The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1893-06-02
Clothing twenty-five Per Cent Below CosIsiBduTuBs,

presence Of these thousand witnesses.
It was better to stand thus, with so
many betwixt him and her, than to greet
him face to face, they two alone. She
fed for refuge, as it were, TO the public
exposure, and dreaded the moment when
its protection should be withdrawn from
her. Involved in these thoughts, she
scarcely heard q voice behind her until
it had repeated her name more than
once in a loud and solemn tone, audible
to the whole multitude.
'Hearken unto me. Hester PrynneI"
said the voice.
It has already been noticed that direct
Iy over the platform on which Hester
Prynne stood was kind of balcony or
open gallery appended to the meeting
house. 1t was the place whence procla-
nations were wont to be made, amid
an assemblage of the magistracy, with
all the ceremonial that attended such
public observances in those days. Here,
to witness the scene which we are de-
scribing, sat Governor Bellinghan him
self, with four sergeants about his chair,
bearing halberds, as guard of honor.
He wore dark feather in his hat, Dor
der of embroidery on his cloak and q
black velvet tunic beneath-a gentleman
advanced in years with hard expert
ence written in his wrinkles. He was
not i'll fitted TO be the head and repre-
sentative of community which owed its
origin and progress and its present state
of development, not to the impulses of
youth, but to the stern and tempered en-
ergies of manhood and the somber sa-
gacity of age, accomplishing SO much
precisely because it imagined and hoped
so little.
The other eminent characters, by
whom the chief ruler was surrounded,
were distinguished by dignity of
mien, belonging to period when the
forms of authority were felt to possess
the sacredness of divine institutions
They were, doubtless, good men, just
and sage. But, out of the whole hui
man family, it would not have been
easy to select the same number of wise
and virtuous persons who should be less
capable of sitting in judgment on an
erring woman's heart and disentangling
its mesh of good and evil than the sages
of rigid aspect toward whom Hester
Prynne now turned her face. She seemed
conscious, indeed, that whatever SYM
pathy she might expect lay in the larger
and warmer heart of the multitude; for
as she lifted her eyes toward the balcony
the unhappy woman grew pale and
trembled.
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 a matter of shame than
self congratulation with him. There ho
stood, with a 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 darlzly
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
Hester Prynne,'' said the clergyman,
81 have striven with my young brother
here, under whose preaching Of the
word you have been privileged to Sit
Here Mr.. Wilson laid his hand On the
shoulder of = pale young man beside
him. 81 have sought, say, to persuade
this cody youth that he should deal
with you here in the face of heaven and
before these wise and upright rulers and
In hearing of all the people as touching
the vileness and blackness of your sin
Knowing your natural temper better
than l, he could better judge what argu-
ments to use, whether of tenderness or
terror, such as might prevail over your
hardness and obstinacS, 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 oyersoftness, 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 l sought;
to convince him, the shame lay in the
commission of the sin, and not In the,
S1XOWlllS VI II lOIG4s w 1lctJ SCty YOU W IL
once again, Brother Dimmesdale? Must.
it be thou or that shah 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 Di1nmesdale, said he,
.sthe responsibility of this yoman's soul
hes greatly with you. It behooves you,
therefore, to exhort her to repentance
and to confession as a proof and conse-
quence thereof"
The directness of this appeal drew the
eyes of the whole crowd upon the Rev
erend Mr.. Dilnmesdale, a young clergy
man who had come from one of the
great English universities. bringing all
the learning of the age into our 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 ilnpendu "
brow, large, brown, melancholy eyes,
and a mouth which, unless when he
forcibly compressed it, was apt to be
tremulous, expressing both nervous sen
s14siifz and a vast t1rxztaT- of self