| | 281 | Author: | Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 | Add | | | Title: | The Ambitious Guest  | | | | Published: | 1996 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | ONE September night a family had gathered round their hearth, and
piled it high with the driftwood of mountain streams, the dry cones of
the pine, and the splintered ruins of great trees that had come
crashing down the precipice. Up the chimney roared the fire, and
brightened the room with its broad blaze. The faces of the father and
mother had a sober gladness; the children laughed; the eldest daughter
was the image of Happiness at seventeen; and the aged grandmother, who
sat knitting in the warmest place, was the image of Happiness grown
old. They had found the ``herb, heart's-ease,'' in the bleakest spot
of all New England. This family were situated in the Notch of the
White Hills, where the wind was sharp throughout the year, and
pitilessly cold in the winter,—giving their cottage all its fresh
inclemency before it descended on the valley of the Saco. They dwelt
in a cold spot and a dangerous one; for a mountain towered above their
heads, so steep, that the stones would often rumble down its sides and
startle them at midnight. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 282 | Author: | Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 | Add | | | Title: | The Artist of the Beautiful | | | | Published: | 1996 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | AN elderly man, with his pretty daughter on his arm, was passing
along
the street, and emerged from the gloom of the cloudy evening into
the
light that fell across the pavement from the window of a small
shop. It
was a projecting window; and on the inside were suspended a variety
of
watches, pinchbeck, silver, and one or two of gold, all with their
faces
turned from the streets, as if churlishly disinclined to inform the
wayfarers what o'clock it was. Seated within the shop, sidelong to
the
window
with his pale face bent earnestly over some delicate piece of
mechanism
on which was thrown the concentrated lustre of a shade lamp,
appeared a
young man. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 283 | Author: | Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 | Add | | | Title: | The Birthmark | | | | Published: | 1996 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | IN the latter part of the last century there lived a man of
science, an eminent proficient in every branch of natural
philosophy, who not long
before our story opens had made experience of a spiritual affinity
more attractive than any chemical one. He had left his laboratory
to the
care of
an assistant, cleared his fine countenance from the furnace smoke,
washed
the stain of acids from his fingers, and persuaded a beautiful
woman to
become his wife. In those days when the comparatively recent
discovery
of electricity and other kindred mysteries of Nature seemed to open
paths
into the region of miracle, it was not unusual for the love of
science to
rival the love of woman in its depth and absorbing energy. The
higher intellect, the imagination, the spirit, and even the heart
might all
find their
congenial aliment in pursuits which, as some of their ardent
votaries believed, would ascend from one step of powerful
intelligence to
another,
until the philosopher should lay his hand on the secret of creative
force
and perhaps make new worlds for himself. We know not whether Aylmer
possessed this degree of faith in man's ultimate control over
Nature. He
had devoted himself, however, too unreservedly to scientific
studies ever
to be weaned from them by any second passion. His love for his
young
wife might prove the stronger of the two; but it could only be by
intertwining itself with his love of science, and uniting the
strength
of the latter to his own. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 284 | Author: | Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 | Add | | | Title: | The Canterbury Pilgrims | | | | Published: | 1996 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | THE summer moon, which shines in so many a tale, was beaming over
a broad extent of uneven country. Some of its brightest rays were
flung
into a spring of water, where no traveller, toiling, as the writer
has, up
the hilly road beside which it gushes, ever failed to quench his
thirst.
The work of neat hands and considerate art was visible about this
blessed
fountain. An open cistern, hewn and hollowed out of solid stone,
was
placed above the waters, which filled it to the brim, but by some
invisible
outlet were conveyed away without dripping down its sides. Though
the
basin had not room for another drop, and the continual gush of
water
made a tremor on the surface, there was a secret charm that forbade
it
to overflow. I remember, that when I had slaked my summer thirst,
and
sat panting by the cistern, it was my fanciful theory that Nature
could
not afford to lavish so pure a liquid, as she does the waters of
all meaner
fountains. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 285 | Author: | Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 | Add | | | Title: | The Celestial Railroad | | | | Published: | 1996 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | NOT a great while ago, passing through the gate of dreams, I
visited that
region of the earth in which lies the famous City of Destruction.
It interested me much to learn that by the public spirit of some of
the
inhabitants a railroad has recently been established between this
populous and
flourishing town and the Celestial City. Having a little time upon
my
hands, I resolved to gratify a liberal curiosity by making a trip
thither.
Accordingly, one fine morning after paying my bill at the hotel,
and directing the porter to stow my luggage behind a coach, I took
my
seat in
the vehicle and set out for the station-house. It was my good
fortune to
enjoy the company of a gentleman—one Mr. Smooth-it-away—who,
though he had never actually visited the Celestial City, yet seemed
as
well acquainted with its laws, customs, policy, and statistics, as
with
those of the City of Destruction, of which he was a native
townsman.
Being, moreover, a director of the railroad corporation and one of
its
largest stockholders, he had it in his power to give me all
desirable information respecting that praiseworthy enterprise. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 286 | Author: | Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 | Add | | | Title: | David Swan | | | | Published: | 1996 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | WE can be but partially acquainted even with the events which
actually
influence our course through life, and our final destiny. There are
innumerable other events—if such they may be called—which come
close
upon us, yet pass away without actual results, or even betraying
their
near approach, by the reflection of any light or shadow across our
minds.
Could we know all the vicissitudes of our fortunes, life would be
too full
of hope and fear, exultation or disappointment, to afford us a
single hour
of true serenity. This idea may be illustrated by a page from the
secret
history of David Swan. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 287 | Author: | Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 | Add | | | Title: | The Devil in Manuscript | | | | Published: | 1996 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | ON a bitter evening of December, I arrived by mail in a large town,
which was then the residence of an intimate friend, one of those
gifted
youths who cultivate poetry and the belles-lettres, and call
themselves
students at law. My first business, after supper, was to visit him
at the
office of his distinguished instructor. As I have said, it was a
bitter night,
clear starlight, but cold as Nova Zembla,—the shop-windows along
the
street being frosted, so as almost to hide the lights, while the
wheels of
coaches thundered equally loud over frozen earth and pavements of
stone. There was no snow, either on the ground or the roofs of the
houses. The wind blew so violently, that I had but to spread my
cloak
like a main-sail, and scud along the street at the rate of ten
knots,
greatly envied by other navigators, who were beating slowly up,
with
the gale right in their teeth. One of these I capsized, but was
gone on
the wings of the wind before he could even vociferate an oath. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 288 | Author: | Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 | Add | | | Title: | Drowne's Wooden Image | | | | Published: | 1996 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | ONE sunshiny morning, in the good old times of the town of Boston,
a
young carver in wood, well known by the name of Drowne, stood con-templating a large oaken log, which it was his purpose to convert
into the
figure-head of a vessel. And while he discussed within his own mind
what
sort of shape or similitude it were well to bestow upon this
excellent piece
of timber, there came into Drowne's workshop a certain Captain
Hunnewell, owner and commander of the good brig called the
Cynosure,
which
had just returned from her first voyage to Fayal. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 290 | Author: | Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 | Add | | | Title: | Endicott and the Red Cross | | | | Published: | 1996 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | AT noon of on autumnal day, more than two centuries ago, the
English
colors were displayed by the standard-bearer of the Salem
trainband,
which had mustered for martial exercise under the orders of John
Endicott. It was a period when the religious exiles were accustomed
often
to buckle on their armor, and practise the handling of their
weapons of
war. Since the first settlement of New England, its prospects had
never
been so dismal. The dissensions between Charles the First and his
subjects
were then, and for several years afterwards, confined to the floor
of
Parliament. The measures of the King and ministry were rendered
more
tyrannically violent by an opposition, which had not yet acquired
sufficient confidence in its own strength to resist royal injustice
with the
sword. The bigoted and haughty primate, Laud, Archbishop of
Canterbury, controlled the religious affairs of the realm, and was
consequently
invested with powers which might have wrought the utter ruin of the
two
Puritan colonies, Plymouth and Massachusetts. There is evidence on
record that our forefathers perceived their danger, but were
resolved that
their infant country should not fall without a struggle, even
beneath the
giant strength of the King's right arm. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 291 | Author: | Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 | Add | | | Title: | Ethan Brand | | | | Published: | 1996 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | BARTRAM the lime-burner, a rough, heavy-looking man, begrimed with
charcoal, sat watching his kiln at nightfall, while his little son
played at
building houses with the scattered fragments of marble, when, on
the
hill-side below them, they heard a roar of laughter, not mirthful,
but
slow, and even solemn, like a wind shaking the boughs of the
forest. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 293 | Author: | Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 | Add | | | Title: | The Gentle Boy | | | | Published: | 1996 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | IN the course of the year 1656, several of the people called
Quakers, led,
as they professed, by the inward movement of the spirit, made their
appearance in New England. Their reputation, as holders of mystic
and
pernicious principles, having spread before them, the Puritans
early
endeavored to banish, and to prevent the further intrusion of the
rising
sect. But
the measures by which it was intended to purge the land of heresy,
though
more than sufficiently vigorous, were entirely unsuccessful. The
Quakers,
esteeming persecution as a divine call to the post of danger, laid
claim to
a holy courage, unknown to the Puritans themselves, who had shunned
the cross, by providing for the peaceable exercise of their
religion in a
distant wilderness. Though it was the singular fact, that every
nation of
the earth rejected the wandering enthusiasts who practised peace
towards
all men, the place of greatest uneasiness and peril, and therefore,
in their
eyes the most eligible, was the province of Massachusetts Bay. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 294 | Author: | Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 | Add | | | Title: | The Great Carbuncle | | | | Published: | 1996 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | AT nightfall, once in the olden time, on the rugged side of one of
the Crystal Hills, a party of adventurers were refreshing
themselves, after
a toilsome and fruitless quest for the Great Carbuncle. They had
come
thither,
not as friends nor partners in the enterprise, but each, save one
youthful
pair, impelled by his own selfish and solitary longing for this
wondrous
gem. Their feeling of brotherhood, however, was strong enough to
induce
them to contribute a mutual aid in building a rude hut of branches,
and
kindling a great fire of shattered pines, that had drifted down the
head-long current of the Amonoosuck, on the lower bank of which
they
were to
pass the night. There was but one of their number, perhaps, who had
become so estranged from natural sympathies, by the absorbing spell
of the
pursuit, as to acknowledge no satisfaction at the sight of human
faces, in
the remote and solitary region whither they had ascended. A vast
extent of
wilderness lay between them and the nearest settlement, while a
scant
mile above their heads was that black verge where the hills throw
off their
shaggy mantle of forest trees, and either robe themselves in clouds
or
tower naked into the sky. The roar of the Amonoosuck would have
been
too awful for endurance if only a solitary man had listened, while
the
mountain stream talked with the wind. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 295 | Author: | Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 | Add | | | Title: | Dr. Heidegger's Experiment | | | | Published: | 1996 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | THAT very singular man, old Dr. Heidegger, once invited four
venerable friends to meet him in his study. There were three
white-bearded gentlemen, Mr. Medbourne, Colonel Killigrew, and Mr.
Gascoigne, and a withered gentlewoman, whose name was the Widow
Wycherly. They were all melancholy old creatures, who had been
unfortunate in life, and whose greatest misfortune it was that they
were not long ago in their graves. Mr. Medbourne, in the vigor of his
age, had been a prosperous merchant, but had lost his all by a frantic
speculation, and was now little better than a mendicant. Colonel
Killigrew had wasted his best years, and his health and substance, in
the pursuit of sinful pleasures, which had given birth to a brood of
pains, such as the gout, and divers other torments of soul and body.
Mr. Gascoigne was a ruined politician, a man of evil fame, or at least
had been so till time had buried him from the knowledge of the present
generation, and made him obscure instead of infamous. As for the Widow
Wycherly, tradition tells us that she was a great beauty in her day;
but, for a long while past, she had lived in deep seclusion, on account
of certain scandalous stories which had prejudiced the gentry of the
town against her. It is a circumstance worth mentioning that each of
these three old gentlemen, Mr. Medbourne, Colonel Killigrew, and Mr.
Gascoigne, were early lovers of the Widow Wycherly, and had once been
on the point of cutting each other's throats for her sake. And, before
proceeding further, I will merely hint that Dr. Heidegger and all his
foul guests were sometimes thought to be a little beside
themselves,—as is not unfrequently the case with old people, when
worried either by present troubles or woful recollections. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 296 | Author: | Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 | Add | | | Title: | Mr. Higginbotham's Catastrophe | | | | Published: | 1996 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | A YOUNG fellow, a tobacco pedlar by trade, was on his way from
Morristown, where he had dealt largely with the Deacon of the
Shaker
settlement, to the village of Parker's Falls, on Salmon River. He
had a
neat little cart, painted green, with a box of cigars depicted on
each side
panel,
and an Indian chief, holding a pipe and a golden tobacco stalk, on
the
rear. The pedlar drove a smart little mare, and was a young man of
excellent character, keen at a bargain, but none the worse liked by
the Yankees; who, as I have heard them say, would rather be shaved
with a
sharp
razor than a dull one. Especially was he beloved by the pretty
girls along
the Connecticut, whose favor he used to court by presents of the
best
smoking tobacco in his stock; knowing well that the country lasses
of
New England are generally great performers on pipes. Moreover, as
will
be seen in the course of my story, the pedlar was inquisitive, and
something of a tattler, always itching to hear the news and anxious
to
tell it
again. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 297 | Author: | Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 | Add | | | Title: | The Hollow of the Three Hills | | | | Published: | 1996 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | IN those strange old times, when fantastic dreams and madmen's
reveries
were realized among the actual circumstances of life, two persons
met together at an appointed hour and place. One was a lady,
graceful in
form
and fair of feature, though pale and troubled, and smitten with an
untimely blight in what should have been the fullest bloom of her
years; the
other was an ancient and meanly-dressed woman, of ill-favored
aspect,
and so withered, shrunken, and decrepit, that even the space since
she began to decay must have exceeded the ordinary term of human
existence.
In the spot where they encountered, no mortal could observe them.
Three
little hills stood near each other, and down in the midst of them
sunk a
hollow basin, almost mathematically circular, two or three hundred
feet
in breadth, and of such depth that a stately cedar might but just
be visible
above the sides. Dwarf pines were numerous upon the hills, and
partly fringed the outer verge of the intermediate hollow, within
which
there
was nothing but the brown grass of October, and here and there a
tree
trunk that had fallen long ago, and lay mouldering with no green
successsor from its roots. One of these masses of decaying wood,
formerly
a majestic oak, rested close beside a pool of green and sluggish
water
at the
bottom of the basin. Such scenes as this (so gray tradition tells)
were
once the resort of the Power of Evil and his plighted subjects; and
here,
at midnight or on the dim verge of evening, they were said to stand
round
the mantling pool, disturbing its putrid waters in the performance
of an
impious baptismal rite. The chill beauty of an autumnal sunset was
now
gilding the three hill-tops, whence a paler tint stole down their
sides into
the hollow. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 298 | Author: | Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 | Add | | | Title: | My Kinsman, Major Molineux | | | | Published: | 1996 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | AFTER the kings of Great Britain had assumed the right of
appointing
the colonial governors, the measures of the latter seldom met with
the
ready and generous approbation which had been paid to those of
their
predecessors, under the original charters. The people looked with
most
jealous scrutiny to the exercise of power which did not emanate
from
themselves, and they usually rewarded their rulers with slender
gratitude for the compliances by which, in softening their
instructions
from
beyond the sea, they had incurred the reprehension of those who
gave
them. The annals of Massachusetts Bay will inform us, that of six
governors in the space of about forty years from the surrender of
the
old
charter, under James II., two were imprisoned by a popular
insurrection; a third, as Hutchinson inclines to believe, was
driven from
the
province by the whizzing of a musket-ball; a fourth, in the opinion
of
the same historian, was hastened to his grave by continual
bickerings
with the House of Representatives; and the remaining two, as well
as
their successors, till the Revolution, were favored with few and
brief intervals of peaceful sway. The inferior members of the court
party,
in
times of high political excitement, led scarcely a more desirable
life.
These remarks may serve as a preface to the following adventures,
which chanced upon a summer night, not far from a hundred years
ago.
The reader, in order to avoid a long and dry detail of colonial
affairs, is
requested to dispense with an account of the train of circumstances
that
had caused much temporary inflammation of the popular mind. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 300 | Author: | Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 | Add | | | Title: | The May-Pole of Merry Mount | | | | Published: | 1996 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | BRIGHT were the days at Merry Mount, when the Maypole was the
banner staff of that gay colony! They who reared it, should their
banner be
triumphant, were to pour sunshine over New England's rugged hills,
and
scatter flower seeds throughout the soil. Jollity and gloom were
contending for an empire. Midsummer eve had come, bringing deep
verdure to
the forest, and roses in her lap, of a more vivid hue than the
tender buds
of Spring. But May, or her mirthful spirit, dwelt all the year
round at
Merry Mount, sporting with the Summer months, and revelling with
Autumn, and basking in the glow of Winter's fireside. Through a
world
of
toil and care she flitted with a dreamlike smile, and came hither
to find a
home among the lightsome hearts of Merry Mount. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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