San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-06-13

ana warmer nearJ or the muIJltu0e; TOl
rs she lifted her eyes toward the balcony
the unhappy woman grew pale and
tremblea.
The voice which had called her atten
ton was that of the reverend and ia
nous John Wilson, the eldest clergy
man of Boston, great scholar, like
most of his contemporaries in the pro
fession, and withal man of kind and
genial spirit. This last attribute, how.
ever, had been less carefully developed
than his intellectual gifts, and was, in
truth, rather matter of shame than
self congratulation with him. There he
stood, with border of grizzled locks
beneath his skull cap: while his gray
eyes, accustomed to the shaded light of
his study, were winking, like those of
Hester's infant, in the unadulterated
sunshine. He looked like the darkly
engraved portraits which we see pre-
fixed to old volumes of sermons, and
had no more right than one of those
portraits would have to step forth. as he
now did, and NEEDLE with question of
human guilt, passion and anguish.
Hester Prynne, said the clergyman,
Il have striven with my young brother
here, under whose preaching Of the
word you have been privileged tosit"-
Here Mr.. Wilson laid his hand on the
shoulder of a pale young man beside
him. IL have sought, say, to persuade
this godly youth that he should deal
har -, 'fI,n foo Of
before these wise and upright rulers and
in hearing of all the people as touching
the vileness and blackness of your sim
Knowing your natural temper better
than |, he could better judge what argu
ments to use. whether of tenderness OF
terror, such as might prevail over your
hardness and obstinacy, insomuch that
you should no longer hide the name OF
him who tempted you to this grievous
fall. But he opposes to me with a
young mans oversoftness, albeit wise
beyond his years. that it were wronging
the very nature of woman to force her
to lay open her hearts secrets in such
broad daylight and in the presence OF
so great multitude. Truly, as ii sought
to convince him, the shame lay in the
commission of the sin, and not in the
showing of it forth. What say you to il
once again, Brother Dimmesdale? Must
it be thou or that shall deal with this
poor sinners soul?"
There was murmur among the dig
nifed and reverend occupants of the
balcony, and Governor Bellingham gave
expression to its purport, speaking in an
authoritative voice, although tempered
with respect toward the youthful clergy
man whom he addressed.
"Good Master Dimmesdale," said he,
1.-The responsibility of this womans soul
lies greatly with you. 1t behooves you.
therefore, to exhort her to repentance
and to confession as proof and conse.
quence thereof"
The directness of this appeal drew the
eyes of the whole crowd, upon the Rev
erend Mr.. Dimmesdale, young clergy
man who had come from one of the
great English universities, bringing all
the learning of the age into cur wild
forest land. His eloquence and religious
fervor had already given the earnest of
high eminence in his profession. He
was person of very striking aspect.
with white, lofty and impending
brow, large, brown, melancholy eyes,
and a mouth which, unless when he
forcibly compressed it, was apt to be
tremulous, expressing both nervous SEN
sibility and vast power of self restraint.
Notwithstanding his high native gifts
and scholarlike attainments there was
an air about this young minister-an
apprehensive, a startled, a half frighten-
ed look-as of being who felt himself
quite astray and at loss in the pathway
of human existence, and could only be
at ease in some seclusion of his own.
Therefore, so far as his duties would per-
nit, he trod in the shadowy bypaths and
thus kept himself simple and childlike,
coming forth, when occasion was, with
freshness and fragrance and dewy
purity of thought which, as many people
said, affected them like the speech of an
angel.
Such was the young man whom the
Reverend Mr.. Wilson and the governor
had introduced so openly to the public
notice, bidding him speak in the hearing
of all men to that mystery of woman S
soul, so sacred even in its pollution.
The trying nature of his position drove
the blood from his cheek and made his
lips tremulous.
Speak to the woman, my brother, "
said Mr. Wilson. lit is of moment To
her soul, and therefore, as the worship
full governor says, momentous to thine
own, in whose charge hers is. Exhort
her to confess the TRUTH
Tho Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale bent his