The Complete Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Appendix to Volume XII: Tales, Sketches, and other Papers by Nathaniel Hawthorne with a Biographical Sketch by George Parsons Lathrop: Biographical Sketch of Nathaniel HawthorneLathrop, George Parsons
General
The Complete Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Appendix to Volume XII: Tales, Sketches, and other Papers by Nathaniel Hawthorne with a Biographical Sketch by George Parsons Lathrop: Biographical Sketch of Nathaniel Hawthorne
Lathrop, George Parsons
Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864; Novelists, American -- 19th century -- Biography
In the May of 1851 another daughter was added to his family. Hawthorne,
like his father, had one son and two daughters. Of this youngest one he
wrote to Pike, two months after her birth: "She is a very bright and
healthy child.... I think I feel more interest in her than I did in the
other children at the same age, from the consideration that she is to be
the daughter of my age--the comfort (so it is to be hoped) of my
declining years." There are some other interesting points in this
communication. "What a sad account you give of your solitude, in your
letter! I am not likely ever to have that feeling of loneliness which
you express; and I most heartily wish you would take measures to remedy
it in your own case, by marrying.... Whenever you find it quite
intolerable (and I can hardly help wishing that it may become so soon),
do come to me. By the way, if I continue to prosper as hitherto in the
literary line, I shall soon be in a condition to buy a place; and if
you should hear of one, say worth from $1,500 to $2,000, I wish you
would keep your eye on it for me. I should wish it to be on the
sea-coast, or at all events within easy access to the sea. Very little
land would suit my purpose, but I want a good house, with space
inside.... I find that I do not feel at home among these hills, and
should not consider myself permanently settled here. I do not get
acclimated to the peculiar state of the atmosphere; and, except in
mid-winter, I am continually catching cold, and am never so vigorous as
I used to be on the sea-coast.... Why did you not express your opinion
of 'The House of the Seven Gables?'... I should receive friendly
censure with just as much equanimity as if it were praise; though
certainly I had rather you would like the book than not. At any rate, it
has sold finely, and seems to have pleased a good many people better
than the other; and I must confess that I myself am among the number....
When I write another romance I shall take the Community for a subject,
and shall give some of my experiences at Brook Farm."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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