Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-04-26
A HAWTHORNE STATUE.
A Centennial Memorial Proposed for
Bowdoin Campus.

1t is proposed to erect a statue of
Nathaniel Hawthorne upon the campus
| of BOwdoin College, at Brunswick.
Maine.
| Hawthorne was born at Salem, Mas
sachusetts, on July 4, 1904, and was
graduated at Bowdoin College in the
| class of 1925. The college is to cele-
brate the centenary of his birth at the
next commencement, in June. 1t is
| hoped that by that time the full amount
| needed to provide memorial worthy OF
| the man will have been pledged. The
project originates with the BowdcIl
| CLUB of Boston, which has taken up the
enterprise with great enthusiasm. and
| has appointed a committee to promote
it, of which Prof. Alfred E. Burton of
| the Massachusetts Institute of Tech
| nology is chairman. Although, as a
| matter of college pride. it appeals most
| strongly to the sons of Bowdoin, yet it
| is felt that interest in the movement
should be shared by every lover of good
| literature in the land, and should have
| his cordial assistance. Hawthorne
stands without rival at the head Of
American writer's of romance; as a
| master of pure English style he has
| been surpassed by no writer of Amer
lean birth.
1t is highly appropriate that the per-
manent monument to his memory
should be placed on the grounds of the
institution that nurtured him. The
Bowdoin quadrangle has lately been
! completed by the erection of a noble
library building-the stately Hubbard
Hail. Literature, art, science and re-
l1glon are now represented by four
structures which for architectural
beauty are unequalled on the grounds
OF any New England college.
1t is proposed to place the statue of
Hawthorne beside the approach to
Hubbard Hall. Should this enterprise
be successful. there will undoubtedly
be proposition three years hence to
mark the centenary of the birth of
Hawthorne's classmate, Henry Wads-
worth Longfellow, by erecting on the
other side of a walk statue of our
great American poet. Both of these
famous sons of BOwdoin would be rep
resented. not as they appeared in mid
die life or in old age, but as they may
be supposed to have looked in early
manhood.
Several prominent sculptors have
been consulted on the subject of n
Hawthorne statue. They have all man.
ifested lively interest in the matter.
1t is certain that any sculptor who may
receive the commission will devote to it
MS best thought and his highest skill.
The committee having the matter in
charge is unanimous in the opinion
That anything less than the best at
talnable in art would be worse than no
memorial at ALL 1t is roughly esti-
mated that sum not less than fifteen
thousand dollars will be required for
the statue alone. If the effort to Sc
cure the full amount needed should
1all, all subscriptions will be Cancelled.
Inc appeal for funds to provide the
statue is made to all who honor the
name and the fame of Nathaniel Haw-
thorne.
subscriptions. payable when the full
amount mas been pledged,-which will
De duly acknowledged,-may be sent
TO Prof. Henry johnson, Curator of the
walker Art Building, Brunswick.
Maine, or to Edward Stanwood, Presi-
dent of the Bowdoin Alumni Associa-
ton of Boston. POI Columbus Avenue
Boston.