Evening star., 1919-04-20
WASHINGTON WILL
Do HONOR TO POET
Centennial Celebration of
Birth of Walt Whitman to
Be Held May 81.
WORKED AT MANY TRADES

Centennial celebration of the birth
of Walt Whitman, the good gray
poet" who lived in Washington from
1865 to 1873, will be held here May
81. according to plans now being
formulated at the suggestion of the
Federal Schoolmen's Club.
George Washington University is
to be a center of the local celebra-
ton. DR.. William Miller Collier, pres
ident of the university, is arranging
for a program. including addresses by
persons of national prominence. He
is especially desirous of receiving
suggestions and information from
those older residents of the District
who knew the great poet of democ-
racy when he lived here.
New York and Boston to Celebrate.
Although celebrations will be held
in New York, Boston and other large
cities throughout the country, the
celebration here will be of unusual
interest and appropriateness, in view
of the fact that Whitman worked
here as government clerk, and
while a resident of Washington wrote
some of his best verse.
Among those who are intensely
interested in plans for the local cele-
bration and who are lending their
assistance are Prof. Cobb of the Eng
lfsh department at the Naval Acad-
emy, at Annapolis. Dr. William Allen
and head of the English department
at George Washington University. and
Prof. De Witt c. Croissant of the
university's English department.
Born on Long Island.
Walt Whitman was born at West
Hills. L. l., May 81, 1919. He was
the son of carpenter builder. He
lived in many places. travelling
ada and working at various trades
At different periods in his life he was
Office boy, teacher in country schools
typesetter. newspaper reporter, car
penter and writer.
During the civil war he was an
army nurse and exposed himself to
such an extent that a stroke of pa
in Washington. His physicians or
dered him to go to the Atlantic coast,
but, as he says in his autobiography,
he "broke down badly" at Philadel-
phia and was unable to complete the
trip. He went to Camden. N. j.. where
he lived in a little house on Mickle
street until 1892. when he passed
away. He is buried in Harley ceme-
terry in Camden. A door in the side
of q mound leads to his final resting
place.
Picturesque Figure.
Whitman lived in Washington from
1865 until 1873 and is remembered by
many of the older residents of the
city. He was a picturesque figure in
his odd dress, his unconventional
ways. and his queer remarks. In
those days he was generally regarded
as a nut" He frequently walked the
streets bareheaded. While in Wash
ington he was a government clerk
He was discharged from the Treasury
Department on the grounds that his
poems were obscene.
Whitman is best known by his vol
ume of poems entitled Leaves OF
Grass" which ran through its ninth
edition in his lifetime. Captain, Oh
My Captain" is considered his best
poem. This was written following
the assassination of Lincoln.
Center Of Controversy
Perhaps no American poet has been
the center of such heated literary
controversy BY some he has been
lauded as Americas greatest and most
original poet. BY others he has been
denounced as a worthless. talentless
massacrer of poetry. But despite
these divergent views. his place now
is pretty we'll fixed in the list of
Americas most original thinkers and
poets, and yearly the admirers of his
verse become more numerous.
In Boston. where a large centennial
celebration probably will be held. his
Leaves of Grass" was burned in 1855
on the steps of the capitol and cir
culation of the volume was forbidden