He wasn't keeping to his open road. He was forcing his soul down an old rut. He wasn't leaving her free. He was forcing her into other peoples' circumstances. Supposing he had felt true sympathy with the negro slave? He would have felt with the negro slave. Sympathy--compassion--which is partaking of the passion which was in the soul of the negro slave. What was the feeling in the negro's soul? "Ah, I am a slave! Ah, it is bad to be a slave! I must free myself. My soul will die unless she frees herself. My soul says I must free myself." Whitman came along, and saw the slave, and said to himself: "That negro slave is a man like myself. We share the same identity. And he is bleeding with wounds. Oh, oh, is it not myself who am also bleeding with wounds?" This was not _sympathy._ It was merging and self-sacrifice. "Bear ye one another's burdens."--"Love thy neighbour as thyself."--"Whatsoever ye do unto him, ye do unto me." If Whitman had truly _sympathised_, he would have said: "That negro slave suffers from slavery. He wants to free himself. His soul wants to free him. He has wounds, but they are the price of freedom. The soul has a long journey from slavery to freedom. If I can help him I will: I will not take over his wounds and his slavery to myself. But I will help him fight the power that enslaves him when he wants to be free, if he wants my help. Since I see in his face that he needs to be free. But even when he is free, his soul has many journeys down the open road, before it is a free soul." And of the prostitute Whitman would have said: "Look at that prostitute! Her nature has turned evil under her mental lust for prostitution. She has lost her soul. She knows it herself. She likes to make men lose their souls. If she tried to make me lose my soul, I would kill her. I wish she may die." But of another prostitute he would have said: "Look! She is fascinated by the Priapic mysteries. Look, she will soon be worn to death by the Priapic usage. It is the way of her soul. She wishes it so." Of the syphilitic he would say: "Look! She wants to infect all men with syphilis. We ought to kill her." And of still another syphilitic: "Look! She has a horror of her syphilis. If she looks my way I will help her to get cured." This is sympathy. The soul judging for herself, and preserving her own integrity.