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102 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION Whittier that all other things would in time be added unto them. The pioneers also saw in Whittier the incarnation of their own terrible resentment to injustice. But perhaps most important of all, the pioneers saw in Whittier, as Bronson Alcott suggested to them, the poet who was typically American, the embodiment of the best that America was destined to produce.24 A WHITTIER NOTE A NY ACCOUNT of the antislavery movement or of antislavery leaders •^^ in America is sure to have some interest for Quaker historians. The Letters of James Gillespie Birney 1831-1857, edited by Dwight L. Dumond (New York, D. Appleton-Century Co., 1938) are no exception. Two letters describing Whittier may be cited as evidence. They were written to Birney in 1837, urging him to accept the nomination as corresponding secretary of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Whittier's disqualifications are mentioned because he had been selected as alternate for the office in case Birney declined. Theodore D. Weld wrote (p. 383) : "Now Whittier will never do. He has no influence in any denomination of Christians except his own and not a particle of sway over the ministry. Instead of carrying into the office the confidence of the churches of different denominations, he would be obliged to use his office to create a confidence in him. A very slow and uphill business—besides he never speaks in public—has no talent for business and is timid." Henry B. Stanton wrote (p. 408) : "Before I speak of yourself, let me refer to friend Whittier. He makes a pretty good secretary—is quite good at executing a plan after it is laid out to his hands, but has no power of originating—is rather poetical in his temper, i.e. unstable, subject to low spirits, hypo, etc.—is a Quaker from head to foot,—is rather careless in his business habits, in a word, needs as much supervision , as to details, as a clerk. Were it not for these things, he would make an admirable Secretary; for he possesses an excellant [sic] knowledge of the whole subject of Slavery, is well acquainted with men,— with the present attitude of the public mind—has a good judgment—is apt at drafting papers (bating a little for poetry in style) etc. But for the purposes for which we need an additional Secretary, he is not the man at all. In public estimation, he brings not an ounce of weighty influence to our Committee, except among poets, and the Society of Friends. And, so far from aiding us, because he is a Quaker, that very fact would injure us. We are a little too Quaker now, in the estimation of the Conservative party." 24 The writer of this article acknowledges most gratefully the assistance of Mr. T. Franklin Currier in helping to date and verify several of Whittier's poems. ...

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