Thus encouraged, he thought of collecting his
tales and publishing them in volume form, connected by the conception of
a travelling story-teller, whose shiftings of fortune were to form the
interludes and links between the separate stories. A portion of this,
prefatory to "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment," has been published in the
"Mosses," with the heading of "Passages from a Relinquished Work."
Goodrich was not disposed to lavish upon his young beneficiary the
expense of bringing out a book for him, and the plan of reprinting the
tales with this framework around them was given up. The next year Bridge
came to Goodrich and insisted on having a simple collection issued,
himself taking the pecuniary risk. In this way the "Twice-Told Tales"
were first brought collectively before the world; and for the second
time this faithful comrade of Hawthorne laid posterity under obligation
to himself. It was not till long afterward, however, that Hawthorne knew
of his friend's interposition in the affair.
Mr. Bridge had not then entered the navy, and was engaged in a great
enterprise on the Androscoggin; nothing less than an attempt to dam up
that river and apply the water-power to some mills. In July of 1837,
Hawthorne went to visit him at Bridgton, and has described his
impressions fully in the Note-Books. It was probably his longest absence
from Salem since graduating at Bowdoin. "My circumstances cannot long
continue as they are," he writes; "and Bridge, too, stands between high
prosperity and utter ruin.
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