Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-03-28

were sent for his physician, DR. McAlister,
who soon arrived at the house. He i'm
mediately saw that his patient was dying
and that he could do nothing for him
The end was very peaceful. The aged
poet when asked by his physician if he felt
any pain replied in an almost inaudible
tone No" About twenty minutes before
he died he said to his attendant, Warren
FritZinger, Wary, shift" meaning that
he wanted to be turned over. These were
his last words He was unconscious, how
ever, until the last.
Been in Bed Three Months.
Mr.. Whitman has been in bed since Dec
II last, when he was attacked with pneu-
monia, from which ailment his death in
directly resulted. He partly recovered,
but never gained strength enough to be
permitted to leave his bed The direct cause
of his death wasa general failure of vitality
which had been going on for some time.
The news of the old poets death was i'm
mediately telegraphed to his brother, Geo.
Whitman, of Burlington, y. J., and DR..
Zucke, his biographer, of Toronto.
His Poetry Wasn't Conventional.
1t is with regret that the world hears OF
the Good Gray Poets death. His CON
temporaries were not always kind to him.
The critics "cut him up" with their pens,
but the sturdy old man never deigned a
reply or a defense
His chief crimes i'll the eyes of his oppo-
nents were his utter lack of convention
ality, his use of words not often sounded
in 'ears polite and his total disregard of
the laws of versifying But Whitman
calmly ignored the onslaughts made on
him and insisted that he had merely in
augurated new style.
! dismiss-he has said-without ceremony all
the orthodox accountrements, tropes, habcr-
dashery of words feet, measure that form the
entire stock in trade of rhyme-talkinC heroes
and heroines. My meter is loose and free.
The lines are of irregular length; apparently
lawless at first perusal, but on closer acquaint-
ance you will lind that there is regularity,
like the recurrence, for example, of the lesser
and larger waves on the scashorc, rolling in
without intermission and fitfully rising and
falling.
What Ills Critics Called Him.
This sort @. reasoning, however, by no
means disarmed his critics, some of whom
are quite as opposed to his efforts today as
they were at the time of their original pub
lication. Naturally the general public was
to a large extent prejudiced by these opin-
ions of trained literary men. No other rs-
suit was possible, for Whitman was called
sensual" Immoral" gross" and with
such persistence that the ordinary reader
in America came after 4 time to look upon
him as person whose writings were OBJ
jectionable. OF late years, however, there
has been n decided reaction.
Englishmen Hailed Him.
Abroad there is no question as to the
feeling which will be called out by the
news of his demise. In the darkest hours
of his struggle for fame it was Whitman s
consolation that he was appreciated in
Europe. The English people particularly
hailed him rs genius, as the true Amer
lean poet, greater than Bryant or Long
fellow. In America, when Leaves of
Grass" appeared, i'll 1885, there was prac-
tically no one to utter good word for it
except Ralph Waldo Emerson. Tennyson
and Browning and Sir Edwin Arnold all
wrote of him in the highest terms, and no
English writer visiting America ever neg
lected to call at the poets home. His first
interview with Sir Edwin Arnold two
years ago was almost pathetic in its earn
estness. The two men literally fell into
each others arms.
Apostle of a New School.
Nearly all the British literary men of
note were equally enthusiastic in their
praise of the American bard He was
held up again and again in the English
magazines as the long looked for apostle
of new and perfect school of poesy, and
when it became known that the poet was
actually in want the depth of the English
admiration for him was manifested in the
most convincing manner. An appeal for
aid was printed in nearly every paper pub
lished in the kingdom. After reciting his
merits and the good he had done for litera-
ture, the appeal concluded:
Walt Whitman starving.
A mans ransom wanted. The victim is in
the hands of relentless enemy, who. if the
ransom be not speedily paid, will Immediately
make an end of him. Will his fellowmen put
forth hand to keep one of the worlds immor-
tails little longer here, or viii they allow