glad; but even where discomfort and sorrow break it, Hawthorne's
unflinching endurance suggests unsoured activity and a brave glance.

I will preserve, as well as I can by selections, the effect produced
upon me by the many packages of letters which I opened some years ago.
What Hawthorne cared for is somewhat clearly shown by side-lights; and
there is also some explanation from my mother, as unintentionally
given as the rest, of why he cared.

It was a genial and vivid existence which enveloped her family always;
and it became an interesting problem to the Peabodys to entice the
reticent Hawthornes into it, from the adjacent Herbert Street,--by
gentle degrees, well-adjusted baits, and affectionate compliments.
Trout-fishing comes to mind,--and the trout were very skillful in
keeping aloof. Nevertheless, Hawthorne liked all he heard and saw at
the Peabodys' in Charter Street; and Sophia, his future wife, gleams
near him as the unwitting guide to the warm contact with his kind for
which he searched, though with delicacy of choice.

Sophia's mother had strong intellect and great refinement, as well as
a strength of character which gave her the will to teach school for
many years, while her own children were growing up. She was very well
connected in various directions; in other words, she had sprung from
cultivated intelligences.

Mrs. Peabody's mother was the wife of Judge Cranch, of Boston, whose
sister, the wife of General Palmer, wrote to her in Revolutionary days
the following letter, wherein very mild words stand for very strong
emotions:--