The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1909-04-28
Nathaniel Hawthorne,

Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on the
4th day of July. The Hebrew mean
ing Of "Nathaniel' is "The gift Of
Cod" If a people were ever particu.
larly favored with a man of letters
as gift of God, it was when Nathan
lei Hawthorne was born to the peo-
pie of the United States, and it is
interesting, at least, that he should
have come to them on the anniversary
of their national independence.
| Emerson once said: "The world
| will be as likely to see another
Shakespeare as another Hawthorne"
Yes, it is as likely to see another
Gladstone, another Lincoln, another
Mendelssohn. In his work Hawthorne
was thorough and exacting. Nothing
less than completeness satisfied him,
as an ideal. He sought not to do
Extraordinary work, but to do or
binary work extraordinarily WELL" He
was so accurate, he was exclusive, and
when those he loved coaxed him into
conversation, his sentences rapidly
built themselves into paragraphs and
topics, lacking only the setting of q
central subject to attract the critics
as the arc lamp attracts the moth.
Hawthorne was the most somber
man who ever attained prominence
in literature. His presence always
brought twilight, never the sunlight
He lived ever in the shadow. When
walking, he was always on the look
out that he might not meet some one
he knew. He loved the solitude of the
woodland, the silence of the night
The signing Of the summer winds dis
tressed him. The discOnsolate coo
of the dove filled his heart with sad
ness. In business matters he was
cautious and all but suspicious. In
society he was veritable mute. One
writer says: Hawthorne was a
strange puzzle. He never seemed to be
doing anything, and yet he did not
like to be disturbed at It,"
HawthOrnes old home stands on
Union street, Salem, Mass, in a fair
ly good state of preservation. 1t was
in this home that he lived when he
found in the custom house the manu-
script which gave him the idea and
the clue from which he wrote "The
Scarlet Letter." Here the Hawthornes
resided, caring little or nothing for
the great world about them and for
years the great world cared nothing
for them. The old house is two and
one-half stories high, stuffy, plain and
peculiar in architectural design. A
character with some blot upon it was
the one that seemed to suit Haw-
thorne's romances best. and his old
home gives one an intimation of that
same melancholy chill.
From early boyhood Hawthorne and
Franklin Pierce were warm personal
friends. No relative or friend except
Hawthorne passed into the night, at
re hotel in little New Hampshire
town, where they were spending va
cation together. A while before these
two old friends left their homes for
this vacation trip, Mrs. Pierce had
died, and it is said that although Haw-
thorne was sick man, he insisted on
accompanying Mr.. Pierce to her grave.
It was a chilly day. Mr.. Pierce was
grief stricken, but while standing
near the grave, he reached out his
hand and pulled Hawthorne's coat
collar closer about his throat. Be-
tween these two men there were often
hours of conversation during which
neither spoke single word. They
would sit watching the clouds grow
in the mystery of the day, and nod
fhnIOhf nj
one was recognized by the other.
; On May "a, 1864, Hawthorne was
, laid to rest in "Sleepy Hollow Gene
terry" near his home in Concord
Mass, and not far from the grave oil
his friend Thoreau. On his coffin lid
that day some loving hand laid the
manuscript of "The Tale Half Told,
and the memorial address was de
livered by Rev. James Freeman
Clarke, who in the same church q
7 years before had spoken the marriage
ceremony for Hawthorne and his pref
i. ty wife.
t There in seclusion and remote from men
+ The wizard hand lies cold,
Which at it's topmost speed let fall thu
i. And left the tale half told
! | All, who shall lift that wand of power
And the lost clue regain!
The unfinished window in Aladdin
] tower,
Unfinished must remain.
I "Hawthornes monument" say
e Charles F. Richardson, lis not besid'
I the modest grave above which whispe
the pines of Concords Sleepy Hollow
;, His monument is in his books, whic]
4 so combine genius and art, imagina
4 ton and human nature"
l. Historical Setting.
S Hawthorne, Richard Golden, Eu
v gene Sue and George Sand were al
d born in 1904. On July IL of that year
n Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hami
ton in a duel near Weehawken, N. J
v opposite New York. During that yea
8 also the British Bible society wa
IS founded; Francis the Second assume
- | the title Of emnerOr Of Austria. Ney