Whittier at close range

Name: Whittier at close range
Author: Sparhawk, Frances C.

Sparhawk, Frances C.

Whittier, John Greenleaf, 1807-1892

Lovers of the poet owe a debt of gratitude to those of his townspeople
who are members of the “Whittier Home Association.” For they have made
of his beloved Amesbury home a memorial of Whittier’s life, and have
gathered here valued mementos of the poet.

The Association under the guidance of its president, Mrs. Emily B.
Smith, able, cultured, full of enthusiasm in her work, a social leader,
has made the Whittier Home the gathering-place for whatever can best
minister to spiritual power and social refinement. Men and women of
distinction are glad to bring here of their work and so to bear witness
to their love for the poet.

Here--one of these guests, as speaker at the Midsummer Meeting of the
Association--came Calvin Coolidge, the summer before his election as
Governor of Massachusetts, and bore testimony to his appreciation of
Whittier as poet and man.

Here pilgrims from all parts of the country and from all lands are
welcomed. From here they depart with new knowledge of the poet in
his own home and greater appreciation of the man whose life of
self-sacrificing service prepared him for the utterance of that last
message of his--“Love to the world.”

In Amesbury also “The Elizabeth H. Whittier Club” keeps alive memory
and thoughts of Whittier and of that dear sister of his, his cherished
companion, and, like him, a poet.

It is fitting that this club should be also “The Woman’s Club”
of Amesbury. For Elizabeth Whittier in spite of all her retiring
gentleness was quick to exhibit at need that devotion to the right and
that courage of her convictions which must be the guiding influence
of the womanhood, the inspirer and companion of manhood in his best
achievements.




                                  XXV


Shortly before the marriage of his niece Lizzie to Mr. Pickard in the
April of 1876, Whittier in a letter to Mrs. F----, expressing pleasure
at hearing from her and sending her the requested autographs, announced:

“I am not going to give up my residence in Amesbury. But I expect to
spend some time with my cousins at their delightful home, Oak Knoll,
in Danvers. Lizzie sends love. She is busy with her preparations for a
change of base.”

Soon after her marriage he said in a letter from Oak Knoll to his old
friend, M---- C----:

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

Whittier at close rangeSparhawk, Frances C.

General

Whittier at close range

Sparhawk, Frances C.

Whittier, John Greenleaf, 1807-1892

Lovers of the poet owe a debt of gratitude to those of his townspeople
who are members of the “Whittier Home Association.” For they have made
of his beloved Amesbury home a memorial of Whittier’s life, and have
gathered here valued mementos of the poet.

The Association under the guidance of its president, Mrs. Emily B.
Smith, able, cultured, full of enthusiasm in her work, a social leader,
has made the Whittier Home the gathering-place for whatever can best
minister to spiritual power and social refinement. Men and women of
distinction are glad to bring here of their work and so to bear witness
to their love for the poet.

Here--one of these guests, as speaker at the Midsummer Meeting of the
Association--came Calvin Coolidge, the summer before his election as
Governor of Massachusetts, and bore testimony to his appreciation of
Whittier as poet and man.

Here pilgrims from all parts of the country and from all lands are
welcomed. From here they depart with new knowledge of the poet in
his own home and greater appreciation of the man whose life of
self-sacrificing service prepared him for the utterance of that last
message of his--“Love to the world.”

In Amesbury also “The Elizabeth H. Whittier Club” keeps alive memory
and thoughts of Whittier and of that dear sister of his, his cherished
companion, and, like him, a poet.

It is fitting that this club should be also “The Woman’s Club”
of Amesbury. For Elizabeth Whittier in spite of all her retiring
gentleness was quick to exhibit at need that devotion to the right and
that courage of her convictions which must be the guiding influence
of the womanhood, the inspirer and companion of manhood in his best
achievements.




                                  XXV


Shortly before the marriage of his niece Lizzie to Mr. Pickard in the
April of 1876, Whittier in a letter to Mrs. F----, expressing pleasure
at hearing from her and sending her the requested autographs, announced:

“I am not going to give up my residence in Amesbury. But I expect to
spend some time with my cousins at their delightful home, Oak Knoll,
in Danvers. Lizzie sends love. She is busy with her preparations for a
change of base.”

Soon after her marriage he said in a letter from Oak Knoll to his old
friend, M---- C----:

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Whittier at close range

Whittier at close range

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