S

CHAPTER XIX.

THE NEW COUNTRY.

1876-1879. AGE 48-51.

EPTEMBER the twelfth, William Michael Rossetti received a card dated from 1929, North 22ndstreet, Philadelphia :-"A fairly good voyage. Favourably impressed by Philadelphia, a fine picturesque city."

Anne Gilchrist wrote to the same friend, December the twenty-second :

" ... I was never less in the mood for letter-writing than since we have been here; partly because I felt so many friends were expecting to hear, and expecting definite impressions and lively descriptions, and partly because the press of active duties leaves me little leisure.

"As to definite impressions of this vast complex contradictory phenomenon America, I am further from arriving at any such than I was in England. You can see a mountain as a whole-its complete outlines and relative proportions when you are at a distance, but when you are on it these merge into the few square yards around you and the distant prospect beyond.

"As to the bit immediately round us, this city of

Philadelphia, it is more picturesque and more foreignlooking than I expected; long straight streets at right angles to each other, long enough and broad enough to present that always-pleasing effect of vista-converging lines that stretch out indefinitely and look as if they must certainly lead somewhere very pleasant, and being tolerably well planted with trees deserve their names— Girard Avenue, Columbia Avenue, and so forth. Also the clear bright atmosphere, the immunity from soot and smoke (owing to the use of hard coal), and the prevalence of cloudless skies, enable the sunshine to have fair play and bring out in their utmost strength and intensity all colours and forms. One may have too much of a good thing, however, and sometimes this is a little wearying and monotonous; a film of smoke and a cloudy, fitful sky are not unmitigated evils. It is not a distressingly new-looking city however, for the Queen Anne style in vogue when its prosperity began, has been in the main adhered to with Quaker-like precision; good red brick, numerous rather narrow windows with white outside shutters, a block cornice along the top of the façade, and the added American feature of marble steps and entry, have a solid, cheerful and indeed, when the trees were in leaf and the abundant flags hung out, a very gay aspect-both bunting and buncombe are in favour here, says Mr. Burroughs. By-the-by, he came over to see us a few days after we landed, at the hotel; and much we liked him. So also did Mr. Marvin. But of society here we have at present seen very little. There is one delightful family circle to which the Conways gave us an introduction-that of Prof. Lesley (the geologist),

EDWARD CARPENTER.

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Director of the State Survey, with wife and daughter of the very best type of American women. But I need not tell you our greatest pleasure is the society of Mr. Whitman, who fully realizes the ideal I had formed from his poems, and brings such an atmosphere of cordiality and geniality with him as is indescribable. He is really making slow but, I trust, steady progress toward recovery, having been much cheered (and no doubt that has acted favourably on his health) by the sympathy manifested towards him in England and the pleasure of finding so many buyers of his Poems there. It must be a deep satisfaction to you to have been the channel through which this help and comfort flowed. . . .”

Walt Whitman possesses a richness and breadth of

the ideal of democratic freedom and suave dignity of mien. How pleasant was it to walk with the Poet in Camden or journey over the ferry, and note the jolly greetings exchanged with all sorts and conditions of men.

Of Edward Carpenter Anne Gilchrist writes:"July 1, 1877. 1929, N. 22nd-street, Philadelphia. "DEAR MR. ROSSETTI: I have asked the friend who brings this letter to call on you because I think you will like to hear his account of Mr. Whitman, and of us too. His visit has been quite a delightful episode in our quiet life. He cane to America mainly for the purpose of seeing Mr. Whitman, who brought him up to us; and what with our sympathy in regard to the Great Poet and what with the wide range of his gifts and accomplishments, we have enjoyed his society heartily. Mr. Carpenter was a Fellow of Trinity College, but

threw up his Fellowship because he could not stand the clericalism; he is now one of the lecturers employed by Cambridge in the University Extension Scheme. He has also written Narcissus and other Poems' which interest me much. I will not add any news of ourselves, because he will tell you all about us..

And to the same friend from 1929, North 22ndstreet, December 30, 1877, she writes:

"When Mr. Whitman gets a letter from England we generally are privileged to share the pleasure of it, and last night he brought us yours. We are having delightful evenings this winter; how often do I wish you could make one in the circle round our tea table where sits on my right hand every evening but Sunday Walt Whitman. He has made great progress in health and recovered powers of getting about during the year we have been here: nevertheless the lameness -the dragging instead of lifting the left leg continues; and this together with his white hair and beard give him a look of age curiously contradicted by his face, which has not only the ruddy freshness but the full rounded contours of youth, nowhere drawn or wrinkled or sunk; it is a face as indicative of serenity and goodness and of mental and bodily health as the brow is of intellectual power. But I notice he occasionally speaks of himself as having a wounded brain,' and of being still quite altered from his former self..

"We saw in The Athenæum the description of Madox Brown's fine work recently completed [" St. Ives (A.D. 1630)," representing Cromwell on his farm. Painted in 1873-74 in oil, size between 4 and