The Story of Concord. Told by Concord Writers .Edited by Josephine Latham Swayne . (Boston: The E. F. Worcester Press. 1906. Pp. 314+viii.)
Every tourist to New England makes a point of visiting Concord, Massachusetts, one of the most interesting small towns of America. There was fought one of the first battles of the American Revolution. There are still to be found the home and the family of Emerson, whose towering personality dominated for so long the intellectual atmosphere of New England, and whose influence is felt strongly today. To others the vicinity of Concord has been made hallowed ground through the writings of the naturalist Thoreau, who, keenly sensitive to the beauties around him, apparently knew every foot of the landscape, and every inhabitant of the land, the water, and the air about his haunts. The Hawthornes, the Alcotts, and many lesser lights in literature shared the society of Emerson and Thoreau, influencing them and feeling their influence.
In the volume under review Mrs. Swayne has not attempted to form a continuous narrative concerning the town and its many heroes. What she has done shows so much labor and care that one regrets that she did not make a book of that kind and give it a definite literary form. Instead she has culled from the writings of certain citizens or quasi-citizens of Concord, numerous lengthy comments on the town and its famous characters. So in the chapter, “Concord in History,” we have copious extracts from a centennial address delivered by Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1835. In the following chapter, “Concord in Literature,” Emerson's character is portrayed by F. B. Sanborn, George William Curtis, and Julian Hawthorne. Mr. Sanborn and Dr. W. T. Harris are quoted concerning the Alcott family; Emerson and Channing, in the discussion of Thoreau, and so on. Thus the separate chapters even are not unified.
The advantage of Mrs. Swayne's method of compilation is that the book seems a real transcript from life since almost every writer is describing the daily habits of an intimate friend, or some historical event of which he was an eye-witness. Thus we read in one of those numerous footnotes which add great value to the book: “`Henry talks about Nature just as if she'd been born and brought up in Concord,' said Madam Hoar of Thoreau.” Again from Louisa Alcott's journal, dated February, 1861, comes a charming picture of the simple village life at that time, when her father, Amos Bronson Alcott, was superintendent of the Concord public schools: “Father had his usual school festival, and Emerson asked me to write a song, which I did. On the 16th, the schools all met in the hall (four hundred),—a pretty posy bed, with a border of proud parents and friends. Some of the fogies objected to the names, Phillips and John Brown. But Emerson said: `Give it up? No, no; I will read it.' Which he did, to my great contentment; for when the great man of the town says `Do it,' the thing is done. So the choir warbled, and the Alcotts were lifted up in their vain minds.”
The typographical work of the volume has not been done so well as the editing. In the copy at hand, pp. vii and viii of the index, with the accompanying advertising page, are duplicated. Misprints also, such as, “Cival” for “Civil,” p. 26; “inhabitatants” for “inhabitants,” p. 36; “ryhthms” for “rhythms,” p. 200, are entirely too frequent throughout the book. On the other hand, the numerous illustrations, chiefly half-tone engravings of Concord worthies and scenes in that vicinity are beautiful—those of the typical New England homes and landscapes being particularly restful to the eye. The volume closes with a complete index.
Robt. A. Law .
How to cite:
Law, Robt. A., "The Story of Concord. Told by Concord Writers", Volume 010, Number 4, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, Page 351 - 352. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v010/n4/review_16.html
[Accessed Tue Dec 2 18:24:54 CST 2008]
