Nappanee High School - Napanet Yearbook (Nappanee, IN)

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The great throat of the chimney laughed; The house-dog on his paws outspread Lay to the fire his drowsy head, The cat's dark silhouette oh the wall A couchant tiger seemed to fall; And, for the winter fireside meet. Between the andirons straggling feet. The mug of cider simmered slow The apples sputtered In a row, And close at hand the basket stood With nuts from brown October’s wood. in choosing the theme Whittier did not choose one that he knew nothing about but choose one that was nearest to Ids heart. The Winter Idyl is correctly named: he was a lover of home. How tieautifully he pictures to us his father telling Ids stories of adventure: the loving mother relating the stories of Sewall and t’hakley: and Ids uncle who was “rich in lore of Helds ■ and brooks;’’ the maiden aunt, the elder sister and Ids other sister “Lifting her large sweet, asking eyes ’ But while Whittier was the truest singer of wayside and homestead life, lie was also, more than all others, the poet of the sentiments and convictions of the New Kngland people. This is forcibly illustrated by his anti-slavery poems. He stood as a mouth piece for New Kngland in her protest against tyranny, lie wrote with prophetic fervor, “The burden of a prophet’s power Fell on me in that fearful hour; From off unutterable woes The curtain of the future rose; I saw far clown the coming time The tiery chastisement of crime: With noise of mingling; hosts and jar Of falling towers and shouts of war. I saw the nations rise and fall. Like fire gleams on my tent’s white wall.” In this he extended his territory and Iwcame the‘‘Prophet Bard of America.” However, by some critics he has been thought to have tieeu so very local that for this reason he has never Ikhmi as universally known as Longfellow or some of our other singers have been. Time only is increasing the popularity of this great man. It was his sole pur|x se in life to help make the world better and as some one has said to have his name, like Hen Adham's. enrolled as of one that loved his fellow-men.” Edmund Clarence Stcdman wrote of him. before his death. Our eldest living poet, then, is canonized already by his people as one who left t » silence his personal ex| erlence, yet entered thoroughly into their joy and sorrow: who has l een. like a celibati priest, tlie consolor of tlie lieartsof others and the keeper of ids own. who has best known the work and feeling of the humble household and whose legend manifestly is pro aris et fools. ’ s

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Iflhittirr. dbr JJnrt of Jfrui Englattb By FRANKIE MINER JKW England has produced Its great scientists and its great men of invention. The latter have helped to Increase wealth in tlie way of manufacture which they have brought to tin notice of the entire world. It has produced historians, w ho have brought the rising generations — to contact with the works of their forefathers. We l' liavt- mil and Inanl -I I In alm. .in- ;ind lives of these colonial men; of their struggles with the Indians. French, and Dutch; and of probably their greatest light their hat-tie against the elements. But w ho could portray the st ruggles, sufferings and customs of the rural life of tlmse colonial men lietter than a poetV No other poet has ever, in the history of America, brought some one section of the country lie fore the eyes of the literary people as has John Greenleaf Whittier. Whittier haslwen called “The Burns of New England. Burns portrayed the rural life of Scotland: in like manner. Whittier pictured the rural life of New England. Brander Matthews says. “It was the scenery of New England he loved liest to paint in his tiallads; it was the sentiments of New England lie voiced in his lyrics: it was his steadfast faith in New England that gave strength to all he wrote. At a gathering in honor of Whittier. Bark-ham said. “He is the Boet of New England. His genius drew its nourishment from her soil; Ids pages are the mirror of her inward life. As a poet of New England. Whittier had little competition, except from the fact that Imngfellow loved the eastern sea and shore and often made use of the legends of the province. In Lowell and Emerson, lie had worthy compeers from the fact that the one made New England sentiment immortal by Ills imaginative expression: and the other has spiritualized New England thought. But Whittier is pre-eminently the poet of New England: because while there may lie as much human nature in high life as in the lower walks of life, yet pictures of the fireside, the roadside, and the farm are dear to the common people and this fact decides Whitter’s standing. As has tieen said lie loved to portray New England scenery. Here is one passage describing a scene by the roadside which causes one to Imagine lie smells “the heliotrope , “white sweet clover and mignonette and feels the wind of a drowsy New England summer: “Along the roadside, like the flower of gold The tawny Incas for their gardens wrought. Heavy with sunshine droop the golden-rod, And the red pennons of the cardinal Mower Hang motionless u| on their upright staves. The sky is hot and lia .y, and the wind, Wing-weary with its long Might from the south, I’nfelt: yet, closely scanned, yon maple leaf With faintest motion, as one stirs in dreams. Confesses it. The locust by the wall Stalls the noon-silence with his sharp alarm. A single hay-cart down the dusty road Creaks slow ly, with its driver fast asleep On the load’s top. Against the neighboring hill Huddled along the stone-wall’s shady side. The sheep slmw white, as if a snow-drift still Defied the dog-star. Through t lie open door A drowsy smell of flowers gray heliotrope And sweet clover and shy mignonette Comes faintly in. and silent chorus lend To the prevailing symphony of peace. “Snow-Bound is considered Whittier’s greatest production and allies him most closely to New England farm life. The |H ople are only awakening to the appreciation of the lieautlful scenes of the simple life described in this I mem. Burroughs lias avowed it to lie the “most faithful picture of our northern winter that has yet lieeii put into poetry. He descrilied an old-fashioned American rustic home, which Is native to no other country. ••Snow-Bound has often lieen compared to “Cotter’s Saturday Night. of which Burns is the author. What could lie more lieautlful than some of the scenes In this winter idyl? For instance in the passage in which he descrilies a winter evening in his old home, every one feels the vivid simplicity of description. “Shut in from all the world without, We sat the clean-winged hearth about. Content to let the north-wind roar In liuffled rage at pane and door. While the red logs liefore us beat The frost line back with tropic heat; And ever, when a louder blast Shook beam and rafter as it passed. The merrier up its roaring draught

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EH TjTKN miles even day, going to and from school, has Alonzo driven since liKk')- ,ut we never hear him complaining of S8K8S3 ,lis ot: on tl e contrary. l|e always has a cheery word or a ® °“ smile: in short Alonzo is an optomisl. Ills education previous to ids High School work was obtained in a country school near his home, lie was bom August 2. 18S7.