The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1909-05-07
Nathaniel Hawthorne. .

1t may not be generally known that
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on the
4th day Of July. The Hebrew mean
ing of Nathaniel is ''Thes gift of
Cod" If a people were ever particu.
larry 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, 1t 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,
az an ideal He sought not to do
extraordinary work, but to do or
binary work extraordinarily WE'LL" 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
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."
Hawthorne's old home stands on
Union street, Salem, Mass, in fair
ly good state Of preservation. It 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
Franklin Pierce was present when
Hawthorne passed into the night, at
! hotel In little New Hampshire
town, where they we're spending a VA
cation together. ,r, 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.
1t was a chilly day. Mr.. Pierce was
grief stricken, but while standing
near the grave, he reached out his
hand and pulled Hawthornes 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
or smile approval as the thought of
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 of
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 %
years before had spoken the marriage
ceremony for Hawthorne and his pref
ty wife.
| There in seclusioh and remote from men,
| The wizard hand lies cold,
| Which at its topmost speed let fall the
| pen,
And left the tale half told.
All, who shall lift that wand Of power,
| And the lost clue regain!
The unfinished window in Aladdin's
| tower. -:
| Unfinished must remain.
| "Hawthorne's monument" says
Charles F. Richardson, lis not beside
the modest grave above which whisper
the pines of Concord's Sleepy Hollow
His monument is in his books, which
so combine genius and art, magma
tfon and human nature.
Historical Setting.
Hawthorne, Richard Golden, Eu-
gene Sue and George Sand were all
born in 1904 On July IL of that year,
Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamil-
ton in a duel near Weehawken, N. j.,
opposite New York During that year
also the British Bible society was
founded; Francis the Second assumed
the title OF emperor of Austria; New
Jersey provided for the emancipation
of slaves, and Napoleon was crowned
emperor of France.
| Copyright 1903, by Joseph B. Bowles.)