Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-01-18
tho little bells ON Jne narnsss Jlnsnns uar
Ii miniously.
A STORY OF REAL LOVE
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNe'S COURT
SHIP OF SOPHIA PEABODY.
A Fatal Attack of Love at First Slight
They Grew Tired of Waiting for
Fortune-Faithful to
the End.
From Hawthorne's Biography

From Hawthorne's Biography
Ono evening Nathaniel and his sister Eliza
beth ca He'd on the Peabodys. Sophia Pea.
body was i'll, and Elizabeth went up to her
room and begged her to come down to see
the callers. you never sew anything so
splendid as he is-he is handsomer than
Lord Byron" The sick girl was not to so
easily Won She declined to make the effort
to see the rising novelist Miss Peabody re-
calls the "bsauty Of the outline of his
features, tho pure complexion, the wonder
ful eyes, like mountain lakes rejecting ths
sky"
OF course he called again and then Sophia
saw him. IL was fatal attack at once on
both sides. As we went on talking she
would frequently interposs a remark in her
low, sweet voice Every time she did so hs
would look at her again with the same
piercing, indrawing gaze. / was struck
with it and thought what if he should fall in
love with her, and the thought troubled me,
for she had often told me that nothing would
ever tempt her to marry and inhict on a
hus band the care of an invalid" Years
aiterward Mrs. Hawthorne used to tell her
children how the presence Of the young
writer exercised upon her f:om the begin.
ming SO strong a magnetic attraction that in
stinctiyely and in self-defenss she drew bac
and repealed him Both found the courage
to confess that they had been in love from
their first meeting.
Nathaniel confided to nobody that he had
asked Sophia Peabody to be his wife as soon
as he was able to provide for her, and the
secret of their engagement was kept for
three years. He had a petty position in the
Boston custom house-that of weigher-but
he could not marry on it, and when he was
dismissed from it by the change Of admins
tration in 1871 he entered upon the Brook
farm experiment to see what promise it en-
folded for him and his promised wife. He
made no money, but the lovers grew tired
waiting for fortune. "Rents were low in
New England then" and they married. His
mothers attitude toward his wife proved an
agreeabls surprise She told him that she
had known of his ENHANCEMENT almost a.
long as he had known it himself, and that
Sophia Peabody was just the wifs she would
have chosen for him
And how did he make love for himself,
this teller of the love making of imaginary
men and maidsi He rejoices because pxs-
fish cousin has an angry political dispxss
with him which will separate them for q
tims and leave Nathaniel more hours to
tuihh VI Aei. VI HcaSc NUN
your heart to mine" He cautions her against
walking with his robust sister Elizabeth, be-
cause she is indefatigable and wants to
walk half round the world when once out
doors" He assures her that although hs
loves her deeply he is in awe of her. Il sup
pose 1 should have pretty much she same
feeling il an angel were to come from heaven
and be my dearest friend-only the angel
could not have the tendereSt of human
natures too, the sense of which Is mingled
with this sentiment He cannot understand
the mystery of his awe and love; "methinks
it converts my love into religion" And he
never read a letter from her without first
washing his hands.
After this frenzy of the gods had existed
between them for year, she defined beauty
with all the gravity of Burke: 3My defni-
ton of beauty is that it is love, and, there
| fore. includes both truth and good" Susp.o-
ious of the logic of her philosophy she adds,
"But those only who love as We do can feel
the significance and force of this" The last
| day of the year she sends him delicious
message: God bless you this night Of tho
| old year. 1t has proved the year Of our
nativity. Has not the Old earth passed away
| from usf Are not all things newt"
She has hurt a finger; he warns her that II
| it is not well soon he will send her the Lest
surgeon in Boston. She paints; the pictarss
will be more precious to him than all ths
productions Of all the painters since Apelles.'
| She painted him and bar in little landscA .,
and she goes into raptures over tiny figures
| DOUBTLESS looking as much like Scancoo
Panza and Guinevere as like that OF Naths.
MEL and "his own Sophie" He would not
hang the precious things on the wall for feir
| of dust and the fingers of the chambermaii
Indeed, he was the maddest OF lovers, il ever
one were madder than another. He CLOSES
one letter with "Belovedest, love Thea very
especially much to-day. But now It Is
breakfast time, and'-alasl even love
must eat-"and l have an appetite
| That makes her breakfast of the ten
derest Importance what did you eat for
breakfast But know very well that you
never eat any thing but bread and milk AMI
! chickens" A good enough diet for love
Still he would know something more: @Do
you love pigeons in a pie"
From Brook farm Hawthorne wrote his
dearest unutterably" very plain matters-
about plowing and planting and manurins
and milking; while the thin frock you made
for mer is considered "a most splendid artt-
cls 1t might even attain the dignity Of be
coming the summer uniform of the com
| munity. He assured her that he had also Q
warm frock, though rather deficient in grace,
and that he wore n tremendous pair Of COW.
hide boots with soles two inches thick. These
realities are charmingly sprinkled with the
daintisst and sweetest of tid-bits of devo-
ton, all spooned out as it were with the
grace of a cavalier and the softness of .
nurse coaxing a frail child TO try to eat and
be good and get well, for Sophia Peabody
was an invalid all this time.
The sad sarcasm we have had Of late on
such love-the Bulwer Lytton letters, Of
similar intensity and SURPRISING anior, but
lacking the dignity and nobleness Of these
happily finds no corresponding sequel in the
welded life of Nathaniel Hawthorne and
Sophia Peabody. There was no disenchant-
ment. Faithful and fond to the end, they
made life blissful for each other, and the
perfume of the roses of their courtship was
scattered over their graves.