Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/31

Rh diffusion of comfort and intelligence ; the traditional purity and simplicity of life ; the absence of class distinctions ; the democratic kindliness of spirit ; the pervading temper of hopefulness and content — all made Portland a good place in which to be born and grow up. Like the rest of New England it was provincial, it had little part in the larger historic concerns of the world, it possessed no deep wells of experience or of culture, and no memorials of a distant past by which the imagina- tion might be quickened and nurtured ; it was a comparatively new place in a comparatively new country. The sweetness of Longfellow's disposi- tion showed itself in his earliest years. He was a gentle, docile, cheerful, intelligent, attractive child ; " one of the best boys in school " was his teacher's report of him at six years old. He was fond of books, and his father's library supplied him with the best in English. He was sensitive to the charm of style in literature, and a characteristic glimpse of his taste, and of the influences that were shap- ing him, is afforded by what he said in later life in speaking of Irving: " Every boy has his first book ; 1 mean to say, one book among all others which in early youth first fascinates his imagination, and at once excites and satisfies the desires of his mind. To me this first book was the ' Sketch-Book ' of Washington Irving. I was a school-boy when it was published [in 1819], and read each succeeding number with ever-increasing wonder and delight, spell-bound by its pleasant humor, its melancholy tenderness, its atmosphere of reverie. . . . The charm remains unbroken, and whenever I open the pages of the ' Sketch-Book,' I open also that mys- terious door which leads back into the haunted chambers of youth." Already, when he was thir- teen years old, he had begun to write verses, some of which found place in the poet's corner of the local newspaper. In 1821 he passed the entrance examinations for Bowdoin, but it was not until 1822 that Longfellow left home to reside at the college. Among his classmates was Nathaniel Hawthorne, with whom he speedily formed an acquaintance that was to ripen into a life-long friendship. His letters to his mother and father during his years at college throw a pleasant light upon his pursuits and his disposition ; they display the early maturity of his character ; the traits that distinguished him in later years are already clearly defined ; the amiability, the affectionate- ness, the candor, and the cheerful spirit of the youth are forecasts of the distinguishing qualities of the man. His taste for literary pursuits, and his strong moral sentiment and purpose, are already developed. A few sentences from his letters will serve to exhibit him as he was at this time. " I am in favor of letting each one think for himself, and I am very much pleased with Gray's poems, Dr. Johnson to the contrary notwithstanding." " I have very resolutely concluded to enjoy myself heartily wherever I am." " Leisure is to me one of the sweetest things in the world." " I care but little about politics or anything of the kind." " I ad- mire Horace very much indeed." " I conceive that if religion is ever to benefit us, it must be incor- porated with our feelings and become in every degree identified with our happiness." " What- ever I study I ought to be engaged in with all my soul, for I will be eminent in something." " I am afraid you begin to think me rather chimerical in many of my ideas, and that I am ambitious of becoming a rara avis in terris. But you must ac- knowledge the usefulness of aiming high at some- thing which it is impossible to overshoot, perhaps to reach." He was writing much, both verse and prose, and his pieces had merit enough to secure publication, not only in the Portland paper, but in more than one of the magazines, and especially in the " United States Literary Gazette," published in Boston, in which no fewer than sixteen poems by him appeared in the course of the year 1824-'5. Very few of these were thought by their author worth reprinting in later yeai's, and though they all show facile versification and refined taste, none of them exhibit such original power as to give assurance of his future fame. Several of them dis- play the influence of Bryant both in form and thought. Long afterward, in writing to Bryant, Longfellow said : " Let me acknowl- edge how much I owe to you, not only of delight but of culture. When I look back upon my earlier verses, I can- not but smile to see how much in them is really yours." He owed much also to others, and in these youthful compositions one may find traces of his favorite poets from Gray to Byron.

As the time for leaving college drew near, it be- came necessary for him to decide on a profession. He was averse to the ministry, to medicine, and, in spite of his father's and grandfather's example, to the law. In 1824 he writes to his father : " I am altogether in favor of the farmer's life." But a few months later he says : " The fact is, I most eagerly aspire after future eminence in literature. My whole soul burns most ardently for it, and every earthly thought centres in it. . . . Surely there never was a better opportunity offered for the exertion of literary talent in our own country than is now offered. . . . Nature has given me a very strong predilection for literary pursuits, and I am almost confident in believing that, if I can ever rise in the world, it must be by the exercise of my talent in the wide field of literature." In reply to these ardent aspirations his father wisely urged that, though a literary life might be very pleasant to one who had the means of support, it did not offer secure promise of a livelihood, and that it was necessary for his son to adopt a profession that should afford him subsistence as well as reputa- tion ; but he gave his consent readily to his son's passing a year in Cambridge, after leaving college, in literary studies previous to entering on the study of a profession.

Before the time for this arrived a new prospect opened, full of hope for the young scholar. He had distinguished himself in college by his studious disposition, his excellent conduct, and his capacity as a writer, and when their rank was assigned to the members of his class at graduation, he stood upon the list as the fourth in general scholarship in a class of thirty-eight. Just at this time the trustees of the college determined to establish a professorship of modern languages, and, not having the means to obtain the services of any one that was already eminent in this department, they determined to offer the post conditionally to the young graduate of their own college, who had already given proof of character and abilities that would enable him after proper preparation to fill the place satisfactorily. The proposal was accordingly made to him that he should go to Europe for