The daily Cairo bulletin., 1884-02-02
The Daily Bulletin.
Whittier, the Quaker Poet, at Home


Mr.. Whittier has never married, and
with the single exception OF the exqui-
S te lines entitled "Benedicite, he has
given the public no clew to the romance
OF his youth. His sister Elizabeth,
sympathzing with him completely, of
rare poetic nature and fastidiOus
taste, and of delicate dark-eyed beau
ty, was long companion that must
have made the want Of any other less
keenly felt than by lonely men in gen.
eral. The bond between the sister and
brother was more perfect than any of
which we have known, except that be-
tween Charles and Mary Lamb, and in
this instance the conditions were of per-
feet moral and mental health. To the
preciousness of the relationship the
pages OF the poet bear constant wit
ness, and Amesbury village is full of
traditions of their affection, and of the
gentle loveliness and brilliant wit of
Elizabeth, whom the people admired
and reverenced almost as much as they
do the poet himself For his old
neighbors have the closest affection for
Mr.. Whittier; except very occasionally,
what was his thought has been theirs;
and, now that he is not with them dali
ly, they miss him sadly; and among
those who miss him most and make the
most complaint about it are the chill
dren on the street. This is not re-
markable when one remembers that
Mr. Whittier does not stand on his dig
nifty, but joins in the game played in
his presence, writes his nonsense verses
on demand, has the keenest sense of
the ludicrous, and loves all sorts of in
nocent fun. We have heard him say
that he was known among the children
as the man with the parrOt--the parrot
being a remarkable bird that used to
stop the doctors gig with his "WhoaH
and when tho school-bell rang would
call from his lofty perch, run in, boys,
run in"-the fact being that the chill
dren felt the parrot to be bond be-
tween them, and he was less Of a demi-
god and more of man to their imagi-
nation on account of Charlie" MIR.
Whittier is, of course, very fond of
children, and has been known to risk
the loss of an important train with
equanimity when the easy-going, good
natured hackman had been overtaken
by an uproarious school OF children,
and had gone with them for little
drive. appearing at the door at length,
the carriage overflowing with the rosy
faces of the laughing little people, who
cared nothing about time, tide, and the
train.
At rs years and over one can be said
to have the beauty only Of age, striking
as that is in Mr.. Whittier's case, with
the dark eye and the full beard, where
black lines still appear among the sill
yer. while his form is as straight and
his step is as firm and elastic as ever.
But the poets youthful beauty is re-
ported to have been extraordinary;
very tall. erect and well knit with fine
features, dark skin, and flashing,
deep set black eye, he could not have
looked the Quaker to any extent; and,
in fact, we think he is more of a Qua
ker in habit and affection than any
thing else. He has himself recognized
that
"Over restless wings Of song
His breathless garb hung loose
and even though he clings to the forms
of the sect in many respects, using the
plain language, generally, and tells
somewhere why he prefers the silence
OF the meeting or worship rather than
any solitude Of wood or wild, where
Nature speaks to him with thousand
voices and catches him with thousand
hands, yet he dresses SO nearly like
men of the world in cut and color that
only practiced eyes could detect the
slight difference in the shape of his
coat; and his feelings about such mat
ters are entirely liberal When his lit
tie niece wanted the scarlet cape that
other children wore, and there was OBJ
lection in the house on account of the
Quaker custom, Mr.. Whittier insisted
that she should be gratitied, although,
sooth to say, poet as he is, he himself
can not tell red from green till sunlight
falls upon it, Once, indeed, the library
fire, of which he is so fond, having
damaged the border of the wallpaper,
he matched the pattern and Triumph
antly replaced it before detection, only
to learn that he had substituted for the
green vine one of bright autumnal
crimson. Yet so strong is the poets
imagination that this defect of vision
is nowhere evident in his work, al
though one might gather there that
while, as he says, "his eye was beau
ty's powerless slave" yet light and
shade please him more than variety
and depth of hue Mrs. Harriet Pres