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diff --git a/9216.txt b/9216.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9bd68ab --- /dev/null +++ b/9216.txt @@ -0,0 +1,626 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Beneath an Umbrella (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: Beneath an Umbrella (From "Twice Told Tales") + +Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne + +Posting Date: December 2, 2010 [EBook #9216] +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 BENEATH AN UMBRELLA *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + + TWICE TOLD TALES + + NIGHT SKETCHES + + BENEATH AN UMBRELLA + + By Nathaniel Hawthorne + + + +Pleasant is a rainy winter's day, within doors! The best study for +such a day, or the best amusement,--call it which you will,--is a +book of travels, describing scenes the most unlike that sombre one, +which is mistily presented through the windows. I have experienced, +that fancy is then most successful in imparting distinct shapes and +vivid colors to the objects which the author has spread upon his +page, and that his words become magic spells to summon up a thousand +varied pictures. Strange landscapes glimmer through the familiar +walls of the room, and outlandish figures thrust themselves almost +within the sacred precincts of the hearth. Small as my chamber is, it +has space enough to contain the ocean-like circumference of an +Arabian desert, its parched sands tracked by the long line of a +caravan, with the camels patiently journeying through the heavy +sunshine. Though my ceiling be not lofty, yet I can pile up the +mountains of Central Asia beneath it, till their summits shine far +above the clouds of the middle atmosphere. And, with my humble +means, a wealth that is not taxable, I can transport hither the +magnificent merchandise of an Oriental bazaar, and call a crowd of +purchasers from distant countries, to pay a fair profit for the +precious articles which are displayed on all sides. True it is, +however, that amid the bustle of traffic, or whatever else may seem to +be going on around me, the rain-drops will occasionally be heard to +patter against my window-panes, which look forth upon one of the +quietest streets in a New England town. After a time, too, the +visions vanish, and will not appear again at my bidding. Then, it +being nightfall, a gloomy sense of unreality depresses my spirits, and +impels me to venture out, before the clock shall strike bedtime, to +satisfy myself that the world is not entirely made up of such shadowy +materials, as have busied me throughout the day. A dreamer may dwell +so long among fantasies, that the things without him will seem as +unreal as those within. + +When eve has fairly set in, therefore, I sally forth, tightly +buttoning my shaggy overcoat, and hoisting my umbrella, the silken +dome of which immediately resounds with the heavy drumming of the +invisible rain-drops. Pausing on the lowest doorstep, I contrast the +warmth and cheerfulness of my deserted fireside with the drear +obscurity and chill discomfort into which I am about to plunge. Now +come fearful auguries, innumerable as the drops of rain. Did not my +manhood cry shame upon me, I should turn back within doors, resume my +elbow-chair, my slippers, and my book, pass such an evening of +sluggish enjoyment as the day has been, and go to bed inglorious. The +same shivering reluctance, no doubt, has quelled, for a moment, the +adventurous spirit of many a traveller, when his feet, which were +destined to measure the earth around, were leaving their last tracks +in the home-paths. + +In my own case, poor human nature may be allowed a few misgivings. I +look upward, and discern no sky, not even an unfathomable void, but +only a black, impenetrable nothingness, as though heaven and all its +lights were blotted from the system of the universe. It is as if +nature were dead, and the world had put on black, and the clouds were +weeping for her. With their tears upon my cheek, I turn my eyes +earthward, but find little consolation here below. A lamp is burning +dimly at the distant corner, and throws just enough of light along the +street, to show, and exaggerate by so faintly showing, the perils and +difficulties which beset my path. Yonder dingily white remnant of a +huge snow-bank,--which will yet cumber the sidewalk till the latter +days of March,--over or through that wintry waste must I stride +onward. Beyond, lies a certain Slough of Despond, a concoction of mud +and liquid filth, ankle-deep, leg-deep, neck-deep,--in a word, of +unknown bottom, on which the lamplight does not even glimmer, but which +I have occasionally watched, in the gradual growth of its horrors, +from morn till nightfall. Should I flounder into its depths, farewell +to upper earth! And hark! how roughly resounds the roaring of a +stream, the turbulent career of which is partially reddened by the +gleam of the lamp, but elsewhere brawls noisily through the densest +gloom. O, should I be swept away in fording that impetuous and +unclean torrent, the coroner will have a job with an unfortunate +gentleman, who would fain end his troubles anywhere but in a mud-puddle! + +Pshaw! I will linger not another instant at arm's length from these +dim terrors, which grow more obscurely formidable, the longer I delay +to grapple with them. Now for the onset! And to! with little damage, +save a dash of rain in the fact and breast, a splash of mud high up +the pantaloons, and the left boot full of ice-cold water, behold me at +the corner of the street. The lamp throws down a circle of red light +around me; and twinkling onward from corner to corner, I discern other +beacons marshalling my way to a brighter scene. But this is alone +some and dreary spot. The tall edifices bid gloomy defiance to the +storm, with their blinds all closed, even as a man winks when he faces +a spattering gust. How loudly tinkles the collected rain down the tin +spouts! The puffs of wind are boisterous, and seem to assail me from +various quarters at once. I have often observed that this corner is a +haunt and loitering-place for those winds which have no work to do +upon the deep, dashing ships against our iron-bound shores; nor in the +forest, tearing up the sylvan giants with half a rood of soil at their +vast roots. Here they amuse themselves with lesser freaks of +mischief. See, at this moment, how they assail yonder poor woman, who +is passing just within the verge of the lamplight! One blast +struggles for her umbrella, and turns it wrong side outward; another +whisks the cape of her cloak across her eyes; while a third takes most +unwarrantable liberties with the lower part of her attire. Happily, +the good dame is no gossamer, but a figure of rotundity and fleshly +substance; else would these aerial tormentors whirl her aloft, like a +witch upon a broomstick, and set her down, doubtless, in the filthiest +kennel hereabout. + +From hence I tread upon firm pavements into the centre of the town. +Here there is almost as brilliant an illumination as when some great +victory has been won, either on the battle-field or at the polls. Two +rows of shops, with windows down nearly to the ground, cast a glow +from side to side, while the black night hangs overhead like a canopy, +and thus keeps the splendor from diffusing itself away. The wet +sidewalks gleam with a broad sheet of red light. The rain-drops +glitter, as if the sky were pouring down rubies. The spouts gush with +fire. Methinks the scene is an emblem of the deceptive glare, which +mortals throw around their footsteps in the moral world, thus +bedazzling themselves, till they forget the impenetrable obscurity +that hems them in, and that can be dispelled only by radiance from +above. And after all, it is a cheerless scene, and cheerless are the +wanderers in it. Here comes one who has so long been familiar with +tempestuous weather that he takes the bluster of the storm for a +friendly greeting, as if it should say, "How fare ye, brother?" +He is a retired sea-captain, wrapped in some nameless garment of the +pea-jacket order, and is now laying his course towards the Marine +Insurance Office, there to spin yarns of gale and shipwreck, with a +crew of old seadogs like himself. The blast will put in its word +among their hoarse voices, and be understood by all of them. Next I +meet an unhappy slipshod gentleman, with a cloak flung hastily over +his shoulders, running a race with boisterous winds, and striving to +glide between the drops of rain. Some domestic emergency or other has +blown this miserable man from his warm fireside in quest of a doctor! +See that little vagabond,--how carelessly he has taken his stand right +underneath a spout, while staring at some object of curiosity in a +shop-window! Surely the rain is his native element; he must have +fallen with it from the clouds, as frogs are supposed to do. + +Here is a picture, and a pretty one. A young man and a girl, both +enveloped in cloaks, and huddled beneath the scanty protection of a +cotton umbrella. She wears rubber overshoes; but he is in his +dancing-pumps; and they are on their way, no doubt, to sonic +cotillon-party, or subscription-ball at a dollar a head, refreshments +included. Thus they struggle against the gloomy tempest, lured onward +by a vision of festal splendor. But, ah! a most lamentable disaster. +Bewildered by the red, blue, and yellow meteors, in an apothecary's +window, they have stepped upon a slippery remnant of ice, and are +precipitated into a confluence of swollen floods, at the corner of two +streets. Luckless lovers! Were it my nature to be other than a +looker-on in life, I would attempt your rescue. Since that may not +be, I vow, should you be drowned, to weave such a pathetic story of +your fate, as shall call forth tears enough to drown you both anew. +Do ye touch bottom, my young friends? Yes; they emerge like a +water-nymph and a river deity, and paddle hand in hand out of the depths +of the dark pool. They hurry homeward, dripping, disconsolate, abashed, +but with love too warm to be chilled by the cold water. They have +stood a test which proves too strong for many. Faithful, though over +head and ears in trouble! + +Onward I go, deriving a sympathetic joy or sorrow from the varied +aspect of mortal affairs, even as my figure catches a gleam from the +lighted windows, or is blackened by an interval of darkness. Not that +mine is altogether a chameleon spirit, with no hue of its own. Now I +pass into a more retired street, where the dwellings of wealth and +poverty are intermingled, presenting a range of strongly contrasted +pictures. Here, too, may be found the golden mean. Through yonder +casement I discern a family circle,--the grandmother, the parents, and +the children,--all flickering, shadow-like, in the glow of a wood-fire. +Bluster, fierce blast, and beat, thou wintry rain, against the +window-panes! Ye cannot damp the enjoyment of that fireside. Surely +my fate is hard, that I should be wandering homeless here, taking to +my bosom night, and storm, and solitude, instead of wife and children. +Peace, murmurer! Doubt not that darker guests are sitting round the +hearth, though the warm blaze hides all but blissful images. Well; +here is still a brighter scene. A stately mansion, illuminated for a +ball, with cut-glass chandeliers and alabaster lamps in every room, +and sunny landscapes hanging round the walls. See! a coach has +stopped, whence emerges a slender beauty, who, canopied by two +umbrellas, glides within the portal, and vanishes amid lightsome +thrills of music. Will she ever feel the night-wind and the rain? +Perhaps,--perhaps! And will Death and Sorrow ever enter that proud +mansion? As surely as the dancers will be gay within its halls +to-night. Such thoughts sadden, yet satisfy my heart; for they teach me +that the poor man, in his mean, weather-beaten hovel, without a fire +to cheer him, may call the rich his brother, brethren by Sorrow, who +must be an inmate of both their households,--brethren by Death, who +will lead them, both to other homes. + +Onward, still onward, I plunge into the night. Now have I reached the +utmost limits of the town, where the last lamp struggles feebly with +the darkness, like the farthest star that stands sentinel on the +borders of uncreated space. It is strange what sensations of +sublimity may spring from a very humble source. Such are suggested by +this hollow roar of a subterranean cataract, where the mighty stream +of a kennel precipitates itself beneath an iron grate, and is seen no +more on earth. Listen awhile to its voice of mystery; and fancy will +magnify it, till you start and smile at the illusion. And now another +sound,--the rumbling of wheels,--as the mail-coach, outward bound, +rolls heavily off the pavements, and splashes through the mud and +water of the road. All night long, the poor passengers will be tossed +to and fro between drowsy watch and troubled sleep, and will dream of +their own quiet beds, and awake to find themselves still jolting +onward. Happier my lot, who will straightway hie me to my familiar +room, and toast myself comfortably before the fire, musing, and +fitfully dozing, and fancying a strangeness in such sights as all may +see. But first let me gaze at this solitary figure, who comes +hitherward with a tin lantern, which throws the circular pattern of +its punched holes on the ground about him. He passes fearlessly into +the unknown gloom, whither I will not follow him. + +This figure shall supply me with a moral, wherewith, for lack of a +more appropriate one, I may wind up my sketch. He fears not to tread +the dreary path before him, because his lantern, which was kindled at +the fireside of his home, will light him back to that same fireside +again. And thus we, night-wanderers through a stormy and dismal +world, if we bear the lamp of Faith, enkindled at a celestial fire, it +will surely lead us home to that Heaven whence its radiance was +borrowed. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Beneath an Umbrella (From "Twice Told +Tales"), by Nathaniel Hawthorne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BENEATH AN UMBRELLA *** + +***** This file should be named 9216.txt or 9216.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/9/2/1/9216/ + +Produced by David Widger. 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