"
It was not such a leap from the New England writers to Whitman as
one might imagine. Mr. Burroughs spoke of Emerson's prompt and
generous indorsement of the first edition of "Leaves of Grass": "I
give you joy of your free, brave thought. I have great joy in it."
This and much else Emerson had written in a letter to Whitman. "It
is the charter of an emperor!" Dana had said when Whitman showed
him the letter. The poet's head was undoubtedly a little turned
by praise from such a source, and much to Emerson's annoyance, the
letter was published in the next edition of the "Leaves." Still
Emerson and Whitman remained friends to the last.
"Whitman was a child of the sea," said Mr. Burroughs; "nurtured
by the sea, cradled by the sea; he gave one the same sense of
invigoration and of illimitableness that we get from the sea. He
never looked so much at home as when on the shore--his gray clothes,
gray hair, and far-seeing blue-gray eyes blending with the
surroundings. And his thoughts--the same broad sweep, the elemental
force and grandeur and all-embracingness of the impartial sea!"
"Whitman never hurried," Mr. Burroughs continued; "he always seemed
to have infinite time at his disposal." It brought Whitman very
near to hear Mr. Burroughs say, "He used to take Sunday breakfasts
with us in Washington.
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