Los Angeles herald., 1892-10-04

maid who sold me soda water ard cigars.
In ten minutes my cabman had me at
Gallows hill. 1t is not much more than q
knoll, rough, washed by the rains and used
as grazing ground by village cows. lnno-
cent enough it looks but no once cares to
build house upon or very near IT, ana NJ
night, so my driver said, the boys Keep
away from the spot as if it were tenanted
by ghosts. don't blame them much, for
if there is bit of ground in the United
States which has black and bloody record
this is it,
Hither came the high sheriff, June 10,
1892, with Bridget Bishop, whom he hung
till she was dead "and buried;" hither he
came again, July 49, with Sarah Good,
Sarah Wildes, Elizabeth How, Rebecca
Nurse and Susanna Martin, and hung
them too.
A month later he came the third time
and put to death George Burroughs, John
Proctor, George Jacobs, John Willard and
Martha Cassier. Sept. % he appeared for
the last time, placing the rope around the
necks of Martha Corey, Mary Easty, Alice
Parker, Ann Pudeator, Margaret Scott,
William Reed, Samuel Wardwell and
Mary Parker. 1t was after this wholesale
execution that Rev. Noyes pointed to the
bodies of the eight women and exclaimed,
with much emotion, What sad sight it
is to see eight firebrands of hell hanging
therer'
AS thought of these awful tragedies
and was depressed thereby the driver con-
siderately took me to see the house Haw-
thorne was born ina plain, rather cheap
dwelling which bears its fresh coat of
paint and it's honors without ostentation.
1t is a shrine at which many worship, and
then they go to the old custom house where
Collector Hawthorne wove the beautiful
romance of "The Scarlet Letter." which l
notice Richard Mansfield has just put
upon the stage without, it almost goes I'M
said pleasing the New York critics.
] asked my cabby to take me to ''The
House of the Seven Cables" and he
promptly did so, though l think the old
rascal knew very we'll Hawthorne denied
having any special house in mind. Still
the local wiseacres have selected as the
one Hawthorne ought to have had in
mind, even if he didn't, the house at SO
Charter street, where the novelist's father
in-law lived To the cabby and therefore
to the stranger it is and probably always
will be 1.-The House of the Seven Gables. !"
Another house which some of the natives
insist is entitled to this honor stands in
Turner street Years ago it belonged to
the Ingersoll family, and Hawthorne often
visited there The story is that during
one of these visits Miss Ingersoll told
Hawthorne the house used to have seven
gables, and took him TO the attic to prove
it by the beams and mortises. Coming
down the stairs Hawthorne is said to have
muttered, House of the seven gables
that sounds we'll"
l was surprised to learn that Hawthorne
is not very popular in Salem. The trouble
was he didn't care much for Salem soci-
ETY., and the very old people who remember
him, and their descendants who think as
their fathers and mothers, look upon Haw-
thorne, the neighbor, as very unsocial
and uncomfortable. Still they make
great deal of his fame, and there are in
Salem Hawthorne stories by the thousand.
They show you all the houses he ever
lived in; the old town pump is preserved
in picture; at the Essex institute they have
the desk which he used in writing "The
Scarlet Letter" and the original manu-
script of that immortal story. At the GUS
tom house / saw hanging upon the wall
the tin stencil with which Hawthorne or
his clerk marked inspected goods IN. Haw-
thorne" Visitors who inquire for the fa-
nous embroidered scarlet letter "a" as
many do, are of course doomed to disap-
pointment. ROBERT GRAVES.