The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-06-01

soul would live in It's Individual char
| ac!er IN the world to come"
! Mr. Harmed, who is the only one of the
Iour men who spoke at whitman's fu-
neral still living. qualified his assertion
.. tne poets radicalism by saying that
ne never walked as goody goody or
| men.
| ne was gentleman In the best sense
% lhe word and never knew him TO do
aIi ac'. or TO utter a word. which per-
son with the most malignant sense Of
| virtue could take exception TO-" Mr..
harmed said. He wouldn't even list. n
10 risque story. I've heard him use
the word damn necessary adjective
-out l never heard him say he'll"
| Massschusetts barred hook.
1t almost broke whltman's heart, so
, NJ. Harmed said. when the Attorney
General Of Massachusetts, prohibited the
sale Of his Leaves Of Grass" in that
state In 1881. He subsequently, found
a publisher In Philadelphia who printed
INC book and he made $1,000 out of the
roysities. He also borrowed $500 from
ueorge w. Childs, owner Of the Phil
ssueIphia Ledger, and bought his little
mouse IN Camden with the money OBJ
tained from these two sources.
Criticism OF literary milliners" who,
ne said. had printed small talk concern
ing the poet which was untrue. was
voiced by Mr.. Harmed. He denied that
men OF small means had contributed to
", w hitmans support and that he had
hyed from their contributions.
Some of that stun got into Scrtbne,'s
M ,gr ' W., and It's simply a lie," asserted
Inc time would come, SO Mr.. Harmed
predicted. when people would make nil
srhnages to Whitman's tomb in Camden
hGmmed VI -A0
Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Fred
ertek p. Hier. Jr.. George Jay Smith and
onsetake Naganuma all spoke during
tne afternoon on various phases OF
Whitman's life and writing. -
Exercises In honor OF the Whitman
centenary also were held yesterday at
the poets birthplal at West Hills, L. L.
undar the auspices. OF the BROOKLYN In
sttute OF Arts and Sciences. About 200
persons were present, including Percy
Mackaye. Hamlin Garland, Gerald
Stanley Lee. DR.. Maple Irwin and rep
resentatives from the Poetry Society of
America. the Suffolk IN ~ and Hunt
inston Historical societies and the HIS
toric Preservation Society. The speak.
ins took place out OF doors and DR..
Richard Burton was the chief orator.
Dr' Burton was certain, he said, that
Wnitman's place in American literature
was no longer a subject for debate and
that ne was a great poet because he
was great personality and had vision.
IN tnis respect DR.. Burton compared
him to Milton.
Both saw life In terms OF. faith. in
mans nobler act and aspiration" said
ne That was their ideal and 1t makes
disappear all lesser or seemingly anti
podal differences. He had the magic
WORD. which. after nil. must be at the
potion OF all literary effort and reward.
Poet Interpreted Cosmos.
Standing back of whitman. you
seemed TO see the cosmos He inter-
preted life cosmically with q. mighty
sweep ami vivid sense Of its immensI-
ties. Its wholes, lite general relations.
He dared to be himself and nothing is
rarer in life or letters. Being great
literary force Is daring to be yourself
ana having the magic word to tell us
about IT,. Socrates seems to have dared
II, and he Is very much alive So did
Mark Twain. and the famous white sui.
way symbol of independence"
DR.. Burton said that In his opinion
the nve greatest American writer's were
Poe, Hawthorne. Emerson, Mark Twain
and Whitman.
the institute yesterday received a let
ter from Arnold Bennett, in response to 4
an Invitation to attend the exercises, in |
which Mr.. Bennett said that I'm NV
opinion America has produced no greater |
writer than Walt Whitman and he ia |
one one Of the greatest teachers that ever
John Maseneld. in sending his rexre,,
wrote:
Roughly. he was your first real voice |
You had plenty of writer's before him. |
but he wass the first to speak out in a |
way that was American. He came out |
OF a big. unmsde, abundant new coun- |
try (the republic wasn't a mans life old |
when he began to write) that was free |
OF most OF The shackles and shames Of |
the old countries. He spoke out Just as |
though the country, such as i've d.
scrioed 1t, were speaking through him. !
In way big. abundant and new. His
value is that he liked men and women |
ana made the meanest OF us feel that he |
or she was heartily welcome and good |
Tor something, good enough anyway to |
be Waits friend That is a message |
which does the worlds heart good. II |
Is something honest and manly and kind |
for the world to fall back on in a bad |
time"
Tribute to "Leaves of Grass.v
Percy MacKaye sent an original poem
on Whitman's Leaves of Grass" as fol-
lows:
This book is all the beaches of the world
Abask at noon beneath the procreant sun,
The weedy margs of Gods fecundity
"alowed with now and ebb of rhythmic
Here lies the margin OF the soul Of man
That shoreward slopes 10 the unshining
hills
or Arts acropolis. and seward pIunKes
To primal deeps OF storm and lonely stars
Here breed the minnow and leviathAn;
Here spawn the Jelly pulps OF life. and
Naked and vast, uprises from the ooze
The Adam of a New World Genesis
Ancestral OF Democracy. In dream
He stands, and twines his beard with
tangled bloom; ~
Behind him DER the sand the summer wind
Blows from the sunk wrecks Of a thousand
yeanA
On every wreck a mating songbird sings.