FEINBERG/WHITMAN       LITERARY FILE Prose  "Noblesse Oblige" (1890). Good-Bye My Fancy. D.M.S. draft. (DCN102)
Box 35  Folder 61890    "NOBLESSE OBLIGE"; a note. A.MS. on verso of discarded
  envelope addressed to Walt Whitman by W. S. Kennedy
   (1p. 21 x 20 cm.)
The phrase "Noblesse oblige should henceforth permeate official America and
should be used for a National Rule or Motto." This idea was transmitted
to Walt Whitman by Mrs. Gilchrist, who said that these words are ". . . for
some magnificently developed Nation-and especially for your America."
Published in Good-By My Fancy, 1981, p. 31.                                     {102}[*And still 
another under 
the words,*]

"Noblesse Oblige"
= for a National Rule or Motto

My opinion is that the above words, [or] or 
their spirit, should henceforth [appear and]
influence and permeate, [the] official America and it's representatives 
in Congress, the Executive officers the Presidency, 
and the individual States – [and] should be one 
of their chiefest mottoes and be carried out practically. (I got the idea 
from my dear friend [(now dead)]the English-woman, 
Mrs. Ann Gilchrist, now dead.—"The 
beautiful words Noblesse Oblige", said she to 
me once, "are not best for some great 
developed gentleman or lord, but for some magnificently
Developed Nation - and espesially for your 
America")