Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-09-12
TRAUBEL THE FRlEND-M MAKER
Not Merely Whitman Follower, but
a Man In His Own Right

a Man in His own Right
TO the Editor Of the Ercnm0 Public Ledger:
Sir When the lcttcred Philadelphia
thinks Of Mickle street. Camden, it is
because Walt Whitman once made his
homo there. Have We not fallen into
a like habit in respect of the late
Horace Traubcl? Have we not so
tagged him ms the high priest OF Whit
manism and as the biographer of the
Camden town poet that when we hear
the name Traubpl We think Whitman,
Just as Horace Twiss brings to mind
Lord Eldon and Lockhart conjurcs up
the name Of Sir Walter Scott? Let
us for once think Of Horace Trnubel
as a man, a fellow townsman, an able
citizen who stood upon his feet and
played the gnmc, and who would per-
haps have had II wider local fame IT the
bard Of MiCklc street had never iVed
More than twenty years acqunlnt O.
ancp with IIorHr" Trnubel- never really
intimate, vet never really broken cX-
cept by dcath-huvr taught me to nd
mire him for one solid accomplishment.
for the solution he found for II OF
the great personal problems that bcsct
! nine tenths of the ambitious young men
and women about us.
For many years MIR. Traubcl held Il
minor position in Il bank. There ne
was, coopcd mp in Il cage. forced oF
circumstances to earn II lVlhG ny
spending long days bumped over Il soul
Lrhilling ledger. The I,verage man III
We position would, We fretted FOR a
| year or two over ~ ~larrowness OF lie
imposed upon him : d then ave sur
rendered to it. y 80 auo ii's
body might bc in the cage, but II" knew
a thousand way to free his nlmbie
! and active mind. Let us see how ne
! escaped the bonds Of his daily grlhu
and became in time the friend ana
valued correspondent of great and not"
bic men all the world over.
First and foremost, he a hallVe
breadth and diversity Of interests. Al
WAYS he insisted on having the ocs'
whether il was in art. letters, Drama
poetry or music. And he got IT, II "
world famous violinist played at INV
Academy of Music Traubel was sure tC
no there. Whether he sat in a - SUI
mr. a TWENTY five cent gallery seat y
immotnriaI. Traubel was there. !
Sir Henry Irving and Miss Terry were
in town Traubel saw them. When l
notable hook came out Traubel rouI'
tell YOU about it as soon as any on',
AIway: his mind was alert. Nhetne
bo Iooknd. listened or read, his crltlch
forultv was ever Oh tiptoe; ana III
criticisms were always ~th0ughtlul' us
corning and sympathetic. MoreoNer
ho WINS not too shy TO speak his NINA
If ha enioyed krciSler's concert ne Sa
down and wrote to him about IT, !,
there was phrasing in Sir Henry read
inc of Shakcspeare's lines that he couI'
not understand, he dropped nm II ho'
to osk about it. In the same manhe
he addressed poets, playwrlghtS' re
farmers critics and nOyelists at nom
and abroad. He was no lion hunte'
ord he was as free from guile rs 1
little child. Community OF lhI'r"s
was his approach to great men anu III
trod that avenue like his own IRON
hail. with n firm and natural S'rlu'
II mover occurred to him That III
uorrv Irving or Lord Tennyson or TN
newest great violinist might not car
RI hear from him. He made lrlehd'
Ms a child does without thought OF ram
or fear of rebuff. And ther" was som'
thing about his letters. so simple an'
friendly and naive that they were uSu
alIy answered in kind.
Letters led to personal acquaintance
and MANY a distinguished foreigner OF
his way from New York TO Washington
felt that he must stop off in phiIadeI
Min and run over to Camden to SCI
Horace Traubcl. And so his circl'
grew. becoming each year larger AM
moro interesting and fuller of new az
~tivities.
Traubel's faculty for making friend
through his own initiative goes far I
explain his home in Camden and th"S
Sunday afternoon and evening gather
inps at which one never met Il duIl per
son or spent Il dull moment Perhap
the first objects one noted upon enter
inp his library were the broad brimmc,
gray hats that hung upon the wall
You guessed that they had been whit
mans hats and you were right. An
the haversack that hung upon the wal
was also Waits. CAT Traub"l's tn
poet was always "Wait' and no ON
would have thought of referring to hir
otherwise.l The stiffcning leather ba
dated back to the wound dresser day
and it was the one Walt had worn |
the military hospitals when he CARR"
oranges and tobacco and little knirk
nacks to wounded soldiers.
BY a window hung the TraubcI mar
riagc certificate, cngroSsed in Walt
own sprawling hand, signed by it
Trainer and by a score of weddin
guests. Near the door, in a simpl
frame, hung Ralph Waldo Emerson
famous letter to Walt, predicting h