Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-04
IDEALS OF HITM AN
SECULAR LEAGUE HEARS REM.
NINCENsEs OF THE PAST.

NINCENSEsS DE TIE EAS4.
The nfe and character of Walt Whitman
were discussed yesterday afternoon at
Pythian Temple, 9th street. by the MEM
bers OF the Secular League. The princl-
pal address was by Mr.. c. T. Nesbit, and
his subject was walt Whitman and His
Idea of Immortality" The speaker eulo-
gized Whitman and quoted at length from
Leaves Of Grass" and Drum Taps" as
an expression of humane purposes and
tender feelings. He read also from letters
written by Whitman to mothers OF soldiers
who were In his charge in Washington
Hospital. He approved of his departure
from accustomed forms in his poetry and
presented it as a suitable vehicle of his
thought and feeling. The discussion was
continued by Prof Hyland Kirk c. c. Car
ter, David Eccles Gen. Birney, William IL.
Burr, Maurice Pechtn and w. A. Croffut.
ut was my prilivege to know Walt Whit
man we'll when he lived in this city during
the war; said DR.. Croffut "He was one
of coterie OF enthusiastic young students,
mostly newspaper men In this number
were Piatt. who had just printed first
little volume of poems, then a clerk in the
Treasury Department.: Ed Stedman, par
don clerk In the Attorney Generals office;
Howells, who had just brought out his
as consul to Venice: W. D. O'Connor, q
brilliant genius, whose powerful romance,
Harrington" was making extraordi-
nary sensation: and the center OF this bevy,
A. B. Johnson, now chief clerk of the light
house board Almost all OF them were
typesetters and all, I believe. were news
paper men. Johnson had been compost
tor on the National Era, Piatt and Howells
were typestickers and had held adjoining
cases on an Ohio newspaper, and Walt Whit
man had put in type the whole Of his
Leaves OF Grass and was now setting up
Drum Taps
whitman was in the adJutant generals
Office at this time. He occupied a little
room on the third floor Of a building oppo-
site to where the Pennsylvania station now
is, between the St. James Hotel and junk
shop He shortly transferred himself and
his few belongings to a hall bed room in
| the house which occupied, now. I believe,
14O9 L street northwest After his brother
was wounded he spent much time in the
hospitals supplying the soldiers with neces-
sites and Injuries and doing what he could
for their comfort Whitman was regarded as
| the dean Of the ambitious coterie I have
mentioned, for he was then forty-five. They
got into the habit of gathering around him
| In the parlors Of some one Of their number
| and discussing literary matters. especially
new publications. Whitman was recognized
| as high-class musical and dramatic critic
and when a great opera or new play was
presented here The Star and Chronicle
competed for his services. / do not recollect
which MEMBER IL was VINO received at This
| time from Victor Hugo the advance proof
| sheets of, his forthcoming romance, Les
| Misera bles.' It was a great occasion: Walt
| gathered his friends around him and even
| ing after evening they read the proof
| sheets. 1t was hard work, for they were not
| only in French, but some portions of the
dialogues were In an argot or French slang
which defed the young translators. One
member would tackle the proof sheet and
read as far as he could and when he broke
down, passed 1t on to the next. Whitman
and Howells were perhaps the best equipped
for the task of oral translation, but John
son well UP in 1t, for he was the conf
Dental secretary of Charles Summer, who
| was a consummate French scholar
characteristics of Whitman.
mo one who ever saw Walt Whitman
could forget him. His long, abundant white
hair and full white beard. forming an aure-
ole around face fiery red. induced stran-
gers who met him on the street to turn and
Inspect him. A Washington policeman once
stopped him on the street In the twilight
and said. Here, none of that. sir. You must
take off that mask! Walt laughed, stuck
his face up out of his cloak, and said Yes
| we all wear masks He was genial and
very compantonable man. and he was clean
mouthed. seldom telling an indicate story.
have heard that at dinner which he at
tended q speaker began with AS there are
no ladies present. whereupon Walt ex-
| claimed, But remember. my boy. that there
l are gentlemen present. xct w nltf0an was
not ultra fastidtous. He did not make a
wry face over broad story II 1t had real
merit and the occasion required 1t. But for
bare and bald obscentty he had no use or
tolerance. So tt is perhaps curious that
| the authorities OF Massachusetts, denounced
the sale OF his works on the ground of i'm
morality ana that a cabinet officar In Wash
ington dismissed him from the service OF
| the government because Leaves of Grass
was indecent!
| II loved the man Walt Whitman but not
his poetry. To say that he never wrote any
poetry might seem presumpt Gus and per
| haps audacious, but like Browning he GER
tainly despised and defied both the spirit
and the letter OF what has generally been
| called poetry. If poetry Is an elevated me-
| trical compassionate. as Major Powell de-
| fined 1t. poetry DIS sentiment, description or
passion In allegory. trope or metaphor. ex-
pressed musically,' Walt Whitman's Leaves
| of Grass will not stand the test. His hos
tnityto customary forms and definitions was
very deliberate; for In such rhythmicaI mel
| ody as My captain, o my captain written
after the death of Lincoln, he showed that
he could. IL he chose. produce harmonies
and symphonies"