Daily Kennebec journal., 1904-10-17
HAWTHORNE IN LENOx.
Where He Wrote "The House of the
Seven Cables"

Lehox in 1S49, says that Hawthorne, a
man Of forty-five, without any great
accomplishment behind him, worn by
the routine of his work in the custom
house. wrote to his brother-in-law
Horace Mann. that he was looking for
Cheap, pleasant and healthy resi-
oehce. From all appearances the
emphasis must have been upon the
iirst ADJECTIVE. AT any rate. LenoX
must nave been quite satisfactory in
THIS respect. and with the added
requisites Of beauty and healthfulness
In May Of the next year the small fam
iiy vas in the little red house" on the
northern border of Stockbridge Bowl,
where they lived for year and a half.
Here THE House of the Seven Gables
was written and The Wonder Book"
and but for an accident in the time Of
moving from Salem THE Scarlet Let
ter itself might have been first COM
mltted TO paper here. But more than
that, thing which is practically ad-
r;tt"d by Hawthorne himself. was the
atmosphere of the homemade by one
individuality, Hawthorne's wife, the
Phoebe of The House of the Seven
Gables'-a character which perhaps
pays the highest tribute of a man to
woman in all American fiction. What
an odd atmosphere of pretty fancies
there was is shown by everything that
was written from the place. the letters
OF the man and of his wife, and the
early imagination of the children as re-
written in their "reminiscences of a ma
turer day; little flowery, perhaps,
little ornate and beribboned, but still
the most attractive and pretty home
atmosphere that could be imagined,
and Goubiy wonderful from the bare
narrow little house in which it exist
ed.
When temperament is considered
certainly, Sophia Amelia Hawthorne
rs her husband would undoubtedly
have adnitted-was by far the srong-
est and kindlest personality in 1.-The
little red house" Certainly no hill
town farm cottage in Berkshire was
ever more thoroughly surprised in the
way OF interior decorations and ar
rangenent than this under her facile
hands. The house was cut up into a
large number of little rooms, or the
family could never have lived there
The wallis of the tiny front hall were
ornamented with the Madonna del
Perce, and on a table was Crawford's
Glory to God in the Highest" and
purple and gold colored carpet on the
floor. The drawing room to the right
of this had few pieces Of fine old
fashioned furniture with Correggio's
Madonna, RaphaeTs TRANSPORTATION"
and Leonardo da Vinci's Madonna in
bass-reiief on the walls. In one cor
ner stood an Apollo cast. somewhat
the worse for wear, whose head Mrs
Hawthorne had neatly tied on to make
it serViceable.
In the diningroom, just back of
this, were hung the Petit Soldat
Orphelin" and two pictures Of Psyche.
The little bedroom-Nfrs. Hawthorne
dignifies it with the name Of boudoir-I
whose window appears at the right
side of the end of the house, was
decorated with Claudes Landscape
of the Golden Calf" Salvador Rosa's !
Forest" and views of Como and Loeb |
Lomond. There was copy Of
Michael Angeles frescos of prophets
and sibyls in the upper hall. The Sec
ond story was devoted to bedrooms.
with the exception of Mr.. Hawthorne's
SSooS. 1hciC NaSii I lCAhy
enough to go around for this but there
were pictures sufficient to hang up,
Raphael angel and an engraving of
Dawn" and a fine lithograph Of
tree to influence the budding aesthetic
taste Of the earliest born, Una.
Two grown-ups and two children.
Una and Julian, came into the house IN
May of 1850. by the time of leaving
in November. 1851, there had been add
ed to the inhabitants of the small
dwelling one more child, Rose Haw-
thorne. bern May 20, 1851. and a small
colony of pets-one rabbit and five cats
solitary visitors added one by one to
the tender hearted household who
hated to turn them away. Hawthorne
disliked writing in the summer-he
was. it may appear a little nOtional in
his literary methods-so that during
the two whole summers which Sc spent
in Berkshire his children saw great
deal of him. They romped together In
the orchard near the house, tramped !
into the woods and to Shadow Brook I
near by, and all three enjoyed general
holiday. The fanciful novelist and his
equally fanciful wife and the children ,
hey brought up to see life through :
heir own eyes threw a little romance =
If their own over the entire surround =
ngs in the neighborhoOd of their home, ,
which still survives In some of the =
ocal names. l.
The site of the house was. Of courSe.
mountains. faint old
,lue. romantic intangible; and in the
foreground the lovely Stockbridge Bowl. !.
otted with its tiny sailboats, which gives IL
he scene its peculiar charm-a trans
>lanted bit Of Italy a touch Of the visit u
ul mystic, impossible romantic beauty or q
Claude Lorraine strayed and lost In =,
New England. Hawthorne u
ras; caught up with enthusiasm when he
ar,e to the place. especially the won
erfu. view 10 the south. with the noun
aims. with their colored foliage Ike
Persian sha wlg.'' NJ
Put there is something besides scenery ~
!, he considered in the most romantic OF d,
,,rnan lives as others besides Nathaniel =,
hawthorne have learned, Better good - =,
rrnace and a bathroom than a herd OF II
fountains in your back yard as some 10
Use man has said. The house OF fantasy r.
ecame Il 'hovel;~ the climate was bad.
cry different from tbs salt air native TO