that date:--

"I have seen your 'Gentle Boy' to-night. I like it very much indeed.
The boy I love already. Do you see Mr. Hawthorne often? It was a shame
he did not talk more that night at the Farm. Just recall that
beautiful moon over the water, and those dear trees!"

Ellen Hooper, when the engagement is known, shows how people felt
about the new author:--

"Your note seems to require a mood quite apart from the 'every day' of
one's life, wherein to be read and answered. . . . I do not know Mr.
Hawthorne--and yet I do; and I love him with that eminently Platonic
love which one has for a friend in black and white [print]. He seems
very near to me, for he is not only a dreamer, but wakes now and then
with a pleasant 'Good-morrow' for shabby human interests. I am glad to
hear that he is healthful, for I profoundly admire this quality; and
particularly in one who is not entitled to it on the ground of being
stupid!"

Sophia's aptness for writing poetry led her to inclose this poem to
her future husband in one of her letters:--

God granteth not to man a richer boon
Than tow'rd himself to draw the waiting soul,
Making it swift to pray this high control.
Would with according grace its jars attune.
And man on man the largest gift bestows
When from the vision-mount he sings aloud,
And pours upon the unascended crowd