FEINBERG/WHITMAN LITERARY FILE SPEECH FILE "Abraham Lincoln" [1878?] - 1890 A,MS. drafts. Includes page proof, newspaper clipping, advertisement, admission ticket, and wrapper. Box 37 Folder 3Walt Whitman on Abraham Lincoln. Major Pond has the pleasure of announcing a Lecture on Abraham Lincoln, by Walt Whitman, to be delivered on the 22D Anniversary of the Assassination, Thursday, April 14th, at 4 o'clock P.M. in the Madison Square Theatre, New-York, Reserved Seats, $1.50. Admission, $1.00. Tickets for sale at the Theatre. Orders may be sent to Maj. J. B. Pond, Everett House ; E. C. Stedman, 66 Broadway and 44 E. 26th St.; J. H. Johnston, Lotus Club. R. W. Gilder, 33 E. 17th St.; Brentano's, Union Square. 385 WHITMAN (WALT). Original Manuscript Notes for Whitman's Lecture on Lincoln. Written in ink on 2 pp. 4to. Mounted and mended. Under the heading "LINCOLN" he writes: "The Presidentiad affords a curious spectacle - Draw a picture of the frightful & putrid conditions of things from 1840 to '60 - especially under Filmore & Buchanan. . . . . Draw a picture of the elections - get printed slip of 1859 - it will come in good here. "Though many are dead, the majority of the living victors in the war are yet upon the stage to bear authentic witness. Real vindictive anger of the old sort, Southern & Northern, seems to have entirely subsided. The conviction of the Union as a permanent fact is assured. . . . . "Still, the actual events of 1861-'65 are either to be denied, smothered over nor explained away. How then are they to be met?" etc.Ms notes Lincoln LectureA DEATH-BOUQUET. Pick'd Noontime Early January 1890. DEATH - too great a subject to be treated so - indeed the greatest subject - and yet I am giving you but a few random lines about it - as one writes hurriedly the last part of a letter to catch the closing mail. Only I trust the lines, especially the poetic bits quoted, may leave a lingering odor of spiritual heroism afterward. For I am probably fond of viewing all really great themes indirectly, and by side-ways and suggestions. Certain music from wondrous voices or skillful players - then poetic glints still more - put the soul in rapport with death, or toward it. Hear a strain from Tennyson's late "Crossing the Bar": "Twilight and evening bell, And after that the dark! And may there be no sadness of farewell, When I embark; "For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place The floods may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crost the bar." Am I starting the sail-craft of poets in line? Here then a quatrain of Phrynichus long ago to one of old Athen's favorites: "Thice happy Sophocles! in good old age, Bless'd as a man, and as a craftsman bless'd, He died; his many tragedies were fair, And fair his end, nor knew he any sorrow." A happy (to call it so) and easy death is at least as much a physiological result as a psyschological one. The foundation of it really begins before birth, and is thence directly or indirectly shaped and affected, even constituted, (the base stomachic) by every thing from that minute till the time of its occurrence. And yet here is something (Whittier's "Burning Driftwood") of an opposite coloring: (37)1874 ? Abraham Lincoln: porse. A.MS. (2p. 191/2 x 101/2, 28 x 10 cm.) Written in pencil on sheets cut from a small notebook and pasted together to form two longer strips, about 300 words: Abraham Lincoln Ever since I emerged, & saw those of my friends, on both sides who also emerged with whole [f] bones, from the who [?] [the] that probably upon the whole most temestuous wild storm, [ever] that ever whirled human affairs, certainly the wildest known to modern ages Ever since that [dark chill] drizzling[?] day, 13 years since, when [death sa] death-news spread dark chill over These Ever since I emerged with whole bomes from the wild war [camps] [?] [tug] [?] and wilder, [fiercer] peace - [camp tug] [?] of [our] the Sucession [War contest] times, I have not been without the wish of [writing or] speaking or writing some Memorial [words than might be] worthy of Abraham Lincoln Alas! let me not forget [in] [over] for a moment at least this time,227 or any time, those who did not emerge / Ever since I came out of those days, down to now, I have not been without the wish of [writing] speaking or writing down some memorial [of] worthy of Abraham Lincoln --I have made many notes--read all that has been written--put off & put off quite dissatisfied with what I have gathered (2 leave ahead) & prepared--and am just as dissatisfied, just as unprepared up to this hour --But even the acknowledgment of this is something--& this attempt, & the gathering of this audience is something--the effort to do is something --As he said at Gettysburg--It makes little difference to them what we say--honor or tears or disparagens--there they lie,--? there he lies. quiet Little can we do for Abraham Lincoln. Long since off there in his Illinois sepulchre have [his] the [chemical] visible elements of hi What we can do with him, is to absorb his homely [& heroic] virtues, his [unflagging] resolution, so gentle yet so indomitable even his quaintLincoln the aspect of affairs in The United States the Presidentiads [of] affords a curious [and] spectacle -- ? In [??] outside Draw a picture of the frightful dissolute & putrid condition of things from 1840 to '60 -- especially under Filmore & Buchanan & adm To [any] a man of [coolness] thoughtfulness & [full] [good] artistic perceptions [so] standing In the midst of the [political] [condition] play of [things] political affairs in the United States from 1840 to 1860 during the United States Presidentiads survey would be more than a battle, or [campaign] extended [campaign] a great storm or a campaign of battles or any series of Nature's convulsions. Draw a picture of the elections -- get printed slip of 1859 -- it will come in good here [??day] & [???ive] [???rid]are ever likely to be ?in Though many are dead, the majority of the living at any future period - [whe?] [?rev the work could not] [?e blest the] victors in the war are yet upon thy stage to bear authentic witness [resent is just the time." Are Real ?indictive anger of the old sort,, Southern & Northern seems to have entirely The conviction of the Union [?????????lly] as a permanent fact is however subsided. The inevitable reaction of so long and violent [??] a political military & emotional [conflict] [agitation] tempest as that [which came] which rages for thirty [to a head ev] years culminated in the struggle of 1861-'69, has [set in] commenced. and the nearer the Centennial of the [Nation] states approaches [the] the wider spread, and the deeper [hounding?] reaching, appear to [be] [the great] set in, [like] the great tidal waves of Reconciliation and Nationality. Still, the actual events of 1861-'65 are neither to be denied, smothered over nor explained away. How then are they to be met? We think by a frank an? candid spirit of fact research & c? ?ison, and by a full willingness of statement the same as Science brings to great departments and the only spir? which the modern [genius] intellect allows any2 That contest of Attempted Secession appears to me as the last great material and military outcropping of the Feudal spirit, in our New World history. [society, &1] Though it was not certain, hardly probable, that the effort for founding a Slave-Holding power, but breaking up the Union, should be successful, it was urged on by indomitable passion, pride and will. The signal downfall of this effort, the abolition of Slavery, and the extirpation of the Slaveholding Class, (cut out and thrown away like a tumor by surgical operation,) makes incomparably the longest advance for Radical Democracy, utterly removing its only rally dangerous impediment, and insuring its progress in the United States--and thence, of course, over the world. . . . . [(Our immediate years witness the solution of three vast, life threatening calculi, in different parts of the world--the removal of serfdom in Russia, slavery in the United States, and of the meanest of Imperialisms in France.] Of the Secession War itself, we know, in the ostent, what has been done. The numbers of the dead and wounded can be told, or approximated, the debt posted and put on record, the material events narrated. Meanwhile, the war being over, elections go on, laws are passed, political parties struggle, issue their platforms, &c., just the same as before. But immesest results of the War--not only in Politics, but in Literature. [?] and Sociology-- are doubtless waiting yet unformed, in the future. How long they will wait I cannot tell. The pageant of HIstory's retrospect shows us, ages since, all Europe marching on the Crusades those wondrous armed uprisings of the People, stirred by a mere idea, to grandest attempt--and, when once bailled in it, returning, at intervals, twice, thrice, and again. An unsurpassed series of revolutionary events, influences. Yet it took over two hundred years for the seeds of the Crusades to germinate before beginning even to sprout. Two hundred years they lay, sleeping, not dead, but dormant in the ground. Then, out of them, unerringly, arts, travel, navigation, politics, literature, freedom, inventions, the spirit of adventure, inquiry, all arose, grew, and steadily sped on to what we see at present. Far back there, that huge agitation-struggle of the Crusades, stands, as undoubtedly the embryo, the start, of the high preeminence of experiment, civilization and enterprise which European nations have since sustained, land of which These States are the heirs. Over [???ce] I emerged with whole bones from the world war [cough] and wilder times peace [?] of the Secession War. I have not been without the wish of writing or speaking or with some memo. [?] words that might be worthy of Abraham Lincoln. alas! let me not forget for a moment this time, or [?] time there who did not emerge Ever since I came out of those days, down to now, I have not been without the wish of [writing] speaking or writing some memorial [of] worthy of Abraham Lincoln I have made my notes - read [?] that has been written - put off + put off quite dissatisfied with what I have gathered + prepared [?] am just [?] dissatisfied, [?] as [?] prepared up to this hour But even the acknowledgment of this in something + this attempt, the question[?] of audience in something - the effort to do [?] - if he said at Gettysburg - It makes little difference to them what we say - honor or tears or disparagement - there they lie - ? there he lies, [?] have the [possible?] elements of him Little can we do for Long since off there in his Illinois sepulchre Abraham Lincoln. What we can do with him is to absorb [?]his homely virtues. His resolution so gentle it so indomitable even his [greaint] Abraham Lincoln Ever since I emerged, & saw those of my friends on both sides who also emerged with whole bones from that probably [?????] the whole most tempestn[???] wild storm that ever whirled human affairs, certainty. The wildest known to modern ages. Ever since that [dark chill] [?????] day, 13 years since, when [death our] death news spread dark chill over. These