Letter from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, November 4, 1862

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), the most beloved American poet of the 19th century, assembled a collection of his poetry into the book Tales of a Wayside Inn. The book recounts tavern guests entertaining each other during a storm by telling stories. Before the book's publication, Longfellow wrote Miss Eaton at Howe's Tavern--the original name of the Wayside Inn--inquiring about inscriptions found on the Inn's windowpanes.