Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-05-28

sun, ana lilac breasted pigeons nap about
among the stained rafters. A Few yards
away one catches a glimpse of the vast in
closure OF Girard College, where the big
silverygray parthenon rises austerely above
cloud of foliage.
nNE aspect of Ridge avenue is plain at q
" glance. 1t is the city's stronghold of the
| horse. You will see more horses there than
anywhere else l know Except perhaps down
ny the docks). From horseshoeing forges
comes the mellow clang of beaten iron. AS
the noon whistles blow scores of horses stand
at their wagons along the curb .cheerfully
chewing oats while their drivers are dis
patching heavy mugs of coffee with plenty
IN the nearby delcatessens. Ridge avenue
conducts heavy trade in furniture on the
paVements, Its favorite tobaccos are Of
numbering potency: BlueS Hen, Sensation
Polar Bear Buckingham cut plug There
Is a primitive robust quality about its mer-
chandising. Eat Cornels Sauer Kraut and
Grow Fat" says a legend painted across the
flank OF pickle factory. "Packey McFar-
land Recommends MakeMan Tablets" is the
| message of a lively cardboard ''cutout" in
druggists window. Odd little streets run
of the avenue at oblique angles Shars-
wood. for instance, where two horses stood
under the shade of big tree as in a barn
yard picture. On a brick wall on Beech
wood street I found the following chalked up:
Clan OF the Eagles Eye
Lone Wolf .....a
Red Hapk
ArroDfre
Red Thunder
|. Deerfoot
This seemed pathetic testimony that not
| even the city streets can quench the Feni-
more Cooper tradition among American
| youth. And oddly enough. below this
roster of braves some learned infant had
written In Greek letters. Harry dam fool"
| Evidently some challenge to a rival tribe.
| TNWENTY-sECoND STREET north. of Ridge
l. avenue is quiet stretch OF red brick,
| with occasional outcroppings Of pale yellow
| green stone At the noon hour 1t is a cas-
| cade of children tumbling out of the Joseph
| Singerly Public School. Happily for those
| juveniles there Is one of the best tuck shops
| in Philadelphia at the corner of Columbia
| avenue. 1t is worth long journey to taste
| their cinnamon buns. And in the block Just
| behind the school, at 1929 North Twenty
| second. there is little three-story yellow
| green house with large bay window which
gives Whitman lovers thrill That little
house is associated with one of the most
| poignant and curious romances in the story
| of American letters. For II was here that
| Mrs Anne Gilchrist and her children came
| in September, 1876, and lived until the spring
| of 1878. Mrs. Gilchrist, a noble and talented
English woman, whose husband had died in
|
| after reading Leaves of Grass" Her letters
4 to Walt, which were published recently by
| Thomas Harmed, are among the most search.
| ingly beautiful expressions OF human attach
| ment. After Whitman's paralytic stroke
| Anne Gllchrist insisted on coming from Lon
| don to Philadelphia to be near the poet
and help him in any way she could and
| TO this little house on Twenty y-second street
| Walt used TO go day after day TO take tea
! with her and her children. Walt had tried
earnestly to dissuade her from coming to
America, and his few letters to her seem a
| curiously enigmatic reply to her devotion.
Perhaps. as Mr.. Harmed implies, his heart
| was engaged elsewhere At any rate. his
| conduct in this delicate AFFAIR seems sufficient
| proof of what might often have been doubted
| that he was at heart a genteman-a banai
| word. but we have no other.
NNHB present occupant OF the house is Mrs
i Alexander we.lner. who was kind enough
| TO grant me few minutes talk She has
| lived In the house year. and did not know
of It's whitman association. The street can
| hardly have changed much--save for the
| new public school building -since Centennial
days. The Kardenf behind the houses are
MASS of green sdrubpery ana in<a neigh.
boring yard s'aNds "a in'raense Tree ~ fuiI