Here, he developed his love of reading thanks to a modest family library which included the poetry of Robert Burns. It was Whittier's sister Elizabeth and his mother Abigail who particularly encouraged his literary interests as a boy. His father John, on the other hand, was more economy-minded and insisted that his son's farm duties were more important than education or writing. Whittier's first poem, "The Exile's Departure", was published by the Newburyport "Free Press" on June 18, 1826, by editor William Lloyd Garrison. Garrison helped young Whittier attend Haverhill Academy, tuition for which was paid with food grown at the family farm. For a brief period, he was editor of the "Haverhill Gazette".