Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1889-02-22

summer solitude among The mountains
and the quiet life which he leads at
Oak Knoll, his home in Daavers, make
the change To the city welcome by way
of variety. Though not fond Of So
eiety in the ordinary acceptation of the
phrase, he has large social likings and
takes deep interest in social progress.
In large companies he does not appear
at his best, because he IL not accus-
toned to the conventions of society and
has not the faculty OF passing lightly
from one topic To another after the man
ner of our brilliant conversational but
textiles. He is more or less absorbed
ia the serious thoughts to which he
gives utterance in his poems, and his
finest fancies cannot take heeting form
which would adapt them for the re-
quinements of the drawing-room. In
these respects he is unlike the great
Scotch poet, whom he resembles in his
love OF nature and attachment TO the
humblest object. | have often thought
that it would have been well for Burns
had he possessed the reserved strength
of character which belongs TO Whit
tier, which would have saved him from
yielding to the temptations which lux
urious Edinburgh society offered TO his
susceptible nature.
For man of his age Mr.. Whittier
enjoys good health, and with him seru-
pulous attention to hygIenic laws has
been the means of his attaining an
exceptional longevity for a poet. He
will be eighty-one years old this month,
being nearly two years older than DIR.
Holmes. Ii does not seem TO me that
Mr.. Whittier has shown OF late years
the cumulative evidence Of old age
which might be expected; he has held
his own, so to speak. with remarkable
tenacity, and the same may be said OF
the "Autocrat of the Breakfast Table"
who barring slight deafness, is as
well preserved as most men ten years
his junior. / have sometimes thought
that deafness was not an altogether un-
desirable acquisition for man like
DR.. Holmes, who is pestered with all
sorts of talk, and as he is not reduced to
the necessity of using an ear-trumpet,
he can more easily turn "a deaf ear"
to unwelcome visitors. 1t is not what
people say to such man, but what he
says TO them. which measures the ex-
tent of his usefulness, and as long as
Ills tongue anu pen NASH IoIth "lSc
thoughts and brilliant fancies the fact
that he cannot hear SO easily as former
ly the voice of admiration and COM
pliment is not so serious drawback as
1t appears at first sight. At this time
of life the mind naturally dwells more
upon inward than outward satisfactions,
and with this wealth of pleasant memo
ries he can never be at a loss for con-
templative enjoyment
As between Whittier and Holmes II is
noticeabl that the former has not col
ored his later poetry with the pensive
tinge which marks the more recent
verse of his brilliant contemporary
Through the fire which glowed in the
passionate appeals for the slaves is
not seen in the placid poems for which
the author of "Snow Bound smooths
his declining years, there are no indi-
cations Of old age in their tone. i take
il that the life of nature which Whit
tier has lived has left him untouched
by the pleasing melancholy which is
apt to color the poetry of men who,
like Holmes, have been impressed by
the changes of artificial society.