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Books by Whitman

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24.

I HEAR it is charged against me that I seek to destroy
institutions;

But really I am neither for nor against institutions,

(What indeed have I in common with them?—Or
what with the destruction of them?)

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Only I will establish in the Mannahatta, and in every
city of These States, inland and seaboard,

And in the fields and woods, and above every keel
little or large, that dents the water,

Without edifices, or rules, or trustees, or any ar-
gument,

The institution of the dear love of comrades.

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