The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-01-21

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When Whittier found man with him
and against slavery he was with this mar
and when he found one whom he consid-
cred betrayed the cause he denounced
| him. When Webster delivered his til
/ of March speech and seemed 10 Whittier
! betra wing lie cause OF freedom their ap-
! peared that terrible poem, 'Ichabod:"
''All else is gone; from those great eyes
The soul has fed;
/ When faith is lost. when nonor dies,
The man is dead.
! Whittier has been called a prophet. He
j surely saw the clouds OF battle when at
/ the admission OF Texas he wrote:
| Like q lion growing low
! Like a night storm rising slow.
Like the tread Of unseen foe.
It is coming. it is nigh,
Stand your homes and affairs by,
On your own free threshold die.
| Oh for God and duty stand.
Heart TO heart and hand TO hand.
Round the old graves OF your land
When the war opened, the government
policy was to leave slavery where it was
Whittier still called to the conscience of
the people that slavery was the cause
and until it was removed their could be
no union.
What gives the wheat fields blades Of
steel,
What points the rebel cannon.
What sets the roaring rabies heel
On the old star-spapgled pennon?
What breaks the oath of the men O the
south?
What whets the knife for the unions life?
Hark to the answer-slavery.
For singing this song the Hutchinsons s,
family of singers were barred from
singing to the soldiers. till the matter was
brought haforo tho president and his "a b.
met and then Lincoln said those were
just the songs he wanted soldiers TO hear.
Whittier only stopped these songs when
the emancipation proclamation was enfoc-
ed.
Whittier himself considered his work
against slavery, the best work of his life.
However. there is an interesting study to
follow the development OF his conception
Of the great questions of life.
There were three periods in the
development Of his ideas.
The speaker then quoted from poems to
show the childlike trust Of the poet in
the faith of his mother and his pride in
the Quaker denomination.
But this sectarian pride had a collapse
when the Quaker meeting houses were
closed against discussion Of his favorite
topic of slavery and when orthodox and
Unitarian Quakers began to disa gree and
contentious filed the yearly meeting. In
addition the power of slavery seemed to
increase and doubtings of all kind as
sailed the poet
He then quoted different poems 20 show
the uuestionings of Whittier's soul and
showed by the poetry how the poet first
conceived of the universe as a harmon
ious whole: "Luked in a sympathy like
the KEYS OF an organ vast" ruled over by
God and then followed the conception:
That all is Of God that IS and is 70 be
and God is Good" And then love broke
over the poets soul and saw the universe
filled with love and he became the poet of
love.
He then quoted freely from the ballads
of the poet showing the love of god. the
love Of humanity, the love of nature, of
country and the consistency of the true
hearted maid and her lover. This assur-
ance of love as the ruling principle Of
true life, had one step more in the devel-
opment of the poets thought About the
time he wss creating these poems of love
his mother and sister were called from
him. sickness followed the latters death
and as he sat between the pictur 81
his mother on one hand and that Of his
sister on the other in the silence Of his
room, he felt the meaning OF the immor-
tally. He then wrote Snow Bound
in which the reference to his sister shows
that his belief in q personal existence Of
the soul after death was an assurance
He feels that his sister is not far; that
her large eyes are gazing from some
heavenly hill and that when the sun set
gates unbar he should see her welcoln-
ing hand reckoning him TO the skys.
Snow Bound brought success TO the
poet His books had better sale. The
poem itself brought him $1,000 and his
future poems all brought him a good re-
ward
He told the pecu1ariues OF the poet
How he wore but one STYLE OF coat all his
days and that the straisht-breasted drab
OF the Quaker, always cut IN the same
stvle. of his pet parrot and pei bantam
rooster; Of his care for the poor and con-
Germ for aged people and love OF the
young and beautiful and his springing
hopeful tone He spoke Of the friends
of the poet. among whom he numbered
the other great poets of New England
and spoke Of how Emerson and Lowell
and Holmes al had tears in their eyes
when they read his poetry.
An instance of how the poems Of Whit
tier have this influence happened in this
city. one Of the public school teachers
ORA natised Barbara Fletcher for the
children. she had the boys bring their
toy guns and march along
In the street come the rebel tread.
Stonewau Jackson riding ahead
Under his sl0uched hat lett and right
30 glsnced The old has 2 % his scsht-
When the order 10 fire was given the
BOYS shot 4 string attached g. the tlas
caused IT To drop. The little girl was 70
say. "Sh0ot rs YOU must, this old gray
head. b,-- snare your c0untry's flag. She
hesitated ard when asked why she did
not proceed. said. Miss TGcher. i
can't say the words. they make me cry.
He concluded by giving short review
az the book 81 poems. entitled. ia Sun
down" published for private circulation
among winters friends.
THIS volume vas used 70 show me
beauty Of q serene old age. loving al aud
loved hy an. waiting IL peaceful eXpfe-
tstioa the cau to join the loved ones gone
before.
The address concluded with qpotaf'on
from the poem To oliver We1d-s, ficiraez.
written hut two weeks before iis ce4---'
The hour draws nigh