The Charles Osgood oil-on-canvass portrait of Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1840. Courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum

The Bowdoin College Class of 1825 is revered as the greatest in the school’s history for its many legendary graduates. Yet, despite his later distinction, one of those American legends was nearly expelled.

Future novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne, perhaps best known for “The Scarlett Letter” spent most of his youth traipsing around the family summer home in Raymond, and he spent a great deal of time preparing for the rigid Bowdoin College entrance examinations.

Hawthorne’s uncle, Robert Manning, then sent his nephew to Portland to study under the tutelage of a “stingy old curmudgeon,” Rev. Caleb Bradley of Stroudwater. By August of 1821, Hawthorne had made the cut.

Then, Bowdoin’s campus had only five faculty and just three buildings — Maine Hall, Massachusetts Hall and the Chapel. Winthrop Hall was under construction.

Most students worked long and hard to pass the exams but, once admitted, many later seemed hell-bent to toss it away. Hawthorne appears to have been one of those students.

“I was an idle student, negligent of College rules” and preferred “… to nurse my own fancies.” Undoubtedly, it was not helpful that Moorhead’s Tavern was located at the northwestern corner of the campus, or that a number of “secret societies” existed.

“Mischief … is the constant companion of idleness,” Hawthorne scribed. “I am afraid that my stay here will have an ill effect upon my moral character.”

“Drinking, smoking, and card playing” were three sins Hawthorne rarely avoided, though punishment — if caught — could be harsh.

“I narrowly escaped detection,” Hawthorne wrote. “I have, in a great measure, discontinued the practice of playing cards,” Nathaniel assured his sister, “and [I] mean … to be more careful.”

In his second year, while Brunswick saw a green-up of spring, catastrophe struck. On Monday, March 4 of 1822, at 3 p.m., the loud cry of “Fire!” was heard. Flames and smoke were found coming from “the garret” at Maine Hall, and the conflagration was already “beyond control.”

“Twelve of the students” lost all of their belongings, clothing, furniture, and bedding to the flames. Hundreds of volumes in the “theological library,” and “the whole of the woodwork” of the building’s interior, were lost “by seven that evening.”

“Except having my coat torn,” Hawthorne wrote, “I sustained no damage by it.”

Hawthorne was a “dandy,” a handsome young man who took great care in his appearance. When, Hawthorne received his first watch in his sophomore year, he proudly remarked that he would “cut a great dash” on campus.

Hawthorne was provided a stipend from his uncle, yet he often wrote home asking for more funds. “If I remain in Brunswick, I shall spend all my money,” Hawthorne complained to his sister, and “I have no clothes in which to make a decent appearance.”

Yet, leaving campus seemed more of a priority for Hawthorne, and he was not above conspiring to finagle permission to leave. “You must write me a letter” Hawthorne cautioned his eldest sister, “If you do not, I shall certainly forge a letter” or, “I will leave Brunswick without liberty.”

Monotony appears to have been Hawthorne’s constant nemesis. He and fellow classmate Horatio Bridge spent much time walking the woods of Brunswick, and each enjoyed “lingering for hours” by the river watching “giant pine logs … come to the falls … and plunge into the foamy pool below.”

Bridge wrote of “an old woman” that lived in a run-down shack at “the lower end of town.” She “pretended to be a fortune teller,” and “for nine-pence” Bridge and Hawthorne were often “entertained” by her prognostications.

Yet, it was card playing and drinking at “Ward’s Tavern,” or more likely at Moorhead’s Tavern, which was most preferred.

In May of 1822, a large card game was exposed by college faculty and the result of that discovery left “one student dismissed, two suspended,” and others fined. And this time, Hawthorne did not “escape detection.”

On May 29, College President William Allen fined Nathaniel “50 cents for gaming at cards.” “If I am again detected,” Hawthorne warned his mother, “I shall have the honor of being suspended.”

The only known class (portrait) silhouette of Young Nathaniel Hawthorne at Bowdoin. Courtesy of Bowdoin College archives

Hawthorne was often cited for numerous infractions such as “neglect of themes,” “Excessive walking on the Sabbath Day,” and “absence from recitation.” He may even have been absent from sitting for his own class silhouette (portrait). “Hawthorne disapproved,” explained Horatio Bridge, “he steadily refused to go.”

Yet, despite his trials and tribulations, on Sept. 7 of 1825, Nathaniel Hawthorne graduated from Bowdoin and, though he little considered himself to be a memorable student, his time at Brunswick is not forgotten.

Today, the bookstore Twice-Told Tales, even bears one of Hawthorne’s book-titles and serves to remind us that Nathaniel Hawthorne’s matriculation at Bowdoin, nearly 200 years ago, is one of the best-surviving of our Stories From Maine.

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Our Pine Tree State is known for many things, including producing a fair share of well-known celebrities!

Listen, we get it—Maine might not be the first place you think of when it comes to producing celebrities. States like Illinois, California, and New York usually get that spotlight. Instead, we’re known for our delicious seafood, rugged outdoor wear, iconic New England architecture, and stunning natural beauty.

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During the war against the Taliban, it’s estimated that the United States spent tens of billions of dollars to train and equip Afghanistan’s security forces, including the thousands of pilots that flew supply planes, fighter jets, and attack helicopters, in addition to mechanics and ground crew.

When the U.S. withdrew its forces in 2021, most of these aviation professionals went into hiding. The few pilots that have managed to get to the United States have largely remained grounded, unable to afford certification. But one former helicopter pilot now living in Auburn is fighting to get back in the air, with help from some American military veterans.

At the New England Aviation Academy in Brunswick, flight instructor Tony Alves is helping 26 year-old Farooq Safi get situated in the cockpit of a small propeller plane.

This will be Safi’s first time piloting an aircraft in the U.S., but he is no stranger to the skies. Growing up in Kabul, Safi said his childhood dream was to become a pilot. He went on to graduate from the Afghan Air Force academy and trained to fly Black Hawk helicopters.

But shortly after completing his training, the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan. As the government collapsed and the Taliban stormed Kabul, Safi said he and fellow Air Force service members decided their best hope for survival was to take one of the planes and flee to neighboring Uzbekistan, and hope for the best.

“One of my friends was taking the plane, trying to go towards Uzbekistan without knowing anything,” Safi said.

With the help of the U.S. government, Safi eventually resettled in the Lewiston Auburn area, alongside several other Afghan Air Force veterans.

Safi said he wanted to restart his flying career, but ran into a major roadblock.

“First of all, you need a lot of money,” he said.

At least $40,000, to be precise, which Safi said he didn’t have.

Then, he met Jen Fullmer, a retired colonel who flew for 24 years in the U.S. Air Force.

“He reminded me of myself when I was 26 years old,” Fullmer said, of Safi. “And I just knew we needed to help him.”

Fullmer, who lives in Biddeford, started applying for grants and raising money through a GoFundMe. Her goal is to come up with the money to cover the training and flight hours Safi needs to get his private pilot’s license. It’ll cost even more for Safi to get a commercial license.

Fullmer, who flew dozens of missions over Afghanistan, said helping Safi is personal. Especially after seeing how the U.S. withdrawal hurt many of the Afghans she’d served with.

“We were over there supporting our Afghan allies for 20 years, me personally, it was, like 15 years. And I’ve seen the anguish and and of their lives just being completely torn apart,” she said.

Brunswick flight instructor Tony Alves, a retired Marine, said he too was angered by how the withdrawal was handled.

“I mean, you know, our ethos is we never leave anybody behind,” Alves said.

Alves said the flight school covered the cost of Safi’s classroom instruction, and is providing today’s introductory flight lesson for free.

After taxing out to the runway, Safi and Alves lifted off into a stiff breeze, then banked left and buzzed out of sight.

Safi is among hundreds of Afghan pilots, mechanics, and ground grew who’ve resettled in the U.S. since the fall of Kabul, according to the Afghan American Development Group, a nonprofit formed to help these aviation professionals restart their lives and careers.

Russ Pritchard, the group’s CEO, said a few have gotten jobs flying for FedEx and UPS feeder airlines, jobs for which he said they are eminently qualified.

“You stack them up against some of the other employees that they’ve hired for the same positions, and this guy literally has thousands of hours more airtime under combat, under duress,” Pritchard said.

But Pritchard said the cost of training, the day-to-day challenges of resettlement, and the urgent need to send money to family back home have kept most Afghan aviators grounded.

As his organization tries to raise enough money to cover those training costs, Pritchard said he’d like to see some American defense contractors pitch in.

“There’s a lot of companies that made a lot of money in Afghanistan, like Raytheon, Sierra Nevada Corporation, I mean, they made huge money,” he said. “And I’d love for them to say, hey, disgorge, some of those profits back to the people you made money off of because they’re trying to survive.”

At the former Naval Airbase in Brunswick, Safi and Alves bring the plane back to the hangar after the introductory training flight.

After years of flying helicopters, Safi said his first time at the controls of a fixed wing aircraft wasn’t too difficult.

“It was good,” he said. “It was so nice.”

Still, even if everything goes smoothly, he is still potentially years away from his long-term goal of becoming an airline pilot.

But Safi said he doesn’t care how long it takes.

“As I say, it’s a dream,” he said. “When you want to reach that dream, you have to work for it and to try to get it.”