Show SY aldard andard an dard my visit to whittier I 1 great banks of white fog ito charach cristia of early autumn in bew bellg I 1 land were bulling out to aea ii ko alpine snow drifty al our trash flom ed tip before r t station in amesbury fuenty five miles away is the home of whittier arid ilia cpr irinus of A spur of efio maine eastern it it and its clean st erects arid aretty parks lie along tile very lit of t lie ocean we were now vait ing for a train to take ui thither in tile di stanco mo lie ard tile discon tented ocean fretting fret tink along the bhela ing beach and tinder tile lifted fog could discern the reeling white caps As they assumed a chousa nd grotesque forms and changing shapes galloping around projecting head lauds that push out into tile eca from i every direction along this scalloped coast farther out here no rocky promontories restrain the winds I 1 I 1 that charge across alio great deep tha t knoss no muster save alim longed the wave of galilo black masses of low lying cloud swept lee ward dropping here and there a tangled tuft of culi that trailed far out and hung downward in rugged fringes like the matted beard of old neptune the day was serene but a delight ful one to us though we could feel the breath of winter and sea the shadow of his ing in tile cold blue sea alere in this old town no bury port our feet would have lingered that we might conjure the spirit of americans Ameri cals antiquity and tal k with any ghost of a past era that might come out of its moss grown grave to revisit old flaunts or to m tinder about and W lost in tile streets that were once familiar idere occurred some of the most events ili old colonial times and here the hones of the great preacher whitefield now repose idere too tile otherwise splendid history of our puritan forefathers was m acred by deeds of violence and oppre salon idere when ilia public emed to demand it men bere ad for a trifling obliquity of behavior tile quaker was driven into exile 1 I could nover discover any other reason be cause among these hard and rug ged natures lie tried to nurse ti ie sing e I 1 of peace in ilia quiet bosom and out of tills very quaker stock sprung the lovable whittier some women acre horribly punished on the alon that they were m itches efow was it that all wit clies have the feminine gender whoever beard of a masculine witch about here men were imprisoned for kissing their N ives on sund I 1 Y markt Andu liena woman got tile reputation of being a common scold like poor charles lamb she wag ducked under the water till ella looked like a drowned lien and it is said they would never give in but would churn tile water with their t I 1 r and liia buc 8 N hat clience has softened the of this hard race of people tile wall of the prison have fallen out and crumbled down to lust the axe has demolished the post and there are now scolding women in america in this seeming digression I 1 have not wandered from illy subject at all as the readar will presently sae for where tile memory of these I 1 eions was still fresh and in the v e ry atmosphere of the ir traditions t lle gentle whittier wayborn wa aborn eighty years ago but tile careful training at tile hands of an extraordinary mother mas tile matrix in which his pla con science took shape tu we quit newburyport we sweep out onto tile of saulsbury where the plowed field and close sha V en stubble seem like brown mosaics so neat and uniformly square tile little farms appear as we rust I 1 by them all vf this region is so nea r to boston that the esthetic influences rest upon it like a dream of jerusa lam in tile heart of the early crusader everything observes a demean or of strict propriety like ru 3 ti e palaces of ceres tile barns stand stiff and itra ight against the sky with out supporting sheds or other adventitious aid and tile smooth trim nied and well raked inoes inside scorn arth from tile hands of a barber every furrow in the carefully careful lf plowed f le hi looks straight as the puritans Puri tant path to heaven all things whether or inanimate appear to be governed by some conventional rule in the arbour ardour of refinement the cattle lie down and rise up with a geometric precision and studied meaner that is startling and piggy always curls his caudle extremity in exactly the same curvilinear diorec tion as distinguishes tile spiral of the new england dougli nut utile ren at their play make no more noise than does gro ing vegetation lost it di s tile dreans of their elders and one feels that he is in a land aher 0 I 1 t is always sunlan Sun lav we have been tins particular in ro cording our observations ro is nothing else to occupy tile mind in this hours transit between newbury port and amesbury we espee illy I 1 n ind th a 0 I 1 d f a 81 ironed houses tapi cal of new england that stand will ili h way aa it some genii haa plana them in a row anti they are most always shingled from the ridgepole to tile ground but under theae same roofs every year at christmas time the chil dren como home out of the great world s maelstrom to gladden the hearts of tile old folks and to receive their benediction in his sauz chim noy corner tile aged biro brings tip nell nigh forgotten reminiscences of the time A lien the children were all tho short after noon away while tile yellow sun scarcely higher than the So othern cro 9 throws his faint boa ill OIL tile ell living character at this picturesque gathering slie too lives over ilia years of benyoung ber young mother I in tile grandchildren that climb ter knee tile kiss iare and chile patsi the pink check of t lie new haby cries over the vacant chair wilma oil mccu pant pillows lit head on the tangled I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 r L I 1 q sea of st georges balku ank no ghost shall invade these premises to disturb the least of elds anniversary arid so ilia childress child resi men and matronly worn on lika magicians transmute tile ti t I stir into a Pl irine and ordain thi wd old inathe r its sole p ri e s t e t t T 1 i ti s fp e e d t 1 ie ho altu r s a n d 0 v c n i i t g 1 im 1 a a ro li g 1 it e d w il 0 r 0 A y it nuts from hers garnish rudd y blazo from beachen loggi and dances on tile clovo ing hearth till tile wide of tile chimney fairly let tile win IA roars N iti laughter I 1 blow let frolin clouds and sleet like iron hall noisy casement sand let ali eager winter nil the they cannot all of them quen cit ilia sounds of ienir th nor dim the c effulgence of this christ maa fire I 1 now wifely passes an hour when one is aagep anti reveling in deli flit fill but we area ake cowand the train is slowing up for allies charol Mr Whittler bag lived for more titan fifty years and all about asere lie has sting of every hird and brook file mood and spangled field and tile gray ocean and so these take or a to us that is not ali their own ongoing out into tile street me enco a pleasant gentleman of m Is we ask direction to tile n tile wity ii made plain and present ly we find at the gate pans ing a moment to survey ilia neat premises vre 1 nt attract attention for hundreds from all parts of ilia world visit ghisi mccast of the sage and humanitarian mani every year tile house a bands third from tile intersection of two streets and before it are three elms tull mutely and with generous expanse of top like silent druies druids the frost had already killed the leaves and in brom n drifts they lay across tile r treat or a solitary one came butter ing dolit at our feet silently as a w ginging pont ullen it to urs ts its cere m ent of clay tile house fa a gable to the street and is two and a half stories high N ith along neat ell 6 facing in tho same direction it is painted a light drab and all tile windows are protected with blinds of a darker huo walking up the gravel path we rill the door bell and a pleas ant colored woman answers our sum rii I invites us to walk in tile industrious ethiopian Is housekeeper and at this hour was busy at her ironing arid all about her lay an as sorted miscellany of linen as white from her fingers as the snow that flutes the banks of iser we apologize for interrupting the morning pro gramme but this sable lucretia put us instantly at ease by saying 0 O ders lots ob comes byar ebery summer and im glad to shoie dem tie once arid then she drew back her ebon lips and ed the pearly gates to her mouth till we wondered tills done ail I 1 she led the way through an oid fashioned family sitting room with its treat ure of stiff back chairs a I 1 a 0 billu on them alls in a rep ul bolstered easy chair before 1 I open grate for a chill fhe stir and a sour 4 ind was blowing up from tile sea after our card was inspected he reached out his hand and bid us welcome in a quiet way and with simple phrase remarking at tile same time that lie remembered its as we had dedicated some lines to him on his birth stay we could not help noting every tiling ili alto room for we wished to always aern ember just how they appeared to its from the walls crayon sketches of garrison and lips and greeley arid other early apostles of abolition looked serenely down from their bomber frames apart from these wits a face that I 1 shall never forget strong sweet arl d almost radiant with large spiritual eyes that seemed to light up the whole room this was his another as she appeared in middle life but the affectionate son has painted her in snow bound with sue fl delity that the reader I 1 am sure will thank me for reproduce ing it here now that the sky Is full of gray louds and tile with tl cir robes our mother she turned her wheel or ruu tho olow kalt beer told how the idian horden cause down lit tofu abid how bor own great bore I 1 lit ccuen lm l m irk to fourscore I 1 te Calling lit her sitting ahre H ach abid pit and tree rhe cammi com mi poetry of life aud country waytis the of her early days she us welcome to her home old hearths grow wide tu give us room we stole wita her a fright elied look V the gy wizards bouk 1 I le fame whereof ar aud wid 0 through all the dimple country side we the twilight play the boat boru at piscataqua the weird aughtr far away we I 1 blied her little trout brook know what in wood aud meadow grow aliat hili alde auburon biown she cain iolj to shake the rips nuts down saw where in sheltered calu act bay the black anchored lay the wilk e c loud ge beneath I 1 he gray e r I 1 oud and wilile cars our mother laid he aik oik she stayed oae moi neut L D 11 r ara teis 11 0 dah I 1 tj for food aud bli citer warmth and health tiare than wealth sol lutle bisbee not th weak vain brayen which no U ul uh a yr ell t u Is e i e r p I 1 at do h eity r 0 o 11 talk liss r u ros r to 1 I I 1 ht in another pirt of the room we are attracted to tile like face of ayoung girl with large lustrous eyes but there are painful lines irav edby sickness about tho sweet houtla that is almost pitiful in its expression profane this pic tur 0 with any attempt at description but rattier L that tile loving task of the brother in the same immortal poem sot bund A one who hold henele a part of 11 hi d let her ag iia th bahoot a tj behold born b orn lean I 1 poi Is m toy mt oil r tat it r large eyes abw eathle 1 lis the gleea aud b aly pe of 0 II 11 0 u i u fr 0 m 0 m 0 h e s v e 1 1 1 0 r f r 0 lon k in e a h a I 1 e 0 J s 1 a t i y tall I 1 4 0 r lillier rach of river a ants im th I 1 large eyed behold nie till a rg the caul weight oi t h a wl tr banow for rajo Is to ou her grave has laan alid w 11 1 11 O th wlada blow and brier alu barabell ba rebell bloom adalu I 1 tread the plessant Ples dant paths we trod vee hi vile vi le p tried 4 hereon h le assed too trail and wei k 4 weri he loved yet 1 1010 lat lite i kith kiark aej full of logaa coi teng the bardi ial tile roe fill the air with she hill 8 rp tc h to JIM unclouded sky u t I 1 wait wl h ear sod eye par 1 et fi t n ic g a t 4 w h te h s hoults be A I 1 1 4 1 I 1 t a lit 1 i a r tt I 1 n ti 14 slower amt bloods bl a bird that if a irs and yet atar hearte r th am I 1 11 t richer ilia of old a in thy W bill bailie cam leaen the wealth I 1 hild what chaie can mar the pears and gold thy love hath 11 t ii I i for mu aud while in 11 1 I late afternoon I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 PC long the I 1 0 na 1 ak issom t a hat Wg shall bli pe nouh 06 1 I 1 1 I feel that abu st f v I 1 I 1 dencen rist reith 1 A wl when the soon t jred 44 1 il lur I 1 to bw I 1 I 1 ad w lie ait the I 1 1 I his jocille wo cIlle of by is la at tile left of tile fire pice fronted it was a bablo in a e 0 n 0 till a A e t III annu rf ired M 1 n R c r iiii b la k p ape and oti a manx illet p ing af li tenall spirited in w int er 13 it taken from his own 8 4 IV bound som a artict friend had painted presented to him A si tile I 1 A as a pastoral victa ift ai tile rom ini l summer tit 0 U thera g ory of liera shelves that hold bobki gom not alny i 0 I 1 number but very select an 0 1 I gull I 1 ejects 0 or tile amon them I 1 n noticed greeley Arne I 1 I 1 ito 1 1 emerson B ryant I 1 1 A of i at the far end of ti M owning russet leathered 1113 is I 1 side it a small artand coil L lv an elegant copy of ben lius d 1 by the author tj a cot rution flowed smoothly along in a may for more than all hour L took leave of the good man itald is 8 quaint but pretty I 1 some the IIII Jert matter was fragmentary tutt I 1 rea I 1 would hardly interest tile 11 spoke nith feeling of tile kiall y re ga d in aich lie is held by tile ion lie at large and of the visits that hi receives from prominent pessa among other things lie told witha touch of amusement it his voice he story of the a ell who would not enter abc house when he discovered its ture though lie had been to some trouble to get there ile no docu expected to find mr whittler do ui cited in a marble palace with ris of gold and pilasters pi lasters of silver and all e t in a diamond foundation thinie in g no doubt that in anderic a every man got what lie deserved story as told by A 1 I whittier lit substantially as it ap appeared in 13 t lake 1 whittier 18 a pleasant talker but i careful as if lie thought over eath 11 I 1 word carefully before lie 1 use it tile clothes lie wore were 14 d some dark material a prince ached old coat a semi byron shirt I 1 neck tie and oxford t its voice is firm with any suggestion of penile infirm and his face ears a look of t pleasure that always seems on th verge of grou ing into a baader built but the eyes atrit those windows a tile soul they have in them tile A quence of a liala revealed sermon 1 aich lie never delivers except w I 1 his pen ile wears no mustache bu full snowy ahia as is also tile iiii that covers a weli shaped licad I 1 there is a great deal of hidden in the old mans heart if one know how to get at it as tile follo vii in passage at arms plainly shows an m aich a gentleman in amesbury to me the sus ail vt ilves not bartrom whit sit tiers place and ilia wa i abi 11 to get about from a F received year ago sher nalo a isit to the a ter chere there were many other di I 1 people pre nt Itee linin upon a lounge she a 4 for n I 1 sitting up 1 I v t la 1 night she said ande ocon after adi to whittier how could 1 know ing I 1 should sea YOU toy to Y v neith inight I 1 unblushingly respond V how could 1 I 1 would be here today to day ali sa she if you can flattem so at eight beighl what must you have been at teen the girl 4 look I 1 me then lie replied it ig only si I 1 am old I 1 have had a chance to U 1 A ith them A F tb oy december 30 1837 0 |