From Portland to Cambridge
Charles Appleton Longfellow and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [?] Rebus, undated.
Courtesy National Park Service, Longfellow National Historic Site LONG 19957 |
Found among the hundreds of children's manuscripts and drawings at Craigie House. The handwriting is strikingly similar to that of the 9-year-old Charley (who was the Longfellow child most interested in ships and sailing), and the drawings-especially of the sailboat-indicate that Longfellow himself was involved. It is amusing to see here how a word game popular with the Victorians is made to serve the imagination of an American child who is fascinated by reckless adventure and the distant prospect of violence. |