Pennsylvania Pilgrim, and other poems: Part 6 From Volume I of The Works of John Greenleaf WhittierWhittier, John Greenleaf
General
Pennsylvania Pilgrim, and other poems: Part 6 From Volume I of The Works of John Greenleaf Whittier
Whittier, John Greenleaf
American poetry -- 19th century
published in The Friend (Vol. XVIII. No. 16). It is a bold and direct
appeal to the best instincts of the heart. "Have not," he asks, "these
negroes as much right to fight for their freedom as you have to keep
them slaves?" Under the wise direction of Pastorius, the German-town
settlement grew and prospered. The inhabitants planted orchards and
vineyards, and surrounded themselves with souvenirs of their old home.
A large number of them were linen-weavers, as well as small farmers.
The Quakers were the principal sect, but men of all religions were
tolerated, and lived together in harmony. In 1692 Richard Frame
published, in what he called verse, a Description of Pennsylvania, in
which he alludes to the settlement:--
"The German town of which I spoke before,
Which is at least in length one mile or more,
Where lives High German people and Low Dutch,
Whose trade in weaving linen cloth is much,
--There grows the flax, as also you may know
That from the same they do divide the tow.
Their trade suits well their habitation,
We find convenience for their occupation."
Pastorius seems to have been on intimate terms with William Penn, Thomas
Lloyd, Chief Justice Logan, Thomas Story, and other leading men in the
Province belonging to his own religious society, as also with Kelpius,
the learned Mystic of the Wissahickon, with the pastor of the Swedes'
church, and the leaders of the Mennonites. He wrote a description of
Pennsylvania, which was published at Frankfort and Leipsic in 1700 and
1701. His Lives of the Saints, etc., written in German and dedicated to
Professor Schurmberg, his old teacher, was published in 1690. He left
behind him many unpublished manuscripts covering a very wide range of
subjects, most of which are now lost. One huge manuscript folio,
entitled Hive Beestock, Melliotropheum Alucar, or Rusca Apium, still
remains, containing one thousand pages with about one hundred lines to a
page. It is a medley of knowledge and fancy, history, philosophy, and
poetry, written in seven languages. A large portion of his poetry is
devoted to the pleasures of gardening, the description of flowers, and
the care of bees. The following specimen of his punning Latin is
addressed to an orchard-pilferer:--
"Quisquis in haec furtim reptas viridaria nostra
Tangere fallaci poma caveto mane,
Si non obsequeris faxit Deus omne quod opto,
Cum malis nostris ut mala cuncta feras."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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