San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1888-01-12
A POETS YOUTH.
Whittier's First Published Poem and
the Friend It Brought Him.
From the October st. Nicholas.

| tne frICnu III DTOuSut HiiUs
GFrom the October st. Nicholas.
Whittier began to rhyme very early
and kept his gift secret from all
except his oldest sister. fearing that
his father, who was prosaic man,
would think he was wasting his time.
He wrote under the fence, in the at
tic, in the barn--wherever he could
escape observation and as pen and
ink were not always available, he
sometimes used chalk, and even char
coal. Great was the surprise of the
family when some of his verses were
unearthed, literally unearthed, from
under heap of rubbish in the gar
ret; but his father frowned upon
these evidences of the bent of his
mind, not out of unkindness, but be-
cause he doubted the sufficiency OF
the boys education for literary
life, and did not wish to inspire him
with hopes which might never be full
filed.
His sister had faith in him, never
theless, and, without his knowledge,
she sent one of his poems to the edi-
tor of the Free Press, a newspaper
published in Newburyport. Whittier
was helping his father repair q stone
wall by the roadside when the carrier
flung a copy of the paper to him, and,
unconscious that anything Of his was
in it, he opened it and glanced up and
down the columns. His eyes fell on
some verses called "The Exile's De-
parture."
Fond scenes which delighted my youthful
existence,
With feelings of sorrow bid you adieu-
lasting adeu; for now, dim in the dis
tance,
The shores of Hibernia recede from my
view.
Farewell to the cliffs. tempest-beaten and
gray,
Which guard the loved shores of my own
native land;
Farewell to the village and self-shadowed
bay,
The forest crowned hill aud the water
washed strand.
His eyes swan; it was his own
poem, the first he ever had in print.
"What is the matter with thee 2
his father demanded, seeing how
dszed he was; but, though he re-
sumed bis work on the wall, he could
not speak, and he had to steal q
glance at the paper again before he
could convince himself he was not
dreaming. Sure enough the poem
was there, with his initial at the foot
of it" w., Haverhill, June /, 1926,
and, better still, this editorial notice:
eff 'W,, at Haverhill, will continue
to furnish us with pieces as beautiful
as the one inserted III our poetical de-
partment of to-day, we shall esteem
it favor"
The editor thought SO much OF
1.-The Exile's Departure, and some
other verses which followed it from
the same hand, that he resolved to
make the acquaintance OF his new
contributor, and he drove over to see
him. Whittier, then u boy OF 10, was
summoned from the fields where he
was working, clad only in shirt,
trousers and straw hat, and, having
slipped in at the back door so that
he might put his coat and shoes on,
came into the room with shrinking
diffidence, almost unable to speak,
and blushing like q maiden The
editor was young man himself, not
more than % or %, and the friend.
ship that began with this visit lasted
until death ended it. How strong
and how close it was, and how it was
made to serve the cause of freedom.
may be learned in the life of the
great abolitionist, William Lloyd
Garrison, which was the editors
name.