Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS JOHN G. WHITTIER. Emerson felicitously says, " the ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it." The house where Mr. Whittier was a guest was ornamented indeed; for a more genial, suggestive, inspiring friend, or one with a more distinct personality, has rarely given the blessing and benediction of his presence to any home, and the family fortunate enough to have him with them at the fireside, counted themselves especially favored and enriched. He was unique in his absolute simplicity and 7 truthfulness — the simplicity and truthfulness of clear conviction and sturdy strength, and of a nature that in its tenderness and justice seemed to reflect the very heart of God. Mr. Whittier was responsive to every appeal, whether of joy or sorrow, as his hearty laugh, his " smartly smitten knee," at some amusing story, or his burst of righteous indignation, at a tale of injustice and wrong, plainly showed. As intense in nature as he was sagacious, though ordinarily shy and cautious and reserved, he could, under favorable conditions, blossom into rare graciousness and sympathy of speech and manner. Those who have sat with him of an evening, in a quiet Arelit room, will never forget his charming vivacity and pleasant confidences, alternating with dreamy silence and repose. He never led, but always waited forsome one to begin the conversation, yet once launched upon some topic that interested him, he would talk for an hour with an enthusiasm and spontaneity and sprightliness that would surprise one who had only seen him in his silent moods. But his feelings were so strong upon, the subjects which had engrossed his attention, that an hour's conversation would utterly exhaust him. One day after talking with a friend of whom he was fond, and into who... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.