At this crisis his nephew’s wife came from her home in New York and was with him for months. A trained nurse could not have been more watchful or more judicious, and no daughter could have been more kind and tender in her ministrations. The doctor took heart. This brooding over the poet, this constant, tactful interest in him, this cheerful face and graceful carriage always in his home--of his own family by marriage if not by birth--was, as the doctor had foreseen, the one necessity without which no other help could have availed, but with which all skill could readily co-operate. Whittier himself never undervalued his niece’s ministrations, but always said that under Heaven he owed his life largely to her care. So, the poet came back from the edge of the Dark Valley where his feet had been treading. He long outlived the physician who had watched over him with such solicitude. XVII In the May of 1868 Whittier wrote to his sister’s friend and his own: “Many thanks for thy very interesting letter from Vineland. I wished I was there when I read it. It has been dismally cold here most of the time since thee left. Nothing has been done in the gardens. The snow, however, is all gone now and there have been a few days of spring weather. The grass is springing up, the arbutus is almost in bloom, and the maple at our door is in full blossom. I have been a week in Boston and vicinity and got home last night. I was at Mrs. Pitman’s and one or two other places, but generally kept quiet. Yesterday at three o’clock when I left Boston, the thermometer was near summer heat; before I got home the air was full of rain and sleet; and it was winter. I feel the effects of the change a good deal this morning. “There is nothing new here.” Then follow a few items of news of Amesbury. “When shall thee return?” he adds. “We miss thee a great deal. A---- left us a week ago. Lizzie sends love. She had a great time at Richmond.” [The niece who had been at the South teaching the freedmen.] Again in May, six years later, he writes from Amesbury: “I have been a good deal unwell this spring, and had to keep house for two or three weeks. I hope I am getting better.... Yesterday the ministers and laymen came here in great force. The orthodox houses were filled with hungry guests, and as the day was beautiful, they had a good time.... Mrs. S---- from N---- and Gail Hamilton and Lucy Larcom were at our house.... Mr. Pickard has been here and staid two days. This is the second time he has been here since thee left.... We had a great thunderstorm on the last seventh day night. Spring has come in earnest now. The grass is green on the hills, the elms are putting out their leaves, and the maples are in blossom.” * * * * *