Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-03-31


way to the Adriatic dashes down to the
the little midtown in which he was
Torn, among the foothills Of the Alps.
, plain, to leave there in the village
! church of Galore, among the noun
! tains his boyhOod loved. some traces of
the excellence of his art-traces which
/ a later age has been glad to discover
, and to enjoy. Just in the same way
| Longfrllow's thought, when youth was
lost, turning to the past, wandered
back in a golden mist of fancy. revcry
and memory to the breezy dome of
trees, the shadows of behring's woods
| the islands Of the harbor, 'the pleasant
streets of that dear old town." and
wovc' around them a spell, light and
pleasant as the wind of summer, to
haunt them forever.
| But Hawthorne was not so accus-
toned to return to his early home. I
do not know how frequently he visited
| IsowdOin after his graduation, but
suppose not often. l believe he attend
cd the commencement in the summer
of 1852, with his friend. Franklin Pierce.
who was then n candidate for the
presidency. and suppose this was the
last time he was there.
| So far as I know, after his mothers
return to Salem. lie never revisited
what for several years had been her
home and his on the shores of SebagO
| Lake, but he has referred to the days
passed there as days of delight, as the
happiest period of his life. With gun
/ or fshing-rod in hand, he wandered at
vii, through the unbroken forest,
skirtcd the shores of the lake in his
boat. watching the lights and shadows
on near or distant mountains, or in
winter when the moonlight was on the
ice skated alone till midnight. building
fires for his own pleasure in the
| deserted lumherInen's camps. An.
he exclaimed during the last year or
lis life with something Of a sick AMI
sinking mans pleasure'in early recoi-
lcrtions. "how well | recall the summer
days when. with my gun. roamed al
will through the woods of Maine.
lived like a bird Of the air. so perfect
| v.,s tho freedom I enjoyed" He grew
tail and strong and had the vigor ana
freshness of youth and the open air.
There was stimulus to the Imagination
foo in the life he lived and in it's sur
roundings of natural objects. The
/
deep masses of the prmeval woods. its
surface bright as the cleaning Aegean
stretched away to the mountains "blue
with loftiness and distance.
Here his boyhood loved to linger; a
boyhood that had had in it all the thrilI
and glow of the morning. dreamily pale
or flushed, lettering thoughtfully at the
omen gateway Of life. It's spirit was
free and healthful. happiness throbbed
in every pulse-bea but he had learned
the pensive charm of solitude. and all
the possibilities of distracted Thought
We're opening in his growing love OF SOL
litary rambling and musing. We know
from his own pen what charm ana ue
light there were for him in this early
home in Raymond, and how pleasantly
all the recollections Of it mingled with
his memories of youth. But it was
home built for Mrs. Hawthorne after
her husbands death by her. brothers.
Robert and Richard Manning. on their
new lands in Maine 1t must nave
been like a home in exile both to ms
mother and himself a brief stay in the
wilderness, a result of the terrible loss
~ lis fathers early death. during his
lyoyace as shipmaSter in South Amer
lica at the age of thirty-two. The fam
ilv home of culture and long associa-
ton. was at Salem. Doubtless he and
his mother were both glad to return to
lit. and the circumstances of his life do
mot seem to have afforded him an OPP
roltunity to revisit this early Ray
mOnd home.
| What q strange experience was be-
fore him on leaving college! Return
ing to Salem. dimly conscious of SUM
herring forces, rs real and potent as
those which charge the summer cloud
Inspiring. sincere. swayed by the sweet
influences of compelling stars. to which
In genius without alloy so sensitively
responded, in the silence of long and
strange isolation. he pursued his task
Of celebrating line by line. with mi
nutc fidelity copied from nature. a Sc
rieS of stories of exquisite beauty in
themselves. that are yet only so many
threads of gold. to hold within the
range of our duller sight the dream
lighted things which in far flight his
ina ginatiOn had traced.
From that time on. his real life. the
things which interest and fascinate
us in him. had but the slightest frame
or setting in external events: our in
ltcrcst is in him and in his work. not in
the external circumstances Of his life.
The two years in the Boston Custom
house, under Bancroft. the historian.
then collector of the port, the year ut
Rrook Farm; the four years of delight
full residence. after his marriage. at the
Old ManSe, in Concord, during which
the Moses were written: the four sue
lceeding years as surveyor of the port
of Salem, the period which produced
the Scarlet Letter: the three years of
rapid production from 1850 to 1853
passed at LenoX and at the Wayside in
Concord. during which he wrote The
House of the Seven Gables, The Blth-
dale Romance, Tho Wonder Book, Tan
lglcwood Tales. The Snow Image, and
the Life of Franklin Pierce: the seven
years of residence and travel abroad
towards the close of which appear The
Marble Faun, which alone might well
lsecure the permanency of his fame:
land then his return to America in the
summer of 1860: these trace his course
I<,f ifo h,,t IN,