The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-06-01
GREAT NAN, WALT WHITMAN
FELLOWSHIP OF MS FOLLOW
Frs SAYS so AGAIN.
AZ Their Iath Annual Meeting They Hear
Prom q socialist. MIA Asks Them 10
Ne Tolerant with These who can't
Reall, live Up 10 the Poets Ideas.

~ NueH ION ANIMAL MeeNmA IntA hraF
Prom a soelallsi. Nhs Asks Them 10
Ne Tolerant with Those vino can't
nealls live ~ % the Poets Ideas
Forty-seven copies Of Leaves OF Grass
variously bound in white vellum. rcd
morocco. green cloth. and plain purple
paper. rested upon forty-seven knees
beneath forty-seven pairs 81 reverently
clRsped hands for three hours yesterday
afternoon in the dpwingrOom 10 the
Hotel Brevoort.
The occasion was the sixteenth annual
meeting of the Walt Whitman Fellowship.
and the knees and the hands belonged 10
initiates IN perfectly good standing. The
praises Of the master were sung In several
different keys by al the fellows who
could get the attention Il the others and
whenever some one else WASH too quick
for her Grace isabel Colburn jumped
from the chair she sat in and read a selec-
ton from the volume she was holding.
The meeting didn't come 20 order quite
on schedule time, owing 10 the presence
of feminine outsider. who asked the
leading fellow. q p Wicksell. who Walt
Whitman was and whether he favored
woman suffrage or the home.
Walt Whitman. dear lady. replied
Mr.. MiCksell sternlv. was COSMOS.
Aren't you familiar with his works.
The woman shook her head
We'll. it's somewhat dificult for me to
give YOU any idea about hun in a five
minute conversation, said the head
, fellow perpleXedly. but should be-
/ pleased to have you stay and listen 10 the
speeches. Whitman attracts independent
thinkers 81 all sorts. We have Socialists
and single takers and Christian Scientists
and Parsees and philosophical anarchists
and Industrial Workers Of the World
and Fletcherites and several woman
sufragists in the fellowship. There u a
very prominent Socialist
lie pointed out Robert Rlves Ia Monte.
! who was wearing a bright nd necktie.
Are you a Socialist inquired the
stranger
Yes. indeed. RESPONDED Mr.. Wicksell.
4 and a single taXer also The two are by
/ No means mutually exclusive. Won know
/ Mr. Ia Monte WIS the first speaker
| He got his chance after Grace Colburn
had read one poem about The Soul. and he
explained in several thousand words that
It was more important - be a good
/ fellow than "a talk one head OF about
/ Whitman
However. W. mustn't be too severe
upon those who really love old Walt bu'
don't quite live up to what he taught,
continued Mr. la Monte. -Robby Brown.
ing said you will doulaless remember
that mans reach should exceed his
grasp, But remember. always remem.
her. never forget. that old Walt stood
above all things for life. life. life
One Of the greatest men Of the nine.
tenth century. who drank himself "a
death tWenty-eight years ago and
brcathed his Last IN London hospitsl
has written some immortal lines illus.
Irating tho superiority 81 life over talking
or writing II I were talking 20 a III.
ferrnt ~ ~ persons should expect them
% take exception 90 my asserting IN the
same breath that a man was great and
that he drank himself 70 death You
who have at az the feet Of the master
know. however, that the greatest .ouls
are 10 much above and beyond their
environment that oftumes there il
nothing else for them "a do When you
remember that this man died twenty
eight wears ago and call % mind the
uhiu-rtni-nI uf hI- surrounding YOU can
not bpt applaud HIM for drinking him-eli
n death But listen % hes lines
,ias,as b, ,u-,, Sur listen 10 ,nts
Tips ouIy slns ursn ihey cannot sis.
Hag hts nngers been able 70 to1 WIth her hair
Would he fhen have arti-u ne trr-~, fair
Siurr be- could not embrace 20 nushcd and aafr
be has car,r "a In stone me pcs'ss' form
VINO give. he me report o. tle Tess"
Ne "a no GOT none and enjoyed it ieast
We're me- vine really snpning ioan hs throat
Would t.s song Of ire sine advance NOTE
Mr. Ia Monte went on 10 SAY that
Neitz-che and Steiner and lb=en we're like
pathological laboratories compared 20 old
Walt. who resembled great primeva'
forest Fellowship was a lovely ideal
ne aid. hut % Was almost impossible n
carry % out IN a civilization where com
uati'inn was in ilI.l swing and every man 4
hand was against every other mans A
workman really couldn't have a fellow
feeling for -Uab be- continued Their
some one in the front row hissed -.ocial-
ism and he got mad and a. down
The Rev Eliot White % Port Chezte
aid that Whitman was tuIc prophet
and that he waz the forerITner Of what
would 10 soon the only thiag In literature
. The fellow- diued la.er at the same
hotel and afterward IiS.ened o. ~peeche-
+ hv Charles Zueblin. Bolton Hall. Andre
Trdon. William Davenport and Maurice
Spei-sr
/ Mr. Mildred Rain sang several Whitman
lvric- IN deep temperamental ContraltO
| that delig GIFTED the fellows more than any
| ~. IL. IL. the -.rnnr-n rnrI-a