San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-06-11


What do we talk of marks and
brands, whether on the bodice OF her
gown or the flesh of her foreheadY
cried another female, the ugliest as well
as ;the most pitiless, Of these self constr
tuted JUDGES. This woman has brought
shame uponals all and ought to die. Is
there not law for lit? Truly, there is,
both in the Scripture and the statute
book. Then let the magistrates, who
have made it of no effect, thank them
selves if their own wives and daughters
go astrayv
Mercy on us, geodwife," exclaimed
a 1uan in the crowd, 'is there 40 virtue
in woman save what springs from q
Wholesome fear of the gallows? That is
the hardest word yet! Hush, now. Cos
sipsi for the lock is turning in the
prison door, and here comes Mistress
Prynne herself"
The door of the Jail being flung wide
open from within, there appeared, in the
first place, Ikea black shadow emerging
into sunshine, the grim and grizzly pres
ence of the town beadle. with sword
by his side a.Sd his staff of Office in his
hand. This parsonage prefigured and
represented in his aspect the whole dis
NAL severity of the Puritanic code of
law. which it was his business to admin
lister in its final and closest application
to the offender. Stretching forth the
official staff in his left hand. he laid his
right upon the shoulder Of young
woman. whom he thus drew forward
| until. on the threshold of the prison
door, she repealed him by an action
marked with natural dignity and force
of character and stepped into the open
air, as if by her own free will. She bore
| in her arms a child, a baby of some
three months old, who winked and turned
aside its little face from the too vivid light
| of day, because its existence heretofore
had brought it acquainted only with the
gray twilight of. dungeon or other
darksome apartment of the prison.
| When the young woman-the mother
of this child-stood fully revealed before
the crowd. it seemed to be her first i'm
pulse to clasp the infant closely to her
bosom; not so much by an impulse of
motherly affection. as that she might
thereby conceal a certain token which
was wrought or fastened into her dress.
In moment. however, wisely Judging
that one token of her shame would bat
poorly serve to hide another. she took
the baby on her arm, and with a burn
ing blush and yet naughty smile, and
a glance that would not be abashed,
looked around at her townspeople and
neighbors. On the breast of her gown.
in fine red cloth. surrounded with an
elaborate embroidery and fantastic flour
ishes of gold thread, appeared the letter
! A. 1t was so artistically done. and with
so much fertility and gorgeous luxuri-
ance of fancy, that it had all the effect
of last and fitting decoration to the
apparel which she wore, and which was
of splendor in accordance with the
taste of the age, but greatly beyond
what was allowed by the sumptuary
! regulations of the colony.
The young woman was tall, with
| figure of perfect elegance on large
scale. She had dark ana abundant hair,
so glossy that it threw off the sunshine
with CLEAN and face which, besides
| being beautiful from regularity of fea-
! ture and richness of complexion, had
| the impressiveness belonging to
marked brow and deep black eyes. She
| was ladyhke, too, after the manner of
| the feminine gentility of those days;
| characterized b. a certain state and dig
nifty, rather than by the delicate, evan
| escent and Undesirable grace which is
! now recognized as its indication. And
never had He-ter Prynne appeared more
ladylike. in the antique Interpretation
| of the term than as she issued from the
prison. Those who had before known
her, and had expected to behold her
| dimmed and obscured by disastrous
cloud, were aatonished and even startled
to perceive how her beauty shone out
| and made halo of the misfortune and
| ignominy in which she was enveloped.
1t may be true that, to a sensitive OBJ
server, there was something exquisitely
| painful in it. Her attire. which, in
deed, she had wrought for the occasion,
in prison, and had modelled much after
her own fancy, seemed to express the
attitude of her spirit, the desperate reck-
lessness of her mood, by its wild and
| picturesque peculiarly But the point
which drew all eyes, and, as it were,
| TRANSPORTED the wearer-so that both
men and women who had been famil-
iarly acquainted with Hester Prynne
were now impressed as if they beheld
her for the first time-was that scarlet
letter, SO Enthusiastically embroidered and
Illuminated upon her bosom. 1t had the
effect of a spell, taking her out of the
ordinary relations with humanity and