^^ .d' 3 -r , >- ^" .^^ \~^' ^-\*?^1^.^.. -e- x- * V ^--^ .-N^ Vtp, ■0^ ./"_ '^, ^ .<-^^ '^'^ '^ v^ ^^(iB>^ ^ ^v .^. \0^^. -'. ':-^^^":d^ ' -^^ ■ 0^ .^''• :/ % \^^ ..*" '-% .i^ r?9 ,-^ ^i •v. ' « I A ^-^^ c^'^- <^'\ ,^ ^^. .^' v-^' ^ '.'^- o\ s^". y -^ it; \ \ ^^ v^ 'y.. V' ■->, "':f : %^" vV ./' 0^- .';^:> -''■p ^^ >^^ ^•^■• •■^^a', ■%, c.^" ?'e^ .^^ -% u <. ,x> u^ : s^ -^^ A xO<^<. - 0' .0- .^^^■ ^.^- ^ ' ? A ^^ V^^ .Oo. ^A v^ x^^.. ^ '%^:::;;i^.^ V 4 ^i^^%.^ " .^ ^<-^. * N ^ ,^ cP A^ ><• v-^. .x^'""- ■^^ ,^^^ .^^% /\ ! .^^^V v-^ V i^^S' oo^ '':^. o>- ^ » 1 n^ ^ s ' ^ , % .^^'' S -^ M •■•■^^ / ■fe ■^^'' ■j ^ <'\ r>, V!-^ V ^^ .^^^' ■x-^^ /\ ,A^ a"^' ^'^- .^€J^' xO°. pttllffrj^:- 11 -/I I COPYRIGHT, 1909. by THE REILLY & BRITTON CO. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED CCU 25,384 7 f^^^ rjTif y,. EDITOR'S PREFACE Wallace Rice John Greenleaf Whittier, poet and Quaker, was born December 17, 1807, in the Whittier homestead in East Haverhill, Mass. This old house was built by Thomas Whittier, the first of the name in America, the date of erection being about 1688. It is still standing, the prop- erty of the Whittier Club. The "old, rude furnished room" described in "Snow-Bound" has been restored, as far as possible, to the condition it was in on that stormy night so long ago, when the Whittier family and their guests were snow-bound. The founder of the family in America, came from Southampton, England, in 1638. He settled first in Salisbury, moving in 1647 to Haverhill. There his sons and grandsons lived for nearly two centuries. The poet speaks of "Snow-Bound" as "a homely pic- ture of old New England homes," and in it gives a loving sketch of each member of his family. John Whittier, 7 #' his father, was a worthy representative of his pioneer an- cestors, strong and rugged, a man of action not of speech ; "no breath our father wasted," the poet says. In youth the elder John had fought his way through the wilder- ness of New Hampshire into Canada, bartering with the ^ ^ Indians and trappers, and many a thrilling tale of adven- \\/^ ture he must have had to tell that little group around the fire. He was a devout member of the Society of Friends, a leader In the affairs of Haverhill, and in all things a just man. His mind, however, was cast In a different mould from that of his poetic son; It was to the gentle Quaker mother that the youthful John went for sympathy In his literary aspirations, and there he found all the appre- ciation and encouragement that his shy, retiring nature demanded. For fifty years this good mother helped and guided and counseled her son, and, for that matter every one else who crossed her path and was in need of help and council, all who knew her esteeming her as one of the salntllest and loveliest of women. The uncle "Innocent of books" was Moses Whittler. 9 '^. Youngest brother of the poet's father, he owned a half interest In the Whittler farm. He spent his entire life in East Haverhill: "A simple, guileless, childlike man, Content to live w^here life began." He was wise in the traditions of the neighborhood and of the family, and knew the ways of the wood-creatures, whom he loved and understood better than human be- ings. Young John Whittier found a sympathetic com- panion in this kindly-natured man, and the stories Uncle Moses told of witchcraft and woodlore fell upon fertile soil and in due time bore fruit. Mercy Hussey, Mrs. Whittier's younger sister, was the "dear aunt" spoken of in the poem. She, too, spent most of her quiet life with her sister's family. She was a gentle, unselfish soul, who by her ministerings to the sick and unfortunate proved her fitness for her name Mercy. The love that her nephew bore her is shown in his description of her. Although Fate denied this sweet woman "a household mate," the grim Sisters did permit a tinge of romance to 11 ^J,s;,p km^m^' ^r^orfH^oun come Into this otherwise uneventful career. In her youth Mercy was betrothed to a worthy young man. Just be- fore the marriage he was called away on business. One evening as she sat by the fire, thinking, no doubt, of the absent lover, she felt impelled to go to the window and look out, and there was her betrothed on horseback, com- ing toward the house. Joyfully she ran to welcome him ; but when she opened the door there was trace of neither man or beast. After many weary days word came to Mercy that her lover had died on the day and at the hour of her vision. Mary, the elder sister, inherited the characteristics of her father: "Truth and almost sternly just, Impulsive, earnest, prompt to act." Unlike her father, however, she was entirely sympathetic with her brother's aspirations, and it was through her that his first poem was published. Mary had the confidence In the. young man's work which he himself lacked ; un- known to him she sent some of his verses to William 13 -^ w :4l^ M - - r - J^ Lloj^d Garrison, then editor of the "Free Press," a weekly newspaper published in Newburyport. The poem was printed, and the sight of his work in print Induced Whit- tier to send others. Garrison became interested in his con- tributor and went to see him at Haverhill, which was the beginning of a lifelong friendship. Whittier's only brother, Matthew Franklin, was five years his junior. The boys worked together on the farm and were constant companions throughout their youth. Matthew, although the younger, was much the more muscular, and was the leader when strength was the requisite. Later in life both brothers were profoundly interested in the anti-slavery cause. Matthew wrote a series of humorous articles over the signature of "Ethan Spike of Hornby" in which he satirizes the foibles of the pro-slavery politicians. Elizabeth Hussey Whittler, the youngest member of the family, was the fortunate heiress of her mother's gentle nature. During her childhood she was the especial pet of her brother John; as she grew older she became his most intimate friend and companion. She, too, possessed 15 ^uM. M the poetic temperament, together with many qualities quite lacking In her brother. His shyness and reticence found their complement In her social gift and ready wit. Colonel Thomas Went- worth Higginson, once the pastor at Newburyport and a frequent visitor at the Whittler home, says of her: "She was a woman never to be forgotten ; and no one can truly estimate the long celibate life of the poet without bear- ing in mind that he had for many years the concentrated wit and sympathy of all womankind in this one sister." Elizabeth died in 1864. During the year following Whittler wrote "Snow-Bound," while his heart was heavy with grief and he was a lonely man "with so much gone of life and love." He and his brother were now the only ones left of the family circle commemorated in the poem. James Bright, the English Quaker, orator, and states- man, says; "In the poem 'Snow-Bound' there are lines on the death of the poet's sister which have nothing" superior to them in beauty and pathos in our language." Besides the family there were two guests at that cheer- 17 OUf' ■^ounif ful fireside. "The master of the district school" was George Haskell, a native of Harvard, Massachusetts. While studying at Dartmouth College he taught one term in the school in East Haverhill. Later in life he came west, settling in Alton, Illinois, where he was active in the founding of Shurtleff College. He was a cultivated gentleman, and was doubtless familiar with Whittier's poems; but he seems never to have been aware that the poet was once his pupil or that he was the "brisk wielder of the birch and rule" involuntarily immortalized in "Snow-Bound." The other guest was Miss Harriet Livermore, the ec- centric daughter of the Honorable Edward St. Loe Liver- more. Judging from the stories told of her, Whittier's description is not exaggerated, even the "facile power to ■form a fist" being true to life: when words failed she had really resorted to blows to bring people to her way of thinking. At one time she was converted to Quaker- ism, but proved too forceful for the peace-loving Friends. When referred to in the poem she had embraced the doc- trine of the Second Advent and had traveled through 19 %J^ *^. ^^^^^itSr::.^ j^^ Europe and the Holy Land proclaiming the speedy com- ing of the Lord. She visited "the Crazy Queen of Lebanon," who was Lady Hester Stanhope, an English- woman, the niece of William Pitt. Lady Hester aban- doned England after the death of her uncle and went to the Orient. In Syria she was received by the natives as a queen. Accepting the honor bestowed, she lived on Mount Lebanon for many j^ars, ruling her large retinue of subjects. Hither came Harriet Livermore and with her came "discord and annoy." Lady Hester, also a believer in the Second Advent, had in her stable two white horses with marks on their backs suggesting saddles ; the hostess, showing these to her guest, said that one was to be ridden by the Great King at his second coming, and that she would ride the other in company with Him. Thereupon, Miss Livermore, with some heat, explained that she, not Lady Hester, would ride the horse and be the bride of the Great King. The story is that Lady Hester accepted this correction of her theory, apparently if not actually. "Snow-Bound" is one of the best examples of autobi- ographical poetry. In a description of a snow-storm, 21 iM- k:^^ \f. f\ y^sm'L ^i which cut off communication with the outside world, no uncommon event in isolated communities in cold New England, we are given an intimate picture of the poet's family and home life. Whittier, speaking of it in a letter, says: "It is a winter idyl -a picture of an old- fashioned farmer's fireside in winter, and if it were not mine I should call it pretty good." The years have gone, and few Americans in all that time have been unwilling to allow the poet much more than this half-grudging praise. As long as Americans live in placid family life through our rigorous winters, so long will they love and admire both the author and the poem of "Snow-Bound." *■■ k^^m(^ :bL^TRONGEl^lNtffEDAPi: ^0 QooD jSpirjt. V/niCfl BE^NGEU^lfilfT mi AUGMENTED NOT ONLY M THEDEVINE LIGHT or THE ^UN, mi Auo :e>y our connoN Wood firl : and as thlcele^- TlAL.riRf, DR1VE3 AW\Y J)AR!0 ;SPlRlIS,j50 AUG THl^ FIRLs^ VVOOD DOTH THE MML." ^^/m "Announced by all the trumpets of the sk}-, Arrives the snow ; and, driving o'er the fields, Seems nowhere to alight ; the whited air Hides hills and woods, the river and the heaven, And veils the farm-house at the garden's end. The sled and traveller stopped, th? courier's feet Delayed, all friends shut out, the house- mates sit Around the radiant fireplace, inclosed I f In a tumultuous privacy of storm." Emerson, The Snow-Storm. •.,'-^ I :5N ^'# The sun that brief December day Rose cheerless over hills of gray, And, darkly circled, gave at noon A sadder light than waning moon. Slow tracing down the thickening sky Its mute and ominous prophecy, A portent seeming less than threat, It sank from sight before it set. A chill no coat, however stout. Of homespun stuff could quite shut out, A hard, dull bitterness of cold. That checked, mid-vein, the circling race Of life-blood in the sharpened face. The coming of the snow-storm told. The wind blew east; we heard the roar Of Ocean on his wintry shore. And felt the strong pulse throbbing there Beat with low rhythm our inland air. /^i^^s^^mt^'.:'^-^. Meanwhile we did our nightly chores, — Brought in the wood from out of doors, Littered the stalls, and from the mows Raked down the herd's-grass for the cows ; Heard the horse whinnying for his corn ; And, sharply clashing horn on horn Impatient down the stanchion rows The cattle shake their walnut bows ; While, peering from his early perch Upon the scaffold's pole of birch, The cock his crested helmet bent And down his querulous challenge sent. Unwarmed by any sunset light The gray day darkened into night, A night made hoary with the swarm And whirl-dance of the blinding storm. As zigzag wavering to and fro Crossed and recrossed the winged snow : 31 /^ % \^ And ere the early bedtime came The white drift piled the window-frame, And through the glass the clothes-line posts Looked in like tall and sheeted ghosts. So all night long the storm roared on : The morning broke without a sun ; In tiny spherule traced with lines Of Nature's geometric signs, In starry flake and pellicle All day the hoary meteor fell ; And, when the second morning shone. We looked upon a world unknown. On nothing we could call our own. Around the glistening wonder bent The blue walls of the firmament. No cloud above, no earth below, — A universe of sky and snow! 33 The old familiar sights of ours Took marvelous shapes; strange domes and towers Rose up where sty or corn-crib stood, Or garden-wall or belt of wood ; A smooth white mound the brush-pile showed, A fenceless drift what once was road; The bridle-post an old man sat With loose-flung coat and high cocked hat; The well-curb had a Chinese roof; And even the long sweep, high aloof, In its slant splendor, seemed to tell Of Pisa's leaning miracle. A prompt, decisive man, no breath Our father wasted : "Boys, a path !" Well pleased, ( for when did farmer boy Count such a summons less than joy?) 35 F \- Our buskins on our feet we drew; With mittened hands, and caps drawn low To guard our necks and ears from snow, We cut the solid whiteness through ; And, where the drift was deepest, made A tunnel walled and overlaid With dazzling crystal : we had read ^Of rare Aladdin's wondrous cave And to our own his name we gave, With many a wish the luck were ours To test his lamp's supernal powers. We reached the barn with merry din. And roused the prisoned brutes within. The old horse thrust his long head out, And grave with wonder gazed about; The cock his lusty greeting said And forth his speckled harem led; The oxen lashed their tails, and hooked And mild reproach of hunger looked; The horned patriarch of the sheep, Like Egypt's Amun roused from sleep, Shook his sage head with gesture mute, ^M And emphasized with stamp of foot. All day the gusty north-wind bore The loosening drift its breath before; Low circling round its southern zone, The sun through dazzling snow-mist shone. No church-bell lent its Christian tone To the savage air, no social smoke Curled over woods of snow-hung oak. A solitude made more intense By dreary-voiced elements. The shrieking of the mindless wind, The moaning tree-boughs swaying blind, And on the glass the unmeaning beat 39 Of ghostly finger-tips of sleet. Beyond the circle of our hearth No welcome sound of toil or mirth Unbound the spell, and testified Of human life and thought outside. We minded that the sharpest ear The buried brooklet could not hear, The music of whose liquid lip Had been to us companionship, And, in our lonely life, had grown To have an almost human tone. As night drew on, and, from the crest Of wooded knolls that ridged the west. The sun, a snow-blown traveller, sank From sight beneath the smothering bank. We piled with care our nightly stack Of wood against the chimney-back, — ■Kr The oaken log, green, huge, and thick, And on its top the stout back-stick; The knotty fore-stick laid apart, And filled between with curious art The ragged brush; then, hovering near, We watched the first red blaze appear. Heard the sharp crackle, caught the gleam On whitewashed wall and sagging beam, Until the old, rude-furnished room Burst, flower-like, into rosy bloom; While radiant with a mimic flame Outside the sparkling drift became. And through the bare-boughed lilac-tree Our own warm hearth seemed blazing free. The crane and pendent trammels showed. The Turk's heads on the andirons glowed; While childish fancy, prompt to tell The meaning of the miracle, 43 #4 f. , 4 ■ill Whispered the old rhyme : ^^ Under the tree, When fire outdoors burns merrily, There the witches are making tea.^^ The moon above the eastern wood Shone at its full; the hill-range stood Transfigured in the silver flood, Its blown snows flashing cold and keen, Dead white, save where some sharp ravine Took shadow, or the sombre green Of hemlocks turned to pitchy black Against the whiteness of their back. For such a world and such a night Most fitting that unwarming light, Which only seemed where'er it fell To make the coldness visible. \T|orf-^oaj, Shut in from all the world without, We sat the clean-winged hearth about, Content to let the north-wind roar In baffled rage at pane and door, While the red logs before us beat The frost-line back with tropic heat; And ever, when a louder blast Shook beam and rafter as it passed. The merrier up its roaring draught The great throat of the chimney laughed, The house-dog on his paws outspread Laid to the fire his drowsy head. The cat's dark silhouette on the wall A couchant tiger's seemed to fall ; And, for the winter fireside meet Between the andirons' straddling feet The mug of cider simmered slow, The apples sputtered in a row, 47 And, close at hand, the basket stood With nuts from brown October's wood. What matter how the night behaved? What matter how the north-wind raved? Blow high, blow low, not all its snow Could quench our hearth-fire's ruddy glow (J3 Time and Change! — with hair as gray As was my sire's that winter day. How strange it seems, wdth so much gone Of life and love, to still live on! Ah, brother! only I and thou Are left of all that circle now, — The dear home faces whereupon That fitful firelight paled and shone. Henceforward, listen as we will. The voices of that hearth are still ; Look where we may, the wide earth o'er, 49 ^^ Those lighted faces smile no more. We tread the paths their feet have worn, We sit beneath their orchard trees, We hear, like them, the hum of bees And rustle of the bladed corn ; We turn the pages that they read. Their written words we linger o'er. But in the sun they cast no shade No voice is heard, no sign is made. No step is on the conscious floor! Yet Love will dream and Faith will trust (Since He who knows our need is just) That somehow, somewhere, meet we must Alas for him who never sees The stars shine through his cypress-trees! Who, hopeless, lays his dead away. Nor looks to see the breaking day Across the mournful marbles play! jrfli;::iaj^Sa^l-■i-^^^J.>:r.-ui^^v^.^!Vag^)f«iBfe-. - uS .^, Who hath not learned, in hours of faith, The truth to flesh and sense unknown, That Life is ever Lord of Death, And Love can never lose its own ! x We sped the time with stories old, Wrought puzzles out, and riddles told. Or stammered from our school-book lore "The chief of Gambia's golden shore." How often since, when all the land Was clay in Slavery's shaping hand. As if a far-blown trumpet stirred The languorous, sin-sick air, I heard *^Does not the voice of reason cry, Claim the first right which Nature gave, From the red scourge of bondage fly Nor deign to live a burdened slave! Our father rode again his ride 53 '[Wy.MfryrA- c"#^ On Memphremagog's wooded side Sat down again to moose and samp In trapper's hut and Indian camp; Lived o'er the old idyllic ease Beneath St. Francois' hemlock trees; Again for him the moonlight shone On Norman cap and bodiced zone; Again he heard the violin play Which led the village dance away, And mingled in its merry whirl The grandam and the laughing girl. Or, nearer home, our steps he led Where Salisbury's level marshes spread Mile-wide as flies the laden bee; Where merry mowers, hale and strong, Swept, scythe on scythe, their swaths along The low green prairies of the sea. We shared the fishing off Boar's Head, 55 m^m^' And round the rocky Isles of Shoals The hake-broil on the driftwood coals ; The chowder on the sand-beach made, Dipped by the hungry, steaming hot. With spoons of clam-shell from the pot. We heard the tales of withcraf t old, And dream and sign and marvel told To sleepy listeners as they lay Stretched idly on the salted hay, Adrift along the winding shores, When favoring breezes deigned to blow The square sail of the gundalow. And idle lay the useless oars. Our mother, while she turned her wheel Or run the new-knit stocking-heel, Told how the Indian hordes came down At midnight on Cochecho town. And how her own great-uncle bore 57 His cruel scalp-mark to fourscore. Recalling, in her fitting phrase, So rich and picturesque and free (The common unrhymed poetry Of simple life and country ways), The story of her early days, — She made us welcome to her home ; Old hearths grew wide to give us room ; We stole with her a frightened look At the gray wizard's conjuring-book. The fame whereof went far and wide Through all the simple country-side; We heard the hawks at twilight play. The boat-horn on Piscataqua, The loon's weird laughter far away; We fished her little trout-brook, knew What flowers in wood and meadow grew, What sunny hillsides autumn-brown She climbed to shake the ripe nuts down Saw where in sheltered cove and bay The ducks' black squadron anchored lay And heard the wild geese calling loud Beneath the gray November cloud. Then, haply, with a look more grave, And soberer tone, some tale she gave From painful SewePs ancient tome, — Beloved in every Quaker home, Of faith fire-winged by martyrdom Or Chalkley's Journal, old and quaint, — Gentlest of skippers, rare sea-saint! — Who, when the dreary calms prevailed, And water-butt and bread-cask failed And cruel, hungry eyes pursued His portly presence, mad for food. With dark hints muttered under breath Of casting lots for life or death, 61 f^HH'' Offered, if Heaven withheld supplies, To be himself the sacrifice. Then, suddenly, as if to save The good man from his living grave, A ripple on the water grew, A school of porpoise flashed in view. 'Take, eat," he said, ''and be content; These fishes in my stead are sent By Him who gave the tangled ram To spare the child of Abraham." Our uncle, innocent of books Was rich in lore of fields and brooks. The ancient teachers never dumb Of Nature's unhoused lyceum. In moons and tides and weather wise. He read the clouds as prophecies. And foul or fair could well divine, By many an occult hint and sign, Holding the cunning-warded keys To all the woodcraft mysteries ; Himself to Nature's heart so near That all her voices in his ear Of beast or bird had meanings clear, Like Apollonius of old, Who knew the tales the sparrows told, Or Hermes, who interpreted What the sage cranes of Nilus said; A simple, guileless, childlike man, Content to live where life began ; Strong only on his native grounds. The little world of sights and sounds Whose girdle was the parish bounds, Whereof his fondly partial pride The common features magnified. As Surrey hills to mountains grew ^^^^'-^^'■^'^^- :z^ In White of Selborne's loving view, — He told how teal and loon he shot, And how the eagle's eggs he got, The feats on pond and river done. The prodigies of rod and gun; Till, warming with the tales he told, Forgotten was the outside cold. The bitter wind unheeded blew, From ripening corn the pigeons flew, The partridge drummed i' the wood Went fishing down the river-brink. In fields with bean or clover gay, The woodchuck, like a hermit gray, Peered from the doorway of his cell ; The muskrat plied the mason's trade And tier by tier his mud-walls laid; And from the shagbark overhead The grizzled squirrel dropped his shell. the mink 67 S ^ iW '■■im^mh