Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1892-09-08
THE QUAKER POET.
HisDeath Causes General Sadness-S<etch
of His Life.

AtsDeath Causes General Sadness-Sketcn
of His Life.
AMEsBURY, Mass, Sep. 8.-Amesbury
is saddened town to-day. The news
of the death of John G. Whittier, poet
friend and citizen, has brought grief to
every heart. The last few days were full
of anxiety, but the hope has ever held
sway with the PEOPLE here that they
might once again see the beloved form on
the streets of Amesbury; but that has
passed, and the tolling bells echo the
grief in many heart. The Quaker Poet
died at Hampton Falls, N. H., yesterday
morning.
His body has been brought to his home
in Amesbury and the funeral will be held
| at $3.50 p. m. ON Saturday afternoon from
his late residence on Friend street, the
house in which many of his best poems
were written, and the shrine of every Wis
| itor to Amesbury.
The body will rest in the Friends Gem
etery, connected with Union Cemetery,
in the family plot where rest his parents,
uncle, aunt, sister and brother.
| All business will be suspended in Ames-
bury on Saturday during the funeral.
| John Greenleaf Whittier was born in
| Haverhill, Mass, Dec. II, 1907. His
| parents were members Of the Society of
Friends, and the poet himself always con-
| formed to the customs and usages of that
| sect, even to its peculiarities Of speech and
| dress.
1t was thus that he was early brought
| into touch with nature, his intimate ac-
| quaintance and knowledge of whose
charms gives such a picturesque beauty
to many of his poems. They reflect the
country scenery of New England with a
fidelity that has never been equalled.
His early schooling was of the scantiest
| kind, for it was only in the winter
months that he had the opportunity of at
tending the neighboring district school.
Later on he learned the shoemaker's trade,
and by this means he earned enough to
enable him to attend the HaverhiI Acad
envy during six months in 1927.
He was then able to teach school him
self, thus obtaining the means of continu-
ing his couIse at the academy another
year. During all this time he was regular
contributor to the poets Corner" in the
Free Press, a paper edited by William
Lloyd Garrison, at Newburyport. Mass,
for his literary tastes had begun to de-
velop when he was still boy.
| Garrison saw signs of promise in the
young man. and their association at this
time led to the lifelong friendship which
existed between them and brought them
closely together in the anti-slavery cru
SADIE, which began in 1881 with the
establishment of the Liberator, to which
w nlttcr Was regular contributor anu
which caught much of it's inspiration
| from his fervid lyrics.
| After his fathers death Whittier car
ried on the farm for five years until 1885,
during which he was an industrious
writer and contributed verses to many
| periodicals.. He was also in turn editor
of the american Manufacturer" of Bos-
ton, the Haverhill Gazette" and the
"New England Weekly Review" of Hart
ford, Conn.
In 1886 he became the secretary of the
American Anti Slavery Society, and re
moved to Philadelphia, where he edited
the ''Pennsylvania Freeman" until thu
office of that paper was sacked anc
: burned by mob. In 1910 he returned
to New England and took up his abode
q in Amesbury, where he lived a quiet ant
. simple life.
During his seclusion Whittier has neve
been idle. From 1S47 to 1859 he contrib
| uted ediCorially to the National Era, TIN
Washington anti-slavery paper, and helpe'
| provide the material for the groundwork
of the Republican party.
No American poet, with the exception
perhaps, of Longfellow, has been NOR
popular than Whittier. This is ascribe'
to the noble simplicity of his character
| which was reflected in all his writings
whether in verse or prose.
His first volume in prose and verse
legends of New England" was pub
lished in 1881, and since that time colleC
tions of his writings have appeared almos
every year. The last edition of his poet
ical and prose works was published i
1889 in seven volumes.