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diff --git a/9206.txt b/9206.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4f92dea --- /dev/null +++ b/9206.txt @@ -0,0 +1,617 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Toll Gatherer's Day (From "Twice Told +Tales"), by Nathaniel Hawthorne + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Toll Gatherer's Day (From "Twice Told Tales") + +Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne + +Posting Date: November 27, 2010 [EBook #9206] +Release Date: November, 2005 +First Posted: August 23, 2003 +Last Updated: February 5, 2007 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TOLL GATHERER'S DAY *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + + + + + TWICE TOLD TALES + + THE TOLL-GATHERER'S DAY + + A SKETCH OF TRANSITORY LIFE + + By Nathaniel Hawthorne + + + +Methinks, for a person whose instinct bids him rather to pore over the +current of life, than to plunge into its tumultuous waves, no +undesirable retreat were a toll-house beside some thronged thoroughfare +of the land. In youth, perhaps, it is good for the observer to run +about the earth, to leave the track of his footsteps far and wide,--to +mingle himself with the action of numberless vicissitudes,--and, +finally, in some calm solitude, to feed a musing spirit on all that lie +has seen and felt. But there are natures too indolent, or too +sensitive, to endure the dust, the sunshine, or the rain, the turmoil of +moral and physical elements, to which all the wayfarers of the world +expose themselves. For such a mail, how pleasant a miracle, could life +be made to roll its variegated length by the threshold of his own +hermitage, and the great globe, as it were, perform its revolutions and +shift its thousand scenes before his eyes without whirling him onward in +its course. If any mortal be favored with a lot analogous to this, it is +the toll-gatherer. So, at least, have I often fancied, while lounging +on a bench at the door of a small square edifice, which stands between +shore and shore in the midst of a long bridge. Beneath the timbers ebbs +and flows an arm of the sea; while above, like the life-blood through a +great artery, the travel of the north and east is continually throbbing. +Sitting on the aforesaid bench, I amuse myself with a conception, +illustrated by numerous pencil-sketches in the air, of the +toll-gatherer's day. + +In the morning--dim, gray, dewy summer's morn the distant roll of +ponderous wheels begins to mingle with my old friend's slumbers, creaking +more and more harshly through the midst of his dream, and gradually +replacing it with realities. Hardly conscious of the change from sleep +to wakefulness, he finds himself partly clad and throwing wide the +toll-gates for the passage of a fragrant load of hay. The timbers groan +beneath the slow-revolving wheels; one sturdy yeoman stalks beside the +oxen, and, peering from the summit of the hay, by the glimmer of the +half-extinguished lantern over the toll-house, is seen the drowsy visage +of his comrade, who has enjoyed a nap some ten miles long. The toll is +paid,--creak, creak, again go the wheels, and the huge haymow vanishes +into the morning mist. As yet, nature is but half awake, and familiar +objects appear visionary. But yonder, dashing from the shore with a +rattling thunder of the wheels and a confused clatter of hoofs, comes the +never-tiring mail, which has hurried onward at the same headlong, +restless rate, all through the quiet night. The bridge resounds in one +continued peal as the coach rolls on without a pause, merely affording +the toll-gatherer a glimpse at the sleepy passengers, who now bestir +their torpid limbs, and snuff a cordial in the briny air. The morn +breathes upon them and blushes, and they forget how wearily the darkness +toiled away. And behold now the fervid day, in his bright chariot, +glittering aslant over the waves, nor scorning to throw a tribute of his +golden beams on the toll-gatherer's little hermitage. The old man looks +eastward, and (for he is a moralizer) frames a simile of the stage coach +and the sun. While the world is rousing itself, we may glance slightly at +the scene of our sketch. It sits above the bosom of the broad flood, a +spot not of earth, but in the midst of waters, which rush with a +murmuring sound among the massive beams beneath. Over the door is a +weather-beaten board, inscribed with the rates of toll, in letters so +nearly effaced that the gilding of the sunshine can hardly make them +legible. Beneath the window is a wooden bench, on which a long +succession of weary wayfarers have reposed themselves. Peeping within +doors, we perceive the whitewashed walls bedecked with sundry +lithographic prints and advertisements of various import, and the immense +showbill of a wandering caravan. And there sits our good old +toll-gatherer, glorified by the early sunbeams. He is a man, as his aspect +may announce, of quiet soul, and thoughtful, shrewd, yet simple mind, +who, of the wisdom which the passing world scatters along the wayside, +has gathered a reasonable store. + +Now the sun smiles upon the landscape, and earth smiles back again upon +the sky. Frequent, now, are the travellers. The toll-gatherer's +practised ear can distinguish the weight of every vehicle, the number of +its wheels, and how many horses beat the resounding timbers with their +iron tramp. Here, in a substantial family chaise, setting forth betimes +to take advantage of the dewy road, come a gentleman and his wife, with +their rosy-cheeked little girl sitting gladsomely between them. The +bottom of the chaise is heaped with multifarious bandboxes and carpet-bags, +and beneath the axle swings a leathern trunk dusty with yesterday's +journey. Next appears a four-wheeled carryall, peopled with a round +half-dozen of pretty girls, all drawn by a single horse, and driven by a +single gentleman. Luckless wight, doomed, through a whole summer day, +to be the butt of mirth and mischief among the frolicsome maidens! Bolt +upright in a sulky rides a thin, sour-visaged man, who, as he pays his +toll, hands the toll-gatherer a printed card to stick upon the wall. The +vinegar-faced traveller proves to be a manufacturer of pickles. Now +paces slowly from timber to timber a horseman clad in black, with a +meditative brow, as of one who, whithersoever his steed might bear him, +would still journey through a mist of brooding thought. He is a country +preacher, going to labor at a protracted meeting. The next object +passing townward is a butcher's cart, canopied with its arch of +snow-white cotton. Behind comes a "sauceman," driving a wagon full of new +potatoes, green ears of corn, beets, carrots, turnips, and summer-squashes; +and next, two wrinkled, withered, witch-looking old gossips, in +an antediluvian chaise, drawn by a horse of former generations, and going +to peddle out a lot of huckleberries. See there, a man trundling a +wheelbarrow-load of lobsters. And now a milk-cart rattles briskly +onward, covered with green canvas, and conveying the contributions of a +whole herd of cows, in large tin canisters. But let all these pay their +toll and pass. Here comes a spectacle that causes the old toll-gatherer +to smile benignantly, as if the travellers brought sunshine with them and +lavished its gladsome influence all along the road. + +It is a harouche of the newest style, the varnished panels of which +reflect the whole moving panorama of the landscape, and show a picture, +likewise, of our friend, with his visage broadened, so that his +meditative smile is transformed to grotesque merriment. Within, sits a +youth, fresh as the summer morn, and beside him a young lady in white, +with white gloves upon her slender bands, and a white veil flowing down +over her face. But methinks her blushing cheek burns through the snowy +veil. Another white-robed virgin sits in front. And who are these, on +whom, and on all that appertains to them, the dust of earth seems never +to have settled? Two lovers, whom the priest has blessed, this blessed +morn, and sent them forth, with one of the bridemaids, on the matrimonial +tour. Take my blessing too, ye happy ones! May the sky not frown upon +you, nor clouds bedew you with their chill and sullen rain! May the hot +sun kindle no fever in your hearts! May your whole life's pilgrimage be +as blissful as this first day's journey, and its close be gladdened with +even brighter anticipations than those which hallow your bridal night! + +They pass; and ere the reflection of their joy has faded from his face, +another spectacle throws a melancholy shadow over the spirit of the +observing man. In a close carriage sits a fragile figure, muffled +carefully, and shrinking even from the mild breath of summer. She leans +against a manly form, and his arm infolds her, as if to guard his +treasure from some enemy. Let but a few weeks pass, and when he shall +strive to embrace that loved one, he will press only desolation to his +heart! + +And now has morning gathered up her dewy pearls, and fled away. The sun +rolls blazing through the sky, and cannot find a cloud to cool his face +with. The horses toil sluggishly along the bridge, and heave their +glistening sides in short quick pantings, when the reins are tightened at +the toll-house. Glisten, too, the faces of the travellers. Their +garments are thickly bestrewn with dust; their whiskers and hair look +hoary; their throats are choked with the dusty atmosphere which they have +left behind them. No air is stirring on the road. Nature dares draw no +breath, lest she should inhale a stifling cloud of dust. "A hot, and +dusty day!" cry the poor pilgrims, as they wipe their begrimed foreheads, +and woo the doubtful breeze which the river bears along with it. "Awful +hot! Dreadful dusty!" answers the sympathetic toll-gatherer. They start +again, to pass through the fiery furnace, while he re-enters his cool +hermitage, and besprinkles it with a pail of briny water from the stream +beneath. He thinks within himself, that the sun is not so fierce here as +elsewhere, and that the gentle air does not forget him in these sultry +days. Yes, old friend; and a quiet heart will make a dog-day temperate. +He hears a weary footstep, and perceives a traveller with pack and staff, +who sits down upon the hospitable bench, and removes the hat from his wet +brow. The toll-gatherer administers a cup of cold water, and discovering +his guest to be a man of homely sense, he engages him in profitable talk, +uttering the maxims of a philosophy which he has found in his own soul, +but knows not how it came there. And as the wayfarer makes ready to +resume his journey, he tells him a sovereign remedy for blistered feet. +Now comes the noontide hour,--of all the hours nearest akin to midnight; +for each has its own calmness and repose. Soon, however, the world +begins to turn again upon its axis, and it seems the busiest epoch of the +day; when an accident impedes the march of sublunary things. The draw +being lifted to permit the passage of a schooner, laden with wood from +the Eastern forests, she sticks immovably, right athwart the bridge! +Meanwhile, on both sides of the chasm, a throng of impatient travellers +fret and fume. Here are two sailors in a gig, with the top thrown back, +both puffing cigars, and swearing all sorts of forecastle oaths; there, +in a smart chaise, a dashingly dressed gentleman and lady, he from a +tailor's shop-board; and she from a milliner's hack room,--the +aristocrats of a summer afternoon. And what are the haughtiest of us, +but the ephemeral aristocrats of a summer's day? Here is a tin-peddler, +whose glittering ware bedazzles all beholders, like a travelling meteor, +or opposition sun; and on the other side a seller of spruce-beer, which +brisk liquor is confined in several dozen of stone bottles. Here comes a +party of ladies on horseback, in green riding-habits, and gentlemen +attendant; and there a flock of sheep for the market, pattering over the +bridge with a multitudinous clatter of their little hoofs. Here a +Frenchman, with a hand-organ on his shoulder; and there an itinerant +Swiss jeweller. On this side, heralded by a blast of clarions and +bugles, appears a train of wagons, conveying all the wild beasts of a +caravan; and on that, a company of summer soldiers, marching from village +to village on a festival campaign, attended by the "brass band." Now +look at the scene, and it presents an emblem of the mysterious confusion, +the apparently insolvable riddle, in which individuals, or the great +world itself, seem often to be involved. What miracle shall set all +things right again? + +But see! the schooner has thrust her bulky carcass through the chasm; the +draw descends; horse and foot pass onward, and leave the bridge vacant +from end to end. "And thus," muses the toll-gatherer, "have I found it +with all stoppages, even though the universe seemed to be at a stand." +The sage old man! + +Far westward now, the reddening sun throws a broad sheet of splendor +across the flood, and to the eyes of distant boatmen gleams brightly +among the timbers of the bridge. Strollers come from the town to quaff +the freshening breeze. One or two let down long lines, and haul up +flapping flounders? or cunners, or small cod, or perhaps an eel. +Others, and fair girls among them, with the flush of the hot day still on +their cheeks, bend over the railing and watch the heaps of sea-weed +floating upward with the flowing tide. The horses now tramp heavily +along the bridge, and wistfully bethink them of their stables. Rest, +rest, thou weary world! for tomorrow's round of toil and pleasure will +be as wearisome as to-day's has been; yet both shall bear thee onward a +day's march of eternity. Now the old toll-gatherer looks seaward, and +discerns the lighthouse kindling on a far island, and the stars, too, +kindling in the sky, as if but a little way beyond; and mingling reveries +of Heaven with remembrances of Earth, the whole procession of mortal +travellers, all the dusty pilgrimage which he has witnessed, seems like a +flitting show of phantoms for his thoughtful soul to muse upon. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Toll Gatherer's Day (From "Twice +Told Tales"), by Nathaniel Hawthorne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TOLL GATHERER'S DAY *** + +***** This file should be named 9206.txt or 9206.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/9/2/0/9206/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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