Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Part 11

HENRY W. LONGFELLOW.

Meanwhile a vast change in his life was approaching. He had met, seven years before in Switzerland, a maiden of nineteen, Frances Elizabeth Appleton, daughter of Nathan Appleton, a Boston merchant; and though his early sketch of her in "Hyperion" may have implied little on either side, it was fulfilled at any rate, after these years of acquaintance, by her consenting; to become his wife, an event which took place on the 13th of July, 1843, and was thus announced by him in a letter to Miss Eliza A. Potter of Portland, his first wife's elder sister.

CAMBRIDGE, May 25, 1843.

MY DEAR ELIZA,--I have been meaning for a week or more to write you in order to tell you of my engagement, and to ask your sympathies and good wishes. But I have been so much occupied, and have had so many letters to write, to go by the last steamers, that I have been rather neglectful of some of my nearer and dearer friends; trusting to their kindness for my excuse.

Yes, my dear Eliza, I am to be married again. My life was too lonely and restless;--I needed the soothing influences of a home;--and I have chosen a person for my wife who possesses in a high degree those virtues and excellent traits of character, which so distinguished my dear Mary. Think not, that in this new engagement, I do any wrong to her memory. I still retain, and ever shall preserve with sacred care all my cherished recollections of her truth, affection and beautiful nature. And I feel, that could she speak to me, she would approve of what I am doing. I hope also for your approval and for your father's.... Think of me ever as

Very truly your friend

HENRY W. LONGFELLOW.{68}

The lady thus described was one who lives in the memory of all who knew her, were it only by her distinguished appearance and bearing, her "deep, unutterable eyes," in Longfellow's own phrase, and her quiet, self-controlled face illumined by a radiant smile. She was never better described, perhaps, than by the Hungarian, Madame Pulszky, who visited America with Kossuth, and who wrote of her as "a lady of Junonian beauty and of the kindest heart."{69} Promptly and almost insensibly she identified herself with all her husband's work, a thing rendered peculiarly valuable from the fact that his eyes had become overstrained, so that he welcomed an amanuensis. Sometimes she suggested subjects for poems, this being at least the case with "The a.r.s.enal at Springfield,"

first proposed by her within the very walls of the building, a spot whose moral was doubtless enhanced by the companions.h.i.+p of Charles Sumner, just then the especial prophet of international peace. She also aided him effectually in his next book, "The Poets and Poetry of Europe," in which his friend Felton also cooperated, he preparing the biographical notices while Longfellow made the selections and also some of the translations.

I add this letter from his betrothed, which strikes the reader as singularly winning and womanly. This also is addressed to the elder sister of the first Mrs. Longfellow.

BOSTON, June 5, 1843.

DEAR MISS POTTER,--Accept my warmest thanks for the very kind manner in which you have expressed an interest in our happiness. It is all the more welcome in coming from a stranger upon whom I have no past claim to kindle a kindly regard, and touches my heart deeply. Among the many blessings which the new world I have entered reveals to me, a new heritage of friends is a choice one. Those most dear to Henry, most closely linked with his early a.s.sociations, I am, naturally, most anxious to know and love,--and I trust an opportunity will bring us together before long.

But I should feel no little timidity in being known to you and his family; a dread that loving him as you do I might not fulfil all the exactions of your hearts; were not such fears relieved by the generous determination you have shown to approve his choice,--upon faith in _him_. To one who has known him so long and so well, I need not attempt to speak of my happiness in possessing such a heart,--nor of my infinite grat.i.tude to the Giver of every good gift for bestowing upon me the power of rendering him once more happy in the hope of a home,--so sacred and dear to his loving nature by blessed memories to which I fervently pray to be found worthy to succeed.

Receive again my thanks for your kind sympathy, with the a.s.surance of my warm regards,--which I trust will not always be imprisoned in words, and with kindest remembrances to my other Portland friends,

I remain sincerely and gratefully yrs

f.a.n.n.y E. APPLETON.

Henry sends his most affectionate regards and hopes, tho' faintly, to be soon able to visit his home, and talk over his future with you all.{70}

It is pleasant to record in connection with this sweet and high-minded letter, that a copy of "Hyperion" itself lies before me which is inscribed on the first page in pencil to "Miss Eliza A. Potter, from her affectionate friend and brother, the Author." That he preserved through life a warm friendliness toward all the kindred of his first wife is quite certain.

{61 _Life_, ii. 8.}

{62 Beacon Biographies (_Longfellow_), p. 77.}

{63 Garrison's _Memoirs_, iii. 280.}

{64 Western MSS., Boston Public Library.}

{65 _Life_, ii. 20.}

{66 Scudder's _Lowell_, i. 93.}

{67 _Correspondence of R. W. Griswold_, p. 151.}

{68 MS.}

{69 _White, Red, and Black_, ii. 237.}

{70 MS.}

CHAPTER XV

ACADEMIC LIFE IN CAMBRIDGE

There exists abundant evidence, to which the present writer can add personal testimony, in regard to Longfellow's success as an organizer of his immediate department of Harvard University and in dealing with his especial cla.s.ses. He was a.s.signed, for some reason, a room in University Hall which was also employed for faculty meetings, and was therefore a little less dreary than the ordinary cla.s.s-room of those days. It seemed most appropriate that an instructor of Longfellow's well-bred aspect and ever-courteous manners should simply sit at the head of the table with his scholars, as if they were guests, instead of putting between him and them the restrictive demarcation of a teacher's desk. We read with him, I remember, first the little book he edited, "Proverbes Dramatiques,"

and afterwards something of Racine and Moliere, in which his faculty of finding equivalent phrases was an admirable example for us. When afterwards, during an abortive rebellion in the college yard, the students who had refused to listen to others yielded to the demand of their ringleader, "Let us hear Professor Longfellow; he always treats us like gentlemen," the youthful rebel unconsciously recognized a step forward in academical discipline. Longfellow did not cultivate us much personally, or ask us to his house, but he remembered us and acknowledged our salutations. He was, I think, the first Harvard instructor who addressed the individual student with the prefix "Mr." I recall the clearness of his questions, the simplicity of his explanations, the well-bred and skilful propriety with which he led us past certain indiscreet phrases in our French authors, as for instance in Balzac's "Peau de Chagrin." Most of all comes back to memory the sense of triumph with which we saw the proof-sheets of "Voices of the Night" brought in by the printer's devil and laid at his elbow. We felt that we also had lived in literary society, little dreaming, in our youthful innocence, how large a part of such society would prove far below the standard of courtesy that prevailed in Professor Longfellow's recitation room.

Yet the work of this room was, in those days of dawning changes, but a small part of the function of a professor. Longfellow was, both by inclination and circ.u.mstances, committed to the reform initiated by his predecessor, George Ticknor. He had inherited from this predecessor a sort of pioneers.h.i.+p in position relative to the elective system just on trial as an experiment in college. There exists an impression in some quarters that this system came in for the first time under President Walker about 1853; but it had been, as a matter of fact, tried much earlier,--twenty years, at least,--in the Modern Language Department under Ticknor, and had been extended much more widely in 1839 under President Quincy. The facts are well known to me, as I was in college at that period and enjoyed the beneficent effects of the change, since it placed the whole college, in some degree, for a time at least, on a university basis. The change took the form, first, of a discontinuance of mathematics as a required study after the first year, and then the wider application of the elective system in history, natural history, and the cla.s.sics, this greater liberty being enjoyed, though with some reaction, under President Everett, and practically abolished about 1849 under President Sparks, when what may be called the High School system was temporarily restored. An ill.u.s.tration of this reactionary tendency may be found in a letter addressed by Longfellow to the President and Fellows, placing him distinctly on the side of freedom of choice. The circ.u.mstances are these: Students had for some time been permitted to take more than one modern language among the electives, and I myself, before receiving my degree of A. B. in 1841, had studied two such languages simultaneously for three years of college course. It appears, however, from the following letter, that this privilege had already been reduced to one such language, and that Longfellow was at once found remonstrating against it, though at first ineffectually.

CAMBRIDGE, June 24, 1845.

GENTLEMEN,--In arranging the studies for the next year, the Faculty have voted, as will be seen from the enclosed Tabular view, that "no student will be allowed to take more than one Modern Language at a time, except for special reasons a.s.signed, & by express vote of the Faculty."

You will see that this is the only Department upon which any bar or prohibition is laid. And when the decision was made, the Latin & Greek Departments were allowed two votes each, & the Department of Modern Languages but one vote.

As I foresaw at the time, this arrangement has proved very disadvantageous to the Department, & has reduced the number of pupils, at once, more than one half. During this year the whole number of students in the Department has been 224. The applications for the next term do not amount to 100; nor, when all have been received, can it reach 110. I therefore, Gentlemen, appeal to you, for your interference in this matter, requesting that the restriction may be removed, & this Department put upon the footing of the others in this particular. Otherwise, I fear that as at present organized, it cannot exist another year.

I have the honor to be, Gentlemen, your ob'd't. servant

HENRY W. LONGFELLOW.{71}

[Addressed externally to the President and Fellows of Harvard College.]

[REPORT OF COMMITTEE.]

CORPORATION OF HARVARD COLLEGE, July 26, 1845.

The Committee to whom was referred the Memorial of Professor Longfellow on the subject of the arrangement of the studies of the undergraduates by the faculty of the College, & desiring that the restriction as to the number of modern languages that may be studied at once should be removed, have attended to the subject, & ask leave to report, that they have, in common with the other members of the Corporation already considered the general subject of the arrangement of the studies of the undergraduates, with especial reference to the recommendations of the board of overseers; & that they were convinced by the examination of the details they made at that time that the business of ordering the times & the amount of study & recitation for the young men at Cambridge is not only a very complicated & difficult affair, but one which is in the hands of those best qualified, & considering all their relations, most truly interested to lead the students to give as much labor as is safe for them to the studies suitable to College years, & to distribute it in such manner as shall be most just & effective. The committee would not feel themselves authorized to change one part of a system, all the parts of which are intricately dependent upon each other, without they felt a confidence they do not possess that they could recommend one which should work better as a whole. They therefore must decline, so far as depends upon them, adopting a measure the ulterior effects of which they may not foresee with accuracy, & they express the belief that it will be well to allow the present arrangement to continue for a time, even at the risk, apprehended by Prof'r. Longfellow, of its producing an injurious effect upon his department. They cannot but hope, however, that the evils he fears may be avoided, or if not, that they may be compensated by equivalent advantages.

SAM'L. A. ELIOT } _Committee_{72} J. A. LOWELL /

A year later than the above correspondence, the subject was evidently revived on the part of the governing powers of the College, and we find the following letter from Professor Longfellow:--