New-York tribune., 1902-09-07
-,,rNATTER WITH "W ALI.
1cs, CLUB OF COLLEGIANs AT
rEMPrs TO EXPLAIN THE fohf
OF DEMOCRACY"

SHWl
ii =, night when the more talkat1Ve |
sciAn = Harvard members announced io
u lne r,, discuss What's the matter WIN
sight Te WIZ
whitman! .., va,s cvnic asked |
oh gone at his Leaves of Grass Will
,.an scvthes of our intellects OF cours
,,s, called for a milestone But why uiS
H' .na poet OF Democracy who, hohic"i
&c is read only by the few?
an.o.use" said the first speaker, my l@'i'ei
,neyv a man Whe knew Whitman aho van
n 90, some new and Illuminating facts @p0u'
hm"- .-,a 90 mine
"a che other Harvard one, look ng thoush'-
- at a bit of eclair poised on his torK-
'nn. said the first, ignoring the Interrupt
.t-oro these real incidents some of US may
- r,ovea 10 valuable criticism; we may hno 'Ae
kew TO the enigma 49, ,o.1er
y,iny in point of fact, that the speaker
&c in a position to furnish true ahecuo'e' ~
- bade him begin. and at the next 'a"ie
- stirred his coffee softly and bent his S'-'
~In the first place" said the hrst spedNei'
g. strange thing that Whitman, aniiouio'ne
,,,,eelf the prophet Of democracy. IS ilo' ie"H
,ba masses as suggested by our hie
Ute again noticeable that Whitman, 'he
phar0 0f
r,r,cad himself. paradoxical as 1t may seem ID
not annroved of TO this day at Harvard ~
Tor,as Russell Lowell was walking with > l.
,,-,.,t,~ss-a il, Cambridge when they passed =
- e+ore with a sign made up OF letters ss'
&c That said Lowell pointing 10 'A'
-; &c Walt Whitman-with very coliiiioi
- inside, Oniy recently Barrett NehuSi''
., has described his verse as like heA@i'i'
tors irving 10 bubble through sewage Anu
,,oueb he is read at Cambridge l never met a
w., during NV four years there who fouhN Ia
him irs7iTa ton who set him up among li's
o,oer literary gods Of our youthful days
Hold, said the Yale cynic. you forget ua'
NJ Houens called Professor Wendell for thdl
remark a man lacking in ultimate cIVil!'y-
Go shy on that
..yVbat is ultimate civiity, by the way? /
never knew" asked The lesser one from h'ii
ward.
The nan from Brown spoke for The first Tune
taking of your hat 10 the North Foie' he
said.
That noint being settled, the first spea ker re
.unoed ..I don't think it's hard to explain why
Whitman is not read by the masses Ordinary
people don't whistle TschaikOwsky's music but
xbv he is disliked at Harvard, where erratc
stvle among the students. at any rate is no
longer 4 drawback, is harder to state think
g. fs evplained by Whitman's boundless and, 10
me offensive egotisrn. Let me tell you a story
Once in 1850 a Boston man went 20 see w Nhit-
man for the first time, the poet having come TO
Boston With him this man found pale, llst-
sss Lad who Whitman announced was a
sr5endess boy he'd found and added, I'm Try
ing TO cheer him UP and strengthen him Win
my magnetism
"rheres a sort Of personal Christian Science
,ba. Won also feel in his writings. He seems
ALWAYS about 10 be setting up as a Father
Walt Of literary sect If he spelled "oo' nc
also spelled Myself with capital letter
While at Harvard you use small e the
Yale cynfc tnsinuatingly remarked. But IN JUS
.ice to the rest let it be said he was frowned on
IT is interesting to note" went on the son OF
a friend of a friend Of Whitman's, that WHIT
man found Emerson before he found himself
This point has been often enough disputed, but
NV statement rests his own authority
Years ago he declared % this same man have
r,oten Of tba- he was 'simmering and simmer
ing hut Emerson brought him TO a boil He
psed To go TO work on his frame houses III
RrooElyn with a dinner pan in one hand and a
corv Of Fnersnn's essays in the other And at
neon he would hold the volume open in one
hand and from the other MUNICH his sandwich
between sentences. Now Emerson also a
1r11rlret call TO the individual, Whitman
asr,ired 10 be and also hopeful of democracy
and its prophet is widely read at Harvard is
considered by many Harvard men as their most
lllustrious graduate and has been an insplra-