. PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 BY 
 HORATIO BRIDGE 
 
 PAYMASTER -GENERAL U. S. NAVY (RETIRED) 
 
 What then ? shall -we sit idly d<rwn and say 
 The night hath come, it is no longer day ? 
 The night hath not yet come ; me are not quite 
 Cut off from labor by the failing light 
 Something remains for us to do or dare 
 Even the oldest tree some fruit may bear 
 
 "Morituri Salutamus 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 
 1393 
 
Ji y. 
 
 *4 
 
 & 
 /ft 
 M 
 
 Copyright, 1893, by HARPER & BROTHERS. 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
TO 
 CHARLOTTE MARSHALL BRIDGE 
 
 THE WIFE WHO, BY HER WISE COUNSELS AND CHEERFUL AID, HAS 
 
 CONTRIBUTED LARGELY TO WHATEVER OF SUCCESS HAS 
 
 COME TO ME SINCE OUR MARRIAGE; WHO HAS BRAVELY 
 
 BORNE HER FULL SHARE OF LIFE S BURDENS, AND WHO 
 
 FOR MANY YEARS, ENJOYED HAWTHORNE S 
 
 FRIENDSHIP AND CONFIDENCE 
 
 THIS VOLUME 
 
 lix CKratefullg Xnscribctj b) 
 
 THE AUTHOR 
 
 226791 
 
PREFACE 
 
 THREE papers of " Personal Recollections of 
 Nathaniel Hawthorne," recently published in 
 Harper s Magazine, were favorably received, and 
 have brought many letters, from strangers as 
 well as from friends, urging me to publish still 
 more upon the same subject. 
 
 I may therefore hope that a somewhat more 
 extended account in book-form of Hawthorne 
 will also be well received. 
 
 Accordingly, while taking the papers just men 
 tioned as the basis of a volume, I have added 
 some new material including several letters 
 from Hawthorne and General Pierce now first 
 published. 
 
 For many years I have resisted the persua 
 sions of friends and publishers to write some 
 thing of Hawthorne s life and character; to which 
 end many recollections and not a little material, 
 still in my possession, might, perchance, be profit- 
 
VI PREFACE 
 
 ably applied. But, conscious of having neither 
 the literary ability nor the critical skill essential 
 to a biographical sketch of the great romance- 
 writer or to an analysis of his writings, I shall 
 refrain from attempting either, and here limit my 
 narrative chiefly to matters connected with his 
 college days, and to some incidents in his later 
 career which, I think, have not yet been fully re 
 counted by others. 
 
 The rules of chronology will not be strictly ad 
 hered to in the following pages, whatever may 
 be the effect on the story. My main object is to 
 give some facts new and old with little regard 
 to structure or embellishment. 
 
 A somewhat busy life on my part and fre 
 quent separations, by sea and land, often broke 
 the continuity of our personal association, but 
 never that of our friendship. As an offset to 
 those separations, however, I probably received 
 more letters from Hawthorne, of a purely friend 
 ly character, than did any other man. 
 
 The earlier of those letters were all destroyed 
 at his request. Some of the others the pub 
 lishing of which I trust no friend of his would 
 disapprove are herein given. H. B. 
 
 "THE MOORINGS," ATHENS, Pa., 1892. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Boyhood of Hawthorne. Leaving Home for College. 
 Youthful Characteristics. His Personality Page i 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Preface to "The Snow Image." Pastimes. College 
 Grounds and Surroundings. Favorite Strolls. "Songs 
 for Sailors." The Old Fortune-Teller. Self-Distrust. 7 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Class of 1825. Longfellow and Others. Duel of Cilley. 
 Men of Mark in other Classes. Pierce, Fessenden, 
 Stowe, I. P. Hale, and others. Franklin Pierce s Char 
 acter and Rank in College 16 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Social Life in Brunswick. College Friendships. Favorite 
 Studies. Rank at Graduation. Poetry Renounced. . 32 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Salem Home. College Expenses. Inn near College. 
 Social Gatherings. Card-Playing. Rooms and Board 
 ing-Places. Incidental Expenses 38 
 
Vlll CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ftVager about Marriages-Early Letters Destroyed. Haw 
 thorne s Pseudonyms. Unmusical Page 47 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The Faculty of Bowdoin. Close of College Life. Semi 
 centennial Class Reunion 51 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Life after Graduation already Chronicled by others. 
 Franklin Pierce s Friendship for Hawthorne, and his De 
 votion to the Union. Republicans Blind to the Danger 
 of Secession. A Month s Visit to Writer. French 
 Teacher Described. Purpose of Commercial Life Aban 
 doned. " Seven Tales of my Native Land." Fanshawe. 
 Despondency. Various Disappointments. Old Let 
 ters of Writer Reproduced 59 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Peter Parley Books. " Twice -Told -Tales. " Exploring 
 Expedition. Weigher and Ganger in Boston Custom- 
 House. Brook Farm . . . 77 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Vllawthorne s Marriage. 4-Life at the Old Manse. Failure 
 to Obtain Postmastership at Salem. "Journal of an 
 African Cruiser." Letters Relating thereto. Advice 
 about Journalizing 86 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Return to Salem. Visit to Writer at Portsmouth Navy- 
 Yard. Appointed Surveyor in Salem Custom-House. 
 Removed from Office. Resentment towards Salem Peo- 
 P le 105 
 
CONTENTS IX 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Several Visits to us after my Marriage. Hawthorne s Resi 
 dence in Lenox. The Red House Burned. " The Life 
 of Franklin Pierce " Pa g e IJ 7 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The Liverpool Consulate. Letters relating to Changes of 
 Consular Salaries. Letter of Sympathy. Offer of Por 
 tuguese Mission Declined. Resignation of Consulate. 
 Recollections of a Gifted Woman 135 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Return to America. The Civil War. Hawthorne s Polit 
 ical Principles. His Loyalty to the Union 164 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Visit to Washington in War Time. Letters showing De 
 votion to Northern Cause. Failing Health. General 
 Pierce s Account of Hawthorne s Last Journey and 
 Death. General Tierce s own Death 167 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Several Letters of Mrs. Hawthorne. Conclusion. ... 182 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE Frontispiece 
 
 From a Photograph taken in 1860. 
 
 HAWTHORNE S BIRTHPLACE Faces p. 38 
 
 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 68 
 
 After a Painting by C. G. Thomson, 1850. 
 
 THE "OLD MANSE" 86 
 
 CUSTOM-HOUSE, SALEM H 
 
 HORATIO BRIDGE T 46 
 
 " THE WAYSIDE," RESIDENCE OF HAW 
 THORNE AT CONCORD 164 
 
 HAWTHORNE S GRAVE. " 180 
 
PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE boyhood of Nathaniel Hawthorne has 
 been chronicled by his son Julian, in the biogra 
 phy of "Nathaniel Hawthorne and His Wife"; 
 by his son-in-law Lathrop, in the " Study of Haw 
 thorne " ; and recently, in an article in the Wide- 
 Awake, by his relative Elizabeth Manning. 
 
 I shall therefore refer to that period only be 
 cause Hawthorne s isolation and environment in 
 boyhood seem to me to have had an important 
 influence upon his character and conduct, even 
 after he had come to manhood. He is described 
 by his eldest sister (see " Biography," Vol. I., 
 p. 99) as a " beautiful and bright boy ; indulged 
 not only by his mother, but by all his uncles and 
 aunts." 
 
 Perhaps he might have been spoiled by this 
 
V l ^ : NATK>.NjL HAWTHORNE 
 
 indulgence, had not an accident brought on a 
 tedious lameness which though temporarily dis- 
 abli ng doubtless proved a " blessing in disguise " 
 by keeping him aloof from the active sports of 
 boyhood, and compelling him to seek occupation 
 and pleasure mainly in books. 
 
 This enforced physical inaction, together with 
 the seclusion of his mother s house and his long 
 absences from Salem, combined to make him al 
 most a stranger in his native town until he had 
 left college ; and these conditions must neces 
 sarily have had great influence in forming his 
 peculiar character and shaping his later course. 
 
 With these preliminary remarks I turn to the 
 subject of his college life, the delineation of 
 which was the original and principal motive for 
 the present writing. 
 
 A boy on going to college seventy years ago 
 went under conditions so different from those of 
 to-day that, to appreciate the situation, one must 
 revert to the old stage-coach as, in the early 
 morning, it passed from house to house, the driver 
 blowing his horn to summon the passengers, and 
 the family coming out to give their farewells and 
 such cautions as would overwhelm with mortifica 
 tion a young fellow of the present day. In such 
 a case, if a pretty sister made one of the family 
 group, it would add materially to the interest felt 
 in the new-comer. There may be as much sus- 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 3 
 
 ceptibility in the collegian of the present time, 
 but we had a rather more naive way of show 
 ing it. 
 
 The stage-coach gave better opportunities for 
 travellers to become acquainted with each other 
 than are afforded by the modern railway-car. 
 Some old men will recollect the mail-stage for 
 merly plying between Boston and Brunswick 
 (Maine), drawn by four strong, spirited horses, 
 and bowling along at the average speed of 
 ten miles an hour. The exhilarating pace, the 
 smooth roads, and the juxtaposition of the in 
 siders tended, in a high degree, to the promo 
 tion of enjoyment and good-fellowship, which 
 might ripen into lasting friendship. 
 
 Among the passengers in one of these coaches 
 in the summer of 1821 were Franklin Pierce, 
 Jonathan Cilley, Alfred Mason, and Nathaniel 
 Hawthorne the last-named from Salem, the oth 
 ers from New Hampshire. Pierce had already 
 spent his freshman year at Bowdoin College, 
 which institution his companions were on their 
 way to enter. 
 
 This chance association was the beginning of 
 a life-long friendship between Pierce, Cilley, and 
 Hawthorne ; and it led to Mason and Hawthorne 
 becoming chums. There was no great congeni 
 ality between the two room-mates, owing partly 
 to their joining rival societies, but more to the 
 
4 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 dissimilarity in their tastes and habits. Both, 
 however, were well-bred and amiable, and they 
 lived together harmoniously for two years. 
 
 A slight acquaintance with Mason led me to 
 call at their rooms, and there I first met Haw 
 thorne. He interested me greatly at once, and 
 a friendship then began which, for the forty- 
 three years of his subsequent life, was never for 
 a moment chilled by indifference nor clouded by 
 doubt. Though our paths in life, like our char-- 
 acters, were widely different, our friendship never 
 wavered till the sad end came. 
 
 Hawthorne was a slender lad, having a massive 
 head, with dark, brilliant, and most expressive 
 eyes, heavy eyebrows, and a profusion of dark 
 hair. For his appearance at that time the in 
 quirer must rely wholly upon the testimony of 
 friends ; for, I think, no portrait of him as a lad 
 is extant. On one occasion, in our senior year, 
 the class wished to have their profiles cut in sil 
 houette by a wandering artist of the scissors, and 
 interchanged by all the thirty-eight. Hawthorne 
 disapproved the proposed plan, and steadily re 
 fused to go into the Class Golgotha, as he styled 
 the dismal collection. I joined him in this freak, 
 and so our places were left vacant. I now re 
 gret the whim, since even a moderately correct 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 5 
 
 outline of his features as a youth would, at this 
 day, be interesting. 
 
 Hawthorne s figure was somewhat singular, 
 owing to his carrying his head a little on one 
 side ; but his walk was square and firm, and his 
 manner self-respecting and reserved. A fashiona 
 ble boy of the present day might have seen some 
 thing to amuse him in the new student s appear 
 ance ; but had he indicated this he would have 
 rued it, for Hawthorne s clear appreciation of the 
 social proprieties and his great physical courage 
 would have made it as unsafe to treat him with 
 discourtesy then as at any later time. 
 
 Though quiet and most amiable, he had great 
 pluck and determination. I remember that in 
 one of our convivial meetings we had the laugh 
 upon him for some cause, an occurrence so rare 
 that the bantering was carried too far. After 
 bearing it awhile, Hawthorne singled out the one 
 among us who had the reputation of being the 
 best pugilist, and in a few words quietly told him 
 that he would not permit the rallying to go far 
 ther. His bearing was so resolute, and there was 
 so much of danger in his eye, that no one after 
 wards alluded to the offensive subject in his 
 presence. This characteristic was notably dis 
 played several years later, when a lady incited 
 him to quarrel with one of his best friends on 
 account of a groundless pique of hers. He went 
 
6 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 to Washington for the purpose of challenging the 
 gentleman, and it was only after ample explana 
 tions had been made, showing that his friend had 
 behaved with entire honor, that Pierce and Cilley, 
 who were his advisers, could persuade him to be 
 satisfied without a fight. The lady had appealed 
 to him to redress her fancied wrongs, and he was 
 too chivalrous to decline the service. 
 
 Hawthorne, with rare strength of character, had 
 yet a gentleness and an unselfishness which en 
 deared him greatly to his friends. He was a gen 
 tleman in the best sense of the word, and he was 
 always manly, cool, self-poised, and brave. He 
 was neither morose nor sentimental ; and, though 
 taciturn, was invariably cheerful with his chosen 
 friends; and there was much more of fun and 
 frolic in his disposition than his published writ 
 ings indicate. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 HAWTHORNE dedicated but two of his books 
 to friends "Our Old Home" to ex-President 
 Pierce, in 1863 ; and "The Snow Image" to my 
 self, in 1850. 
 
 In the preface to the last he gives some pleas 
 ant glimpses of his college life, which present a 
 better picture of his lighter occupations than can 
 be found elsewhere; and it maybe interesting to 
 the admirers of his writings to have some of the 
 statements in the following extract from that 
 preface amplified and explained by one who was 
 familiar with the scenes and incidents to which 
 he refers. 
 
 In that dedication he says : 
 
 " Be all that as it may, there can be no ques 
 tion of the propriety of my inscribing this volume 
 of earlier and later stories to you, and pausing 
 here a few moments to speak of them as friend 
 speaks to friend ; still being cautious, however, 
 that the public and the critics shall overhear 
 nothing which we care about concealing. On 
 you, if on no other person, I am entitled to rely 
 
8 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 to sustain the position of my dedicatee. If any 
 body is responsible for my being at this day an 
 author, it is yourself. I know not whence your 
 faith came, but while we were lads together at a 
 country college, gathering blueberries in study 
 hours under those tall, academic pines, or watch 
 ing the great logs as they tumbled along the cur 
 rent of the Androscoggin, or shooting pigeons or 
 gray squirrels in the woods, or bat-fowling in the 
 summer twilight, or catching trout in that shad 
 owy little stream which, I suppose, is still wander 
 ing riverward through the forest, though you and 
 I will never cast a line in it again ; two idle lads, 
 in short (as we need not fear to acknowledge 
 now), doing a hundred things that the Faculty 
 never heard of, or else it would have been the 
 worse for us still, it was your prognostic of your 
 friend s destiny that he was to be a writer of fic 
 tion. And a fiction-monger he became in due 
 season. But was there ever such a weary delay 
 in obtaining the slightest recognition from the 
 public as in my case ? I sat down by the way 
 side of life, like a man under enchantment, and a 
 shrubbery sprang up around me, and the bushes 
 grew to be saplings, and the saplings became 
 trees, until no exit appeared possible through the 
 entangling depths of my obscurity. And there, 
 perhaps, I should be sitting at this moment, with 
 the moss on the imprisoning tree-trunks, and the 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 yellow leaves of more than a score of autumns / 
 piled above me, if it had not been for you. For 
 it was through your interposition and that, more 
 over, unknown to himself that your early friend 
 was brought before the public somewhat more 
 prominently than theretofore in the first volume 
 of Twice-Told Tales. Not a publisher in Amer 
 ica, I presume, would have thought well enough 
 of my forgotten or never-noticed stories to risk 
 the expense of print and paper ; nor do I say 
 this with any purpose of casting odium on the 
 respectable fraternity of booksellers for their 
 blindness to my wonderful merit. To confess 
 the truth, I doubted of the public recognition 
 quite as much as they could do. So much the 
 more generous was your confidence ; and know 
 ing, as I do, that it was founded on old friend 
 ship rather than cold criticism, I value it only the 
 more for that. 
 
 " So now, when I turn back upon my path, 
 lighted by a transitory gleam of public favor, to 
 pick up a few articles which were left out of my 
 former collections, I take pleasure in making 
 them the memorial of our very long and un 
 broken connection." 
 
 Formerly the college grounds and the land 
 adjoining included a great area of pine forest, 
 
10 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 with blueberry bushes and other shrubs for its 
 undergrowth, and with foot-paths running de 
 viously for miles under the shady trees, where, 
 in their season, squirrels and wild pigeons might 
 be found in sufficient numbers to afford good 
 sport. The woodland gave a charmingly secluded 
 retreat, and imparted a classic aspect to the other 
 wise tame scenery of the Brunswick Plains. Un 
 happily, in later years a public road was made 
 between the campus and the/quiet old graveyard, 
 and a street was opened on another side, so that 
 the grove has been sadly circumscribed. I am 
 sorry to add that many of those " tall academic 
 pines " have been cut down, leaving only their 
 stumps to tell of their former existence and their 
 destruction. The beauty of these woods made 
 such an impression upon Longfellow s poetical 
 mind that fifty years later in addressing the 
 few remaining members of our class, he thus 
 apostrophized the woods he so well remembered: 
 
 " Ye groves of pine, 
 That once were mine, but are no longer mine." 
 
 In our day one could wander for miles through 
 this forest without meeting a person (except a 
 stray student or two) or hearing a sound other 
 than the occasional chatter of a squirrel, the song 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE II 
 
 of a bird, or the sighing of the wind through the 
 branches overhead. 
 
 By crossing the road leading to Bath, a town 
 nine miles away, one came into another division 
 of the pine woods, where the sandy soil was not 
 so level, and through which ran the " shadowy 
 little stream " that, after traversing the main street 
 of the village and skirting the small elevation near 
 Professor Cleveland s house, made its way to the 
 river, a mile or so below the falls of the Andros- 
 cqggin. 
 
 * In this brook we often fished for the small trout 
 that were to be found there ; but the main charm 
 of those outings was in the indolent loitering along 
 the low banks of the little stream, listening to its 
 murmur or to the whispering of the overhanging 
 pines. 
 
 There was one favorite spot in a little ravine, 
 where a copious spring of clear cold water gushed 
 out from the sandy bank and joined the larger 
 stream. This was the Paradise Spring, which 
 deserves much more than its present celebrity for 
 the absolute purity of its waters. Of late years 
 the brook has been better known as a favorite 
 haunt of the great romance writer, and it is now 
 often called the Hawthorne Brook. 
 
 Another locality, above the bridge, afforded 
 
12 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 an occasional stroll through the fields and by 
 the river. There, in spring, we used to linger for 
 hours to watch the giant pine-logs (for there were 
 giants in those days) from the far-off forests, float 
 ing by hundreds in the stream until they came to 
 the falls; then, balancing for a moment on the 
 brink, they plunged into the foamy pool below. 
 Those who have seen such huge tree-trunks, each 
 possessing a certain individuality, approach in 
 groups or singly, and disappear, will understand 
 why it was so fascinating to "watch the great 
 logs as they tumbled along the current." 
 
 The Androscoggin River, one of the largest in 
 New England, bounds the village on the north, 
 while on the opposite side, and two or three miles 
 distant, lies Maquoit Bay (an inlet of the beauti 
 ful Casco Bay), which afforded a genuine marine 
 view, vulgarized though it was by the dilapidated 
 wharf and the two or three melancholy sloops that 
 plied between this point and Portland, laden with 
 lumber and firewood. A trip in one of these 
 coasters is said to have inspired a high officer of 
 the college with the beneficent idea of writing a 
 book of " Songs for Sailors." Though the little 
 volume fell still-born from the press, a few cop 
 ies escaped, and gave occasion for great fun to 
 the irreverent youngsters, who parodied it with- 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 13 
 
 out mercy. I can only rescue for a brief hour 
 from oblivion the initial stanza of the first poem in 
 the book, and here offer it as a " specimen brick" : 
 
 All you who would be seamen 
 
 Must bear a valiant heart, 
 And when you come upon the sea 
 
 You must not think to start ; 
 Nor once to be faint-hearted 
 
 In hail, rain, wind, or snow ; 
 Nor to think for to shrink 
 
 When the stormy winds do blow." 
 
 In process of time it was my fortune to " come 
 upon the sea," and I experienced the full force of 
 "hail, rain, wind, or snow "on several occasions 
 notably in the Portsmouth, beating round Cape 
 Horn in a wild, wintry gale ; and again in the Sar 
 atoga, in a blinding storm of snow and sleet, em 
 bayed off the coast of New Hampshire, and only 
 saved from total shipwreck by cutting away the 
 masts and anchoring on a rocky lee-shore. I 
 take shame upon myself for not recalling, then 
 and there, those appropriate and inspiriting lines. 
 
 To this little bay within a bay we occasionally 
 resorted, but the tiresome walk over the sandy 
 road deprived the excursions of half their pleas 
 ure. 
 
 The bay and the rapid river gave to the flat 
 region adjacent to the college its only picturesque 
 features. Of these Longfellow wrote : 
 
14 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 " Thou river, widening through the meadows green 
 To the vast sea, so near and yet unseen !" 
 
 Another of our favorite strolls was in a sparse 
 ly settled street by the riverside. There, after 
 tea, Hawthorne and I often walked, silent or 
 conversing, according to the humor of the hour. 
 These rambles sometimes ended at the unpainted 
 cottage of an old fortune-teller who, from the tea- 
 leaves in a cracked cup or from a soiled pack 
 of cards, evoked our respective destinies. She 
 always gave us brilliant futures, in which the 
 most attractive of the promised gifts were abun 
 dance of gold and great wealth of wives. Lovely 
 beings these wives of destiny were sure to be, 
 some of whom the old crone prophesied would 
 be " dark-complected " and others " light-com 
 plected," but all surpassingly beautiful. These 
 blessings, and more, she predicted for so small 
 a silver coin that, though we were her best pa 
 trons, our modest stock of pocket-money was not 
 inconveniently diminished by her fees. 
 
 We were fully repaid for the outlay by the fun 
 of the hoffr ; but, to the discredit of the prophet 
 ess, it must be said that the gold never came to 
 us, but to each a very happy marriage without 
 the dangerous procession of blondes and bru 
 nettes. And it was an added tie between us 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 1 5 
 
 that each had the highest appreciation of the 
 many excellent qualities of his friend s wife. 
 
 A few years since I revisited the spot where 
 the sibyl once had lived ; but, alas ! only to find 
 that her house was gone, and that a railway-track 
 had usurped its former site. 
 
 In our long evening walks, especially when dis 
 cussing the probable future of each, Hawthorne 
 was less reserved than at other times. On such 
 occasions I always foretold his success if he 
 should choose literature as a profession. He lis 
 tened without assenting, but, as he told me long 
 afterwards, he was cheered and strengthened in 
 his subsequent career by my enthusiastic faith in 
 his literary powers. 
 
 The professors and students all acknowledged 
 his superiority in Latin and English composition, 
 yet to me he insisted that he could never bring" 
 himself into accord with the general reading pub 
 lic, nor make himself sufficiently understood by 
 it to gain anything more than a beggarly support 
 as an author. It was this distrust of being right 
 fully appreciated that, for so many years, prevent 
 ed him from taking that rank among the foremost 
 writers of America which scholars and critics now 
 concede to him. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE class of 1825 became distinguished in the- 
 annals of Bowdoin for those of its graduates of 
 that year who ultimately attained high rank in 
 literature, theology, and politics. 
 
 Though the general reader may care little for 
 any notice of the different individuals of this class, 
 Bowdoin men will probably be interested in some 
 account of its more noticeable members. 
 
 One of the youngest was Henry W. Longfellow, 
 who entered college when only fourteen. He had 
 decided personal beauty and most attractive man 
 ners. He was frank, courteous, and affable, while 
 morally he was proof against the temptations that 
 beset lads on first leaving the salutary restraints 
 of home. He was diligent, conscientious, and 
 most attentive to all his college duties, whether in 
 the recitation-room, the lecture-hall, or the chapel. 
 The word " student " best expresses his literary 
 habit, and in his intercourse with all he was con 
 spicuously the gentleman. 
 
 His studious habits and attractive mien soon 
 led the professors to receive him into their soci- 
 
THE PRIVATE LIFE 17 
 
 there could apparently be no anecdote that 
 was not on the whole to his honor. If he 
 had come into a room at any moment, peo 
 ple might have said frankly, " Of course we 
 were telling stones about you !" As con 
 sciences go, in London, the general con 
 science would have been good. Moreover, 
 it would have been impossible to imagine 
 his taking such a tribute otherwise than 
 amiably, for he was always as unperturbed 
 as an actor with the right cue. He had 
 never in his life needed the prompter his 
 very embarrassments had been rehearsed. 
 For myself, when he was talked about I al 
 ways had an odd impression that we were 
 speaking of the dead it was with that pe 
 culiar accumulation of relish. His reputa 
 tion was a kind of gilded obelisk, as if he 
 had been buried beneath it ; the body of 
 legend and reminiscence, of which he was 
 to be the subject, had crystallized in ad 
 vance. 
 
 This ambiguity sprang, I suppose, from 
 the fact that the mere sound of his name 
 and air of his person, the general expecta 
 tion he created, were, somehow, too exalted 
 
18 THE PRIVATE LIFE 
 
 to be verified. The experience of his ur 
 banity always came later ; the prefigiire- 
 ment, the legend paled before the reality. 
 I remember that on the evening I refer to 
 the reality was particularly operative. The 
 handsomest man of his period could never 
 have looked better, and he sat among us 
 like a bland conductor controlling by an 
 harmonious play of arm an orchestra still a 
 little rough. He directed the conversation 
 by gestures as irresistible as they were 
 vague ; one felt as if without him it wouldn t 
 have had anything to call a tone. This was 
 essentially what he contributed to any oc 
 casion what he contributed above all to 
 English public life. He pervaded it, he 
 colored it, he embellished it, and without 
 him it would scarcely have had a vocabu 
 lary ; certainly it would not have had a 
 style, for a style was what it had in having 
 Lord Mellifont. He was a style. I was 
 freshly struck with it as, in the salle a man 
 ger of the little Swiss inn, we resigned our 
 selves to inevitable veal. Confronted with 
 his form (I must parenthesize that it was 
 not confronted much), Clare Vawdrey s talk 
 
THE PRIVATE LIFE IQ 
 
 suggested the reporter contrasted with the 
 bard. It was interesting to watch the shock 
 of characters from which, of an evening, so 
 much would be expected. There was, how 
 ever, no concussion it was all muffled and 
 minimized in Lord Mellifont s tact. It was 
 rudimentary with him to find the solution 
 of such a problem in playing the host, as 
 suming responsibilities which carried with 
 them their sacrifice. He had, indeed, never 
 been a guest in his life ; he was the host, 
 the patron, the moderator at every board. 
 If there was a defect in his manner (and I 
 suggest it under my breath), it was that he 
 had a little more art than any conjunction- 
 even the most complicated could possibly 
 require. At any rate, one made one s re 
 flections in noticing how the accomplished 
 peer handled the situation, and how the 
 sturdy man of letters was unconscious that 
 the situation (and least of all he himself as 
 part of it) was handled. Lord Mellifont 
 poured forth treasures of tact, and Clare 
 Vawdrey never dreamed he was doing it. 
 
 Vawdrey had no suspicion of any such 
 precaution, even when Blanche Aclney asked 
 
20 THE PRIVATE LIFE 
 
 him if he saw yet their third act an inqui 
 ry into which she introduced a subtlety of 
 her own. She had a theory that he was to 
 write her a play, and that the heroine, if he 
 would only do his duty, would be the part 
 for Which she had immemorially longed. 
 She was forty years old (this could be no 
 secret to those who had admired her from 
 the first), and she could now reach out her 
 hand and touch her uttermost goal. This 
 gave a kind of tragic passion perfect actress 
 of comedy as she was to her desire not to 
 miss the great thing. The years had passed, 
 and still she had missed it ; none of the 
 things she had done was the thing she had 
 dreamed of, so that at present there was no 
 more time to lose. This was the canker in 
 the rose, the ache beneath the smile. It 
 made her touching made her sadness even 
 sweeter than her laughter. She had done 
 the old English and the new French, and 
 had charmed her generation ; but she was 
 haunted by the vision of a bigger chance, 
 of something truer to the conditions that 
 lay near her. She was tired of Sheridan 
 and she hated Bowdler ; she called for a 
 
THE PRIVATE LIFE 21 
 
 canvas of a finer grain. The worst of it, to 
 my sense, was that she would never extract 
 her modern comedy from the great mature 
 novelist, who was as incapable of producing 
 it as he was of threading a needle. She 
 coddled him, she talked to him, she made 
 love to him, as she frankly proclaimed; but 
 she dwelt in illusions she would have to 
 live and die with Bowdler. 
 
 It is difficult to be cursory over this charm 
 ing woman, who was beautiful without beau 
 ty and complete with a dozen deficiencies. 
 The perspective of the stage made her over, 
 and in society she was like the model off 
 the pedestal. She was the picture walking 
 about, which to the artless social mind was 
 a perpetual surprise a miracle. People 
 thought she told them the secrets of the 
 pictorial nature, in return for which they 
 gave her relaxation and tea. She told them 
 nothing and she drank the tea ; but they 
 had, all the same, the best of the bargain. 
 Vawdrey was really at work on a play ; but 
 if he had begun it because he liked her, I 
 think he let it drag for the same reason. 
 He secretly felt the atrocious difficulty 
 
22 THE PRIVATE LIFE 
 
 knew that from his hand the finished piece 
 would have received no active life. At the 
 same time, nothing could be more agreeable 
 than to have such a question open with 
 Blanche Adney, and from time to time he 
 put something very good into the play. If 
 he deceived Mrs. Adney, it was only because 
 in her despair she was determined to be de 
 ceived. To her question about their third 
 act he replied that before dinner he had 
 written a magnificent passage. 
 
 "Before dinner?" I said. "Why, cher 
 maitre, before dinner you were holding us 
 all spellbound on the terrace. 1 
 
 My words were a joke, because I thought 
 his had been ; but for the first time that I 
 could remember I perceived a certain con 
 fusion in his face. He looked at me hard, 
 throwing back his head quickly, the least bit 
 like a horse who has been pulled up short. 
 " Oh, it was before that," he replied, nat 
 urally enough. 
 
 "Before that you were playing billiards 
 with me," Lord Mellifont intimated. 
 
 "Then it must have been yesterday," 
 said Vawdrey. 
 
THE PRIVATE LIFE 23 
 
 But he was in a tight place. " You told 
 me this morning you did nothing yesterday," 
 the actress objected. 
 
 " I don t think I really know when I do 
 things." Vawdrey looked vaguely, without 
 helping himself, at a dish that was offered 
 him. 
 
 "It s enough if we know," smiled Lord 
 Mellifont. 
 
 " I don t believe you ve written a line," 
 said Blanche Adney. 
 
 " I think I could repeat you the scene." 
 Vawdrey helped himself to haricots verts. 
 
 " Oh, do ! oh, do !" two or three of us 
 cried. 
 
 " After dinner, in the salon ; it will be an 
 immense regal" Lord Mellifont declared. 
 
 " I m not sure, but I ll try," Vawdrey 
 went on. 
 
 " Oh, you lovely man !" exclaimed the 
 actress, who was practising Americanisms, 
 being resigned even to an American com 
 edy. 
 
 " But there must be this condition," said 
 Vawdrey: "you must make your husband 
 play." " 
 
24 THE PRIVATE LIFE 
 
 " Play while you re reading ? Never ! 
 
 " I ve too much vanity," said Adney. 
 
 Lord Mellifont distinguished him. "You 
 must give us the overture before the curtain 
 rises. That s a peculiarly delightful mo 
 ment." 
 
 " I sha n t read I shall just speak," said 
 Vawdrey. 
 
 " Better still ; let me go and get your 
 manuscript," the actress suggested. 
 
 Vawdrey replied that the manuscript 
 didn t matter ; but an hour later, in the sa 
 lon, we wished he might have had it. We 
 sat expectant, still under the spell of Ad- 
 ney s violin. His wife, in the foreground 
 on an ottoman, was all impatience and pro 
 file, and Lord Mellifont, in the chair it 
 was always the chair, Lord Mellifont s 
 made our grateful little group feel like a 
 social science congress or a distribution of 
 prizes. Suddenly, instead of beginning, our 
 tame lion began to roar out of tune he had 
 clean forgotten every word. He was very 
 sorry, but the lines absolutely wouldn t come 
 to him ; he was utterly ashamed, but his 
 memory was a blank. He didn t look in 
 
THE PRIVATE LIFE 25 
 
 the least ashamed Vawdrey had never 
 looked ashamed in his life ; he was only 
 imperturbably and merrily natural. He 
 protested that he had never expected to 
 make such a fool of himself, but we felt 
 that this wouldn t prevent the incident from 
 taking its place among his jolliest reminis 
 cences. It was only we who were humili 
 ated, as if he had played us a premeditated 
 trick. This was an occasion, if ever, for 
 Lord Mellifont s tact, which descended on 
 us all like balm. He told us, in his charm 
 ing, artistic way, his way of bridging over 
 arid intervals (he had a debit there was 
 nothing to approach it in England like 
 the actors of the Comedie Franchise), of his 
 own collapse on a momentous occasion, the 
 delivery of an address to a mighty multi 
 tude, when, rinding he had forgotten his 
 memoranda, he fumbled on the terrible plat 
 form, the cynosure of every eye, fumbled 
 vainly in irreproachable pockets for indis 
 pensable notes. But the point of his story 
 was finer than that of Vawdrey s pleasantry; 
 for he sketched with a few light gestures the 
 brilliancy of a performance which had risen 
 
26 THE PRIVATE LIFE 
 
 superior to embarrassment had resolved 
 itself, we were left to divine, into an effort 
 recognized at the moment as not absolutely 
 a blot on what the public was so good as to 
 call his reputation. 
 
 " Play up play up !" cried Blanche Ad- 
 ney, tapping her husband, and remembering 
 how, on the stage, a contretemps is always 
 drowned in music. Adney threw himself 
 upon his fiddle, and I said to Clare Vaw- 
 drey that his mistake could easily be cor 
 rected by his sending for the manuscript. 
 If he would tell me where it was I would im 
 mediately fetch it from his room. To this 
 he replied, " My dear fellow, I m afraid there 
 is no manuscript." 
 
 " Then you ve not written anything ?" 
 
 " I ll write it to-morrow." 
 
 " Ah, you trifle with us !" I said, in much 
 mystification. 
 
 Vawdrey hesitated an instant. " If there 
 is anything, you ll find it on my table." 
 
 At this moment one of the others spoke 
 to him, and Lady Mellifont remarked audi 
 bly, as if to correct gently our want of con 
 sideration, that Mr. Adney was playing some- 
 
THE PRIVATE LIFE 27 
 
 thing very beautiful. I had noticed before 
 that she appeared extremely fond of music ; 
 she always listened to it in a hushed trans 
 port. Vawdrey s attention was drawn away, 
 but it didn t seem to me that the words he 
 had just dropped constituted a definite per 
 mission to go to his room. Moreover, I 
 wanted to speak to Blanche Adney ; I had 
 something to ask her. I had to await my 
 chance, however, as we remained silent 
 awhile for her husband, after which the 
 conversation became general. It was our 
 habit to go to bed early, but there was still 
 a little of the evening left. Before it quite 
 waned I found an opportunity to tell the 
 actress that Vawdrey had given me leave to 
 put my hand on his manuscript. She ad 
 jured me, by all I held sacred, to bring it 
 immediately, to give it to her , and her in 
 sistence was proof against my suggestion 
 that it would now be too late for him to be 
 gin to read ; besides which, the charm was 
 broken the others wouldn t care. It was 
 not too late for her to begin ; therefore I 
 was to possess myself, without more delay, 
 of the precious pages. I told her she should 
 
28 THE PRIVATE LIFE 
 
 be obeyed in a moment, but I wanted her 
 first to satisfy my just curiosity. What had 
 happened before dinner, while she was on 
 the hills with Lord Mellifont ? 
 
 " How do you know anything happened ?" 
 
 " I saw it in your face when you came 
 back." 
 
 " And they call me an actress !" cried Mrs. 
 Adney. 
 
 "What do they call me ?" I inquired. 
 
 "You re a searcher of hearts that frivo 
 lous thing, an observer." 
 
 " I wish you d let an observer write you a 
 play !" I broke out. 
 
 " People don t care for what you write ; 
 you d break any run of luck." 
 
 " Well, I see plays all around me," I de 
 clared ; " the air is full of them to-night." 
 
 " The air ? Thank you for nothing ! I 
 only wish my table-drawers were." 
 
 " Did he make love to you on the glacier?" 
 I went on. 
 
 She stared ; then broke into the gradu 
 ated ecstasy of her laugh. " Lord Mellifont, 
 poor dear? What a funny place ! It would 
 indeed be the place for our love !" 
 
THE PRIVATE LIFE 29 
 
 " Did he fall into a crevasse ?" I con 
 tinued. 
 
 Blanche Adney looked at me again as she 
 had done for an instant when she came up, 
 before dinner, with her hands full of flowers. 
 "I don t know into what he fell. I ll tell 
 you to-morrow." 
 
 " He did come down, then ?" 
 
 " Perhaps he went up," she laughed. " It s 
 really strange !" 
 
 " All the more reason you should tell me 
 to-night." 
 
 " I must think it over ; I must puzzle it 
 out." 
 
 " Oh, if you want conundrums, I ll throw 
 in another," I said. "What s the matter 
 with the master ?" 
 
 " The master of what ?" 
 
 " Of every form of dissimulation. Vaw- 
 drey hasn t written a line." 
 
 " Go and get his papers, and we ll see." 
 
 " I don t like to expose him," I said. 
 
 " Why not, if I expose Lord Mellifont ?" 
 
 " Oh, I d do anything for that," I con 
 ceded. " But why should Vawdrey have 
 made a false statement ? It s very curious." 
 
30 THE PRIVATE LIFE 
 
 " It s very curious," Blanche Adney re 
 peated, with a musing air and her eyes on 
 Lord Mellifont. Then, rousing herself, she 
 added : " Go and look in his room." 
 
 " In Lord Mellifont s ?" 
 
 She turned to me quickly. "T/iat would 
 be a way !" 
 
 " A way to what ?" 
 
 "To find out to find out !" She spoke 
 gayly and excitedly, but suddenly checked 
 herself. " We re talking nonsense," she 
 said. 
 
 " We re mixing things up, but I m struck 
 with your idea. Get Lady Mellifont to let 
 you." 
 
 " Oh, she has looked !" Mrs. Adney mur 
 mured, with the oddest dramatic expression. 
 Then, after a movement of her beautiful up 
 lifted hand, as if to brush away a fantastic 
 vision, she exclaimed, imperiously : " Bring 
 me the scene bring me the scene !" 
 
 " I go for it," I answered; " but don t tell 
 me I can t write a play." 
 
 She left me, but my errand was arrested 
 by the approach of a lady who had produced 
 a birthday-book we had been threatened 
 
THE PRIVATE LIFE 3 I 
 
 with it for several evenings and who did 
 me the honor to solicit my autograph. She 
 had been asking the others, and she couldn t 
 decently leave me out. I could usually re 
 member my name, but it always took me 
 some time to recall my date, and even when 
 I had done so I was never very sure. I 
 hesitated between two days, and I remarked 
 to my petitioner that I would sign on both 
 if it would give her any satisfaction. She 
 said that surely I had been born only once ; 
 and I replied of course that on the day I 
 made her acquaintance I had been born 
 again. I mention the feeble joke only to 
 show that, with the obligatory inspection of 
 the other autographs, we gave some minutes 
 to this transaction. The lady departed with 
 her book, and then I became aware that the 
 company had dispersed. I was alone in the 
 little salon that had been appropriated to 
 our use. My first impression was one of 
 disappointment : if Vawdrey had gone to 
 bed I didn t wish to disturb him. While I 
 hesitated, however, I recognized that Vaw 
 drey had not gone to bed. A window was 
 open, and the sound of voices outside came 
 
32 THE PRIVATE LIFE 
 
 in to me ; Blanche was on the terrace with 
 her dramatist, and they were talking about 
 the stars. I went to the window for a 
 glimpse the Alpine night was splendid. 
 My friends had stepped out together ; the 
 actress had picked up a cloak ; she looked 
 as I had seen her look in the wing of the 
 theatre. They were silent awhile, and I 
 heard the roar of a neighboring torrent. I 
 turned back into the room, and its quiet 
 lamplight gave me an idea. Our compan 
 ions had dispersed it was late for a pas 
 toral country and we three should have 
 the place to ourselves. Clare Vawdrey had 
 written his scene it was magnificent ; and 
 his reading it to us there, at such an hour, 
 would be an episode intensely memorable. 
 I would bring down his manuscript and 
 meet the two with it as they came in. 
 
 I quitted the salon for this purpose ; I 
 had been in Vawdrey s room and knew it 
 was on the second floor, the last in a long 
 corridor. A minute later my hand was on 
 the knob of his door, which I naturally 
 pushed open without knocking. It was 
 equally natural that in the absence of its 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 33 
 
 than with Henry, but the college relations of 
 the poet and the romance writer were always 
 kindly, and led to a strong friendship in later life. 
 
 Hawthorne was not studious in the general ac 
 ceptation of the term, but he devoted much time 
 to miscellaneous reading. His facility for ac 
 quiring knowledge would, with little labor, have 
 placed him in the front rank of his class. As it 
 was, he took much greater interest in the humani 
 ties than in the more abstruse branches of the 
 prescribed course. Mathematics and metaphys 
 ics, as studies, he disliked and neglected, to his 
 frequent discredit in the recitation-room ; but the 
 languages were attractive and pleasant. Espe 
 cially did he like the Latin, which he wrote with 
 great ease and purity. In the other studies of 
 the curriculum he stood hardly above medioc 
 rity, and in declamation he was literally nowhere. 
 He never declaimed in the old chapel, as the 
 students were required to do on Wednesdays. 
 Fines and admonitions were alike powerless. He 
 would not declaim. To this peculiarity is to be 
 attributed his failure to have a part assigned him 
 in the Commencement exercises on graduation, 
 though his rank, No. 18 in a class of thirty-eight, 
 would otherwise have entitled him to one. 
 
 He told me that when twelve or thirteen years 
 3 
 
34 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 old, on some occasion in play-hours, he went upon 
 a stage in the school-room to declaim. Some 
 larger boys ridiculed him and pulled him down, 
 which so mortified and enraged him that he was 
 inspired with a lasting aversion to any future 
 effort in that direction. Nor did he attempt to 
 speak in public until many years afterwards, when, 
 as United States Consul at Liverpool, he made a 
 speech at a civic dinner, of which he wrote me 
 an amusing account. He was more exultant at 
 his success on that occasion than he ever seemed 
 to be for the authorship of " The Scarlet Letter." 
 
 In the literary aspirations of his collegiate life 
 poetry had apparently no place. Yet some small 
 poems of his written before entering college, 
 and still resting in my memory showed, as I 
 thought, considerable merit. Since, however, he 
 refrained from writing verses afterwards, one can 
 only conjecture what his success would have been 
 had he made poetry instead of prose the vehicle 
 for his fancies. 
 
 In the " Biography," and in Mr. Lathrop s 
 " Study,* it appears that, while a young boy, he 
 was much addicted to rhyming. At sixteen, how 
 ever, he wrote his sister, "I have almost given 
 up writing poetry. No man can be a poet and a 
 book-keeper at the same time." This was writ 
 ten when he expected to become a merchant. 
 For, in the same letter, he wrote, " I do not think 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 35 
 
 I shall ever go to college. I cannot bear the 
 thought of living upon Uncle Robert for four 
 years longer. How happy I should be to be able 
 to say, I am lord of myself. " 
 
 The world may well bless the memory of " Un 
 cle Robert," that his liberality was unfaltering, 
 and that his estimate of the judicious course for 
 his nephew s education was so correct. Little, 
 though, did he dream of the inestimable benefit 
 he was bestowing upon all English-speaking peo 
 ples by his wise expenditure for the future au 
 thor s training. 
 
 Reverting to the subject of poetry, I believe 
 there is no evidence of Hawthorne s writing any 
 poetry after he entered college, though he fre 
 quently quoted it. Apropos to his ante-college 
 versifying, I remember that, on a moonlight even 
 ing, Hawthorne and I were leaning over the rail 
 ing of the bridge just below the falls, listening 
 to the falling water, and enjoying the beauties of 
 the scene, when I recited some passages from 
 the colloquy between Lorenzo and Jessica in the 
 " Merchant of Venice." Then Hawthorne, in his 
 deep, musical tones, responded with the following 
 verses, which he said he had written before com 
 ing to college : 
 
 We are beneath the dark blue sky, 
 And the moon is shining bright. 
 Oh, what can lift the soul so high 
 As the glow of a summer night, 
 
36 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 When all the gay are hushed to sleep, 
 And they who mourn forget to weep 
 Beneath that gentle light ? 
 
 " Is there no holier, happier land 
 - Among those distant spheres, 
 Where we may meet that shadow band, 
 
 The dead of other years, 
 Where all the day the moonbeams rest, 
 And where at length the souls are blest 
 
 Of those who dwell in tears ? 
 
 "Oh, if the happy ever leave 
 
 The bowers of bliss on high, 
 To cheer the hearts of those who grieve, 
 
 And wipe the tear-drop dry, 
 It is when moonlight sheds its ray, 
 More pure and beautiful than day, 
 
 And earth is like the sky." 
 
 I preserved the lines, and a few years since 
 gave a copy to Mr. Lathrop, who published them 
 in his interesting " Study of Hawthorne." 
 
 I remember also another little poem of Haw 
 thorne s, which I wrote down soon after hearing 
 it, but the manuscript was lost. It ran thus : 
 
 " The ocean hath its silent caves, 
 
 Dark, quiet, and alone; 
 Though there be fury on the waves, 
 Beneath them there is none. 
 
 The awful spirits of the deep 
 
 Hold their communion there, 
 And there are those for whom we weep 
 The young, the brave, the fair. 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 37 
 
 " The earth hath guilt, the earth hath care, 
 
 Unquiet are its graves, 
 But peaceful sleep is ever there 
 Beneath the dark blue waves. 
 
 " Calmly the wearied seamen rest 
 
 Beneath their own blue sea ; 
 The ocean s solitudes are blest, 
 For there is purity." 
 
 This little poem was afterwards set to music 
 by E. L. White. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 HAWTHORNE, previous to entering college, 
 lived in great seclusion with his mother and two 
 sisters at their home in Salem. In two or three 
 flying visits, made him by invitation after our 
 graduation, I saw no evidence of narrow circum 
 stances in their environment. I was charmed 
 with the quiet and refined manners of Mrs. 
 Hawthorne and with the pleasant and lady-like 
 bearing of her younger daughter. The elder 
 daughter who Hawthorne often said had more 
 genius than himself I never saw until after his 
 death. 
 
 The family occupied the old home of Mrs. 
 Hawthorne s father, their moderate income being 
 sufficient for their comfortable support, but not 
 for the son s college expenses. These had been 
 defrayed by his maternal uncle, Robert Manning, 
 who supplied him with means to spend as liber 
 ally as any of his companions. 
 
 In these days of more costly education it may 
 interest some readers to know the simpler col 
 lege expenses of sixty or seventy years ago. A 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 39 
 
 term bill of my own, yellow with age, dated 
 May 23, 1823, is before me, and contains these 
 items : 
 
 For tuition $8 oo 
 
 Chamber rent 3 34 
 
 Damages 45 
 
 Average damages 15 
 
 Sweeping and bed-making I n 
 
 Library 50 
 
 Monitor 05 
 
 Catalogues 08 v 
 
 Bell ii. 
 
 Reciting-room 25 
 
 Chemical lectures 25 
 
 Fines 20 
 
 Total $14 49 
 
 The fines were probably for absence from rec 
 itations ; but a later term bill shows a fine of 
 twenty-five cents for " unnecessary walking on 
 the Sabbath," a charge that would astonish the 
 father of any collegian of the present day. Could 
 Hawthorne s term bill of corresponding date be 
 found, it would doubtless show that he, too, was 
 convicted of the misdemeanor of taking a stroll 
 after our compulsory attendance at morning and 
 afternoon services. 
 
 In a corner of the present campus stood 
 " Ward s tavern " when I first went to Bruns- 
 
40 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 wick. Its owner had recently died, and was 
 succeeded in his vocation by his daughter, a 
 maiden of perhaps thirty years affable, good- 
 looking, and always ready to give moderate 
 credit for the little suppers and other comforts 
 that students might desire. Her house was the 
 scene of many social gatherings; but at some 
 later period it disappeared, and the grass of the 
 college grounds now conceals the site of that 
 once most convenient inn. There, oftener than 
 elsewhere, Hawthorne indulged in the usual con 
 vivialities of the period ; but his sedate aspect 
 and quiet manners prevented the appearance of 
 any excess, even within the limited circle of his 
 intimate associates. The customary pastimes 
 included card - playing and wine - drinking, in 
 which he joined his friends through good fellow 
 ship ; but he rarely exceeded the bounds of mod 
 eration never losing more money than he could 
 readily pay, and never imbibing enough to ex 
 pose himself to remark. He could drink a great 
 deal of wine without, apparently, being affected 
 by it. Neither in his college days nor afterwards 
 did I ever know him to be perceptibly under the 
 influence of stimulants, though we were associ 
 ated in many convivial scenes. I will add that, 
 from the first moment of our acquaintance, I 
 never knew him to utter an unmanly sentiment 
 or to do a mean or unkind act. 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 41 
 
 In our last term, after the parts for the Com 
 mencement exercises had been assigned, it ap 
 peared that fourteen of the thirty-eight graduates 
 of the year were not to have the privilege of 
 " speaking in public on the stage," though their 
 degree of A.B. was nevertheless to be conferred. 
 This rear-guard rallied and formed " The Navy 
 Club," so called for some occult reason. It com 
 prised among its members a future Congress 
 man, another who in the course of time became 
 a reverend D.D., Hawthorne, and, of course, the 
 writer. 
 
 Of the officers elected, the D.D. was made 
 Commodore, Hawthorne was Commander, myself 
 Boatswain, and the most fun-loving of the party 
 was designated Chaplain. Every one had a title, 
 from Commodore to Cook. 
 
 The weekly suppers at Miss Ward s were very 
 jolly ; and some of the class, who, by reason of 
 superior standing as scholars, were not entitled 
 to membership would fain have joined in the 
 merry sessions of the club, but they were not 
 admitted. 
 
 The nightly meetings of Commencement week 
 ended this drama, as well as many others of more 
 grave import. 
 
 The river near by gave its name to a loo club 
 of five members. One died early, but not until 
 he had achieved political fame of a high order; 
 
42 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 another was afterwards a wealthy and respected 
 merchant ; a third became a physician and settled 
 in the West, where he was held in high regard 
 until he died, thirty years ago. Hawthorne and 
 the writer were the other members of the An- 
 droscoggin Club, which existed about two years. 
 The stakes played for were, of course, small, but 
 the golden hours then lost were not included in 
 the account. 
 
 That Hawthorne was somewhat addicted to 
 card-playing quite early in his college life ap 
 pears from a letter of President Allen to Mrs. 
 Hawthorne, May 29, 1822 (see " Study," p. 117), 
 announcing the fact that her son had that day 
 been " fined fifty cents for playing cards for 
 money last term." 
 
 That dignitary adds, " Perhaps he might not 
 have gamed, were it not for the influence of 
 a student whom we have dismissed from col 
 lege." 
 
 The next day Hawthorne himself writes his 
 mother, "All the card-players in college have 
 been found out my unfortunate self among the 
 number. One has been dismissed from college, 
 two suspended, and the rest, with myself, fined 
 fifty cents each." 
 
 By good fortune I was not caught in that 
 grand raid, but several men who afterwards at 
 tained eminence e. g. a U. S. Senator, a grave 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 43 
 
 judge, and a leading physician were included, 
 with Hawthorne, in the " catch." 
 
 It may be interesting to Bowdoin men to know 
 where Hawthorne lived while in college. 
 
 At first he and Mason boarded at Professor 
 Newman s, and had their room in Maine Hall, 
 where they remained until the building was 
 burned in March, 1822. Fortunately they were 
 upon the lower floor, so they easily saved their 
 furniture and other effects. 
 
 Soon afterwards Hawthorne wrote his sister, 
 " I sustained no damage by the fire except hav 
 ing my coat torn. Luckily it happened to be my 
 old one." 
 
 After this enforced removal the two room-mates 
 took up their quarters in the large house of Mrs. 
 Adams, opposite the president s house. This 
 most estimable lady the widow of a leading phy 
 sician had been left with two charming daugh 
 ters and only moderate means of support. Hence 
 it was convenient, as it was in accordance with 
 the custom of the place, to utilize three or four 
 rooms in her large house by renting them to 
 students. 
 
 A year or two later I occupied a room in the 
 same house, and we incidentally noticed, with 
 mild interest, the attentions a young medical stu- 
 
44 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 dent was paying to the elder daughter of the 
 house. Soon afterwards they married and went 
 West. 
 
 The sequel to the story came fifty-five years 
 later, when I found myself at table, in a Wash 
 ington hotel, with a dignified Western Represent 
 ative and his lady-like wife and pretty daughter. 
 Their name had a familiar sound, and soon the 
 fact dawned upon me that I was talking with the 
 son of my old Brunswick friends, in the person 
 of the prominent and able Colonel Hatch, of 
 Missouri. 
 
 The college youth (now a gray-haired veteran) 
 and the young maiden (now a venerable widow) 
 who had bidden good-by in 1825 were able, in 
 1880, to exchange messages of regard across 
 half a continent. 
 
 Returning from this digression, it remains only 
 to be added that, after Maine Hall had been re 
 built Hawthorne and Mason returned to it, and 
 occupied room No. 19 in the sophomore year. 
 
 For the last two years in college, Hawthorne 
 roomed alone at Mrs. Dunning s, directly opposite 
 Professor Cleveland s house, where also we both 
 boarded. The cost of board was moderate, and 
 we fared satisfactorily for a sum that would now 
 seem inadequate, and even mean. Two dollars a 
 week was the highest charge for table-board, and 
 most of the students paid but a dollar and a half. 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 45 
 
 Hawthorne and the writer usually lived at the 
 same boarding-house and were quite contented 
 with the fare. The incidental expenses of col 
 lege were small, but even such of the rooms as 
 were uncarpeted and uncurtained were not cheer 
 less, for wood was abundant at a dollar a cord. 
 The one comparatively large item of expense 
 (excepting books and stationery) was that of 
 the "midnight oil," which was brought from a 
 village "store" and burned in brass or japanned 
 lamps. After so long an interval especially as 
 gas and electric light have come into use no 
 harm can follow from divulging the secret that 
 certain students had extra lamp-fillers that had 
 never known oil. And these were carried in 
 broad daylight across the campus, full of some 
 other liquid more quickly and pleasantly con 
 sumed. 
 
 Maine had not then enacted the laws which 
 have given her such creditable prominence as 
 the pioneer in the cause of temperance. At that 
 time, too, it was the universal custom for coun 
 try stores to sell " wines and liquors " as well as 
 " dry-goods and groceries." 
 
 Hawthorne engaged in the usual college sports, 
 but with no great zest. Base-ball and foot-ball 
 interested him little, though he occasionally joined 
 
46 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 in the rough-and-tumble games. He did not like 
 running or jumping, but walking was his favorite 
 exercise ; in that he was untiring. Sometimes he 
 went out shooting, though he did not claim to be 
 a crack shot. I never saw him on horseback, but 
 frequently of a Saturday we drove in the "chaise" 
 or in the wagon of that day, he never wishing to 
 hold the reins. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ALTHOUGH Hawthorne, while a collegian, rare 
 ly sought or accepted the acquaintance of the 
 young ladies of the village, he had a high appre 
 ciation of the sex. An early marriage, however, 
 did not enter into his plans of life. The evi 
 dence of this fact is among my papers and runs 
 thus: 
 
 " BOWDOIN COLLEGE, Nov. 14, 1824. 
 
 "If Nathaniel Hathorne is neither a married 
 man nor a widower on the fourteenth day of No 
 vember, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thir 
 ty-six, I bind myself upon my honor to pay the 
 said Hathorne a barrel of the best old Madeira 
 wine. 
 
 " Witness my hand and seal. 
 
 "JONATHAN CILLEY." 
 
 [J. c.] 
 
 " BOWDOIN COLLEGE, Nov. 14, 1824. 
 " If I am a married man or a widower on the 
 fourteenth day of November, One Thousand Eight 
 Hundred and Thirty-six, I bind myself, upon my 
 
48 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 honor, to pay Jonathan Cilley a barrel of the 
 best old Madeira wine. 
 
 " Witness my hand and seal. 
 
 " NATHANIEL HATHORNE." 
 
 [N. H.] 
 
 " This instrument shall be delivered to Horatio 
 Bridge, and if Hathorne is married within the 
 time specified, he shall transmit the intelligence 
 to him immediately, and the bet, whoever shall 
 lose it, shall be paid within a month after the ex 
 piration of the time. 
 
 "JONATHAN CILLEY, 
 
 " NATHANIEL HATHORNE." 
 
 This very formal agreement was enclosed in a 
 closely sealed package, endorsed in Hawthorne s 
 writing, thus : 
 
 "Mr. Horatio Bridge is requested to take 
 charge of this paper, and not to open it until the 
 fifteenth day of November, 1836, unless by the 
 joint request of Cilley and Hathorne." 
 
 On the designated day I broke the seals, and 
 notified Cilley that he had lost the wager. He 
 admitted the loss and, after the delay of a year 
 or more, was making arrangements for its pay 
 ment and a meeting to taste the wine, when his 
 tragic death, in the duel with Graves, settled the 
 account. 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 49 
 
 Many years ago Hawthorne requested me to 
 burn the letters he had written me in his youth 
 and early manhood. On reading them over, I 
 found them full of passages of beauty and of de 
 tails of his own plans and purposes, hopes and 
 disappointments. They were, however, too free 
 in their expressions about persons and things to 
 be safely trusted to the chances of life ; and all 
 his early letters were destroyed. Many of these 
 were signed " Oberon," and others the familiar 
 " Hathorne " or " Hath." 
 
 In a letter of Miss Peabody, quoted by Mr. 
 Conway, it is stated that " his classmates called 
 Hawthorne Oberon the Fairy on account of 
 his beauty, and because he improvised tales." It 
 seems a pity to spoil so poetic a fancy ; but, if 
 truthful narrative is required, the cold facts are 
 these : 
 
 In reality the pseudonym of " Oberon " was 
 not given to him by his classmates or by any 
 one else while in college, but was assumed by 
 him at a later date and in this wise. Soon after 
 graduation we agreed to correspond regularly at 
 stated periods, and we selected new signatures 
 for our letters. Hawthorne chose that of " Ob 
 eron " (which he afterwards used for some of his 
 magazine articles), while I took the more prosaic 
 one of " Edward." 
 
 Neither his beauty nor his improvised tales 
 4 
 
50 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 had anything to do with his sobriquet of " Ob- 
 eron." 
 
 While in college and for some years after 
 wards he spelled his name without the w. On 
 first seeing the improved signature I wrote him 
 that it was suggestive of a fat legacy, to which he 
 replied that he had been blessed with no such 
 luck, though he would gladly take every letter in 
 the alphabet for a thousand dollars each. He 
 added that, in tracing the genealogy of his fam 
 ily, he had found that some of his ancestors used 
 the w, and he had merely resumed it. 
 
 Later, he sometimes took the signature of 
 " L Aubepine," which name he adopted tempora 
 rily, in accordance with the whim of a queer 
 Frenchman who spent a month with us in my 
 bachelor home in Maine, as described in the 
 "American Note-Books," Vol. I., p. 49. There 
 Hawthorne says : " He has Frenchified all our 
 names, calling B , Monsieur Du Pont; my 
 self, M. de L Aubepine ; and himself, M. de Ber- 
 ger ; and all Knights of the Round Table." 
 
 There was a musical society at Bowdoin, though 
 not many of the students were instrumental per 
 formers. Longfellow played the flute, but Haw 
 thorne was notably deficient in musical talent. 
 Like Charles Lamb, he might have said, " The 
 gods have made me most unmusical." 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE faculty of Bowdoin College was respect 
 able, ranking probably as high as that of any 
 other young college the time here- spoken of 
 being within the first quarter of a century of its 
 existence. 
 
 The president had been a Congregational 
 minister, and was a man of piety, doubtless. 
 He was precise in dress, and his gait whether 
 in summer s heat or winter s cold was always 
 methodical, measured, and slow. 
 
 He was vigilant in securing the legal rights of 
 the college and in promoting its material inter 
 ests. He was industrious and conscientious ; 
 but his manner was precise and formal, instead 
 of being dignified ; and he inspired the average 
 student with little respect or esteem. 
 
 Professor Cleveland, the oldest and, by far, 
 the most distinguished member of the faculty, 
 had few if any superiors in the country as geolo 
 gist or chemist. He was as kind and genial as 
 he was learned. He took a fatherly interest in 
 the students who applied themselves in earnest 
 
52 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 to the branches of study in his department, and 
 he regarded " more in sorrow than in anger " 
 those who failed to show a proper appreciation 
 of their advantages in this respect. Outside his 
 own lecture-room he had little to do with colle 
 giate discipline, unless it were to give his voice 
 in favor of leniency to some luckless culprit. 
 Never was professor held in higher regard, nor 
 could any one have inspired more kindly re 
 spect. 
 
 Professor Newman first filled the chair of 
 Ancient Languages and afterwards that of Rhet 
 oric and Oratory. He was courteous, refined, 
 and scholarly ; yet he was swift - footed and 
 prompt to detect and bring to grief innocent lads 
 enjoying their little amusements, such as lighting 
 bonfires, smashing tutors windows, burning pow 
 der in various ways, etc. 
 
 " Haud inexpertus loquor." 
 
 Professor Smythe, the mathematical professor, 
 had few friends in our set. Whether from want 
 of tact in the teacher or from inaptitude in the 
 scholar, we usually associated the professor with 
 the abhorred conic sections and algebraic solu 
 tions which he strove to inject into our unre- 
 ceptive brains. Although recognizing his ability, 
 we too often failed to meet his requirements. 
 For the rest, he was learned in his specialty and 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 53 
 
 exact in the performance of his duties, and he 
 possessed great zeal and energy withal. 
 
 Professor Upham, in our senior year, was Pro 
 fessor of Moral and Mental Philosophy. He -was 
 young, scholarly, gentle, and kind to the students, 
 by all of whom he was much beloved. 
 
 Professor Packard was tutor and, afterwards, 
 Professor of Latin. He was studious, sympa 
 thetic, and very handsome. He only of the 
 faculty survived at the time of our class semi 
 centennial, and he died in 1884. Longfellow, in 
 delivering his poem of " Morituri Salutamus " at 
 that celebration, turned and addressed the re 
 vered professor thus : 
 
 " They are no longer here, they all are gone 
 Into the land of shadows all save one. 
 Honor and reverence and the good repute 
 That follows faithful service as its fruit 
 Be unto him whom, living, we salute." 
 
 Thirteen of the thirty-eight graduates of the 
 class at the time of that reunion were living, 
 eleven of whom were present. 
 
 Rev. Dr. George B. Cheever was the class 
 orator and Longfellow the class poet. Seated 
 together upon the stage, the eleven gray-haired 
 men presented a striking contrast to the young 
 graduates before them, who, " with the sublime 
 audacity of faith," were just starting out upon 
 the race of life that we had so nearly run. The 
 
54 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 veterans who had separated fifty years before, 
 full of vigor and confidence, had returned to the 
 once familiar scenes, and, after half a century of 
 vicissitudes, had come to take their final leave of 
 Bowdoin. 
 
 On the next day Rev. Dr. J. S. C. Abbott gave 
 a history of the class in detail, correct in the 
 main, but quite too flattering to the majority. 
 
 The class had several meetings during the 
 Commencement season. The last was held on 
 the campus, quietly and without publicity. Be 
 neath the " Liberty Tree," with the sun shining 
 down from a cloudless sky, the little band stood 
 around the tree and listened reverently to a 
 solemn benediction from Rev. Dr. Shepley, and 
 then, with mutual wishes of " God bless you " 
 and " Farewell," parted to meet no more on 
 earth. 
 
 But three of the thirteen graduates survive at 
 the present writing, in 1892. "The fatal asterisk 
 of Death " is set against the names of the others. 
 
 Before separating we all agreed to interchange 
 our photographs. In making the exchange, 
 Longfellow wrote to me thus : 
 
 " CAMB., Dec r 12, 1875. 
 
 " MY DEAR BRIDGE, I have just had the 
 pleasure of receiving your photograph. It is so 
 good, it could hardly be better. I wish the one 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 55 
 
 I send you in return were as good. But that is 
 wishing that I were a handsome man, six feet 
 high, and we all know the vanity of human 
 wishes. 
 
 " I was very glad that you and Mrs. Bridge were 
 not disappointed in Songo River and its neigh 
 borhood. If "Long Pond" were called Loch 
 Long, it would be a beautiful lake. This and 
 Sebago are country cousins to the Westmoreland 
 lakes in England, quite as lovely, but wanting a 
 little more culture and good society. 
 
 " I often think with great pleasure of our meet 
 ing at Brunswick. There was less sadness about 
 it than I had thought there would be. The 
 present always contrives to crowd out the past 
 and the future. 
 
 " With kindest remembrances to Mrs. Bridge, 
 " Always yours, 
 
 " HENRY W. LONGFELLOW." 
 
 The whole letter is copied because while 
 speaking of the class reunion the poet incident 
 ally gives his estimate of Sebago Lake, on the 
 borders of which Hawthorne spent a year of his 
 lonely boyhood, and to which locality he refers 
 when he says, "It was there I first got my cursed 
 habit of solitude." 
 
 Hawthorne visited Brunswick but once to meet 
 his old associates. It was in 1852 fifty years 
 
56 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 after the founding of the college. In that year, 
 while cruising in the Pacific, I received a letter 
 from him, in which he says : 
 
 " I meant to have told you all about my visit 
 to Brunswick at the recent semi-ce.ntennial cele 
 bration, but the letter has already grown to too 
 great length. It was rather a dreary affair. 
 Only eight of our classmates were present, and 
 they were a set of dismal old fellows, whose 
 heads looked as if they had been out in a pretty 
 copious shower of snow. The whole intermedi 
 ate quarter of a century vanished, and it seemed 
 to me as if they had undergone a miserable 
 transformation in the course of a single night, 
 especially as I myself felt just about as young as 
 when I graduated. They flattered me with the 
 assurance that time had touched me tenderly, 
 but alas ! they were each a mirror in which I be 
 held the reflection of my own age. I did not ar 
 rive there until the public exercises were nearly 
 over, and very luckily too, for my praises had 
 been sounded by orator and poet, and, of course, 
 my blushes would have been quite oppressive." 
 
 In a desultory and inartistic way I have thus 
 endeavored to throw some additional light upon 
 Hawthorne s college life and his surroundings at 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 57 
 
 that period. At the risk of repetition, I will add 
 that his most marked characteristics were inde 
 pendence of thought and action ; absolute truth 
 fulness ; loyalty to friends ; abhorrence of debt ; 
 great physical as well as moral courage ; and a 
 high and delicate sense of honor. 
 
 He shrank habitually from the exhibition of 
 his own secret opinions, and was careful to avoid 
 infringement upon the rights of others, while 
 thoroughly conscious of his own. 
 
 On closing our college association, we mutual 
 ly pledged our friendship and exchanged parting 
 gifts. Hawthorne s to me was a watch-seal of 
 his father s, gold with a carnelian stone, of the 
 shape and fashion of ninety years ago. I have 
 treasured it carefully, and have provided that it 
 shall go to his son at my decease. 
 
 A brass hand lies upon my desk, holding the 
 several sheets of paper as I write. It was pre 
 sented by me to Hawthorne at some time before 
 I first went to sea in 1838 ; and after his death 
 in 1864 it was given back to me by Mrs. Haw 
 thorne, with the information that it had been 
 habitually used by Hawthorne to hold the loose 
 papers on his table. It will soon go back (like 
 the watch-seal) to one of his children. 
 
 Of my own intimacy with Hawthorne I have 
 
58 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 hitherto said little, having been content with the 
 mention made of it by my friend in his published 
 writings ; and I trust it will not be thought pre 
 sumptuous that I have jotted down here some 
 reminiscences that incidentally show our strong 
 friendship, while rounding out the story of his 
 college life. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE narrative of Hawthorne s life after leav 
 ing college has been published in his own " Note- 
 Books," edited by Mrs. Hawthorne ; in the able 
 biography of " Nathaniel Hawthorne and his 
 Wife," by their son ; and in the interesting 
 "Study of Hawthorne," by his son-in-law; to 
 say nothing of the sketches of the romance 
 writer by Fields, Curtis, Stoddard, James, and 
 others. But though the principal facts essen 
 tial to a biography have been given in those 
 publications, and however much may have been 
 written upon this subject, there remain unre 
 corded many incidents, the recital of some of 
 which may be acceptable to those readers who 
 prize every fresh fact concerning this author of 
 superlative power and fame. I may therefore 
 hope that my ample knowledge of his personal, 
 political, and literary character will enable me to 
 add something worthy of record to the mass of 
 facts that go to make up the story of his life. 
 My contribution will at least have the value of 
 personal recollections. To these I am able to 
 
60 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 add many interesting letters of Hawthorne and 
 his wife. 
 
 If, at any time, I should repeat what has al 
 ready been published by others, except for the 
 purpose of commenting upon or of giving some 
 additional facts pertinent thereto, the repetition 
 will be unintentional. 
 
 I am not a critic, and therefore shall not vent 
 ure upon an analysis of Hawthorne s writings a 
 task which many pens abler than mine have al 
 ready essayed, and which critics yet unborn 
 will doubtless contribute to the literature of the 
 future. Nor shall I attempt to write a biography 
 of the romance writer a work already accom 
 plished in the publications just mentioned. 
 These were admirable, each in its way ; and 
 recently they have been supplemented by the 
 " Life of Nathaniel Hawthorne," by Moncure D. 
 Conway, a volume I have read with much in 
 terest, though he seems to me to have been quite 
 too severe and unjust in his criticism of Haw- 
 
 Ithorne for having written the " Life of Franklin 
 Pierce " and for his own opinions on the subject 
 of slavery. Had Mr. Conway known the charm 
 of Pierce s warm-heartedness and his devoted 
 friendship for Hawthorne he could have better 
 understood that it would have been hard for the 
 latter to withhold the use of his voice and pen in 
 promoting the interests of his early friend. 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 6 1 
 
 If Mr. Conway had regarded the problem of 
 disunion as did all parties, except the pro 
 nounced abolitionists, previous to the civil war, 
 he might have been more charitable in his judg 
 ment of both Pierce and Hawthorne. 
 
 It should be remembered that before the war 
 broke out the Northern Democrats and a large 
 portion of the Republicans considered the pres 
 ervation of the Union in its entirety as of para 
 mount importance, and were not willing to jeop 
 ardize it by plunging the country into war, 
 though they looked upon slavery as a deplorable 
 evil. They had been educated to believe that 
 the Constitution was sacred and binding upon 
 all the States North and South and that no 
 State had the right to repudiate the contract into 
 which all had entered. 
 
 No Northern man had better means of know 
 ing the dangers impending, previous to the out 
 break of the war, than had General Pierce. In 
 timately associated as he was with the strong 
 men of the South, in his Cabinet. and in Con 
 gress, he saw that the Southerners were deter- 
 mined, at all hazards, to defend their peculiar in 
 stitution of slavery, which was imperilled by the 
 abolitionists. While the Northejjj, Republicans 
 in general scouted the idea that tftet Slave States 
 would go to war with such odds in men, money, 
 and war-material against them, Pierce knew that 
 the South was in dead earnest. 
 
62 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 Northern men, in position to see the signs of 
 the times, were strangely obtuse to them. Short 
 ly before. South Carolina seceded I was at table 
 in Washington with a Republican Congressman 
 from Central New York, when a Northern lady, 
 who had exceptional means of knowing the true 
 state of Southern feeling, earnestly assured him 
 that the South would certainly secede unless the 
 prevailing excitement could be allayed. The 
 Congressman smiled and said, "Mrs. - , I 
 will give you a hundred dollars for each State 
 that secedes, and a hundred for every day it 
 stays out." It goes without saying that had the 
 pledge been kept, the lady would have been in 
 much more prosperous circumstances than she is 
 in to-day. 
 
 In the Senate, when the Southern Senators, 
 one after another, made their impassioned pro 
 tests against the course of the Republicans, 
 most of the Northern Senators listened in un 
 concealed incredulity, not believing that the 
 warnings could be serious ; but Pierce saw the 
 dangers of the crisis, and would have gone far 
 and suffered much to avert them. He did not 
 love slavery, but he tolerated it rather than see 
 the Union destroyed. 
 
 For weal or for woe, he was always true to the 
 Constitution and the Union. 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 63 
 
 Probably the first visit of more than a day or 
 two that Hawthorne ever made (outside his own 
 family circle) was one to me in my bachelor quar 
 ters in Augusta, Maine, in 1837. 
 
 My paternal home a spacious house of twen 
 ty rooms had come into my possession by in 
 heritance ; and, as my brothers and sisters had 
 all gone to new homes after our father s decease, 
 I was left sole occupant of the mansion, with the 
 exceptions of my factotum Tom and a family 
 who lived in a wing of the building and attend 
 ed to the housekeeping. 
 
 I had given a room to my French teacher (an 
 odd Franco-German from Alsace) that I might 
 utilize my spare hours by improving my knowl 
 edge of French. 
 
 To this irregular household Hawthorne came 
 to spend a month with me ; and doubtless it was 
 a pleasure to him as it certainly was a great one 
 to me that we could thus enjoy a few weeks re 
 union, without ceremony and without restraint. 
 
 The Frenchman s vocation took him away for 
 the daytime, but he returned at night to amuse 
 and enliven us by his gayety, his philosophy, and 
 his eccentricities. 
 
 This queer foreigner was, to Hawthorne, an 
 object-lesson which he did not fail to improve, as 
 his journal shows. Some of the entries in that 
 journal bring out, in strong relief, one prominent 
 
64 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 trait in his character. I mean that of noticing, 
 critically, all scenes and incidents worthy to be 
 remembered, and of jotting down some of his 
 observations for future use. 
 
 His mental sight was both panoramic and 
 microscopic ; and he looked at persons and 
 things with a discerning and discriminating eye, 
 whether the object of his attention were a friend 
 or a stranger a tree or a flower a hill or a peb 
 ble. Thus he dissected the character and de 
 scribed the personality of the French teacher 
 with a lenient, yet impartial hand, while he por 
 trays him in this manner : 
 
 " Mons. S - does not appear to be more 
 than twenty-one years old a diminutive figure, 
 with eyes askew, and otherwise of an ungainly 
 physiognomy ; he is ill-dressed also, in a coarse 
 blue coat, thin cotton pantaloons, and unbrushed 
 boots ; altogether with as little French coxcomb 
 ry as can well be imagined, though with some 
 thing of the monkey aspect inseparable from a 
 little Frenchman. He is, nevertheless, an intel 
 ligent and well-informed man, apparently of ex 
 tensive reading in his own language a philoso 
 pher and an infidel. 
 
 % * # * * 
 
 " The little Frenchman impresses me very strong 
 ly too so lonely as he is here, struggling against 
 the world, with bitter feelings in his breast and 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 65 
 
 yet talking with the vivacity and gayety of his na 
 tion making this his home from darkness to day 
 light, and enjoying here what little domestic com 
 fort and confidence there is for him ; and then 
 going about all the livelong day, teaching French 
 to blockheads who sneer at him, and returning at 
 about ten o clock in the evening to his solitary 
 
 room and bed. Before retiring, he goes to B s 
 
 bedside, and if he finds him awake stands talking 
 French and expressing his dislike of the Ameri 
 cans Je hais, je hais les Yankees! thus giving 
 vent to the stifled bitterness of the whole day. 
 In the morning I hear him getting up early at 
 sunrise or before humming to himself, scuffling 
 about his chamber with his thick boots, and at 
 last taking his departure for a solitary ramble 
 till breakfast. Then he comes in, cheerful and 
 vivacious enough, eats pretty heartily, and is off 
 again, singing French chansons as he goes down 
 the gravel-walk. The poor fellow has no one to 
 sympathize with him but B , and thus a sin 
 gular connection is established between two ut 
 terly different characters. 
 
 " Then there is myself, who am likewise a queer 
 character in my way, and have come to spend 
 a week or two with my friend of half a lifetime 
 the longest space probably that we are destined 
 to spend together ; for Fate seems preparing 
 changes for both of us. My circumstances, at 
 5 
 
66 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 least, cannot long continue as they are and have 
 been ; and Bridge, too, stands between high pros- 
 i perity and utter ruin." 
 
 The "Twice-Told-Tales," had just been pub 
 lished, but Hawthorne had not then gained full 
 confidence in the favorable effect of the publica 
 tion upon his future prospects ; and, to myself, 
 the " utter ruin " came, a few months later, in the 
 destruction of the expensive dam and mills, on 
 the successful outcome of which I had staked all 
 that I possessed. 
 
 My own time was engrossed by affairs, and I 
 saw little of my French guest except in the early 
 morning and at night, when he came back to us 
 as to friends in whom he could find the sympa 
 thy and appreciation which so rarely came into 
 his isolated life. Without influence and without 
 means of obscure parentage and grotesque per 
 sonality, yet with a good education he had come 
 to America, seeking the fortune and distinction 
 which he could not hope for in his native home. 
 
 Hawthorne s visit (all too soon for me) came 
 to an end ; and shortly afterwards the Frenchman 
 having finished his teaching in the village 
 went away to " seek pastures new," and I saw him 
 no more. Hawthorne had returned to the seclu 
 sion of his home, and the French waif went, by in 
 vitation, to spend a few days in Salem, where a lu 
 dicrous incident occurred to the two companions. 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 67 
 
 They were strolling one day through the fields 
 near Salem, when not noticing the yellow flag 
 of warning they passed within the precincts ap 
 propriated to a small-pox hospital and were at 
 once made prisoners by the custodians of this 
 place for the infected, and were not liberated 
 until they had been fumigated by burned leather 
 and subjected to other disinfectants.- This tyr 
 annous treatment doubtless and with good 
 reason brought out the little Frenchman s em 
 phatic cry of "Je hais, je hais les Yankees"; 
 but Hawthorne enjoyed the contretemps im 
 mensely. 
 
 In the first decade after Hawthorne left col 
 lege he formed several plans of life, one of which 
 was that of entering his Uncle Manning s count 
 ing-house. In one of his letters to me he spoke 
 of this as a settled purpose, but his repugnance 
 to commercial life was such that the plan was 
 ultimately abandoned, and he relapsed into the 
 state of partial inaction which so often results 
 from unsettled plans. 
 
 It is well known that, soon after graduating, 
 he prepared for the press a little volume of tales, 
 entitled " Seven Tales of my Native Land." The 
 publisher who engaged to bring out the book was 
 so dilatory that at last Hawthorne, becoming im 
 patient and dissatisfied with the excuses given, 
 
68 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 peremptorily demanded the return of the manu 
 script. The publisher, aroused to a sense of his 
 duty and ashamed of his broken promises, apol 
 ogized and offered to proceed with the work 
 at once ; but Hawthorne was inexorable ; and 
 though, as he wrote me at the time, he was con 
 scious of having been too harsh in his censures, 
 he would not recede, and he burned the manu 
 script, in a mood half savage, half despairing. 
 As I expressed to him perhaps too strongly 
 my regret for this proceeding, he did not, when 
 " Fanshawe " was published, confide to me the 
 fact. Hearing, though, of the publication, I pro 
 cured a copy, and subsequently mentioned it to 
 Hawthorne. He had meantime become dissatis 
 fied with the book, and he called in and destroyed 
 all the copies he could reach. At his request I 
 burned my copy, and we never alluded to " Fan 
 shawe " afterwards. It was at this time, I think, 
 that he became utterly disheartened, and, though 
 conscious of possessing more than ordinary liter 
 ary talent, he almost abandoned all expectation 
 of success as an author. 
 
 In one of his letters to me, after relating some 
 of his disappointments, he compared himself to 
 one drifting helplessly toward a cataract, and 
 closed with these despairing words, "I m a 
 doomed man, and over I must go." 
 
 Happily the despondent mood was not per- 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 After a Painting by C. G Thomson, 1850 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 69 
 
 manent, and he continued to write, though sub 
 jected to frequent disappointments. He was a 
 contributor for a little while to a magazine pub 
 lished, I believe, in New York. The compen 
 sation was small, and even that the publisher 
 professed his inability to pay. So Hawthorne 
 stopped his contributions and withdrew. 
 
 At the parting a characteristic incident oc 
 curred. The editor begged for a mass of manu 
 script in his possession, as yet unp- jlished, and 
 it was scornfully bestowed. " Thus," wrote Haw 
 thorne, " has this man, who would be considered 
 a Maecenas, taken from a penniless writer mate 
 rial incomparably better than any his own brain 
 can supply." And he closed with a bitter male 
 diction upon the grasping editor. 
 
 He had the experience of being more than 
 once deceived by those who professed to have 
 the power and wish to befriend him. A young 
 man, with some means and greater aspirations, 
 commenced the publication of a literary newspa 
 per in Boston, and offered him the position of co- 
 editor. Another person, backed by a rich father,., 
 supplanted Hawthorne, who was civilly bowed 
 out, and the newspaper, after a brief and sickly 
 life, expired. 
 
 In the Hawthorne Biography there appeared 
 several old and carelessly written letters of my 
 own answers to t some of Hawthorne s that 
 were, long since, destroyed at his request. 
 
70 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 These letters I should hardly have reproduced 
 except for the purpose of showing that Haw 
 thorne was at times quite despairing and in need 
 of all the encouragement his friends could give. 
 
 The following extracts from my answers, just 
 mentioned, will indicate sufficiently the tenor of 
 his letters therein referred to : 
 
 "AUGUSTA, Oct. 16, 1836. 
 
 " DEAR HATH, I have a thousand things to 
 say to you, but can t say more than a hundredth 
 part of them. . . . 
 
 " You have the blues again. Don t give up to 
 them for God s sake and your own, and mine, 
 and everybody s. Brighter days will come, and 
 that within six months. . . . 
 
 " See what I have written for the Boston Post, 
 and tell me is it best to send it ? 
 
 " * It is a singular fact that, of the few American 
 writers by profession, one of the very best is a 
 gentleman whose name has never yet been made 
 public, though his writings are extensively and 
 favorably known. 
 
 " We refer to Nathaniel Hawthorne, Esq., of 
 Salem, the author of the " Gentle Boy," the " Gray 
 Champion," etc., etc., all productions of high mer 
 it, which have appeared in the annuals and mag 
 azines of the last three or four years. 
 
 " * Liberally educated, but bred to no profes- 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 71 
 
 sion, he has devoted himself exclusively to lit 
 erary pursuits, with an ardor and success which 
 will, ere long, give him a high place among the 
 scholars of this country. 
 
 " His style is classical and pure ; his imagina 
 tion exceedingly delicate and fanciful, and through 
 all his writings there runs a vein of sweetest po 
 etry. 
 
 " Perhaps we have no writer so deeply imbued 
 with the early literature of America ; or who can 
 so well portray the times and manners of the 
 Puritans. 
 
 " Hitherto Mr. Hawthorne has published no 
 work of magnitude ; but it is to be hoped that 
 one who has shown such unequivocal evidence 
 of talent will soon give to the world some pro 
 duction which shall place him in a higher rank 
 than can be obtained by one whose efforts are 
 confined to the sphere of magazines and an 
 nuals. 
 
 " This is not satisfactory by any means ; and 
 yet it may answer the purpose of attracting at 
 tention to your book when it comes out. It is 
 not what I wish it were, nor can I make it so. 
 " Yours ever, 
 
 " H. BRIDGE." * 
 
 * This letter was written at the time when I had just in 
 tervened to procure the publication of " Twice-Told-Tales," 
 
72 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 "AUGUSTA, Oct. 22, 1836. 
 
 " DEAR HATH, I have just received your last, 
 and do not like its tone at all. There is a kind 
 of desperate coolness about it that seems dan 
 gerous. I fear that you are too good a subject 
 for suicide, and that some day you will end your 
 mortal woes on your own responsibility. 
 
 " However, I wish you to refrain till next 
 Thursday, when I shall be in Boston, Deo volente. 
 
 " I am not in a very good mood myself, just 
 now, and am certainly unfit to write or think. 
 
 " Be sure you come and meet me in Boston. 
 " Yours truly, H. BRIDGE." 
 
 "AUGUSTA, Dec. 25, 1836. 
 
 " DEAR HAWTHORNE, On this Christmas day 
 I am writing up my letters. Yours comes first. 
 
 " I am sorry that you did not get the maga 
 zine, because you wanted it. Not that I think it 
 very important to you. You will have more time 
 for your book. . . . 
 
 "Whether your book will sell extensively may 
 be doubtful ; but that is of small importance in 
 
 without Hawthorne s knowledge of my agency in the mat 
 ter. 
 
 Within the six months limit the book came out, and 
 brighter days did come ; but I could not then tell him the 
 grounds of my confident prediction. 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 73 
 
 the first one you publish. At all events, keep up 
 your spirits till the result is ascertained ; and, 
 my word for it, there is more honor and emolu 
 ment in store for you, from your writings, than 
 you imagine. The bane of your life has been 
 self-distrust. This has kept you back for many 
 years ; which, if you had improved by publish 
 ing, would long ago have given you what you 
 must now wait a short time for. It may be for 
 the best, but I doubt it. 
 
 " I have been trying to think what you are so 
 miserable for. Although you have not much prop 
 erty, you have good health and powers of writ 
 ing, which have made, and can still make, you 
 independent. 
 
 " Suppose you get but $300 per annum for 
 your writings. You can, with economy, live upon 
 that, though it would be a tight squeeze. You 
 have no family dependent upon you, and why 
 should you borrow trouble ? 
 
 "This is taking the worst view of your case 
 that it can possibly bear. It seems to me that 
 you never look at the bright side with any hope 
 or confidence. It is not the philosophy to make 
 one happy. 
 
 " I expect, next summer, to be full of money, 
 a part of which shall be heartily at your service, 
 if it comes. . . . 
 
 " And so Frank Pierce is elected Senator. 
 
74 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 There is an instance of what a man can do by 
 trying. With no very remarkable talents, he at 
 the age of thirty-four fills one of the highest sta 
 tions in the nation. He is a good fellow, and I 
 rejoice at his success. He can do something for 
 you perhaps. The inclination he certainly has. 
 Have you heard from him lately ? 
 
 "Yours ever, H. BRIDGE." 
 
 "AUGUSTA, Feb. i, 1837. 
 
 " DEAR HAWTHORNE, So your book is in 
 press, and will soon be out. Thank God the 
 plunge will be made at last. I am sure it will 
 be for good. . . . 
 
 "I coincide perfectly with you touching the 
 disparity between a writer s profits and a pub 
 lisher s. It is hard that you should do so much 
 and receive so little from The Token. You say 
 an editorship would save you. I tell you that 
 within six months you may have an editorship in 
 any magazine in the country if you desire %C I 
 wish to God that I could impart to you a little of 
 my own brass. You would then dash into the 
 contest of literary men, and do honor to yourself 
 and to your country in a short time. But you 
 never will have confidence enough in yourself, 
 though you will have fame. . . . 
 " Yours truly, 
 
 " HORACE." 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 75 
 
 " AUGUSTA, May 24, 1837. 
 
 " DEAR HAWTHORNE, I am rejoiced that your 
 last gives me reason to expect that you will pay 
 me a visit soon. When you come, make your ar 
 rangements so that you can stay two or three 
 months here. I have a great house to myself, 
 and you shall have the run of it. 
 
 " I received a letter two days ago from Pierce, 
 dated May 2d, requesting me to ascertain exact 
 ly how matters were relating to the exploring 
 expedition. I have written Pierce, advising him 
 to inquire of the Secretary of the Navy if there 
 is any vacancy, and recommending you for it. 
 
 " It might be well to put your papers on file in 
 his office, in case you should be a candidate for 
 one of the editorships of the magazine. 
 
 " It is of no use for you to feel blue. I tell you 
 that you will be in a good situation next winter 
 instead of under a sod. Pierce is interested 
 for you, and can make some arrangement I know. 
 An editorship or a clerkship at Washington he 
 can and will obtain. So courage, and au diable 
 with your- sods ! 
 
 " I have something to say to you upon marriage 
 and about Goodrich, and a thousand other things. 
 I shall be inclined to quarrel with you if you do 
 not come, and that will be- a serious business for 
 you, for my wrath is* dreadful. Good-by till I see 
 you here. Yours truly, H. BRIDGE." 
 
76 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 These letters in some measure indicate the de 
 spondency to which Hawthorne was subjected at 
 this, the turning-point in his literary career. In 
 his secluded life he neither had nor sought new 
 friends who could have aided and encouraged 
 him, and his life wore away with little apparent 
 promise. Still he continued to write for the small 
 sums he received in cash or promises as well as 
 for the pleasurable excitement of composition 
 and with the growing hope of future success. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 BESIDES writing tales for different reviews and 
 magazines, Hawthorne contributed many articles 
 to The Token, an annual published by Mr. S. G. 
 Goodrich. A few years later he was employed 
 by that publisher to write some of the " Peter 
 Parley" books. He received but small compen 
 sation for any of this literary work, for he lacked 
 the knowledge of business and the self-assertion 
 necessary to obtain even the moderate remuner 
 ation vouchsafed to writers fifty years ago. It 
 would be amusing, if it were not exasperating, to 
 observe the patronizing tone of Mr. Goodrich, 
 when, as late as September, 1836, he wrote to 
 Hawthorne, " Your letter and the two folios of 
 * Universal History were received some days 
 ago. I like the history pretty well. I shall 
 make it do." See " Biography of Hawthorne," 
 Vol. I., p. 138. The book certainly did, for its 
 sale went above a million long ago, though it is 
 my impression that the author received only $100 
 for the work. 
 
 A letter of S. G. Goodrich to Hawthorne, 
 
78 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 dated January 19, 1830 see "Hawthorne Biog 
 raphy," Vol. I., p. 131 shows that Mr. Good 
 rich had then in his hands the manuscript of a 
 proposed book of Hawthorne s. He says in re 
 lation to it, " On my return to Boston in April, I 
 will use my influence to induce a publisher to 
 take hold of the work, who will give it a fair 
 chance of success." 
 
 In a letter of Hawthorne s to Goodrich, dated 
 May 6, 1830, given in Derby s " Fifty Years 
 among Authors and Publishers," p. 113, the for 
 mer speaks of the " Provincial Tales," adding, 
 " Such being the title I propose to give to my 
 volume." 
 
 Whatever may have been the causes for delay, 
 the fact remains that the volume, under the al 
 tered title of " Twice-Told-Tales," did not appear 
 until 1837 seven years after the manuscript 
 in part was first in Mr. Goodrich s possession. 
 
 From time to time I heard of this intended 
 publication, and constantly encouraged Haw 
 thorne to bring out the volume. But I hesitated 
 to intervene without his sanction, and that 
 would not have been given to any course involv 
 ing possible loss to me. At last, however, hav 
 ing become convinced that my friend was being 
 deluded by false hopes, I wrote to Mr. Goodrich 
 and asked if there was any pecuniary obstacle in 
 the way of the publication ; adding, if that were 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 79 
 
 the cause of the delay, I would obviate it by 
 guaranteeing the publisher against loss. As I 
 was a stranger to him, I proffered Boston refer 
 ences. The following was his answer : 
 
 "BOSTON, Oct. 20, 1836. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, I received your letter in regard 
 to our friend Hawthorne. It will cost about $450 
 to print 1000 volumes in good style. I have seen 
 a publisher, and he agrees to publish it if he can 
 be guaranteed $250 as an ultimate resort against 
 loss. If you will find that guaranty, the thing 
 shall be put immediately in hand. 
 
 " I am not now a publisher, but I shall take 
 great interest in this work ; and I do not think 
 there is any probability that you will ever be 
 called upon for a farthing. The generous spirit 
 of your letter is a reference. I only wish to know 
 if you will take the above risk. The publication 
 will be solely for the benefit of Hawthorne ; he 
 receiving ten per cent, on the retail price the 
 usual terms. I am, yours respectfully, 
 
 " S. G. GOODRICH. 
 
 " HORATIO BRIDGE, Esq., Augusta, Me." 
 
 I gave the requisite guaranty at once, stipulat 
 ing only that the affair should be concealed from 
 Hawthorne ; for I was sure he would object to 
 the publication if he were informed of my action 
 
8o NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 in the premises. Mr. Goodrich assented to this 
 stipulation, and in due time the book came out. 
 
 There is reason to suppose that he magnified 
 his own part in the matter, for, while the volume 
 was going through the press, Hawthorne told me 
 that he intended to dedicate it to Mr. Goodrich, 
 in recognition of his services in that regard. 
 
 Knowing that this would bring the parties into 
 a false attitude towards each other, I cautioned 
 Hawthorne against this proposed dedication, as 
 appears in a forgotten letter of mine, published 
 in the "Hawthorne Biography," Vol. I., p. 143. 
 Having learned from Mr. Goodrich some 
 months after " Twice-Told-Tales " appeared 
 that its sales had satisfied the guaranty, I told 
 Hawthorne of my unauthorized intervention, as 
 it was clearly right that he should know the ex 
 tent of his obligation to the publisher. 
 
 The letter of Mr. Goodrich, just quoted, will 
 interest some readers, as showing the cost of 
 printing books, and the comparative avails to au 
 thor and publisher, in 1836. The retail price of 
 "Twice-Told-Tales" was, I believe, one dollar. 
 From the $1000 first obtained, after deducting 
 the cost of printing ($450) and the author s share 
 ($100), there would remain to the publisher and 
 the retail bookseller $450. For any copies print 
 ed in excess of the first thousand, the cost to the 
 publisher would be much less, while the author s 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 8 1 
 
 percentage would remain the same. This in a 
 case where the publisher was assured against loss. 
 How different would have been Hawthorne s en 
 couragement had he commenced his literary work 
 in this decade ! 
 
 The success of "Twice-Told-Tales" was not 
 pecuniarily great at first, but in this country and 
 still more in England, where Hawthorne was 
 promptly and highly appreciated, the book estab 
 lished his right to a place among living authors 
 of recognized power. 
 
 The cloud had lifted at last, and he never after 
 wards wholly despaired of achieving success as a 
 writer. There were times, however, when he felt 
 unequal to the effort of writing even a letter, say 
 ing that he " detested a pen." 
 
 Fortunately his habits were inexpensive, and 
 his abhorrence of debt nerved him to retain his 
 independence in the darkest seasons. 
 
 Several letters of my own (hereinbefore given, 
 and quite forgotten until they appeared in the 
 " Hawthorne Biography ") show that I was con 
 stantly advising him to cease publishing in mag 
 azines and annuals, and to bring out his writings 
 in the form of volumes only. By this method he 
 could free himself from the necessity of offering 
 his productions piecemeal to editors a process 
 repulsive to his sensitive spirit. 
 
82 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 Early in 1837 General Pierce, believing that 
 Hawthorne would be benefited by an entire 
 change of his surroundings, suggested to him the 
 plan of joining the contemplated Exploring Ex 
 pedition to the -South Sea as its historian. The 
 project pleased him, and for three or four months 
 an active correspondence relating to this subject 
 was maintained by Hawthorne, Pierce, and the 
 present writer. Several letters of General Pierce 
 and myself addressed to Hawthorne and pub 
 lished in the " Hawthorne Biography," pp. 152 to 
 162 refer to the efforts made to bring about the 
 desired arrangement. 
 
 This expedition was primarily organized under 
 the plan of J. N. Reynolds, Esq. a man of some 
 scientific reputation and great energy of character 
 who was to be the ruling spirit of the enter 
 prise. 
 
 A squadron under the command of Commo 
 dore Ap Catesby Jones, composed of the frigate 
 Macedonian, three brigs, and a store-ship, was put 
 in commission for this exploring duty; and a 
 large scientific corps, with Reynolds at its head, 
 was provided for. . 
 
 At that time I was spending the winter in 
 Washington, and I did what I could to secure for 
 Hawthorne the office he desired. My friend and 
 townsman, Hon. R. Williams, was Chairman of 
 the Senate Naval Committee, and, of course, was 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 83 
 
 influential at the Navy Department. He cor 
 dially co-operated with Pierce and Cilley, backed 
 by the rest of the Maine and New Hampshire 
 delegations, in the effort to secure Hawthorne s 
 appointment. With the influences at work there 
 was a good prospect of success, when naval and 
 scientific jealousy interrupted the programme. 
 
 The cry of economy was raised, the vessels 
 were ordered to other duty, and Reynolds s ambi 
 tious project suddenly collapsed so far as he was 
 concerned. 
 
 The expedition was reorganized the next year, 
 and Lieutenant afterwards Rear - Admiral 
 Wilkes was ordered to its command. Meantime 
 Hawthorne s prospects had brightened with the 
 success of "Twice-Told -Tales," and he ceased to 
 care for duty in the expedition. 
 
 Had his aspirations in that direction been suc 
 cessful the current of his life would have been 
 strangely disturbed, and his later writings would, 
 I think, have taken on an entirely different color 
 ing whether for the better, who shall say ? 
 
 In 1839 Hawthorne was appointed weigher and 
 gauger in the Boston Custom-house, which office 
 he held until 1841. Thus two years of his life 
 were devoted to the routine duties of an office 
 requiring only the practical qualities possessed by 
 
84 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 men of ordinary intelligence and reliability ; and 
 he brought his good sense to bear upon his pro 
 saic duties, which he performed faithfully and 
 well. On leaving the custom-house he joined the 
 colony at Brook Farm, where he lived for several 
 months as co-laborer, and especially as an inter 
 ested inquirer into the social experiment then 
 and there in progress. He had previously be 
 come engaged to Miss Sophia A. Peabody, and 
 this episode was tentative as to the expediency 
 of making the Farm a temporary home for his in 
 tended wife and himself. But his pecuniary in 
 terest in the scheme was that of creditor, not 
 partner. He loaned Mr. Ripley $1000 or $1500, 
 which money, when closing his connection with 
 the association, he was unable to recover without 
 resorting to legal measures, which he did through 
 the agency of G. S. Hillard, Esq., with what ulti 
 mate result I do not know. 
 
 I drove out from Boston two or three times to 
 see Hawthorne at Brook Farm. He had a small 
 room, simply furnished, and with very few books 
 visible. He .was apparently enjoying himself, 
 curiously observing the odd phase of life around 
 him, and, while having little faith in the success 
 of the social experiment, doing his full share to 
 secure it. At the same time, he was disposed to 
 get such amusement as he might from his sur 
 roundings. I remember that he boasted of hav- 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 85 
 
 ing driven into ^Boston with the farmer in the 
 farm-wagon, wearing a linsey-woolsey frock, and 
 carrying a calf to market. 
 
 I remember also his glee in telling of his strict 
 ly enforcing the rules for early rising by blowing 
 the horn long and loud at five o clock in the 
 morning, much to the discomfort of the drowsy 
 members of the family. But enough of Brook 
 Farm. It has been fully chronicled in many 
 publications. 
 
 V 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 IMMEDIATELY after his marriage, in 1842, Haw 
 thorne went to reside in the " Old Manse " at 
 Concord, where his life for three years was rest 
 ful and happy. Full of enjoyment in his home 
 and family, he was only troubled by narrow 
 means, which was all the more annoying because 
 those who owed him money enough to make life 
 comfortable would not (doubtless some of them 
 could not) pay their debts. In this quiet retreat 
 he occupied himself in writing tales, gardening, 
 boating, and occasionally in receiving friends. 
 
 Several times Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorne kindly 
 urged me to visit them at the " Old Manse," and 
 I was always received with the most cordial hos 
 pitality. Their life at Concord has been so fully 
 and so beautifully described by Mr. Julian Haw 
 thorne in the biography of his father and mother 
 not only in his own narration, but in their 
 charming letters therein given that it is perhaps 
 needless for me to add anything to that recital. 
 Let me say, however, that I was early impressed 
 with the conviction that their marriage was a con- 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 87 
 
 genial and most happy one. By the delicate 
 health of Mrs. Hawthorne she was all the more 
 endeared to her manly husband, and in return 
 she gave him a wealth of confidence, admiration, 
 and love. The union was most fortunate for both, 
 and the only drawback to their happiness came 
 in the sharp economy requisite for living within 
 their income. 
 
 The small and uncertain receipts from his lit 
 erary work, as well as his " disappointments in 
 money expected from three or four sources," 
 made Hawthorne "sigh for the regular monthly 
 payments at the custom-house," and led him to 
 wish for the Salem post-office, the appointment to 
 which his friends in that town and elsewhere 
 zealously, though in vain, sought to procure for 
 him. 
 
 In 1845 Hawthorne, besides preparing for the 
 press the second series of " Twice -Told -Tales," 
 edited the "Journal of an African Cruiser." 
 
 The origin of that little volume was this : Early 
 in 1843 I was attached to a ship-of-war under 
 orders to the West Coast of Africa. Hawthorne 
 suggested the plan of my taking such notes as 
 would give me material for a few articles in the 
 Democratic Review. This plan was afterwards, 
 by his advice, changed to that of publishing the 
 
88 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 notes in a book. I assented to the change on 
 the condition that he should take the trouble of 
 editing and bringing out the volume, and with the 
 further condition that he should have the copy 
 right and the sole profit of the publication. 
 
 The letters next following evince the great 
 interest he took in this project more on my ac 
 count than on his own. They also set forth his 
 views as to the best mode for successful journal 
 izing, and they show conclusively that his life 
 was a very happy one in the " Old Manse." 
 
 "CONCORD, March 24, 1843. 
 
 " DEAR BRIDGE, I see by the newspapers that 
 you have had the good fortune to undergo a 
 tremendous storm.* Good fortune I call it, for I 
 should be very glad to go through the same 
 scene myself if I were sure of getting safe to dry 
 land at last. I did not know of your having 
 sailed, else I might have been under great ap 
 prehensions on your account ; but, as it hap 
 pened, I have only to offer my congratulations. 
 I hope you were in a condition to look at matters 
 
 * The storm here spoken of refers to a violent gale and 
 blinding snow-storm off the coast of New Hampshire (as 
 mentioned on an earlier page), in which the Saratoga (on 
 her way from Portsmouth to New York, previous to the 
 African cruise) was in imminent peril, and only escaped 
 total shipwreck by our cutting away the masts and anchor 
 ing on a rocky lee-shore. 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 89 
 
 with a philosophic eye not sea-sick nor too much 
 frightened. A staff-officer, methinks, must be 
 more uncomfortable in a storm than the sea- 
 officers. Taking no part in the struggle against 
 the winds and the waves, he feels himself more 
 entirely at their mercy. Perhaps a description 
 of the tempest may form a good introduction to 
 your series of articles in the Democratic. 
 
 " I returned from my visit to Salem on Wed 
 nesday last. My wife went with me as far as 
 Boston. I did not come to see you because I 
 was very short of cash, having been disappoint 
 ed in money that I expected from three or four 
 sources. My difficulties of this sort sometimes 
 make me sigh for the regular monthly payments 
 at the custom-house. The system of slack pay 
 ments in this country is most abominable, and 
 ought, of itself, to bring upon us the destruction 
 foretold by Father Miller. It is impossible for 
 any individual to be just and honest and true to 
 his engagements when it is a settled principle of 
 the community to be always behindhand. I find 
 no difference in anybody in this respect. All do 
 wrong alike. - - is just as certain to disappoint 
 me in money matters as any pitiful little scoun 
 drel among the book-sellers. On my part I am 
 compelled to disappoint those who put faith in 
 my engagements, and so it goes round. The 
 devil take such a system ! 
 
90 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 " I suppose it will be some time before you get 
 to sea again, and perhaps you might find leisure 
 to pay us another visit, but I cannot find it in 
 my conscience to ask you to do so in this dreary 
 season of the year. It is more than three months 
 since we had a glimpse -of the earth, and two 
 months more must intervene before we can hope 
 to see the reviving verdure. I don t see how a 
 bachelor can survive such a winter. . . . We are 
 very happy, and have nothing to wish for except 
 a better filled purse and not improbably gold 
 would bring trouble with it, at least my wife 
 says so, and therefore exhorts me to be content 
 with little. 
 
 " I have heard nothing about the office since 
 
 I saw you. They tell me in Salem that will 
 
 not probably gain his election, but that after a 
 few more trials a coalition will be formed between 
 the moderate Whigs and the candidate of a frac 
 tion of the Democratic party. In that case 
 
 will not get the post-office, and possibly it will 
 yet be the reward of my patriotism and public 
 services, but of this there is little prospect. 
 
 " The wine came safe, and my wife sends her 
 best acknowledgments for it. As in duty bound, 
 however, she has made it over to me, and I shall 
 feel myself at liberty to uncork a bottle on any 
 occasion of suitable magnitude. Longfellow is 
 coming to see me, and as he has a cultivated 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 9 1 
 
 taste in wines, some of this article shall be sub 
 mitted to his judgment. If possible there shall 
 be a bottle in reserve whenever you favor us with 
 another visit. 
 
 " Do not forget^ your letters from Liberia. 
 What would you think of having them published 
 in a volume ? But it will be time enough for this 
 after their appearance in the magazine. I should 
 like well to launch you fairly on the sea of liter 
 ature. 
 
 " I have a horrible cold, and am scarcely clear 
 headed enough to write. God bless you, 
 
 " NATH HAWTHORNE. 
 
 " HORATIO BRIDGE, Esq., U. S. N., Ports 
 mouth, N. H." 
 
 "CONCORD, May 3, 1843. 
 
 " DEAR BRIDGE, I am almost afraid that you 
 will have departed for Africa before this letter 
 reaches New York; but I have been so much 
 taken up with writing for a living, and likewise 
 with physical labor out-of-doors, that I have 
 hitherto had no time to answer yours. It was 
 perhaps as well that you did not visit Concord 
 again, for by comparison of dates I am led to be 
 lieve that my wife and yourself were in Boston 
 at the same time. She had gone thither to take 
 leave of her sister Mary, who is now married, 
 and has sailed in the May steamer for Europe. 
 
92 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 " I formed quite a different opinion from that 
 which you express about your description of the 
 storm. It seemed to me very graphic and ef- 
 fective, and my wife coincides in this judgment. 
 Her criticism on such a point is better worth 
 having than mine, for she knows all about 
 storms, having encountered a tremendous one 
 on a voyage to Cuba. You must learn to think 
 better of your powers. They will increase by 
 exercise. I would advise you not to stick too 
 accurately to the bare fact, either in your descrip 
 tions or your narrative ; else your hand will be 
 cramped, and the result will be a want of free 
 dom that will deprive you of a higher truth than 
 that which you strive to attain. Allow your 
 fancy pretty free license, and omit no heighten 
 ing touches because they did not chance to hap 
 pen before your eyes. If they did not happen, 
 they at least ought, which is all that concerns 
 you. This is the secret of all entertaining trav 
 ellers. If you meet with any distinguished char 
 acters, give personal sketches of them. Begin 
 to write always before the impression of novelty 
 has worn off from your mind, else you will be 
 apt to think that the peculiarities which at first 
 attracted you are not worth recording ; yet those 
 slight peculiarities are the very things that make 
 the most vivid impression upon the reader. 
 Think nothing too trifling to write down, so it be 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 93 
 
 in the smallest degree characteristic. You will 
 be surprised to find on re-perusing your journal 
 what an importance and graphic power these 
 little particulars assume. After you have had 
 due time for observation, you may then give 
 grave reflections on national character, custom, 
 morals, religion, the influence of peculiar modes 
 of government, etc., and I will take care to put 
 them in their proper places and make them come 
 in with due effect. I by no means despair of 
 putting you in the way to acquire a very pretty 
 amount of literary reputation, should you ever 
 think it worth your while to assume the author 
 ship of these proposed sketches. All the merit 
 will be your own, for I shall merely arrange them, 
 correct the style, and perform other little offices 
 as to which only a practised scribbler is an fait. 
 " In relation to your complaint that life has 
 lost its charm, that your enthusiasm is dead, 
 and that there is nothing worth living for, my 
 wife bids me advise you to fall in love. It is 
 a woman s prescription, but a man videlicet, 
 myself gives his sanction to its efficacy. You 
 would find all the fresh coloring restored to the , 
 faded pictures of life ; it would renew your youth ; 
 you would be a boy again, with the deeper feel- /- 
 ing and purposes of a man. Try it, try it first, 
 however, taking care that the object is in every 
 way unexceptionable, for this will be your last 
 
94 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 chance in life. If you fail you will never make 
 another attempt. 
 
 " I suppose you will see O Sullivan in New 
 York. I know nothing about the prospects of 
 office, if any remain. It is rather singular that I 
 should need an office, for nobody s scribblings 
 seem to be more acceptable to the public than 
 mine ; and yet I shall find it a tough scratch to 
 gain a respectable support by my pen. Per 
 haps matters may mend ; at all events, I am not 
 very eager to ensconce myself in an office, 
 though a good one would certainly be desirable. 
 By the bye, I received a request the other day 
 from a Philadelphia magazine to send them a 
 daguerreotype of my phiz for the purpose of 
 being engraved. O Sullivan likewise besought 
 my wife for a sketch of my head, so you see that 
 the world is likely to be made acquainted with 
 my personal beauties. It will be very convenient 
 for a retired and bashful man to be able to send 
 these pictorial representations abroad instead of 
 his real person. I know not but O Sullivan s 
 proposal was meant to be a secret from me, so 
 say nothing about it to him. 
 
 " It would gladden us much to have you here 
 for a week, now that the country is growing 
 beautiful, and the fishing season is coming on. 
 But this is not to be hoped for until your return. 
 Take care of your health, and do not forget the 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 95 
 
 sketches. It is not the profit to myself that I 
 think about, but I hope that they may contribute 
 to give your life somewhat of an adequate pur 
 pose, which at present it lacks. 
 
 " God bless you. N. H. 
 
 " HORATIO BRIDGE, Esq., U.S. Ship Saratoga, 
 New York City." 
 
 " CONCORD, April i, 1844. 
 
 " DEAR BRIDGE, Your letter to my wife was 
 received by her in a situation which I am sure 
 you will consider sufficient excuse for her not 
 answering it at present, a daughter having been 
 born on the 3d of last month. So, you see, I am 
 at last the regular head of a family, while you are 
 blown about the world by every wind. I com 
 miserate you most heartily. If you want a new 
 feeling in this weary life, get married. It renews 
 the world from the surface to the centre. 
 
 " I am happy to tell you that our little girl is 
 remarkably healthy and vigorous, and promises, 
 in the opinion of those better experienced in 
 babies than myself, to be very pretty. For my 
 own part, I perceive her beauty at present rather 
 through the medium of faith than with my actual 
 eyesight. However, she is gradually getting into 
 shape and comeliness, and by the time when you 
 shall have an opportunity to see her, I flatter 
 myself she will be the prettiest young lady in 
 
96 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 the world. I think I prefer a daughter to a 
 son. 
 
 " We have read your letter with very great 
 interest. You have had great luck certainly in 
 having actually fought through a whole war ; but 
 I hope that you will now be content to rest on 
 your laurels.* The devil take those copper-slugs ! 
 As your station, I believe, does not call you to 
 the front of the battle, do pray be advised to stay 
 on board ship the next time, and think how much 
 preferable is a sluggish life to such a s/ug-gish 
 death as you might chance to meet on shore. A 
 civilized and educated man must feel somewhat 
 like a fool, methinks, when he has staked his 
 own life against that of a black savage and lost 
 the game. In the sight of God one life may be 
 as valuable as another, but in our view the stakes 
 are very unequal. Besides, I really do consider 
 
 * The "war" referred to in this letter hardly rose to 
 the dignity of a skirmish, consisting, as it did, in the land 
 ing of a detachment of sailors and marines, with their offi 
 cers, from the ships of the squadron, and the burning of 
 five native villages. This destruction was effected for the 
 purpose of punishing the natives for plundering and burn 
 ing an American vessel and murdering the captain and the 
 crew. 
 
 King Krako, the leader of these five tribes, showed fight, 
 his men firing upon us from the woods, but doing no dam 
 age except the wounding of a marine with a copper slug, 
 presumably made of a spike from the luckless Mary Cai~ver. 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 97 
 
 the shooting of these negroes a matter of very 
 questionable propriety, and am glad, upon the 
 whple, that you bagged no game upon either of 
 those days. 
 
 " In one point of view, these warlike occurrences 
 are very fortunate that is, in supplying matter 
 for the journal. I should not wonder if that 
 were your object in thrusting yourself into these 
 perils. Make the most of them. 
 
 " If I mistake not, it will be our best plan, both 
 as regards your glory and my profit, to publish 
 the journal by itself, rather than in a magazine, 
 and thus make an independent author of you at 
 once. A little of my professional experience will 
 easily put it into shape, and I doubt not that the 
 Harpers, or somebody else, will be glad to pub 
 lish it, either in the book or pamphlet form, or 
 perhaps in both, so as to suit the different classes 
 of readers. My name shall appear as editor, in 
 order to give it what little vogue may be derived 
 from thence, and its own merits will do the 
 rest. 
 
 " You must have as much as possible to say 
 about the African trade, its nature, the mode of 
 carrying it on, the character of the persons en 
 gaged in it, etc., in order to fit the book for 
 practical men. Look at things, at least some 
 things, in a matter-of-fact way, though without 
 prejudice to as much romantic incident and ad- 
 7 
 
98 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 venture as you can conveniently lay hold of. Oh, 
 it will be an excellent book. 
 
 " I have no news to tell you except the great 
 event with which I began my letter. I continue 
 to scribble tales, with good success so far as re 
 gards empty praise, some notes of which, pleas 
 ant enough to my ears, have come from across 
 the Atlantic. But the pamphlet and piratical 
 system has so broken up all regular literature 
 that I am forced to write hard for small gains. 
 If we have a Democratic President next year I 
 shall probably get an office. Otherwise, it is to 
 be hoped, God will provide for me and mine in 
 some other way. 
 
 " I have not written to you before, not from cold 
 ness nor forgetfulness, but partly because the 
 sight of a pen makes me sick, and partly because 
 I never feel as if a letter would reach you in your 
 wanderings on the trackless ocean. If you had 
 any certain abiding-place it would be different ; 
 but now it is like trying to shoot a bird in the 
 air. Take care of yourself, and keep clear of 
 night dews and copper slugs. 
 
 " Your friend, N. H. 
 
 " HORATIO BRIDGE, Esq., U. S. Ship Saratoga, 
 African Squadron." 
 
 "SALEM, Nov. 29, 1844. 
 " DEAR BRIDGE, I have just received your let- 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 99 
 
 ter at this place, where we have been spending 
 Thanksgiving. 
 
 " It heartily rejoices me to know that you are 
 again on your native soil. I do not think I shall- 
 return to Concord for ten days or a fortnight ; so 
 that it is very possible we may meet in Boston. 
 
 "As to the post-office, s kinsman is now 
 
 out of the question. A new appointment was 
 made two or three months ago, but it has not 
 been confirmed by the Senate. As the removal 
 was entirely on political grounds, there seems to 
 be considerable doubt whether they will sanction 
 it. Very probably your influence might cause 
 the rejection of the new incumbent; in which 
 case I think I might have a good chance for the 
 office from Polk. The late appointment is not 
 particularly satisfactory to the Democrats here, 
 
 as the man belongs to the clique, which has 
 
 never lost its influence in Essex County. If I am 
 not misinformed, Tyler had actually appointed 
 me, but was afterwards induced to change it. 
 He will probably leave it to the next adminis 
 tration to make a new appointment. 
 
 " God bless you. If you come to Boston within 
 a fortnight, let us know. Inquire at 13 West 
 Street. Yours ever, 
 
 " N. HAWTHORNE. 
 
 " HORATIO BRIDGE, Esq., Washington." 
 
100 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 The three letters next following relate princi 
 pally to the "Journal of an African Cruiser," 
 which was published in 1845. 
 
 "CONCORD, April 17, 1845. 
 
 " DEAR BRIDGE, I am happy to announce 
 that your book is accepted, and will make its ap 
 pearance as one of the volumes of " Choice Read 
 ing." Few new authors make their bows to the 
 public under such favorable auspices ; but you 
 always were a lucky devil, except in the specula 
 tion of the Kennebec mill-dam, which, likewise, 
 may turn out to have been good luck in the long 
 run. I have christened the book the " Journal 
 of an African Cruiser." I don t know when it is 
 to come out probably soon ; although I suppose 
 they will wish the American series to be led by 
 some already popular names. Your last letter 
 arrived when the manuscript was on the point of 
 being sent off, but I contrived to squeeze in 
 whatever was essential of the new matter. 
 
 " I have heard nothing good or bad as to 
 the result of the P. O. application. Duyckinck, 
 in his letter about the book, mentions that O Sul- 
 livan was in Washington, where doubtless he will 
 do all that can be done in my behalf. Your in 
 terview with Bancroft gave me better auspices 
 than I before had on the subject. 
 
 " Mrs. Hawthorne wishes me to tell you that 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE IOI 
 
 she will not be able to make you the talked-of 
 visit the approaching summer. Her sister, Mrs. 
 Mann, is coming to board in Concord, principally 
 with a view to being near Sophia, and even if I 
 should obtain an office, I shall leave her here at 
 the Old Manse for the summer and resume a 
 bachelor-life in Salem. It shall go hard, but I 
 will drop in upon you at least for a day or two, 
 or for a dinner, if better may not be. 
 
 " Una continues to flourish. Her mother lulls 
 her to sleep every night by stories about your 
 visit, so that you were not only pleasant while 
 here, but are very profitable now that you have 
 departed. Your friend, 
 
 " NATH HAWTHORNE. 
 
 " HORATIO BRIDGE, Esq., Navy Yard, Ports 
 mouth, N. H." 
 
 "CONCORD, May 2, 1845. 
 
 " DEAR BRIDGE, Duyckinck writes me that 
 your book is stereotyped and about to go to press. 
 The first edition will be of two thousand copies, 
 five hundred of which will be sent to London. 
 It seems they have put in my name as editor, 
 contrary to my purpose, and much to my annoy 
 ance ; not that I am troubled with any such re 
 luctance about introducing you as you felt about 
 introducing your friend to fashionable so 
 ciety ; but I wished you to have all the credit of 
 
102 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 the work yourself. Well, you shall still engross 
 all the merit, and may charge me with all the 
 faults. 
 
 " I have bespoken fifty copies for you, and di 
 rected them to be sent to my address in Boston, 
 whence I will take care to have them forwarded 
 to you immediately, with the exception of perhaps 
 half a dozen, which I shall reserve for distribu 
 tion myself. You had better send me the names 
 of the persons whom you wish to have copies in 
 Boston and vicinity. The fifty copies will be 
 paid for out of my avails for the book, for it 
 would be rather too severe a joke to make your 
 work an actual expense to you. 
 
 " I have heard nothing from O Sullivan, nor 
 from any other source, in reference to the post- 
 office. 
 
 " Write forthwith and tell me how the books 
 should be sent from Boston to Portsmouth. 
 " Your friend, 
 
 " NATH HAWTHORNE. 
 
 " HORATIO BRIDGE, Esq., Navy Yard, Ports 
 mouth, N. H." 
 
 "CONCORD, May 7, 1845. 
 
 " DEAR BRIDGE, I send the Journals as re 
 quested, and heartily wish that I could afford to 
 come myself. Have you told Charles Greene of 
 the forthcoming book ? If not, it will be best to 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 103 
 
 do so immediately, that he may be in readiness 
 to add his voice to the general acclamation of 
 praise. I requested Duyckinck to send your 
 copies to Dr. Peabody s, directed to me. They 
 probably will not arrive so soon as this, but it 
 will do no harm for you to call there before leav 
 ing Boston, and if you find them, you can dispose 
 of them according to your pleasure, leaving out 
 six, or, if you can spare them, ten copies, which 
 I will endeavor to dispose of so as to promote 
 the interests of the book. If you find that you 
 have not copies enough, we can procure more 
 from New York. 
 
 " In a hurry, your friend, 
 
 " NATH HAWTHORNE." 
 
 "CONCORD, August 19, 1845. 
 
 " DEAR BRIDGE, I have this moment received 
 your letter, and answer it in the post-office. I 
 know not whether you can do anything for us in 
 New York, but should be glad to have you call 
 on O Sullivan. He has written me a letter which 
 my wife mailed for me at Salem after reading it, 
 but which has not yet reached me. It referred 
 to an offer by Bancroft of an office (a clerkship, I 
 suspect) connected with the Charlestown Navy 
 Yard the salary $900. This offer I shall not 
 accept; and I wish you to tell O Sullivan so, 
 and request him to inform Bancroft. Perhaps it 
 
104 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 would be well to let O Sullivan into the whole 
 business of our late canvass, so that he may be 
 aware of the strength with which we shall take 
 the field at the next session of Congress. 
 " Do come and see us on your return. 
 " In great haste 
 
 " Your friend, 
 
 " NATH HAWTHORNE. 
 " HORATIO BRIDGE, Esq., Astor House, N. Y." 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 IN the autumn of 1845 the family left Concord 
 and returned to Salem, in reference to which 
 Hawthorne wrote : 
 
 "SALEM, Oct. 7, 1845. 
 
 " DEAR BRIDGE, Here I am, again established 
 in the old chambers where I wasted so many 
 years of my life. I find it rather favorable to 
 my literary duties, for I have already begun to 
 sketch out the story for Wiley & Putnam. I 
 received a letter from Duyckink to-day, which I 
 mean to enclose as giving authentic intelligence 
 of the welfare of your book. 
 
 " Your check arrived seasonably, and did me 
 as much good as the same amount ever did any 
 body. 
 
 " Sophia has remained in Boston in order to 
 see her friends in and about the city, before 
 withdrawing into my den. I shall bring her 
 
106 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 home the latter part of this week or the first of 
 next. Your friend, 
 
 " NATH HAWTHORNE. 
 
 " HORATIO BRIDGE, Esq., U. S. Navy Yard, 
 Portsmouth, N. H." 
 
 " 20 CLINTON PLACE, Oct. 2, 1845. 
 
 "DEAR SIR, I hope you will not think me 
 a troublesome fellow if I drop you another line 
 with the vociferous cry, MSS.! MSS.! Mr. Wi 
 ley s American series is athirst for the volume of 
 Tales, and how stands the prospect for the His 
 tory of Witchcraft I whilom spoke of? 
 
 " The Journal of the Cruiser has just gone to 
 a second edition of a thousand copies, the first, I 
 believe, having been two thousand. W. & P. pro 
 ject cheap series of these books for the school 
 district libraries, in the first of which the Jour 
 nal will be included. 
 
 " The English notices are bounteous in praise. 
 No American book in a long time has been so 
 well noticed. 
 
 " Pray, MSS. or no MSS., let me hear from you, 
 that you are well and your family. 
 
 " Yours truly, EVERT A. DUYCKINCK. 
 
 "NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, Esq." 
 
 "SALEM, F^b. 21, 
 
 " DEAR BRIDGE, A day or two afteY 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 1 07 
 
 your letter communicating the arrangement about 
 the Surveyorship and Naval office, I had one from 
 O Sullivan who had been in Washington, but had 
 just returned to New York. He appeared to know 
 nothing about the above arrangement, but said 
 that the President had promised to give me eith 
 er the Surveyorship or Naval office. It appears 
 therefore that I may consider myself pretty cer 
 tain of getting one or the other, and I trust it will 
 be the Surveyorship, which is the most eligible, 
 both on account of the emolument and the posi 
 tion which it confers. Whichever it is, it is to 
 you I shall owe it among so many other solid 
 kindnesses. I have as true friends as any man ; 
 but you have been the friend in need and the 
 friend indeed. 
 
 " In other respects, too, my affairs look prom 
 ising enough. Wiley & Putnam are going to pub 
 lish two volumes of my Tales instead of one, and 
 I shall send off the copy, I hope, on Monday. 
 My mind will now settle itself after the long in 
 quietude of expectation ; and I mean to make 
 this a profitable year in the literary way. 
 
 " I regret that you are so soon thinking of go 
 ing to sea again. You must not go without giv 
 ing me the chance of another visit, though of the 
 briefest duration. 
 
 " I hope, moreover, that you will remain ashore 
 until I am again established in a home of my 
 
108 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 own, when it will be easy for you to be my guest 
 often, at bed and board. We are neighbors now. 
 " Your friend, 
 
 "NATH HAWTHORNE." 
 
 I have found the following scrap of a letter 
 which must have been written soon after my re 
 turn from the coast of Africa, in 1845, since it 
 refers to some furs known as African lynx, which 
 I had brought home and presented to Mrs. Haw 
 thorne. 
 
 The deep satisfaction he expressed in his wife 
 and his then only child makes this fragment 
 worth preserving. 
 
 " The skins came safe yesterday morning, and 
 Sophia, I believe, contemplates having them made 
 into a muff. She and Una are very well, and Una 
 continues to talk about Misser Bidge. After all, 
 having a wife who thoroughly satisfies me, and a 
 child whom I would not exchange for a fortune, 
 I am not quite so unlucky a devil as you set me 
 down for. Your friend, 
 
 " NATH HAWTHORNE." 
 
 When Mr. Polk became President, the plan of 
 campaign for Hawthorne s* appointment to the 
 Salem Post-office was pursued with vigor for a 
 while ; but there were strong political obstacles 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 109 
 
 in the way, and consequently his efforts and those 
 of his friends were turned towards the Surveyor- 
 ship of the Salem Custom-house, an office of 
 less labor and responsibility, though of smaller 
 emolument than the post-office afforded. 
 
 Referring to a visit made me in the summer 
 of 1845, at tne navy-yard near Portsmouth, New 
 Hampshire, it so happened that I was then sta 
 tioned at that yard. Living in spacious quarters 
 as a bachelor, and not unwilling to share my 
 summer comforts with my friends, it occurred to 
 me that Hawthorne s interests could best be pro 
 moted by bringing him and Mrs. Hawthorne into 
 social relations with some of my influential friends 
 and their wives. 
 
 To carry out this project, and for my personal 
 pleasure as well, I invited Senator and Mrs. Pierce 
 and Senator and Mrs. Atherton, of New Hamp 
 shire, and Senator Fairfield, of Maine, together 
 with Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorne and little Una, to 
 spend two or three weeks with me. To make 
 the reunion less formal, two of my own sisters 
 and some Washington friends were included. 
 The indulgent party enjoyed the novelty of a 
 visit to a bachelor at a navy-yard, and when any 
 shortcomings in his housekeeping occurred the 
 guests only grew the merrier therefor. 
 
 What with boating, fishing, and driving, and in 
 the entire absence of formality, the visit went off 
 
110 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 smoothly, and its main object that of interest 
 ing men of influence in Hawthorne s behalf 
 was attained. 
 
 Though Pierce was an old friend, Atherton 
 and Fairfield first made the acquaintance of 
 Hawthorne at that time, and they became his 
 strong advocates and friends. 
 
 In June of the next year he was appointed 
 Surveyor. 
 
 Hawthorne s life flowed tranquilly for the next 
 three years, at the end of which period he was 
 removed by the Whig administration, under (in 
 that case, at least) the pernicious doctrine of ro 
 tation in office. 
 
 With other friends I strove zealously to save 
 him, because he wished to retain the office. But 
 when the dismissal came I wrote my congratula 
 tions, telling him that he would now be obliged 
 to devote himself to his appropriate work in life. 
 Eight months after his official decapitation he 
 finished " The Scarlet Letter," and increased 
 fame, as well as freedom from pressing anxiety 
 about pecuniary matters, followed quickly upon 
 the publication of the great romance. 
 
 " SALEM, Feb. 4, 1850. 
 
 " DEAR BRIDGE, I finished my book only yes 
 terday, one end being in press in Boston, while the 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE III 
 
 other was in my head here in Salem ; so that, as 
 you see, the story is at least fourteen miles long. 
 
 " I should make you a thousand apologies for 
 being so negligent a correspondent if you did 
 not know me of old, and, as you have tolerated 
 me so many years, I do not fear that you will 
 give me up now. The fact is, I have a natural 
 abhorrence of pen and ink, and nothing short of 
 absolute necessity ever drives me to them. 
 
 " My book, the publisher tells me, will not be 
 out before April. He speaks of it in tremendous 
 terms of approbation. So does Mrs. Hawthorne, 
 to whom I read the conclusion last night. It 
 broke her heart, and sent her to bed with a griev 
 ous headache, which I look upon as a triumphant 
 success. 
 
 "Judging from its effect on her and the pub 
 lisher, I may calculate on what bowlers call a 
 ten-strike. Yet I do not make any such calcu 
 lation. Some portions of the book are power 
 fully written ; but my writings do not, nor ever 
 will, appeal to the broadest class of sympathies, 
 and therefore will not obtain a very wide popu 
 larity. Some like them very much, others care 
 nothing for them, and see nothing in them. 
 There is an introduction to this book giving a 
 sketch of my custom-house life, with an imagina 
 tive touch here and there, which may, perhaps, 
 be more widely attractive than the main narra- 
 
112 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 tive. The latter lacks sunshine, etc. To tell you 
 the truth, it is (I hope Mrs. Bridge is not pres 
 ent) it is positively a h 1-f d story, into which 
 I found it almost impossible to throw any cheer 
 ing light. 
 
 " This house on Goose Creek, which you tell 
 me of, looks really attractive ; but I am afraid 
 there must be a flaw somewhere. I like the rent 
 amazingly. I wish you would look at it and form 
 your own judgment and report accordingly ; and, 
 should you decide favorably, I will come myself 
 and see it ; but if it appears ineligible to you I 
 shall let the matter rest there, it being inconve 
 nient for me to leave home, partly because funds 
 are to be husbanded at this juncture of my af 
 fairs, and partly because I can ill spare the time, 
 as winter is the season when my brain-work is 
 chiefly accomplished. 
 
 " I should like to give up the house which I now 
 occupy at the beginning of April, and must soon 
 make a decision as to where I shall go. I long 
 to get into the country, for my health latterly is 
 not quite what it has been for many years past. 
 I should not long stand such a life of bodily in 
 activity and mental exertion as I have lived for 
 the last few months. An hour or two of daily 
 labor in a garden, and a daily ramble in country- 
 air, or on the sea-shore, would keep all right. 
 Here, I hardly go out once a week. Do not al- 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 113 
 
 lude to this matter in your letters to me, as my 
 wife already sermonizes me quite sufficiently on 
 my habits ; and I never own up to not feeling 
 perfectly well. Neither do I feel anywise ill ; 
 but only a lack of physical vigor and energy, 
 which reacts upon the mind. 
 
 "With our best regards to Mrs. Bridge, I re 
 main, Truly your friend, 
 
 "NATH HAWTHORNE. 
 
 " HORATIO BRIDGE, Esq., U. S. Navy Yard, 
 Portsmouth, N. H." 
 
 " SALEM, April 13, 1850. 
 
 " DEAR BRIDGE, I am glad you like The 
 Scarlet Letter. It would have been a sad matter 
 indeed if I had missed the favorable award of 
 my oldest and friendliest critic. The other day 
 I met with your notice of Twice-Told-Tales for 
 the Augusta Age; and I really think nothing bet 
 ter has been said about them since. This book 
 has been highly successful : the first edition hav 
 ing been exhausted in ten days, and the second 
 (five thousand copies in all) promising to go off 
 rapidly. 
 
 " As to the Salem people, I really thought that 
 I had been exceedingly good-natured in my treat 
 ment of them. They certainly do not deserve 
 good usage at my hands after permitting me to 
 be deliberately lied down not merely once, but 
 8 
 
114 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 at two several attacks on two false indictments 
 without hardly a voice being raised on my be 
 half ; and then sending one of the false witnesses 
 to Congress, others to the Legislature, and choos 
 ing another as the mayor. 
 
 I feel an infinite contempt for them and prob 
 ably have expressed more of it than I intended 
 for my preliminary chapter has caused the great 
 est uproar that has happened here since witch- 
 times. If I escape from town without being 
 tarred and feathered, I shall consider it good- 
 luck. I wish they would tar and feather me ; it 
 would be such an entirely novel kind of distinc 
 tion for a literary man. And, from such judges 
 as my fellow-citizens, I should look upon it as a 
 higher honor than a laurel crown. 
 
 " I have taken a cottage in Lenox, and mean to 
 take up my residence there about the first of 
 May. In the interim my wife and children are 
 going to stay in Boston ; and nothing could be 
 more agreeable to myself than to spend a week 
 or so with you ; so that your invitation comes ex 
 ceedingly apropos. In fact, I was on the point 
 of writing to propose a visit. We shall move 
 our household gods from this locality to-morrow 
 or next day. I will leave my family at Dr. Pea- 
 body s, and come to Portsmouth on Friday of 
 this week, unless prevented from coming at all. 
 I shall take the train that leaves Boston at eleven 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 115 
 
 o clock ; so, if you happen to be in Portsmouth 
 that afternoon, please to look after me. I am 
 glad of this opportunity of seeing you, for I am 
 assured you will never find your way to Lenox. 
 I thank Mrs. Bridge for her good-wishes as re 
 spects my future removal from office, but I should 
 be sorry to anticipate such bad-fortune as being 
 ever again appointed to one. 
 "Truly your friend, 
 
 " NATH HAWTHORNE." 
 
 Hawthorne s feelings towards Salem and its 
 inhabitants, as shown in the above letter, may 
 be accounted for somewhat by the circumstances 
 and surroundings of his boyhood. 
 
 The isolation of his family, his three years 
 lameness, and his long absences at Raymond 
 and in college prevented him from forming 
 friendships with other Salem boys that might 
 have essentially modified his later sentiments 
 towards his native town. As it was, he grew up 
 almost as a stranger in his birthplace until he 
 had reached manhood. But I have seen no evi 
 dence of unfriendliness towards his fellow-citi 
 zens previous to his being brought into closer 
 relations with them as an officer of the Salem 
 Custom-house, from which office he was removed 
 through the strenuous exertions of leading men 
 of the opposite political party. As Hawthorne 
 
Il6 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 had never been an active partisan, and as no 
 fault could justly have been found with his offi 
 cial or personal character, it was not strange that 
 he became embittered against many of the men 
 of influence in Salem and against the town itself. 
 And he did not attempt to conceal his senti 
 ments, or to mollify the anger resulting from his 
 cutting statements in that regard ! 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 MY own marriage in 1846 brought to Haw 
 thorne another appreciative friend, to whom he 
 at once gave his confidence and esteem. 
 
 Our house was always open to him, and he 
 came to us at will, as to friends from whom he 
 was sure of a welcome and in whose society he 
 felt no restraint. 
 
 On one occasion, after my return from an Afri 
 can and European cruise, I was ordered to the 
 Portsmouth station, where we were hardly settled 
 at house-keeping when Hawthorne came to see us. 
 
 The hall was encumbered by boxes, at sight of 
 which he feared that his visit was inopportune ; 
 and he quickly said, " I have just come for an 
 hour or two to see you, and must return this 
 evening." 
 
 Mrs. Bridge perceiving that the fear of in 
 commoding us was influencing him said, 
 
 " Must you desert us when I need your aid in 
 unpacking these boxes ?" 
 
 " Will you really let me help you ?" he replied. 
 
 Her joking answer assuring him of her pleas- 
 
Il8 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 ure in gaining so strong a helper, both in muscle 
 and intelligence put him entirely at ease, and 
 for a week he made himself useful on all possi 
 ble occasions. As I was convalescing, after a 
 malarial fever, it was a great relief to me to have 
 his efficient aid. 
 
 A pleasant feature of the work consisted in 
 unpacking and selecting places for the many 
 things that Mrs. Bridge had been able to collect 
 in France and Italy during the troublous times 
 of 1848-49. 
 
 Hawthorne was much interested in her account 
 of the persons she had met and the places she 
 had visited, but more especially of her journey 
 in Spain. 
 
 Mrs. Bridge had come to join me in Europe ; 
 but, as I was attached to a cruising ship, we 
 could only meet occasionally, and she was obliged 
 to make her journeys without me. 
 
 At another time, on one of his visits, he was 
 talking with Mrs. Bridge at twilight, while I was 
 dozing on the sofa. With the ease of manner 
 that precluded all embarrassment on his part, 
 she said to him, " Now tell me a story." Look 
 ing at me without a moment s hesitation he 
 said, " I will tell you one which I could write, 
 making that gentleman one of the principal 
 characters. I should begin with the description 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 1 19 
 
 of his father a dignified and conservative man 
 who, for many years, had lived in a great 
 mansion, by the side of a noble river, and had 
 daily enjoyed the sight of the beautiful stream 
 flowing placidly by, without a thought of disturb 
 ing its natural course. 
 
 " His children had played upon its banks, and 
 the boys swam in the quiet stream or rowed their 
 boats thereon. 
 
 "But, after their father s decease, his sons, 
 grown to manhood progressive in unison with 
 the spirit of the age conceived the project of 
 utilizing the great body of water flowing idly by. 
 So, calling in the aid of a famous engineer, they 
 built a high and costly dam across the river, thus 
 creating a great water-power sufficient for the use 
 of many prospective mills and factories. 
 
 " The river biding its time quietly allowed 
 the obstructions to be finished ; and then it rose 
 in its wrath and swept away the expensive struct 
 ure and the buildings connected with it, and took 
 its course majestically to the sea. 
 
 " Nor did this satisfy the offended river-gods ; 
 for they cut a new channel for the stream, and 
 swallowed up the paternal mansion of the young 
 men, and desolated its beautiful grounds, thus 
 showing the superior power of Nature whenever \ 
 it chooses to assert itself." 
 
120 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 The year after the visit just described being 
 still languid and debilitated I accepted Haw 
 thorne s invitation to come and see him and his 
 family at Lenox in the Berkshire hills, a region 
 famed for the healthfulness of its climate, and as 
 the home of the Sedgwicks, Fanny Kemble But 
 ler, etc. 
 
 Fashion had not then invaded these lovely 
 hills, and the comparatively small society was 
 noted for its simple mode of living, for its intel 
 ligence, and its culture. 
 
 The Hawthornes occupied an old-fashioned 
 cottage, painted deep red, and overlooking a 
 charming lake. 
 
 There were a great many deficiencies in the ar 
 rangements of the quaint old house and grounds, 
 for which I had a quick eye, and to the imme 
 diate remedying of which Hawthorne and I de 
 voted our efforts. Mrs. Hawthorne looked on 
 with amused approval (even when our perform 
 ances were rather revolutionary), as she saw us 
 engaging, with great glee, in improving matters 
 generally. Boxes were turned into closets and 
 bookshelves, and the cellar and hen-house were 
 not neglected. 
 
 A letter I wrote my wife from Lenox gives my 
 own impressions of the surroundings of the Haw 
 thornes, and of our occupations during my very 
 pleasant visit : 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 121 
 
 " LA MAISON ROUGE, July 18, 1850. 
 
 " CARA MIA, I must explain the meaning of 
 the caption. Be it known, then, that Hawthorne 
 occupies a house painted red, like some old-fash 
 ioned farm-houses you have seen. It is owned 
 by Mr. Tappan, who lived in it awhile ; but he 
 is now at High-Wood, the beautiful place of Mr. 
 Ward. The old farm-house is quite comfortable, 
 having sufficient room, and being furnished sim 
 ply and in good taste. All the surroundings give 
 proof of the easy circumstances of the present 
 occupants. 
 
 " The view of the lake is lovely ; I have seldom 
 seen one so beautiful. 
 
 "Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorne are most friendly, 
 and my visit seems to give them much satisfac 
 tion. 
 
 " Nor am I quite useless. I have planned va 
 rious improvements in the house and grounds, 
 including some in the hennery, where the nests 
 and roosts are now arranged according to the 
 directions of the best authors upon that useful 
 subject. To-morrow we are going to make some 
 closets and book-shelves of the boxes in which 
 the furniture came. As I am not so strong as 
 before my fever, Hawthorne does the hard work, 
 such as lifting, sawing, etc., while I plan and ham 
 mer. Oh, we are a model pair of working-men 
 the Man of Genius and the Naval Officer ! 
 
122 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 " The children behave very well, and, certainly, 
 are charming youngsters. Una acts like a little 
 lady, and exhibits good temper and obedience ; 
 while Julian is a good-natured, laughing young 
 giant. 
 
 "We intend to visit High -Wood at an early 
 day, and thence shall drive to the village, if we 
 can get Mr. Tappan s vehicle. 
 
 " igth. It has rained all the forenoon. Con 
 sequently we have been at work in cellar, hennery, 
 and shed. In the reorganized hennery our labor 
 has already been justified, for no less than three 
 hens have shown their approval of it by each lay 
 ing an egg in a new and scientific nest. 
 
 " I have selected two boxes for the children s 
 closets, besides a large one for a wardrobe, and 
 another for a general closet ; and, having laid out 
 several days 1 work for somebody in papering, etc., 
 I am satisfied. 
 
 " We have cleared up the wood-house and cel 
 lar, mended some chairs, and have done a great 
 deal towards making the establishment * ship 
 shape and comfortable. 
 
 " You must not think that I am exerting my 
 self too much. Hawthorne has taken the hard 
 est part of the work, and I really feel all the bet 
 ter for the exercise. ... 
 
 " Hawthorne and his wife both send kindest 
 regards. Ever yours, H." 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 12$ 
 
 As the " House of the Seven Gables " was at 
 that time in course of preparation, it is fair to 
 presume that the fowls, flowers, and vegetables 
 of the Red-house establishment were studies for 
 the pictures of Phoebe s garden favorites. 
 
 Hawthorne s residence at Lenox was marked 
 not only by the production of the " House of the 
 Seven Gables," but by that of the " Wonder-Book 
 for Girls and Boys," a volume of three hundred 
 pages, which he wrote in seven weeks, his facil 
 ity for labor increasing with the public demand 
 for his writings. He also prepared, at that place, 
 a second volume of " Twice-Told-Tales " and be 
 gan the " Blithedale Romance." 
 
 A few days after leaving Lenox I received the 
 following letter, which has in it an amusing touch 
 about the effect my active reforms had produced 
 upon the children. 
 
 " LENOX, Aug. 7, 1850. 
 
 "... Duyckink, of the Literary World, and 
 Herman Melville are in- Berkshire, and I expect 
 them to call here this morning. I met Melville 
 the other day, and liked him so much that I have 
 asked him to spend a few days with me before 
 leaving these parts. 
 
 " We all have very pleasant recollections of 
 your visit. Julian broke a china cup a few days 
 ago, and very coolly remarked that " Mr. Bridge 
 could mend it." 
 
124 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 " We have got some maple-paper, and shall 
 soon begin the transmutation of your boxes. 
 
 " We are getting along very well. Una and 
 Julian grow apace, and so do our chickens, of 
 which we have two broods. There is one diffi 
 culty about these chickens, as well as about the 
 old fowls. We have become so intimately ac 
 quainted with every individual of them, that it 
 really seems like cannibalism to think of eating 
 them. What is to be done ? 
 
 " With our best regards to Mrs. Bridge, 
 " Yours truly, 
 
 " NATH HAWTHORNE." 
 
 "LENOX, March 15, 1851. 
 
 "DEAR BRIDGE, I am glad to hear from 
 you at last, although I am sorry you have sunk 
 into the depths of official idleness, and have ef 
 fected nothing towards the new edition of the 
 " Cruiser." 
 
 " You know not what fame you may be fling 
 ing away. However, all that shall be made 
 up in a journal or history of your next voy 
 age. But I do most heartily wish that you 
 would cut the Navy, and trust to God and your 
 own exertions for a good life at home. Even 
 such a poor house and poor fare as mine, for 
 instance, are better than sea-biscuit and a state 
 room. 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 125 
 
 " The * House of the Seven Gables, in my 
 opinion, is better than The Scarlet Letter ; but 
 I should riot wonder if I had refined upon the 
 principal character a little too much for popular 
 appreciation ; nor if the romance of the book 
 should be found somewhat at odds with the 
 humble and familiar scenery in which I invest 
 it. But I feel that portions of it are as good as 
 anything I can hope to write, and the publisher 
 speaks encouragingly of its success. 
 
 " How slowly I have made my way in life ! 
 How much is still to be done ! How little 
 worth outwardly speaking is all that I have 
 achieved ! The bubble reputation is as much a 
 bubble in literature as in war, and I should not 
 be one whit the happier if mine were world-wide 
 and time-long than I was when nobody but your 
 self had faith in me. 
 
 " The only sensible ends of literature are, first, 
 the pleasurable toil of writing ; second, the grati 
 fication of one s family and friends ; and, lastly, 
 the solid cash. 
 
 " Remember me to Mrs. Bridge, and give her, 
 likewise, my wife s remembrances. I shall take 
 advantage of a visit to Dr. Peabody in June next 
 to go to Boston, and hope to have a meeting with 
 you before my return. 
 
 "The boxes, I must confess, are not all paper 
 ed, but neither are they all unpapered ; and my 
 
126 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 wife was talking of doing the remainder only the 
 day before your letter arrived. 
 
 "Your friend, N. H." 
 
 " LENOX, July 22, 1851. 
 
 1 " DEAR BRIDGE, What a long, long while since 
 I have heard from you ! I don t know when it 
 was, or which of us wrote last, though I am, 
 most probably, in your debt for a letter ; but a 
 weary scribbler, like myself, must be allowed a 
 great deal of license as regards debts of that 
 nature. Why did you not write and tell me how 
 you liked, or how you did not like, the * House 
 of the Seven Gables ? Did you feel shy of ex 
 pressing an unfavorable opinion ? It would not 
 have hurt me in the least, though I am always 
 glad to please you ; but I rather think I have 
 reached that stage when I do not care, very es 
 sentially one way or the other, for anybody s 
 opinion on any one production. On this last 
 romance, for instance, I have heard and seen 
 such diversity of judgment that I should be al 
 together bewildered if I attempted to strike a 
 balance. So I take nobody s estimate unless it 
 happens to agree with my ownNl think it a work 
 more characteristic of my mind, and more proper 
 and natural for me to write, than * The Scarlet 
 Letter" ; but for that very reason, less likely to 
 interest the public. Nevertheless it appears to 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 127 
 
 have sold better than the former, and, I think, is 
 more sure of retaining the ground it acquires. 
 Mrs. Kemble writes that both works are popular 
 in England, and advises me to take out my copy 
 right there. 
 
 " Since the first of June I have written a book 
 of two or three hundred pages for children ; and 
 I think it stands a chance of a wide circulation. 
 The title, at all events, is an ad captandum one 
 The Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys. I don t 
 know what I shall write next. Should it be a 
 romance, I mean to put an extra touch of the 
 devil into it, for I doubt whether the public will 
 stand two quiet books in succession without my 
 losing ground. As long as people will buy, I 
 shall keep at work, and I find that my facility 
 for labor increases with the demand for it. 
 
 " Mrs. Hawthorne published a little work two 
 months ago, which still lies in sheets, but I assure 
 you it makes some noise in the world, both by 
 day and night. In plain English, we have an 
 other little daughter ; a very bright, strong, and 
 healthy miss ; but at present with no pretensions 
 to beauty. Sophia intends, in the course of two 
 or three weeks, to take the baby to Mr. Mann s 
 in West Newton, on a short visit. Una will ac 
 company her, and I shall remain here with Ju 
 lian. After her return I shall go to Boston, and, 
 if you should be still at Portsmouth, I will run 
 
128 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 down thither to see you, if for no more than a day. 
 It is now above a year since I have been ten 
 miles from this place, and I begin to need a lit 
 tle change of scene. 
 
 " We intend to take Mrs. Kemble s house in Oc 
 tober or the beginning of November. She offered 
 it last year for nothing; but I declined the terms. 
 She offers it now for the same rent that I pay 
 here ; and, though this is inadequate, yet as she 
 cannot let the house on any other terms, or to 
 any other person, I see no impropriety in my ac 
 cepting the offer. If she could do better, I would 
 not take it. We shall lose a beautiful prospect, 
 and gain a much more convenient and comforta 
 ble house than our present one. If I continue 
 to prosper in my literary vocation, I mean to buy 
 a house before a great while, but it shall not be 
 in Berkshire. I prefer the sea-coast, both as a 
 matter of taste and because I think it suits both 
 Sophia s constitution and my own better than 
 this hill country. 
 
 " Do write and tell me of your welfare and pros 
 pects. I am afraid you will not be able to read 
 this scrawl, but I have contracted a bad habit of 
 careless penmanship. 
 
 " With our best regards to Mrs. Bridge, 
 "Your friend, NATH HAWTHORNE." 
 
 After receiving this letter, I wrote Hawthorne 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 129 
 
 of the old family home of the Sparhawks, at Kit- 
 tery Point, which was then for sale, and was not 
 far from the cottage near the sea which I had 
 just bought. 
 
 "LENOX, Oct. n, 1852. 
 
 " DEAR BRIDGE, The Sparhawk house cer 
 tainly offers some temptations, among which, 
 however, I do not reckon that hideous story of 
 the howling dead man, but I shall resist them.. 
 It is too much out of the way. I have learned 
 pretty well the desirableness of an easy access 
 to the world ; and you will learn it, too, if you 
 should ever actually occupy your island purchase. 
 You will never be able to make that your perma 
 nent home. I am sure of it. It will do well 
 enough to play Robinson Crusoe for a summer or 
 so, but when a man is making his settled dispo 
 sitions for life, he had better be on the mainland, 
 and as near a railroad station as possible. 
 
 "My Wonder-Book, I suppose, will be out 
 soon. I do not know your direction in Boston, 
 so cannot send you one unless first advised there 
 of; but will tell the publishers to hand you one 
 when called for. I have also a new volume of 
 Twice-Told-Tales in press and a new romance 
 in futurity. 
 
 " We shall leave here, with much joy, on the 
 first day of December. 
 
 " With our best regards to Mrs. Bridge, whom 
 9 
 
130 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 I would not have missed seeing, only it involved 
 the not seeing my wife the next day. 
 
 " Truly yours, NATH HAWTHORNE." 
 
 In the year of grace 1890 the historic "Red 
 House " was burned, and now only the blackened 
 ruins near the lovely lake remain to mark the spot 
 where it had stood so long. In that " little red 
 shanty," as Mrs. Hawthorne called it, Hawthorne 
 wrote the " House of the Seven Gables" and the 
 " Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys," and there he 
 began the " Blithedale Romance." In that house, 
 too, Rose (now Mrs. Lathrop) was born. To that 
 little, low-studded, yet cheerful dwelling, for near 
 ly forty years after the departure of the man who 
 made it famous, visitors, in yearly increasing 
 numbers, resorted as to a shrine of genius purely 
 American. Mr. Tappan, owner of the place, had 
 the good taste as well as the kindly remembrances 
 which led him to keep the study in the same state 
 that Hawthorne left it in. 
 
 "CONCORD, Mass., Oct. 18, 1852. 
 " DEAR BRIDGE, I received your letter some 
 time ago, and ought to have answered it long 
 since, but you know my habits of epistolary de 
 linquency, so I make no apology. Besides, I 
 have been busy with literary labor of more kinds 
 than one. Perhaps you have seen Blithedale 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 131 
 
 before this time. I doubt whether you will like 
 it very well ; but it has met with good success, 
 and has brought me besides its American cir 
 culation a thousand dollars from England ; 
 whence, likewise, have come many favorable 
 notices. Just at this time I rather think your 
 friend stands foremost there as an American fic 
 tion-monger. 
 
 " In a day or two I intend to commence a new 
 romance, which, if possible, I mean to make more 
 genial than the last. 
 
 "I did not send you the Life of Pierce, not 
 considering it fairly one of my literary produc 
 tions. 
 
 " I was terribly reluctant to undertake this 
 work, and tried to persuade Pierce both by let 
 ter and viva voce that I could not perform it so 
 well as many others ; but he thought differently ; 
 and, of course, after a friendship of thirty years, 
 it was impossible to refuse my best efforts in his 
 behalf at this the great pinch of his life. 
 
 11 Other writers might have made larger claims 
 for him, and have eulogized him more highly; 
 but I doubt whether any other could have be 
 stowed a better aspect of sincerity and reality on 
 the narrative, and have secured all the credit 
 possible for him without spoiling all by asserting 
 too much. 
 
 " Before undertaking it, I made an inward res- 
 
132 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 olution that I would accept no office from him ; 
 but, to say the truth, I doubt whether it would 
 not be rather folly than heroism to adhere to this 
 purpose in case he should offer me anything par 
 ticularly good. We shall see. A foreign mission 
 I could not afford to take. The consulship at 
 Liverpool I might. I have several invitations 
 from English celebrities to come over there, and 
 this office would make all straight. What luck 
 that fellow has ! I have wanted you here while 
 writing up his memoirs for the sake of talking 
 over his character with you, as I cannot with 
 any other person. I have come seriously to the 
 conclusion that he has in him many of the chief 
 elements of a great ruler. His talents are ad 
 ministrative ; he has a subtle faculty of making 
 affairs roll onward according to his will, and of 
 influencing their course without showing any 
 trace of his action. There are scores of men in 
 the country that seem brighter than he is; but 
 Frank has the directing mind, and will move 
 them about like pawns on a chess-board, and 
 turn all their abilities to better purpose than they 
 themselves could do. Such is my idea of him 
 after many an hour of reflection on his character 
 while making the best of his biography. He is 
 deep, deep, deep. But what luck withal ! Noth 
 ing can ruin him. 
 
 " Nevertheless I do not feel very sanguine 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 133 
 
 about the result of this election. There is 
 hardly a spark of enthusiasm in either party; 
 but what there is, so far as I can judge, is on the 
 side of Scott. The prospect is none of the bright 
 est, either in New York, Ohio, or Pennsylvania ; 
 and unless Frank gets one of them, he goes to 
 the wall. He himself does not appear to admit 
 the possibility of failure ; but I doubt whether, in 
 a position like his, a man can ever form a reli 
 able judgment of the prospect before him. 
 
 " Should he fail, what an extinction it will be ! 
 He is in the intensest blaze of celebrity. His por 
 trait is everywhere in all the shop-windows, and 
 in all sorts of styles on wood, steel, and copper ; 
 on horseback, on foot, in uniform, in citizen s 
 dress, in iron medallions, in little brass medals, 
 and on handkerchiefs ; and it seems as if the 
 world were full of his not very striking physiog 
 nomy. 
 
 " If he loses the election, in one little month 
 he will fall utterly out of sight and never come . 
 up again. He is playing a terrible game, and for 
 a tremendous stake. On one side power, the 
 broadest popularity, and a place in history; on 
 the other (for I doubt whether it would not prove 
 a knock-down blow) oblivion, or death and a for 
 gotten grave. He says, however, that he should 
 bear defeat with equanimity. Perhaps he might, 
 but I think he is not aware of the intense excite- 
 
134 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 ment in which he lives. He seems calm, but his 
 hair is whitening, I assure you. Well, three 
 weeks more will tell the story. 
 
 " By the by, he speaks most kindly of you, 
 and his heart seems to warm towards all his old 
 friends under the influence of his splendid pros- 
 .pects. If he wins he will undoubtedly seek for 
 some method of making you the better for his 
 success. I love him, and, oddly enough, there is 
 a kind of pitying sentiment mixed up with my 
 affection for him just now. 
 " Yours truly, 
 
 " NATH HAWTHORNE." 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 IMMEDIATELY after General Pierce s election 
 to the Presidency, in 1852, he offered Hawthorne 
 the Liverpool consulate, an office then considered 
 the most lucrative of all the foreign appointments 
 in the Presidential gift, and soon after his inau 
 guration he gave him that place. 
 
 With his family, Hawthorne sailed for England 
 in July, 1853. 
 
 His European life has been fully described by 
 other writers ; yet it may be well to give here a 
 few of his letters from abroad, which speak of 
 his annoyances at the prospect, and subsequent 
 realization, of the decrease of his official emolu 
 ments by legislation, of his solicitude for the 
 welfare of our country, and of some other mat 
 ters of public or private concern. 
 
 "LIVERPOOL, March 30, 1854. 
 
 " MY DEAR BRIDGE, You are welcome home, 
 and I heartily wish I could see Mrs. Bridge and 
 yourself and little Marian by our English fireside. 
 
 " I like my office well enough, but any official 
 
136 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 duties and obligations are irksome to me beyond 
 expression. Nevertheless, the emoluments will be 
 a sufficient inducement to keep me here, though 
 they are not above a quarter part what some peo 
 ple suppose them. 
 
 " It sickens me to look back to America. I am 
 sick to death of the continual fuss and tumult 
 and excitement and bad blood which we keep up 
 about political topics. If it were not for my chil 
 dren I should probably never return^but after 
 quitting office should go to Italy, and live and 
 die there. If Mrs. Bridge and you would go, too, 
 we might form a little colony amongst ourselves, 
 and see our children grow up together. But it 
 will never do to deprive them of their native 
 land, which I hope will be a more comfortable 
 and happy residence in their day than it has 
 been in ours. In my opinion, we are the most 
 miserable people on earth. 
 
 " I wish you would send me the most minute 
 particulars about Pierce how he looks and be 
 haves when you meet him, how his health and 
 spirits are and above all, what the public really 
 thinks of him a point which I am utterly unable 
 to get at through the newspapers. Give him my 
 best regards, and ask him whether he finds his 
 post any more comfortable than I prophesied it 
 would be. 
 
 " I have a great deal more to say, but defer it 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 137 
 
 to future letters. Mrs. Hawthorne sends her love 
 to Mrs. Bridge. She is not very well, being un 
 favorably affected by this wretched climate. The 
 children flourish, and will, I think, be permanent 
 ly benefited by their residence here. 
 
 " Write me often, for I have now learned to 
 know how valuable a friend s letters are in a for 
 eign land. 
 
 " Most truly yours, 
 
 " NATH HAWTHORNE." 
 
 U. S. CONSULATE, LIVERPOOL, April 17, 1854. 
 
 " DEAR BRIDGE, I trust you received my let 
 ter, written a fortnight or thereabouts ago. 
 
 " As you are now in Washington, and, of course, 
 in frequent communication with Pierce, I want 
 you to have a talk with him on my affairs. O Sul- 
 livan, who arrived here a day or two ago, tells me 
 that a bill is to be brought forward in relation to 
 diplomatic and consular offices, and that, by 
 some of its provisions, a salary is to be given to 
 certain of the consulates. I trust, in Heaven s 
 mercy, that no change will be made as regards the 
 emoluments of the Liverpool consulate unless 
 indeed a salary is to be given in addition to the 
 fees ; in which case I should receive it very thank 
 fully. This, however, is not to be expected; and 
 if Liverpool is touched at all, it will be to limit 
 its emoluments by a fixed salary which will ren- 
 
138 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 der the office not worth any man s holding. It 
 is impossible (especially for a man with a family 
 and keeping any kind of an establishment) not 
 to spend a vast deal of money here. The office, 
 unfortunately, is regarded as one of great digni 
 ty, and puts the holder on a level with the high 
 est society, and compels him to associate on 
 equal terms with men who spend more than my 
 whole income on the mere entertainments and 
 other trimmings and embroidery of their lives. 
 Then I feel bound to exercise some hospitality 
 towards my own countrymen. I keep out of so 
 ciety as much as I decently can, and really prac 
 tise as stern an economy as ever I did in my life; 
 but, nevertheless, I have spent many thousands 
 of dollars in the few months of my residence 
 here, and cannot reasonably hope to spend less 
 than six thousand per annum, even after all the 
 expenditure of setting up an establishment is de 
 frayed. All this is for the mere indispensable 
 part of my living, and unless I make a hermit of 
 myself, and deprive my wife and children of all 
 the pleasures and advantages of our English res 
 idence, I must inevitably exceed the sum named 
 above. Every article of living has nearly doubled 
 in cost within a year. It would be the easiest 
 thing in the world for me to run in debt, even 
 taking my income at $15,000 (out of which all 
 the clerks, etc., are to be paid), the largest sum 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 139 
 
 that it ever reached in Crittenden s time. He 
 had no family but a wife, and lived constantly at 
 a boarding-house, and nevertheless went home, as 
 he assured me, with an aggregate of only $25,000, 
 derived from his official savings. 
 
 " Now the American public can never be made 
 to understand such a statement as the above, 
 and they would grumble awfully if more than six 
 thousand per annum were allowed for a consul s 
 salary ; yet it would not be worth my keeping at 
 ten thousand dollars. I beg and pray, therefore, 
 that Pierce will look at the reason and common 
 sense of this business, and not let Mr. Dudley 
 Mann shave off so much as a half-penny from 
 my official emoluments. Neither do I believe 
 that we have a single consulship in any part of 
 the world, the net emoluments of which overpay 
 the trouble and responsibility of the office. If 
 these are lessened, the incumbent must be com 
 pelled to turn his official position to account by 
 engaging in commerce a course which ought not 
 to be permitted, and which no Liverpool consul 
 has ever adopted. 
 
 " After all, it is very possible that no change is 
 contemplated as regards the large consulships. 
 If so, I beg Mr. Dudley Mann s pardon. 
 
 "Tell the President that I was a guest at a 
 public entertainment the other day, where his 
 health was drunk standing, immediately after 
 
140 NATHANIEL. HAWTHORNE 
 
 those of the Queen and the Royal family. When 
 the rest of the party sat down, I remained on my 
 legs and returned thanks in a very pretty speech, 
 which was received with more cheering and ap 
 plause than any other during the dinner. I think 
 it was altogether the most successful of my ora 
 torical efforts of which I have made several 
 since arriving here. 
 
 " I wish you would get some of your Congres 
 sional friends to send me whatever statistical 
 documents are published by Congress, and also 
 any others calculated to be of use. I am daily 
 called upon for information respecting America, 
 which I do not always possess the materials to 
 give in a reliable shape. 
 
 " Your friend in haste, 
 
 HAWTHORNE." 
 
 April 18, 1854. 
 
 " DEAR BRIDGE, 
 
 * * =* =* * 
 
 "To drop the subject of my official emolu 
 ments and take up your own affairs, I must say, 
 after due thought, I feel somewhat desirous that 
 you should remain at Washington, not on your own 
 account, but on Pierce s. I feel a sorrowful sym 
 pathy for the poor fellow (for God s sake don t 
 show him this), and hate to have him left with 
 out one true friend, or one man who will speak 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 141 
 
 a single word of truth to him. There is no truer 
 man in the world than yourself, and unless you 
 have let him see a coolness on your part, he will 
 feel the utmost satisfaction in having you near 
 him. You will soon find, if I mistake not, that 
 you can exercise a pretty important influence 
 over his mind ; and such is my confidence in 
 your good judgment, and perfect faith in your 
 honesty, that I doubt not your influence would 
 be for his good. Of course it requires a good 
 deal of tact to fill such an office as I suggest, but 
 upon my honor, so far as actual power goes, I 
 would as lief have it as that of Secretary of State. 
 At all events, if you did nothing else, you might 
 do his heart good. . . . Regards to Mrs. Bridge. 
 " Truly yours, 
 
 " NATH HAWTHORNE." 
 
 U. S. CONSULATE, LIVERPOOL, Dec. 8, 1854. 
 
 " DEAR BRIDGE, I send the leaves from an 
 almanac showing the British consular salaries, as 
 mentioned in my last. Of course these are in 
 addition to the official fees, which are mainly 
 similar to our own. 
 
 " Do you know Captain G , the claimant 
 
 on the Dutch Government ? I endorsed a draft 
 of ^30 for him in order to enable him to take 
 passage by one of the Cunard steamers ; and he 
 writes me that he has been unable to provide for 
 
142 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 its payment. I have directed Ticknor to pay the 
 draft, and have requested G - to hand the 
 amount to you as soon as he may be able which, 
 I fear, will not be in a hurry. He is a good fellow 
 and of honorable intentions, but seems to be in 
 volved in great difficulties. He is at present in or 
 about Washington. I do not wish you to suggest 
 to him the payment of the ^30 ; but only to stand 
 ready to receive the money should he offer it. I 
 do not doubt his honorable purposes, but very 
 much doubt his ability. 
 
 " I should really be ashamed to tell you how 
 much my income is taxed by the assistance which 
 I find it absolutely necessary to render to Amer 
 ican citizens who come to me in difficulty or dis 
 tress. Every day there is some new claimant for 
 whom the Government makes no provision, and 
 whom the consul must assist, if at all, out of his 
 own pocket. 
 
 " It is impossible (or at any rate very disagree 
 able) to leave a countryman to starve in the 
 streets, or to hand him over to the chanties of 
 an English work-house ; so I do my best for these 
 poor devils. But I doubt whether they will meet 
 with quite so good treatment after the passage of 
 the Consular bill. If the Government chooses to 
 starve the consul, a good many will starve with 
 him. Your friend, N. H." 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 143 
 
 " U. S. CONSULATE, LIVERPOOL, Dec. 14, 1854. 
 " DEAR BRIDGE, The real and substantial ar 
 gument against the passage of the Consular bill 
 is, that it is an ill-considered and badly contrived 
 one. It was .drawn up, I presume, by Mr. Dud 
 ley Mann, whom from what little I know of his 
 doings I do not greatly respect as a public offi 
 cer. Just think of a man sitting in his office at 
 Washington and arranging salaries all over the 
 world, of his own mere motion ; without a single 
 inquiry into the peculiar circumstances, the ex 
 penses, the labor, etc., attending the different 
 positions ! At many consulates to which he as 
 signs a less sum than to mine, there would be a 
 much greater balance accruing to the consul on 
 account of his smaller expenditure in clerk-hire 
 and office-rent. A thorough preliminary investi 
 gation should be made, and, after ascertaining 
 the necessities of each office, the whole might 
 be arranged in a manner similar to the custom 
 houses and to every other department of public 
 business. This would have the effect of making 
 the consular clerks the servants and subordinates 
 of the State Department instead of hangers-on of 
 the consul, as they now are. Should the pro 
 posed bill pass, it cannot possibly stand for any 
 length of time, because it is really not on a right 
 principle ; but it would be very little comfort to 
 me to see it altered a year or two after I go out 
 
144 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 of office. I apprehend that the necessity of mak 
 ing some addition to the emoluments of diplo 
 matic officers may carry through these consular 
 measures both being included in one bill. If 
 they could be separated there would be little 
 hazard of the passage of a consular bill, during 
 this session at least. 
 
 " Finally, if the bill must pass, I trust, in Heav 
 en s mercy, that it will not take effect from the 
 signature of the act, but from the beginning of 
 the next fiscal year. 
 
 " I admire the English practice in these mat 
 ters. When an office is suppressed, they pay a 
 liberal compensation to the incumbent, or pension 
 him off ; and they never diminish the income of 
 an office except prospectively to take effect on 
 the appointment of a new man. 
 
 " My best regards to your wife. I wish our 
 children could know one another; but this does 
 not seem very probable at present. Whether I 
 resign the consulship or not, I am likely to spend 
 a long time abroad ; for I can live economically 
 in Italy, and can pursue my literary avocations 
 as well there as elsewhere. 
 " Your friend, 
 
 " NATH HAWTHORNE." 
 
 "P.S. Write me about Pierce, and how his 
 health and spirits are. I ought to write to him, 
 but it is a devilish sight harder to write to the 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 145 
 
 President of the United States (especially when 
 he has been an intimate friend) than to a private 
 man. It is my instinct to turn the cold shoulder 
 on persons in his position." 
 
 "U. S. CONSULATE, LIVERPOOL, March 23, 1855. 
 
 " DEAR BRIDGE, I thank you for all your ef 
 forts against this bill, but Providence is wiser 
 than we are, and, doubtless, it will all turn out 
 for the best. 
 
 " All through my life I have had occasion to 
 observe that what seemed to be misfortunes have 
 proved in the end to be the best things that could 
 possibly have happened to me ; and so it will be 
 with this even though the mode in which it 
 benefits me should never be made clear to my 
 apprehension. It would seem to be a desirable 
 thing enough that I should have had a sufficient 
 income to live comfortably upon for the rest of 
 my life, without the necessity of labor ; but, on 
 the other hand, I might have sunk prematurely 
 into intellectual sluggishness which now there 
 will be no danger of my doing ; though, with a 
 house and land of my own, and a good little sum 
 at interest beside, I need not be under very great 
 anxiety for the future. When I contrast my pres 
 ent situation with what it was five years ago, I see 
 a vast deal to be thankful for ; and I still hope 
 to thrive by my legitimate instrument the pen. 
 10 
 
146 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 " One consideration, which goes very far tow 
 ards reconciling me to quitting the office, is my 
 wife s health, with which the English climate does 
 not agree, and which I hope will be greatly ben 
 efited by a winter in Italy. In short, we have 
 wholly ceased to regret the action of Congress 
 (which nevertheless was most unjust and absurd), 
 and are looking at matters on the bright side. 
 ***** 
 
 " I don t see how the next consul is to get 
 along here, unless he be either a rich man or 
 a rogue. God knows he will find temptations 
 enough to be the latter. 
 
 " Give our best regards to Mrs. Bridge. How 
 I wish you could spend the next two years with 
 us in Italy. Truly your friend, 
 
 " NATH HAWTHORNE." 
 
 " LIVERPOOL, April 13, 1855. 
 ***** 
 
 "We are in good spirits my wife and I 
 about official emoluments. I shall have about 
 as much money as will be good for me. Enough 
 to educate Julian, and portion off the girls in a 
 moderate way, that is, reckoning my pen as good 
 for something. And, if I die, or am brain-stricken, 
 my family will not be beggars, the dread of which 
 has often troubled me in times past. 
 
 " I pray Heaven that your little girl is doing 
 
HORATIO BRIDGE 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 147 
 
 well. We have been rather alarmed about her 
 ever since you wrote that she had a congestion 
 of the lungs, at least my wife has, and she alarmed 
 me. But we hope and pray for the best. 
 " With our kindest regards to Mrs. Bridge, 
 " Your friend, N. H." 
 
 " LIVERPOOL, April 26, 1855. 
 " MY DEAR BRIDGE, May God support you 
 and your wife in this great affliction. I hardly 
 feel as if so old a friend as myself could venture 
 a word of consolation ; but, some time or other, 
 I trust you will be able to feel that, though it is 
 good to have a dear child on earth, it is likewise 
 good to have one safe in Heaven. She will 
 await you there, and it will seem like home to 
 you now. My wife joins with me in the deepest 
 sympathy for you and yours. 
 
 " Most affectionately, 
 
 "NATH HAWTHORNE." 
 
 The health of Mrs. Hawthorne, always delicate, 
 being unfavorably affected by the English climate, 
 the President, in 1855, considerately thought it 
 might be beneficial to her, as well as gratifying 
 to her husband, if he were transferred to a post 
 where the climate was milder, and where Haw 
 thorne himself would hold a diplomatic instead 
 of a consular position. 
 
148 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 As I was then stationed in Washington, the 
 President authorized me to offer, in a private let 
 ter to Hawthorne, the appointment of Charge- 
 d Affaires at Lisbon. 
 
 The subjoined letters show the considerations 
 that governed the decision arrived at. 
 
 " U. S. CONSULATE, LIVERPOOL, August 24, 1855. 
 " MY DEAR BRIDGE, I do not find it easy to 
 come to any conclusion as respects the matter 
 broached in your last. Many objections occur 
 to me; for instance, my unacquaintance with 
 diplomacy, and my dislike of the forms and cere 
 monies amid which diplomatists spend their time; 
 also that I do not understand the Portuguese lin 
 go, and have not any practice in French as a 
 spoken language. Furthermore, it is a question 
 whether Pierce can show me any further favors 
 without exciting the remark that he is doing too 
 much for a private friend. It is also a question 
 with me whether I can afford to take the office, 
 it being still, according to Cushing s opinion, a 
 mere charge-ship with only $4500 salary; and 
 such it must remain for some months to come. 
 I am inclined to think, therefore, that I had bet 
 ter hold on for another year to my consulship, 
 and suffer the forfeiture of salary during my ab 
 sence on the Continent, since it cannot be helped. 
 I should not wish to keep the Portuguese mission 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 149 
 
 more than a year, and I think it would not pay 
 its expenses for that time. But it was a most 
 kind and generous thing in the President to en 
 tertain the idea of transferring me thither, and 
 you must express to him my sense of his kind 
 ness. My stay on the Continent will not proba 
 bly be very long. I shall merely establish Mrs. 
 Hawthorne there, and return. 
 
 " On the other hand, it will be so delightful to 
 carry her to a delicious climate, and to remain 
 there with her, that I feel no small hesitation 
 in absolutely deciding to refuse the Portuguese 
 place, should it be offered me. I hope Pierce 
 will not offer it, for I cannot answer for myself 
 that I shall do what really seems to me the wisest 
 thing that is, refuse it. 
 
 " You will observe that the higher rank and 
 position of a minister, as compared with a con 
 sul, have no weight with me. This is not the 
 kind of honor of which I am ambitious. 
 
 " With best regards to Mrs. Bridge, 
 "Your friend, 
 
 " NATH HAWTHORNE." 
 
 " U. S. CONSULATE, LIVERPOOL, August 31, 1855. 
 " DEAR BRIDGE, I wrote you per last steamer, 
 in reference to what you suggested about the Lis 
 bon mission. My ideas have not changed as re 
 spects the inexpediency of my taking that post, 
 
150 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 should it be offered me. I shall act more wisely 
 to remain here, where I have gained some facility 
 in transacting the business ; and (unless Congress 
 interferes unfavorably with the present arrange 
 ment) I think this consulate will be as good as 
 the Lisbon mission, in a pecuniary way. 
 
 " But, though I conclude not to go thither my 
 self, I am going to send Mrs. Hawthorne to Lisbon 
 in my stead. The O Sullivans have earnestly 
 invited her to come ; and as they spent a con 
 siderable time with us in England, she is on the 
 most affectionate terms with them, and has con 
 sented to go. This relieves me of a very great 
 care and anxiety. It is not improbable that I 
 shall wish to pay her a short visit before spring, 
 but I might go and come in a fortnight or three 
 weeks. Julian remains with me in England. Mrs. 
 Hawthorne and the other two children will prob 
 ably sail in the course of a month. If O Sullivan 
 goes to Vienna he can convoy my wife to Malta, 
 or to any part of Italy. Her health is better than 
 it was, but I think it best to be on the safe side 
 by sending her out of England. 
 
 " I made a blunder in my last letter to you. A 
 new appointment to Lisbon would, at once, enable 
 me to receive the increased salary of $7500. I 
 don t want it, however. 
 
 " Truly yours, 
 
 " NATH HAWTHORNE." 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 151 
 
 " LIVERPOOL, June 6, 1856. 
 
 " DEAR BRIDGE, 
 
 ***** 
 
 "You will see by the newspapers that John Bull 
 is in a pretty high state of excitement in relation 
 to American affairs ; but, in my opinion, Frank 
 Pierce has taken the right course to bring mat 
 ters to an amicable settlement. The recognition 
 of Walker was a prudent measure as well as a 
 decided one. It has angered the British, and 
 has mortified them to the heart s core ; but it 
 has satisfied them that we are in earnest, and 
 that their further action will be in peril of a war, 
 which they would be very loath to encounter. 
 They show unmistakable tokens of backing out. 
 I should have been glad if intelligence of Graf- 
 ton s dismissal had accompanied that of the rec 
 ognition, for it seems impossible that our Gov 
 ernment can mean to retain him there, and any 
 delay only serves to keep the sore open. 
 
 " I am expecting Mrs. Hawthorne back from 
 Madeira in about ten days. The last accounts 
 of her health have been encouraging, but I see 
 little reason to think that she will be able to 
 encounter another English winter. Unless she 
 proves to be perfectly cured of her cough, I shall 
 make arrangements to give up the consulate in 
 the latter part of autumn, and we will be off for 
 Italy. I wish I were a little richer ; but when I 
 
152 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 compare my situation with what it was before 
 the publication of the Scarlet Letter, I have 
 reason to be satisfied with my run of luck. And, 
 to say the truth, I had rather not be too prosper 
 ous. It may be superstition, but it seems to me 
 that the bitter is very apt to come with the 
 sweet ; and bright sunshine casts a dark shadow. 
 So I content myself with a moderate portion 
 of sugar, and about as much sunshine as that 
 of an English summer s day. In this view of 
 the matter I am disposed to thank God for the 
 gloom and chill of my early life, in the hope 
 that my share of adversity came then, when I 
 bore it alone, and therefore it need not come 
 now, when the cloud would involve those whom 
 I love. 
 
 " I make my plans to return to America in 
 about two years from this timeX For my own 
 part, I should be willing to stay abroad much 
 longer, and perhaps even to settle permanently 
 in Italy ><>but the children must not be kept away 
 so long as to lose their American characteris 
 tics, otherwise they would be exiles and outcasts 
 through life. 
 
 " Give my most sincere regards to Mrs. Bridge. 
 I shall have few pleasanter anticipations when I 
 return to America than that of seeing you both. 
 " Your friend, 
 
 "NATH HAWTHORNE." 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 153 
 
 " LIVERPOOL, June 20, 1856. 
 ***** 
 
 " You pain me by your gloomy view of politi 
 cal affairs, but I have great hope and faith that 
 all will turn out well. As regards our relations 
 with England, the course of our Government de 
 serves all praise, and the result is a triumph that 
 will be felt and recognized long hereafter. Frank 
 has brought us safely and honorably through a 
 great crisis ; and England begins now to under 
 stand her own position and ours, and will never 
 again assume the tone which hitherto she has 
 always held towards us. 
 
 " Mrs. Hawthorne arrived at Southampton 
 about a fortnight since, in much better health 
 than I expected to see her, with little or no 
 cough, or other disorder of any kind. She 
 thinks, with great certainty, that she can safely 
 spend another winter in England, and, if so, I 
 shall not resign until the next Administration 
 comes in. She is now staying at a country-house 
 near Southampton, but I shall establish her in the 
 neighborhood of London in the beginning of July. 
 
 " I am sorry Frank has not the nomination if 
 he wished it. Otherwise I am glad he is out of 
 the scrape. 
 
 " With best regards to Mrs. Bridge, 
 " Your friend, 
 
 " NATH HAWTHORNE." 
 
154 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 " LIVERPOOL, Dec. 19, 1856. 
 
 " DEAR BRIDGE, Your being located at Wash 
 ington may, perhaps, enable you to assist me in 
 a matter which I wish to have suitably arranged. 
 I do not wish to retain the consulate for any 
 long period under the next Administration ; and 
 I intend to leave England for the Continent 
 early in the ensuing autumn, unless Mr. Buchan 
 an should take it into his head to remove me 
 (which I do not see why he should, as we are 
 personally friends, and there are no official 
 grounds against me). I shall resign, to take 
 effect on the thirty-first of August, at furthest; 
 and I wish the fact to be communicated to him 
 at the proper time, as he will doubtless be glad 
 to have the office at his disposal. If he wishes 
 for it sooner than the time above mentioned, he 
 will have to make the vacancy; and in view of 
 the possibility that he may choose to do so, I do 
 not like to do what, in effect, would be asking 
 for a few months of official tenure ; but I author 
 ize you to let my purpose be known in the prop 
 er quarter, and I shall consider myself bound in 
 honor to resign at the time stated. God knows I 
 am weary of the office, and would not have kept it 
 a great while longer under any circumstances. 
 
 " Mrs. Hawthorne and the children are now 
 residing in Southport, a little watering-place in 
 this vicinity, and I am happy to say that her 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 155 
 
 health is essentially improved. A year or two in 
 Italy will, with God s blessing, entirely set her up. 
 " Remember me kindly to Frank when you see 
 him. With my best regards to Mrs. Bridge, 
 " Truly yours, NATH HAWTHORNE." 
 
 " LIVERPOOL, Jan. 15, 1857. 
 
 " DEAR BRIDGE, Yours of the 23d ult. is re 
 ceived, and I have read it with much interest. I 
 regret that you think so doubtfully (or, rather, 
 despairingly) of the prospects of the Union ; for I 
 should like well enough to hold on to the old 
 thing. And yet I must confess that I sympathize 
 to a large extent with the Northern feeling, and 
 think it is about time for us to make a stand. If 
 compelled to choose, I go for the North. At 
 present we have no country at least, none in 
 the sense an Englishman has a country. I never 
 conceived, in reality, what a true and warm love 
 of country is till I witnessed it in the breasts of 
 Englishmen. The States are too various and 
 too extended to form really one country. New 
 England is quite as large a lump of earth as my 
 heart can really take in. 
 
 " Don t let Frank Pierce see the above, or he 
 would turn me out of office, late in the day as it 
 is. However, I have no kindred with, nor lean 
 ing towards, the Abolitionists. 
 
156 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 " To return to Frank Pierce, is it true that he 
 thinks of returning into the Senate ? I see noth 
 ing better to be done. He must have an occu 
 pation, and this would give him one, as well as 
 dignified and useful position. And it would 
 afford him an opportunity to explain himself to 
 the country, and to win a better fame than he 
 now retires with. But could he be elected ? 
 
 " I wrote to you a short time since, communi 
 cating my purpose to resign at an early date, 
 under Buchanan s Administration, and authoriz 
 ing you to communicate the purpose to the Presi 
 dent-elect. I think by next steamer (or very 
 soon, at any rate) I had better write a formal let 
 ter of resignation, and send it to your care, to 
 be delivered as soon as the new Administration 
 comes in. My successor could then be nomi 
 nated before the Senate adjourns, and, on many 
 accounts, I should like to know who it will be. 
 He will have a difficult post, and not a lucrative 
 one, for my English clerks will retire with me, 
 and he cannot supply their places with Ameri 
 cans at twice the expense. The new consul 
 should be a hard-working man of business, for 
 the emoluments of the office will no longer admit 
 of his devolving its duties on subordinates. It 
 is really a pity that such a comfortable berth 
 should have been spoiled, but it has served my 
 turn pretty well. 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 157 
 
 " Mrs. Hawthorne is tolerably well, and the 
 children perfectly so. With kindest regards to 
 Mrs. Bridge, 
 
 " Most truly yours, 
 
 "NATH HAWTHORNE." 
 
 " LIVERPOOL, Feb. 13, 1857. 
 
 "DEAR BRIDGE, I enclose a letter to the 
 President (viz. Buchanan, but I cannot address 
 him as such by name until after the fourth of 
 March) resigning my office, to take effect on and 
 after the 3ist of August next. This I wish you 
 to deliver as soon as you think proper after the 
 Inauguration. If he wants the office sooner, he 
 is welcome to remove me ; but I should suppose, 
 as it could not be done without some slight 
 odium, that he would prefer my offered resigna 
 tion. 
 
 " Mrs. Hawthorne and the children are all 
 pretty well, and still continue at Southport. 
 Mrs. H. and myself intend to travel about Eng 
 land and Scotland quite extensively between now 
 and August, and we shall leave the children at 
 Southport under the care of the governess until 
 we all go to the Continent together. 
 
 " It will be a great relief to me to find myself 
 a private citizen again; and I think the old liter 
 ary instincts and habits will begin to revive in 
 due season. I doubt, however, whether I pub- 
 
158 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 lish a book until after my return to the United 
 States, which probably will not be in less than 
 two years. I expect to live beyond my income 
 while on the Continent, but hope to bring myself 
 up again after my return with my literary labor, 
 and the economy of living on my own homestead. 
 # # =* * * 
 
 " I wish you would see Pierce, and beg him, 
 from me, to say one word to Buchanan in ref 
 erence to O Sullivan. He has spent more than 
 his income during all the time that he has been 
 at Lisbon, until since the commencement of the 
 present year. If turned out now he is irremedi 
 ably ruined. He is (as Pierce well knows) a 
 most excellent Minister; and I do entreat him, 
 by all the love I feel for him (Pierce, I mean), to 
 do O Sullivan this kindness. 
 
 " My best regards to Mrs. Bridge. 
 " Your friend, 
 
 " NATH HAWTHORNE." 
 
 Early in the third year of Hawthorne s resi 
 dence at Liverpool he became weary of his posi 
 tion, and contemplated resigning it. He had 
 realized enough to live upon " with comfortable 
 economy" ; his income from his literary work was 
 considerable and increasing; and he wished to 
 travel about England and Scotland, and to spend 
 some years upon the Continent before returning 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 159 
 
 to America. The consulate had become less 
 profitable, and, more than all, the climate of 
 England had proved injurious to Mrs. Haw 
 thorne s health. This last and weightiest con 
 sideration was obviated for a time by an invita 
 tion from Mr. and Mrs. O Sullivan to spend the 
 winter with them in Lisbon and Madeira. So 
 great benefit to Mrs. Hawthorne s health resulted 
 from the visit that the contemplated resignation 
 was deferred until after the election of President 
 Buchanan. At length Hawthorne determined 
 to resign, and he authorized me to inform the 
 President of his purpose, at the same time en 
 closing to me his resignation, which was duly 
 delivered. 
 
 In the September next ensuing, a new consul 
 was sent to relieve Hawthorne, and he gladly re 
 turned to the condition of a private citizen. He 
 had, at different times, held three offices under 
 the United States Government, viz., those of 
 Weigher and Ganger in the Boston Custom 
 house, of Surveyor in the Salem Custom-house, 
 and, finally, of Consul at Liverpool. In all these 
 places he for the time subordinated his finer and 
 higher faculties to his matter-of-fact duties, and 
 applied his common-sense to the prosaic tasks 
 that those commercial offices imposed. In all 
 of them he performed his obligations faithfully, 
 and to the entire satisfaction of the Government 
 
160 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 and of those persons with whom he had official 
 intercourse. I received the following letter from 
 Hawthorne after his successor had been ap 
 pointed : 
 
 "LIVERPOOL, Sept. 17, 1857. 
 
 " DEAR BRIDGE, I have received your letter 
 and the not unwelcome intelligence that there is 
 another Liverpool consul now in existence. It 
 is a pity you did not tell me how soon he will be 
 here, for that is a point which must have a good 
 deal of influence on my ow r n movements. I am 
 going to set out for Paris in a day or two with 
 my wife and children, and shall leave them there 
 while I return to await my successor. Poor fel 
 low ! being such as you describe him, he will 
 soon find the resources of the consulate too nar 
 row for him. 
 
 ***** 
 
 " I expect great pleasure and improvement 
 during my stay on the Continent, and shall come 
 home at last somewhat reluctantly. Your pledge 
 in my behalf of a book shall be honored in due 
 time if God pleases ; but I doubt much whether 
 I do anything more than observe and journalize 
 while I remain abroad. It would be a crowning 
 pleasure to Mrs. Hawthorne and me if Mrs. 
 Bridge and you could join us in Italy. It is 
 within the bounds of possibility that we may yet 
 meet there. 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE l6l 
 
 " Mrs. H. and the children are now a hundred 
 miles off, at Leamington, in the centre of Eng 
 land, or she would cordially join me in regards 
 and remembrances to yourself and wife. 
 " Your friend, 
 
 " NATH HAWTHORNE." 
 
 In the story of Hawthorne s life in England, 
 there is nothing more characteristic, nothing 
 more noble, than his care for those Americans 
 who came to him for advice or aid. Besides 
 numerous instances of generosity never heard of 
 by the public, there was a notable one in the 
 case of Miss Delia Bacon, casually mentioned in 
 " Our Old Home," under the head of " Recollec 
 tions of a Gifted Woman." 
 
 Without assuming any credit for his action in 
 the case, or even mentioning his disinterested 
 aid to one who had no other claim upon him 
 than that she was a lonely and friendless country 
 woman, he describes her patient labor in pursuit 
 of what she devoutly believed to be the true 
 secret of Shakespeare s identity. 
 
 Whether her theories were wholly visionary or 
 not, she had the courage of her convictions, op 
 posed as they were to the settled belief of the 
 rest of the world, and she lived and died a martyr 
 to the truth of history, as she regarded it. 
 ii 
 
1 62 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 When this singular woman had exhausted all 
 her financial means, when her family and friends 
 declined to assist her unless she would give up 
 her chimerical pursuit and return to America, 
 she almost despairingly appealed to Haw 
 thorne ; and he responded in a manner that dis 
 played his nobleness of heart, by the way in 
 which he aided the forlorn enthusiast in her 
 direst need. It gives one a higher estimate of 
 human nature to hear of such unselfishness, such 
 unwearied patience, and such rare delicacy as 
 were exhibited by Hawthorne in extending the 
 moral and material aid which she was too proud 
 to solicit. 
 
 The interesting " Life of Delia Bacon," by 
 Theodore Bacon, published in 1888, contains 
 some twenty letters of Hawthorne therein for 
 the first time made public which charmingly 
 display, in the words of Mr. Bacon, " the noble 
 generosity, the unwearying patience, the exqui 
 site considerateness with which for two years he 
 (Hawthorne) gave unstinted help, even of that 
 material sort which she would not ask for, to this 
 lonely countrywoman." 
 
 In a postscript to one of these letters to Miss 
 Bacon, Hawthorne writes, in almost apologetic 
 terms : " You say nothing about the state of 
 your funds. Pardon me for alluding to the sub 
 ject, but you promised to apply to me in case of 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 163 
 
 need. I am ready." Could an offer of assist 
 ance be more delicately expressed ? 
 
 If there were no other proof of Hawthorne s 
 appreciative regard for the friendless, it shines 
 forth brightly in these private letters. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 IN 1860, Hawthorne and his family returned 
 to America after a seven years absence, and 
 went at once to " The Wayside," his Concord 
 home, where he resided until his decease. 
 
 The following letter shows his deep thank 
 fulness for the preservation of the lives of Mrs. 
 Hawthorne and the children during their long 
 absence abroad : 
 
 "CONCORD, MASS., July 3, 1860. 
 
 " DEAR BRIDGE, Your letter has just reached 
 me ; not unexpectedly, for I felt quite sure that I 
 should soon hear from you. 
 
 " We came hither directly on landing from the 
 steamer. I have not left Mrs. Hawthorne be 
 hind, nor any one else that belongs to me, for 
 which I heartily thank God. It is a blessing 
 which, at one time, I scarcely hoped for. 
 
 "My friends tell me that I am very little 
 changed, but, of course, seven years have done 
 their work. The most perceptible alteration is a 
 moustache of Italian growth. 
 
 " If you will give me timely notice I shall come to 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 165 
 
 Boston to meet you. Give all our kindest regards 
 to Mrs. Bridge, and believe me your friend as 
 
 thirty-five years ago. 
 
 " NATH HAWTHORNE." 
 
 Hawthorne, on his return from Europe, found 
 the nation embroiled in an angry controversy be 
 tween the two great political parties of the day, 
 and he viewed with the utmost solicitude the pre 
 monitory symptoms of civil war, apparent in the 
 press and in Congress. 
 
 Early in the year next following the war-cloud 
 burst, and the struggle continued for four years 
 of tremendous effort and sacrifice on the part of 
 those who strove to destroy the Union, as well as 
 of their opponents, who, happily, were able to pre 
 serve it. 
 
 It is well known that Hawthorne was a Demo 
 crat in principle. He was, however, neither ex 
 treme nor narrow in his views, nor did he ever 
 take an active part in political controversies. 
 His " Life of Pierce " was written from personal 
 friendship and the true spirit of comradeship. 
 Political preference had little controlling force 
 in the matter. 
 
 In regard to Hawthorne s politics, let me here 
 revert to our college days and to the Presidential 
 election of 1824, which was preceded by the usual 
 
1 66 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 political excitements, into which boys, as well as 
 men, entered zealously. The students showed 
 their individual preferences as strongly as, and 
 much more disinterestedly than, the average voter 
 at the outside polls. At that time Pierce, Cilley, 
 Hawthorne, and the writer were enthusiastic sup 
 porters of General Jackson. 
 
 In later years, when the doctrine of abolition 
 was prominently brought forward, Hawthorne, 
 like conservative men of all parties, was out 
 spoken against it. He held that the Constitution 
 was valid and binding upon all the States, and 
 that no one who did not recognize a higher law 
 could honestly interfere with the institutions of 
 the Southern States, as guaranteed to them by 
 the Constitution. 
 
 But when the South declared for disunion, and 
 fired on the old flag at Fort Sumter, Hawthorne, 
 as did most Northern Democrats, unhesitatingly 
 took his stand with the North, and strongly es 
 poused the cause of the Union. 
 
 Like many other loyal men, he almost despaired 
 of success ; but he wished to " fight to the death 
 for the Northern slave States, and let the rest go." 
 He had no sympathy with the South during the 
 rebellion, but he rejoiced in every Union victory, 
 and approved and applauded the granting of lib 
 eral military supplies, and the vigorous prosecution 
 of the war. In short, he was a Democrat before 
 the rebellion, a War Democrat after it broke out. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 MY own duties as Paymaster-General in charge 
 of a naval bureau at Washington were too ardu 
 ous and engrossing to allow much time to be 
 given to private matters either of interest or 
 friendship, yet I was glad to have a month s visit 
 from Hawthorne in March and April of 1862. 
 
 He went occasionally to Congress, to the 
 White House, and to other places of interest in 
 Washington. He visited some of the neighbor 
 ing battle-fields in company with Mrs. Bridge 
 and Dicey, the English writer, and he made an 
 excursion to McClellan s headquarters, another 
 to Harper s Ferry, and a steamer trip with me to 
 Norfolk. 
 
 During his visit he met many distinguished 
 men, and gained a much clearer view of the war 
 than he had before. His clever article in the 
 Atlantic Monthly in 1862, entitled "Chiefly About 
 War Matters," embodied the results of his ob 
 servations. 
 
 The letter next following speaks of the Way 
 side, which was just finished, and gives some of 
 
l68 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 Hawthorne s views in relation to the war, as do 
 the two letters immediately following it. 
 
 "CONCORD, May 26, 1861. 
 
 ***** 
 
 " I am about making the final disbursements 
 on account of my house, which, of course, has 
 cost me three times the sum calculated upon. I 
 suppose every man, in summing up the cost of a 
 house, feels considerably like a fool ; but it is the 
 first time, and will be the last, that I make a fool 
 of myself in this particular way. At any rate, the 
 result is a pretty and convenient house enough, 
 no larger than was necessary for my family and 
 an occasional friend, and no finer than a modest 
 position in life demands. The worst of it is, I 
 must give up all thoughts of drifting about the 
 world any more, and try to make myself at home 
 in one dull spot. 
 
 " It is rather odd, with all my tendency to stick 
 in one place, I yet find great delight in frequent 
 change ; so that, in this point of view, I had 
 better not have burdened myself with taking a 
 house upon my back. Such change of quarters 
 as makes up the life of you naval men might have 
 suited me. 
 
 " The war, strange to say, has had a beneficial 
 effect upon my spirits, which were flagging wo- 
 fully before it broke out. But it was delightful 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 169 
 
 to share in the heroic sentiment of the time, 
 and to feel that I had a country a consciousness 
 which seemed to make me young again. One 
 thing, as regards this matter, I regret, and one I 
 am glad of. The regrettable thing is that I am 
 too old to shoulder a musket myself, and the joy 
 ful thing is that Julian is too young. He drills 
 constantly with a company of lads, and he means 
 to enlist as soon as he reaches the minimum age ; 
 but I trust that we shall either be victorious or 
 vanquished before that time. Meantime (though 
 I approve of the war as much as any man), I 
 don t quite understand what we are fighting for, 
 or what definite result can be expected. If we 
 pummel the South ever so hard, they will love us 
 none the better for it ; and even if we subjugate 
 them, our next step should be to cut them adrift. 
 If we are fighting for the annihilation of slavery, 
 to be sure, it may be a wise object, and offers a 
 tangible result, and the only one which is con 
 sistent with a future reunion between North and 
 South. A continuance of the war would soon 
 make this plain to us, and we should see the ex 
 pediency of preparing our black brethren for fut 
 ure citizenship by allowing them to fight for their 
 own liberties and educating them through heroic 
 influences. 
 
 " Whatever happens next, I must say that I re- | 
 joice that the old Union is smashed, f We never \ 
 
1 70 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 were one people, and never really had a country 
 since the Constitution was formed. 
 
 " I trust you mean to come and bring Mrs. 
 Bridge to see us this summer. I shall like my 
 house twice as well when you have looked at it. 
 We are all well. Write again. 
 " Your friend, 
 
 u NATH HAWTHORNE." 
 
 "CONCORD, Oct. 12, 1861. 
 " DEAR BRIDGE, 
 
 % * * * =& 
 
 * I am glad you take such a hopeful view of 
 our national prospects so far as regards the war ; 
 but my own opinion is that no nation ever came 
 safe and sound through such a confounded diffi 
 culty as this of ours. For my part I don t hope, 
 nor indeed wish, to see the Union restored as it 
 was. Amputation seems to me much the better 
 plan, and all we ought to fight for is the liberty 
 of selecting the point where our diseased mem 
 bers shall be lop t off. I would fight to the death 
 for the Northern Slave States and let the rest go. 
 
 " I fully expected that you would pay me at 
 least a flying visit while at the North this sum 
 mer, but I suppose your time was brief and filled 
 up with more essential matters. 
 
 " I have not found it possible to occupy my 
 mind with its usual trash and nonsense during 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 17 1 
 
 these anxious times, but, as the autumn advances, 
 I find myself sitting down to my desk and blot 
 ting successive sheets of paper, as of yore. Very 
 likely I may have something ready for the pub 
 lic long before the public is ready to receive it. 
 
 " We are all very well, and, in spite of public 
 troubles, have spent a quiet and happy summer. 
 I am glad Mrs. Bridge has had a little respite 
 from Washington life, and heartily wish you had 
 been with her. But honest men are of too much 
 value and too rare to be spared from their posts 
 in these times. 
 
 " Do write again, and enlighten me so far as 
 you may as to what is going on. 
 
 " Your friend, NATH HAWTHORNE." 
 
 " CONCORD, Feb. 14, 1862. 
 
 " DEAR BRIDGE, Your proposition that I 
 should pay a visit to Washington is very tempt 
 ing, and I should accept it if it were not for sev 
 eral *ifs neither of them, perhaps, a sufficient 
 obstacle in itself, but, united, pretty difficult to 
 overcome. For instance, I am not very well, 
 being mentally and physically languid ; but I 
 suppose there is about an even chance that the 
 trip and change of scene might supply the energy 
 which I lack. Also, I am pretending to write a 
 book; and though I am no wise diligent about 
 it, still, each week finds me a little more ad- 
 
172 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 vanced, and I am now at a point where I do not 
 like to leave it entirely. Moreover, I ought not 
 to spend money needlessly in these hard times, 
 for it is my opinion that the book-trade, and 
 everybody connected with it, is bound to fall to 
 zero before the war and the subsequent embar 
 rassments come to an end. 
 
 " I might go on multiplying ifs, but the 
 above are enough. Nevertheless, as I said, I 
 am greatly tempted by your invitation, and it is 
 not impossible that, in the course of a few weeks, 
 I may write to ask you if it still holds good. 
 Meanwhile I send you enclosed a respectable 
 old gentleman, who my friends say is very like 
 me, and may serve as my representative. If you 
 will send me a similar one of yourself, I shall be 
 truly obliged. 
 
 " Frank Pierce came here and spent a night, 
 a week or two since, and we mingled our tears 
 and condolences for the state of the country. 
 Pierce is truly patriotic, and thinks there is noth 
 ing left for us but to fight it out, but I should be 
 sorry to take his opinion implicitly as regards 
 our chances in the future. He is bigoted to 
 the Union, and sees nothing but ruin without it ; 
 whereas I (if we can only put the boundary far 
 enough south) should not much regret an ulti 
 mate separation. A few weeks will decide how 
 this is to be, for, unless a powerful Union feeling 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 173 
 
 shall be developed by the military successes that 
 seem to be setting in, we ought to turn our atten 
 tion to the best mode of resolving ourselves into 
 two nations. It would be too great an absurdity 
 to spend all our Northern strength for the next 
 generation in holding on to a people who insist 
 on being let loose. If we do hold them, I should 
 think Sumner s territorial plan the best way. 
 
 " I trust your health has not suffered by the 
 immense occupation which the war must have 
 brought upon you. The country was fortunate 
 in having a man like yourself in so responsible 
 a situation faithful found among the faithless. 
 
 " I wish I could hear from you oftener. Shall 
 you come to New England next summer ? If so 
 do try (with Mrs. Bridge) to pay us a visit the 
 longer the better. 
 
 " My wife and family are quite well, and send 
 their kindest regards to Mrs. Bridge and your 
 self. Your friend, 
 
 "NATH HAWTHORNE. 
 
 " P.S. I ought to thank you for a shaded map 
 of negrodom,* which you sent me a little while 
 ago. What a terrible amount of trouble and ex 
 pense in washing that sheet white, and after all 
 
 * This refers to a map, showing the proportion of ne 
 groes to whites in the different slave States, as indicated 
 by darker or lighter shades. 
 
174 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 I am afraid we shall only variegate it with blood 
 and dirt." 
 
 After his month s visit to the capital, Haw 
 thorne returned home much improved in health 
 and spirits. The change of climate and scene, 
 the relief from literary work, and the excitement 
 of the war- spirit, effervescing all around him, 
 seemed to have a beneficial effect upon him, and 
 he went back to Concord with apparently renewed 
 strength. 
 
 "CONCORD, April 13, 1862. 
 
 "DEAR BRIDGE, Yours enclosing two photo 
 graphs of Prof. Henry is received. 
 
 " I reached home safe and sound on Thursday 
 after a very disagreeable journey. 
 
 " It was a pity I did not wait one day longer, 
 so as to have shared in the joyful excitement 
 about the Petersburg victory and the taking of 
 Island No. 10. 
 
 " I found the family in good health, except that 
 Una has a cold, and Rosebud is blossoming out 
 with the mumps, which the other two children will 
 probably take in due course. 
 
 " They all think me greatly improved by the 
 journey and absence, and are grateful to Mrs. 
 Bridge and yourself for your kind attentions. 
 " Your friend ever, 
 
 "NATH HAWTHORNE." 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 175 
 
 The letters just given show that though Haw 
 thorne came to Washington "feeling not very 
 well," he returned greatly improved by the jour 
 ney and the social life at the capital. 
 
 In that year and the one next following, he 
 published " Our Old Home," and did some other 
 literary work ; but the springs of life were run 
 ning low, and the great brain was growing tired. 
 
 His lassitude increased, and he failed gradu 
 ally till, on that last journey with Pierce towards 
 the White Mountains, the volume of his life was 
 closed. 
 
 The sad news reached me in Washington at a 
 time when I was confined to my room by an ac 
 cident, and I could not join the little band of 
 devoted friends who mournfully bore his body to 
 its resting-place upon the hill-top, and under 
 his favorite pines. 
 
 Pierce s regard for Hawthorne was warm and 
 tender to the last, and it became even more af 
 fectionate as the end drew nigh. The health of 
 Hawthorne had been gradually failing for two 
 or three years until May, 1864, when his brain 
 power and physical strength both grew languid, 
 and he could work no more. The ex-President 
 (" Frank " of our college days) then came and 
 took him away towards the hill-country, with the 
 faint hope that the mountain air would reinvig- 
 orate him. 
 
176 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 Travelling by easy stages in Pierce s private 
 carriage, they passed through the region so fa 
 miliar to Pierce until, on the i8th of May, 1864, 
 they reached Plymouth, N. H., and stopped at 
 the Pemigewasset House to rest and sleep. 
 
 On retiring that last, sad night, they occupied 
 connecting rooms, with the door between them 
 open. Hawthorne slept quietly at first, and 
 Pierce went in two or three times to see to the 
 invalid s comfort. The last time about four 
 o clock he found him lying in what seemed to 
 be a quiet sleep ; but the heart had ceased to 
 beat. Hawthorne had died apparently without 
 a struggle. 
 
 The following letter of General Pierce gives 
 an interesting and affecting account of Haw 
 thorne s last journey and his death : 
 
 "ANDOVER, MASS., May 21, 1864. 
 
 "Mv DEAR BRIDGE, You will have seen, with 
 profound sorrow, the announcement of the death 
 of the dearest and most cherished among our 
 early friends. 
 
 "You will wish to know something more of 
 Hawthorne s last days than the articles in the 
 newspapers furnish. 
 
 " He had been more or less infirm for more 
 than a year. I had observed, particularly within 
 the last three or four months, evidences of di- 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 177 
 
 minished strength whenever we met. The jour 
 ney, which was terminated by Mr. Ticknor s sud 
 den death at Philadelphia, was commenced at 
 the urgent solicitation of friends, who thought 
 change essential for him. Mr. Ticknor s death 
 would have been a great loss and serious shock 
 to H. at any time, but the effect was undoubt 
 edly aggravated by the suddenness of the event 
 and H. s enfeebled condition. 
 
 " About three weeks since I went to Concord 
 (Mass.), and made arrangements to take a journey 
 to the lakes, and thence up the Pemigewasset 
 with my carriage, leaving time and details of the 
 trip to be settled by circumstances en route. 
 
 " I met H. at Boston, Wednesday (nth), came 
 to this place by rail Thursday morning, and went 
 to Concord, N. H., by evening train. The 
 weather was unfavorable, and H. feeble ; and 
 we remained at C. until the following Monday. 
 We then went slowly on our journey; stopping 
 at Franklin, Laconia, and Centre Harbor, and 
 reaching Plymouth Wednesday evening (i8th). 
 We talked of you, Tuesday, between Franklin 
 and Laconia, when H. said among other things 
 * We have, neither of us, met a more reliable 
 friend. The conviction was impressed upon me, 
 the day we left Boston, that the seat of the 
 disease from which H. was suffering was in the 
 brain or spine, or both. H. walked with diffi- 
 12 
 
178 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 culty, and the use of his hands was impaired. 
 In fact, on the i;th I saw that he was becoming 
 quite helpless, although he was able to ride, and, 
 I thought, more comfortable in the carriage with 
 gentle motion than anywhere else ; for, whether 
 in bed or up, he was very restless. I had de 
 cided, however, not to pursue our journey be 
 yond Plymouth, which is a beautiful place, and 
 thought, during our ride Wednesday, that I 
 would the next day send for Mrs. Hawthorne 
 and Una to join us there. Alas ! there was no 
 next day for our friend. 
 
 " We arrived at Plymouth about six o clock. 
 After taking a little tea and toast in his room, 
 and sleeping for nearly an hour upon the sofa, he 
 retired. A door opened from my room to his, 
 and our beds were not more than five or six feet 
 apart. I remained up an hour or two after he 
 fell asleep. He was apparently less restless than 
 the night before. The light was left burning 
 in my room the door open and I could see 
 him without moving from my bed. I went, how 
 ever, between one and two o clock to his bedside, 
 and supposed him to be in a profound slumber. 
 His eyes were closed, his position and face per 
 fectly natural. His face was towards my bed. I 
 awoke again between three and four o clock, and 
 was surprised as he had generally been restless 
 to notice that his position was unchanged 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 179 
 
 exactly the same that it was two hours before. 
 I went to his bedside, placed my hand upon 
 his forehead and temple, and found that he was 
 dead. He evidently had passed from natural 
 sleep to that sleep from which there is no wak 
 ing, without suffering, and without the slightest 
 movement. 
 
 " I came from Plymouth yesterday and met 
 Julian in Boston. He said that his mother and 
 sisters were wonderfully sustained and com 
 posed. 
 
 " The funeral is to take place at Concord, 
 Monday, at one o clock. I wish you could be 
 there. I go to Lowell this afternoon, and shall 
 drive across the country to C. to-morrow evening. 
 I need not tell you how lonely I am, and how 
 full of sorrow. 
 
 " Give my love to Mrs. Bridge. 
 " Your friend, 
 
 " FRANKLIN PIERCE. 
 
 " H. BRIDGE, ESQ., Washington, D. C." 
 
 Five years after Hawthorne s death Pierce him 
 self died. 
 
 I trust that it will not be considered out of 
 place for me to give General Pierce s description 
 of his own ill-health, and his recollections of his 
 old friends and compeers, as in his last year he 
 realized that his end drew nigh. 
 
l8o NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 In a letter, dated a year before his death, he 
 wrote as follows : 
 
 "CONCORD, N. H., Oct. II, 1868. 
 
 "Mv DEAR BRIDGE, It was refreshing to 
 glance at your note of the 3ist ult. But I can 
 only acknowledge ; I cannot reply to it. 
 
 " I do not spring up readily from my serious 
 illness. My friends, who are around me, seem 
 to think that I am regaining strength as fast as I 
 ought to expect, at my period of life ; while it 
 seems to me that about all that can be said is 
 that, within the last few days, I am holding my 
 own. 
 
 " Oct. 1 5th. I was obliged to drop this on the 
 day of its date, and have not much strength now. 
 When the physicians said I was convalescent, 
 two weeks ago, I supposed I might be quite on 
 my feet again by this time. Does it ever occur 
 to you, Bridge, that we are rightly classed among 
 the old men now ? It is quite certain that those 
 who were not old, but prominent, during my day, 
 and those who were in the early struggle with 
 me among the first class Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Bart- 
 lett, Mr. Jos. Bell, Mr. Atherton, Sr., and Mr. 
 Farley ; and among the second Judge Gilchrist, 
 Mr. Choate, Atherton, Jun., and at last Mr. 
 Norris, Mr. Wells and most of their more hum 
 ble compeers, have gone before. 
 
HAWTHORNE S GRAVE 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE l8l 
 
 " I do not, my dear friend, look upon it gloom 
 ily, but sometimes, when I seem to be gathering 
 up vigor so slowly, I doubt if I take into the ac 
 count, fully enough, my protracted and severe 
 illness, or the fact that nearly sixty-four years of 
 pretty strenuous life have passed over my head. 
 I am driving out, more or less, daily, and can re 
 peat, with more or less comfort, Thou art my 
 God, my time is in thy hand. 
 
 " Give my love to dear Mrs. Bridge. 
 " Always, early and late, y r Friend, 
 
 "FRANKLIN PIERCE." 
 
 A few weeks before his death Mrs. Bridge and 
 I went to see General Pierce, who was then lying 
 ill at his sea-shore cottage. He was too weak to 
 leave his bed, and he was sadly emaciated ; but 
 his old, bright look came back as he welcomed us. 
 
 When we took our leave all being conscious 
 that it was for the last time he raised himself 
 from his pillow and embraced me like a brother. 
 
 And thus we parted. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 LETTERS OF MRS. SOPHIA A. HAWTHORNE. 
 
 UNQUESTIONABLY Nathaniel Hawthorne owed 
 much of the success in his career to the cheerful 
 aid and encouragement of his wife. She held up 
 his hands when he was listless or despairing, she 
 made his home a happy one, and she brought 
 out the sunshine of his nature even when the 
 clouds of life were darkest. 
 
 It goes without saying that Mrs. Hawthorne 
 was a woman of high intellectual gifts. Capa 
 ble of thoroughly appreciating her husband s rare 
 qualities, and always ready and earnest to cheer 
 and brighten his path, their union was most for 
 tunate, and the world owes much to the wife s 
 felicitous influence over her gifted husband for 
 the results of his literary labors. 
 
 I have thought that, as a corollary to the fore 
 going sketches of Hawthorne, some of his wife s 
 letters to me might fittingly be contributed, in 
 order to show his manliness and loving devotion 
 to his wife and family, as well as in displaying 
 more fully some of his finer characteristics. 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 183 
 
 "CONCORD, July 4, 1845. 
 
 "Mv DEAR SIR, I wrote you a long letter 
 some days since, which, not meeting entire ap 
 proval from my lord, I laid aside. It was only 
 a freak of fancy that was condemned, however, 
 and so I will write the same letter over again, 
 with that omission, for in all matters of taste and 
 fitness he is absolutely correct. I must say to 
 you again that I like your book very much for 
 various reasons. Its truth and sincerity and un 
 prejudiced observation make it valuable, inde 
 pendent of its excellent sense. It has the grace 
 of simplicity and ease, and is, at the same time, 
 sufficiently strong. It is also very entertaining. 
 I am extremely fastidious in books, and am sel 
 dom held fast by one, but this I could not bear 
 to lay down whenever I had a moment to read it. 
 For your sake I am glad your cruise ended so 
 soon ; yet, for the sake of the public, I could 
 wish it had been longer, that we might have had 
 two volumes instead of one. There cannot be 
 too much of such true and living history of coun 
 tries and peoples. 
 
 " How impossible to find the limit to the con 
 sequences of a good action ! Through your mag 
 nanimous desire to benefit my husband you have 
 given the public a pleasant glimpse of Africa. 
 Now my husband has returned your favor of the 
 past with regard to his Twice-Told-Tales. You 
 
184 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 first procured his appearance in a book, and now 
 he introduces you in a fair volume to the pres 
 ent age. 
 
 " With regard to our visit to you, I fear you 
 know not what you undertake. Unless I have 
 a servant with me I cannot go, and a servant 
 would make our party too large. I know that 
 your hospitality is as magnificent as that of the 
 Grecian hero who slew an hundred beeves to en 
 tertain his guests ; but this is no reason why it 
 should be abused. There would still be an ad 
 vantage in my taking my woman, because she 
 would take the whole care of us, and we should 
 be no additional trouble to your domestics. But 
 are not four of us too many ? I wish, too, you 
 would tell me about the military arrangement of 
 your citadel. Is there a great deal of martial 
 music and parade, so that Una s sleep would be 
 murthered every noon ? Her little life is round 
 ed with a sleep every day, and if these naps are 
 prevented, I will not answer for her serenity and 
 agreeableness of behavior ; and you might wish 
 her in Jericho instead of in your house. I must 
 be perfectly frank with you, dear sir, in another 
 regard. The length of our visit to you will make 
 a great difference about our household arrange 
 ments here, and therefore I wish you would not 
 think me wholly wanting in etiquette and propri 
 ety if I request you to tell me whether you desire 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 185 
 
 us to stay one, two, or three weeks. I sincerely 
 wish to know which. I believe you appointed 
 the 25th of July for the appearance of our con 
 stellation in your heavens. Is it not so ? We 
 certainly could not appear before that time. Your 
 beautiful engraving of the Transfiguration shines 
 down upon us superbly all day long. I too should 
 like to command gold, so as to perform such splen 
 did acts for my friends. I have often thought it 
 would be enchanting to be an Aladdin s Lamp, 
 and astonish people with unexpected pearls and 
 diamond houses. 
 
 " Una says she wishes very much to see Mr. 
 Bridge, and to go to Portsmouth and breathe 
 sea-air. When I question her upon the subject, 
 the enthusiasm of her assent far surpasses our 
 insignificant yes. In her eloquent speeches she 
 always points with the forefinger of her right 
 hand, which proves the legitimacy of that gesture 
 in oratory. Her language continues in that un 
 intelligible, divine idiom to which we have no 
 grammar nor lexicon. 
 
 " My husband is spending this great day upon 
 the river. He has not yet said he shall go to 
 Portsmouth. He thinks he is too poor, I believe; 
 but I shall persuade him to the contrary, I sus 
 pect. Una wishes to be remembered to you, 
 with the gracious permission to kiss her lily- 
 white hand. I am very sorry I have had to write 
 
1 86 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 with a spoiled steel pen, but perhaps you can 
 make out my name. With cordial congratula 
 tions upon your new dignities, I am yours with 
 much regard. 
 
 " S. A. HAWTHORNE." 
 
 " SALEM, Dec. 20, 1846. 
 
 "DEAR MR. BRIDGE, My husband enjoins 
 upon me to answer your very welcome letters of 
 August 2oth and October 2oth, which he received 
 yesterday. As he has a high regard for you and 
 an utter detestation of pen, ink, and paper, I am 
 glad to relieve him of assuring you, by means of 
 these appliances, how cordially we remember you, 
 and how rejoiced we always are to hear of your 
 safety and well-being. I find my husband calls 
 you * the truest and warmest friend he has in the 
 world. From him such an assurance is, in my 
 opinion, equal to a crown of glory. Besides most 
 kindly thinking of you from an inward impulse as 
 a friend in need and deed, we are perpetually re 
 minded by the African idol upon the mantelpiece 
 of Mr. Horatio Bridge. 
 
 " Una often inquires after you, and now un 
 derstands perfectly that you are upon the great 
 sea in a great ship. She is still a charming little 
 person, though, like the moon, she holds her course 
 sometimes behind clouds and slender storms, but 
 they can only for a short time conceal her shin- 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 187 
 
 ing smiles and gracious countenance. I have 
 never discovered any ugliness in her heart and 
 behavior, for wrong has hardly power to cast a 
 shadow upon her before she breaks forth all con 
 trition and sweetness. She is in perfect health 
 and bloom, and just now enchanted with the 
 snow, which, for the first time, she is big enough 
 to play with. 
 
 " Her little brother is an entire contrast to her 
 ladyship. His father called him the Black Prince 
 during the first weeks of his life, because he was 
 so dark in comparison with her. He is decidedly, 
 I think, a brim ; but his complexion is brilliant 
 and his eyes dark gray, with long black lashes, 
 like Mr. Hawthorne s. We thought he looked 
 very much like you at first, but he does not now. 
 He is a Titan in strength and size, and though 
 but six months old, is as large as some children 
 of two years. His father declares he does not 
 care anything about him because he is a boy, and 
 so I am obliged to love him twice as much as I 
 otherwise should. He is as pleasant and smiling 
 as a summer s day, and his temperament is very 
 sturdy and comfortable, quite unlike Una s, in 
 not being at all sensitive ; nor is he as delicately 
 organized. She enjoys him very much, and he 
 admires her beyond all things. 
 
 " We are residing in the most stately street in 
 Salem, but our house is much too small for our 
 
1 88 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 necessities. My husband has no study, and his 
 life is actually wasted this winter for want of one. 
 He has not touched his desk since we came to 
 Salem, nor will not, until we can remove to a more 
 convenient dwelling, I fear. 
 
 " I am very glad to have such good news of 
 your book. The old and new world seem to 
 agree in its favor. It certainly has had a won 
 derful success, and I am quite content that you 
 are writing more. I believe that you will write 
 better than ever, now that you are a husband and 
 a happy man, for marriage, with true sentiment 
 and comprehension, is, I think, a great apoca- 
 iMypse, and opens a new world. I rejoice that 
 you have ceased to be a stray comet, and have 
 come into a regular orbit, for I should imagine 
 you to be a person who might particularly enjoy 
 a harmonious domestic life. 
 
 " I only saw Mrs. Bridge once, and then in the 
 street in Boston, after your departure, for I found 
 it impossible to call upon her before the birth of 
 my little boy. She was with her mother, and I 
 greeted her and shook hands with her very cor 
 dially. She looked very lovely in blue, but pale. 
 I hope I shall know her some day, for her face 
 and manner promise a noble and lovely woman. 
 It seems to me that human beings are wretched 
 >./! Arabs until they find central points in other hu- 
 I man beings around which all their brightest and 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 189 
 
 richest sentiments shall revolve. Every true and 
 happy family is a solar system that outshines all 
 the solar systems in space and time. 
 
 " Mr. Hawthorne will write a postscript and tell 
 you about the war, of which I know nothing ex 
 cept the gratifying fact that Lieutenant 
 
 was shot. Sincerely yours, 
 
 " S. A. HAWTHORNE." 
 
 "CONCORD, April 5, 1864. 
 
 " MY DEAR MR. BRIDGE, Mr. Hawthorne has 
 gone upon a journey, and I opened your letter 
 this morning. When you write anything .1 must 
 not see you must put private at the top of the 
 page, and then I will reverently fold up the letter 
 and put it aside. 
 
 "Alas ! it was no author s excuse which was 
 published in the Atlantic, but a most sad and se 
 rious truth. Mr. Hawthorne has really been very 
 ill all winter, and not well, by any means, for a 
 much longer time ; not ill in bed, but miserable 
 on a lounge or sofa, and quite unable to write a 
 word, even a letter, and lately unable to read. I 
 have felt the wildest anxiety about him, because 
 he is a person who has been immaculately well 
 all his life, and this illness has seemed to me an 
 awful dream which could not be true. But he 
 has wasted away very much, and the suns in his 
 eyes are collapsed, and he has had no spirits, no 
 
1 90 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 appetite, and very little sleep. Richard was not 
 himself, and his absolute repugnance to see a 
 physician, or to have any scientific investigation 
 of his indisposition, has weighed me down like a 
 millstone. I have felt such a terrible oppression 
 in thinking that all was not doing for his relief 
 that might be done, that sometimes I have scarce 
 ly been able to endure it at moments hardly 
 able to fetch my breath in apprehension of the 
 possible danger. But, thank Heaven, Mr. Tick- 
 nor has taken him out of this groove of existence, 
 and intends to keep him away until he is better. 
 He has been in New York at the Astor House 
 since last Tuesday night, a week from to-day. I 
 have had six letters, five from Mr. Ticknor, and 
 one at last from my husband, written with a very 
 tremulous hand, but with a cheerful spirit. 
 
 " My dear Mr. Bridge, you, with your deep, 
 warm, tender heart, can easily imagine how I 
 have suffered in all this. My faith has been tried 
 in its central life. I bless God it has not failed 
 me ; but yet I cannot conceive of myself as sur 
 viving any peril to my husband. Though I would 
 not complain, because I know that God must do 
 right, and that he is also love itself. 
 
 " I should not be surprised if you should see 
 Mr. Hawthorne in Washington. I wish he could 
 be persuaded to stay southward until these pierc 
 ing east winds of spring abate here. But he 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 19 1 
 
 intends to go a little later to the Isle of Shoals, 
 to stay until the advent of visitors in the fashion 
 able season. I see that Concord is not the place 
 for him. He needs the damp sea-air for health, 
 comfort, and enjoyment. I wish, with all my 
 heart, that our dear little Wayside domain could 
 be sold advantageously for his sake, and that he 
 could wander on sea-beaches all the rest of his 
 days. 
 
 " The state of our country has, doubtless, ex 
 cessively depressed him. His busy imagination 
 has woven all sorts of sad tissues. You know 
 his indomitable, untamable spirit of independence 
 and self-help. This makes the condition of an 
 invalid peculiarly irksome to him. He is not a 
 very manageable baby, because he has so long 
 been a self-reliant man ; but his innate sweetness 
 serves him here, as in all things, and he is very 
 patient and good. 
 
 "Julian has just entered upon his last half of 
 freshman year. He comes home every Saturday 
 and spends Sunday with us, so that we hardly 
 have lost him. He stoutly hates the Mathemat 
 ics, but is very fond of Latin, and friendly to 
 Greek, and is the greatest gymnast in his class. 
 He is very strong and very gentle, and you will 
 forgive a mother for saying this he is entirely 
 of the aesthetic order, and his absence and unob- 
 servance of worldly considerations will probably 
 
IQ2 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 not advance him in the dusty arena of life ; but 
 he will be unspoiled for the next world, I think, 
 and I hope he will be able to make at least a liv 
 ing in this. 
 
 "Rosebud is blooming out vastly. She is 
 nearly a head above Mama, and will be very tall. 
 She is now discoursing music on the piano, for 
 which she has a good faculty ; and she goes to 
 school, and has a talent for drawing figures. Una 
 is very well, and feels excessively aged since her 
 twentieth birthday, though Julian assures her she 
 looks only sixteen. She has no tutor now, but 
 studies by herself in the morning, and paints in 
 the afternoon, and sews for the soldiers a great 
 deal. I have written you too much, dear Mr. 
 Bridge ; but you ask me after all these folk, and 
 so I tell you. With my kindest regards to Mrs. 
 Bridge, I am Very truly yours, 
 
 " S. A. HAWTHORNE." 
 
 " THE WAYSIDE, CONCORD, MASS., Nov. 7, 1865. 
 
 " MY DEAR MR. BRIDGE, Can you send me 
 any memories or incidents of Mr. Hawthorne s 
 college life, when you were with him so much ? 
 
 " I am now very much occupied in copying his 
 journals, or portions of them, for papers for the 
 Atlantic ; and something is demanded of his life, 
 and these records in his own words are the best 
 of all autobiography I mean are the best biog- 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 193 
 
 raphy, being auto. They are very rich as studies 
 of nature and man, and now and then a glimpse 
 of his personal character gleams through in a ra 
 diant way, though he puts himself aside as much 
 as possible, as always. The Augusta Journal is 
 all copied, in which I have ventured to put Mr. 
 B. for your name. You figure there in a com 
 manding way, being lord of the Manor in posi 
 tion and character. 
 
 " The reason I wish to have you write down 
 your reminiscences is because, by and by, these 
 papers will all be collected into a volume, and 
 these connecting links will be wanted. The ear 
 liest remaining journal begins in 1835. 
 
 " I have requested his sister to write her recol 
 lections of his childhood and early youth, for she 
 alone can now do that. 
 
 " It is a vast pleasure to pore over his books 
 in this way. I seem to be with him in all his 
 walks and observations. Such faithful, loving 
 notes of all he saw never were put on paper be 
 fore. Nothing human is considered by him too 
 mean to ponder over. No bird, nor leaf, nor tint 
 of earth or sky is left unnoticed. He is a crys 
 tal medium of all the sounds and shows of things, 
 and he reverently lets everything be as it is, and 
 never intermeddles, nor embellishes, nor detracts. 
 It is truth itself, and has all the immortal charm 
 of truth, even in the smallest details. For do we 
 13 
 
194 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 not like to see even a common object of still life 
 truthfully represented by the great masters of 
 Dutchland ? It is only the great masters in any 
 art who trust to truth. 
 
 " I hoped to see you again, summer before the 
 last, with Mrs. Bridge. My constant expectation 
 of seeing her prevented me from replying to her 
 very kind letter. Will you tell her so with my 
 love ? Perhaps she will come this next summer, 
 if she can bear to come now my king has gone, 
 and so the cottage is no longer a palace. 
 
 " I shall be glad of any occasion to hear from 
 you, dear Mr. Bridge. 
 
 " Very sincerely yours, 
 
 " SOPHIA A. HAWTHORNE." 
 
 "CONCORD, MASS., Nov. 25, 1865. 
 
 "Mv DEAR MR. BRIDGE, I have both your 
 letters, for which I am deeply obliged. I feel 
 great compunction in asking you to take your 
 time to recollect the past in regard to my hus 
 band, for it seems as if you ought to rest when 
 you leave the Bureau. But I beg you not to 
 weary yourself in doing it, for there is no press 
 ing hurry, though, as you truly say, we should 
 do without delay what is to be done. I mean 
 that this is not to be done if it tax you too 
 much. 
 
 " Gen l Pierce has indeed been alarmingly ill, 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE IQ5 
 
 but is now recovering. Julian happened to come 
 home to forage for books, and I sent him to 
 Concord, N. H., immediately, to see exactly how 
 he was. Julian found Gen l Pierce very weak, 
 and unable to sit up, and fearfully wasted, but 
 not blue, as Julian expressed it, and very glad 
 to see him, and Julian read aloud to him. It 
 was a bilious affection that prostrated him. The 
 day after Julian s return, Thursday, 23d, he was 
 well enough to think of sending me a newspaper 
 containing a paragraph about his improvement 
 in health. 
 
 "As gratitude is the keen sense of favors to 
 come, according to the witty Frenchman, I wish 
 to know whether you can help me to any auto 
 graphs of persons notorious and illustrious in the 
 war times. 1 have a dear friend in England 
 (dear to Mr. Hawthorne, too), who is always writ 
 ing eloquent implorings for autographs of great 
 Americans great in treason, great in patriotism, 
 great in council, great in prowess. This English 
 friend has done so much for me, in sending me 
 the finest picture in the world of my husband, 
 that I would beg for him anything that is respect 
 able. If you cannot attain to these autographs, 
 and will tell me to whom I might properly apply, 
 I will take any trouble whatever for the end in 
 view. 
 
 "Your last letter is very interesting to me. 
 
196 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 Mr. Hawthorne always scorned the idea that he 
 had ever written any poetry. And I never saw 
 any he wrote except a single poem which is in 
 his own handwriting, given to me, I believe, by 
 his sister. But I never dared let him know I 
 possessed it, for he would have forbidden me to 
 keep it, probably. His ideal was so high, and 
 his modesty so excessive, that he was never sat 
 isfied with anything he accomplished, even to 
 the last. But his first efforts he utterly despised. 
 
 " I hope you will recall characteristics of his 
 early youth. Do you remember the scene with 
 the gypsy in Brunswick ? Of a woman who told 
 fortunes ? 
 
 " I hope you are very well, dear Mr. Bridge. 
 Those friends of my husband s whom he loved 
 so faithfully are very precious to me. There 
 were but few you and Gen l Pierce the chief. 
 But I feel a vital interest in your and in his 
 health and well-being. I hope you are better 
 than when I saw you here. 
 
 " With our love to you and Mrs. Bridge, 
 " Very sincerely yours, 
 
 "S. A. HAWTHORNE." 
 
 <: January 19, 1866. 
 
 "Mv DEAR MR. BRIDGE, To-day I received 
 your kind note and the paper of reminiscences, 
 for which I thank you exceedingly. Once be- 
 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 197 
 
 fore (Nov. 24) I received a paper from you, which 
 I acknowledged at once, and at the same time 
 asked you if you could procure me some auto 
 graphs of our famous men of the war, statesmen 
 and generals, for an English friend, to whom 
 my husband had promised some. It is a mat 
 ter of great moment with this gentleman, and 
 every time I have a letter from him he mentions 
 his hopes and expectations. I cannot bear to 
 trouble you, but I do not know to whom else 
 to apply ; and I feel bound to fulfil Mr. Haw 
 thorne s intentions, especially in regard to Mr. 
 Bright, who loved him so truly. 
 
 " I have a very lame right hand, and so I can 
 not write but a few words, or I should enlarge 
 upon these very interesting particulars about Mr. 
 Hawthorne. 
 
 " Gratefully and cordially yours, 
 
 " SOPHIA A. HAWTHORNE." 
 
 "1866. 
 
 " MY DEAR MR. BRIDGE, To-day I received 
 your letters enclosing the autographs. I cannot 
 express how much obliged I am to you for them, 
 for Mr. Bright writes from time to time a pathetic 
 appeal for the fulfilment of the promise made 
 him. He has lately met with a severe bereave 
 ment in the death of a brother, who was the pride 
 and hope of the family, and it is the first time in 
 
198 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 a large circle that one has been taken ; but I 
 shall send him the autographs. 
 
 * * * * # # 
 
 " You must excuse me for not thinking Mr- 
 Hawthorne over-valued you. I never heard from 
 him but one opinion on this subject. He had the 
 utmost reliance upon you, and reposed upon it 
 with infinite satisfaction. It seems to me not a 
 small merit to have inspired in him such respect, 
 love, and trust as he invariably expressed for you. 
 That you do not recognize yourself in his portrait 
 only makes it the truer. I always felt that he 
 had no more thorough friend than you in the 
 world, and I know he thought so. 
 
 " How very kind of you to find me these auto 
 graphs. I thank you over and over for them. 
 We all send our love to you and Mrs. Bridge. 
 " Very cordially yours, 
 
 " S. A. HAWTHORNE. 
 
 " P.S. For your last reminiscences I am deep 
 ly obliged. Every word you record is to me like 
 apples of gold in pictures of silver, because I can 
 so absolutely trust your truth and sincerity. You 
 see I am smitten with my husband s great preju 
 dice in your favor. S. H." 
 
 "Jan. 2d, 1867. 
 
 " MY DEAR MR. BRIDGE, I take the liberty to 
 
NATHANIEL ^AWTHORNE 199 
 
 enclose this letter to you, because I do not know 
 whether General Hitchcock be in Washington or 
 not, and I did not wish my letter to go to the 
 Dead-letter Office. He used to live on Penn 
 sylvania Avenue. If you will put the address on 
 for me I shall thank you very much. 
 
 " I send to you and Mrs. Bridge all Christmas 
 and New Year good wishes. I have been con 
 fined to my room for three weeks, but am now 
 better. The children are all well and satisfac 
 tory. Rose has just left me, having been at 
 home through the Christmas holidays. She is 
 now at Dr. Lewis s famous gymnastic school in 
 Lexington. Julian is reading his logic and meta 
 physics. Una reads history to me and the litera 
 ture suggested as she goes on. She also is keep 
 ing up her music and Latin, and has a class in 
 gymnastics. They are all so bright and good 
 that my life is a thanksgiving for them. I live 
 for them. When they are settled in life I should 
 like to sleep as he did, if God please. Affairs 
 perplex and tire me very much, yet I am in great 
 peace. 
 
 " I hope you and Mrs. Bridge are well. I fear 
 you are too busy to tell me how you do. With 
 my love to Mrs. Bridge, I am, 
 
 " Very sincerely yours, 
 
 " SOPHIA A. HAWTHORNE." 
 
200 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 
 
 In conclusion let me hope that, while gleaning 
 a few grains in the field of Hawthorne s history, 
 I shall have contributed something which will, at 
 least, have the value of personal testimony, and 
 which may, perhaps, be used with advantage by 
 some biographer in the future. 
 
 I may also hope that the disclosures herein 
 made will give a modicum of pleasure, unalloyed 
 by adverse criticism, to those who are near and 
 dear to me. 
 
 To them I commend this little volume. 
 
 THE END 
 
t) 
 
RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED 
 
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