Daily Yellowstone journal., 1891-09-22
WAKENAN'S WANDERINGS
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE IN ENG
LANO-i.

The Poet Traveller Traces the Famous I
Novelist from Ancient Ormskirk to Liv-
erpooi-seant Consular Reeords-Dis- /
covery Of Hawthorbe's Forgotten Of |
hoes-Chnrming "Reminiscences
lCopyugut is9l. Dy Edgar l. WakemanI
LOND0S. Sept 5-"Thank heaven. am
a sovereign again. and no longer a serv
antP
So wrote Nathaniel Hawthorne IN this
city. under date OF Jan. 3. LIS after having
called 40 the American embassy 20 arrange
tor his passport 10 Italy
I chanced upon these exultant words Of
Hawthorne the other day In a atwenty-year
old volume owned by an eighty-year-old
man. 10 his hundred -year-old home. be
meath the shadows Of four-hundred-year
old church. IN the Thousand year-old town
Of Ormskirk. Lancashire.
While the moldy burgh Is interesting
uough on its own account. the old man in
tie old home by the old church became
positively lovable 70 me. because be loved
yith a sort of idolatry the romancist
whose memory we all treasure so precious
iy The old church looming above the red
tiles Of his cottage roof u curioLsly sur
mounted by detached tower and steeple.
the pile 80 gray. mellow and ivy massed as
70 involuntarily suggest a gigantic tree
lopped Of IN its lower trunk. where the
nuge battlemented tower stops out Of
whose edge. where the steeple rises. has
iprouted a second slender tree The tradi-
tion goes that two capricious maiden sis
ters. desirous Of raising some sacred memo
rial. agreed upon erecting upon Ormskirk
a tower and steeple yet, disagreeing as 20
uniting and connecting their work. they
finally expended all their wealth and ener
gies upon both. each independent OF the
other
had come 70 Ormskirk attracted by the
antiquity Of the town and the unique
character Of this most venerable church.
and. curiously enough while wandering
about the antique pile encountered th-
! same man whom Hawthorne had encJun-
terei nearly forty years before
The old man had IN former times been
simply waiter IN the little Oruiskirk tav
ern where Hawthorne had once supped. IL
vas fair day. he remembered. when he
came The latter could readily understand
I dialect OF the -'portly and ruddy women
and ''yeomen with small clothes and broad
/ brimmed hats" and could secure nobody's
attention on account OF the crowds He
| was about 20 leave Ormskirk m "A sort Of
/ despair at the fruItless outcome % a long
| foot Journey. when the attendant, who had
/ felt drawn 20 him from his kindly aud su
perior personality. c0utuved TO escape his
/ duties long enough 70 secure Hawthorne
/ admission 10 thr ancient church. aud TO
/ show MN other antiquities IN the quaint
/ old town
On departing the novelist had CRATE
fully given his guide a half sovereign. and
had also said 20 him in his kind, quiet
way. save your earnings. my good man,
and become independent tor your old
days" The old man still treasures that
gold piece with tender delight. He has all
| Of Hawthorue's works They are as moidy
and mussy as the old towu itself But the
| man who wrote them. the books them
/ selves. the tiny bit Of gold, which Is one OF
the most priced things In England. and
the hours companIOnship, which ! could
not but envy hin, had made this one hum
BILE Englishinan conscious OF a new world
about him in which 70 live. A halo Of
glory always liz up that old church when
be looked upon II.
The magic OF Il all came 20 me some
thing as IL had come to this old man Ny
purpose was az once changed felt a
glowing desire 20 follow in his footsteps;
to loiter in the places he had known; q
hunt for his haunts here, and 70 recover
what might still be gathered, II meageI
that should be. Of the incident. locale. ia
vor and personality ffom those years he
passed in Official life in England. so little
Of which had ever been revealed. and q
much OF which was rapidly and irrevoca
bly, passing into the sealed silences OF for
getfulness.
So | took the road over which Haw
thorne had come from Southport Four
teen miles be walked. but the pleasure o.
IL made the distance seem bat an hours
tramp TO me. There was first the pleas
ant hilly country, and then the low lyinl
lands BY the sea: ancient Scarisbrick Hall
with It's tine gateway and lodge. the old
bridge where he lounged on the parapet
the aged stone bouses, built merely 70
respectable occupants" TIE eapa Wit
It's lazy boats; the little girls. nov As then
still watching the cows lest they shoul'
60 astray; the Maypole inn at the tittl
village where Hawthorne asked for som
cold meat aud ale" and got instead a roya
dinner with home brewed ale. mot yer.
~--@-"Nf
wash It down with. and. all the way
the harvesters gathering their crops, wer
just a. his eyes had seen them. until roof
Of the gay watering place showed abov
the sand dunes and verdure OF merr
Southport
By diut Of patient hunting among th
old, old folk. kindly receptions which cam
to naught. suspicious rebuifs comprisinl
strong iutimarions Of the powers Of the con
stabulary. aud coaxings together Of va
! grant waits Of Others memory. this ons
that one and another one bad many pleas
ant little things 70 say worth treasurine
OF Brunswick Terraces. where the Haw
thornes lived from September. 1854 .
April. lS5s, still standing near th
glorious southport foreshore. priH
pretentiou- and faded. and still th
resort Of respectable dodgers" desperat
enough % love any place away from iAvel
pool; % the perky but taithfal maid
Fanny. always a sort Of back door ont q
every domestic difficulty 20 the Has
thornes in England. Of the pale but cheer
wife and mother who seemed 20 dlnuse
Of