Frank Preston Stearns

Frank Preston Stearns
Frank Preston Stearns (1846–1917) was an American author and biographer known for his works on art, history, and notable literary figures. He wrote extensively on Ralph Waldo Emerson, including the biography "The Life and Genius of Nathaniel Hawthorne" and "The Life and Public Services of George Luther Stearns." Stearns also published works on the fine arts, with an emphasis on European culture. His writings reflect a deep engagement with American transcendentalism and literary history.

Author's Books:


CHAPTER I SALEM AND THE HATHORNES: 1630-1800 The three earliest settlements on the New England coast were Plymouth, Boston, and Salem; but Boston soon proved its superior advantages to the two others, not only from its more capacious harbor, but also from the convenient waterway which the Charles River afforded to the interior of the Colony. We find that a number of English families, and among them the... more...

CONCORD THIRTY YEARS AGO. To one looking westward from Boston State House there appears a line of rugged, precipitous hills extending across the country from southwest to northeast. Having ascended these heights, we perceive beyond them an irregular line of pale blue mountains, of which Wachusett is the most southerly peak, and which is in fact a portion of the White Mountain range extending through... more...

THE CLOSE OF THE WAR   Never before hast thou shone  So beautifully upon the Thebans;  O, eye of golden day: —Antigone of Sophocles. One bright morning in April, 1865, Hawthorne's son and the writer were coming forth together from the further door-way of Stoughton Hall at Harvard College, when, as the last reverberations of the prayer-bell were sounding, a classmate called to us across the... more...