FEINBERG/WHITMAN   GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE  
Alcott, Amos Bronson  Jan-Apr. 1868 (DCN172)

Box 4 Folder 3WALT WHITMAN AUTOGRAPH LETTERS

1868
Apr. 26

WHITMAN, WALT to A. Bronson Alcott.
Autograph Draft letter.  Endorsed
by W.W.

CWW, VOL. II, No. 288

FEINBERG COLLECTION OF WALT WHITMAN[3 cent US Stamp, cancelled]

Walt Whitman
Washington City
D.C.

From 
Mr. Alcott,
Ans. April 26
'68
and herewith
[cancel stamp]
CARRIER
JAN
6
2 DEL.
Concord Jan 9th 1868
Walt Whitman

The scope and
spirit of your paper on
Democracy delight
and satisfy me beyond
all expectation.  And
I write without complement
or reserve to the Man.
The American Columbus,
whoseSagacity has thus sounded
adventurously the sea of
our Social Chaos and anchored
his thought securely in soil
of the newly discovered
Atlantides about which
Grecian Plato died dreaming.
Especially have I to thank
you for dealing such 
doughty thrusts into the sides
of the British Behemoth
sending him bottomwards.
All you say of the Imperial
West is strong and is.
   I

talked last evening [evening]
with Emerson about your
strong strokes at the thoughtless
literature and Godless faith of 
this East - nothing as yet
to show of original type -
wholly null and empty of
ideas - only Thoreau to
redeem it from idiocy and
fatuity.
   That dutiful drill
of yours, too, in Humanity
during the dread struggle of
theselast years gives to your
thought a sanction and
potency which Universities
cannot claim nor confer.

Personally
A. Bronson Alcott

Walt WhitmanTo Mr Alcott.
April 26 '68

Your kind & welcome letter came to
hand . [& with its] [& I]  Pardon me for not responding '
[earlier]  [Believe me to] sooner.  
I esteem your friendly appreciation of "Democracy."
I have just [you] sent
you "Personalism" - which is to be
followed, in perhaps a couple of months
or so, by [a third] another article, [the subject 
of which is Literature Man] addressing itself mainly 
to the question of what kind of Literature
we [may] must seek, [for] for our [coun?] America. &c.
[The]  In the three articles (to be [put in] gathered [presently in] probably in [book form.) a little book] I [have] put forth,
to germinate if they [can &] may, [my notions 
of]  what I would fain hope [may] might prove
little seeds & roots.

I am still living [& wo] here in
Washington. - [My employment] employed in a post in
the Attorney General's office, very pleasantly,
with sufficient leisure, & almost entirely without those
peculiar belongings, that make the Treasury
[& War office] Interior Dep't &c. clerkships disagreeable. I am [still] as ever
[at] working on Leaves of Grass - hoping to bring
it yet into [fit & full form] fitter & fuller
proportions. I am well as usual. My
dear mother is living & well; we speak of 
you. I wish you to give my best respects
& love to Mr. EmersonTo Mr. Alcott
April 26 '68

Attorney General's Office
Washington  186Concord April 
    28th 1868.

My dear Sir,
   Your friendly note of
the 26th has just come to
hand, and yesterday came
your noble paper on
Personalism - for both
of which attentions you have
my thanks.  I shall look
for your views of the
aboriginal literature,
fully believing that your
thought

stocks, but I have
not spoken with him yet.
I know how fully he
shares in my appreciation
of yourself and works.

Please accept the little
sketch accompanying this,
and oblige

Yours,
A. Bronson Alcott

Walt Whitman.is on the track of Empire
and sees the route to
Personal Power for the
nation, as for the Individual.
And never a people needed
more the Cosmic thought
to inspire and guide its
action.
   Yet think of the progress
out of the twilight since
your Star dawned upon
our hazy horizon!
   Some friend has sent
me from time to time
appreciative notices of

yourself, knowing by some
supreme instinct my hope
in whatsoever promises
expansion for our
hemisphere.  You, too,
kindly inform me of
particulars about your
present position and
prosperity.  I am interested
in all you choose to
communicate.
   Emerson is just home
from your city of steeples
and[*CONCORD
APR
28
MASS*]

Walt Whitman
Washington City
D.C.[back of envelope]
[cancel stamp]  [illegible]