Quaker Militant - John Greenleaf Whittier John Greenleaf Whittier

QUAKER MILITANT JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER JOHN CREEKIEAF WHITHER DEDICATED TO MY PARENTS You know my estimate of Whittier. He Is my favorite among all the living poets of the age. His inspirational effusions during the Anti-Slavery Conflict, in defence of the weak against the strong, of the enslaved against the enslaver, had much to do in effecting that revolution in public senti ment which has secured to the millions in bondage freedom and citizen ship WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON to CHARLES H. BRAINARD From an unpublished letter quoted in part in The Stephen H. Wakeman Collection WHITTIER A poem written for the unveiling of the bust of Whittier at the Hall of Fame. John G. Whittier ascended into his glory in 1892. BY EDWIN MARKHAM He knew the nesting birds and bees, The long call of the whippoorwill, The spiders busy in their trees On rocky pine-sweet HaverhilL He knew the loons call on the lake, The rattle of the barnyard bars, The creek of well-poles as they break The quiet of the evening stars. Yet Whittier, beauty-lover, bred To sow the field, to note the flower, Turned from the paths of peace, to tread The darkness, mount the battle-tower He turned from friends and beckoning fame. Turned at the call of the Inner Voice He risked Posteritys acclaim He dared the venture, dared the choice He flung aside his silver flute, Snatched up Isaiahs stormy lyre Loosened old angers, pent and mute Startled the iron strings with fire. The Quakers voice grew hoarse with rage, His tranquil face grew strangely grave, He towered a flame upon the age, The God-touched laureate of the slave Earth heard in him a prophet-king, Crying of judgment and award, Loud-crying from the whirlwinds wing, i The wrath andchallenge of the Lord, He made his song a sword for truth He dared to lose the worlds applause Now hark to his ringing cry to youth Join, join, some high unfriended cause CONTENTS INTRODUCTION xili I. THE DREAMING FARMER Boy i II. NEWSPAPER POET 16 III. THE YOUNG NEWSPAPER EDITOR 23 IV. THE PIONEER OF REGIONAL LITERATURE 33 V. THE DISCLOSURE OF His LOVE FOR MARY EMERSON SMITH 39 VI. LOVE INTERLUDES 54 VII. THE BIRTH OF AN ABOLITIONIST 63 VII I. EMBATTLED FOR FREE SPEECH 77 IX, EDITING AN ABOLITION PAPER IN PHILADELPHIA 92 X. LUCY HOOPER 109 XL A MODERN TYJOVEUS 114 XI L His FIRST MASTERPIECE LAYS OF MY HOME 129 XIII. IN MILTONS FOOTSTEPS 133 XIV, THE RADICA 149 XV. SELECTING CHARLES SUMNER FOR SENATOR. 157 XVL DEVOTION TO THE MUSES 170 XVII. THE NEGLECTED PROSE WORKS 180 XVIII. THE MALE COQ. UET AND ELIZABETH LLOYD 189 XIX. THE PINNACLE OF FAME SNOW-BOUND 207 XX. LUCY LARCOM AND GAIL HAMILTON SUCCUMB 220 XXL HE is FASCINATED BY CELIA THAXTER AND EDNA DEAN PROCTOR 236 XXII. THE PROBLEM OF THE PHILANDERING CELIBATE 241 XXIII. THE POETICAL WORK OF His LATER YEARS 251 XXIV. REACTIONARY 255 XXV THE DECLINING YEARS 271 x CONTENTS XXVI. RELIGION AND RELIGIOUS POETRY 291 XXVII. NOT SAINTLY BUT HEROIC 299 XXVIII. THE POET 309 CHRONOLOGY 323 BIBLIOGRAPHY 333 INDEX 345 ILLUSTRATIONS JOHN GRBENLEAF WHITTIER AT TWENTY-TWO Frontispiece From a miniature by J. S. Porter HAVERHILL IN WBITTIERS BOYHOOD 4 From The History of JWT IJ, by George W. Chase LETTER TO CORNELIA Russ 60 PENNSYLVANIA HALL, PHILADELPHIA 94 From The History of Pennsylvania Hall 1838 GAIL HAMILTON 1866 226 From Gail Hamilton Life in Lettm edited by E Augusta Dodge 1901 INTRODUCTION PROFESSOR GEORGE RICE CARPENTER, the author of thelast biography of Whittier, published nearly thirty years ago, hazarded the surmise that there must somewhere exist very considerable bodies of letters and reminiscences that would aid us in tracing further the development of his genius If Professor Carpenter were still alive, he would be amazed at the amount of available material in print and manuscript about the poet that has accumulated in the last generation. In the present volume I have endeavored to utilize and co ordinate some of the hitherto ungathered spoils...