Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-08-17
in WHITTIER LAND
Trolley Leads Through Narrow
Strip Where Poet Lived.
KITCHEN OF "SNOW BOUND"
Old Farm Now Maintained by Board
of Trustees.
THE RIDE ALONG THE BEACH
Weird Tragedy Of the Great Salt
Marsh-Whittier's Compact
Never to Marry.
BY WILLIAM +. CURTIS.

1
Special Correspondence The Star and the Chicago
| Record Herald.
RYE BEACH, y. H., August u. 1907
| There are many delightful trolley rides
| from Rye Beach a starting point, and
one OF the most interesting IS through what
| might be called Whittier land, a narrow
| strip Of country along the Merrimack river
where the dear old Quaker poet spent his
| entire life. with the exception OF few
years when he helped to edit a paper at
| Hartford. His birthplace. on a farm just
| outside the busy shoemaking town of Hav-
| erhll. was his home for the first twenty
| nine years OF his life. He lived at Ames-
| bury nine miles farther down the Merri-
! mack. the remaining fifty-six years. He at
| tended the district school near his father s
home and completed his education at the
Haverhill Academy. where he first gained
| a local reputation. al a lad OF nine
| teen, by writing an ode for the dedication
| Of new building. 1t Is one Of the best
| things In his several volumes OF verses.
| The district school building where he at
| tended Is now the manual training school
| of the city. The academy is still an insti-
! tuition of Importance.
| The farm house. like Mark Twain's villa
| at Hartford, faces away from the road,
| and presents. stern-frst. to the visitor. as
| a sailor would say. the kitchen described in
| Winters famous poem. Snow Bound.
There Is little porch over the entrance
| In which he used to love to sit when he
visited his birthplace In his later years.
Old Home Well Cared For.
The farm had passed out OF the family
| then and was owned by a shlftless man
| who did not keep the house in repair or the
| surroundings In q neat condition. This
| used to distress Whittier. who had a keen
| off, nd no Quaker neatnpSS of
| habit. and he attempted to buy the old
| homestead and restore 1t. Several public
| spirited citizens of Haverhill relieved him
| of that responsibility. They purchased the
| place, restored 1t completely raised fund
| for It's permanent maintenance and trans
ferred the property to a self-perpetuatlng
! board Of trustees. The house Is now cared
| for by an old friend of the poet who takes
great pleasure and satisfaction In enter
tanning pilgrims to that shrine and relating
| the history of the many relics 1t contains
Winters family were among the earliest
settlers of the Merrimack valley They
came here from England only eighteen
years after the Pilgrims landed at Ply
! mouth, ana Whittier Hill, an eminence
| which rises behind Haverhll, was named
| for Thomas Whittier the pioneer and the
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. of the poet
Copied After Coney.
A trolley ride from Rye Beach to Whit
| tier land Is almost as delightful as one by
automobile. The track runs along the
seashore as far as Hampton Beach. which
| is the beginning of the country with which
Whittier was associated and the scene of
his poem, The Tent on the Beach" Dur
ing his time people used to drive down
from the interior towns to the shore, bring
ing wagonloads Of furniture. bedding and
cooking utensils and pitch rows of tents
upon the sand. In which they spent the
summer months camping out in the way
that Whittier describes. but nowadays
| .lv,la N,,ra IL
land. with long rows Of cheap cottages and
cheaper boarding houses, cafes at which
you can have ''all you can eat Tor 20
cents" Scent vaudeville performances.
merry-go- rounds, salt water taffy stands.
big wooden casino with a band to entertain
it's patrons, who sit In rocking chairs on
It's broad piaZzas, and an opera house at
| which The Mller's Bride" is presented
twice a day by a cast of first-class artists.
There are still some tents on the beach al
the extreme end of town, and I was told
that they were occupied by boys club
from Haverhill.
On the way to Hampton I got into con-
versation with the conductor of the trolley
car, and when we became a little acquaint-
ed made some inquiries about Whittier.
We didn't hit 1t Off somehow. AS people
addicted to slang would say. Our wires
were crossed" Ultimately 1 found that he
was speaking of the proprietor of Whit
tiers Hotel at Hampton village, while
was asking about the Quaker poet
Motors in Bunches.
You have to change cars at Hampton
Beach, the first stage of the journey. and
leave the trolley that has come from Ports
mouth for another that strikes off to the
westward and the busy manufacturing
towns in the valley of the Merrimack. There
is a choice of excursions from Hampton:
Won can take a car for Exeter or go on to
Boston, following the boulevard that was
built along the shore two or three years ago
and is rapidly getting to be the one of the
most popular drives in the world. The au-
tomobiles go whiZzing by with cloud of
dust behind them with amazing frequency
and occasionally we saw a slower paced
carriage The entire shore from Ports
mouth to Boston is lined with villas and
cottages of all descriptions and degrees of
comfort, and on this part of the coast they
are owned by well-to-do mechanics and mill
operatives who have put them up at cost
of three or four hundred dollars and send
their families down here for the summer,
where they can join them by trolley every
night. or at least over Sunday. It's great
blessing and those who have no cottages
find accommodations In the boarding houses
on Saturday afternoon come down Sum
day to spend the day on Sunday. when the
crowds are enormous.
At Hampton Beach there is always wait |
ing car for Amesbury and Haverhil. The |
former place is about ten miles across a !
causeway through salt water or swamps-
ma She's" as they call them here-that are |
covered at high tide twice day.
There was a most singular tragedy down |
here a few years ago. 1t is the custom, |
after a heavy gale. to rake up the
weed that has been left on the beach and |
haul 1t home for manure. The farmers |
spread it on the ground until it is dry. |
stack it up until after the fall blowing |
and then spread 1t upon their fields. 1t Is
full of phosphorus and nitrates and other
plant nourlshment and enriches the land.
One day farmer named Blanchard went |
down to the beach for load of seaweed. |
and while he was returning home he stop
ped on the road across the ma sh'' to see
what the matter with his wagon. He
unhitched the traces so that the horses
wouldn't start and run the wheels over his
body and then crawled under the load
where lying on his back. he tried to set
matters right. In some manner or other
no one could tell how, the reach of the
wagon was loosened and fell upon his
chest pinning him securely to the ground
so that he could not move. And there hs
lay until the tide came up and. gradually
growing higher finally covered his face
They found his lifeless body there in the
morning. The horses waited patiently until
feeding time, and then, the traces were
they wandered slowly home
without their master.