ever been. After his
return he went back to Concord, where he enlarged and beautified his old
home, intending to remain there for the balance of his life. He wrote
the "Marble Faun" and "Our Old Home" just after his return from Europe.
The former was suggested by his residence in Italy, and the latter was
a collection of English sketches and reminiscences.

The war between the two sections of the country affected him very
deeply. It seemed to him a terrible tragedy, to which there could be no
end but utter ruin for the country. He sympathized strongly with the
cause of the Union, but at the same time his heart bled at the
sufferings of the people of the south. It was one long agony to him, and
only those who knew him intimately can understand how much he suffered
during this unhappy period.

Mr. Moncure D. Conway gives the following reminiscence of him about this
time: "I passed a night under the same roof with him at the house of Mr.
Fields, his publisher. He seemed much dejected. Mr. Fields had invited a
little company, but, after the first arrivals, Hawthorne made his escape
to his room, from which he did not emerge until the next morning at
breakfast time. He then came in with the amusing look of a naughty
child, and pleaded that he had become lost the night before in Defoe's
ghost stories until it was too late to make his appearance in the
company. He must, I should think, have been contemplating some
phantasmal production at that time, for I remember his asking me many
questions about the ghost-beliefs of the negroes, among whom I had
passed my early life."

Besides the works already mentioned, Hawthorne was the author of "True
Stories from History and Biography" and "The Wonder Book for Boys and
Girls," both published in 1851; "The Snow Image and Other Twice-Told
Tales," published in 1852; and "Tanglewood Tales," published in 1853,
all juveniles. At the time of his death he was engaged upon a novel
which was to have been published in the "Atlantic Monthly," but it was
left incomplete.

In the spring of 1864 his friend and publisher, Mr. W.D. Ticknor, of
Boston, seeing how feeble Hawthorne had become, asked him to accompany
him on an excursion, hoping that a rapid change of scene and cheerful
company would benefit him. They set out in April, and went direct to
Philadelphia. Upon arriving at the hotel, Mr. Ticknor was suddenly taken
very ill, and died on the 10th of April in his friend's arms. Hawthorne
was pr