"I tramp a perpetual journey, . . .
My signs are a rainproof coat, good shoes, and a staff cut from the
woods . . .
I have no chair, no church, no philosophy."
People talk of Whitman as if he relied entirely on the "staff cut from
the woods"; they forget his rainproof coat and good shoes. Assuredly he
has no mind to cut himself adrift from the advantages of civilization.
The rainproof coat, indeed, reminds one of Borrow's green gamp, which
caused such distress to his friends and raised doubts in the minds of Mr.
Watts-Dunton and Dr. Hake as to whether he was a genuine child of
[Picture: Walt Whitman] the open air. {173} No one would cavil at that
term as applied to Whitman--yet one must not forget the "rainproof coat."
In regarding the work of Whitman there are three aspects which strike one
especially. His attitude towards Art, towards Humanity, towards Life.