In another letter he says that he should have written before but for his many visitors and the “overwhelming mass of letters” that had been pouring down upon him; and also but for illness--“a hard attack of neuralgia,” he writes, “which has now nearly passed off, and a weary time of sleeplessness remains. I want to go to Amesbury, but cannot until I feel stronger and better. The extreme cold of the past month has been very trying.... My dear old friend, Mrs. Pitman, has been very sick, but is now improving. Mrs. Fields has had a severe attack of pneumonia, but is now thought out of danger. Things, I believe, remain about the same at Amesbury. I was saddened by the death of Mr. B----. I shall miss him much. The C---- boys are still with Mrs. B----; but a place must be found for them soon and I hardly know what to do about it. I hope to get to Amesbury by the middle of the month.” This letter was from Oak Knoll in the February of 1888. * * * * * In Whittier’s note to his poem, “Voyage of the Jettie,” written at Wayside Inn at West Ossipee, he says that to readers who know the place it will recall pleasant seasons by the Bearcamp and Chocorua. And he adds that to himself the verses have a special interest “from the fact that they were written, or improvised, under the eye and for the amusement of a beloved invalid friend whose last earthly summers faded from the mountain ranges of Ossipee and Sandwich.” This “beloved invalid friend” was the father of the “C---- boys” mentioned in the above letter--one of those Amesbury “boys and girls” in whom the poet showed an unfailing interest. This gifted young man was an early victim of tuberculosis. For years in his failing health he was watched over with solicitude by the poet, whose letters make frequent mention of him. On the invalid’s death Whittier wrote, “I miss him sadly.” The poet’s care for the orphan boys was characteristic of his fidelity. * * * * * “There is nothing especially new in Amesbury,” he says in a letter to the writer, “except the one hundredth anniversary of the old Rocky Hill meeting house for which Mrs. Spofford wrote an admirable poem. The C----’s are at Lion’s Mouth. Dr. M---- D---- is in attendance on her mother who is failing with consumption. I met A---- and M---- A---- in Portland. I had not seen them for a long time before. I found Lizzie (Mrs. Pickard) on the whole better than I had seen her for years. M---- B---- is seriously ill with spinal trouble and I fear with no prospect of recovery. The beautiful June weather is very welcome after the long and bitter winter and spring. I enjoy it, but am hardly able to get about much.” * * * * * He writes from Oak Knoll: