"David Hume pronounced Whitefield the most ingenious preacher he had ever heard, and said it was worth while to go twenty miles to hear him. But perhaps the greatest proof of his persuasive powers was when he drew from Benjamin Franklin's pocket the money which that clear, cool reasoner had determined not to give."--_Robert Southey._ WHITMAN (Walt, American poet and army nurse), 1819-1892. "_O, he's a dear, good fellow_," said of Thomas Donaldson, one of his most enthusiastic friends, and later his biographer. There was a most pathetic incident connected with Mr. Whitman's death. It was related to me by "Warry" Fritzinger, his nurse. Warry had arranged a rope above Mr. Whitman's head, in the bed, which was attached to a bell below. He would pull this rope after he became weak, and thus ring the bell to attract attention. Prior to this time he had used his heavy cane to pound the floor with. This brought assistance at once. Just before he died, as the great change came over him--he was conscious that it was a great change, a something unusual (Mrs. Davis and Warry were by his side)--he seemed as if groping for something. Death had called for him, and as the call came, he attempted to reach above his head with one of his hands and feel for the rope, as if to call for help. In an instant the arm dropped, and soon he was dead. _Donaldson: "Walt Whitman the Man."_ Whitman has, amid the fleshly and physical poems, much that is deeply spiritual; amid the tuneless and formless, much noble thought fitly voiced. The higher mood and the higher work may be seen in "O Captain! my Captain!" "Reconciliation," "Vigil on the Fields," "The City Dead-House," "Song of the Broad Axe," "Proud Music of the Storm," "The Mystic Trumpeter," "Seashore Memories," and the death-carols of the "Passage to India." _Welsh: "Digest of English and American Literature."_ WHITTIER (John Greenleaf, distinguished American poet), 1807-1892. "_I have known thee all the time_," to his niece in response to her question, "Do you know me?" Others say his last words were, "Give my love to the world."