Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 July 1895 — Diffident Geniuses. [ARTICLE]

Diffident Geniuses.

Mrs. Julia Ward Howe tells two anecdotes illustrating the shyness of Hawthorne and Irving. She says Irving attempted to make a speech at a dinner given to Charles Dickens, but after mumbling a few words indistinctly, he remarked “I can’t go on,” and sat down. Of Hawthorne’s timidity she had a glimpse while calling with her husband on Mrs. Hawthorne, in Concord. While they were in the parlor they saw a tall, slim man come down the stairs, and Mrs. Hawthorne called out: “Husband, husband, Dr. and Mrs. Howe are here!” Hawthorne bolted across the hall and out through the door without even looking into the parlor.