But he stood next to Emerson, prompting his memory and supplying the
words his voice refused to utter. When I was presented, Emerson
said in a slow, questioning way, 'Burroughs--Burroughs?' 'Why, thee
knows /him/,' said Whittier, jogging his memory with some further
explanation; but I doubt if he then remembered anything about me."

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. Mrs. Burroughs makes capital pancakes, and
Walt was very fond of them; but he was always late to breakfast.