Evening journal., 1892-09-08

anew. and with new powers TO glogify
him that hath been mercifull This is
already the better lifel Why did we not
find it sooner
Lot us not look back" answered Hes
ter Prynne. "The pastis gonel Where
fore should we linger upon it now? Seel
With this symbol | undo it all, and
make it as it had never been"
So speaking she undid the clasp that
fastened TIE scarlet letter, and taking IL
from her bosom threw it TO distance
among the withercd leaves. The mystic
token alighted on the hither verge of the
stream. With hands breadth further
flight it would have fallen into the water
and have given the little brook another
woo TO carry onward, besides the unin-
telligiblo tale which it stin kept muir
mudng about. But there lay the cm-
hroidored letter, glittering like a lost
/ Jewel, which some i'll fated wandcTcr
might pick up, and thenceforth be
\ haunted by strange phantoms Of guilt
sinzings Of tho heart and unaccouutablo
misfortune
Tho stigma gone Hester heaved a long.
| deep sigh, in which the burden of shame
end anguish departed from her spirit.
Oh, exquisite relief She had not known
the weight until she felt tho froedoml
BY another impulse she took off the
formal cap that confined her hair; and
down it fell upon her shoulders, dark
and rich with at once shadow and
a light in its abundance, and impart-
ing the charm Of softnoss TO her fea-
lures. There played around her mouth
and beamed out of her ewes a radiant
and tender smile that seemed gushing
from the very heart of womanhood. a
crimson flush was glowing on her check
that had been long so pale. Her sex,
her youth and the whole richness Of her
beauty came back from what men call
tho irrevocable past. and clustered them
selves with her maiden hope and a hap
piness before unknown within the magic
circle Of this hour.
And, as if tho gloom of the earth and
ky had been but the efluonce Of these
two mortal hearts, it vanished Will
their sorrow. All at once, as with 9
sudden smile of heaven, forth burst tho
sunshine, pouring very flood into the
leaf. transmitting the yellow fallen one.
to gold and cleaning adown the gray
trunks Of the solemn trees. Tho object
that had made "a shadow hitherto EN-
bodied the brightness now. Tho cours
of the little brook might be traced B.,
its merry CLEAN afar into the wood
heart Of mystery, which had become
mystery Of JOY.
Such was the sympathy Of nature
that wild, heather nature of the forest
never subjugated by human law, nor il
lumined by higher truth-with the bis
: of these two spiritsl Love, whethe
newly born or aroused from a deathliz
p slumbcr, must always create asunshine
+ filling the heart SO fun Of radiance tina
9 it overlows upon the outward world
ID Had tho forest still kent its gloom
x would have been bright in Hester's eye
g and bright in Arthur Dimmesdale's!
, Hester looked at him with the thri
2 Of another JOY.
y "Thou must know Pearl' said sd,
z "Our little PEARL Thou hast seen her
yes, know it-but thou wilt see he
d now with other eyes. She is a strang
L child hardly comprehend her. Bu
u thou wilt hove her dearly as / do. an
q wilt advise me how to deal with her"
3 "Dost thou think the child win 1
!. glad to know me-" asked the ministC
somewhat uneasily. Il have Ion
q shrunk from children because they ofte
% show q distrust-a backwardness to L
~ familiar with me. / have even bee
) afraid Of little Pearl"
.e "Ah. that was sad" answered IL
"a mother. "But she viii love thee doarl
Is and thou her. She is not far Off. wi
e call her PEARL Pearlw
q Il see the child, observed the mini
10 ter. ''Yonder she is, standing in a strea
y of sunshine, a good way OF on the othl
e side Of the brook So thou thinlzest q
" child viii love mey"
% Hester smiled and again called
e. Pearl, who was visible at some distanc
.i as the minister had described her, iii
ie a bright apparoled vision in a SUNBEAM
y, which fell down upon her through ;
ID arch Of boughs The ray quivered
re and fro making her figure dim or Iii
'n tinct-n0w a real child, now like
G child's spirit-as tho splendor went an
~ came again. She heard her mother
p voice and approached elowly throul
~ tho forest
u Pearl had not found tho hour pa
e wcarisomely whilo her mother sat tai
a. ing with tae clergyman. The gre
l5 black forest-stern as it showed itself
u. those who brought the guilt and troubl
Z. of the world into its bosom-becamo &
~ playmate Of the lonely infant as well
~ it knew how. Somber as it was it p
II on the kindest of its moods TO welcor
III her. t&
u; And she was gentler here than in {
9u grassy margined streets Of tho sett
oe ment OF in her mothers cottage. r
~ flowers seemed TO know it, and one O
other whispered as she passed, "Ado
3 myself with me, thou beautiful chi
M adorn myself with me!' and TO plea
re- thcm Pearl gathered the yiolets and q
emoncs and cOlumbines and some twi
ny Of the freshest green, which tho ,
On trees held down before her eyes, WI
ca these she decorated her hair and ]
lis Young waist, aud became n nymph chi
.e' on an infant dryad, or whatever else W