[64] earnest, independent life. Of this I think daily and hourly. . . .I feel there is no man too small to be useful so he be true and bold. . . . I am an enthusiast now, I know. So much the better. Whoever was in the highest degree useful without being such?
In these years of thought and study, Wentworth wrote many verses, some of which were published in periodicals. This led to the dream of being a poet. His few hymns which are included in American and English collections of sacred song and are still sung in churches were written at this time. One day, many years later, he met his Worcester contemporary, George F. Hoar, on the street, who asked him if he was the author of the hymn containing the lines—
Upon Mr. Higginson's assenting, Mr. Hoar said that he considered this hymn ‘the most complete statement of Christian doctrine that was ever made.’And though most weak our efforts seem,
Into one creed these thoughts to bind.
In that early period the young man exclaimed, ‘Oh, heavens, what would I not give to know whether I really have that in me which will make a poet, or whether I deceive myself and only possess a mediocre talent.’ But later the dream vanished and he wrote: ‘The idea of poetic genius is now utterly foreign to me and I cannot conceive at all now the ’
