| I. | [Ancestry] | 9 |
| The Poet's Titles. Heredity. Spelling of the Name Whittier. WhittierAncestors. Greenleaf Ancestors. The Husseys and Batchelders. Portrait ofWhittier's Mother. |
| II. | [The Merrimack Valley ] | 24 |
| Description of Essex County, Haverhill, Amesbury, Newburyport, SalisburyBeach, and the Isles of Shoals. Extracts from the "Supernaturalism ofNew England." The Spirit of the Age. |
| III. | [Boyhood ] | 36 |
| Birthplace. Kenoza Lake. Whitman and Whittier. The Old Homestead.Members of the Household. Harriet Livermore and Lady Hester Stanhope.The Poet's School Days. "My Playmate." Ellwood and Burns. OldStragglers. "Pilgrim's Progress." The Demon Fiddler. First Poem. WilliamLloyd Garrison and the Free Press. Haverhill Academy. Robert Dinsmore,the Quaint Farmer-Poet of Windham. |
| IV. | [Editor and Author: First Ventures ] | 83 |
| Whittier as Editor of the Boston Manufacturer, the Essex Gazette,and the New England Review. First Volume, "Legends of New England."The Poet, J. G. C. Brainard. Ballad of "The Black Fox." Whittier's Viewson the Poetical Resources of the New World. "Moll Pitcher." |
| V. | [Whittier the Reformer ] | 97 |
| Identifies Himself with the Anti-Slavery Movement. Publication of hisBrochure, "Justice and Expediency." Social Martyrdom. PrudenceCrandall and her Battle with the Philistinism of Canterbury, Conn.Tailor Woolman and Saddler Lundy. Account of the Philadelphia Conventionfor the Formation of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Whittier'sAccount of the Convention. William Lloyd Garrison draws up the FamousDeclaration of Principles. Samuel J. May Mobbed at East Haverhill.Whittier and George Thompson Mobbed at Concord, N. H. Story of theLandlord and the Flight by Night. The Poet's Account of the Mobbing ofWilliam Lloyd Garrison. Letters of John Quincy Adams. Harriet Martineauon Slavery. Attitude of Whittier toward the Quakers on the SlaveryQuestion. |
| VI. | [Amesbury ] | 123 |
| Removal to Amesbury. Description of the Town and of the Poet'sResidence. The Study. Whittier Corresponding Editor of the NationalEra. Various Works Written, including "Stranger in Lowell,""Supernaturalism of New England," "Songs of Labor," "Child-Life,""Child-Life in Prose," "Introduction" to Woolman's Journal, and "Songsof Three Centuries" (Edited). Whittier College Established. |
| VII. | [Later Days ] | 141 |
| Danvers. Oak Knoll. Summerings of the Poet at the Isles of Shoals andthe Bearcamp House. The Literary World Tribute, and the WhittierBanquet at the Hotel Brunswick. The Whittier Club. Various Volumes ofPoetry Published. |
| VIII. | [Personal ] | 153 |
| Whittier's Personal Appearance Described by Frederika Bremer, Geo. W.Bungay, David A. Wasson, and others. Incident of his Kind-heartedness toa Stranger. Dom Pedro II. and Whittier at Mrs. John T. Sargent'sReception. Letter to Mrs. Sargent. Humor. Love of Children. Offices ofDignity and Honor. |