Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-09-08
The Dead Bard's Birthplace.


John Greenleaf Whitt1er's birthplace still
stands, near Haverhill, Mass, only little
altered from what it was in 1907, the date o1
his birth. A farmers son, born at time
when New England farm life was more
frugal than it is nowadays, he had none OF
the opportunities for culture which Holmes
or Lowell had in their youth. His parents
were intelligent and upright people OF linn
tied means, who lived in all the simplicity
of the Quaker faith, and there was nothing
in his early surroundings to encourage and
deyelop literary taste He had to borrow
books among the neighbors, and thought
nothing of walking several miles for one
volume The only instruction he received
was at the district school, and later on at
the Haverhill Academy, paying for his tut
tion by work done in his spare hours.
Some of his earliest inspiration was drawn
from Burns, and he tells US of his JOY when
his schoolmaster loaned him copy of the
poets works. 81 began to make rhymes
myself" he says, in his simple way, .'and to
imagine stories and adventures" Indeed,
he did begin to rhyme almost as soon as he
knew how to read, but he kept bis verses
secret fearing that his father, VINO o. was Stisa a
his time. So he wrote only on the sly, when
the paternal back was turned; and, as pen
and ink we're not always available. he some
times used chalk, and even charcoal
He Surprises His Practical Father.
William H. Rfdefng, in his "Boyhood OF
of the family was great when some of these
verses were unearthed from under q heap Of
rubbish in the garrett His father frowned
upon these efforts, not out of unkindness,
but because he doubted the efficiency of the
boys education for a literary life. his sis
ter however had faith in him, and without
his knowledge sent his poems to the Free
Press of New bury port.
Young Whittier was helping his father
repair a fence by the roadside when the
,.ior,l lor dad q n
and, unconscious that there was anything OF
his own in it, he opened it and was dazed
to find the verses called "The Exile's De-
parture:'
''Fond scenes which delighted my youthful ex-
With fe Iings of sorrow bid We adieu;
A lasting adIeu, for now dim in the distance,
The shores of Hibernia recede from my view.
Farewell to the c ifs tempest-beaten and gray
Fareweli to the village and sail-shadowed bay.
The fore re>t-crowned hill and the water-washed
strand.n
William Lloyd Garrison His Friend.
1t was his own poem, with his initial at the
foot of it, 'W, Haverhill, June ], 1926" and,
better still, this note: "If w. at Haverhill,
will continue to favor US with pieces beauti-
full as the one inserted in our poetical de-
partment OF to-day, we shall esteem it q
favor" He did so and the editor was so
struck with the verses that followed that he
new contributor.
So he drove over to see him. Whittier.
then lad of 1s was summoned from the
field where he WAS working, and, havinr
stepped in at the back door so that he could
put on his coat and shoes. came into the
room with SHRINKING diffidenee, almost
den." The friendship that began with this |
visit lasted until death ended it. The editor
was quite young man at the tlme-not |
more than %. His name was William Lloyd |
Garrison. |
When the Abolitionists were actively at |
work sowing the seeds of anti-slavery, they |
found in John Greenleaf Whittier willing |
and an active ally. He became pronounced /
in mis- views and in 1886 the American Anti /
Slavery Society elected him its Secretary. |
From lS3S to 1889 he lived in Philadelphia, /
editing the Pennsylvania Freeman, the most |
radical paper published at that time. In /
those years the upholding OF such standard /
and the publication OF sucn principles as the
Freeman was founded upon required not only /
a moral but physical courage, and this
w hitter possessed IN great degree so V1o-
lent did the opposition become that the
printing office was sacked and burned by |
mob, ana on more than one occasion Whit |
tier laced fanatics who would have gloried |
in the death of the youngaman who poured |
hot shot into their defenses.
Mr whittier's Personal Appearance
In appearance he was somewhat patri-
archal His spare form was erect though his
hair and head were white as Stacked lime,
and his klnQlg, ucep-sob eye InOuS0 Sllg0Cly |
dinmed for reading were still bright. His |
step was slow, but not faltering, and his
hand-clasp was as firm and as hospitable as |
it was q score of years ago He did not affect |
the regulation Quaker garb, being too much
off poet to Danish bright colors Altogether: |
but he adhered religiously co the 0uaint |
"thee and thou" both in speaking and writ.
ing and there was quiet sympathy in all he |
did. A gentleman OF the old school tcourt- |
eous, refined and dignified, yet not distant
such was the host who welcomed to Oak
Knoll those who would pay tribute of re-
speet to the Quaker poet.
His home life was a charming one. and the | ,
cousins with whom he lived, Mrs Wood1nan |
and the Misses johnson, did everything in |
their power to make him happy. He was
fond of pets, and his three mag
nlncent dogs, two cats, and three fine
horses, were great favorites of his. Durinp
the summer it was his habit to spend most
of his hours out of doors, and then a youno |
Saint Bernard dog was his constant com |
panion but in cold weather he spent mos |
OF his time indoors, writing in his study on. |
In conversation with his relatives or witt |
visitors from the village.
His Poems Rapidly Rise in value.
He has attended the little Friends t,hurch ,
In Amesbury. Mass, where he lived for over |
half q century; but he has never been known | !.
10 speak in meeting" 1t is interesting to ! /