The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1893-04-01
A VISIT TO WHITTIER,
Some Effective Side-Lights Thrown tn,
Character OF the Poet.

1 a VISIT TO WHIT TIER.
Some Effective side-Liehts Thrown the
Character of the Poet.
The memory of visit to Amesbury,
made once in September, wildly re-
mains with me. It was earlv in the
summer seems sometimes to gather
fresh intensity from tho fact that we
are SO soon to hear the winds of au-
tumn.
Amesbury had greatly altered of late
years; '1arge enoush to be a city" our
enough to be an alderman" To US it
was still a small village, though some
what dustier and less attractive than
when we first knew it.
As we approached the house we saw
him from a distance Enthusiastically
gazing down the roadsfor US, from his
suddenly dtsap fsdtfny; TO como forth
again to meet us, quite fresh and quiet,
from his front door. 1t had been
very hot, dry summer, and everythin 2
about that place, as about every other,
was parched and covered with dust
There had been no rain for weeks and
the village street was then quite inno-
cent of watering carts. The fruit hung
heavily from the nearly leaf1ess trees,
and the soft thud of the pears and ap-
pies as they fell to the ground could be
heard on every side in the quiet house.
yards. The struggled ebly
through the mists during the noontide
hours, when still heat pervaded rath-
err than struck the earth; and then in
the early afternoon and late into the
next morning a stirless cloud seemed to
cover the face of the world. These
mists were much increased by the burn
ing OF peat and brush, and, alas! Of the
very woods themselves, in every direc-
ton Altogether, as Whittier said,
quantity, lit was very encouraging
weather for the Millerites''
His niece, who hears the name
of his beloved sister, was then
the mistress of his home, and
we soon made heartily well
come inside the house, where every
thing was plain and neat became a
Friends household; but as the village
had grown to be {, stirring place, and
the house stood close upon the dusty
road, such charming neatncss must
sometime have been Il difficult achieve
mcnt The monday meal was soon
served and soon ended, and then we sat
down behind the half-closed blinds,
looking out upon the garden, the faded
vines and almost leaiess trees 1t was
a coy room, with its Franklin stove,
at this season surmoun ted by a bou-
quet, and a table between the windows,
where was largerss bouquet, which
Whittier himself had gathered that
morning in anticipation of our arr i, a.
He had seemed brighter and better than
we had dared to hope, and WAS in
ccllent mood for talking Eefcrri ng
again to the Millcritcs, who had been
SO terminated by the mists, he said he
had been deeply impressed lately with
their deplorablc doctrines. "Continu-
ally disappointed because VIC don't all
burn upon a sudden, they forget to be
thankful for their preservation from
the dire fate they predict with SO much
com placency."
He had just received a proof of his
poem. 'N1iriau,'''a the introduction,
and he could not be con te Mt until they
had been read aloud to him. After the
reading they were duly commented up
on and revised until he thought he
could do no more, yet twice before our
departure the proofs were taken out of
the handbag, where they were safely
slowed away, and again more or less
al tered.
Whittier's ever growing fame was not
ia ken by him as matter OF course. II
can not think very we'll of my own
things he used to say; land what is
mere fame worth when thee is at home
alone, and sick with headaches, una bic
either to read or to writer" Neverthe-
less he derived very great pleasure and
con ISOLATION from the letters and trib-
ntes which poured in upon him from
near Us ne nd1t GOucncu or lives he had
luickencd. THAT l like" he would
say; that is worth having" But he
must often have known the dceps of
,rou BILE in winter evenings when he
vas too ill to touch book pen, and |
when he could do nothing during the |
ong hours but sit and think over the |
ire.
We slept in Eliza beth's chamber
The portrait of their mother, framed in |
autumn leaves gathered in the last aut-
INN of her life, hung upon the wall |
iere. too, as in our bed room at Dick |
ms, the diary of Fcpys lay the |
able. Dickens had read his copy faith
ully and written notes therein. OF |
HIS copy the leaves had not been cut, |
out with it lay the prayers of the |
Age" and volumes of poems which had |
Ill been well read and ''riclwicl<' up
m the top. Annie Field, in IIarper's
Magazine.
ANIMALS IN WET WEATHER.
n Habits in REGARD |