Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-01-09
OUT And ABOUT.
OF THE HOSPITAL LETTERS OF
WALT WHITMAN.

WALT WHITMAN.
nrbe Wound Dresser''--Wh Whitman Col
lection in Boston-Vivid Pictures o
suffering and Death-Y. M. C. A
"Pop"-Holmes Lectures-Brownin,
Glass.
Monday of last week an exhibition OF
exceptional interest, consisting of a
collection of manuscripts, editions and
portraits of Walt Whitman, opened in
the window of the Old Corner Bookstore
in Boston The collection comes to
Boston from New York, where last
month it was shown at the store OF
Dodd, Mead & Co.
Of the manuscripts, probably the most
notable is the letter written by Emer-
son in 1855, Immediately after the pub
lcation of Leaves Of Grass" in which
occur the phrases, Incompatible things
said incomparably WELL" and 81 greet
you at the beginning of a great career"
which Whitmanites would have us be-
lieve were never retracted or qualified
by Emerson in after life Other letters
are the last message received by Whit
man from Tennyson, a letter from
Whitman to his mother and one from
MN " IGleF OOy1e.
All the American editions of Whit
mans poetry and prose are represented
in the collection. The copies of the
first and third editions Of Leaves of
Grass contain Whitman's corrections
tor future printing. OF them all,
Franklin Evans, - temperance
story by Whitman is the rarest, only
one other copy beside that in the collec-
ton being known.
Popular interest in Whitman, which
received an impetus by the publication
not long since of the letters to Peter
Doyle, will be still farther stimulated by
the appearance next month of series
of letters written by Whitman to his
mother at the time of the war, which,
according to Time and the Hour, are to
be published under the title of The
Wound Dresser" The volume is edit
ed by DIR. Buckle, and promises to be one
of the most interesting contributions
yet made to the literature of the civil
war.
Time and the Hour for Jan. / con-
tains several extracts from these war
time letters which, without attempt at
literary effect, give a terribly vivid and
convincing picture of the horrors of
war. Here is one describing the arrival
of wounded:
81 could not keep the tears out of my
eyes. Many Of the poor young men had
to be moved on stretchers with blankets
over them, which soon soaked as wet as
water in tine rain. Most were sick cases,
but some badly wounded. l came up to
the nearest hospital and helped. Moth
er, it was a dreadful night Qast Friday
night)-pretty dark, the wind gusty and
the lin fell in tCIsraTtS
this is sample of one case out of the
600-he seemed to be quite young, he
was quite small Ct looked at his body
afterward), The groaned some as the
stretcher bearers We're carrying MIN
along, and again as they carried him
through the hospital gate. They set
down the stretcher and examined him,
and the poor boy was dead. They took
him into the ward and the doctor came
Immediately, but it was all of no use.
The worst of it is, too, that he is entire
ly unknown-there was nothing on his
clothes, or any one with him to identify
him., and he is altogether unknown.
Mother, it is enough to rack ones heart
such things. Very likely his folks
win never know in the world what has
become of him. Poor, poor child, for
he appeared as though he could be but
Is. | feel lately as though 1 must have
some intermisson. / feel well and
uGdIly anu Was never DeIIeI,
but my feelings are kept in a painful
condition a great part Of the time.
Things get worse and worse, as to the
amount and sufferings of the sick, and
as l have said before, those who have
to do With them are getting more and
more callous and Indifferent. Mother,
when L see the common soldiers, what
they go through and haw everybody
seems to try to pick upon them, and
what humbug there is over them every
how, even the dying soldiers money
stolen from his body by some scoundrel
attendant, or from Ghe) sick one, even
from under his head, which is COM
mon thing, and then the agony l see
every day get almost frightened at
the world Mother, I will try to write
more cfheerfully next time--but I see so
much. Well goodbye for the present,
dear mother. Walt"
In another letter he gives us an ink
ling of the kind of nurse he was:
20, must tell you, I gave in Car
yer hospital a great treat of ice cream,
couple of days ago-went round my
self through about Is large Wards-Q
bought some ( ten gallons very NICE.
You would have cried and been amused
too. Many of the men had to be fed;
several of them / saw cannot probably
live, yet they quite enjoyed 1t. l gave
everybody some-quite a number (of)
Western country boys had never tasted
ice cream before. They relish such
things (as) oranges, lemons, etc, Mother,
I feel little blue this morning as two
young men / knew very well have just
died. One died last night, and the other
about half an hour before l went to the
hospital / did not anticipate the death
of either of them. Each was very,
very sad case, so young. Well mother,
l see l have written you another gloomy
sort of letter. 1 do not feel as first-rate
as usual wait.
And for a picture of American patri-
otism:
1--WE north don't understand some
things about southerners; it Is very
strange the eontrast--if | should pick
out the most genuine union men and
real patriots I have ever met in all my
experience = should pick out two or
three Tennessee and Virginia unionists
have met in the hospitals wounded or
sick. One young man | guess | have
mentioned to you in my letters, John
Barker, I'd Tennessee vol. Onion), was a
long while prisoner in secesh prisons
in Georgia and in Richmond-three times
the devils hung him UP by the heels to
make him promise to give up his unlon-
ism; once he was cut down for dead. ne
is young married man with one child
His little property destroyed, his wire
and child turned out--he hunted and
n tormented-and any moment he could
have had anything If he would join the
confederacy-but he was firm as rock;
he would not even take an oath to not
fight for either side. They held him about
eight months-then he was very sick,
scurVV and thev exchanged him and