give his fame for such a secret. Later on, during the same evening, referring to the same subject, he said JVho can doubt the Doctors American reports Even those who doubt me, doubt the Leaves, ought to see how superbly the Doctor handled his material or let it handle itself. CONTENTS. ADDITIOXAL N OTES . . . . . . . . VISIT TO BROOKLYN Andrew H. Rome John . Baulsir 33 ISIT TO WEST HILLSSandford Brown . . . . . . . . Ioj l T 1 s l r TO HERI ER G T I LCHRJST . . . . . . I IS ISIT TO JOHN BURROUGHS . . . . . . . . 131 SUIJPLE IEN K T O A T R ES Y . . . . . . . . T 40 PAGE. o t z s c . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 llickle Street, Camden, S. J . . . . . . I 0 IValt Whitmans Rconl . . .. . . . . 2 0 IVnlt lThitmans House . . . . zci z, q kir 42 IValt IVhitman on Camden t7harf . . . . . S 49 Walt Whitman and IVarry 1 ritzinger on Camden IVharf 5.5 Interior of Downstairs ICoom in Whitmans House. . faciag Pqgc GS The Fuiton Ferry Boat . . . . . . . . 97 West Hil s, Long Island 1Vhitmans Birthplace . . 103 John Burroughs . . . . . . . . . . 123 Interior of John Burroughs Study . . . . I35 Reduced Facsimile of Portion of IVhitmans Letter I47 A Visit to Wnlt W Jlitt za z. On Tuesday, July 15th, r 890, 1 My Arriunl landed at Philadelphia the city at of brotherly love, and after PItiZnrieZpIr in. getting through the troublesome Customs, I called at the post office, where I found a letter froin Mr. Andrew H. Rome, of Brooklyn, inviting me to go and stay with him, and enclosing a letter of introduction to Walt Whitinan...
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