"Dickon," cried Mother Rigby, "a coal for my pipe!"
The pipe was in the old dame's mouth when she said these words. She had thrust it there after filling it with tobacco, but without stooping to light it at the hearth, where indeed there was no appearance of a fire having been kindled that morning. Forthwith, however, as soon as the order was given, there was an intense red glow out of the bowl of the pipe, and a whiff of smoke came from Mother Rigby's lips. Whence the coal came, and how brought thither by an invisible hand, I have never been able to discover....
So begins a tale by Nathaniel Hawthorne that is so appropriate to the season.
Here is the rest of Feathertop.
4 comments:
Wonderful selection for the coming Halloween! I hadn't read it before.
Loved this paragraph:
If we must needs pry closely into the matter, it may be doubted whether there was any real change, after all, in the sordid, wornout worthless, and ill-jointed substance of the scarecrow; but merely a spectral illusion, and a cunning effect of light and shade so colored and contrived as to delude the eyes of most men. The miracles of witchcraft seem always to have had a very shallow subtlety; and, at least, if the above explanation do not hit the truth of the process, I can suggest no better.
And loved this word: simulacrum - had ever come across it before ....
Great story!! Thanks for posting the link.
oops - put "never" instead of "ever" above.
I loved this story :)
Interesting how different in style it is from The Scarlet Letter, yet still has the moral undertones.
Hawthorne had such a beautiful flow with his words.
The style and diction are certainly archaic, probably to accord with the setting of Olden Days. The thees and thous are nowadays a bit comic.
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