Thomas Wentworth Higginson, John Greenleaf Whittier

[138] Manufacturer, in Boston, she was at a seminary at Kennebunk, Me., and they were in correspondence, which showed a warm attachment on his part. I have seen the originals of these letters. There were several considerations which forbade thought of marriage on the part of either of them. She went to Cincinnati with her uncles, about 1831, and for this reason he planned to go West in 1832, but was prevented by a prospect of being elected to Congress from the Essex district. Up to the time of her marriage to Judge Thomas, Whittier's letters to her were frequent, all written in a brotherly tone, and giving the gossip of Haverhill. In one letter, written in 1832, he refers to his just published poem, “Moll Pitcher,” and says he has in it drawn a portrait of herself. This portrait may be found on pages 26, 27, of the poem, and it is probable that the reason why “Moll Pitcher” does not appear in any collection of his works is that he used several passages of it in other and later poems. Thus, the first stanza of ‘Memories’ is copied almost verbatim from these lines in “Moll Pitcher ” :

A beautiful and sylph-like girl,
With step as soft as summer air-
With fresh, young lip and brow of pearl,
Shadowed by many a natural curl
Of unconfined and flowing hair--
With the moist eye of pitying care,
Is bending like a seraph there:
A seeming child in everything
Save in her ripening maiden charms;
As nature wears the smile of spring,
When sinking into summer's arms.

It will be noticed that the person described in “Memories ” is remembered as a child, and this does not apply to the case of Miss Russ, as it does apply to Miss Smith. Then again, the “ hazel eyes' and ” brown tresses' belong to Miss Smith, and not, as I have understood, to the Hartford lady.