The finishing of that sentence the hearer never told beyond the limits of her own home.
After Elizabeth’s death, in his loneliness and his loyalty to those who had gone, Whittier’s heart uttered itself. How could the world help listening to the voice of such a heart as spoke in “Snow Bound?”
When wider fame and money followed the writing of this poem, the poet was full of tender regret that those he loved best were not here to share. One day he spoke to the writer of his increased income and how he wished that he could have given his sisters what they did not have while they were with him. And again, when some strong wind of praise had swept down upon him, he said to one who had known Elizabeth: “If my sister could have lived to see this day, how happy she would have been!”
But he saw “the stars shine through his cypress trees.”
To him life broadened more and more. It was given him to learn yet more fully the truth which his labor for the slave had so well prepared him to comprehend. For to him in a deeper sense than ever before those who did God’s will and work in the world were united with him, as with his Master, in a spiritual bond.
After the death of Elizabeth the poet’s dearest friends hoped that he would marry. He was not a person to whom such a suggestion could be lightly made. Yet one, out of his affection, did hint at this hope.
But Whittier’s words shattered the day dream.
“No,” he answered, mindful of his frail health. “I have not married a wife. I will not marry a nurse.”