An arrangement was made with the liberal house of Smith and Elder, of London, to bring out “Our Old Home” on the same day of its publication in Boston.  On the 1st of July Hawthorne wrote to me from the Wayside as follows:—­

“I am delighted with Smith and Elder, or rather with you; for it is you that squeeze the English sovereigns out of the poor devils.  On my own behalf I never could have thought of asking more than L50, and should hardly have expected to get L10; I look upon the L180 as the only trustworthy funds I have, our own money being of such a gaseous consistency.  By the time I can draw for it, I expect it will be worth at least fifteen hundred dollars.

“I shall think over the prefatory matter for ‘Our Old Home’ to-day, and will write it to-morrow.  It requires some little thought and policy in order to say nothing amiss at this time; for I intend to dedicate the book to Frank Pierce, come what may.  It shall reach you on Friday morning.

“We find ——­ a comfortable and desirable guest to have in the house.  My wife likes her hugely, and for my part, I had no idea that there was such a sensible woman of letters in the world.  She is just as healthy-minded as if she had never touched a pen.  I am glad she had a pleasant time, and hope she will come back.

    “I mean to come to Boston whenever I can be sure of a cool day.

    “What a prodigious length of time you stayed among the mountains!

“You ought not to assume such liberties of absence without the consent of your friends, which I hardly think you would get.  I, at least, want you always within attainable distance, even though I never see you.  Why can’t you come and stay a day or two with us, and drink some spruce beer?”

Those were troublous days, full of war gloom and general despondency.  The North was naturally suspicious of all public men, who did not bear a conspicuous part in helping to put down the Rebellion.  General Pierce had been President of the United States, and was not identified, to say the least, with the great party which favored the vigorous prosecution of the war.  Hawthorne proposed to dedicate his new book to a very dear friend, indeed, but in doing so he would draw public attention in a marked way to an unpopular name.  Several of Hawthorne’s friends, on learning that he intended to inscribe his book to Franklin Pierce, came to me and begged that I would, if possible, help Hawthorne to see that he ought not to do anything to jeopardize the currency of his new volume.  Accordingly I wrote to him, just what many of his friends had said to me, and this is his reply to my letter, which bears date the 18th of July, 1863:—­