The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-12-17
JOHN G.
A Pleasant Chat About His Early Life-HOw
Some of His Poems Were Written.

Some of His Poems Were Written.
Boston Special.
A recent interview with the poet Whittier at
his winter residence in Danvers is printed.
Speaking of his early life and uhe first publiea-
ton Of his maiden effort to court the muse in the
Newburyport Free Fress, edited by William
Lloyd Garrison, Whittier said he was hoelng
corn when the paper containing the poem was
shown him, and it was one of the happiest mo
ments of his life, as the manuscript had been
sent to the printer without the authors knowl-
edge. The poet sent q few poems later
to the Hartford Review, then edited by
George D. Prentice, and when this gentleman
went to Louisville Mr.. Whittier was invited to
assume the editorial chair. He was hoeing corn
when the offer came, and he said; u would not
have been more surprised if 1 had been offered
the crown Of England" but he accepted the
trust.
The poet said: "Mr. Prentice was at all times
a fearfplly3aggressive and plain.spoken man,
and during his stay in Hartford he made some
enemies. Among them was Gideon Welles,
a strong Democrat, afterward a member of
Lincoln's Cabinet. On more than one occa-
sion | had to defend Mr.. Prentice against
the attacks of these men. At the end of two
years ! was. called back to my fathers farm. He
died soon after, and | continued to till the soil
for several years. During my stay i'll Hartford
| became acquainted with Frederick A. T.
Barnard, now president of the Columbia Col
lege. He was a student at Yale, and came to
Hartford and wrote for the Review. / was very
fond of Eastern history, and SO was he, and, rs
we met quite often, a warm friendship sprang
up between us, which remains to this day. lie
afterward went to Mississippi, l believe. and l
did not see him for many years.
Miriam a sort of Eastern poem, dedicated
to him. 'Snowbound' was written after two be-
ings had passed away whom I loved devotedly-
my mother and my sister. 1t is in one sense a
memorial of them, and, as L could not dlsasso-
.clate them from my homeJife, the poem became
a narrative Of my early days in HaveEhlll. The
physician alluded to was my old friend, DIR.
Ihpndnpa Wpl1 .Of gVhOm Dlc0 Cnpak IN the
prelude to a little poem, The Countess and the
young woman, Miss Harriet Livermore, the
daughter of Judge LiveFmore. L became
acquainted with her while she was stop
ping at DR.. Yields house. She was
highly gifted and eccentric, but very
strongrminded and willfnl, and was always a re-
ligious enthusiast. How well l remember the
pride she took in correcting my pronunciation;
One dav she determined to visit the educational
institutions of the Greek and Catholic churches
in Europe. and thither she went. She spent
thirty years travelling in the East, and passed
some time with Lady Hester Lucy Stanhope,
who lived in an old convent on the slopes OF
Mount Lebanon, near Beyroot. With such a
character Harriet Liyermore ought to have
been happy. But it seems they qlarreled,
and Miss Livermore returned to this coun-
try. / met her soon after her arrival, and,
speaking of her journeyings, she described
her visit to Lady Stauhope. She told me that
that lady kept two milk-white horses IN her sta
bic whereon to ride with the Lord when the
summons came 10 Ine new JeTuSdlems L dul III
clined to think Mrs. Livermore believed that one
of the horses ought to have been reserved for
her rather than for Lady Stanhope, and that
that was the cause of their disagreement. She
afUerward visited the East, and a friend of mine
travelling in Syria found her dwelling in a tent,
aruler of a smail, dirty tribe of Arabs. But IN
her declining years she became disguised with
her mode of living, and, returning again to this
country, died in Philadelphia"
Whittier spoke lovingly of his old-tlme friends,
Longfellow. Emerson, Sumner, Hawthorne,
Fields and Holmes, and said: l write little now.
For many years l have been bothered with
headaches, and lately l find that [ am unable tie
labor for more than fifteen or twenty minutes at
q time. 1t would be useless, he said, ITO write
without a head. One cannot get along without
brains; and yet there are many things L have
written. especially in prose, which shall never
republish. They refer more particularly to the
antilslavery agitation. For q long time my po-
sition on that question was different from that
of Garrison. i recognized that the Constitution
legalized slaveholding, and, therefore, my efforts
were directed against its extension to the Terri
rories, and in behalf of gradual and peaceful
emancipation in the South. But, when the war
burst upon us, l was with Lincoln and Garrison
heart and soul. lam proud Of the part played
in that controversy; but as Charles Sumner en-
deavored to obliterate all record of that great
conflict from our battle flags, so | desire to bury
in the waters of oblivion all the bitter things L
said in that strife. He was a friend of human
ity," Mr.. Whittier exclaimed, pointing to Sum-
ner's picture. hanging to the left Of his writing
desk; "a noble statesman, a pure-mlnded patriot,
and an incorruptible man"