The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-04-09
THE LITERARY WORLD.
AN ADMIRxBLE Defense or WAIT
WHITMIN.
A Graphic Pen Picture of the Poet rs
Tie Appeared In His Last Dsys-A
Glimpse of Him in Washington.

wrapped in a gown made Of a gray
blanket. sat the good gray poet. had
not seen him foe three or four years and
he was very much changed. His body
was thinner than l had ever seen It, but
the fine head, crowned with its white
hair. was unaitered."
To those familiar with Whitman, the
fine head carries a meaning OF It's own
recalls the picture OF a wonderful, mag.
netic personality, swaycd by cnoNohS VI
the f%iercest. yet the tenderest nature
ennobled by a mind which encompasses
all things great and small; n man IN
whom the m quality perVades anu
controls every thought and action.
Whitman. the man, is so essentially the
main force I'm his poetry, and has so di-
rectly Influenced all just. as well as un-
lust. estimates made Of him. mat one
can scarcely dwell too much upon MS
personnel. In 1877 John Burroughs wrote
Of him:
His face exhibits n rare combination
of harmony and sweetness. with strength:
strength like the vaults ana piers Oh
the Roman architecture. Sculptor never
carved a finer ear or a moie imaginative
brow. Then his heavy-lidded' absorbing
eye. his sympathetic voice. ana the I'M
pression which he makes OF starting from
The broad bases of the universal human
traits. You kno" OH
the man and becoming familiar with ms
presence that II he achieves the height
AT all. II will be from where every man
stands. and not from some speclal genius
or exceptional or adventurous point
lie does not make the impression Oh 'ne
scholar or artist, or lterateur. Dnt such
as you would imagine the ANTIQUE heroeS
10 make. that of a sweet-bloOdeu rep
tive. perfectly normal. cathohc man. WIN,
further than that, a look ABOUT III '4I
Is hest suggested by the word elemental,
AZ cosmical. II was this, doubtless, hat
led Thoreau 10 write, after an hour IN
teryiew. That he suggested something
a little more tina human In fact, lhe
main clew to Walt Whitman's HE ana
personality, and the expression OF them III
iis noems. Is to be found in about the
laryest emotional element thar mas uP,
peared anywhere. This, II not controieu
hv a potent, rational balance. would elIher
have tossed him helplessly forever or
wrecked him as disastrously as ever
storm and gale drove ship 10 ruin. Ihese
volcanic. emotional fires appearing every
Nchere I'm his books, and 1t is really these,
aroused TO intense activity and unnatural
strain during the four years OF the war
md persistent labors in the hospitals
that have resulted in his illness ana pa
ralysis since"
Tboreau was fitted 10 speak under
standingly of Whitman-such secrets as
he had coaxed from nature must cause
bis soul TO respond to the u~tterances oil
This man. grown almost out Of the very
earth itself. Still the words OF Bur-
roughs come with greater force and mean
ine There vas a human element want
ing in ThOreau, which mas a lul eN-
pression in Burroughs. There Is a broth-
erly sympathy and a sweet charity IN the
heart of Burroughs, which makes MIN
comprehend this man, wait whitman
who. I'm this day and generation, mas
snoken the fercest, the widest, yet the
strongest and most persuasive WORDS IN
behalf of freedom: and who, out OF MS
own phvsical strength. has given the most
labor toward the consolation OF men-hls
brothers. r
we quote again from Burroughs: Il
Give here q glimpse Of him in Washington
on a navy-yard horse car, toward the
close of the war, one summer day at sun
down. The car Is crowded and suffocat-
sngly hot. with many passengers on the
rear platform. and among them a beard
ed. aorid-faced man. elderly, but agile,
resting against the dash. by the side OF
the young conductor. and evidently his
Intimate friend. The man wears a broad
brimmed white hat. Among the jam IN
side near the door a young English
woman OF the working class, with two
children, has had trouble all the way with
the youngest, n strong, fat, fretful, bright
babe of fourteen or fifteen months, who
bids fair TO worry the mother completely
out, besides becoming a bowling nuisance
TO everybody. AS the car tugs around
Capitol Hill the young one is more de-
.,,rG.o fb.n axro ond tho HnChp1 ar1
perspiring mother is just ready to burst
into tears with WEAKNESS and vexation.
The car stops at the top OF the Hill to
let of most Of the rear platform passen-
gers. and the white-hatted man reaches
inside. and gently but firmly ~disengaging
the babe from its sitting place in the
mothers arms. takes il in his own. and
out In the air. The astOnished and ex-
cited child, partly in fear, partly in salts
faction at the change, stops its screaming.
and as the man adjusts it more securely
10 his breast, plants its chubby hands
against him, and pushing off as far as it
can. gives a good long look squarely in
his face-then as IL satisfied snuggles
down with it's head on his neck, and
in less than a minute is sound and peace
fully asleep without another whimDer,
utterly tagged out. A square or so more
and the conductor. who had an unusually
hard and uninterrupted days work. gets
of for his first meal and relief since
morning. And now the white-hatted nan,
holding the slumbering babe also. acts
as conductor the rest of the distance.
keeping his eye on the passengers inside.
who have by this time thinned out
greatly. He makes a very good con-
ductor. too, pulling the bell TO stop or
80 on. as needed, and seems TO enjoy
the occupation. The babe meanwhile rests
Jus lat cheeks close on his neck and gray
beard. one of his arms Vigilantly sur
rounding IL. while the other signals. from
llme 10 time, with the strap: and the
flushed mother inside has a good half hour
10 breathe, and cool, and recover herself"
In Memoranda During the War" Whit
ran records his own experiences in the
hospitals, where he nursed the sick and
wounded soldiers. IL is all very simply
told-merely n diary-yet the whole great
tragedy Is there, painted IN by master
'ouehes' and the tears flow instinctiyely
as one sees the pages marked by the life
pioou OF the writer. A Danish critic has
hald: his wings do not glitter in their
movement from rich and yarf-colorad
piumage, nor are his notes those ~ H.
accustomed song birds: but his flight is
we hisht OF the eagle" When one roads
Vi 'he homely Way in which. by nieht AID
py Jay he tended those sick and 6vi,~
inen' ana reels the warmth of a love which
~ inning curing the long. weary years
~ a. wal one Is not conscious so much
60 presence OF the eagle as OF that of
some sweet. domestic bird warrotn@ "a
Dung beneath its feathery breasI 60
- = Is only that COMMON humant,v
u, All great men have possessed /,
" large "A degree, and wifbou, -,
.,,s"'"s great has ever been schta.N