Chapter V: Introduction (3)

Of that band, is not Walt Whitman the pioneer? Of that New World literature, say, are not his poems the beginning? A rude beginning if you will. He claims no more and no less. But whatever else they may lack they do not lack vitality, initiative, sublimity. They do not lack that which makes life great and death, with its "transfers and promotions, its superb vistas," exhilarating--a resplendent faith in God and man which will kindle anew the faith of the world:--

"Poets to come! Orators, singers, musicians to come!
Not to-day is to justify me, and answer what I am for;
But you, a new brood, native, athletic, continental, greater than before
known,

"Arouse! Arouse--for you must justify me--you must answer.

"I myself but write one or two indicative words for the future,
I but advance a moment, only to wheel and hurry back in the darkness.

"I am a man who, sauntering along, without fully stopping, turns a
casual look upon you, and then averts his face,
Leaving it to you to prove and define it,
Expecting the main things from you."

ANNE GILCHRIST.

Photogravure from a painting by her son, made in 1882]