The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1893-06-16

Speak, thou, the child's own mother!
Were it not, thinkest thou, for thy little
! ones temporal and eternal welfare that
! she be taken out of thy charge, and clad
soberly, and disciplined strictly, and in
structed in the truths of heaven and
earth? What canst thou do for the child
in this kind?''
al can teach my little Pearl what
have learned from this" answered Hes
ter Prynne, laying her finger on the red
token.
woman, it is thy badge of shamer'
replied the stern magistrate. sit is be-
cause Of the stain which that letter in
dicates that we would transfer thy child
to other hands"
Nevertheless, said the mother calm
ly, though growing more pale, ''this
badge hath taught met daily teaches
met is teaching me at this moment
lessons whereof my child may be the
wiser and better, albeit they can profit
nothing to myself"
Eve will judge warily," said Belling-
ham, ''and look well what we are about
| to do. Good Master Wilson, pray you
examine this Pearl-since that is her
name-and see whether she hath had
! such Christian nurture as BELTS child
of her age"
The old minister seated himself in an
armchair and made an effort to draw
Pearl betwixt his knees. But the child,
unaccustomedt to the touch or familiarity
OF any but her mother, escaped through
the open window and stood on the upper
step, looking like wild tropical bird of
rich plumage, ready to take fight into
the upper air. Mr.. Wilson, not little
astonished at this outbreak-for he was
a grandfatherly sort of parsonage, and
usually vast favorite with children
essayed, however, to proceed with the
examination.
] pearl, said he with great solemnity,
| ''thou must take heed to instruction,
| that so, in due season, thou mayest wear
in thy bosom the pearl of great price.
Canst thou tell me, my child, who made
thee?'
/ Now Pearl knew well enough who
made her; for Hester Prynne, the daugh-
ter of a pious home, very soon after her
talk with the child about her Heavenly
Father, had begun to inform her of those
truths which the human spirit, at what
ever stage of immaturity, imbibes with
such eager interest. Pearl therefore, so
large were the attainments Of her three
years lifetime, could have borne a fair
examination in the ''New England
Primer" or the first column of the West
minister catechisms, although unac-
quainted with the outward form of either
of those celebrated works. But that
perversity which all children have more
or less of, and of which little Pearl had
tenfold portion now, at the most in
opportune moment, took thorough pos
session of her and closed her lips, or i'm
PEELED her to speak words amiss. After
putting her finger in her mouth, with
manyungracious refusals to answer good
Mr.. Wilson's question, the child finally
announced that she had not been made
at all, but had been plucked by her
mother off the bush of wild roses that
grew by the prison door.
This fantasy was probably suggested
by the near proximity of the governors
red roses as Pearl stood outside of the
window, together with her recollection
of the pink rosebush which she had
passed in coming hither.
Old Roger Chillingworth, with a smile
on his face, whispered something in the
young clergyman's ear. Hester Prynne
looked at the man of skill, and even
then, with her fate hanging in the bal
ance, was startled to perceive what q
change had come over his features-how
much uglier they were, how his dark
complexion seemed to have grown dusk
Ter and his figure more misshappen-
since the days when she had Familiarity
known him. She met his eyes for an
instant. but was Immediately constrained
to give all her attention to the scene now
going forward.
''This is awfu1g' cried the governor,
slowly recovering from the astonish-
ment into which PEARLS response had
thrown him. ''Here is child of three
years old and she cannot tell who made
herl Without question she is equally in
the dark as to her soul-its present de-
pravity and future destinyl Methinks,
gentlemen, we need inquire no further
Hester caught hold of Pearl and drew
her forcibly into her arms, confronting
the old Puritan magistrate with almost
q fierce expression. Alone in the world
cast off by it and with this sole treasure
to keep her heart alive, she felt that she
possessed indefeasible rights against the
world, and was ready to defend them tx
the death.
"God gave me the child!'' cried she
} 'sHe gave her, in requital of all things
else, which ye had taken from me. Shc
is my happiness-she is my torture
none the less! Pearl keeps me here IL
! hfei Pearl Furnishes me tool See y
not she is the scarlet letter, only capable
of being loved, and so endowed with {
million fold the power of retribution fol
my sin? We shall not take herI | vii
: die frstT'
ssMy poor woman said the not un
kind old minister, ''the child shall b,
well cared for!-far better than thor
canst do It.
''God gave her into my keeping" re
peated Hester Prynne, raising her voic'
} almost to shrek 81 viii not give he
} upgH And here, by sudden impulse
} she turned to the young clergyman, Mr.
DimmesdaIe, at whom up to this mo
ment she had seemed hardly so much a
once to direct her eyes. Speak thol
fog meF cried she. Thou vast m.
pastor and hadst charge Of my soul ant
knowest me better than these men can
win not lose the childi Speak for me
: Thou mowest-for thou hast sympathie
which these men 1sckl Thou nowes
what is IN my heart and what are