Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-31
To Walt Whitman, Whom He
Calls the Most Eminent
Man of His Time.
WHEREIN HE WAS GREAT.
The Poet of Nature, of Love and of
Humanity Of Every Degree.
ABOVE EVERYTHING ELSE A NAN
His Religion Absorbed All of the Creeds
and Believed in None.
SECULAR SERVICES OVER HIS GRAVE

CAMDEN, n. j., March 30-Between L
O'Clock this morning and 1 O'Clock thi
afternoon several thousand people We've;
the body of Walt Whitman. The "Goot
Gray Poet" looked as natural as in life, anG
those of his friends who had not been abI,
to see him during the last illness wer,
pleased to see his face as calm and placid al
if he had lain down to sleep.
Among the friends and admirers of the
late poet present were: George W. Childs
Julian Hawthorne, Colonel Robert G. In
gersoll, Horace Howard Furness, Dr.. Dan.
lei G. Brinton, John Burroughs, j. H.
Johnston, Lincoln L. Eyere, j. H Stod.
dart, Francis Howard Williams, Talcott
Williams, DR.. R. NJ. Buck, Thomas B.
Harmed, Horace S. Traubel, Judge Charles
Garrison, H. L. Bonsall, Rev. j. H. Cliff
ford, Harrison S. Morris, Herbert II. Gid.
ers, H. d. Bush, Julius Chambers, Thomas
Eakins, A G. Cattell and Edmund Clar-
enee Stedman.
At 2 o'clock the body was taken to Har-
leigh Cemetery, in the outskirts of Camden,
and public funeral service held. As
Whitman himself had wished, no clergyman
participated in the exercises.
The Simple Programme Carried Out
The service was begun with the reading
Of the Scriptures and the dead poets works
by Francis Howard Williams, of Philadel-
phia- Addresses were made by Thomas B.
Harmed, of Cam den; DR. Daniel G. Brinton,
of Philadelphia, and DR.. R. NJ. Buck, of
London, Ont, the friend and biographer of
81. poL
made the concluding address, as follows:
Again we, in the mystery of life, are
brought face to face with the mystery OF
death. A great mana great American-the
most eminent citizen of this Republics
dead before us. And we have met to pay
tribute TO his greatness and to his worth.
know that he needs no words of mine. His
fame is secure. He laid the foundations of
1t deep in the human heart. He was above
all that have known, the poet of humanity,
of sympathy: great he was-so great that he
rose aboveGhe greatest; and SO great that he
condescension. He never claimed to be
lower or greater than any other of the sons
of men.
He came into our generation a free, un-
tlammeled spirit, with sympathy for all
His arm was beneath the form Of the sick
He sympathiZed with the imprisoned ana
the despised, and even on the brow of crime,
he was great enough to place the kiss of
human sympathy. One of the greatest lines
in our literature is his. Speaking of an out
cast-and the line is great enough to do
honor TO the greatest genius that has ever
1ived-he said:
Not until the sun excludes you will exclude you.
The Moral Breadth of the Poet
A charity as wide as the sky! And
wherever there was human suffering,
human misfortune, the sympathy of
Whitman bent above it as the armament
1Dan de Oh, 4, Ia 1,,i1t
broad and splendid pIan-ample without ap-
pearing to have limitations-passinge easily
for a brother of mountains and seas and
constellations-caringn nothing for the little
maps and charts that timid pilots hug the
shores with, and giving himself freely, with
the recklessness of genius, to winds and
waves and tides-caring for nothing so long
as the stars were above him.
And he walked among men. among writ
ers, among verbal varnishers and veneerers,
among literateurs and tailors with the un-
conscious dignity of an antique god. He
was the poet also, of that divine democracy
that gives equal rights to all the sons and
daughters OF men. He uttered the great
the Great Republic. No man has ever said
more for the rights of humanity-more in
favor of real democracy or real justice.
He neither scorned nor cringed-was
neither tyrant nor slave. He asked only to
stand beneath the great flag of nature, the
blue and the stars. He was the poet of life
=
loved the clouds. He enjoyed the breath of
morning, the twilight, the wind. the wind
ing streams. He loved to look at the sea
when the wind and waves burst into the
white-caps of joy. He loved the fields, the
hills. He was acquainted with trees with
birds, with all the beautiful objects on the
earth.
The Poet of the Tender Passion.
He was, also, the poet of love. He was not
ashamed of the divine passion that has built
every home in the world-that divine passion
that has painted every picture and given us
every real great work of art-that divine
passion that has made the world worth liv-
ing in and gives some value to human life
He was the poet of the natural, and taught
men not to be ashamed of that which Is
natural.
He was not only the poet of love, not only
the poet of democracy, not only the poet of
the Great Republic-he was the poet of the
human race everywhere. He was not con-
fined to the limits of this country. but his
sympathy went out over the seas to all the
nations of the earth. He stretched his hand
and he felt himself the equal of all kings and
of all princes; he uttered more supreme
words than any writer of our century, and,
possibly OF almost any other.
de was, above all things, man. And
above genius, above all the snow-cspped
peaks OF intelligence, above all of art rises
the true man greater than all. He was
6ue man, and he walked among his fellow
men as such. He was, also, as has been said
tne poet Oh ueaCn lie accepted all-llfe and
death. And he justified all. He had the
courage to meet it, and was great enough
and splendid enough to harmonfZe all and
to accept all there is OF life as a divine
melody.
You know better than what his life has
been. But let me say one thing. Knowing
as he did, what Others can know and what
they cannot, he accepted ana absorbed all
theories, all creeds, all religions and be.
lieved in none His philosophy was sky
that EN- Draced all clouds and accounted for
all clouds. He had a philosophy and re-
ligion of his own-broader, as he believed.
and as / believe, than others. He accented
all. he absorbed ali, and he was above ali.
A Perfectly Candid Interpreter
He was true absolutely to himself He had
frankness, courage, and he was as candid as
light. He was willing that all the sons of
men should be absolutely acquainted with
his heart and brain. He had nothing to con-
ceal Frank, candid, pure, serene, noble.
And for years and years he was maligned
and slandered, simply because he had candor
of nature. He will be understood vet, and
that for which he was condemned-th is,
his frankness, his candor, will add to the |
glory and the greatness of his tame. He |
wrote a liturgy for humanity. He wrote a |
great and splendid psalm of life. And he |
gave to us the gospel of humanity-the |
greatest gospel that can De preached-the |
gospel OF humanity.
He was not afraid to speak his thoughts; |
neither was he afraid To die. For many |
wears he and death lived near neighbors. |
He was always willing and ready to meet |
and greet this thing called death; and Tor |
MANY months he sat in the deepening twi- |
liz hit waiting for the night-waiting for the |
light In his brain, were the blessed men, |
ories of the day, and in his heart were /
mingled the dawn and dusk of life. he was
Cbaerfui every moment, the laughing