Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-08-06
Mistellansu,1s geadins.
THE MINISTER'S BLACK
- VEIL -
BY Nathaniel Hawthorne.

\ the village cdIIle SloopihS oioh6 INV
street. Children with bright faces
tripped merrily beside their parents
or mimicked graver gait in the con-
scious dignity Of their Sunday clothes.
Spruce bachelors looked sidelong at
the pretty maidens, and fancied that
the Sabbath sunshine made them
prettier than on week days. When
the throng had mostly streamed into
the porch, the sexton began to toll
the bell, keeping his eye on the Rev.
Mr.. Hooper's door. The first glimpse
Of the clergyman's figure was the sig
nal for the bell to cease its summons.
But what has the good Parson
Hooper got upon his face?" cried the
sexton, in establishment.
All within hearing Immediately
turned about and beheld the SEM
blance of Mr.. Hooper pacing slowly
his meditative way toward the meet
ing-house With one accord they
started, expressing more wonder than
If some strange minister were COM
ing to dust the cushions Of Mr.. Hoop
er's pulpit.
The cause OF 50 much amazement
may appear sufficiently slight. Mr..
Hooper, a gentlemanly person OF
about thirty, though still bachelor,
was dressed with due clerical neat
ness, as If a careful wife had starch
ed his band and brushed the weekly
dust from his Sunday garb. There
was but one thing remarkable, in his
appearance. Swathed about his fore
head and hanging down over his face,
so low as to be shaken by his breath,
Mr. Hooper had on a black veil. On
a nearer view 1t seemed to consist
Of two folds Of Grape, which entirely
concealed his features except the
mouth and chin, but probably did
not intercept his sight further than
to give a darkened aspect to all liv-
ing and inanimate things. With this
| gloomy shade before him good Mr..
| Hooper walked onward at a slow and
quiet pace, STOPPING somewhat and
| looking on the ground, as Is custom
ary with distracted men, yet nodding
kindly to those Of his Pensioners
who still waited on the meeting
house steps. But so wonder-struck
were they that his greeting hardly
met with a return.
Such was the effect Of this simple
piece Of Grape that more than one
| woman Of delicate nerves was forced
to leave the Westinghouse. Yet per-
haps the pale-faced congregation was
almost as fearful sight to the min
| lister as his black veil to them.
Mr.. Hooper had the reputation Of a
| good preacher, but not an energetic
| one; he strove to win his people
heavenward by mild, persuasive in
fluences rather than to drive them
thither by the thunders Of the word.
The sermon which he now delivered
was marked by the same character
istics of style and manner as the gen.
eral series Of his pulpit oratory, but
there was something either in the
sentiment Of the discourse itself or in
the imagination of the auditors
which made it greatly the most
powerful effort that they had ever
heard from their pastors lips. 1t
was tinged rather more darkly than
usual with the gentle gloom Of Mr..
Hooper's temperament. The subject
had reference to secret sin and those
sad mysteries which we hide from
our own consciousness. even forget
ting that the Omniscient can detect
them. A subtitle power was breathed
into his words. Each member Of the
congregation, the most innocent girl
and the man Of hardened breast,
felt as If the preacher had crept up
on them behind his awful veil and
discovered their boarded iniquity of
deed or thought.
The afternoon service was attended
with similar circumstances. At the
conclusion the bell tolled for the
funeral Of a young lady. The rela-
tives and friends were assembled in
the house and the more distant ac-
quaintances stood before the door,
speaking Of the good qualities Of the
deceased, when their talking was in
terrupted by the appearance Of Mr..
Hooper, still covered with his black
veil. 1t was now an appropriate en-
blem. The clergyman stepped into
| the room where the corpse was laid,
| and bent over the coffin to take last
| farewell of his deceased parishoner.
AS he stopped the veil hung straight
down from his forehead, so that If
| her eyelids had not been closed for
ever, the dead maiden might have
seen his face.
| That night the handsomest couple
in Milford village were to be Joined
in wedlock. Though reckoned a mel
ancholy man, Mr.. Hooper had a
placid cheerfulness for such occasions
which often excited a sympathetic
smile where livelier merriment would
have been thrown away. There was
no quality Of his disposition which
made him more beloved than this.
/ lie dl Tic "euulHS avail
ed his arrival with impatience. trust
ing that the strange awe which had
| gathered over him throughout the
day would now be dispelled. But
such was not the result. When Mr.
Hooper came, the first thing that
their eyes rested on was the same
horrible black veil which had added
deeper gloom to the funeral and
could portend nothing but evil to the
wedding. Such was its immediate ef-
feet on the guests that a cloud SEEM
ed to have rolled duskily from be-
meath the black Grape and dimmed
the light of the candles. The bridal
pair stood up before the minister, but
the brides cold fingers quivered in
the tremulous hand of the BRIDE
groom, and her death-like paleness
caused a whisper that the maiden
who had been buried a few hours be-
fore was come from her grave to be
married. If ever another wedding
were so dismal. it was that famous