Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-05-19

PoStnS UP anu oONA bue tVOHs aPpafSnbA.
dazed.
Hawthorne 1 said, how are you?
Where is Ticknor?'
They have taken him away said he.
What do you mean?' 1 asked. Il dom
understand YOU
"'Well, be said, 1T is too bad. He wa
my best friend; / depended on him, and b
came to please me-
II could make nothing out of il at all
He seemed to me bewildered. I feared 70
his miDd, and going down to the Office askeC
the clerk, Mr.. Duffy, what it all meant
He then staggered me with the information
that Hcknor was dea6-had died that morn
ing.
"fWhere is his body p" I asked.
1t was taken early this morning to tht
undertaker's, he said.
HAwTHoRNE'S- DEATH.
81 was astounded, but, Fastening back tc
Hawthorne, comforte6 him as much as
could, implored him to keep quiet, and al
last succeeded somewhat in calming him
down. I then went to the undertaker's
took charge of Ticknor's body, saw that il
was properly cared tor and embalmed, and
telegraphed to his partner, my old friend,
James I. Fields. One of Ticknor's sons al
once came on to Philadelphia and took his
fathers remains to Boston.
'It was deplorable and distressing event;
a very fatal journey. Hawthorne fingered
here in Philadelphia with me for a few DAYS,
and then placed him in the keeping of the
good Bishop Howe, of Pennsylvania, a COM
mon friend, who accompanied him to Bos-
ton. There he passed the night with James
T. Fields, who says they sat up late talking
about TicEnor, and that Hawthorne was in
a very excited and. nervous state, recalling
incessantly the sad scenes he had been pass
ing through in Philadelphia. In the morn
ing he returned to his old home in Concord,
and shortly after he died at Plymouth, n.
H, whittier he had gone under the charge
OF his lifelong friend, ex-President Frank
lin Pierce.
81 have still in my possession the touch
ing letter written 6y President Pierce to
Mr.. Fields, in which he describes the peace
full death of Hawthorne. 1t was painly
penned under the greatest excitement and
distress of mind. 1t contained a note an
nouncing to Mrs. Hawthorne her bereave-
ment, and was carried to Mr.. Fields bv
Colonel Hubbard. oh, how will she bear
this shock?' the note says. Dear motheri
dear childrenl When 1 met Hawthorne at
Boston a week ago, it was apparent that he
was much more feeble and more seriously
diseased than 1 had supposed him to be.
We came from Senter Harbor yesterday
afternoon, and I thought he was, on the
whole, brighter than he was the day before.
He retired last night soon after 9 o'clock,
and soon fell into a quiet slumber. In less
than half an hour he changed his position,
but continued to sleep. 1 lett the door
open between his bedroom and mine,
our beds being opposite to each other.
I was asleep myself before IL O'Clock.
The light continued to burn in nv ROOM
At 2 o'clock went to 81. S bedside. He
was apparently in a sound sleep. did not
place my hand upon him. At o'clock L
went into his room again, and, as his posi-
tion was unchanged, 1 placed my hand upon
him and found that life was extinct. 1
went Immediately for a physician, and
called Judge Bell and Colonel Hibbard,
who occupied rooms on the same floor and
near me. He lies upon his side, his posi-
tion so perfectly natural and easy, his eyes
closed, that it is difficult to realize while
looking upon his noble face that this is
death. He must have passed from natural
ElUmber TO that from which there is no
waking without the slightest movement 1
cannot write to dear Mrs. Hawthorne, and
you must exercise your judgment with re-
gard to sending this and the unfinished note
inclosed to her.
THE SCARLET LETTER"
'fIt was beautiful death, but a sad event.
L shall always hold vividly in
l have the original manu-
script of his Consular Experiences and a
copv of the first edition of the Scarlet Let
ter, brought to light so wonderfully by Mr.
Fields. Hawthorne wrote to me, soon after
its publication in 1851, that he was much
gratifed by my favorable opinion of the
romance, and that 1 might be
to know that it was so far
founded on fact that such a symbol as the
Il Scarlet Letter " was actually worn by at
east one woman in the early times of New
England Whether this parsonage, he
ldded, resembled Hester Prynne in any
,ther circumstances of her character, he
,ould not say, nor whether this mode of |
gnominious punishment was brought from |
,eyond the Atlantic or originated with the |
SeW England Puritans. AT any rate, he |
aid, the idea was so worthy of them that he |
cit 'piously inclined to allow them all the |
redit of it. %
After few remarks on LongfeIlow, Mr.. |
Jhilds resumes:
AZ prize very much the note he sent me |
darch 13, 1877, apropos of his 10th birth /
ay. You do not know yet, it reads, what |
is to bs'70 years old. will tell you, so
hat you may not be taken by surprise when |
Ups. You reach a snoW-croEned summit /
nd see behind you the deep valley stretch
Dg miles and miles away, and before you
ther SUBMITS higher and whittier, which
on may have strength to climb, or may
ot Then you sit down and mediate and /
-onder which it Will be. That is the whole
tory, amplify 1t as you may. All that one
an say is, that life is opportunity How
cry true this is 1 know full we'll. NV ex-
erience enables me to perceive the wisdom
f the poets words.
'sThere is curidus incident in nv &C
uaintance with James Russell Lowell. 1t
appened lately that be was in Philadelphia
hile was confined to the house with a
light attack of sickness, and he came
romptly and kindly 10 call upon me and
ass the afternoon. One of the treasures of
" library is the manuscript of Lowell's
Dem, Under the Willows. which, accord
IL to a marginal note, was begun in 1850
nd finished in 1868 We spent a quiet,
leasant afternoon together, and he seemed
be much interested in my collection of
-iginal manuscripts, which included Our
[utual Friend, by Dickens, Poe's Muir
srs in the Rue Morgue, and many other
recious writings. Finally surprised him
ith glimpse of his own poem. He had
alf forgotten it, and at my request took the
)lume away with him, returning it in a
W days with the following explanatory
ote: "A part of this poem (as the note on
e margin opposite says) was written in
80 as an introduction to the 'Nooning,' a
rejected volume of tales in verse. By
ranges and additions 1 tried to make a self
lbsident poem out of material already pre-
lred for another purpose. Old and new
e so interviewer that cannot now, after
! interval Of 20 years, distinguished be-
Feen them
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
"About 25 years ago 1 was in Boston one
~, in book store-a wretched day, rainy, |
oppy and mudjy-when saw the striking
yure of little man, wearing a slouched !
IT, his pantaloons rolled up, dashing along
e street. He looked as little like poet
a man could. turned to the bookseller
I'd asked him who that was. That is
liver Wendell Holmes he said. We'll,
want to know that man. and got to
low him, and we have been the best of
lends ever since. A more genial, genuine,