Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1921-02-28
ia YEARS AGO
(continued from PAGE -one)

MrS. 0LepHeuSOH. 1ucy he1u O1SA AAse-1
ried three years before and already
had one son.
The boy did not long remain in this
house. When he was little more
than a year old his parents removed
to the house on Congress street IN
which his childhood and youth were
passed. This house, noted as having
been the first brick house In Portland.
had been built by his mothers father.
General Peleg Wadsworth. in the
years 1886. Now quite in the heart
of the business quarter. It was then
on the extreme outskirts of the town,
In the midst of fields. Hither Zilpah
Wadsworth, the boys mother. had
come when years old: here she was
married; here she returned now with
her husband and two boys, in 1908,
to pass the rest of her life. She was
the third of IL children of Peleg
Wadsworth and Elizabeth Bartlett
who had, after their marriage, remov-
ed to Portland from Duxbury, IN
Massachusetts, whittier their ances-
tors had emigrated from England.
Their second son, Henry Wadsworth,
was lieutenant in the American
Navy; he had died, a young man OF
| 10, in his Country's service "Preferr-
ing death to slavery" he had volun-
tarily persisted, with his companions,
in the fire ship Intrepid, which was
| blown UP before Tripoli in the night
of Sept 4, 1904, to save 1t from falling
into the enemy's hands. From him
, his sister had named her second son.
| Beautiful in her youth. Mrs Long
fellow retained through later years OF
invalidism a sweet and expressive
countenance, a slight but upright
frame. From her mus. have come to
the son the imaginative and romantic
side of his nature. She was fond OF
poetry and music, and in her youth, OF
dancing and social gayety. She was
lover of nature in all it's aspects.
She would sit by window during a
| thunder storm, enjoying the excite
ment of it's splendors. Her DISPOSE.
ton, through all trials and sorrows,
was always cheerful-with a gentle
and TRANQUIL fortitude. Full OF ten
tder, simple, unquestioning piety, she
i was a lover of church and sermon
and hymn; "a devout and constant
reader of the Bible, especially OF It's
Psalms. She commended religion by
| it's fairest fruits.
; 1t was the religion of the two great
commandments. Despite her military
traditions, and her having in her
girlhood presented a Flag, with
speech, to company of soldiers, she
had in maturer years. horror. OF
war, and was an untiring advocate OF
| peace. She was a kind friend and
neighbor, a helper of the poor, de-
voted mother to her children, whose
confidant she was. the sharer of their
| little secrets and their joys, the ready
comforter of their troubles, the pa
| tient corrector of their faults. Her
sister, Lucia Wadsworth, lived with
her. and was like a second mother ito
| her children.
| The boys father Stephen Longfel-
low. was a man much honored in the
community for his ability in his pro-
! fession of the law for his sound good
sense in affairs, for his old-time cour-
| tesy of manners and cordial hospi-
tally. Born in 1776. upon his fathers
farm in Gorham, he had graduated
with honor at Harvard college, where
he was noted for his purity of char
acter, his gentlemanly bearing, his
buoyant spirits and social warmth, as
well as for his scholarship. He was
classmate of DR.. Claiming, Judge
Story, Judge White, among others. He
early took a high position at the
! Cumberland county bar. A Federal
+ ist" in politics, he was sent as repre-
sentative of Massachusetts in 1914
and was member of that Hartford
convention of which so much evil
came unjustly to be spoken. He also
represented the State in the National
Congress for one term, in 1924. Re-
firing from these public positions, he
devoted himself assiduously to his
| profession, in which he was much abb
sorbed till increasing i'll health gra-
dually disabled him. In his family
he was at once kind and strict, bring
ing up his children in habits of re-
spect and obedience, of unselfshness.
the dread of debt, and the faithful
performance of duty.
In his home, with such a father
and mother. in q circle which came 20
include four brothers and four sisters
Henry Longfellow grew up.