Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-03-13
For the Rutland Herald.l
Whittier'~ Poems.
Pr REV. H. Q. FARRAR.

r EEf- H. q. EAkEAR.
We think of Whittier as we think of
calm and beautiful June morning.
His poems have that sweet grace and
charming power over our hearts thatsuc
a morning has upon our bodies. There
is nothing harsh nor stern nor repulsiye
in them, they WIN and hold us when
won. They are full of sunshine, but 1t
is the light and heat for use not for mere
show, for activity not for idleness; they
call US out to admire, and tolove, and to
do. They are as fresh as the bedewed
| grass, and roseate as the sparkling
/ flowers, and choice as the varying land
scape. There ls thought and sentiment
in each line. There is power in every
poem. There is yigor in every character.
Wit and humor and sarcasm have their
mission in this mind aud work il out in
his worded thought. The knife has q
keen edge and cuts fearfully, but 8
skilled hand holds it, and throbbiDg
heart of sympathy prompts It. Love for
God and love for man are foremost, and
find the richest verse and sweetest music.
He has no graces TO parade, they are for
Gods eye and his own consolation. So
he speaks little of himsPlf-he is too
Quakerish for this. Yet we have marked
many a passage delineafing character
given to another on his page, yet drawn
from his own life experience; a portrait
ure of his own inner life. His works
speak bis life and his love. They are
l.
language. 1t Is the best order Of testi-
mony.
In his poem 10 his complete works, a
neat duodacimO, printed In double col
umns, clear type, and on paper a shade
or two removed from white, lately issued
by J. r Osgood s. Co., he lifts the cur
tain little, and you catch q glimpse of
his personal character.
80. Freedom If to me belong
Nor mighty Millions gift divine,
Nor Marvell's wit and graceful song,
SriIl with a love as deep ana strong
As theirs. lay, like theIs, my best gifts
on thy shrine"
This is no boast, for his life labors
have fully substantiated this modest
statement.
John Greenleaf Whittier IS too well
known in all reading circles to make any
extended notes from his life; and that
he is living and producing is additional
why our written words Of him should be
few and our eulogies modest.
Yet a few facts Of his life and labors
thus far may not be amiss 10 many of
your readers. Indeed this published
volume of his complete poetical works
is sufficient excuse for a few facts.
He was born in aaverhill, Mass, De
cenaber 1907. His parents were Friends.
Until his eighteenth year he tOiled quiet
" on the farm and gathered his early
knowledge. At the age Of twenty-five
he became editor of the 1Dserjca7t RantL-
factltrer, at Boston. In 1880 he sue
ceeded George ID. Prentice ia the editor
ship of the Nel0 England Weekly Re0iea0.
He edited Brainard's Poems and wrote
a brief memoir In 1881 he published a
work entitled ''The Legends of New
England" II was a collection of Colo
nial and Indian traditions, from which
he doubtless drew for the subjects of
many of his poems One familiar with
his poetical writings would c0ncede his
great familiarity with these legends in
his ''AIagg MegOne, Bridal of Penua-
cook" "Cassandra Southwick," " etc.
The exposed and active life of the ed
itOr did not suit his tastes and he sooA
retired to the farm for quiet.
His sense of justice and right ranged
him alongside those noble and stalYart
heroes that fought for the liberty Of the
enslaved.
His pen was active during this long
struggle and many and many poem,
in his hate of the accursed system,
was flung from the press only TO hasten
the dav which should proclaim the Year
of Jubilee.
During this North and South contro-
versy he published his freedom poems,
Voices of Freedom" {" in which we re
cognize '.Tousaint L'Overture," THE
Slave Ships, Song of the Free, "The
Hunters of Men, ''The Crisis. etc.
In 1910, Mr.. Whittier established him
self at Amesbury, Mass, where he has
since resided, in comparative seclusion
wholly given to literary work. II is
useless to give anything like detailed
account of his labOrs from this date.
More than dozen volumes of poetry
have come freshly from his brain and are
eagerly deyoured by the best minds of
the country, for Whittier is an Amer
lean fayorite. He is intensely American,
as much as Burns is Scottish or Schiller
German. All his sympathies are Amer
ican. And so America will not willing
" let him die. He sings his sweetest
songs in praise of our freedom. He re-
joices in our broad prairies and rugged
mountain scenery; in our vast lakes and
majestic rivers and rich alluyial valleys.
His poetic genius has cOnsecrated the
common things of American home life
and made them forever beautiful. He
has given dignity 10 quiet pastoral pur-
suits and invested nature in her quieter
moods with grace that charms Moth
ing that God has made but is beautiful
in his poetic vision. Nothing human
that tends to bless and exalt the race,
but is almost divine. The brotherhood
of man and the fatherhoOd Of God are
inspiratiOnal thoughts to- his soul. The
home of the soul commands his tender
est notes. And wherefore not, his spirit
is tuned to its harmonies and his poetic
measures are but faint echo of the
songs within, finding wrapt expression
only in that glorious home the Master
has prepared for His servants. Sweet
bard of America, may thy quiet lie be
long and peaceful 20 the end.
In this volume before us, we notice
with pleasure bis latest production, ne
Pennsylvania Pilgrim" We well re-
member how like balm TO wounded
spirit this lovely picture of the Quaker
statesman of early Pennsylvania came
to us amid the angry clash and roar of
human passion in the Presidential con-
test of last fall. In bis preface to this
poem, he says: 'The colors of my
sketch are allvery sober, toned down 10
the quiet and dreamy yatmosphere through
which its subject Is visible. Whether,
in the glare and tumult of the present
time, such a picture will find favor may
well be questioned. But there were
many minds who seized this tender
thoughted idyl with JOY, and as they
read, it soothed their ruffied feelings and
brought them back again into the sweet
ways of charity, and WIN fuil hearts
ousker eGgy pobasd bard. 'n1li and 50 do weI
CastletoD, Vt.