The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1893-01-24
Zee ouAKRR PoEE.
Whittier In Antl-slaysry pays-stOned aud
fufspsa in New Notwithstanding

" was perhaps IN Enls same year.
1866, that we made an autumn visit to
Whittier, which is still woll,rsmem-
bered pleasure. Iheweather was warm
and the fruit was ripepipg in the little
Amesbury garden, We loitered about
for a while, | remember, In tho after.
noon, among the fallen pear leaves and
in the sweet air, but he soon led the
way into his garden-room, and fell into
talk, He was an adept in the art OF
conversation, having trained himself in
the difficult school OF New England
farmhouse, titground for such athletics,
being typically-I bare OF suggestion
and OF relief from outside sources The
unbroken afternoons and the long eVen'
ings, when the only hope Of entertain
nent Is in such Are as one brain can
strike from another, produce situation
as difficult to the unskIlled as that OF an
untaught swimmer when first cast into
the sea. Persons long habituated to
these contests could face the position
calmly, and see the early tea things
disappear and the contestants draw
their chairs around the fire with o Kind
OF zeal; but to ono new to such expert
ence there was room for heaEt'slnRlngs
when preparations were made, by put
ting fresh sticks on the fire, for sitting
from cleaning to VespeFs, and some
times on again unwearied till midnight.
Mrs. Stowe and Whittier were the in
yincible Lancelots Of these Journeys,
and any one who has had the privilege
Of sitting by the New England hearth.
stone with either OF them, will DO ready
TO confess that no playhouse, or game,
oranYo the distractions the city may
afford, can compare with the satisIac'
ton Of such an experience. Upon the
yisitin question, Whittier talked OF the
days Of his anti-slayery life in 1885 or
'S6, when the English agitator, George
Thompson, first came to this country.
The latter was suffering, from the at
tack OF many mob, and was tatigued
by frequent speaking and as frequent
abuse. Whittier invited him to his
home in the neighborhood of Haverhill,
where he could find quiet and rest dur.
ing the warm weather. Thompson ac-
cepted the invitation, and remained
with him q fortnight, They used to
rake hay together, and 90 about the
farm unmolested. AT length, however,
apressing invitation came for Thomp-
son to go to Concord, New Hampshire,
( TO speak in the cause OF freedom, and
afterward to continue on TO the village
OF plymouth and visit friend in that
place. Whittier was included in the
Invitation, and it was settled that they
should accept the call.
NJ GFhaa 4Ho4yallal yaoooaol1lfY aHAuNb In
their own chaise, as far as Concord,
where the speech was delivered without
interruption; but when they attempted
10 leave the hall after the address was
ended, they found it almost impossible.
Acrowd followed them with the appar-
emit intention OF stoning and killing
them. u understood how st. Paul tolt
when hewas thrice stoned" said Whit.
tier. The missiles fell around them and
upon them like hail, not touching their
heads, providentially, although he could
remember the sound the stones made
when they missed their aim and struck
the wooden, fence behind them. They
were made very lame by the blows, but
they managed to reach their friends
house, where they sprang up theHteps
three at q time, before the crowd knew
where they where they were going,
Their host was certainly q bravo man.
for he met them as the door, and throw.
ingit open, exclaimed, "Whoever comes
in here must come over my dead body"
The door was then barricaded, and the
crowd rushed round to tho back OF the
house, thinking that their victims In
tended to 60 out that way; but they
waited untilit was dark, when Whittier
exchanged his friends hat for that OF
his host, oand anything else peculiar
about hisdress being well disguised, the
two managed to pass out unperceived by
the crowd, and 50 on their way to Ply
month.
They stopped one night on their
Journey alta small inn, where the land.
lord asked II they had heard anything
Of the riot in Concord. Two men had
been there, he said, one an Engllshman
blythe name OF Thompson, who had
been making abominable and seditious
speeches, stirring up people about "the
iiggers;" the other was q young Quaker
by the name Of Whittier, who was al
ways making speeches.. He heard him
lecture once himself, he said Ia base
lie, Whittier told us, because he had
never ''lectured" in his life), and twas
we'll that active measures had been
taken against them. ave heard him
ali through" said Whittier. land then,
Just aa1 had my foot on the step OF the
chaise, ready to drive away from the
door, l remarked to him, Wouldn't you
like to see that Thompson OF whom you
have been speakingT took good care
not to use plain language, that is, the
said tho man. We'll, this is Mr..
Thompson, / said, as | jumped Into
the chaise. And this is the Quaker,
Whittier said Thompson, driving
away as fast as he could. looked back,
and saw him standing, mouth wide
open, gazing after US in the greatest as
Constituent"
The two kept on to Plymouth, wherc
they we're nearly mobbed second
time. Years after, Whittier said, when
he was passing through Portland once,
q man, seeing him go by, stepped out OF
his shop and asked II his name was
Whittier, and II he were not the man
who wac stoned, years before, by mob
nc Concord. The answer being in the
Affirmative, he said he believed a devil
possessed him that night; for he had
no reason TO wish evil either TO Whit
tier or Thompson, yet he was flled with
adealre to kill them, and he thought he
should have done 80 II they had not
escaped. He added that the mob was
like d crowd OF demons, and he knew
one man who had mixed black dye to
dip them In, which would be almost Inn
possible TO get of. He could not OK.
plain 10 himself or to another tho state
ii mind he N,aR In.