Free True Stories From History and Biography by Nathaniel Hawthorne

placed in the Earl of Lincoln's Hall. And what vast
changes of society and of nations had been wrought by sudden convulsions
or by slow degrees, since that era!
    "This chair has stood firm when the thrones of kings were overturned!"
thought Laurence. "Its oaken frame has proved stronger than many frames of
government!"
    More the thoughtful and imaginative boy might have mused; but now a large
yellow cat, a great favorite with all the children, leaped in at the open
window. Perceiving that Grandfather's chair was empty, and having often
before experienced its comforts, puss laid herself quietly down upon the
cushion. Laurence, Clara, Charley, and little Alice, all laughed at the
idea of such a successor to the worthies of old times.
    "Pussy," said little Alice, putting out her hand, into which the cat laid
a velvet paw, "you look very wise. Do tell us a story about GRANDFATHER'S
CHAIR!"

PART II
*

Chapter I
*
    "O Grandfather," dear Grandfather, cried little Alice, "pray tell us some
more stories about your chair!"
    How long a time had fled, since the children had felt any curiosity to
hear the sequel of this venerable chair's adventures! Summer was now past
and gone, and the better part of Autumn likewise. Dreary, chill November
was howling, out of doors, and vexing the atmosphere with sudden showers
of wintry rain, or sometimes with gusts of snow, that rattled like small
pebbles against the windows.
    When the weather began to grow cool, Grandfather's chair had been removed
from the summer parlor into a smaller and snugger room. It now stood by
the side of a bright blazing wood-fire. Grandfather loved a wood-fire, far
better than a grate of glowing anthracite, or than the dull heat of an
invisible furnace, which seems to think that it has done its duty in
merely warming the house. But the wood-fire is a kindly, cheerful,
sociable spirit, sympathizing with mankind, and knowing that to create
warmth is but one of the good offices which are expected from it.
Therefore it dances on the hearth, and laughs broadly through the room,
and plays a thousand antics, and throws a joyous glow over all the faces
that encircle it.
    In the twilight of the evening, the fire grew brighter and more cheerful.
And thus, perhaps, there was something in Grandfather's heart, that
cheered him most with its warmth and comfort in the gathering twilight of
old age. He had been gazing at the red embers, as intently as if his past
life were all pictured there, or as if it were a prospect of the future
world, when little Alice's voice aroused him.
    "Dear Grandfather," repeated the little girl, more earnestly, "do talk to
us again about your chair."
    Laurence, and Clara, and Charley, and little Alice, had been attracted to
other objects, for two or three months past. They had sported in the
gladsome sunshine of the present, and so had forgotten the shadowy region
of the past, in the midst of which stood Grandfather's chair. But now, in
the autumnal twilight, illuminated by the flickering blaze of the
wood-fire, they looked at the old chair and thought that it had never
before worn such an interesting aspect. There it stood, in the venerable
majesty of more than two hundred years. The light from the hearth quivered
upon the flowers and foliage, that were wrought into its oaken back; and
the lion's head at the summit seemed almost to move its jaws and shake its
mane.
    "Does little Alice speak for all of you?" asked Grandfather. "Do you wish
me to go on with the adventures of the chair?"
    "Oh, yes, yes, Grandfather!" cried Clara. "The dear old chair! How strange
that we should have forgotten it so long!"
    "Oh, pray begin, Grandfather," said Laurence; "for I think, when we talk
about old times, it should be in the early evening before the candles are
lighted. The shapes of the famous persons, who once sat in the chair, will
be more apt to come back, and be seen among us, in this glimmer and
pleasant gloom, than they would in the vulgar daylight. And, besides,