The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-01-31

Hawthorne's mind, as shown in his wxis- ings, may well imagine that some such warning, beeeft of its asperity by the kindly purpose of a friend, may have really been spoken by Margaret. Faith ful are the wounds of a friend," but when the reproof is felt to be just, and yet rejected, few rankle more sorely. May not some such hidden hurt explain the base suggestions in the third chapter of the Blithedale RomanceT At first, he says, he imputed Zenobia's free, careless, generous mode Of expFessien- to a noble courage, conscious of no harm" Later it seems he saw some thing which sndeceived him.
 "Now, just when they had passed the impending bow of the birch tree. l plainly saw Zcnobia take the hand of Hollingsworth in both her own, press it to her bosom, and let it fall againl The gesture was sudden, and full of passion the impulse had evidently taken her by surprise; it expressed all! Had Zenobia knelt before him, or flung herself upon his breast, and gasped out, T love you, Hollingsworth r Icould not have been more certain of what 1t meant"
 Are such things certainl Let us turn again to Margaret's journal, where she records her leave-taking of Emerson, with his family about him My Saadi, ? she calls him):
 At parting rose. He still sat with his eyes cast down. His hand pressed to my heart it was gentle VOW. He looked like the youngest child"
 To what lengths Hawthorne could go when moved by pique which would seem small to most men his works show too clearly; and what links were missing here his son has now supplied.
 Now comes MT. Christopher P Cranch, the poet, of Cambridge, who says in a published letter:
 It is difficult to understand how Haw- thorne, the elder, could have penned such virulent paragraph, even in his private diary, for there Is room to be- lieve that he had been for many years on very friendly terms with Miss Fuller. 1 have been permitted to see letter of his to Margaret, written to her shortly after his marriage, of the friendliest and most sympathetic tone. Still 1t is apparent that the two differed widely in tempera- ment, so perhaps that neither could en- tirely understand the other and whether, standing thus apart or antagonistic in their intellectual spheres, she had chanced to say or do anything which had seriously offend him is probably not known. It is hard to account for it. Everything that Hawthorne has here written-things not for publication-is a gross and merciless libel upon one of the purest and noblest of women-a libel so extravagantly wide of the truth that, al- though his distinguished name may pre- vail in giving it weight with some classes of readers, and his sons indorsement may help it's circulation, it must in the end react on both father and son to their injury. The mind and character of Margaret Fuller have long since passed all the ordeal of narrow and misiudging criticism, and this true and noble woman has taken place from which she can never be dislodged by such groundless criticism.
 No finer or more complete character ization of Margaret Fuller has been made than is given in the words of Col onel Higginson: "A woman whose career Is more interesting than that of any other American of her sex a woman whose aims were high and whose ser vices great; one whose intellect was un- common, whose activity incessant. whose life varied and whose death dramatic"