The poet Longfellow has left “footprints on the sands of time” in the shape of his poems, and we may say those poems are like footprints hardened into rock, which will last for ages. Many an unhappy soul, after reading the sad, sweet, beautiful verses of the “Psalm of Life,” has taken heart to go on fighting life’s battle nobly, and doing good instead of yielding to the temptation to be weak and careless. To realize what it is to be a great poet, think of the millions of boys and girls, old and young, in the United States, and in Great Britain and other foreign countries, who have learned by heart such famous poems as “The Village Blacksmith,” “The Wreck of the Hesperus,” and “The Building of the Ship.” You, yourself, no doubt, dear reader, when you want something to memorize, turn to a volume of Longfellow’s poems. You have learned to love the poems: therefore let me introduce to you the man who first lived the poems in his own life, and you will certainly learn to love him, too. The poet was born February 27, 1807, in Portland, Maine. At the time of his birth his parents were living in Captain Stephenson’s house, Mrs. Stephenson being a sister of the elder Mr. Longfellow. But this was only temporarily, indeed only while the Stephenson family were visiting the West Indies. The Longfellows soon moved into the house of General Peleg Wadsworth, where Mrs. Longfellow had spent part of her girlhood. It is said to have been the first brick house ever built in Portland, and it was one of the finest. Here they lived until the baby grew into a man. CHAPTER II LONGFELLOW’S ANCESTORS Henry Wadsworth Longfellow belonged to a good old New England family. His father was a lawyer in Portland, Maine; his grandfather had been a schoolmaster; and his great-grandfather had been a blacksmith. The Longfellows were most of them tall, strong men, who had been soldiers, sailors and the like, and none of them had shown the slightest talent for poetry. But Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was small and delicate, though he always stood very erect and was a finely formed man. His grandfather on his mother’s side was General Peleg Wadsworth, who was once captured by the British and came near being shipped off to England; but he escaped and joined his wife and family as they were going to Boston. The poet also had an uncle Henry (for whom he was named), who had been a lieutenant with Commodore Preble and was killed at Tripoli a short time before his namesake was born. Another uncle was a second lieutenant on the frigate _Constitution_ when it captured the British ship _Guerrière_ in 1812. On his mother’s side, Longfellow could trace his origin straight back to John Alden and Priscilla Mullens, who came over in the _Mayflower_, and whom he has made immortal in his poem of “The Courtship of Miles Standish.”