as the purity of their motives that brought the poet and statesman
together.

As soon as Sumner returned from Washington, in spring or summer, he would
go out to call on Longfellow; and it was a pleasant sight to see them
walking together on a June evening beneath the overarching elms of
historic Brattle Street. They were a pair of majestic-looking men; and
though Longfellow was nearly a head shorter than Sumner, his broad
shoulders gave him an appearance of strength, as his capacious head and
strong, finely cut features evidently denoted an exceptional intellect.
He wore his hair poetically long, almost to his coat collar; and yet
there was not the slightest air of the Bohemian about him. They seemed to
be oblivious of everything except their conversation; and if this could
have been recorded it might prove to be as interesting as the poetry of
the one and the orations of the other. They were evidently talking on
great subjects, and the earnestness on Sumner's face was reflected on
Longfellow's as in a mirror.

Hawthorne was a classmate of Longfellow, and in the biography of the
latter there are a number of letters from one to the other which are
always friendly,--but never more than that on Hawthorne's side,--with one
exception, where he thanks Longfellow for a complimentary review of
"Twice-Told Tales" in the _North American_. At that time the
_North American_ was considered an authority which could make or
unmake an author's reputation; and Longfellow may be said to have opened
the door for Hawthorne into the great world. Hawthorne's friendship for
President Pierce proved an advantage to him financially, but it also
became a barrier between him and the other literary men of his time. Of
course he believed what his friend Pierce told him concerning public
affairs, and when he found that his other friends had not the same faith