Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 -- Family; Novelists, American -- 19th century -- Biography
ideas there--ideas!" I vanished, to call my husband. Mr. Hawthorne
then came in, and we found the old gentleman intently gazing at my
husband's portrait,--so intently that he did not observe our entrance,
till Mr. Hawthorne spoke. He turned, and placed his hand with such
force upon my husband's shoulder that you would have supposed he had
dubbed him knight. They left the room to go to the Study, the General
brandishing the sword tremendously at every sentence he uttered on the
way. It was really good to see such a man; so mighty in physique, with
such a strong character, such resolute will, and such a gleam of
loving-kindness in his eyes, to temper the force.
I have wandered off from the party. The children had a charming time,
and brought back word that each had behaved perfectly. The next day I
went to tell Mrs. Emerson why Rose and I did not appear. I found Mr.
Emerson, sitting on the side doorstep, with Edith on his knee and
Edward riding about the lawn on his pony. Mr. Emerson said that "the
show of children was very pretty. But Julian! He makes his mark
everywhere; there is no child so fine as Julian!" Was not that
pleasant to hear from him? I told him how singular it was that Julian
should find in Concord the desire of his imagination for two years--a
pony [Mr. Emerson had already superintended the little boy's mounting,
and falling off from, Edward's pony]; and he smiled like Sirius.
"Well, that is good. Send him this afternoon." He then called Edward,
and bade him go home with me, mount Julian, and bring him back; and
this was accordingly done. But first, Mr. Emerson invited me to go up
with him to the hilltop, opposite his house, where there is a fine
view. His house is in a thick bower of evergreen and horse-chestnut
trees. The grove is Academe, and could not have been more musical or
deep; and Plato's disciple walks there.
Last week I drew The Wayside for George Putnam, who is going to have
it engraved. I must also make sketches of Mr. Emerson's and the Old
Manse. To-morrow Una goes to a picnic at Mrs. Pratt's [mother-in-law
of a daughter of Mr. Alcott's] with Ellen and Edith Emerson. We
expect Louisa Hawthorne this week. She has been coming for a good
while, but was delayed by the severe illness of Mrs. Robert Manning.
Yesterday Mr. Hawthorne went to Boston to meet Mr. Atherton. A
daguerreotypist seized him, and took three pictures of him, from which
the man politely asks me to choose. They are somewhat good. Julian had
a tooth out the other day, and laughed instead of crying. Edward was
so unfortunate a day or two since as to have four teeth drop out at
once; and Mr. Emerson says he must be put under a barrel until the
others grow.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account