The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1893-06-02
The SCARLET LETTER.
By NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
CHAPTER 1.
THE MARKET PLACE.

hO y k1AOe OcAOEO Inc jail,
IA Prison lane, on certain summer
morning not less than two centuries ago,
was occupied BY a pretty large number
OF the inhabi tants Of Boston, all with
their eyes intenrtiy fastened on the iron
clamped oaken door. Among any other
population, or at a later period in the
history Of New England, the grim rigid
ity that petrified the bearded physiogno-
mics Of these good people would have
augured some awful business in hand.
Il could have betokened nothing short
OF the anticipated execution of some
noted cu1prit, on whom the sentence of
q legal tribunal had but confirmed the
verdict Of public sentiment. But in
that early severity of the Puritan char
acter an inference of this kind could not
so Individually be drawn. 1t might be
that's sluggish bond servant, or an un-
dutiful child, whom his parents had
given over to the civil authority, was to
BE- corrected at the whipping post.
It might be that an Antinomian, q
Quaker or other heterodox religionist
was to DO scourged out of the town, or
an idle and Ysgrant Indian, whom the
about the streets, was to be driven with
stripes into the shadow of the forest. 1t
might be, too, that a witch, like old
Mistress Hibbins, the bitter tempered
widow of the magistrate, was to die
upon the gallows. In either case, there
was very much the same solemnity of
deneanor on the part Of the spectators;
as beiitted people among whom religion
and law were almost identical, and in
whose character both were so thorough
~ interfused that the mildest and Sc
verest acts of public discipline were
alike made venerable and awful.
Meager, indeed, and cold was the sym
pathy that transgressor might look
for, from such bystanders, at the scat
fold. On the other hand, penalty,
which in our days would infer degree
Of mocking infamy and ridicule, might
then BE- invested with almost as stern a
dignity as the punishment Of death it
self
twas q circumstance to be noted, on
the summer morning when our story be-
gins its course, that the women, of whom
there were several in the crowd, ap-
peared to take a peculiar interest in
whatever penal infection might be ex-
pected to ensue. The age had not so
much refinement that any sense of i'm
propriety restrained the wearers of pet
ticoet and farthingale from stepping
forth into the public ways and wedging
their not unsubstantial persons, if oc-
casion were, into the throng nearest to
the scafold Of an execution. Morally
as well as materially, there was coarser
fiber in those wives and maidens of old
English birth and breeding than in their
fair descendants, separated from them
by series of six or seven generations;
for throughout that chain Of ancestry
every successive mother has transmitted
to her child fainter bloom, more del
icate and briefer beauty and a shghter
physical frame, if not a character of less
force and solidity than her own.
The women who are now standing
about the prison door stood within less
than half q century of the period when
the manlike Elizabeth had been the not
altogether unsuitable representative of
the sex. They were her countrywomen;
and the beef and ale of their native land,
with moral diet not whit more re-
fined, entered largely into their compo-
sition. The bright morning sun there
fore shone on broad shoulders and well
developed busts and on round and rudy
cheeks that had ripened in the far of
island, and had hardly yet grown paler
or thinner in the atmosphere of New
England. There was moreover bold
ness and rotundity of speech among
these matrons, as most of them seemed
to be, that would startle us at the pres
emit day, whether IN respect to its pur-
port or its volume of tone
''CSoodwives," said a hard featured
dame Of fifty, ''I'll tell ye piece of my
mind. It would be greatly for the pub
lie behoof, If we women, being of mature
age and church members in good repute,
should have the handling Of such MALE
factresses as this Hester Prynne. What
think ye, gossips? IF the hussy stood up
for Judgment before as five that are now
here In knot together, would she come
on with such a sentence as the worship
full magistrates have awarded? Marry.
trow mott"
People say" said another. ''that the
Reverend Mr.. Dimmesdale, her cody
pastor, takes it very grievously to heart
that such q scandal should have come
upon his congregation. !"
THE magistrates are Godfearing gem
tlemen, but merciful overmuch-that is
q truth, added third autumnal ma
Eron. eat the very least. they should
have put the brand of q hot iron on
Hester Prynne's forehead. Madam Hes
ter would have WINGED at that, war
rant me. But she-the naughty bag
gage little win she care what they put
upon the bodice of her gownI Why,
look you, she may cover it with q brooch
or such like heathenish adornment and
90 walk the streets as brave as everI"
..Ah, bat, = interposed more softly q
Young wife, holding child by the hand,
s'Iet her cover the mark as she viii, the
pang OF il will be always in her heart"
.sVVhat do we talk Of marks and
brands, whether on the bodice Of her
gown or the flesh Of her foreheadS"
cried another female, the ugliest as well
Is che most pitiless of these self consti-
tinted Judges. ..This woman has brought
shame upon us all and ought to die. Is
there not law for it, Truly, there is,
both Ii the Scripture and the statute
hook. Then let the magistrates, who
have made IL Of no effect, thank them
selves Il their own wives and daughters
so astrayT
Mercy on as, gcodwife," exclaimed
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