Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-02-28

| cory of Horace'S OdeS which Longfel-
| low used in college and on fly leaf
written in the poets hand is the trans
lation that aroused Mr.. Fiske's interest.
| Near the last OF April in 1926 Long
fellow started forth with high spirits
for his wanderings in the Old World.
For more than three years he travelled
ir France, Spain, Italy and Germany,
residing in each Of these countries long
enough to learn its language. meet
some of it's great scholars, view its
ruins and great paintings and cathe-
| draiS, and become acquainted with
some of the great books in its litera-
| ture In his book, "Outre Mer," and al
50 in his letters we are told most grace
| fully how the old world with its an
| ciart lore and artistic treasures fired
| the imagination of this eager, keenly
responsive young scholar. Those years
| however. were not mere holidays With
| him He worked most industriously lay
| ing up that large store of information
| which was later to be revealed in his
poems by enlivening smile or apt al
fusion.
| In the fall of 1929 Longfellow re-
| turned to his native country and
| eagerly took up the new duties of his
| prUfcssorship. He was from the first
| very popular with the students. His
intercourse with the students" said DR..
| Cyrus Hamlin. who was in his classes
| and remembered him well. was per-
| fectly simple, frank and manly. His
| speech charmed us; his earnest and
digniticd demeanor inspired US. A bet
| ter teacher, a more sympathetic friend
never addressed a class of young mcn."
| On Sept. Il, 1881, when he was "a
years old, he was married to Mary
! Storer Potter, the daughter of Judge
| Barrett Potter OF Portland. There are
| still old people in Brunswick who can
| remember young Longfcllow and his
bride: and from all accounts she was
III every respect a beautiful woman.
| "I-nder the shadow of dark hair,
! writes the poets brother, "eyeS of deep
| blue lighted a countenance singuiariy
attractive with the expression of gen.
| tie and affectionatc disposition
During these years Longfellow was
not only the st-dressed-possibly the
handsomest man in brunswick, but al
son the hardest working. He not only
fought large classes in French and Ger
man, Spanish and Italian and was Ii
brarian. (for all Of which duties he re-
ceived not more than $1,000 year,.
but he also translated and edited the
text books that he used. such a "Ele-
| lnents of French Grammar and "Nov-
| elias Espanolas'' and wrote numerous
articles for the North American Review
l-such as the Defence Of Poetry
and the Origin and Progress of the
French Language
In 1888 "Outre Mer" was published.
This was first printed at Mr.. Crit
fms in Brunswick.
Longfclow's books and magazine ar
ticles had now placed him among the
best modern language scholars in the
country. When. therefore, in 1855 Prof.
George Ticknor of Harvard resigned
this Bowdcin professor was called to
take his place.
| Fourteen years had flown by since he
mad come to Rowdoin. So subtle is the
alchemy of influence that what he had
done for the college and what the COL
iegc had done for him during that time
10 one can rightly estimate. But in TINS
connection the declaration made by
Mr. Lorefellcw to the secretary of the
Boston Rowdoin Alumni Association
only three years before his death. even
though it seems somewhat exaggerated,
is surely pertinent. 1t was to Bowdoln
College he said, that he owed all the
preparation he ever had for literary
work, and it was in this college library
that he stored mis- mind with that fund
Of mat erial upon which he had drawn
in ali his subsequent career.
He now went out to larger fields Of
usefulness. to far greater fame. Seldom
after that did he return to the college
ana never did he speak in public here
until rs an old man he came back to
tcat famous 5Cth reunion of his class.
His absence from Brunswick was not
because his love for his Alma Mater
mad decreased, but he undoubtedly ex-
dressed the true reason to one Of his
intimate friends, when being asked why
he had not visited Brunswick oftener,
he replied: "Ah! there are 100 niailS
ghosts here
| With the story of that 40 years be-
fore 1875 you and all the world are Ia
nliliar. You recall the first Whelmlng
blow that fell upon him in the death OF
his young wife in foreign land, and
the faith with which he met 1t.
| You recall the triumphs and sorrows
Of his life in Cambridge: the success
of his teaching there; those happy
Friendships with FELTON, and Sumner,
land Agassiz and Lowell. You recall
the happiness Of his home life when
his second wife, the beautiful Mary
lAshburton of Hyperion, vas the good
langel of his household, the conScnial
companion. the appreciative counsellor,
the winning and gracious hostess to
welcome to their cultured home his
lmany friends. You recall the joys 81
lfatherhood that his children brought
him, his two sons and MS three daugh-
tiers, grave Alice and laughing Allegra.
and Edith with golden hair those
"blue-eyed banditti" that he put down
into the dungeon in the round tower of
his heart. You recall those literary tri-
umphs when the poet found himself
loved ana famous because he had sung
in beautiful artistic verse the joys and
sorrows which u few people had felt
bit could not express. And then you
raraIl tho tragedy that came into his