Illustrated by Cat Boats, Newport by American Impressionist Fredrick Childe Hassam; Longfellow's external life presents little that is of stirring interest. It is the life of a modest, deep-hearted gentleman whose highest ambition was to be a perfect man, and, through sympathy and love, to help others to be the same. His boyhood was spent mostly in his native town, which he never ceased to love, and whose beautiful surroundings and quiet, pure life he has described in his poem "My Lost Youth." Here he grew up in the midst of majestic peace, which was but once broken, and that by an event which made a deep impression on him the War of 1812