WHITTIER’S prose has never competed in popularity with his verse, but he has an easy and flowing style, with frequent picturesque touches which suggest the “image-making power” of the poet. He was born at Haverhill, Massachusetts, December 17th, 1807. His family were Quakers, and he himself remained a member of the “Society” until his death. His early education was defective, as he was obliged to pay for his own tuition by farm work, shoe-making, and school-teaching in his vacations. Among his earliest verses are those published in the Newburyport Free Press, edited by William Lloyd Garrison. From 1828 to 1832 he edited successively the American Manufacturer at Boston, the Gazette at Haverhill, and the New England Weekly Review at Hartford. From 1832 to 1837 he managed the Whittier farm at Haverhill and helped in the Antislavery agitation. In 1838 he went to Philadelphia to edit the Pennsylvania Freeman, having become in the meantime Secretary of the American Antislavery Society. In 1840, however, he returned to Massachusetts and lived there until his death, September 7th, 1892. A complete edition of his poems appeared in 1888–89.