On Dec. 17, 1839, Longfellow wrote in his journal: "News of shipwrecks horrible, on the coast. Forty bodies washed ashore near Gloucester, one lashed to a piece of the wreck. There is a reef called Norman's Woe, where many of these took place; among others the schooner Hesperus." On Dec. 30 he added: "Sat till one o'clock by the fire, smoking, when suddenly it came into my head to write the Ballad of the schooner Hesperus, which I accordingly did. Then went o bed, but could not sleep. New thoughts were running in my mind, and I got up to add them to the ballad. It was three by the clock."... "I feel pleased with the ballad. it hardly cost mean effort. It did not come into my mind by lines but by stanzas." In a letter to Mr. Charles Lanman on Nov. 24, 1871, Mr. Longfellow said: "I had quite forgotten about its first publication; but I find a letter from Park Benjamin, dated Jan. 7, 1840, beginning...as follows:-- "'Your ballad, The Wreck of the Hesperus, is grand. Enclosed are twenty- five dollars (the sum you mentioned) for it, paid by the proprietors of The New World, in which glorious paper it will resplendently coruscate on Saturday next.'" 11. flaw: a sudden puff of wind. 14. Spanish Main: a term applied to that portion of the Caribbean Sea near the northeast coast of South America, including the route followed by Spanish merchant ships traveling between Europe and America. 37-48. This little dialogue reminds us of the "Erlkonig," a ballad by Goethe. 66. See Luke 8: 22-25. 60. Norman's Woe: a reef in", W. Glouster harbor, Mass. 70. carded wool. The process of carding wool, cotton, flax, etc. removes by a wire-toothed brush foreign matter and dirt, and leaves it combed out and cleansed. THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH 7. Crisp, and black, and long. Mr. Longfellow says that before this poem was published, he read it to his barber. The man objected that crisp black hair was never long, and as a result the author delayed publication until be was convinced in his own mind that no other adjectives would give a truer picture of the blacksmith as he saw him. 39-42. Mr. Longfellow's friends agree that these lines depict his own industry and temperament better than any others can. IT IS NOT ALWAYS MAY No hay pajaros en los nidos de antano. Translated in lines 12 and 24. 8. freighted: heavily laden. EXCELSIOR