...nature's richness is not enough. Whitman's strongest note is sustained in the idea of human comradeship. Then with the knowledge of death as walking one side...companions, and as holding the hands of companions. At this climax death becomes the "strong deliveress," the "dark mother" who must be welcomed. Lost...

...and among them all, enveloping me with the rest, Appear 'd the cloud, appear 'd the long black trail; And I knew Death, its thought, and the sacred knowledge...forth to the hiding receiving night ,that talks not, Down to the shores of the water, the path by the swamp in the dimness, To the solemn shadowy cedars,...

...death; but for Lincoln it was his special companion, and he might have sung, as Walt Whitman would: The knowledge of death as walking one side of me,...close-walking the other side of me. And I in the middle. . . . Lincoln had participated in the funerals of his mother, two of his sons, friends, and the children...

...and among them all, enveloping me with the rest, Appear'd the cloud, appear'd the long black trail, And I knew death, its thought, and the sacred knowledge...forth to the hiding receiving night that talks not, Down to the shores of the water, the path by the swamp in the dimness, To the solemn shadowy cedars...