CENTENARY OF WHITTIER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2815, 26 February 1908, Page 77

CENTENARY OF WHITTIER.

(Montreal fitness, December 24.)

The centenary of the birth of John Greenleaf Whittier, "the Sir Galahad of American song," " the rare old saint " of Charles Kinssley's interview, occurred a week ago. The founder of the family in Massachusetts was Thomas Whittier, who came thither from England in the days of Charles I, and to his quiet though sturdy and wholesome Quaker principles the future poet fell heir. John's mother was -also a Quaker, but h-d Huguenot blocd in her- veins, the original name of her family, Feuillevert. beiug Anglicised into Greenleaf, as smiting better the simplicity of the Friends. The lad grew up on his father's farm on the banks of the Merrimac until 18 years of &<ze, working in summer in the fields, in winter in the little shoemaker's shop belonging to the farm, and in 'spare time reading and rereading the Bible, " l'hi Life of George Fox," " Ohalkley's Journal," and '" Sewell's History," which four volumes

comprised his father's library. A chance visit of a'Scotsman made him acquainted with Burns's poems, and led the lad of 14 to try hie hand at rhyme. He had two years' academic training, and served for a little while as school teacher. His verses had, however, found a place in a local newspaper, and there finally" caught the attention of William Lloyd Garrison, then in the heat of his great battle for the freedom of the slave. In Whittier Garrison found a man after his own heart. He introduced him to journalism. Whittier served on various papers, celebrating almost every event in the struggle, in his' "Voices : of Freedom." In Iti3B, while editing the Pennsylvania Freeman, the' office of the paper was sacked and burned by ' a mob. He also " more than once parrowly escaped personal violence from the ruffians of the proislavery party. In 1847 ,Whitt.ier, became connected with the^ National Era, a^ connection maintained \ for' some" 12 years. " By' this time he had published various volumes of verse, and | the opportunities afforded by the founding of the Atlantic Monthly in 1857, amd still more the appearance of Snowbound in 1866, confirmed his popularity. During this* period' the .United States had passed through its terrible ordeal. Whittier — Quaker as he was, and much as" his heaxt went out to the sufferers of the South- as well as of the North — regarded the war as inevitable, and again- and again his voice rang out to inspire those who were fighting for freedom of the slave and the interests of the nation. In 18/5, as, he heard the bells ring on the passage of ' the constitutional amendment abolishing slavery, he -wrote 'LLaus Deo!" Ring and swing, Bells of joy! On morning's wing Send the song of praise abroad! With » Bound ot broken chains Tell the nations that He reigns Who alone is Lord and God.' The remainder of, Whittier's life was tranquil, but his boyish paseion for justice and for freedom, and, it may be added, his quiet but genuine sense of mumour, never faltered. "(Freedom, temperance, charity, faith in, the divine goodness, love of Nature and of home and of country," as they were the keynote of his writings, were the keynote of his life until, 15 years ago, surrounded by the homely scenes and people that he loved, he peacefully fell asleep. Whittier cannot be classed' as a great poet, though he occasionally reached the heights, but, as one critic reminds us, his rank " is not to be determined solely by literary canons. It is to be estimated also by .the historic eoneequence of his verse in that 30 years' struggle for justice to the enslaved." John Bright, amid the dust and din of politics, found coufage and consolation in Whittier's songs. Mr Stead says that it -is worthy of. note, that though most. of our English poets are democratic, Whittier "is th& only one who has deemed the ballot box ' a: fitting theme for ■"• his muse." The fact was that Whittier perceived The still small voice an. autumn- hußh, Yon maple wood the burning' bush. So he saw nothing in life or Nature too common to be the theme of poetry. There is a Wordsworthian simplicity in his verse which is the reflection of the scenes in which he lived as interpreted by his own, pure heart. But it is'as a spiritual expo.nent of the religious faith in which he had been brought up that Whittier will be most generally, remembered., Throughout an age which ran the itnut from dry mechanical theoloay to blank negation it was no ;jnean achievement to .keep his faith in* the, reality, 1 the nearness, and the goodness of God,* unsullied and urshaken.' The verses of the Quaker poet have found their way into the hymnals of all the churches. To him experience rather than logic was ever the basis of religion, and so he found in the Gospel No fable old, nor mystic lore, Nor dream of bards or seers, No dead foot stranded on the shore Of the oblivious years: , But warm, sweet, tecder, even yet, A present help is He; And faith hus utill its Olivet, And love its G*lilee. And so, in spite of all the evil of the world, he was able to sing and £o teach others to sing: Yet in the maddening maze of things, ~ And teased by storm and flood. To one fixed trust my spirit clings; I know that G-cd ia good! Not mine to look where cherubim And seraphs- may not see, "• But iiothing can bs good in Him Which evil iB in me. This was a message worth .delivering and { no doubt by its teaching that <the Eternal £ " looks on us with the pity, of a man," it J has raised many "to think the thoughts a of God." \