The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1893-06-09

tence, but something doubtful, some
thing that might be deeply wrong, be-
meath.
Her imagination was somewhat af-
fected, and had she been of a softer
moral and intellectual fiber would have
been still more so by the strange and
solitary anguish of her life. Walking
to and fro, with those lonely footsteps,
in the little world with which she was
outwardly connected, it now and then
appeared to Hester-if altogether fancy,
it was nevertheless too potent to be re-
sisted-she felt or fancied, then, that
the scarlet letter had endowed her with
a new sense. She shuddered to believe,
yet could not help believing, that it gave
her sympathetic knowledge of the hid
! den sin in other hearts. She was terror
stricken by the revelations that were
/ thus made. What were they? Could
TO be herself-it would have been no
| longer Pearll
This outward mutability indicated,
and did not more than fairly express, the
various properties of her inner life. Her
nature appeared to possess depth, too, as
well as variety, but-or else Hester's
fears deceived her-it lacked reference
and adaptation to the world into which
she was born The child could not be
made amenabIe to rules. In giving her
existence a great law had been broken,
and the result was a being whose ele-
ments were perhaps beautiful and bril-
liant, but all in disorder, or with an or
der peculiar to themselves. amid which
the point Of variety and arrangement
was difficult or impossible to be discov-
cred.
How aoon-with what strange rapid
ity, indeed!-did Pearl arrive at an age
that was capable of social intercourse,
beyond the mothers ever ready smile
and nonsense words! And then what a
happiness would it have been could Hes
ter Prynne have heard her clear, bird
like voice mingling with the uproar of
other childish voices, and have distin-
guished and unraYeled her own darling's
tones amid all the entangled outcry Of
a group of sportive childreni But this
could never be. Pearl was born out
cast of the infantile world. An imp of
evil, emblem and product of sin, she had
no right among christened infants.
Nothing was more remarkable than the
instinct, as it seemed, with which the
child comprehended her loneliness; the
destiny that had drawn an inviolable
circle round about her; the whole pecul-
iarity, in short, OF her position in re-
spect to other children.
Never, since her release from prison
had Hester met the public gaze without
her. In all her walks about the town
Pearl, too, was there; first as the babe
in arms and afterward as the little girl
small companion of her mother, holding
a forefnger with her whole grasp, anC
tripping along at the rate of three OF
four footsteps to one of Testers. She
saw the children of the settlement OF
the grassy margin of the street, Or at tho
domestic thresholds, disporting them
} selves in such grim fashion as the Puri
} tanic nature would permit-playing a
} going to church, perchance; or at scourg
: ing Quakers, or taking scalps in shan
fight with the Indians; or soaring ont
another with freaks of initiative witch
craft. Pearl saw and gazed intently
r but never sought to make acquaint
2 ance.
In the afternoon of certain summer
3 day, after Pearl grew big enough t.
: run about, she amused herself witt
: gathering handfuls of wild flowers ant
s mothers bosom; dancing up and down
e like little elf, whenever she hit tn
. scarlet letter. Testers first motion ha
p been to cover her bosom with her claspe
4 hands, but whether from pride or resig
= nation, or a feeling that her penanc
8 might best be wrought out by this III
= utterable pain, she resisted the impuls
}, and sat erect, pale as death. lookin
81
: came the battery of flowers, almost IL
r variably hitting the mark and GOVERN
n the mothers breast with hurts for whic
Y she could find no balm in this world
d nor knew how to seek it in another A
d last, her shot being all expended, til
it child stood still and gazed at HesteI
y with that little, laughing image of
it fiend peeping out-or, whether it peepe
q or no, her mother so imagined it frol
10 the unsearchable abyss of her black eye
. ''Child, what art thouY cried tt
i mother.
b ssOh, 1 am your little PearlF' answere
the child
g But while she said it Pearl laughe
st and began to dance up and down wit
If the humorsome gesticulation of a lit
i imp, whose next freak might be to fly [
o the chimney.
y cart thou my child. in very truth
: asked Hester.
le Nor did she put the question altogeth
IS idly, but for the moment with portis
ut of genuine earnestness, for such W
n Pearls wonderful intelligence that h
N mother half doubted whether she W
le not acquainted with the secret spell
7e her existence and might not now reye
* herself.
at 'sYes, am little PearlF' repeated t
Of child, continuing her antics.
u sThou art not my childt Thou art
es Pearl of miner said the mother ha
OF playfuIly. for it was often the case tn
I'd q sportive influence came over her in t
ne midst of her deepest suffering. 1T
er me, then, what art thou and who Sc
k thee hither."
TELL me, motherr' said the child Sc
ca ously, coming up to Hester and pressr
n, herself close to her knees. DO tn
&c tell meIs'
ny ssThy Heavenly Father sent theeE7 3
al swered Hester Prynne.
r But she said It with hesitation ii
ne did not escape the acuteness Of the chi
ne Whether moved only by her ordina
Ne freakishness or because an evil spi
IL II FL