New-York tribune., 1918-05-26

ized as "the most extraordinary piece of
wit and wisdom that America has yet
contributed" was published in The Trib-
une. Instantly it was in demand.
There follow portions of one of Whit
mans best known poems, "Crossing
Brooklyn Ferry:
ELooD-TIDE below mel I see you face
4 to facel
Clouds of the west-sln there half an hour
high see you also face to face.
Crowds of men and women attred in the
usual costumes, how curious you are
to mel
o he ferry boats the hundreds and hun
dreds that cross, returning home, are
more curious to nj 9 than you suppose.
And you that shall cross from shore to
shore years hence are more to me,
and more in my meditations, than
you might suppose
Others will enter the gates of the ferry
and cross from shore to Shore
Others will watch the run of the foodtide,
Others will see the shipping of Manhattan
north and west, and the heights Of
Brooklyn to the south and east,
Others will see the islands large and SMALL
Fifty years hence, others will see them as
A hundred years hence, or ever many
hundred years hence, others will see
them,
Will snjoy the sunset, the pouring in of the
Aood-tide, the falling back to the sea
of the ebb-tide.
TT AvAILS not, time nor place--distance
L avails not,
ann with you, you men and women Of
generation, ever many genera
tions hence,
Just as you feel when you look. on the river
and sky, so I felt,
Just as any of you is one of living crowd,
I was one Of crowd,
Just as you refresh'd by the gladness Of
the river and the bright flow, I was
refreshd,
Just as you stand and lean on the rail, vet
hurry with the swift current l stood
yet was hurried,
Just as you look on the numberless masts
of ships and the thick-stemm'd pipes
of steamboats,, ! look'd.
TOO. many and many time cross'd
the river of old,
Watched the Twelfth-month sea-gulls. saw
them high in the air, floating with
motionless wings, oscillating their
bodies,
oaw how the glstening yellow lit up parts
OF their bodies and LEFT the rest in
strong shadow
osw the slow wheeling circles and the
gradual edging toward the south,
90" TIE reflection Of the summer sky In the
water,
had my eyes dassled by the shimmerinr
track of beams,
lookd at the fine centrifugal spokes Of
light round the shape Of nv head In
the sunlit water,
hook'd on the hase on the hills southward
and south-westward,
Lookd on the vapor as it few in Acecss
tineed with violet,
Look'd toward the lower bav to notic. ~.
vessels arriving,
saw their approach, saw aboard those that
were near me,
saw the white sails of schooners and sloons.
saw the ships at anchor,
ine sailors at work In the rigging or out
Is astride the spars,
Ins rosnd masts, the swinging motion of
& the huiis, the slender serpentins PEN
nants,
The large and small steamers in motion N.
pilots in their pilot houses,
The white wake left by the passare ~.
quick, trenulous whirl of the wheels
The hAgs of all nations. the falling II +hsr,
at sunset,
The scallcp-edged waves in the twilight ~.
ladled cups, the frolicsome crests and
glistening,
The stretch afar growing DINNER and dim.
mer. the gray walls of the granite
storehouses by the docks,
On the river the shadowy group, the Bio
steam-tug closely fank'd on each aide
by the barges, the hay-boat, the be-
lated lighter,
On the neighborinS shore the fircs from the
foundry ehimneys burning high and
glaringly into the night,
Casting their flicker Of black contrasted
with red and yellow light over the
tops OF houses, and down into the
clefts Dof streets.