The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1909-01-07
his activity in the cause Of abolition,

years involving political labOrs, and
the humiliation Of. mobbing at the
hands of his fellow New Englanders,
he had been diligently counting the
muse. For his verses, some good and
some indiffe ent, he received scarcely
any compensation.
The copyright OF the first compre-
hensive edition of his poems, brought
out in 1849, is said to have been sold by
him for five. hundred dollars. When he
was in his fiftieth ear, aid practically
without income, the Atlantic Monthly
was launched and he found a ready
market for limited number of his
poems. One of his first poems in the
Atlantic was Skipper Ireson," which
was resented by the people of Marble
head as gross injustice to one of her
sailor citizens who had suffered life
of disgrace for an act of cowardice
which, in after years, proved to have
been most unjustly ascribed to him by
his crew, who, themselves, had forced
him to sail away froIa fishing schOon-
er in distress.
This poem had been begun in 1888,
but was not finished. for nearly thirty
years, when it was thought to be eiigi-
BILE for the columns of the Atlantic.
Mr.. " hitter when called to task for
its inaccuracies by the historian of
Marblehead wrote that gentleman a
letter which was satisfactory in every
respect.
The poem IL at drew out the most
extended discussion and CONNIE mt upon
it's truthfulness, was barbara Fritch-
ie," which was suggested.by a story of
Civil War times given him by Mrs. EN-
ma d. E. N. Ssuthworth. When the
4 controversy over ite trethfalness grew
warm, Dorothea Dix went to Ere 'erick
and Investigated the ca e. She found
that Barba.a Fritchie lived there and
, did wave the flag as the C0nfederates
entered the town. An army officer
) made affidavit to the truthfulness of
! the lines, while young southern SOL
l dier declared that he was present and
! fired ehot with the vol;ey that shat.
i tered the fla gstatf.
Thruout the Civil War he did not
i fail to WELD his pen in prose and verse
: to rouse the people to loyalty. He in
d sisted that slavery was the bottom ant
t top of it all, and tn ftpeace with SLAYER!
y was not to be thought of. Historian
d tell us that one of his war songs be
s came especially famous. The Hutch
n ms, II family we've singing to the Fede
It raj camps by permission of Sc ;retar,
n Cameron; they introduced this sen,
10 which MIR. Hutchinson named the "F ur
10 mace Blast"
a On one occa ion, when it was bein
d sung Ly the family, the hiss from on
d individual in the audience came nea
l. causing a riot. General Kearne
a ordered the HutchiDsons to sing n
le more in the camps, aud General Frank
e. lin, to whom all the songs were sui
le mitted, pronounced it incendiary. Gel
eral Mcclellan revoked the order Q
" permissit N given by the Secretary G
10 War. AMI Mr.. Hutchinson returned
le Washington and told his story to Sci
ne retary Chase The Secretary took tn
i'll Objectionable song and presented it 6
IS the next cabinet meeting. Piesider
as Lincoln read it, and remarked: "Thes
a aro iuet tho sonvs I want nv soldier
ly to lear," and reneNei the permit
lis the Hutchinst ms.
rs With all his public service and b
nd fame he never ce nquered his bashfu
rs, ness and was never SO ill at ease
it. when the center of company th
is had been drawn together in his hone
lr- His biographers state that Whittier
SEVENTEEN birthday anniversary W
he the occasion Of one of the most not'
es- outpourings of good-willcongregatio
ma that ever occurred in this cOuntI
fe, The day was celebrated by banqu
raj given at Boston by the publishers
his the Atlantic Monthly to its contrib
Mt tors.
ife They had quite task to get Whitti
,he to attend, and when they tried to
tie. duce him to read selections from
ial own writings he replied: "Thee ash
It'll miracle. Ask me to dance the pol
lon or walk slack rope from the Pa
Of street steeple to the State House dor