Longfellow's Chestnut Tree
ID you know that the spreading chestnut .tree under which the village smithy stood once really existed? It was in Brattle Street, in Cambridge, in the American State of Massachusetts. The day Longfellow , wrote his famous poem he made an entry in his diary. These are his words: "Wrote a new Psalm of Life. It is ‘The Village Blacksmith’ ". The poet lived quite near the blacksmith’s shop and he must have passed it countless times when he went
in and out of Boston. In his day Cambridge was not the large suburb of Boston it has since become, but was almost in the country. About 18 years ago an English lady visited Longfellow’s old home, while his daughter, Alice Longfellow, was still alive. This stately colonial house was famous before it became the poet’s home — it was once the
headquarters of Washington, ihe library had remained practi¢ally unchanged since her father’s day, with the poet’s desk near a window from which could be seen a lovely view over the Charles River. In the library the visitor saw the chair made from the chestnut tree after it was cut down.-(From "Ebor’s" Scrapbook, 2Y A, March 24).
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19410418.2.10.1
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 95, 18 April 1941, Page 5
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198Longfellow's Chestnut Tree New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 95, 18 April 1941, Page 5
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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