Excerpt from After All, Not to Create Only: Recited by Walt Whitman, on Invitation of Managers American Institute, on Opening Their 40th Annual Exhibition, New York, Noon, September 7, 1871 Dear Sir, - Aware of the kindly and generous interest you take in the welfare and progress of the American Institute, the Board of Managers of the 40th National Industrial Exhibition have instructed us to solicit of you the honor of a Poem on the occasion of its Opening, Sept 7, 1871 with the privilege of furnishing proofs of the same to the metropolitan press for publication with the other proceedings. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.