49 
This was practically a musical evening, and there was a large 
attendance of members and friends. For the purpose of illus- 
trating the lecturer’s remarks, a handbook of Whittier’s poems 
was Gistributed. The words were set to music of a unique 
character. Mr. Brocklehurst had been greatly aided in his 
selections by the poet himself. The songs and musical part of 
the programme were efficiently rendered by the above-named 
artistes. 
The Lecturer began by tracing the life of Whittier, from his 
birth, of Quaker parentage, in 1808. Half a century ago he was 
battling, with his armour on, in the cause of the freedom of the 
slaves. Hespoke to the hearts of his own people, as no other man 
could speak, and now that he has passed away this generation 
has recognised his genius and his worth. There is a simplicity 
and kindness, and an entire absence of intellectual ostentation in 
his life, which was an exemplification of usefulness. There are 
greater poets than Whittier, but the words of this true poet of 
humanity will yet inspire men’s souls and move their hearts. 
Whittier is a true poet. He is not one of the many clever writers 
of verse which somebody else wrote before! Whittier sings 
because he cannot help it. In early life he was a farmer and 
shoemaker ; he wrote occasionally to the weekly newspapers, and 
then turned to what he called ‘‘ school-mastering,”’ which, of all 
professions, unless your heart is in it, he said, was hateful. 
Afterwards he became editor of a weekly review in Harvard— 
«The New England Review ’’—which he managed with such 
ability that he was generally hailed as a great acquisition to the 
literary force of the country, and in 1835 he was elected the 
representative to legislature of Massachussets, and one of the 
secretaries of the American Anti-slavery Society. He then 
devoted a great deal of his time to the movement begun in 1823, 
by Garrison and his followers. In 1839 he was present at the 
burning of the Pennsylvania Hall—a handsome structure erected 
for free discussion by the contributions of English and American 
abolitionists. 
The predominating influence in many of his works was the 
anti-slavery agitation, and the different phases which public men 
in America had, from time to time, adopted on the question of 
‘slavery. He entered the movement at the outset, and shared in 
all its vicissitudes. 
The man is to be pitied who could read without deep feeling 
the ‘‘ Scenes of Freedom,” where he tells how a slave, pursued 
by his owner, found refuge in a chapel. Une of the first merits 
of Whittier’s poems was his intensity. There are imperfections 
in them through haste, but they are greatly mitigated by the 
strength and simplicity of their conceptions. 
