John Greenleaf Whittier, 1807-1892, was born in Haverhill, Mass., and,
with short intervals of absence, he always resided in that vicinity. His
parents were Friends or "Quakers," and he always held to the same faith.
He spent his boyhood on a farm, occasionally writing verses for the papers
even then. Two years of study in the academy seem to have given him all
the special opportunity for education that he ever enjoyed. In 1829 he
edited a newspaper in Boston, and the next year assumed a similar position
in Hartford. For two years he was a member of the Massachusetts
legislature. In 1836 he edited an anti-slavery paper in Philadelphia, and
was secretary of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Mr. Whittier wrote
extensively both in prose and verse. During the later years of his life he
published several volumes of poems, and contributed frequently to the
pages of the "Atlantic Monthly." An earnest opponent of slavery, some of
his poems bearing on that subject are fiery and even bitter; but, in
general, their sentiment is gentle, and often pathetic. As a poet, he took
rank among those most highly esteemed by his countrymen. "Snow-Bound,"
published in 1805, is one of the longest and best of his poems. Several of
his shorter pieces are marked by much smoothness and sweetness.
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Blessings on thee, little man,
Barefoot boy, with cheek of tan!
With thy turned-up pantaloons,
And thy merry whistled tunes;
With thy red lip, redder still
Kissed by strawberries on the hill;
With the sunshine on thy face,
Through thy torn brim's jaunty grace;
From my heart I give thee joy,--
I was once a barefoot boy!
Prince thou art,--the grown-up man
Only is republican.
Let the million-dollared ride!
Barefoot, trudging, at his side,
Thou hast more than he can buy
In the reach of ear and eye,--
Outward sunshine, inward joy:
Blessings on thee, barefoot boy!
Oh for boyhood's painless play,
Sleep that wakes in laughing day,
Health that mocks the doctor's rules,
Knowledge never learned of schools,
Of the wild bee's morning chase,
Of the wild flower's time and place,
Flight of fowl and habitude
Of the tenants of the wood;
How the tortoise bears his shell,
How the woodchuck digs his cell,
And the ground mole sinks his well
How the robin feeds her young,
How the oriole's nest is hung;
Where the whitest lilies blow,
Where the freshest berries grow,
Where the groundnut trails its vine,
Where the wood grape's clusters shine;
Of the black wasp's cunning way,
Mason of his walls of clay,
And the architectural plans
Of gray hornet artisans!--
For, eschewing books and tasks,
Nature answers all he asks;
Hand in hand with her he walks,
Face to face with her he talks,
Part and parcel of her joy,--
Blessings on thee, barefoot boy!
Oh for boyhood's time of June,
Crowding years in one brief moon,
When all things I heard or saw
Me, their master, waited for.
I was rich in flowers and trees,
Humming birds and honeybees;
For my sport the squirrel played,
Plied the snouted mole his spade;
For my taste the blackberry cone
Purpled over hedge and stone;
Laughed the brook for my delight
Through the day and through the night,
Whispering at the garden wall,
Talked with me from fall to fall;
Mine the sand-rimmed pickerel pond,
Mine the walnut slopes beyond,
Mine, on bending orchard trees,
Apples of Hesperides!
Still, as my horizon grew,
Larger grew my riches too;
All the world I saw or knew
Seemed a complex Chinese toy,
Fashioned for a barefoot boy!
Oh for festal dainties spread,
Like my bowl of milk and bread,--
Pewter spoon and bowl of wood,
On the doorstone, gray and rude!
O'er me, like a regal tent,
Cloudy-ribbed, the sunset bent,
Purple-curtained, fringed with gold,
Looped in many a wind-swung fold;
While for music came the play
Of the pied frog's orchestra;
And to light the noisy choir,
Lit the fly his lamp of fire.
I was monarch: pomp and joy
Waited on the barefoot boy!
Cheerily, then, my little man,
Live and laugh, as boyhood can!
Though the flinty slopes be hard,
Stubble-speared the new-mown sward,
Every morn shall lead thee through
Fresh baptisms of the dew;
Every evening from thy feet
Shall the cool wind kiss the heat:
All too soon these feet must hide
In the prison cells of pride,
Lose the freedom of the sod,
Like a colt's for work be shod,
Made to tread the mills of toil,
Up and down in ceaseless moil:
Happy if their track be found
Never on forbidden ground;
Happy if they sink not in
Quick and treacherous sands of sin.
Ah! that thou shouldst know thy joy
Ere it passes, barefoot boy!
NOTE.--The Hesperides, in Grecian mythology, were four sisters (some
traditions say three, and others, seven) who guarded the golden apples
given to Juno as a wedding present. The locality of the garden of the
Hesperides is a disputed point with mythologists.
[Illustration: A well-dressed man is reaching for a glove while facing
three ferocious lions. Several people are observing him from the safety of
a raised platform.]