WHITTIER-LAND

SAMUEL T. PICKARD

WHITTIER-LAND

PREFACE

CONTENTS

1. Haverhill 1
2. Amesbury 53
3. Whittier's Sense of Humor 105
4. Whittier's Uncollected Poems 127
5. Footnotes 154
6. Index 155

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

• John Greenleaf Whittier Frontispiece
• From an Ambrotype taken about 1857.
• Map of Whittier-Land xii
• Whittier's Birthplace 2
• From a photograph by Alfred A. Ordway.
• River Path, near Haverhill 5
• From a photograph by Ordway.
• Haverhill Academy 6
• From a photograph by G. W. W. Bartlett.
• Main Street, Haverhill 8
• From a photograph by Ordway.
• Birthplace in Winter 9
• From a photograph by Ordway.
• Kenoza Lake 10
• From a photograph by Ordway.
• Fernside Brook, the Stepping-Stones 11
• From a photograph by Ordway.
• The Birthplace, from the Road 13
• From a photograph by Ordway.
• "The Haunted Bridge of Country Brook" 15
• From a photograph by W. L. Bickum.
• Garden at Birthplace 18
• From a photograph by W. L. Bickum.
• Snow-Bound Kitchen, Eastern End 21
• From a photograph by Ordway.
• Snow-Bound Kitchen, Western End 23
• From a photograph by Ordway.
• The Whittier Elm 29
• Joshua Coffin, Whittier's First Schoolmaster 31
• Scene of "In School Days" 33
• From a pencil sketch by W. L. Bickum.
• Harriet Livermore, "Half-welcome Guest" 41

• Scene on Country Brook 43
• From a photograph by Ordway.
• The Sycamores 45
• From a photograph by Ordway.
• Old Garrison House (Peaslee House) 47
• Rocks Village and Bridge 48
• From a photograph by Ordway.
• River Valley, near Grave of Countess 49
• From a photograph by Ordway.
• Dr. Elias Weld, the "Wise Old Physician" of Snow-Bound, at the Age of Ninety 50
• Curson's Mill, Artichoke River 57
• From a photograph by Ordway.
• Deer Island and Chain Bridge, Home of Mrs. Spofford 59
• The Whittier Home, Amesbury 61
• From a photograph by Mrs. P. A. Perry.
• Joseph Sturge, Whittier's English Benefactor 63
• "Garden Room" Amesbury Home 65
• From a photograph by C. W. Briggs.
• Mrs. Thomas, to whom "Memories" was Addressed 67
• Evelina Bray, at the Age of Seventeen 68
• From a miniature by J. S. Porter.
• Whittier, at the Age of Twenty-two. His earliest portrait 69
• From a miniature by J. S. Porter.
• Evelina Bray Downey, at the Age of Eighty 71
• Elizabeth Whittier Pickard 75
• From a portrait by Kittell.
• Scene in Garden, at Whittier's Funeral 76
• The Ferry, Salisbury Point, Mouth of Powow 77
• From a photograph by Miss Woodman.
• Powow River and Po Hill 79
• From a photograph by Miss Woodman.
• Friends' Meeting-House at Amesbury 80
• From a photograph by Mrs. P. A. Perry.
• Interior of Friends' Meeting-House 81
• From a photograph by G. W. W. Bartlett.

• Captain's Well 83
• From a photograph by G. W. W. Bartlett.
• Whittier Lot, Union Cemetery, Amesbury 85
• From a photograph by W. R. Merryman.
• The Fountain on Mundy Hill 87
• Rocky Hill Church 88
• From a photograph by Miss Woodman.
• Interior of Rocky Hill Church 89
• From a photograph by Miss Woodman.
• Scene of "The Wreck of Rivermouth" 90
• Scene of "The Tent on the Beach" 91
• Hampton River Marshes, as seen from Whittier's Chamber 92
• From a photograph by Greenleaf Whittier Pickard.
• House of Miss Gove, Hampton Falls, Whittier on the Balcony 93
• From a photograph taken a few days before the poet's death, by Greenleaf Whittier Pickard.
• Chamber in which Whittier Died 94
• Amesbury Public Library 95
• From a photograph by Gilman P. Smith.
• Whittier, at the Age of Forty-nine 97
• From a daguerreotype by Thomas E. Boutelle.
• The Wood Giant, at Sturtevant's, Centre Harbor 99
• The Cartland House, Newburyport 101
• Whitefield Church and Birthplace of Garrison 103
• Bearcamp House, West Ossipee, N. H. 110
• Group of Friends at Sturtevant's, Centre Harbor, with Whittier 113
• Josiah Bartlett Statue, Huntington Square, Amesbury 123
• From a photograph by Charles W. Briggs.

HAVERHILL

WHITTIER-LAND

I

HAVERHILL

The whole valley of the Merrimac, from its source among the New Hampshire hills to where it meets the ocean at Newburyport, has been celebrated in Whittier's verse, and might well be called "Whittier-Land." But the object of these pages is to describe only that part of the valley included in Essex County, the northeastern section of Massachusetts. The border line separating New Hampshire from the Bay State is three miles north of the river, and follows all its turnings in this part of its course. For this reason each town on the north of the Merrimac is but three miles in width. It was on this three-mile strip that Whittier made his home for his whole life. His birthplace in Haverhill was his home for the first twenty-nine years of his life. He lived in Amesbury the remaining fifty-six years. The birthplace is in the East Parish of Haverhill, three miles from the City Hall, and three miles from what was formerly the Amesbury line. It is nearly midway between the New Hampshire line and the Merrimac River. In 1876 the township of Merrimac was formed out of the western part of Amesbury, and this new town is interposed between the two homes, which are nine miles apart.

Haverhill, Merrimac, Amesbury, and Salisbury are each on the three-mile-wide ribbon of land stretching to the sea, on the left bank of the river. On the opposite bank are Bradford, Groveland, Newbury, and Newburyport. The whole region on both sides of the river abounds in beautifully rounded hills formed of glacial deposits of clay and gravel, and they are fertile to their tops. At many points they press close to the river, which has worn its channel down to the sea-level, and feels the influence of the tides beyond Haverhill. This gives picturesque effects at many points. The highest of the hills have summits about three hundred and sixty feet above the surface of the river, and there are many little lakes and ponds nestling in the hollows in every direction. In the early days these hills were crowned with lordly growths of oak and pine, and some of them still retain these adornments. But most of the summits are now open pastures or cultivated fields. The roofs and spires of prosperous cities and villages are seen here and there among their shade trees, and give a human interest to the lovely landscape. It is not surprising that Whittier found inspiration for the beautiful descriptive passages which occur in every poem which has this river for theme or illustration:—

Haverhill, although but three miles wide, is ten miles long, and includes many a fertile farm out of sight of city spires, and out of sound of city streets. As Whittier says in the poem "Haverhill:"—

Silver Hill is the one with the tower on it. As one takes at the railway station the electric car for the three-mile trip to the Whittier birthplace, two lakes are soon passed on the right. The larger one, overlooked by the stone castle on top of a great hill embowered in trees, is Kenoza—a name signifying pickerel. It was christened by Whittier with the poem which has permanently fixed its name. The whole lake and the beautiful wooded hills surrounding it, with the picturesque castle crowning one of them, are now included in a public park of which any city might be proud. Our car passes close at hand, on the left, another lake not visible because it is so much above us. This is a singular freak of nature—a deep lake fed by springs on top of a hill. The surface of this lake is far above the tops of most of the houses of Haverhill, and it is but a few rods from Kenoza, which lies almost a hundred feet below. Our road is at middle height between the two, and only a stone's throw from either.

As we approach the birthplace, it is over the northern shoulder of Job's Hill, the summit of which is high above us at the right. This hill was named for an Indian chief of the olden time. We look down at the left into an idyllic valley, and through the trees that skirt a lovely brook catch sight of the ancient farmhouse on a gentle slope which seems designed by nature for its reception. To the west and south high hills crowd closely upon this valley, but to the east are green meadows through which winds, at last at leisure, the brook just released from its tumble among the rocks of old Job's left shoulder. The road by which we have come is comparatively new, and was not in existence when the Whittiers lived here. The old road crosses it close by the brook, which is here bridged. The house faces the brook, and not the road, presenting to the highway the little eastern porch that gives entrance to the kitchen,—the famous kitchen of "Snow-Bound."

The barn is across the road directly opposite this porch. It is now much longer than it was in Whittier's youth, but two thirds of it towards the road is the old part to which the boys tunneled through the snowdrift—

This is not the original barn of the pioneers, but was built by Whittier's father and uncle Moses in 1821. The ancient barn was not torn down till some years later. It was in what is now the orchard back of the house. There used to be, close to the cattle-yard of the comparatively new barn, a shop containing a blacksmith's outfit. This was removed more than fifty years ago, being in a ruinous condition from extreme old age. It had not been so tenderly cared for as was its contemporary of the Stuart times across the road.

Country Bridge had the reputation of being haunted, when Whittier was a boy, and several of his early uncollected poems refer to this fact. No one who could avoid it ventured over it after dark. He told me that once he determined to swallow his fears and brave the danger. He approached whistling to keep his courage up, but a panic seized him, and he turned and ran home without daring to look behind. It was in this vicinity that Thomas Whittier built his first house in Haverhill. Further down the stream was Millvale, where were three mills, one a gristmill. This mill and the evil reputation of the bridge are both referred to in these lines from "The Home-Coming of the Bride," a fragment first printed in "Life and Letters:"—

It was the custom of the pioneers, when they had the choice, to select the sites of their homes near the small water powers of the brooks; the large rivers they had not then the power to harness. There were good mill sites on Country Brook below the log house, but probably some other settler had secured them, and Thomas Whittier found in the smaller stream on his own estate a fairly good water power. Fernside Brook is a tributary of Country Brook. Probably this decided the selection of the site for a house which was to be a home for generation after generation of his descendants. The dam recently restored is at the same spot where stood the Whittier mill, and in making repairs some of the timbers of the ancient mill were found. Parts of the original walls of the dam are now to be seen on each side of the brook, but the mill had disappeared long before Whittier was born. Further up the brook were two other dams, used as reservoirs. The lower dam when perfect was high enough to enable the family to bring water to house and barn in pipes.

When entering the grounds, notice the "bridle-post" at the left of the gate, and a massive boulder in which rude steps are cut for mounting a horse led up to its side:—