■ ^^ v^^' -'A%iA\ -^ c.'v^ *'^ \^ ^' A^ Me ^. ^o,x-^ ^0^ ^ ''. -=0 % i\' ..^x^ >% V .■^^^^, ■o ■J f ,-■;><:■, ^ V , at or about the time of his marriage with Anne Sewall. The location of tlie house is unsurpassed. It is situated on a sightly eminence at the very head of tide-water on the river Parker, the sparkle of whose waters as they go tumbling over the falls adds a picturesfjueness to the natural beauty of the scenery that lies spread out on either hand, — hill and vale, forest and field, the outgoing or incoming tide. Nature was lavish here; and young Longfellow, appreciating it all, erected the old house, to which he took his young bride. It still stands, although two centuries and more have passed since its outer frame was put together. It has not been occupied for twenty odd years, and of course is in a dilapidated condition. I was born under the old roof-tree myself; and so were my father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather (son of William) before me. The large chimney was taken down years ago,- a part of the house itself has been removed ; but " ' The scenes of my childhood are brought fresh to my mindi' THE ANCESTRY OF THE POET. 9 liam Phips conducted against the stronghold of Que- bec. The fleet, which sailed from Boston Harbor on the 9tb of August, consisted of thirty-two vessels, The Granite Horse-block and the Large Elm. having on board an army of twenty-two hundred sol- diers. The voyage was a tedious one, and Quebec and I can see the old weather-beaten house with its rear roof descend- ing nearly to the ground; the long kitchen with its low ceiling and wide fireplace; the big brick oven in which was baked the Thanks- giving pies and puddings (lean taste them now): the big ' best room;' the winding stairs; the old siMnning-wheel in the attic; the well- curb and its long sweep at the end of the house; in front, the granite horse-block, and the large ehn spreading over all. The old elm still lives, but is feeling the effects of age. The old elm and the house will end their existence together, and soon. " Very truly, " Horace F. Loxofellow. " Byfield, Mass." 10 i]i:nuy wadsworth longfellow. was not reached until in the early part of the month of October.^ The story of the expedition has often been told. The attempt to capture Quebec proved futile, and the audacious commander was forced to abandon the object. While the fleet was returning, and had already reached the Gulf of St. Lawrence, it was overtaken by a furious storm. The vessels were scattered: and one of them, having on board the Newbury Company, was- driven on the desolate shore of Anticosti ; and the gallant ensign, with nine of his comrades, was drowned. This event took place in the night of the 31st of October.^ Of William Longfellow's six children, all but one survived to mourn the death of their father. One of them, a lad of about five years of age at the time of the parental loss, bore the name of Stephen.^ Of his early life, even of his manhood, the records are scant. He became a blacksmith, and probably lived always in Newbury, where "we may picture him, 1 According to Judge Sewall, "William Longfellow went in 1687 to England to obtain his patrimony in Yorkshire. It was probably in this year that his father died. 2 " 'Twas Tuesday, the IS'^ of November, that I heard of the death of Capt. Stephen Greenleaf, Lieut. James Smith, and Ensign W"i Longfellow, Serj' Increase Pilsbury, who with Will Mitchell, Jabez Musgro, and four more were drown'd at Cape Britoon [an error] on Friday night the last of October." — Judge Sewall's Diary, anno 1690. William Longfellow's widow married Henry Short, May 11, 1692. 8 William Longfellow had two sons who bore the name of Ste- phen. The first of the name, born in 1681, died in early childhood. The second, who afterwards became the blacksmith, was born, as stated above, on the 22(1 of September, 1685. He was named for his mother's grandfather, Steplien Dnmmer, and was the first of the six generations of Stephen Longfellows. THE ANCESTIIY OF THE POET. 11 like the poet's hero of the village smithy, with large and sinewy hands, brawny arms, his brow wet with honest sweat, as he swings his heavy sledge ' with measured beat and slow.' " Stephen the blacksmith married, March 25, 1714, Abigail Tompson, the daughter of Rev. Edward Tompson of Marshfield, by whom he had ten chil- dren.^ One of the sons, Stephen, jun., was born on Feb. 7, 1723, and quite early in life discovered signs of precocious talent. He was more foild of books than of the forge and the sledge-hammer, and gave such promise of intellectual strength that his father was induced to bestow upon him the benefits of an education. At the proper time he was sent to Harvard College, where he received a diploma of graduation in 1742. 1 Mr. Ehvell of Portland writes as follows concerning the Long- fellow grant of land in the parish of Byfield, Newbury, Mass.: " It is a remarkable and interesting coincidence that the families of two of the first poets of our time, "Whittier and Longfellow, originated in the same neighborhood; the original Longfellow home in Byfield being but about five miles distant from the old "Whittier house in East Haverhill, both of which are now standing. The Byfield Long- fellows are descended from Samuel, son of the first Stci^hen, and brother of the second Stephen, who came to Portland in 1745. Samuel had a son Nathan; Nathan two sons, Joseph and Samuel; Joseph a son Horace. Joseph and Horace still live on land included in the original grant. The old house is quite a Mecca for literary pilgrims. The Byfield Longfellows are prominent in local politics, and have talent as speakers and writers. Samuel, brother of Joseph, lives in Groveland, a neighboring town. He has a daughter Alice, who is making a reputation as a writer and public reader. Joseph, of Byfield, who is a noted wit, says, that when he was a young man he was ashamed of his name, especially as he was literally a Lonr:- fellow; but when Henry Wadsworth began to make a reputation, and people would ask him if he was related to the poet, he became proud of it." 12 HENRY WADSWOETH LONGFELLOW. After completing his college course, Stephen Longfellow taught the village school in York. It was after he had been thus engaged, and was out of employment, that he received the following letter: — Falmouth, Nov. 15, 1744. Sir, — We need a schoolmaster. Mr. Plaisted advises of your being at liberty. If you will undertake the ser- vice in this place, you may depend upon our being gene- rous and your being satisfied. I wish you'd come as soon as possible, and doubt not but you'll find things much to your content. Your humble ser't, Thos. Smith. P.S. — I write in the name and with the power of the selectmen of the town. If you can't serve us, pray ad- vise us of it per first opportunity. The author of the foregoing epistle was the venera- ble guardian of souls in Falmouth, or Portland as it is now called. That Stephen Longfellow consid- ered well the proposal, and acted favorably upon it, is disclosed by the following simple record, which we read in Parson Smith's " Journal," under date of April 11, 1745: "Mr. Longfellow came here to live."i 1 Thomas Smith, the venerable minister whose Journal con- tains so much that is valuable bearing on the early history of Port- land, Me., was born March 10, 1702, the eldest of a large family of children. He graduated at Harvard in 1720, entered at once upon theological studies, and in 1727 was settled in Falmouth, as the first regularly ordained minister in Maine east of Wells. In 1728 he Avas married to Sarah Tyng (daughter of William Tyng, Esq., of Woburii, Mass.), who died Oct. 1, 1742. In 1744 he was married to Mrs. Olive Jordan, widow of Capt. Samuel Jordan of Saco, and THE ANCESTRY OF THE POET. 13 One week later, Mr. Longfellow opened his school *' in a building on the corner of Middle Street and School, now Pearl Street ; " and among his pupils were the names of many of the most prominent fami- lies of that day. His salary was two hundred pounds sterling, not including the tuition-fees, which for each pupil was eighteen shillings and eightpence per year. Matters fared well with the schoolmaster, and his time was not so fully occupied with the duties of his profession that he could not fall in love. He met and became acquainted with Tabitha Bragdon, a daughter of Samuel Bragdon of York ; and on Oct. 19, 1749, he was married to her. Shortly afterwards he forsook his boarding-place at the parsonage,^ and went to live in a house of his own in Fore Street.^ Thither, also, he transferred his school, and continued to teach until 1760, at which time he was appointed clerk of the judicial court. The following notice was annually, with change of date, posted on the schoolhouse door : — ' ' Notice is hereby given to such persons as are disposed to send their children to school in this place the ensuing year, that the year commences this day, and the price will be as usual; viz., eighteen shillings and eightpence lived with her about twenty years. In 1766 he was married to Mrs. Elizabeth Wendell, daughter of John Hunt of Boston. By his first wife, Parson Smith had eight children. He died May 25, 1795, in the ninety-fourth year of his age. 1 In his copy of Smith's Journal, Mr. William Willis says in a MSS. note, "I think Mr. Longfellow boarded with Mr. Smith when he came here until his marriage." 2 The Fore-street house was built on the lot now occupied by the Eagle Sugar Refinery. 14 HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. per year for each scholar that comes by the year, and eight shillings per quarter for such as come by the quarter," There were then no newspapers printed in the town, nor for thirty years afterwards. Stephen Longfellow's father lived long enough to see his son fully entered upon a life of usefulness and honorable distinction ; and when he died (Nov. 7, 1764), he left him a small legacy. " It is an evi- dence of the son's affectionate regard for his father, that, on receiving this legacy, he formed the purpose of converting it into a permanent memorial. Tak- ing the silver coin, he sent it by packet to Boston ; but, unfortunately, the vessel was lost, and the money with it. When the tidings reached Mr, Longfellow, he made up a like amount of silver coin, which reached Boston in safety, and was manufactured by John Butler, a well-known silversmith, into a tank- ard, a can, and two porringers. Each bore the initials " S. L.," and the added words of grateful remem- brance, '"'•Ex dono patrisy The tankard has been preserved ; and one of the porringers, after a some- what eventful history, has found its way back into the family, and is now one of the treasures of the poet's brother, Alexander W. Longfellow." ^ When, on the 18th of October, 1775, Falmouth was bombarded and partially destroyed by the Brit- ish soldiery, among the buildings to fall before the flaming element was the home of Stephen Longfel- 1 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and His Paternal Ancestry, by Rev. H. S. Barrage of Portland. A most admirable memoir, to which I stand much indebted throughout this chapter. THE ANCESTRY OF THE POET. 16 low.^ The house was never rebuilt. The committee appointed to examine and liquidate the accounts of those who suffered in the burning of the town, hav- ing estimated and replaced his loss to the extent of .£1,119, Mr. Longfellow, with other inhabitants of the town, including Parson Deane of the First Parish, removed to Gorham, Me., where he continued to reside until his death, which occurred May 1, 1790. In a brief sketch of his life Mr. Willis thus writes : — " Mr. Longfellow filled many important offices in the town to universal acceptance. He was about fifteen years grammar-school master, town clerk twenty-two years, many years clerk of the proprietors of the common land, and from the establishment of the county in 1760 to the commencement of the Revolution in 1775 he was register of probate and clerk of the judicial courts. His hand- writing, in beautiful characters, symbolical of the purity and excellence of his own moral character, is impressed on all the records of the town and county through many successive years." ^ To Stephen Longfellow, by his wife Tabitha were born three sons and one daughter.^ Of these, Wil- liam died in childhood ; Samuel left no children ; 1 " October 16, a fleet of five or six vessels of war anchored at the Island with Mowat, a cat bomb ship, two cutter schooners and a small bomb sloop. On the 17ti>, they came up before the town, p.m. ; sent word that in two hours they should fire upon the town, which was respited. On the ISt'i, at nine a.m. they began and continued until dark, with their mortars and cannon, when with marines land- ing, they burnt all the lower part of the town and up as far as Mr. Bradbury's, excepting Mrs. Ross' two houses, and son Thomas' shop and stores, my house being included." — Smith's Journal, anno 1775. 2 Note to his edition of Smith's Journal, p. 118. 3 Tabitha, who became the wife of Capt. John Stephenson in 1771, 16 HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. and Stephen, the eldest, was born Aug. 3, 1750. In the early years of his manhood he became acquainted with Patience Young of York, and married her on Dec. 13, 1773. He lived in Gorham, and died there May 28, 1824. During his life, Stephen Longfellow took an active part in the affairs of his town and county. Besides having been extensively employed as a surveyor, and having held several town offices, he had the honor of representing Gorham in the General Court of Massachusetts for eight years. For several years he was a senator from Cumberland County; and, from 1797 to 1811, he was judge of the Court of Common Pleas. There are still living not a few who remem- ber with what dignity he was wont to be driven into Portland in an old squai:e-top chaise, and, dis- mounting, made his way into the court-house under the escort of the sheriff. " He was a fine-looking gentleman, with the bearing of the old school ; was erect, portly, rather taller than the average, had a strongly-marked face, and his hair was tied behind in a club with black ribbon. To the close of his life he wore the old-style dress, — knee-breeches, a long waistcoat, and white-top boots. He was a man of sterling qualities of mind and heart, great integ- rity, and sound common sense." Of his children, Stephen Longfellow, the sec- ond child, was born in Gorham, March 23, 1776. To him belongs the honor of having been the father of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the poet. He was most carefully trained in his youth, and was evidently fitted by his parents for a professional THE ANdESTKY OF THE POET. 17 career He early gave promise of the same intellec- tual strength which characterized his father and grandfather, and was sent to Harvard College in 1794, A college friend, two years his senior, said of him in later life, "He was evidently a well-bred gen- tleman when he left the paternal' mansion for the university. He seemed to breathe the atmosphere of purity as his native element ; while his bright intelligence, buoyant spirits, and social warmth, dif- fused a sunshine of joy that made his presence always gladsome." And another writer says, " that he was a favorite in his class is the testimony of his asso- ciates. But he went to college for other purposes than good-fellowship. He was an earnest, exemplary student. His scholarship entitled him to high rank ; and, having completed the course, he left the univer- sity with a full share of its honors." Mr. Longfellow was graduated from college in 1798 in the class with Judge Story and Dr. Chan- ning ; and, on returning home, he entered the law- office of Salmon Chase, who was an uncle of the late chief justice of the United States. Three years later he was admitted to the bar, and at once began to prosper in the midst of an extensive practice. In 1804, on the first of January, he married Zilpah,i the eldest daughter of Gen. Peleg Wadsworth, who was the son of Deacon Peleg Wadsworth of Duxbury, Mass., and was the fifth in descent from Christopher Wadsworth, who came from England and settled in 1 By this marriage were born four sons and four daughters, — Steplien, Henry W. (the poet), Alexander W., Samuel, Elizabeth, Anne, Mary, and Ellen. 18 HENRY WADS WORTH LONGFELLOW. that town before 1632, and whose known descend- ants in the United States are now numbered by thousands. The Peleg Wadsworth, jun., of military fame, was born at Duxbury, May 6, 1748 ; graduated at Har- vard in 1769 ; and married, in 1772, Elizabeth Bartlett of the same town. Their children, through their mother and grandmother Wadsworth, who was Susanna Sampson, inherited the blood of five of the "Mayflower" pilgrims, including Elder Brewster and Capt. John Alden.^ When was " fired the shot heard round the world," from the quiet meadows of Lexington and Concord, Peleg Wadsworth caught something of the inspira- tion of the hour, and was among the first to march in the defence of freedom. The tidings of the revo- lutionary struggle already begun speedily reached his native village ; and Wadsworth at once set about raising a company of minute-men, of which, in Sep- tember, 1775, he was commissioned captain by the Continental Congress then in session. In the follow- ing year he engineered in laying out the defences of Roxbury ; was an aid on the staff of Gen. Ward when Dorchester Heights were occupied in March of the same year ; and, in 1778, he was appointed adjutant-general of his State. After the failure of the Bagaduce expedition in the ensuing year, the British pursued a system of outrageous plundering on the shores of Penobscot Bay and the neighboring coast, in which they were I Memoir of Gen. Peleg Wadsworth, by Hon. William Goold, from which I have borrowed freely in this chapter. THE ANCESTKY OB^ THE POET. 19 piloted and assisted by the numerous Tories who had gathered at Bagaduce and in the vicinity. In order to protect the people from this plundering, the Con- gress in 1780 ordered six hundred men to be detached from the three eastern brigades of the State, for eight months' service. The command of the whole eastern department, between the Piscataqua and St. Croix, was given to Gen. Wadsworth, with power to raise more troops if they were needed. He was also em- powered to declare and execute martial law over territory ten miles in width, upon the coast eastward of Kennebec, according to the rules of the American army. His headquarters were established at Thom- aston. At the expiration of the terra of service of tlie six hundred troops. Gen. Wadsworth was left with only six soldiers as a guard at his house. His family consisted of his wife, a son of five years of age, and a Miss Fenno of Boston, a particular friend of his wife. As soon as he was informed of Gen. Wads- worth's insecure position, Gen. McLane at Bagaduce sent forward a party of men for the purpose of mak- ing him a prisoner. They came in a vessel, and anchored four miles oif. At midnight, on the 18th of February, 1781, they marched on foot to the Wadsworth residence, where they were met by a most determined resistance. During the encounter, Gen. Wadsworth was shot in the arm, and, finding himself completely overpowered, surrendered, and was hurried off to the vessel. He was taken across the bay to Castine, and retained as a prisoner in Fort George. His treatment during this confinement was 20 HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. in every respect agreeable. Four months later Mrs.. Wads worth and Miss Fenno, with a passport from Gen. McLane, arrived at Bagaduce, and were politely entertained for ten days. " In the mean time," we are told, " orders had arrived from the commanding general at New York, in answer to a communication from Gen. McLane. Their purport was learned, from a hint conveyed to Miss Fenno by an officer, that the general was not to be exchanged, but would be sent to some English prison. When Miss Fenno left, she gave the general all the information she dared to. She said, ' Gen. Wadsworth, take care of yourself.' This the general interpreted to mean that he was to be conveyed to England, and he determined to make his escape from the fortress if possible. Soon after, a vessel arrived from Boston, with a flag of truce from the governor and council, asking for an exchange for the general, and bringing a sum of money for his use ; but the request was refused." ^ On the night of the 18th of June, Gen. Wads- worth and a fellow-prisoner, Major Burton, made their escape from the building in which they were confined, by passing through an opening made in the board ceiling with a gimlet. They evaded the senti- nels, and finally got off in safety, arriving on the third day at Thomaston. Gen. Wadsworth was not a little amazed to learn that his family had left for Boston. He soon followed them, pausing for a while at Falmouth, where he finally fixed his residence. How Gen. Wadsworth appeared at this time to his friends and family is evidenced by the following 1 Mr. Goold, Memoir cited. THE ANCESTRY OF THE POET. 21 letter, dated "Jcimiary, 1848," and written by his daughter Zilpah. It reads, — "Perhaps you would like to see my father's picture as it was when we came to this town (Falmouth) after the war of the Revolution in 1784. Imagine to yourself a man of middle size, well proportioned, with a military air, and who carried himself so truly that many thought him tall. His dress a bright scarlet coat, buff small clothes and vest, full ruffled bosom, ruffles over the hands, white stockings, shoes with silver buckles, white cravat bow in front ; hair well powdered, and tied behind in a club, so called. ... Of his character others may speak, but I cannot forbear to claim for him an uncommon share of benevolence and kind feeling. ' ' Gen. Wadsworth settled in Falmouth in 1784; and in December of that year he purchased, for one hun- dred pounds lawful money, the lot of land in Fal- mouth on which he erected his home. In the deed the purchase is described as " lying north-east of a lot now possessed by Capt. Arthur McLellan, being four rods in front, and running towards Back Cove, and containing one and one-half acres, being part of three acres originally granted to Daniel IngersoU, as appears on the records of the town of Falmouth, Book No. 1, p. 46." 1 While he was building his house, the general and his family resided in a building which belonged to Gapt. Jonathan Paine.^ It was originally con- 1 " Tliis is the Congress-street lot on which he erected his house and store." — Gookl. 2 This house stood on what is now the south corner of Franklin and Congress Streets. 22 HENKY WADSWOHTH LONGFELLOW. structed for a stable, but had previoiisl}' been ten- anted by certain families resident in the town. The house which Gen. Wadsworth chose to erect was unlike others belonging to that period. "There had then been no attempt in the town to construct all the walls of a building of brick — indeed, there had been no suitable brick for walls made here. At that time brick buildings were expected to have a projecting base of several courses, the top one to be of brick fashioned for the purpose, the outer end of which formed a regular moulding when laid on edge and endwise ; and the walls receded several inches to the perpendicular face. Several houses besides Gen. Wadsworth 's were commenced in this way. In the spring of 1785 the general obtained brick for his house in Philadelphia, including those for the base, and a belt above the first story. John Nichols was the master mason." The house was not finished until after the seclond spring; and that it was "thoroughly built," and not inartistic in its external appearance, all who look upon it to-day will bear testimony. No other brick house was erected in the town until three years later. " The Wadsworth house when originally fin- ished had a high pitched roof of two equal sides, and four chimneys. The store adjoined the house at the south-east, with an entrance-door from the house, and was of two stories. Here the general sold all kinds of goods needed in the town and country trade. His name appears in the records with some forty others, as licensed ' retailers ' of the town in 1785. What time he gave up the store is uncertain." THE ANCESTRY OF THE J'OET. 23 In 1792 Geu. Wadswortli was elected to the Mas- sachusetts Senate, and in the same way he was also chosen to represent the Cumberland district in Con- gress. He held the last-named position until 1806, when he declined a re-election. Two years before his election to Congress, the general purchased from Wadsworth House. the State of Massachusetts 7,500 acres of wild land in the township on the Saco River now known as Hiram. He paid $937.50 for the property, or twelve and a half cents per acre, as early as possible he began to clear a farm on a large scale, and with what success appears from the following paragraph in "The Eastern Herald" of Sept. 10, 1792, pub- lished in Portland : — 24 HEN^Y WADSWOliTH LONGFELLOW. " Gen. Wadsworth thinks he has raised more than oni* thousand bushels of corn this season, on burnt land, that is now out of danger of the frost, at a place called Great Ossipee, about thirty-six miles from this town. This is but the third year of his improvements." Three years after this successful result had been thus reported, the general settled his son, Charles Lee Wadsworth, on the farm, and in 1800 began preparations with the view of removing thither him- self with all his family. In the same year he com- meijced building a large house on the land, which house is still standing one mile from Hiram Village. We are told that "the clay for the bricks of the chim- neys was brought down Saco River three miles in a boat. This house was of two stories, with a railed outlook on the ridge between the two chimneys. There was a very- large one-story kitchen adjoining, with an immense chimney and fireplace. Years after its building, the general's youngest son, Peleg, said, that, at the time of the erection of the house, he was seven years old, and was left by his father to watch the fires in the eleven fireplaces, which were kindled to dry the new masonry, while he rode to the post- road for his mail, and that he had not felt such a weight of responsibility since. The Wadsworth family began housekeeping in their new house on New Year's Day, 1807 ; and the general and his son Charles at once engaged in the arduous duties of lumbering and farming. He never was so busy, however, that he could not lend his services in the public interest. In 1812 he was THE ANCESTRY OF THE POET. ' 25 chosen selectman of the town, and continued to fill the office until 1818. For twelve successive years he was also the town treasurer: "■ He was a magis- trate, and was looked upon as the patriarch of the town. He was a patron of-education, and his home was the central point of the region for hospitality and culture. He was long a communicant of the Congregational Church, and so continued until his death at the age of eighty-one." Gen. Wadsworth died in 1829, having been bereft of his devoted wife four years before. The graves of the aged couple are still pointed out in a private enclosure on the home farm, but the original modest headstones have been replaced by a marble monu- ment of more pretentious appearance. Of the children of Gen. Wadsworth, of whom there were eleven, the following is the record: The eldest was born at Kingston, Mass., in 1774, and died in the next year at Dorchester. Charles Lee was born at Plymouth in January, 1776, and died at Hiram on Sept. 29, 1848. Zilpah, the eldest daughter, was born at Duxbury, Jan. 6, 1778, and died in Portland, March 12, 1851. Elizabeth, born in Boston, Sept. 21, 1779, died in Portland, Aug. 1, 1802. John, born at Plymouth, Sept. 1, 1781, was graduated at Harvard in 1800, and died at Hiram, Jan. 22, 1860. Lucia, born at Plymouth, June 12, 1783, died in Portland, Oct. 17, 1864. Henry, born at Portland, Me., on June 21, 1785, died at Tripoli, Sept. 4, 1804. George, born in Portland, Jan. 6, 1788, died in Philadelphia, April 8, 1816. Alexander Scammell, born in Portland, May 7, 1790, died at 26 HENKY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. Washington, April 5, 1851. Samuel Bartlett, born in Portland, Sept, 1, 1791, died at Eastport, Oct. 2, 1874. Peleg, born in Portland, Oct. 10, 1793, died at Hiram, Jan. 17, 1875. Two of the sons of the general were officers in the United States Navy. At the age of nineteen, Henry became a lieutenant, and served in Commo- dore Preble's squadron before Tripoli in 1804. The stor}^ of his lamented death is told in the inscription on a marble cenotaph erected by his father to his memory, now visible in the Eastern Cemetery in Portland.^ It was from this gallant young officer, 1 This cenotaph is near the graves o£ the captains of the Enter- prise and Boxer, and bears the following inscriptions: — [S. W. PACE.] In memory of HENRY WADSWORTH, — son of — PELIG WADSWORTH, Lieut. U. 8. Navy, — who fell — Before the walls of Trip- oli on the eve of 4th Sept., — 1S04 — in the 20th year of his age by the explosion of a — fire ship — which lie with others gallantly conducted against the Enemy. [n. e. face.] My country calls. This world adieu : I have one life, That life I give for you. [S. E. FACE.] Determined at once they prefer death and the destruction of — the Enemy — to captivity and tortur- ing slaverj-. Com. Preble's letter. [N. W. FACE.] "An honor to his country and an example to all excellent youth." Resolve of Congress. Capt. Richard Soraers, Lieut. Henry Wadsworth, Lieut. Joseph Israel, and 10 brave sc.imen volunteers were the devoted band. THE ANCESTRY OF THE POET. 27 his uncle, that the poet Longfellow received his name. The other son, Alexander Scammell, of he- roic distinction, was second lieutenant of the friofate " Constitution " at the time of her memorable battle in August, 1812, in which she captured the British frigate " Guerriere." So well did he acquit himself that his fellow-townsmen of Portland presented him with a sword for his gallantry. Lieut. Wadsworth afterwards rose to the rank of commodore. The eldest daughter of Gen. Wadsworth is re- ported to have " performed her part in life as bravely, and died as much beloved and honored, as did her gallant brothers of the navy." At the time when her father moved into the brick house in Portland, Zilpah was eight years of age, and bore nobly the "inconveniences and discomforts of the unfinished quarters in which they lived while the house was building." In June, 1799, the first uniformed com- pany in Maine was organized at Portland ; and Zil- pah Wadsworth had the honor to present a military standard to the company, in behalf of the ladies of the town. On one side of the flag was the motto, "Defend the laws," and the arms of the United States ; on the reverse, the same arms united with those of the State of Massachusetts. In 1804 Gen. Wadsworth and his family were residing, as has already been stated, in the brick house which he had erected in Portland ; and here it was, probably, that Stephen Longfellow, having already met and loved Zilpah, was united to her in marriage on the first of January of that year. For one year after their marriage the young couple 28 HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. resided at the Wadsworth mansion. The next year they removed to a small two-story wooden house, still standing on the south corner of Congress and Temple Streets, immediately opposite the First Parish Church ; and here it was that they began their first housekeeping. At the same period of -time, a rich merchant of Portland, Samuel Stephen- son, was living in the large square wooden house, yet standing on the corner of Fore and Hancock Streets. His wife, Abigail Longfellow, was a sister of Stephen ; and, as her husband had been suddenly called to the West Indies on a luatter of business, she invited her brother, with his family, to spend the winter of 1806-7 with her. Thus it was, that, temporarily, the young lawyer changed his abiding- place, and became a resident in a house that hence- forth and for all time was to be remembered as the birthplace of a poet. After the departure of the family of Gen. Wads- worth to Hiram, Stephen Longfellow removed to the brick house, and thenceforth made it his permanent home. The old store, where the general had sold so many goods, was at once moved out of the way ; and in its place was built the brick vestibule at the east corner, over which was placed a modest sign, bearing the words, " Stephen Longfellow, Counsellor- at-Law." The eastern front-room was occupied for the law-office ; and within this office, it should be noted, " several young students read ' Coke and Blackstone,' who afterwards became prominent law- yers of Cumberland County." In 1814 Stephen Longfellow was sent to the THE ANCESTRY OF THE POET. 29 Legislature of Massachusetts, and during his term of service he was also chosen a member of the cele- brated Hartford Convention. It was just after his return home that occurred the following incident. "While Mrs. Longfellow was indisposed, and the family physician was in attendance, the servant overheated the kitchen flue, which took fire, and communicated it to the attic, which the family knew nothing of until it broke out through the roof. Mr. Longfellow was the chief fire-ward of the depart- ment ; but his first thought was of his sick wife, whom he hastily inquired for of Dr. Weed. He told Mr. Longfellow to look to the fire, and he would take care of his wife. When it became evident that the house must be flooded, the doctor, who was a tall, muscular man, wrapped Mrs. Longfellow in a blanket, and carried her in his arms into Madame Preble's, the next door, — now the hotel. After it had nearly destroyed the roof, the fire was extin- guished. To give accommodation to his increasing family, Mr. Longfellow shortly afterwards added a third story to the house ; and in place of the original high, two-sided one, he had built a low four-sided or ' hipped ' roof, with the chimneys the same." As thus repaired, " the venerable structure around which so much of historical interest clusters has remained to the present time." It remains for us now simply to trace the events of Stephen Longfellow's noblo and useful life to its close. Thenceforth he was largely the servant of his fellow-townsmen. In 1816 he was chosen a presidential elector, and in 1822 was elected a mem- 30 HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. ber of the Eighteenth Congress. At the close of his term of office he retired altogether from political affairs, and resolved to devote the remaining years of his life to the practice of his profession. He was not lost sight of, however, whenever work for which he was eminently fitted was to be performed. When Lafayette visited Portland, in 1825, it was Mr. Long- fellow who gave him the address of welcome. The task was most gracefully executed, and drew out from the valiant Frenchman the following equally graceful allusion to Mr. Longfellow. "While I offer," said Lafayette, "to the people of Portland, and to you, gentlemen, my respectful thanks, I am happy to recognize in the kind organ of their kind- ness to me the member of Congress who shared in the flattering invitation which has been to me a source of inexpressible honor and delight." Mr. Longfellow served as a trustee of Bowdoin College from 1817 to 1836, and received the degree of Doctor of Laws from the same institution in 1828. He was recording secretary of the Maine Historical Society from 1825 to 1830, and in 1834 he was elected president of the society. On the 3d of August, 1849, at the age of seventy-four, his life came to a peaceful close. " No man," says Mr. Willis in his " Law, Courts, and Lawyers of Maine," " more surely gained the confidence of all who ap- proached him, or held it firmer ; and those who knew him best loved him most. In the manage- ment of his causes, he went with zeal and direct- ness of purpose to every point which could sustain it. There was no travelling out of the record with THE ANCESTKY Or THE POET. 31 him, nor a wandering away from the line of his argument after figures of speech or fine rhetoric ; biit he was j)lain, straightforward, and effective in his appeals to the jury, and by his frank and cordial manner won them to his cause." "Such in public life," says another writer, " was the father of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. In the domestic circle the noble traits of his character were no less apparent. His home was one of refinement and the purest social virtues ; and she who shared its direction with him not only adorned it with rare womanly grace, but gave to it many* an added charm." 32 HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. CHAPTER II. BIRTH AND EARLY CHILDHOOD. (1807-1821.) HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW, second son of Stephen and Zilpah Longfellow, was born in Portland, Me., on the 27th of February, 1807. At the tune of this interesting and now memorable event, the parents were, as we have already observed, sojourning for a season in the house of Capt. Samuel Stephenson, situated on that part of Fore Street fronting the beach, east of India Street, near where the paternal grandfather had lived just previous to the burning of the town by Mowatt in 1775. For a long time this had been recognized as the fashionable locality of the town, and not a few of the most prominent people in the town were dwellers along the line of this beach. As far back as 1632, the spot had been settled by George Cleaves; and, for nearly two centuries afterwards, it commanded a fine view of the harbor, the cape, and the islands of Casco Bay. But since, with the flight of years, the scene has been altered ; the beach has disappeared , and the waters of the harbor have been pushed farther out, by the land made for the extension of BIRTH AND EARLY CHILDHOOD. 33 tlie tracks of the Grand Trunk Railway, whose en- gine-liouse now occupies the site of Fort Loyal, cap- tured by the French and Indians in 1690. The garrison was carried captive through the wilderness to Montreal, the objective point of the railroad whose trains now start from the same spot. The house in which the future poet was born is still standing on its ancient site at the corner of Longfellow's Birthplace as it appears in 1882. Fore and Hancock Streets ; and it is a matter of con- gratulation, that, in the great conflagration which swept the city in 1866, this famous building escaped the devouring element. The house was built by one Campbell, who afterwards became known as a truck- man. Forty years ago it was occupied by the late Jedediah Dow, on the Hancock-street side, and the 34 HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. late Joshua Emery in the part fronting on the beach. The accompanying illustration exhibits the house just as it appears to-day, and, with one exceptional feature, just as it always appeared to the passer-by. The projection, which is seen on one corner, on the front, is an addition of latter years, built for the accommodation of a shop in the basement or cellar. But now the old mansion has seen its best days : the weight of years has told somewhat heavily on its skeleton, and its airy rooms are now tenanted by several families.^ We know not what signs prognosticated the birth of the young infant, whose name and fame were des- tined to become household words throughout the civilized world. But we may assume that they were all auspicious, even though no one could divine in them jjrospects of future greatness. It was for- tunate for any child to have been born of such parentage, and amid such surroundings. In the family circle centred all those traits of culture and refinement, and those pure social virtues, which can but impart strength to infancy, and inspire youth. On the one hand was a father of well-trained and well-balanced mind, not old in years, but yet expe- rienced in good works, a prominent member of the bar, and in the enjoyment of the respect of his 1 The house in which the poet was born is known to all the school-children in Portland. One day, not long since, a teacher in one of the public schools, after giving divers lessons on Longfellow's beautiful life, asked her pupils if any of them knew where the poet was born. A little hand went up in a hurry; and a small voice piped fortli, " in Patsey Connor's bedroom," — Master Connor being now one of the occupants of the old Longfellow house. BIRTH AND EARLY CHILDHOOD. 35 fellow-townsmen. On the other hand, a mother who shared with her husband all fair and noble traits, and who was still further adorned with a rare womanly grace, an evenness a«d gentleness of tem- per, and an affectionate regard for whatever is best in life. To such parents, a child, even though he were the second, could not have come unbidden ; and, such being the case, it was not jDossible for him not to liave combined in his own nature much that was admirable and common to both. If, in form and figure and in physiognomy, there was much that reminded of his mother, and of the Wadsworth side of the house, there were not wanting evidences of those marked qualities of mind and person which had so forcibly characterized his paternal ancestry through many generations. When it came time to bestow a name, the mother's heart went out ten- derly towards that gallant brother, Lieut. Henry Wadsworth, who, before Tripoli, surrendered his life while bravely serving his country ; and in token of him, his uncle,, \yas.the infant named. When the spring season had fairly opened, Ste- phen Longfellow moved his family into the brick house built by Gen. Wadsworth, and which the latter had forsaken not many weeks before. In this grand old mansion the child Henry Wadsworth Longfellow spent the early years of his youth. He had scarcely attained the age of five years, when it was determined, in the home circle, that he should be put to school. At that time the modern kindergarten was unknown, and not yet had school- masters and school-dames become conscious of the 36 HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. fact that pleasures and pastimes are potent auxilia- ries in a course of mental training. Not far from the home of the Longfellows, in Spring Street, just above High Street, stood a small brick schoolhouse, presided over by Ma'am Fellows, a most exemplary lady, who had " taught school '' for many years, and had grown gray in the practice of rigid discipline. She was a firm believer in the idea that " one should never smile in school-hours," and she exercised her views on this topic very much to the terror of the young striplings who were placed under her charge. " My recollections of my first teacher," said the poet, after the lapse of threescore and ten years, " are not vivid : but I recall that she was bent on giving me a right start in life ; that she thought that even very young children should be made to know the differ- ence between right and wrong ; and that severity of manner was more practical than gentleness of per- suasion. She inspired me with one trait, — that is, a genuine respect for my elders." For some reason, — it is forgotten what, — the boy did not long remain a pupil of Ma'am Fellows ; and, after the first vacation, he was sent by his parents to the town-school on Love Lane, now Centre Street, where he remained just a fortnight. He was then placed in a private school, presided over by Nathaniel H. Carter, which was kept in a small, one-story wooden building on the west side of Preble Street, near Congress. He continned to be a pupil at this school until Mr. Carter became an instructor in the Portland Academy, at which time he attracted many of his old pupils, including Henry Wadsworth, to BIRTH AND EARLY CHILDHOOD. 37 his new field of labor. In those days, colleges were few, and academies numerous ; and of these New- England academies, at which those at East Hampton, Andover, and Exeter still survive to attest to what we have lost, a deservedly prominent one was that at Portland. Thither was young Longfellow trans- ferred to be prepared for college, — at first under the direction of Mr. Carter, and subsequently under the head-master, Mr. Bezaleel Cushman, a graduate of Dartmouth College, who assumed charge of the academy in 1815, and occupied the position upwards of twenty-six years. Mr. Cushman afterwards be- came one of the editors of " The New- York Evening Post," and, during a sojourn in Europe, furnished to its columns a brilliant series of letters, — then as dis- tinguishing a feature of metropolitan journalism as their absence would be at the present day. Another teacher, to whom belongs the honor of having im- parted to the future poet many valuable lessons, was the late Mr. Jacob Abbott, at that time an usher in the academy, and an apprentice in the art of school- teaching. ^ 1 Jacob Abbott was born at Hallowell, Me., Nov. 14, 1803. He graduated from Bowdoin College in the class of 1820; studied the- ology at Andover from 1822 to 1824; was tutor at Amherst College in 1824-5; and was appointed professor of mathematics in the same institution in 1825, and held the position until 1829; became prin- cipal of the Mount Vernon School (for young ladies) in Boston in 1829, and remained there until 1834. During the next two years he was pastor of the Eliot Church in Roxbury. Mr. Abbott's reputation as an author was established by the " Young Christian " series, begun in 1825; but he is best known as the author of the "Rollo" books (28 volumes), and other stories for youth, some of which have been ,translated into the various languages of Europe and Asia. Hi& death occurred on Oct. 31, 1S79. 38 HENRY WADSWOETH LONGFELLOW Under such inspiring teachers, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's progress was rapid ; and in 1821 he was able to enroll his name as a freshman in Bowdoin College. He was then in the fourteenth year of his age ; and the fact of his being ready at such an age for college, though not unprecedented, was early, even for that time, when colleges were less exacting and boys more precocious than now. Already had the boy given evidences that led others to the expectation that his would be a literarj^ career. While yet in his ninth year, he wrote his first verses. There is a tradition that his master wanted him to write a composition, a task from which the boy very naturally shrank. " You can write words, can you not ? " asked the teacher. "Yes," was the response. " Then, you can put words together ? " " Yes, sir." " Then," said the instructor, " you may take your slate, and go out behind the schoolhouse, and there you can find something to write about ; and then you can tell what it is, what it is for, and what is to be done with it ; and that will be a compo- sition." Henry took his slate and went out. He went be- hind Mr. Finney's barn, which chanced to be near ; and, seeing a fine turnip growing up, he thought he knew what that was, what it was for, and what would be done with it. A half-hour had been allowed young Henry for his first undertaking in writing compositions. Within BIRTH AND EARLY CHILDHOOD. 39 the prescribed time he carried in his work, all ac- complished, and surprised his teacher.^ When the boy was barely thirteen years of age, and still a pjupil at the Portland Academy, he com- posed a bolder effort, which is still preserved in man- uscript, entitled "Venice, an Italian Song." The manuscript is dated " Portland Academy, March 17, 1820," and is signed with the full name of the writer. The first published poem of young Longfellow was on " Lovewell's Fight." It was composed while he was attending the academy, and just after he had been reading an account of the French and Indian war. Having written it to his taste, and copied it neatly on a fresh sheet of paper, it suddenly occurred to him that it was worthy of being printed. The young author had never yet seen aught of his compositions in type ; and, unlike many writers of later day, he was extremely shy about making a beginning. But the persuasion of one of his schoolfellows overcame his modesty; and so, late on a certain evening, he mustered up courage to go and drop the manuscript into the editorial-box of one of the two weekly newspapers then published in the town. He waited patiently for the next issue of the paper, and was not a little chagrined to find, that, when it did ap- pear, — the poem was left out. The weeks flew by, and still the poem remained unpublished. In a fit of disgust, the young author repaired to the editorial 1 Mr. Owen first related to me this anecdote. The poem, how- ever, is not in existence; though what i>urports to he the poem (a composition of recent dale and hy other hands) is, I observe, afloat in the newspapers. 40 HENRY WADS WORTH LOiXGFELLOW. sanctum, and demanded the return of the manuscript. The request was granted; and Longfellow then car- ried it to the editor of the rival newspaper, — " The Portland Gazette," — by whom it was accepted and published. Thenceforth the poet was at liberty to print in the columns of the journal whatever he might happen to write ; nor did he permit the oppor- tunity to slip by unimproved.^ And now, for a few moments, let us glance at some of the surroundings of the young poet. It is interest- ing at all times to note the early surroundings of a great man, whatever may be the field of his great- ness ; and especially is this true of a great poet, who has woven into his verses, as has Longfellow, so many recollections of his boyhood. The year 1807 is not only illustrious on account of the birth of Longfel- low : it was also a year of marked events in the his- tory of the place of his birth. It witnessed the beginning of many things whose influence impressed the mind of Longfellow, and still remains with the people of the town. In this year Avas also born another poet in Portland, — the late Nathaniel P. Willis ; ^ in the same yearc, the Rev. Edward Paj^son began, as the colleague of Rev. Elijah Kellogg, his 1 Mr. Longfellow was exceedingly fond of this theme, and once told me that he intended sometime to write on it again. Several amusing incidents grew out of our search for an old ballad on Love- well's Fight, which he was very anxious to obtain. I shall allude to these in a later chapter. ^ Nathaniel Parker Willis was born in Portland, Jan. 20, 1807. Re- moved to Boston, wliere he attended the Latin School, and subse- quently Phillips Academy at Andover ; was graduated from Yale College in the class of 1827. He then entered upon that literary career which gave him fame and fortune, and which he continued almost to the close of his life. He died Jan. 20, 18G7. BIRTH AND EARLY CHILDHOOD. 41 wonderful pastorate of twenty years in Portland ; in the same year, the third parish meeting-house, in which the late Rev. Dr. Dwight so long officiated, was built. But perhaps the most memorable event of all others was the fact that the commerce of Port land, which had gone on increasing with giant strides for a period of more than ten years, and had The Old Wharf. at length reached a high state of prosperity, suddenly fell, in 1807, under the crushing stroke of the em- bargo, and caused ruin and disaster throughout the entire community. It was the culmination of a period of great prosperity, and the beginning of a season of adversity, ending in the calamities of war. Navigation fell off nine thousand tons in two years: 42 HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. all the various classes to whom it gave support were thrown out of employment, and many large houses were forced to suspend payment. The greatest dis- tress prevailed everywhere, and "the grass literally grew upon the wharves." Five years later came the second war with Eng- land, which, for the time being, gave a slight impulse to activity. Several privateers were fitted out, com- panies were organized, and fortifications were thrown up on Munjoy's Hill, at the north-eastern extremity of the Neck, and garrisons were established in them. Here begin the recollections of the poet, then a boy of six years of age, as recorded in his poem of " My Lost Youth." " I remember the bulwarks by the shore, And the fort upon the hill ; The sunrise gun, with its hollow roar, The drum-beat repeated o'er and o'er. And the bugle wild and shrill. And the music of that old song Throbs in my memory still : ' A boy's will is the wind's will. And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.'" On Sept. 4, 1813, "The Boxer," British brig of war, Capt. S. Blythe, was captured off the Maine coast by the American brig " Enterprise," Lieut. W. Burrows, and on the morning of the seventh was brought into Portland Harbor. On the next day both commanders, who had been killed in the en- counter, were buried with imposing and impressive ceremonies in the cemetery at the foot of Munjoy's BIRTH AND EARLY CHILDHOOD. 43 Hill. The poet thus records his recollection of this solemn event : — " I remember the sea-fight far away, How it thundered o'er the tide ! And the dead captains, as they lay In their graves, o'erlooking the tranquil bay, Where they in battle died." Peace came in 1815, and not before this event did the town fully recover from the hardships occa- sioned by the embargo. For several years afterwards, prosperity and the population increased slowly but surely. In the year 1800, there were 3,704 inhabit- ants in the town ; in 1810, they had increased to 7,169 ; and in 1820, there were but 8,581. It is in this little town of barely 8,000 inhabitants that we have now to picture to ourselves as the scene, of Longfellow's boyhood, — " The beautiful town That is seated by the sea." It lay chiefly on the narrow peninsula, or " Neck," in the depression between the two hills which mark its extremities, — Munjoy Hill and Bramhall. With- in the space of two centuries, the ground had become historic. It was a pleasant site, not then, as now, hemmed in by new-made land encroaching on the^ sea. It commanded a full view of the waters of the bay, and those " Islands that were the Hesperides Of all my boyish dreams." 44 HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. Almost in front of the birthplace of the poet, and skirting the road on the seaward side, lay the beach, the scene of many a baptism on a sabbath-day. But it was not here that the poet spent his boyhood ; for, with the growth of the town, his parents moved on, Birthplace of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and, at a later period, established themselves in what is now the heart of the city. With the revival of commerce after the war, trade with the West Indies sprang up ; and " low-decked brigs carried out cargoes of lumber and dried fish, bringing back sugar, rum, and molasses." The dis- charging of a full cargo was wont to set the whole town in an uproar, and the wharves (chiefly Long BIRTH AND EARLY CHILDHOOD, 45 Wharf and Portland Pier) "resounded with tlie songs of the negro stevedores hoisting the hogsheads from the hold without the aid of a winch : the long- trucks with heavy loads were tugged by straining horses, under the whips and loud cries of the truck- men. Liquor was lavislily supplied to laboring men, and it made them turbulent and uproarious." A well-known author, who has done not a little to unfold the glories and to preserve the old-time recollections of his native State (the Rev. Elijah Kel- logg),i has given us the following lively picture of Portland at this time, on a winter morning : — " Then you might have seen lively times. A string of board-teams from George Libby's to Portland Pier ; sleds gro\yling ; surveyors running about like madmen, a shingle in one hand and a rule-staff in the other; cattle white with frost, and their nostrils hung with icicles ; teamsters screaming and halloo- ing ; Herrick's tavern and Huckler's Row lighted up, and the loggerheads hot to give customers their morning-dram." Of such scenes as these, and of others which com- mingled with them, the poet sings, — " I remember the black wharves and the slips, And the sea-tides tossing free ; And Spanish sailors with bearded lips, And the beauty and niystery of the ships, And the magic of the sea." 1 Now known as the author of the " Ehn Island" stories, the "Pleasant Cove" series, the "Whispering Pine" series, etc. His story of Good Old Times abounds in pleasant pictures of life in the early days in the State of iSIaine, and, though written for young people, will be heartily enjoyed by older readers. 46 HENRY WADSWOETH LONGFELLOW. At this time also, Portland had quite a lumber- trade ; and, as if this were not enough to cause a tumult, it had furthermore its distilleries and tan- neries and ropewalks and a pottery. The two last impressed themselves on the mind of the boy Long- fellow, and, after many years, suggested to him the poem of " The Ropewalk," whose familiar stanzas, begin as follows : — " In that building, long and low, With its windows all a-row, Like the port-holes of a hulk, Human spiders spin and spin, Backward down their threads so thin Dropping, each a hempen bulk. All these scenes do I behold, These, and many left untold. In that building long and low ; While the wheel goes round and round, With a drowsy, dreamy sound, And the spinners backward go." Also the poem " Keramos," — "Turn, turn, my wheel ! Turn round and round Without a pause, without a sound ; So spins the flying world away ! " But let us go back over threescore 5''ears, and look farther into the heart of the " dear old town.'' In Middle Street, blocks of brick stores have already begun to take the place of the dwelling-houses, where once lived many of the gentry of the town. Market Square is, on all sides, surrounded by small wooden shops ; and on the left, as we enter the BIRTH AND EARLY CHILDHOOD. 47 square, stands Marston's tavern, to which Mowatt was taken as a prisoner by Col. Thompson and his men, in June, 1775. Not far off, in the centre of the square, stand the hay-scales, and next to them the market-house, and, just beyond, a small row of wooden shops, terminating in "a heater," nearly opposite the head of Preble Street. At the corner of Preble Street stands the brick mansion, sur- rounded with a spacious garden, of the widow of Commodore Edward Preble, the hero of Tripoli; and adjacent, "somewhat back from the village street," is the brick house built by Gen. Wadsworth, and, since 1807, occupied by Stephen Longfellow, Esq. This is the home — not the birthplace, be it remembered — of the future poet. In front of these mansions, extending from Preble nearly to Brown Street, is the wood-market, " where the teams, loaded with cord-wood brought in from the country, stand, beneath the shade of a row of trees, with a railing between them and the sidewalk. The patient oxen feed upon the hay thrown upon the ground, while the wood-surveyor measures the loads, and the teamsters bargain with the townsmen." Not far off stands " The Freemasons' Arms," the tavern erected by Thomas Motley, grandfather of Thomas Lothrop Motley, the historian of the Netherlands. At this time, however. Motley is dead ; and the tavern is kept by Sukey Barker. A short distance beyond Motley's, Oak Street enters Main Street ; and in the former thoroughfare we catch a glimpse of a grove of thrifty red-oaks : and next beyond is Green Street, which leads down to Deering's Woods, where for 48 HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. generations the boys of Portland have gathered acorns, and of which the poet sings, — " And Deering's Woods are fresh and fair; And with joy that is almost pain My heart goes back to wander there, And among the dreams of the days that were, I find my lost youth again." Coincident with the progress of commercial enter- prise was the growth of literature. Parson Thomas Smith had already jotted down his quaint observa- tions on life in Falmouth, and later generations were perusing them with more than ordinary interest. His associate and colleague, the Rev. Dr. Deane, had, in 1790, published his " Georgical Dictionary," which was now the authority in all matters pertain- ing to agriculture. The same author had also sung the praises of " Pitchwood Hill " in verse. In 1816, however, occurred the literary event in Portland, which was long to be remembered, namely, the pub- lication of Enoch Lincoln's poem of " The Village," of upwards of two thousand lines, "remarkable for its advanced moral sentiment, anticipating many of the reforms of our day, as well as for its erudition and its evenly sustained poetical merit." ^ 1 Enoch Lincoln, a son of Levi Lincoln, was horn in Worcester, Mass., in 1788. Studied at Harvard, became a lawyer in 1811, and settled at Fryeburg, Me., — the scenery of which beautiful forest-town he described in his poem of The Village, published in 181(5. He was a member of Congress from 1818 to 1820, and governor of Maine from 1827 to 1829. He delivered a poem at the centennial celebration of the Lovewell's Pond Fight, was a warm friend of the Indians, and left behind liim valuable historical manuscripts. He died Oct. 8, 1829. BIRTH AND EAKLY CHILDHOOD. 49 Education was advancing, and "a number of young- men were coming upon the stage of action who were to shed the lustre of letters upon the town." Among these were Nathaniel Deering, born in Portland in 1791, whose five-act tragedies — " Car- rabassett" and "Bozzaris" — have been much ad- mired ; John Neal, born in 1793, whose vigorous poem, " The Battle of Niagara," was published in 1816, and awakened much enthusiasm ; and Gren- ville Mellen, born in Biddeford in 1799, who came to Portland during his early manhood. Among these elders walked the boy Longfellow, interested in what they produced, and profiting by what they taught, who would yet outstrip them all. In social life democratic ideas were prevalent, not alone in matters of dress, but also of etiquette. " Cocked hats, bush wigs, and knee-breeches are passing out, and pantaloons have come in. Old men still wear cues and spencers, and disport their shrunken shanks in silk stockings. A homely style of speech prevails among the common people. Old men are 'daddies,' old ladies are 'marms,' ship- masters are ' skippers,' and school-teachers are ' mas- ters.' There are no stoves, and open fires and brick ovens are in universal use. The fire is raked up at night, and rekindled in the morning by the use of flint, steel, and tinder-boxes. Nearly every house has its barn, in which is kept the cow, pastured during the day on Munjoy. The boys go after the cows at nightfall, driving them home through the streets. There are few private carriages kept in town, and fewer public vehicles. 50 HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. " The coin in circulation is chiefly Spanish dollars, halves, quarters, pistareens, eighths, and sixteenths, — the latter two of which are known as ninepence and fourpence "alf-pennies. Federal money is so little recognized that prices are still reckoned ii: ohillings and pence, — two and six, three and ninepence, seven and sixpence. " It is a journey of two days, by the accommoda- tion stage, to Boston, costing eight to ten dollars. If you go by the mail-stage, you may be bounced through, with aching bones, in the hours between two o'clock in the morning and ten at night ; or you may take a coaster, and perhaps be a week on the passage." There were two newspapers published in the town, — " The Portland Gazette " and " The Eastern Argus," — both appearing once a week. Amuse- ments were scarce, and not before 1820 were the- atrical performances sanctioned. In the summer season well-to-do people went on excursions among the islands, and occasionally there was a capsize with loss of life. During the winter sleighing-parties drove out to " Broad's " for a dance and a supper. At such times hearts were merry ; and, it is no secret, flip and punch flowed freely, rendering sobriety the exception and not the rule. Such was " the beautiful town that is seated by the sea ; " and such were the scenes to which the thoughts of the poet go back, in after years, with a man's love for the haunts of his childhood.^ 1 I am under deep obligation to ray friend, Mr. Edward H. Elwell of The Portland Transcript, who has permitted me to make BIRTH AND EARLY CHILDHOOD. 51 Here he recalled the sports of boyhood, and found his "lost youth again." In passing, I must not forget to mention at least one of the friends and associates of Longfellow's early boyhood, — his cousin, John Owen. He was born in Portland in 1806, and, with Longfellow, attended the school of Ma'am Fellows, also the Port- land Academy. They were subsequently students together in Bowdoin College ; though they were not in the same class, Owen being a member of the class of 1827. After his graduation, Owen came to Cambridge and studied divinity. He never preached much, how- ever, and soon made choice of a business, in prefer- ence to a professional career. In 1834 he entered into the book business in Cambridge, and in 1836 became sole proprietor, his former partners having sold out their interest in the same. He failed in 1848, and the store (which, by the wa}'', was on the corner of Holyoke and Main Streets where a jeweller's shop now stands) went back into the hands of its original proprietors. Thenceforth Mr. Owen spent his time almost wholly in study and literary pursuits, at the same time doing what he could to improve and adorn the spacious grounds that surrounded his home. The intimacy existing between the poet and his friend Owen was lifelong : indeed, the relation of friendship was a bond of union more like that which free use of the very interesting memoir ou The Portland of Long- fellow's Youth, which he wrote and published at the time of the Longfellow birthday celebration. 52 HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. has subsisted between Emerson and Alcott. Long- fellow was the gentlest of poets ; and doubtless the chief attraction for him in the society and companion- ship of his cousin lay in Mr. Owen's gentle and amiable traits of character. In the course of these memoirs, I shall have occa- sion to quote freely Mr. Owen's recollections of that unalloyed friendship which extended over nearly three-quarters of a century. He it was who best knew and appreciated the poet's onward march to fame, was the mild counsellor in all his work, and the trusted Achates to whom he might repair in times of trial and perplexity for sympathy and en- couragement. COLLEGE DAYS. 53 CHAPTER III. COLLEGE DAYS. {1821-1826.) IN his anonymous prose romance called " Fan- shawe," ^ a book, by the by, which more nearly approaches a novel than any of his later works,. Hawthorne has pictured some of the aspects of the college at Brunswick. He says, — " From the exterior of the collegians, an accurate observer might pretty safely judge how long they had been inmates of those classic walls. The brown cheeks and the rustic dress of some would inform him that they had but recently left the plough to la- bor in a not less toilsome field. The grave look, and the intermingling of garments of a more classic cut, would distinguish those who had begun to acquire the polish of their new residence ; and the air of superiority, the paler cheek, the less robust form, the spectacles of green, and the dress in general of 1 Fanshawe was published three years after Hawthorne's gradu- ation, in Boston, by Marsh & Capen; but " so successful was Haw- thorne in his attempt to exterminate the edition, that not half a dozen copies are now known to be extant." It is affirmed to be " a faint reflection from the young Salem recluse's mind of certain rays thrown across the Atlantic from Abbotsford." For further particulars the reader is referred to A Study of Hawthorne, by G. P. Lathrop, Boston, 1876. 54 HENRY WADS WORTH LONGFELLOW. threadbare black, would designate the highest class, who were understood to have acquired nearly all the science their Alma Mater could bestow, and to be on the point of assuming their stations in the world. There were, it is true, exceptions to this general description. A few young men had found their way hither from the distant seaports ; and these were the models of fashion to their rustic companions, over whom they asserted a superiority in exterior accom- plishments, which the fresh, though unpolished, intel- lect of the sons of the forest denied them in their literary competitions. A third class, differing widely from both the former, consisted of a few young de- scendants of the aborigines, to whom an impracticable philanthropy was endeavoring to impart the benefits of civilization. " If this institution did not offer all the advan- tages of elder and prouder seminaries, its deficien- cies were compensated to its students by the incul- cation of regular habits, and of a deep and awful sense of religion, which seldom deserted them in their course through life. The mild and gentle rule was more destructive to vice than a sterner sway ; and, though youth is never without its follies, they have seldom been more harmless than they were here. The students, indeed, ignorant of their own bliss, sometimes wished to hasten the time of their entrance on the business of life ; but the}'" found, in after-years, that many of their happiest remem- brances, many of the scenes which they would with least reluctance live over again, referred to the seat of their early studies." COLLEGE DAYS. 55 It is noted by his biographer, that, in the passages above quoted, Hawthorne " divides the honors pleas- antly between the forest-bred and city-trained youth, having, from his own experience, an interest in each class ; yet I think he must have sided, in fact, with the country boys." ^ The father and great-grandfather of the poet were graduates of Harvard College. It may seem a little singular, that, with this precedent, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow should have been sent to Bowdoin Col- lege. At the beginning of the century the college at Brunswick was scarcely known, except to its incorporators; and it was not until 1802 that the first class was admitted. The first graduating class numbered seven: and among the students of this period were Charles S. Davies, subsequently an emi- nent lawyer ; and Nathan Lord, for many years pres- ident of Dartmouth College.^ In 1819 the second president of Bowdoin died; and the Rev. William Allen, a graduate of Har- vard, and at the time president of Dartmouth, was chosen as his successor. In many respects his administration was a memorable one, and "into his retirement he carried the respect and esteem which are the desert of sincere and laborious service. His term of service was highly fruitful." Dr. Shepley says of him, that he " performed well the duties of his station. He may have been a little too unbending, have passed a student without recognition, or unde- 1 A study of Hawthorne, p. 110. .2 See an interesting article on Bowdoin College, in Scribner's Monthly for May, 1876, written by Mr. G. T. Packard. 56 HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. sirably mistaken a name or person. His hymn-book was one of those mistakes of which no good account <3an be given. He was nevertheless a scholar, a gen- tleman, a friend of the students, an able preacher, and an efficient helper of ministers and churches. The incidents of his administration, both at Bowdoin and previously at Dartmouth, were full of interest ; in- volving, as they did, the investigation of great ques- tions, calling into service the best legal talent in the country, and issuing in judicial decisions impor- tant to all educational and charitable corporations." ^ Associated with him in the several departments were John Abbott, A.M., a graduate of Harvard, the professor of languages ; Parker Cleaveland, " in abilit}^ and brilliancy not excelled by any college officer of his time," who filled the chair of mathe- matics and natural philosophy ; the Rev. William Jenks, the professor of the Oriental and English languages ; and Samuel P. Newman, whose depart- ment was that of Greek and Latin until 1824, when he was succeeded in the same department by Al- pheus S. Packard, who since 1819 had been a tutor in the institution. Professor Packard — still living — has been a member of the faculty since the last-men- tioned date, — sixty -three years. Addressed to his old teacher were certain lines in Longfellow's " Morituri Salutamus," a poem prepared for the semi-centennial of his class, and recited by him in 1 I quote from a valuable paper on the class of '25 in Bowdoin College, read by the Rev. Dr. David Shepley of Providence, R.I., at a meeting of Congregational ministers in October, 1875, Dr. Shepley was a classmate of Longfellow at Bowdoin College. His