Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1889-02-28

summer solitude among the mountains
and the quiet life which he leads at
Oak Knoll, his home in Danvers, make
the change to the city welcome by way
OF variety. Though not fond Of so
ciety in the ordinary acceptation OF the
phrase, he has large social Killings and
takes deep interest in social progress.
In large companies he does nos appear
Mt his best, because he is 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
terilies. He is more or less absorbed
in the serious thoughts to which he
gives utterance in his poems, and his
finest fancies cannot take fleeting form
which would adapt them for the re-
quirements 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 we'll for Burns
had he possessed the reserved strength
of character which belongs 30 Whit
tier, which would have saved him from
yielding to the temptations which lux
urious Edinburgh society offered to his
susceptible nature.
For a man of his age Mr.. Whittier
enioyS good health, and with him scru-
pLleus attention to hygicnic laws has
been the means of his attaining an
exceptional longevity for poet He
will be eighty-one years old this month,
being nearly two years older than Or.
Holmes. 1t 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
DIR. 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 uuwelcome visitors. 1t Is not what
! people say TO such Il man, but what he
| SAYS to them. which measures the eX-
! tent of his usefulness, and as long as
n
his tongue and pen flash forth wise
! thoughts and brilliant fancies the fact
that he cannot hear so easily as former
| ly tho 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 n loss for con-
templative enjoyment
As between Whittier and Holmes 1t ia
noticeable 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. | take
it 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.