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The War Governor.
Sebago is one of the most beautiful of the
New England lakes, and has been celebrated in
Longfellow's verse for its curiously winding river between the upper and the lower portion, as well as for the
Indian traditions connected with it.
John A. Andrew's grandfather, like
Hawthorne's father, lived in
Salem and both families emigrated to
Sebago, the former locating himself in the small town of
Windham.
At the time when
Hawthorne was sailing his little boat on the lake, at the age of fourteen,
John Andrew was in his nurse's arms,--born May 31, 1818.
Like
Hawthorne and
Longfellow he went to Bowdoin College, but did not distinguish himself there as a scholar,--had no honors at commencement.
We are still in ignorance concerning his college life, what his interests were, and how he spent his time; but
Andrew never cared much for anything which had not an immediate and practical value.
Greek and Latin, merely for their own sake as ancient languages, did not appeal to him; nor did the desiccated history and cramping philosophy of those days attract him more strongly.
Yet he ultimately developed one of the finest of American intellects.