This is a well executed, amusing trifle, but little more. As you might expect, the elder of the two has much to tell her naive sibling. This New Year’s Day piece was first published with the title “Being the Carrier's Address, to the Patrons of the Salem Gazette, for the First of January, 1839.” Presumably commissioned by Caleb Foote (the editor of The Gazette and a friend of Hawthorne), it tells of the midnight meeting, on the steps of the new city hall, of two sisters: The Old Year 1838 and The New Year 1939. His work is considered part of the Romantic movement and includes novels, short stories, and a biography of his friend, the United States President Franklin Pierce. Much of Hawthorne's writing centers around New England and many feature moral allegories with a Puritan inspiration. Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864, leaving behind his wife and their three children. A political appointment took Hawthorne and family to Europe before returning to The Wayside in 1860. The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850, followed by a succession of other novels.

The couple moved to The Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts, later moving to Salem, the Berkshires, then to The Wayside in Concord.

He worked at a Custom House and joined a Transcendentalist Utopian community, before marrying Peabody in 1842. In 1837, he published Twice-Told Tales and became engaged to painter and illustrator Sophia Peabody the next year. Hawthorne anonymously published his first work, a novel titled Fanshawe, in 1828. Shortly after graduating from Bowdoin College, Hathorne changed his name to Hawthorne.

He is seen as a key figure in the development of American literature for his tales of the nation's colonial history. Nathaniel Hawthorne was a 19th century American novelist and short story writer.

Twice-Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne