Rensselaer Republican, Volume 25, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 October 1892 — JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER. [ARTICLE]

JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER.

Short Sketeh at t(b Life—Names of Some of HiaFanupu Poems, fete, John Greenleat' Whittier aas born at Haverhill, Mass., on the banks of the Merrimac, Dec- 17,1807, and for eighteen years resided with his parents on the home farm, following the plow as soon as strength would permit, working during the winter seasons as a shoemaker. In 182& be entered a Quaker school and four years mt6r rcniovcu to iioston, ne became editor of the American Manufacturer, a protective tariff paper. The literary impulse in him must have been strong, for as early as his thirteenth year he was writing anonymous poetry for the poet's corner of a country paper. The publications were admired by the editor, W. L. Garrison, and possibly were indirectly influential in shading the anti-slavery bent of Whittier's mind, for m his contact with Garrison the crusade for freedom was first brought to his notice. In 1831 he embalmed his absorptions of and acquaintances with the social economy of New England in a volume of prose e.ntitled, “Legends of New England,” a series of sketches devoted to the Indian and colonial traditions and superstitions. A little later came his story in verse entitled “Moll Pitcher, the Witch of Nahant. ” Within a year or two following! he puWished his opinions on “The Justice and Expediency of Slavery, Considered With a View to Its Abolition.” The following year (1834) he was engaged in legislative matters, and in 1835 issued the poem “Meg Megonc,” the hero of which was chief of the Saco Indians in 16‘i7. Garrison was very fond of liis gifted disciple, and his earnest fervor and unwearied labors in the anti-slavery cause shwed how Whittier returned his affection.

" In 1838 Whittier reaped a part of his reward in anti-slavery work, when a Philadelphia mob sacked and burned the Freeman office, then owned aud run in behalf of antislavery ideas, and this experience was supplemented by the Boston and Concord anti-slavery riots. Shortly after the burning of his office he was elected secretary of the anti-slavery society. Of this society Whittier wrote to a friend in 1877: “A mere handful of us came together from New England, the Middle States and Ohio, mostly strangers to each other, without much personal consideration at home, and utterly unknown in the strange city of Philadelphia, where wo met, representing nothing but a few newly-formed anti-slavery associations, with the entire influences of church and state against us, and laid the foundation of a society which, under God, has moved the world.” In 1840 Whittier took up his abode in Amesbury, a quiet village near his birth place. There, in quiet and dignity and peace, he lived until the day of his death, although there were one or two calls elsewhere, and he spent a short six months in Lowell as the editor of the Middlesex Standard. In this seclusion he lived a'oue for his literary work, having retired from journalism and public life. The Whittier cottage is a plain, old-fashioned house, situatea on Friend street, about a mile from the Amesbury line. There is nothing about it to attract the attention of passers by. It has a simple yard in front, without ornamentation, save a few trees, two or three lilac bushes, and a statuary vase of flowers. His study is a cozy little room of middling dimensions, with a cheery open fire place, old fashioned brass andirons standing guard. Near a window the poet hud located his writing table, which was usually strewn with manuscript and writing materials, very rarely including books of reference of any kind ; a few chairs, some sintple pictures on the walls of anti-slavery acquaintances, with here and there u photograph of some literary or persoual friend, and book cases large and well filled.

In liis latter days, though quite active and hale, he did but little literary work. His mind was still active and keen, but bis eyes were weak, and the stiff fingers refused to hold the pen for protracted efforts. Mentally he was never an old man, and what was probably his last poem- a recent tribute to Holmes in the Atlantic —might have been written twenty years ago for any weakness it shows. «*r* ; All his life he lived as regularly as clockwork, and his habits were such as are believed by medical science to* conduce to perfect mental and physical health. Tall and slender, with a face beniirn and pleasant, his eyes were small but expressive. He invariably dressed in black, cut in the Quaker fashion. He loved to walk, and scorned vehicles of any sort. One peculiarity of the poet was his dislike for public gatherings, and after his attendance at* the first antislavcrv meeting and his subsequent appearance in the Massachusetts State Legislature, be was never known to attend a public assembly of any kind. He always received visitors kindly, but never would utter a word about his works. -Indeed, he thought very little of his poems, and often expressed surprise at their popularity.

“If I had any idea," he said of “Maud Muller,” “that the plaguey little thing would have been so liked 1 should have takeii more pains with it." Probably “Maud Muller," “Barbara Fretchie," “Cobbler Keegar's Vision," “The Ride of Floyd Ireson," with the innumerable little poems to fuith qpd freedom, are among the shorter works which have won him most popularity. The names and dates of his leading books and poems are as follows: “Mogg Meirone,' 1836; “Voices of Freedom," 1849; “Songs of Labor," 1853.“5n0w Bound,” 1862; “In War TimeT* 1863; “The Tent on the Beach," 1867; “Miriam," 1870; “Centennial Hymn,” 1876; “Poems of Nature,” 1875. and “St. Gregory's Rest and Other Poems," 1886. '"A final edition of all his poetical and prose works supervised by himself and including his sister’s poems was pu S h t S!.l n .rr t Ll?!-T mESL ** vv tM wU3vBQV (*UU X&>4 was a severe blow to him

comfort and security-, the revenue from the sale* of bis books being mere than sufficient for bis frugal wants.