The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1892-10-12
THE SCARLET LETTER.
By NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE

hour. But Arthur Dimmesdale Were
such man once more to fall. what plea
| could be urged in extenuation of his
| crimep None; unless it avail him some
what, that he was broken down by long
and exquisite suffering; that his mind
was darkened and confused by the very
remorse which narrowed 1t; that, be-
tween fleeing as an avowed criminal
and remaining as hypocrite, conscience
might find It hard TO strike the balance:
that it was human to avoid the peril 1T
death and infamy and the inscrutable
Vaccinations of an enemy; that, finally,
to this poor pilgrim, on his dreary and
desert path, faint, sick, miserable, there
appeared glimpse of human affection
and sympathy, new life and true one,
in exchange for the heavy doom which
he was now expiating. And be the stern
and sad truth spoken, that the breach
which guilt has once made into the hu-
man soul is never in this mortal state re-
paired. II may be watched and guarded;
so that the enemy shall not force his
way again into the citadel, and might
even in his subsequent assaults select
some other avenue in preference to that
where he had formerly succeeded. But
there Is still the ruined wall, and near it
the stealthy tread of the foe that would
win over again his unforgotten triumph.
The struggle, if there were one, need
not be described. Let it suffice that the
clergyman resolved to flee and not
alone.
eff, in all these past seven years."
thought he, 81 could recall one instant
of peace or hope, would yet endure,
for the sake of that earnest of heavens
mercy. But now, since am irrevocably
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS should l not snatch
the solace allowed to the condemned
culprit before his execution? Or, if this
be the path to better life, as Hester
would persuade me, surely give up no
fairer prospect by pursuing It'll Neither
can any longer live without her COM
panionship; so powerful is she to sus-
tain--so tender to soothel o thou to
whom / dare not lift mine eyes, wilt
thou yet pardon meY'
"Thou wilt goi" said Hester calmly,
as he met her glance.
The decision once made, glow of
strange enjoyment threw its Pickering
brightness over the trouble of his breast.
It was the exhilarating effect-upon a
prisoner just escaped from the dungeon
of his own Leart-of breathing the wild,
free atmosphere of an unredeeined, I'M
christainized, lawless region. His spirit
rose, as it were, with a bound, and at
tanned a nearer prospect Of the sky than
throughout all the misery which had
kept him groveling on the earth. OF
deeply religious temperament, there was
inevitably tinge of the devotional in
his mood.
"Do feel joy againY cried he, won
dering at himself. "Methought the
germ of it was dead in mel o Hester,
thou art my better ANGEL | seem to
have flung inyself-sick, sin stained and
sorrow blackened-down upon these for
est leaves, and to have risen up all made
anew, and with new powers to glorify
him that hath been merciful! This is
already the better lifel Why did we not
find it sooner"
"Let us not look back" answered Hes
ter Prynne. 1.-THE past is gonel Where
fore should we linger upon it now? Seel
With this symbol undo it all. and |
make it as it had never beenP'
So speaking, she undid the clasp that |
fastened the scarlet letter, and taking it |
from her bosom threw it to distance
among the withered leaves. The mystic |
token alighted on the hither verge of the |
stream. With a hands breadth farther |
fight itwould have fallen into the water
and have given the little brook another |
woe to carry onward, besides the unin- |
telligible tale which it still kept MUIR
muring about. But there lay the en-
broidered letter, glittering like lost |
jewel, which some i'll fated wanderer |
might pick up, and thenceforth be |
haunted by strange phantoms of guilt,
sinkings of the heart and unaccountable
misfortune.
The stigma gone Hester heaved long,
deep sigh, in which the burden of shame
and anguish departed from her spirit.
Oh, exquisite relief She had not known
the weight until abe felt the freedomi |
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 |
q light in its abundance, and impart-
ing the charm of softness to her fea.
lures. There plaYad around her mouth
and beamed cut Of her ewes a radiant |
and tender smile that seemed gushing |
from the very heart of womanhood. A
crimson flush was glowing on her cheek
that had been long 30 pale. Her sex,
her youth and the whole richness of her
hearty came back from what men call
the 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 the gloom of the earth and
sky had been but the effiuence of these
two mortal hearts, 1t vanished with
their sorrow. All at once, as with a
sudden smile of heaven, forth burst the
sunshine, pouring very food into the
obscure forest, gladdening each green
leaf, transmitting the yellow fallen ones
TO gold and cleaning adown the gray
trunks of the solemn trees. The objects
that had made shadow hitherto en-
bodied the brightness now. The course
of the little brook might be traced by
its merry CLEAN afar into the woods
heart Of mystery. which had become a
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 bliss
Of these two sDiritai Love whether |