Although he was often isolated, he had a pleasant childhood, adored by his mother and two sisters and supported by relatives as he grew into adulthood. In 1821 Hawthorne's prosperous uncles, the Mannings, sent him to Bowdoin College, where fellow students were poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; future U.S. president Franklin Pierce; and Horatio Bridge, who would later finance one of Hawthorne's publications. After graduating from Bowdoin in 1825, Hawthorne returned to Salem and lived with his mother for twelve years. He spent most of his time alone in what he called a "haunted chamber," developing his skills as a writer and discovering the themes that later became the trademarks of his works. In 1838 he met Sophia Peabody, to whom he confided, "If ever I should have a biographer, he ought to make great mention of this chamber in my memoirs, because so much of my lonely youth was wasted here, and here my mind and character were formed," as quoted in the
Encyclopedia of World Biography.
Hawthorne and Peabody were soon engaged, and he credited her with bringing him out into the world again. Although he had published several stories, which he called tales, his writing did not provide sufficient income to support a future wife and family.
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