Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 -- Family; Novelists, American -- 19th century -- Biography
DEAR HANNAH [Redcar Hannah],--When I go home I think that I shall
never have such a nice time as when I go home; for I shall have such a
big garden, and I shall have little and big girls to come and see me.
Never on earth shall I have such a nice time as when I am at home.
After the transition:--
CONCORD, MASS.
I am in Concord now, and long to see you again, but I suppose that it
is useless to think of it. I am going out, after I have done my
lessons, to have a good time.--A very good time indeed, to be sure,
for there was nothing but frozen ground, and I had to be doing
something to keep myself warm, and I had to come back after a little
while. I do not know how to keep myself warm. Happy are you who keep
warm all the time in England. The frost has made thick leaves on our
windows everywhere, and you can hardly see through them.
I tried to bring the stimulus of great events into the Concord life by
writing stories, of which I would report the progress to my one or two
confidantes. My father overheard some vainglorious boasts from my
lips, one afternoon, when the windows of the little library where he
sat were open; and the small girl who listened to me, wide-eyed, and I
myself, proud and glad to have reached a thrilling denouement, were
standing beside the sweet-clover bed, not dreaming of anything more
severe than its white bloom. A few minutes afterwards, my father hung
over me, dark as a prophetic flight of birds. "Never let me hear of
your writing stories!" he exclaimed, with as near an approach to anger
as I had ever seen in him. "I forbid you to write them!" But I believe
this command only added a new attraction to authorship, agreeably
haunting me as I beckoned imaginary scenes and souls out of chaos. An
oasis bloomed at remote seasons, when we went to visit Mr. and Mrs.
Fields in Boston. My mother writes of my reviving, and even becoming
radiant, as soon as a visit of this fragrant nature breathed upon me.
I joyously begin a letter of my mother's with the following greeting:
"As soon as we got to Boston. My dear, dear Papa. We will write to
you very promptly indeed. We have got here safely, and are also very
glad to get here. We had some rich cake and sherry as soon as we got
here.--[My mother proceeds:] Annie glided in upon us, looking
excellently lovely. Heart's-Ease [Mr. Fields] appeared just before
dinner. He declares that the 'Consular Experiences' is superb.--I
write in the deep green shade of this wood of a library. We all went
to church through the hot sunshine. Mr. Fields walked on the sunny
side, and when Mrs. Fields [Mrs. Meadows was the playful name by
which we called her] asked him why, he said, 'Because it makes us grow
so. Oh, I am growing so fast I can scarcely get along!' Mr. Fields
said it made him very sleepy to go to church, and he thought it was
because of the deacons.--He says the world is wild with rapture over
your 'Leamington Spa.' He did not know how to express his appreciation
of it.--We met Mr.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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