The Bessemer indicator., 1893-11-11

rbere are not many people living
Mt the present time who had an intl-
mate acquaintance with Natnahiei
Hawthorne, and when one gets IN
opportunity to talk with such per-
son one Is apt to grasp IT eagerly'
In Salem, the homo OF Hawthorne.
and the place where he did the most
of his writing, there Is now living
man who enjoyed close friendship
with him for about thirty-six years.
The man is Horace 1ngersoll.
When the Boston Transcript writer
called upon him and asked him II he
would tell somo of his "reminiscences
for publication ho willingly complied.
al guess l can tell You as much as
anyone about him." he said. "for l
knew him as well as anyone. was
born here and Hawthorne was born
hore, but strange to say l did not be-
come acquainted with him in Salem.
met him down in New Haven when
! went there in 1928 to enter Yale
college Tho Saturday after l ar
rived was feeling little homesick.
SO | took walk down to about tho
only hotel there was in tho place at
that time. 1t was sort OF hotel
and general stage Office. and while
looking over the register in tho
Office l came across tho names OF
Daniel Manning and Nathaniel Haw-
thorne OF Salem.
~ was personally acquainted with
Manning and had often heard OF
Hawthorne. so sent my name to
their room and asked to see them.
They both camo down in n few mo-
ments, and there was whore | first
met Nathaniel Hawthorne He was
slip of young man at that time.
and it did not take us very long to
become pretty well acquainted. l
found in him jolly companion for
that day; we went about the college
buildings and he showed me some
places about town that he had visited
previously"
There are few houses in the coun-
try moro famed than the House OF
the Seven Cables on Turner street.
Salem. Although Hawthorne's son
and son-in-law say that the house
cannot be identified and exists only
In the novelists imagination. MIR. In
gersoll affirms that he himself owned
it at the time Hawthorne wrote upon
it., but it has since passed out OF his
| possession. He became the owner OF
1t through the death of a distant rel-
ative and kept it until some time
after the great Boston fire in 1870
when 1t was sold.
When Mr.. Ingersoll was asked why
he had never written the story OF hi
acquaintance with Hawthorne he re
piled:
"Ninny years ago Istarted to writ'
story of Hawthornc's life in Salon
and did considerable work on it. bu
about that time some Other persoi
came out with c book with tho fact
so mixed that ] became disgustc'
md gave 1t up. have had q MOTTO!
since then to tell how Hawthorn
missed writing novel on Longiel
lows .Evangelino,' but | have peve
got around to it."
The facts OF this story wcre origin
ally told to Mr.. Ingersoll by Mrs
Halliburton. who lived in South Bos
ton. He told the story to Hawthorn
one day while they were walkinl
over what is now Lafayette street IL
Salem. and Hawthorne said he woul,
write q novel about it AS the tim
passed on he neglected to keep hi
promise. and six years later Inger
soil gave the story to Longfcllow a
his home in Cambridge, and from thi
the famous poem was written. Mr.
Ingersoll recalls with some amusc
ment that at tho time he gave tn,
story to Longiellow. he attempted t,
tell him how it should be written
His instructions were not follower
very closely, but he was perfect,
satisfied with the result after tn,
work had been completed. In hi
library ut the present time Mr.. )nger
soil has the copy OF "Evangellne,
presented to him by Longfellow witt
an autograph inscription on the fly
leaf.
"Well. after tina. book came on
you ought to have seen Hawth ornt
rave" said Ingersoll. "He was 81
mad with himself and with mt
because he had not written tht
novel that he did not get over it fol
some time do not think he eve,
fully forgave re for telling the story
to Longiellow.
Mr.. lnsersoll recalls. that. although