The Arkansaw traveler., 1886-01-09
For THE ARKANsAw TRAvELKR. HAWTHORNE'S METHOD OF
 COMPOSITION.
BY NJ. V,

In the January number of the CenfHyy for 1883 there is an article entitled "A Look Into Hawthorne's Workshop" which is one of the most interesting studies of the workings of great mind ever given to the public.
 Writers, who have confessed the throes of authorship Balz1c, Tourgenieff, and our own Edgar Allen Pee, though con- vincing us of the truth of their assertions, leave an impression that cannot be dis guised that while much has been im- parted equally as much has been with held. In the case under consideration no thought that the public would ever see these notes affected their composition. For we are informed by his son that the fact of their being written in blank book was the accidental cause, alone, of their having been preserved after his death, and in no case, had Hawthorne lived, would they ever have seen the light This fact greatly enhances their value, for one cannot help suspecting an author who gives us "Leaves from My Notebook" of some artistic posing.
 No outline of tAe story embodied in this sketch will be given, as it is pro- posed merely to show by a few quotations from Hawthorne himself how his work was done. There is, for instance, a cer- tain old doctor who is to play the role of latter.day" magician, and here follow some of the notes concerning him:
 Something high and noble must be put into the man together with morbid ness and poison."
 Then again, referring to other charac- ters as well as the doctor, he says:
 "Gather all kind of picturesqueness about these characters and circumstances and mystery about the old man and his spider"
 Again he says:
 "Do not stick at any strangeness or preternaturality. It can be softened down to any extent however wild in its first conception"
 Now this seems simple enough state ment of how it should be done. One be- gins to discover the difficulty of the task, though, when one remembers how few have succeeded in the undertaking. Hawthorne's story of "The Birthmark" is an example of how perfectly capable Hawthorne himself was of following these directions. After reading it return to these notes and, after second perusal of them, some dim conception arises of how hard Hawthorne has striven, genius as he was, before he has surmounted these difficulties.
 After the whole story seems planned and the trouble all over, he says:
 aThe life is not yet breathed into this plot after all my galvanic efforts. Not a spark of passion yet-how shall it be at- tained ?"
 After various suggestions are made and rejected, he says:
 @This won't do some marked charac- ter must be given to this fellow, as if he were 6end, etc. Something that fixes strange and incongruous necessities upon him, making him most miserable under a show of all possible glory and splendor, and grace and sayety. Could but achieve this, should feel as if the work vas plotted, otherwise not"
 He then changes his plan, carries it forward for awhile, then comes to another seeming obstacle, for he is trying to give the impression that certain personages have peculiarities of a decided character and he wishes to find means of accent ing these, and thea come the following words:
 sWhat2 Shall there be an influence h the house which is said to make every body wicked who inherits it t3 Nonsense. Remorse it must not be. What? A vurshipper of the sun2 A cannibal, gkoul, vampire, etc."
 Afler proposing more than forty diff