Chapter I: Preface

This volume is designed to meet a call from tourists who are visiting the Whittier shrines at Haverhill and Amesbury in numbers that are increasing year by year. Besides describing the ancestral homestead and its surroundings, and the home at Amesbury, an attempt is made to answer such questions as naturally arise in regard to the localities mentioned by Whittier in his ballads of the region. Many anecdotes of the poet and several poems by him are now first published. It is with some hesitancy that I have ventured to add a chapter upon a phase of his character that has never been adequately presented: I refer to his keen sense of humor. It will be understood that none of the impromptu verses I have given to illustrate his playful moods were intended by him to be seen outside a small circle of friends and neighbors. This playfulness, however, was so much a part of his character from boyhood to old age that I think it deserves some record such as is here given.

For those who are interested to inquire to whom refer passages in such poems as "Memories," "My Playmate," and "A Sea Dream," I now feel at liberty to give such information as could not properly be given at the time when I undertook the biography of the poet.

If any profit shall be derived from the sale of this book, it will be devoted to the preservation and care of the homes here described, which will ever be open to such visitors as love the memory of Whittier.

S. T. P.

WHITTIER HOME, AMESBURY, MASS.,
March, 1904.

CONTENTS

PAGE

I. Haverhill 1

II. Amesbury 53

III. Whittier's Sense of Humor 105

IV. Whittier's Uncollected Poems 127

Footnotes 154

Index 155

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER _Frontispiece_ From an Ambrotype taken about 1857.

MAP OF WHITTIER-LAND xii

WHITTIER'S BIRTHPLACE 2 From a photograph by Alfred A. Ordway.

RIVER PATH, NEAR HAVERHILL 5 From a photograph by Ordway.

HAVERHILL ACADEMY 6 From a photograph by G. W. W. Bartlett.

MAIN STREET, HAVERHILL 8 From a photograph by Ordway.

BIRTHPLACE IN WINTER 9 From a photograph by Ordway.

KENOZA LAKE 10 From a photograph by Ordway.

FERNSIDE BROOK, THE STEPPING-STONES 11 From a photograph by Ordway.

THE BIRTHPLACE, FROM THE ROAD 13 From a photograph by Ordway.

"THE HAUNTED BRIDGE OF COUNTRY BROOK" 15 From a photograph by W. L. Bickum.

GARDEN AT BIRTHPLACE 18 From a photograph by W. L. Bickum.

SNOW-BOUND KITCHEN, EASTERN END 21 From a photograph by Ordway.

SNOW-BOUND KITCHEN, WESTERN END 23 From a photograph by Ordway.

THE WHITTIER ELM 29

JOSHUA COFFIN, WHITTIER'S FIRST SCHOOLMASTER 31

SCENE OF "IN SCHOOL DAYS" 33 From a pencil sketch by W. L. Bickum.

HARRIET LIVERMORE, "HALF-WELCOME GUEST" 41

SCENE ON COUNTRY BROOK 43 From a photograph by Ordway.

THE SYCAMORES 45 From a photograph by Ordway.

OLD GARRISON HOUSE (PEASLEE HOUSE) 47

ROCKS VILLAGE AND BRIDGE 48 From a photograph by Ordway.

RIVER VALLEY, NEAR GRAVE OF COUNTESS 49 From a photograph by Ordway.

DR. ELIAS WELD, THE "WISE OLD PHYSICIAN" OF SNOW-BOUND, AT THE AGE OF NINETY 50

CURSON'S MILL, ARTICHOKE RIVER 57 From a photograph by Ordway.

DEER ISLAND AND CHAIN BRIDGE, HOME OF MRS. SPOFFORD 59

THE WHITTIER HOME, AMESBURY 61 From a photograph by Mrs. P. A. Perry.

JOSEPH STURGE, WHITTIER'S ENGLISH BENEFACTOR 63

"GARDEN ROOM" AMESBURY HOME 65 From a photograph by C. W. Briggs.

MRS. THOMAS, TO WHOM "MEMORIES" WAS ADDRESSED 67

EVELINA BRAY, AT THE AGE OF SEVENTEEN 68 From a miniature by J. S. Porter.

WHITTIER, AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-TWO. His earliest portrait 69 From a miniature by J. S. Porter.

EVELINA BRAY DOWNEY, AT THE AGE OF EIGHTY 71

ELIZABETH WHITTIER PICKARD 75 From a portrait by Kittell.

SCENE IN GARDEN, AT WHITTIER'S FUNERAL 76

THE FERRY, SALISBURY POINT, MOUTH OF POWOW 77 From a photograph by Miss Woodman.

POWOW RIVER AND PO HILL 79 From a photograph by Miss Woodman.

FRIENDS' MEETING-HOUSE AT AMESBURY 80 From a photograph by Mrs. P. A. Perry.

INTERIOR OF FRIENDS' MEETING-HOUSE 81 From a photograph by G. W. W. Bartlett.

CAPTAIN'S WELL 83 From a photograph by G. W. W. Bartlett.

WHITTIER LOT, UNION CEMETERY, AMESBURY 85 From a photograph by W. R. Merryman.

THE FOUNTAIN ON MUNDY HILL 87

ROCKY HILL CHURCH 88 From a photograph by Miss Woodman.

INTERIOR OF ROCKY HILL CHURCH 89 From a photograph by Miss Woodman.

SCENE OF "THE WRECK OF RIVERMOUTH" 90

SCENE OF "THE TENT ON THE BEACH" 91

HAMPTON RIVER MARSHES, AS SEEN FROM WHITTIER'S CHAMBER 92 From a photograph by Greenleaf Whittier Pickard.

HOUSE OF MISS GOVE, HAMPTON FALLS, WHITTIER ON THE BALCONY 93 From a photograph taken a few days before the poet's death, by Greenleaf Whittier Pickard.

CHAMBER IN WHICH WHITTIER DIED 94

AMESBURY PUBLIC LIBRARY 95 From a photograph by Gilman P. Smith.

WHITTIER, AT THE AGE OF FORTY-NINE 97 From a daguerreotype by Thomas E. Boutelle.

THE WOOD GIANT, AT STURTEVANT'S, CENTRE HARBOR 99

THE CARTLAND HOUSE, NEWBURYPORT 101

WHITEFIELD CHURCH AND BIRTHPLACE OF GARRISON 103

BEARCAMP HOUSE, WEST OSSIPEE, N. H. 110

GROUP OF FRIENDS AT STURTEVANT'S, CENTRE HARBOR, WITH WHITTIER 113

JOSIAH BARTLETT STATUE, HUNTINGTON SQUARE, AMESBURY 123 From a photograph by Charles W. Briggs.

* * * * *

KEY:--

1. The Whittier Birthplace. 2. Joshua Coffin's School, in house now occupied by Thomas Guild. Scene of poem "To My Old Schoolmaster." 3. Site of District School. Scene of "In School Days." 4. Job's Hill. 5. East Haverhill Church. 6. Cemetery referred to in "The Old Burying Ground." 7. The Sycamores. 8. Ramoth Hill. 9. Hunting Hill. 10. Grave of the Countess. 11. Country Bridge. 12. Site of Thomas Whittier's Log House. 13. Birchy Meadow, where Whittier taught school. 14. Home of Sarah Greenleaf. 15. Home of Dr. Elias Weld and of the Countess, Rocks Village. 16. "Old Garrison," the Peaslee House. 17. Rocks Bridge. 18. Curson's Mill, Artichoke River. 19. Pleasant Valley. 20. The Laurels. 21. Site of "Goody" Martin's House. 22. Whittier Burial Lot, Union Cemetery. 23. Macy House. 24. The Captain's Well. 25. Friends' Meeting-House, Amesbury. 26. Whittier Home, Amesbury. 27. Hawkswood. 28. Deer Island, Chain Bridge, home of Mrs. Spofford. 29. Rocky Hill Church. 30. The Fountain, Mundy Hill. 31. House at Hampton Falls, where Whittier died. 32. Scene of "The Wreck of Rivermouth." 33. Boar's Head.]

HAVERHILL

Copyright, 1891, by A. A. Ordway]

WHITTIER-LAND