Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-09-23

REcOLLECTIoNs OF HAwTHoRNE.-The ''life
OF Pierce" appeared, and may have helped 10
elect Pierce, though doubt it. Elected he was
however, and it was generally understood that
Hawthorne was TO be provided for with the con-
sulate of Liverpool. Something put into my
head-certainly not my good angel, if had one
that / should like to be provided for also,
though not with a consulate abroad. No one
could have been more ignorant OF what he
wanted than | was, and no one could have been
so ignorant of the means to be employed in or
der to obtain it. My nebulous want finally
shaped itself into a place in the New York Gus
tom house, and the fact was communicated TO
Hawthorne, though not by myself. He cOnsid-
cred the matter so favorably that went to Con-
cord to talk it over with him. 1t was winter, or
wintry weather, when reached Concord, for the
ground, | remember, was covered with snow. 1t
was freezing in the shade and thawing in the
sun, and as the sun happened to shine that day,
the walking was atr0ciOus. Hawthorne took
me into his study--a room similar to and oppo-
site the parlOr-where bright wood fire was
blazing, and we sat down to discuss my pros
poets; but dinner being announced, We post
pOned that momentous discussion. We dined
in the parlOr, where met Mrs. Hawthorne and
Una and Julian. After dinner we returned to
the study, Hawthorne and myself, where he
brought out some strong cigars which we
smoked vigorously. Custom house matters
were scarcely touched upon, and l was not
sorry, for while they were my ostensible errand
there, they were not half so interesting to me as
the discursive talk of Hawthorne. He mani
tested good deal of curiosity in regard 10
some old Brook Farmers, whom ] knew in a
literary way, and | told him what they were
doing, so far as l knew, and gave him my i'm
pressionS, such as they were, of the individual
ity of each He listened, with an occasional
twinkle of the eye, and | can see now that he
was amused by my outspoken detestation of
certain literary Philistines He was outspoken
too, for he told me plainly that volume of
larry stories | had Just published was not sim
pie enough for the young, and, he might have
added was too simple for the old. | could not
but agree with him, for by this time | wished
sincerely that had let the wee folk alone.
mentioned the Geographic memoranda he had
furnished me with, and remarked that my early
life resembled his own. My father, like his
father, was a Massachusetts sea captain, whose
loss had left my mother widow with three
small children, one of whom, like his youngest
sister, never beheld her fathers face. We fell
to talking about the sea, and the influence it
had had on the childhood of both, and other
personal matters which have forgotten. What
impressed me most at the time, was not the
drift of our conversation, but the gracious man
ner of Hawthorne. He expressed the warmest
interest in my affairs, aAcsa willingness to serve
me IN every possible way. In a word, he was
the soul Of kindness, and when forget him |
shall have forgotten everything else.
have preserved but one of Hawthorne's let
March 16, 1858, and is full of Sagacious advice in
regard to my appointment. | was to pile up as
much of a SNOWFALL as | could in the way of
political interest. as there never was so fierce a
time before among office-seekeFs; and it would
be well for me to 90 to Washington with the
letter he inclosed. care you fond of brandy?"
he inquired. Your strength of head (Which
you tell me you possess) may stand you in good
stead at Washington; for most of these public
men are inveterate guzzlers, and love a man that
can stand up to them in that particular. 1t
1t would never do to let them see you corned,
however. But | must leave you to find your
own way among them. If you have never as
ISOLATED with them heretofore, you win find
them new class, very unlike poets" He men
tions having finished the "Tauglewood Tales"
which he considered as fully equal in their way
to "Mother Goose" and adds, Il never did any
thing else so well, as those old baby stories"
The gist of the letter, however, is the postscript,
which copy for the benefit of all conscientious
otflceseekers
''When applying for an Office, if you are con-
scious of any deficiencies (mora intellectual or
educational or whatever else), keep them to
yourself, and let those find them out whose
business it may be. For example, supposing
the office of translator to the state department
be rendered to you, accept it boldly, without
limiting that your acquaintance with foreign
languages may not be the most familiar. If
this important fact be discovered afterward, you
can be transferred to some more suitable post
The business is to establish yourself somehow
and anyhow"
established myself, by the aid of Hawthorne,
in the New York custom house on July 1, 1858;
and he established himself in the consulate of
Liverpool on the LIST Of August of the same year.
-ILqTDeI's Md0dziue