Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-03-28
ROCK ISLAND Monday MARCH
WAS A THOROUGH AMERICAN.
Proud of His Parentage and Country
Specimen of His Style.

| WHO ~ lr1OhOOSf1 RMEkICaN.
| Proud of His Parentage and Country
Specimen of His Style.
The response to this call was prompt and
| generous, and saved the poet from any fu-
| ture fear of actual hunger. In view of this
| general admiration and esteem awarded
him, it is no wonder that Whitman held
the English in high regard. Notwith-
standing this help in time of need and
British appreciation of his work when
there was none in his own country he was
beyond everything an American, proud of
his parentage, and prouder still of his
| country. 'My tongue, every atom of my
blood, formed from this soil, this air.
Born here of parents born here, from
parents the same, and their parents the
same" is his boast in one of his COM
positions. And there are few Americans
who had a greater right to be proud of
their Americanism, for his family on both
sides counted back over nearly 800 years
residence in the new world His father
came of English stock and his mother of
Dutch, her maiden name having been Van
Nelsor.
Long Islander by Birth.
He was born a farmers son at West
Hills, L. l., on May 81, 1919, and received
a common school education, partly at his
birthplace and partly in Brooklyn. Sub
seqUently he entered a job office i'll the lat
ter city and learned the trade of printer,
to which he clung with more or less regu-
larity for some years, interspersing it with
teaching school and at one time working
| at Brooklyn as carpenter. He was edi-
tor for short periods of the Freeman, the
Eagle and several other Brooklyn papers,
pf HiSpnSitin,n nd
| stayed nowhere long. In 1S4S he went 10
New Orleans and did editorial work on
The Crescent, but was back in Brooklyn
i'll 1919
The Work He VIII BE known BY.
Early in 1855 he issued the first edition
of Leaves of Grass" The contents of this
singular book were neither verse nor prose-
but a series of CALCULATIONS and aphorfsms
presenting many original ideas, and ap-
pealing to the common feelings of mind in
favor of the common enjoyment of life,
the exercise of the active powers of the
mind and body and the frank reception of
wholesome influences. At first the critics
did not notice this work, either to praise
or condemn. In few months, however,
a copy fell into the hands of Ralph Waldo
Emerson. He wrote a letter in which the
work was highly praised, which at once
attracted the attention of the reviewers to
the book, which they had entirely over
looked before On all sides the work was
condemned, and in Boston and other cities
it was declared unfit for circulation in the
public libraries because of its immoral
tone.
Quaint style of the Poetry.
But Whitman dcfied all his censors,
| and between other writings continued to
make the Leaves of Grass his special
-nrl- w, l.
edition of the work, and four years later a
third, followed between the years of
1867 and 1882 by five other editions, and in
1889 by the last and ninth, with the final
| authentic text. Ali of Whitman's readers
agree that on this work his fame will rest.
y good idea of the poets peculiar style
and the quaint strength of his lines is
given in this, entitled Animals
think could turn and live with animals they
are 80 placid and self contained;
stand and look at them long and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their con-
dition.
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep
for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty
to God,
Not one is dissatisfied, not one Is dcmented
with the mania Of owning things,
Not one knoels to another nor To his kind that
lived thousands of years ago;
Not one Is respectable OF unhappy over the
whole earth.
Volunteer Nurse at the Front.
The period of the poet life most prolific
of experience and suggestions for stirring
verse was certainly that from 1862 to 1865
In the former year he went to the front as
a volunteer nurse, and until hoStilities
ceased between the north and south he re-
mained at his post. lie personally at
tended nearly 100000 wounded soldiers of
both sides, and his tender sympathy eased
| the last days of many a poor fellow who
but for him would have died friendless.
His ceaseless labors in field and hospi-
tai afterward told on him, producing the
| disease from which he died. During all
his active life in the war he managed to do
| sufficient writing to support himself, and
| on the occasion of Lincoln's death he
| brought out the famous 20 Captain! My
Captain!" which is probably the best
known of all his writings
Stricken by Progressive Paralysis.
When the war was over, Whitman was
appointed to a clerkship in the attorney
| generals Office in Washington, which
| placed him in comparatively easy circum-
stances for the first time in years. Until
! 1873 he remained at the capital one of the
| principal figures in the city. Then the
disease contracted in the army manifested
| itself in dangerous form known as ''pro-
! gressive paralysis" and he had to retire
| from all active work. He took up his
abode in the poor little frame cottage at
32s Mickle street, in Camden, n. j., just
across the river from Philadelphia There
| he remained until death came to relieve
| him.
And There He Came Near Starving.
! 1t was there, paralyzed and unable to
| work, that he almost starved, until the
English appeal for aid in his behalf awoke
| the American people to a sense of his con-
! dition, and led to some efforts at raising
funds for his support. But somehow the
benefits" and other affairs given never
yielded the results they should, and a small
| circle of his intimate friends were the chief
| providers. Through their efforts he was