The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1894-03-10
THAT HAWTHORNE LOST

lHAl LA Nv IHUhNE III IOSI
HE MIGHT HAVE WRITTEN
= p "EMANGELlNE."
Old Horace IaEsrs oils stery-EIo AS
z "EvanEoiins" to Haw- horse First ana
f Afterwards Gave It to LenEEeMow.
IL
There are not many people living
at the present time who had on init
mate acquaintance with Nathaniel
Hawthorne. and when one gets an
opportunity to talk with such per-
son one is apt to grasp it eagerly.
In Salon, the home OF Hawth orne,
and the place where he did the most
| OF his writing. there is now living q
man who enjoyed q close friendship
with him for about thirty-six years
The man is Horace Ingersoll.
/ When the Boston Transcript writer
called upon him and asked him if he
would tell some OF his reminiscenses
for publication he willingly complied.
Il guess I can tell you as much a.
anyone about him." he said, ..for 1
knew him as we'll as anyone. was
born here and Hawthorne was born
here, but strange to say I did not be-
/ como acquainted with him in Salem.
met him down IN New Haven whom
went there In 1928 to enter Yalc
f>college. The Saturday after I ar
rived was feeling little homosick,
Eso I took walk down to about the
only hotel there was in the place at
that time. It WAS sort OF hotel
and general stage office, and while
locking over the register in the
Office l came across the names Of
Daniel Manning and Nathaniel Haw-
I thorne of Salem.
/ 81 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 came down in few mo-
ments. and there was where first
met Nathaniel Hawthorne. He was
3 slip OF a young. man at that time,
/ and it did not take us very long to
1 become pretty we'll acquainted. I
found in him a jolly companion for
that day; we went about the college
buildings and he showed me some
places about town that he had visited
! previously"
4 There are few houses in the coun-
try moro famed than the House of
tho Seven Gables on Turner street.
Salon. Although Hawth orno's son
and son-in-!aW,fs4y that tho house
cannot IS identified and exists only
! Id the novelist s4imsginatton, M. n
| gersoll af1rms that he himself owned
it 1t tho time Hawthorne wrote upon
1t, but 1t has since passed out OF his
possession. He became the owner of
1t through the death Of q distant rel
ative and kept it until some time
after tho great Boston Are in 1870,
when 1t was sold.
When Mr.. 1ngersoll was asked why
ho had never written tho story OF his
acquaintance with Hawthorne he re-
piled:
"Many years ago 1started to write
= story OF Hawthorne's life in Salem
and dad considerable work on it, but
about that time some 9th. r person
came out with q book with the facts
so mixed that | became disguised
and gavo 1t up. I have had a notion
since then to toll how Hawthorne
missed writing a novel on Longfel-
lows 'Evangeline,' but have never
got around to it.
The facts of this story were origin
ally told to Mr.. lngersoll by Mrs
Halliburton, who lived in South Bos-
ton. He told the story to Hawthorne
one day while they were walking
over what is now Lafayette street in
Salem, and Hawthorne said he would
write = novel about it, As the time
passed on he neglected to keep his
promise, and six years later Inger-
soil gave the story to Longfellow at
his home In Cambridge, and from this
tho famous poem was written. Mr..
lngersoll recalls with some amuse-
ment that at the time he gave the
| story to Longtellow, he attempted to
tell him how it should be written.
His instructions were not followed
very closely, but he WAS perfectly
satisfied with the result after the
work had been completed In his
library at the present time Mr.. 1nger-
soil has the copy of '.Evangeline, !"
presented to him by Longfellow with
an autograph inscription on the fly
leaf.
''Well, after that book came out
you ought to have seen Hawth orne
rave" said 1ngersoll. ''He was 80
mad with himself and with me
because he had not written the
novel that he did not get over it for
some time. do not think he ever
fully forgave me for telling the story
to Lougfellow."
Mr.. 1ngersoll recalls. that. although
Hawthorne often lost control of his
temper, they managed to got along
fairly we'll together, and the friend
ship between them strengthened as
the years won't by. From the time
| Of the meeting in New Haven in
1928 until the death of Hawthorne