It would be most
interesting to trace the line still further back into the past; but
when the Bachiler eyes were by any chance referred to in Whittier's
presence, he would look shyly askance, and sometimes speak, half with
pride, half with a sort of humorous compassion, of his Hampton
ancestor. The connection of the Whittiers of Haverhill with the
Greenes was somewhat closer than with other branches of the Bachiler
line. One of the poet's most entertaining reminiscences of his boyhood
was the story of his first visit to Boston. Mr. William Greene's
mother was an interesting woman of strong, independent character and
wide interests, wonted to the life of cities, and one of the first, in
spite of his boyish shyness, to appreciate her young relative. Her
kind eagerness, during one of her occasional visits to the Whittiers,
that Greenleaf should come to see her when he came to Boston, fell in
with his own dreams, and a high desire to see the sights of the great
town.
One can easily see how his imagination glorified the natural
expectations of a country boy, and when the time arrived how the whole
household lent itself to furthering so great an expedition. He was not
only to have a new suit of clothes, but they were, for the first time,
to be trimmed with "boughten buttons," to the lad's complete
satisfaction, his mind being fixed upon those as marking the
difference between town and country fashions. When the preparations
were made, his fresh homespun costume, cut after the best usage of the
Society of Friends, seemed to him all that heart could desire, and he
started away bravely by the coach to pass a week in Boston.
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