Evening star., 1907-08-19
Piled the poet, and he afterward per-
The Whittier Homestead.

LIE w 01Ct1ef dOmeSCeaOs
The living rooms downstairs IN the
Whittier homestead. as I have told you
already, remain exactly as he left them.
The first room upon entering was the
kitchen before the house was remodeled
and enlarged in 1s47, and the chimney
was not altered. The old fireplace with
its crane and the brick oven were left
untouched. The wall Is lined with book
cases. as in all the other rooms, for his
library overfows the house. An artists
proof of an engraving Of Abraham Lin
coin hangs over the mantel. A portrait
Of the poets mother occupies the CORE
spending place in the parlor. and beside
1t are crayons Of his sister. Elizabeth; his
brother. Matthew Franklin Whittier; his
tives. In the corner is the desk upon
which Snow Bound" THE Tent on the
Beach and other poems Of the same period
were written. On top Of the desk are
twenty-five and of his sweetheart, Evalina
Bray; also framed portrait Of Barbara
Frietchte, sent to Whitfield by Miss Doro-
thea Dix. daughter of John A. Dix Of New
York. who was famous as nurse during
the civil war. The cover to the desk is
piece of linen spun and woven by Barbara
Frietchie. Another notable ornament is q
bunch Of eagle feathers from Lake Su-
perior, which suggested one of his poems.
In one Of the bookcases are two shelves
Of books sent Whittier by the writer's
with autograph inscriptions, and first edi-
tions of his own poems.
What Is called the garden room" be-
cause 1t Is in the rear of the house and
overlooks the garden Is the most inter-
esting of all because It was the poets work
room during the last ten or twelve years
of his life and everything Is left as It
was when he died. His old gray shawl
that he wore around his shoulders. his
overcoat and his Quaker hat are hanging
in the closet. and three or four canes are
leaning against the fireplace. One Of them
was made of oak from q beam OF his
Office in Philadelphia, destroyed by mob
in 1888. He usually carried this when he
went out for his morning walk. and priced
It more than any other, although he hao
many other relics in the same FORM He
wrote a poem to this cane, in which he
says:
'This relic from thy shrines.
Holy Freedom. hath to me
rn potent taat, power; We ,,ss, voice and sisn'
And. grasping methinks feel
deeper faith a stronger zeal"
One Of his canes, which he often carried,
was made of oak from the cottage OF
Barbara Frietchie.
Whittier's Last Reading.
We get a little insight into the trend
of his thoughts at the time Of hs death by
reading the titles OF the books that were
left upon his desk. He was evidently study
ing up African travel and exploration. for
Stanleys Darkest Africa" Paul du
Chaillu's work on the same continent. My
Winter on the Nile" The Queens En-
pire," Justin Windsor's Life of Colum-
bus" and Abraham Coles Memorial
Tributes" were the last books he read, and
are lying where he left them. On the other
corner Is volume Of his own verses in
the blue and gold edition.
In this room are several articles which
suggested some of his poems. The Press
t{oy, Of Iao ling a
ever wrote, was based upon a cluster OF
blossoms pressed between glass plates that
have been hanging in the window like
since 1872. A water-color Pic
ture of rock in the Arabian desert paint.
ed and inscribed to him by the wife Of
Bayard Taylor. more than half a century
ago, called out the poem The Rock in
Ell Ghor." Another picture by Mrs. Taylor
represents the northernmost church In the
world, at Vladso, Norway. within the arctic
circle
In the drawer Of his desk are several SOU
venfrs of interest. One OF them Is a piece
Of honeycomb that suggested his poem
THE Hive of Gettysburg" In that battle
a bullet pierced the head of drum and
made it useless. 1t was left upon the fed.
and shortly after hive of bees crawled
the hole and filled the drum with
honey. That singular circumstance was re-
ported to him by lady in Gettysburg, who
sent him bit of the comb.
The wall OF the garden room Is covered
with portraits OF his most intimate friends,
most Of them ordinary photographs with IN
scriptions sadly faded-LongfeAew, Emer-
son. Holmes, Beecher. William Lloyd Garri-
son. Thomas Starr King and other con-
who used to meet at the Old
Corner Bookstore in Boston. H. o. Hough-
ton and James T. Field. his publishers: Chi
nese Gordon. Joseph Surge. to whom he is
indebted for the money that enlarged .ne
cottage in 1S47. and the great Roman en-
peror and PHILOSOPHER Marcus Aurelius.