The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-11-25

declined TO make use OF the garrison
house at Haverhiu as a defense against
the Indians, preferring to rely on kind
treatment of them. While the neigh
bors of the Whittiers shut themselves
up in fortified places to sleep, his
grandfather left his house unguarda:i
and undefended. He was often visited
by the Indians, whom he trea-ed hes
pitably; and at night the family Cf1on
heard them moving around the house,
and saw their grim faces pner.ng in a
them through the windows. They
! were keeping guard against attack up
on the Whittiers by their own people.
! Worshipping as l do the sweet bard
OF Ayr, who, though faulty like the
Royal Psalmist of Israel, is of en-
nobling influence and immortal fame,
l note with pride and pleasure the fact
that Burns inspired and Influenced
| Whittier more than any other human
being. When a lad. an old ScotcAnan,
passing through the country, was COM
PEELED by darkness to ask food and
| shelter for the night at the Whittier
cottage. After supper he sang Bon
| Wha' Haze Wi Wallace Bled," and
ME Doom" Highland Mary" Scots
Aud Lang Syne" Soon after this
| Whittier's school teacher took vol
ume of Burns poems to Writers
| fathers house and read The Cotter's
Saturday Night" Tam O'Shanter,"
''Twa Dogs" and other poems. Whit
tier was indelibly impressed. Burns
entered into his soul. In an autobiog-
raphy, Whittier says this: Il begged
him to leave the book with me, and /
SCI myself 1T once - tie task OF mas
tering the glossary of the Scottish dit
lect. This is the first poetry l ever
read, with the exception of that of the
Bible, and it had a lasting influence
upon me. / noticed that he left the
book on the table on retiring, so | rose
at gray dawn next morning and read
for myself. / read Burns every mo-
ment | had TO spare. And this was one
great result Of my communion with
him, l found that the things, out OF
which poems came, were not, as | had
always imagined, somewhere away Off
in a world, and lying outside the edge
of our own sky; but they were right
here about my feet and among the peo-
pie | knew. Common things OF our
common life, l found, were full Of
poetry. Burns is to me the noblest OF
our race. He was the first poet | read
and he will be the last" He then laid
tribute at his masters feet in the shape
of that beautiful poem, entitled
Burns" whose simplicity and sweet
ness stamp it with Immortality.
The Muse of Poetry threw her man
tie over Burns, while he was at the
pillow. She threw her mantle over
Whittier while he was at the pillow. In
1881, while working on his fathers
farm, taking his place in the fields
with the hired hands, and driving his
team in the autumn days to market, to
exchange his apples and vegetables for
salt fish from the cOasting vessels, his
Voices of Freedom" was published;
and Immediately the world recognized
the fact that new star appeared in the
sky of poetry.
/ have not the time to attempt an
analysis of his poems. / can only point
them. Like Burns, simple things start
his Tyre; like Burns, he is the Poet OF
Humanity; following his own individ-
uality, he is the Poet of Freedom. His
Songs of Freedom" were the rallying
cry of abolition; his burning rhaps 3dies
awakened the conscience OF the
nation. But his vision took in all hui
mainly, and his sympathetic soul EN-
braced all forms of human suffering.
His poetic outburst had much to do
with the passage Of the law abolishing
Imprisonment for debt.
His Snow Bound" which is, per
haps, the best of his heavy poems,
bears in it's structural elements the i'm
press of Burns tCotter's Saturday
Night 1t is in evidence on almost
every page of his poems, that simple
things aroused his poetic genius. A
Judge takes drink of water from the
hand of a rural maid, and we have
Maud Muller" An old woman risks
her life putting I'D the flag that bullets
hurled down, and we have Barbara
Frietchie;" and so On throughout the
volume, but even more markedly.
What makes Whittier a blessed heri-
tage is his sweet life of Christian sim
plicity. Back Of his genius, back OF
his cutlery for suffering humanity,
back of his plea for human freedom,
was Christ, was deep sense of respon-
sibility for the use he made of his life.
He breathed all this in his poem en-
titled MY Soul and II
Then again he shows his broad
charity and keen sympathy with strug-
Cling humanity in his poem, Ihe
Prayer Seeker"
The poets who will never die are
those whose poetry covers and nortr1ys
human experiences or in some way
touches the human heart. The pathos
OF Burns John Anderson, My 10; the
touch of sadness in LongfelloW
Bridge" the ALIAS" Of Whittier,s
Maud Muller" will keep them fresh
in human memory as long as time shall
last We forget, except in name, the
majestic Paradise Lost" but Milton 5
Divine Comas" will never die. We
would forget the gorgeous ''Lalla
Rookh," dfJ not Moore preserve it by