the subject from another side, and one not less
fascinating to the observer of human life. The
two papers about the College Professor have
been chosen, partly because that profession is
but little understood by the general public, and
partly because it frequently affords a very per-
fect illustration of the union of an ardent human
spirit with a consummate technical expertness.
The story of an episode in Nathaniel Hawthorne's
spiritual development contributes something, I
think, to the understanding of the fusion of
normal human interests and sympathies with the
purely artistic passion of the born writer. The
amateur and the professional in Hawthorne--
using both words in their best sense--may be
observed with singular clearness in that critical
summer of 1838.

An honored and friendly Doctor of Divinity
has accused me of endeavoring, in the essay upon
Fishing with a Worm, to write allegory. That
shall be as the reader chooses to interpret it; but
I have certainly tried to picture from the material
offered by a favorite pastime, some of the warring
motives in the old struggle between the generous
and the sordid ways of looking at the world.

-viii-