Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/527

Rh ed representative in congress from Tennessee in 1870, and served by l'e-election till 1883. He was appointed to the U. S. senate as a Democrat to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of How- ell E. Jackson, took his seat, 26 April, 1886. and was afterward elected to fill out the unexpired term. He had previously been elected to the house of representatives for the 50th congress. In the house Mr. Whitthorne was for six years chairman •of the committee on naval affairs.

WHITTIER, John Greenleaf, poet, b. in Ha- verhill, Mass., 17 Dec, 1807. His parents were members of the Society of Friends, and to the principles and practices of this sect he always re- mained faithful, conforming even to its peculiari- ties of speech and garb in a community where such observance, by being singular, must often have been trying to a temperament so shy and sensitive as his. His first American ancestor came to Mas- sachusetts in 1638, and the conversion to Quaker- ism took place in the second generation of the family, after the settlement of the Bay Colony, at & time when that sect was sternly persecuted. There may therefore be something of heredity in the unswerving constancy of Whittier to unpopu- lar opinions. At the date of his birth Haverhill was still a farming village, one of the prettiest among the many pretty hamlets which then gave a peaceful charm to the rural scenery of Massachu- setts. Born on a farm, Whittier's first occupations were those of a farmer's boy, driving the kine to and from pasture, riding to mill, fetching in wood for the undying kitchen-fire, and helping in the lighter labors of haying and harvest. He was thus early brought into that intimate communion with Mother Earth and with Nature which comes not by mere observation, and which gives such a peculiar charm of picturesque truth to so many of his poems. How much he thus learned and to how good profit he put it are visible in many of his poems, but es- pecially in his " Snow-Bound," which, in addition to its other merits, has now also a historical value as a vivid picture of modes of life even then obso- lescent and now almost as far away as those pic- tured by Homer. And not only will the scenery of New England, both outward and domestic, live in his verse, but it is worth remark that the nobler qualities of the Puritans have nowhere found such adequate literary expression since Milton as in this member of a sect which they did their utmost to suppress. Almost alone among American poets, he has revived the legends of his neighborhood in verse, and his " Floyd Ireson " is among the best of modern ballads, surpassed by none save Scott, if even by him. His schooling in other respects must have been scanty enough, since his only op- portunity during boyhood would be the nearest district school (taught commonly by a college stu- dent younger than some of his rustic pupils), where he got such training in the simpler rudiments of knowledge as was possible under the conditions then existing. And this training, as usually in the country, was limited to the winter months, when farm-work was necessarily suspended. He has recorded his indebtedness during boyhood to Dr. Elias Weld, of Haverhill, who gave him the free- dom of his library. A farm-hand taught him shoemaking, the com- mon occupation during winter in the fishing and farming villages along the coast, and by this means he earned enough to warrant his attend- ing Haverhill academy during six months of 1827. He was now sufficiently learned, according to the simpler notions of those days, to be himself a teacher, and taught in the district school of West Amesbury during the following winter. This sup- plied the means for another six months at the academy. In Whittier's case, as in that of so many other New Englanders, nothing is more characteristic or more touching than the persist- ent resolve to get the best education within their reach at whatever sacrifice.

The literary impulse in him must have been strong, for while yet in his nineteenth year he con- tributed anonymous verse to the poet's corner of the "Free Press," a journal edited by W. L. Garrison in Newburyport, and enjoyed the furtive bliss of print. Garrison saw signs of promise in these immature experiments, sought out the au- thor, and gave him the precious encouragement of praise and sympathy. This led to a lasting friend- ship, and, with the traditions of his sect, may have had some influence in preparing Whittier to enlist in the anti-slavery crusade which began with the establishment of the " Liberator " in 1831, and af- terward caught so much of its inspiration from his fervid lyrics. The ambition to become a poet was awakened in him appropriately enough by a copy of Robert Burns's poems, which fell into his hands in his fourteenth year.

His father dying, he carried on the farm for the next five years, and in 1835 was sent to the general court from Haverhill. During all these years he had been an industrious writer, seeking an outlet in all directions and contributing poems to John Neal's " Yankee " and to the " New England Maga- zine," where the "Autocrat" began his admirable discourses. In 1829 he undertook the editorship of the "American Manufacturer " in Boston, and in 1830 succeeded George D. Prentice as editor of the " Haverhill Gazette " during the first six months of the year, and then of the' " New Eng- land Weekly Review" in Hartford, Conn. This office he resigned in 1832 on account of failing health and returned home. In 1836 he became secretary of the American anti- slavery society, and afterward removed to Philadelphia, where for a year (1838-'9) he edited the " Pennsylvania Free- man." This he did with such sincerity that its print- ing-office was sacked and burned by a mob. At that time it required the courage of passionate conviction to maintain principles the noisier profession of which was to become profitable a few years later. Delicate as his organization was, Whittier faced many a brutal mob with unflinching composure. He was never a mere fanatic, but always quick to recognize and celebrate high qualities even in an adversary, as many of his poems show. He re- fused to follow Garrison in the renunciation of political action as one means of reform. In 1840 he took up his abode in Amesbury, a quiet village near his birthplace, and there (with the exception of six months spent at Lowell as editor of the " Middlesex Standard"), in the simple dignity of a frugal independence, the fruit of his own literary labors, he has lived ever since, and happily still lives, known and loved wherever our tongue is spoken. From 1847 to 1859 he contributed editorially to the " National Era," an anti-slavery newspaper published at Washington, in which " Uncle Tom's Cabin" was first printed.

In his seclusion Whittier was never idle, nor did he neglect his duties as a citizen while confirming his quality as a poet. Whenever occasion offered, some burning lyric of his flew across the country, like the fiery cross, to warn and rally. Never mingling in active politics (unless filling the office of presidential elector may be called so), he probably did more than anybody in preparing the material out of which the Republican party was