Bridge which Emerson has immortalized in his poem. Emerson has been called the Concord Sage. Irving found much of his literary materials in the local history of the region in and around New York. He wrote about nearby places and happenings. Among those who went still further into this new mode of writing NATHANIEL 1804-1864 was a quiet young man of Salem, Massachusetts-Nathaniel Hawthorne. His ancestors were among the earliest Puritan settlers. Nathaniel, when a boy, had been crippled by an accident in playing ball. This led him to a secluded life and the companionship of books. He had a vivid imagination and was fond of inventing stories for the entertainment of his friends. He graduated from Bowdoin College in the class of 1825. When he began to think of a career it was quite natural that he should turn to literature, and that in looking about him for material he should follow the example of Irving and choose his materials from those stirring scenes of which he had an intimate, almost personal, knowledge. "The House of the Seven Gables" is a tale of the house in which he lived many years. And thus it came that we have in Nathaniel Hawthorne not only our first writer of pure romance, but one who is still our greatest in that field of literature. Hawthorne's personal appearance was in keeping with his gentle manners. He had a handsome face, with "the most wonderful eyes in the world," says one admirer. Another of his friends said: "His voice touched the ear like melody.” He has been called America's Prose Poet; the Romancer without a Peer. Our next poet in point of time after Bryant, and our most popular poet, was a native of Maine and a graduate of Bowdoin HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW College in the same class with Hawthorne. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow comes of early New England ancestry, his mother being a daughter of General Wadsworth of the War of the Revolution. After his graduation from college he spent several years abroad and upon his return to America held professorships first in Bowdoin and later in Harvard College. Longfellow is the poet who has spoken most sincerely and sympathetically to the hearts of the common people and to children. This is due to his genuine kindliness. He was a lover of children, and especially of little girls. The style of Longfellow's poetry is notable for its simplicity and grace. As Emerson came from a family of preachers, so Lowell came from a line of lawyers, his family having been distinguished in that profession in every generation since their coming JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL to America. His mother was a fine musician, and it was from her that Lowell inherited his taste for poetry. As a boy he had free access to his father's library, one of the oldest and best private libraries of that time. He had every opportunity of education which wealth and leisure afforded, but at college he says he "read nearly everything except the books prescribed by the faculty." After graduating from Harvard he studied law and opened an office in Boston. But he soon decided that this was not the business for him. He published some poems, edited a magazine, and in 1855 succeeded Longfellow as professor at Harvard, and, like him, spent some years in study abroad. He was one of the founders of the Atlantic Monthly and was its first editor. Lowell was considered one of the greatest scholars in America in his time. He was of a happier disposition than Bryant, and has been called the Poet of June, as Bryant has been called the Poet of Autumn. Near the town of Haverhill, Massachusetts, not far from Hawthorne's birthplace, is the old homestead where Whittier was born. He had very little opportunity for education beyond what the district school afforded, except what he was able to give himself. In contrast with Lowell's splendid li JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER 1807-1892 brary, that of Whittier's father contained, as he says, "not a dozen books." His two years' attendance at Haverhill Academy was paid for by his own work at making ladies' slippers at twenty-five cents a pair. He began writing verses almost as soon as he learned to write at aй, but his father discouraged this as frivolous, saying it would "never give him bread." He wrote many idylls of domestic life, such as "Snow-Bound," and poems of farm life, of which the "Barefoot Boy" is a good example. Whittier's ruling traits of character are patriotism, love of freedom, and piety. He was fond of his friends, of children, of animals, of quiet and peace, and of nature. He is called the Quaker Poet. We now come to the merriest, most jovial of the group represented in our selections, the witty professor of anatomy in Harvard College. He, also, comes of old Puritan stock. His OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES grandfather was a surgeon in the War of the Revolution. His father was a Baptist minister for over forty years in Boston. His mother was descended from the Dutch settlers of New York. Doctor Holmes, after studying some years abroad, practiced medicine for a time; then for the remainder of his long, busy life occupied the chair (the "settee," as he humorously called it) of anatomy, first at Dartmouth, then at Harvard. While his work as an author would have been enough to keep an ordinary man busy, it was rather a diversion for our energetic Doctor. He was one of the founders of the Atlantic Monthly and one of the most frequent contributors to it. In appearance, Doctor Holmes was of small body, fastidious in dress, "quick and nervous in his movements," with a "winning expression" of countenance. There was always a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye. He was the humorist among American poets and is called the Poet of Mirth. GREAT AMERICAN AUTHORS MY ARRIVAL IN PHILADELPHIA* BENJAMIN FRANKLIN I was in my working dress, my best clothes being to come round by sea. I was dirty from my journey; my pockets were stuffed out with shirts and stockings, and I knew no soul nor where to look for lodging. I was fatigued with traveling, row5 ing, and want of rest, I was very hungry; and my whole stock of cash consisted of a Dutch dollar, and about a shilling in copper. The latter I gave the people of the boat for my passage, who at first refused it, on account of my rowing; but I insisted on their taking it. A man being sometimes more generous when 10 he has but a little money than when he has plenty, perhaps through fear of being thought to have but little. Then I walked up the street, gazing about till near the markethouse I met a boy with bread. I had made many a meal on bread, and, inquiring where he got it, I went immediately to the 15 baker's he directed me to, in Second-street, and asked for biscuit, intending such as we had in Boston; but they, it seems, were not made in Philadelphia. Then I asked for a three-penny loaf, and was told they had none such. So not considering or knowing the difference of money, and the greater cheapness nor the names 20 of his bread, I bade him give me three-penny worth of any sort. He gave me, accordingly, three great puffy rolls. I was surprised at the quantity, but took it, and, having no room in my pockets, walked off with a roll under each arm, and eating the other. *From Franklin's Autobiography. Thus I went up Market-street as far as Fourth-street, passing by the door of Mr. Read, my future wife's father; when she, standing in the door, saw me, and thought I made, as I certainly did, a most awkward, ridiculous appearance. Then I turned 5 and went down Chestnut-street and part of Walnut-street, eating my roll all the way, and, coming round, found myself again at Market-street wharf, near the boat I came in, to which I went for a draught of the river water; and, being filled with one of my rolls, gave the other two to a woman and her child that came 10 down the river in the boat with us, and were waiting to go farther. Thus refreshed, I walked again up the street, which by this time had many clean-dressed people in it, who were all walking the same way. I joined them, and thereby was led into the 15 great meeting-house of the Quakers near the market. I sat down among them, and, after looking round awhile and hearing nothing said, being very drowsy through labor and want of rest the preceding night, I fell fast asleep, and continued so till the meeting broke up, when one was kind enough to rouse me. This was, 20 therefore, the first house I was in, or slept in, in Philadelphia. Walking down again toward the river, and, looking in the faces of people, I met a young Quakerman, whose countenance I liked, and, accosting him, requested he would tell me where a stranger could get lodging. We were then near the sign of the Three 25 Mariners. "Here," says he, "is one place that entertains strangers, but it is not a reputable house; if thee wilt walk with me, I'll show thee a better." He brought me to the Crooked Billet in Water-street. Here I got a dinner; and, while I was eating it, several sly questions were asked me, as it seemed to be sus30 pected from my youth and appearance, that I might be some runaway. After dinner, my sleepiness returned, and being shown to a bed, I lay down without undressing, and slept till six in the evening, was called to supper, went to bed again very early, and slept 35 soundly till next morning. Then I made myself as tidy as I |