Evening journal., 1892-09-10
CHAPTER XVIII

THE REVELATION OF THE SCARLET LETTER
Tho eloquent voice on which the souls
of the listening audience had been borne |
aloft as on the swelling waves of the |
sea at length came TO a pause. There |
was a momentary silence, profound as |
what should follow the utterance Of |
oracles. Then ensued a murmur and
half hushed tumult, as if the auditors,
released from tho high spell that had
transported them into the region Of an
others mind, We're returning into them
selves with all their awe and wonder
still heavy on them. In Ia moment more
the crowd began TO gush forth from the
doors Of the church Now that there
was an end they needed other breath,
more fit to support the gross and earthly
life into which they relapsed than that
atmosphere which the preacher had con-
verted into words of flame and had bur
dened with tho rich fragrance Of his
thought
In the open air their rapture broke
into speech. The street and the market
place absolutely babbled from side to
side with applauses of the minister. His
hearers could not rest until they had told
one another of what each knew better
than he could tell or hear. According
TO their united testimony, never had man
/ spoken in so wise. so high and so holy a
spirit as he that spake this day, nor had
inspiration ever broathed through NOR
tai lips more evidently than it did
/ through his. It's influence could be seen,
rs it were, descending upon him and
| possessing him and continually lifting
! him out of the written discourse that lay
before him, and filling him with ideas
that must have been as marvellous TO
himself as TO his audience. His subject,
! It appeared, had been the relation be-
tween the Deity and the communities Of
mankind, with a special reference to the
New England which they were here
planting in the wilderness. And as he
drew toward the close a spirit as Of
prophecy had come upon him, constrain-
ing him to its purpose as nightly as the
old prophets Of Israel were constrained;
only with this difference, that whereas
the Jewish seers had denounced judg-
ments and ruin on their country, it was
his mission to foretell a high and glori-
GUS destiny for the newly gathered peo-
pie Of the Lord.
But throughout it all and through the
whole discourse there had been a certain
deep, sad undertone Of pathos, which
could not be interpreted otherwise than
as the natural regret of one soon TO pass
away. Yes. their minister whom they
so loved--and who so loved them all
that he could not depart heavenward
without sigh-had the foreboding OF
untimely death upon him and would
soon leave them in their tears! This
idea of his transitory stay on earth gave
the last emphasis to the effect which the
preacher had produced; it was as If an
angel in his passage to the skies hac
shaken his bright wings over the people
for IN instaut-at once u shadow and {
splendor-and had shed down a shower
OF golden truths upon them.
Thus there had come TO the Reverend
Mr.. Dimmesdale-as to most men il
their various spheres, though seldom
recognized until they see it far behin'
them-an epoch Of life more brillian
and full of triumph than any previou
( ] one OF IMAM hll1 MltNA AAAiA A'A NttA &c
bo. He stood at this moment on th
. very proudcst ominonco Of superiorit
to which the gifts of intellect, rich lore
prevailing eloquence and reputation O
whitest sanctity could exalt a clergyman
in New Englands earliest days, who
! the professional character was Of itsel
, lofty pedestal Such was the positi0
which the minister occupied as he bowe
: his head forward ON the cushions Of til
/ pulpit at tho close Of his election ser
mon. Meanwhile Hester Prynne wa
% standing beside the scaffold Of the pi
lory. with the scarlet letter still burnin
on her breast.
Now was heard again the clangor
the music, and the measured tramp
the military escort issuing from I'll
church door The procession was TO |
- marshaled thence TO the town hal
i where a solemn banquet would con
plete the ceremonies Of the day.
: lContinued on Mondayi
u For a Cooling.
4 e.. 80. A.. ,... . ilffss al ffItoat