| Note: | Walt Whtiman described himself in an 1842 New York Aurora article:
"we took our cane, (a heavy, dark, beautifully polished, hook ended one,) and our hat, (a
plain, neat fashionable one, from Banta's, 130 Chatham street, which we got gratis, on the
strength of giving him this puff,) and sauntered forth to have a stroll down Broadway to the
Battery . . . on we went, swinging our stick, (the before mentioned dark and polished one,) in
our right hand—and with our left hand tastily thrust in its appropriate pocket, in
our frock coat, (a gray one)." An anonymous writer for Appleton's in 1876 remembered Whitman
during this time as "a pleasant gentleman, of agreeable address, [who] went into society as
well attired as his precarious resources would allow." William Cauldwell, who worked as a
printer on the Aurora in the early 1840s and who knew Walt Whitman well, recalled in 1901 what
Whitman looked like then: "Mr. Whitman was at that time, I should think, about 25 years of
age, tall and graceful in appearance, neat in attire, and possessed a very pleasing and
impressive eye and a cheerful, happy-looking countenance. He usually wore a frock coat and
high hat, carried a small cane, and the lapel of his coat was almost invariably ornamented
with a boutonniere...." |
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