Evening star., 1933-01-24

ROMANTIC REBEL: The Story Of
Nathaniel Hawthorne. BY Hide
garoe Hawthorne. Illustrated BY
W. NJ. Berger. New York: The Cen
tury Co.
Salem. Thursday, Dec Q, 1913.
Dear Uncle:
I hope you are ell.and I hope Rich
ard Is too My foot Is no better Louise
has got so well that she has begun to
60 to school but she did not 60 this
forenoon because 1t snoWd Maam is
going to send for Doctor Kittredee to-
day when William comes home at
twelve o'clock and maybe he will do
some good for Doctor Barstowe has not
I don't know as Doctor Kittredge will
it Is know four weeks since yesterday
since have been to school and 1 don't
know but 1t will be tour weeks longer
before l 60 again I have been out in
the Office two or three times and have
set down on the step of the door and
once l hoped out in the street yester-
Gay went out in the Office and ate a
cake Hannah carried me out once but
not then Elizabeth and Louisa send
their love to you. hope you will write
to me soon but have nothing more to
write SO goodbye dear Uncle your af-
fectionate nephew
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Here is a letter penned when he
was nine years old by little New
England boy vino hated to go to school,
who rebelled against the hours of study
which kept him from full enjoyment
Of the great out-of doors. which he
loved: who found himself house-bound
because of a serious injury to one foot
acquired while playing bat and ball,
and who was destined eventually to
have his name indelibly craven in the
halls of fame rs q man of letters.
A rebel indeed was this lad whose
acquaintance with misfortune began
before he was old enough to under
stand that his father had died in far
off Surinam. and by the time he was
nine years old had marked him for a
cripple. All his inclinations were far
removed from the stern and uncom-
promising heritage which character
lied those New Englanders of the early
days of the republic. He was a
changeling. disliking everything that
bound him to the ideas and activities
OF his forefathers and the living rela-
tives upon whom he was largely de-
pendent. As early as twelve years of
age he was writing verse, but for fear
VI SAoAC0 HIS SCCACb Will HO
one save BIZ Simms, a lad of his own
age to whom he became fondly at
tached during the first Summer the
family lived In Maine. His ambition
to write was not made known until to-
ward the end of his college experience,
when In q letter to his mother he con-
fessed that he could not fulfill her
wish that he become . minister. Nei-
ther did he desire to become 4 lawyer,
nor a physician. In the same letter he
wrote: "Oh, that were rich enough
to live without any profession! What
do you think of my becoming an au-
thor, and relying for support upon my
pen? Indeed I think the illegibility
Of my writing Is very authorlike. How
proud you would feel to see my works
praised by the reviewers as equal to
the proudest productions Of the scrib-
bling sons of John Bull"
As much Of an enigma to himself a.
to his family, he struggled on after
leaving college until he was well past so
before recognition and . meager sue
cess crowned his efforts. Tht9 storH of
the life of one of the most loteble and
attractive men Of American literAture
Is told by his granddaughter. i h an
intimate revelation Of his heritage, hia
pathetic childhood. the ambitions and
Establishments Of his young manhood
the sorrows and t1Nmphs OF hi fuu