WALT WHITMAN’S VISION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 2002, 12 July 1919, Page 1

WALT WHITMAN’S VISION.

A REMARKABLE PROPHECY,

Dr. C, W. Saleeby, in the Times Literary Supplement, recalls a remarkable pi’ophecy of to-day’s events by Walt Whitman, published in 1865: —

I see not America- —I see not only Liberty’s nation, but other nations preparing; I see tremendous entrances and exits —I see new combinations —I see the solidarity of races; I see that force advancing with irresistible power on the world's stage;

(Have the old forces, the old wars,

played their parts ? Are the acts suitable to them closed?) I see Freedom, completely armed and victorious, and very haughty, with Law on one side and Peace on the other.

A stupendous Trio, all issuing--forth

against the idea of caste; —What historic denouements are

these we so rapidly approach? I see men marching and countermarching by swift millions; I see the frontiers and boundaries of the old aristocracies broken; I see the landmarks of European kings removed; I see this day the People beginning (heir landmarks (all others give wav):

—What whispers arc these, 0 lands, running ahead of you, passing under (he seas? Are all nations commencing? • Is there going lo be but: one heart to the globe? Is humanity forming en masse? — for lo! tyrants tremble, crowns grow dim; The earth, restive, confronts a new ora.

The perform’d America and Europe grow dim, retiring in shadow behind me, The unperform’d, more gigantic than ever, advance, advance upon me.