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From the London Illustrated News.
THE UN PARDONABLE SIN
•
BY NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
B „ i ,,m, 'the lime-burner, a tough and heavy
x meg man, begrimed with charcoal, sat watch
a his kiln.at nightfall, while his little son played
~,a , iji n g houses with the scattered fragments of
ss hen. on the lull side .below them : they
;erti a mar ofiaughter, not mirthful but slow, and
gr. solemn, like a wind shaking the boughs °tithe
Faber, what is their' asked the little boy,
; ,To; his play, and pressing betwixt his father's
Oh. some reveller, I suppose," answered the
..te burner , some merry fellow from the bar
-,m on the village, who. dared not laugh bud
c onib within doors, lest he should blow the roof
s :he house off. So, here he is, shaking hie jolly
lees at the loot of Graylock."
-But father." said the child, more sensi•ive than
me ob:use, middle aged clown, "he does not laugh
_te a man that is glad ; so the noise frightens me !'
Don't be a fool. child ' cried the father gruff
, ; you will never,rvlake a man, Ido believ4
:ere is too much of your mother in you. 1 have
mown the rustling Ma leaf,io startle her. Hark,
,ere comes that merry fellow cow. 'ton shall see
;ere is no harm in that ''
ilartram and his !dile son, while they were talk
r4 thus, sat watching the lime-kiln. It was a
lg. round. tower like structure, about twenty feet
ti h. heavily built ct rough stones, and with a hit
at earth heaped about the larger part of its car
3siteretice. so that the blocks and fragments of
rite mtght be drawn by cart loads and thrown in
±e top There was an opening at the bottom of
; RI -set, like an oven mouth. but large enough to
vs: a mar, to a stooping posture, and provided
/massive iron door With the smoke and
tiame issuing from the chinks and crevices
os ,:ocr which seemed to give admittance into
t: resembles noshing so much as the
er,:rance to 'he infernal region, which the
itit.teris of Delectable Mountains were accus
tct::: show to pilgrims
:here re many such lintel tins in that tract of
mc:rv, tor:he purpose of burning the white mar
kt antes composes a large part of the substance
:f , he Some of. them built years ago, and
m.; oes'e'red. with weeds growing in the vacant
t-v.rs of he intenor, which is open to the sky.
r.;-iss and wild flowers rooting themselues into
ats of .he stones, look already like relics of
and may yet be overspread with the itch.
cerotrles to conie. Others, where the lime
s tL needs niis daily and nightfong five, afford
cza of ime , es: to 'he wanderer among the bills,
vm tears himself on a log of wood or a fragment
znitle. to hold a chat wi'h the solitary man.—
. s a :onesome, and a hen the character is inclined
t :.;cio may be an intensely thoughtful occupa
a, as it proved m the case of Ethan Brand who
rinsed to some purpose, in days gone by, while
os ore in this very- kiln was burning.
Toe one who now watched the fire was of a ilifl
o:,:er :rd •roctled himself with no thoughts
nos :he very :ea- that were requisite to his busi
:Let xi tranguti intervals, he flung hack the
eushtne tiehi of the iron door, and turning his
far frms:he insufferable glair, thrust in huge logs
:401, or stirred the immense brands with a long
lichin the tumaee were seen the curling
- 13:ts dame., and the burning marble, almost
vi,:h :he intensity of the heat ; while with
redection of the fire quivered on the dark
of the sum - ,unding forest, and showed in
7oz:hi a bright and ruddy little picture of
.he spring beside its door, the athletic and
ze.punmed figure of the lime burner, and the
1- tr-'l" , ec.; child, shrinking into the protection
:r;,.ht.'s shadow. And - when again the iron
vas c..ved, then re-appeared the tender light
tail-titi moon, which vainly strove to trace
11 , :•,!is:in t : shape of the neighboring moan
rd. to :he upper sky, there a hitting con
al 3: C%,3t3.3 , still faintly tinged with the may
tbsc,;zh ‘hr.s far down , into the valley the
_•."-'t had vanished I (Wig and long ago
The boy now crept still, closer to his father,
were Neard ascending the hill side, and
i°'flta . l'ort.st aside the I usbes that cluster
t'eneath•the trees
flal!oo! oho is cried tie lime banter,
' al his son's nmidrr, yet half infected bit).
.re an,! ttrra- roc't self like a man,
Ili !his chunk of marble at yaw head!"
rift ; c:e a r:) - u;sh welcome," said a gloomy
as :he unknown man drew nigh; " yet I
• c:tan nor desire a kinder one, even at my
Erstie "
*am a dis:met view, Bartrun threw open
door.cf tie kiln, whence immediately
of fierce tight that smote full.cpon the
5 .7 e wad fiztre. To a careless eye there
. svhr-r; very remarkable in his aspect ;
east hat of a man in a coarse, brown, coon-
MI of clothes, tall told thin, with a el 3 fi
' , toy
set of a wayfarer. As he advanced
' eyet—which were very bright—intent
-e' ;loess of the furnace, as if be he
12eetej to behold, some object wor,hy of
event, straoger s n said the lime tinnsei ;
=me yogi imitate in the day
from my search,"' =meted the say
: kx at lag, it j fitiottell
Lt7 tk or crazy 1 .1 muneted Bantam to Aim.
ltsin have •aotaile with the fellow. The
e.n” him away the bemr."
all in a tremble, lenity/7e,, I to ht§
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father, and begged him to shut the door of the kiln
so that there might not be so much light, for that
there was something in the man's face which he
was afraid to look at, yet could not look away from.
And, indeed, even the lime-burner's dull and , tor.
pid sense began to be impressed with an indescrib
able something in that thin, ragged, thoughtful vis
age, with 'he grizzled hair hanging wilily about
it, and thpse•deeply sunken eyes, which gleamed
like fires within the entrance of n mysterious caw.
em. But, as hi closed the door, the stranger turn
ed towards him, and spoke in a quiet, familiar
Way that made Bartram leel as if he were a sane
and sensible man atter all.
" Your task draws to-an end, I see," said he.—
This marble has already been burned three days.
A few hours more will convert the stone to lime."
" Why, who are you!" exclaimed the lime
burner. "You seem as well acquainted with my
business as I am my sell."
" And welt I may be,' said the stranger; " for I
followed , the same craft many a long year, and
here, too, on this very spot. But you are a new
corner in these parts. DO you ever hear of Ethan
Brand ?"
"The man that went in search of the unpardon
able Sin V' asked B.triram with a laugh.
" The same," answered the stranger. "He has
found what he sought; and therefore he comes back
again."
'• What ! then I are you Ethen Brand himself!•'
cried the lime-burner, in amazement. 0 I am a
new comer here, as you say, and they call it eigh
teen years' since you left the foot of Graylock. But
I can tell you, the good folks mill talk of Earthen
Brand in the village yonder, and what a strange
errand took him away from his lime kiln. Well,
and so you have found the Unpardonable Sin 7"
" Even so," said the stranger calmly.
"If the question is a fair one," proceeded Bar
tram, " what mi2ht it be!"
Ethan Brand laid his finger on his own heart.
" Here !" rerlied he.
And then, without mirth. in hot countenance, but '
as if moved by an involuntary recognition of the
mfinate absurdity of seeking throughout the world
for what was the closest of all things to himself,
and looking into every heart, save his own, for
what was hidden in no other breast, he broke into
a laugh of scorn. It was the same slow heavy
laugh that had almost appalled the lime burner
when it heralded the wayfarer's approach.
The solitary mountain side was made dismal by
n. Laughter, when out. of place, mistimed, or
bursting forth from a disordered state of feeling.
may be the most terrible modulation of the:human
voice., The laughter of one asleep, even if it be a
little child; the mad-man's laugh, or the wild
screaming laugh of the idiot, are sounds that we
sometimes tremble to hear, and would always
willingly forget_ Poets hate imagined no utter
ance of fiends or hobgoblins so fearfully appropri
ate as a laugh And even the obtruse lime burner
telt his nerves shake as the strange man looked in
ward at his own heart, and burst of laughtet that
rolled away in the night, and was indistinctly rev
erberated among the hills.
" Joe," said he to his little son, "scamper down
to the the tavern in the village, and tell the jolly
fellows there that Ethan Brand has come back, and
that he has found the Unpardonable Sin !"
The bay darted away on his errand, to -which
Ethan Brand made no objection, nor seemed hard
ly to notice He sat on a log of wood, looking
steadfastly at the iron door of the kiln When the
child was out of sight, and the swift and light foot
step-ceased to — be heard treading first on the fallen
leaves and then on the rocky mountain path, the
lime-oumer began to regret hisdeparture. lie felt
that the little teltoteitpresence had been a barrier
between. his k,uest and himself, and that he must
now deal, heart to heart, with a man who on his
own confession, had committed the only one crime
which heaven could afford no mercy. That crime
in its indistinct blackness, seemed to over shadow
him. :The Ume-bnmer's own sins rose op within
him,`and made his memory riotous with a thought
of evil shapes that asserted their kindred with the
master sin whatever it might be, which it was
within the scope of man's corrupted nature to con
ceive and cherish. They were all of one family ;
they went to and fro between his breast and Ethan
Brand's, and carried dark greetings from one to
another.
Then Bantam remembered the stones which had
grown traditionary in reference to ibis 'grange man
which bad come upon him like a shadow of a ' '
night, and was making himself at home in his old
pace, after so long an absence that the dead peo
ple, dead and buried for years, would have had
more right to beat home in any familiar spot than
he. Ethan Brand, it was said ha.s conversed with
Satan himself in the mud blaze of this very kiln:—
The legend had been matter of mirth heretofore but
but looked grimly now. Accprding to this tale, be.
fare Ethan had departed on his search, he had been
accustomed to evoke a fiend from the hot furnace
of the lime kiln, night after night, in order to con
fer with him about the Unpatdonable Sin; the man
and the fiend, each laboring to fame the image of
some mode of guilt which could neither be atoned
for not forgiven. And, with the first gleam ofl4ht
upon the mountaintop, the fiend 'crept in at the
iron door, there to abide the intenseetement of ere,
mail again summoned lortb to share in the dreadful
task of extending man's possible guilt beyond the
scope of dearest - ` else infinite mercy.
Whiltithe lima•-burner was snuggling with the
honors of these thoughts, Ethan Brand rose from
the in and Bong open the door of the kiln. The
action was in such accordance with the ideain Bar
tram's mind that ha almost expected to see the evil
one iwue bulb red Sot from the raging furnace.
Bold, bold r , cried he, with a tremulous
at
tempt to laugh, for he was ashamed of his feat;
although they overmastered him. "Don't, for
mercy a sake, bring out 3 our devil now !"
"Man!" Mealy replied Ethan-Brand, " what
nce-3 have fof the devil r I have :eh him far be-
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY AT TOWANDA, BRADFORD COUNTY, PA.., BY E. O'MEARA GOODRICH.
RE6AEDLSSS OF DENITiICIATION FROM. ANY QUARTER."
hind me on my track. It is with isoch half way
sinners as you that he busies himself. Fear not
because I open the door. Ido but act my old cus
tom, and am go trim your fire l:ke a lime-burner, as
I once."
He stirred the vast coals, thrust in more wood,
and bent forward to gaze into the hollow prison•
house of fire, regardless of the fierce glow that red
dened upon his face. The lime-burner sat watch
ing him, and half suspected his strange guest of a
purpose, ilium to evoke a fiend, at least to plunge
boldly into the flames, and thus vanish from the
sight of man. Ethan Brand, however, drew quiet.
ly back, and closed the door of the kiln.
" I have looked," said he, " into many a human
heart that was seven times hotter with sinful pas
lion than your furnace is with fire. But I !round
not there what I sought. No, not the Unpardona
ble Sin !"
1, What is the Unpardonable Sin !" asked this
lime burner, and then he shrank further horn his
companion, trembling lest his question should be
answered.
" It is a sin that grew within my own breast
replied Ethan Brand, standing erect, with a pride
that distinguishes all enthusiasts of his stamp ; " a
sin that grew no where eke ! The sin of an intel
lect that triumphed over the sense of brotherhood
with man and reverence for God, and sacrificed ev.
ery thing to its own mighty claims ! The only sin
that deserves recompense of immortal agony !
Freely, were it to do again ; would I incur the guilt.
Unshrinkingiy I accept the retribution !"
" The man's head is turned," muttered the lime
burner to himielf. "He may be a sinner like the
rest of us, nothing more likely, but 111 be sworn
he's a madman too."
Nevertheless, he felt very uncomfortable at his
situation, alone with . Ethan Brand on the wi:d moun
tain aide, and was right glad to hear the rough
murmur of tongues, and footsteps of what seemed
a pretty numerous party stumbling over the stones
and rustling through the underbrush. Soon appear
ed the whole lazy regiment that was wont to in•
vest the vi:lage tavern, comprehending three or
four individuals who had drunk flip beside the
bar room fire ihmugh all the winters, and smoked
their pipes beneath the stoop through all the sum
mers, since Ethan Brand's departure Laughing
boisterously, and mingling all their voices together
in unceremonious talk, they now burst into the
moonshine and narrow streaks of fire light that il
luminated the open space before the lime-kiln.—
Banram set tie door ajar again, flooding the spo
wiih light, that the company might get a lair view
of Ethan Brand, and he of them.
There, among other old acquaintainces, was a
once übiquitous man, now almost extinct, but whom
we were tot merly sure to encounter at the hotel of
every thriving village throughout the country It
was the stage agent. The present specimen of the
genus was a wilted and smoke dried man, wrinkled
arid red nosed, in a smartly cut brown bob tailed
coat, with brass buttons, who, for a length of time
unknown, had kept his desk and corner in the bar
room, and was will puffing what seemed to be the
same cigar that he had lighted twenty years ago.
lie bad great fame as a dry joker, though less on
account of any intrinsic humor, than from a certain
flavor of brandy toddy and tobacco smoke which
impregnated all his ideas and expres..sions, as well
as his person.
Another well remembered, dough strangely al
tered !ace was that of Lawyer Giles, as people still
called tarn in courtesy—an elderly ragamuffin, in
his soiled shirt sleeves and tow• linen trousers—
The poor fellow had been attorney in what he call
ed his better days—a sharp practitioner, and in
great vogue among the village litigants; but flip,
and sling, and toddy, and cock-tads imbitied at ail
houre:-moming, noon and night—had caused him
to slide from intellectual to various kinds and de
grees of bodily labor, till at last, to adopt his own
phrase, he slid into a soap vat. In other words,
Gies was now a soap boiler in a small way. He
had come to be but the fragment ol a human be—
lly—a pan of ore foot having been chopped off by
an axe, and an entire hand tom away by the devil
ish grip of a steam engine. Yet, though the cor
poreal hand was gone, spiritual memb er
, remained;
for stretching loath th e stump, Giles steadfastly
averred that he felt an invisible thumb and finger
with as vivid a sensation as before the real one was
amputaed. A maimed and miserable wretch he
was; but one nevertheless whom the world could
not trample, and bad no right to acorn, either in
this or any previous stage of his misfortunes, since
be had still kept op the courage and spirit ol a man,
asked nothing in charity, and with his one band—
and that the left one—fought in stem battle against
want and hostile circumstances.
Among the throng too, came another personage,
who, with ee:tain points of similarity to Lawyer
Giles, had many more of difference. It was the
village doctor, a man of some fifty years, whom,at
an earlier period of his life, we shoal,' have intro
duced as paying a professional visit to F.a ban Brand
during the latter's supposed insanity. He was now
a purple visaged, rude and brutal, yet half gentle
manly figure, with something wild, ruined and'
desperate in his talk, and in all the details of his
ger.ure and manners. Brandy pcomemed this man
tike an evil spirit and made dim as surly and sav
age as a wild beast, and at; miserable as a lost ;
bet there was supposed to be in him such wonder
fial skill , such native gilts of healing, beyond any
which medical science could impart, that society
caught hold of him, and would not let him sink out
of its reach. ...So staying to ,and fro on his horse,
and grumbling thick accents at the bedside., be
visited all the sick chambers for miles about among
the mountain towns, and sometimes raised a dying
man, as it were by a miracle, or quite as °fen, no
doubt, sent his patient to a grave that was dug ma
ny a year too soon. The daatar had an everlasting
pipe in his moth; and as somebody said in alto
sin to his habit of swearing, it wits always a tight
with hen fire.
Thfte ibrre vrtnebies rretsed Ferrata, arki rev
y; y ~."F9k~'3K-:;+'i`,t - ~:n~`.~~CC_ 4 ,. ~tsS~'~#~3,.!w-S~t ~%~;.
ed Ethan Brand'each atter his own:fashion' ,'eamest
ly inviting him to partake of the contents of a cm..
tain black bottle, in which, as they 'averred, he
would find something far better worth seeking for
than the UnpaSdonable Sin. No mind which has
wrought itself by , intense and solitary meditation,
into a high state of enthusiasm, can endure this
kind of ccniact with low and vulgar modes of
thought and feeling to which Man Brand was now
subjected. It made him doubt, and, strange to say,
it was a painful doubt, whether he had indeed
found the Unpardonable Sin, and found it within
himself. The whole question on which lie had
exhausted life, and more than life, looked like a
delusion.
" Leave me," he said, !tterly, " ye orute beasts,
that have made yourselves so, shrivelling up your
souls with fiery Itqnors I I have done with you.
Years and years ago I groped into your hearts and
found nothing there for my purpose. Get ye
gone !"
" Why, you uncivil scoundrel," cried the fierce
doctor, " is that the way you respond to the kind•
ness of your best friends Then let me tell you
the truth. You have no more found the Unpar.
donable Sin than yonder boy Joe h ts. You are
but a poor crazy fellow. I told yon so twenty
years ago; neither better not worse than a crazy
fellow, and the fit corni . .an ion Of old Humphrey,
here."
He pointed to an old man, shabbily dressed, with
long white hair, thin visage and unsteady eyes
For some years past this aged person ha-J been
wandering about among the hills, inquiring ot all
travellers whom he met for his daughter. The
girl, it seemed, had gone off with a company oh
circus performers, and occasionally tidings of her
came to the village, and fine stories were told ot
her glittering appearance as she rode on horseback
in the ring or performed marvelous feats on the
tight-rope.
The white haired lather'now approached Ethan
Brand, and gazed unsteadily into his face.
They tell me you have been alt over the ear.h,"
said he, wringing his lurid, with earnestness
You must have seen my daughter, tot she makes
a great figure in the world, and every body goes
to see her. Did she send any word to her old fa
ther, or say when she is coming back !"
Ethan Brand's eye qnailed beneath the old man's.
That daughter from whom he so earnestly desired
a word of greeting, Ethan Brand had made the
subject of a psychological eipetiment, and was.
ted, and perhaps annihilated her soul in the pro-
cess.
" Yes," murmured he, turning away from the
hoary wanderer, "itis no delusion. There is an
Unpardonable Sin !"
While these things were parsing, a merryseene
was going forward in the area of a cheerful
light, beside the spring, and before the door of the
hut
A. number of the youth of the village, young men
and girls, had hurried up the bill side, impelled by
curiosity to see Ethan Brand, the hero of so many
a legend faindiar to their childhood. • Finding no
thing, however, very remarkable in bus aspect—
nothing but a sunburnt wayfarer, in plain gathand
dusty shoes, who sat looking into the are, as if he
fancied pictures among the coals, these young pito.
p!e speedily grew tired of observing him. As it
happened, there was other amusement at band
An old German Jew, traveling with a diorama on
his back, was passing down the mountain road to
ward the village lost as the party turned aside from
it ; and, in the Dopes of eking out the profits 01 the
day, the showman had kept them company to the
lime kiln.
" Come, old Dutchman," cried one of the young
men, " let us see your pictures, if you can swear
they are worth looking at."
"Oh, yes, captain." answered the Jew—whether
as a matter of courtesy or craft, be styled every body
captain--- I shall show you, indeed, some 'rely
superb pictures !"
So, placing the fxx in a proper •position, be in
s-tied the young men and girls to look through the
glass orifices of the machine, and proceeded to ex •
_titbit a send of the most outrageous scratching and
daubings, as specimens of the fine arts, that ever
an itinerent showman had the face to impose upon
his tittle of spectators. The prelates were worn
oat, moreover—tattered, full at cracks sad wt ink
clingy with tobacco smoke, and otherwise et a
most pitiable contrition- Some purported to be the
cities, public edifices, and tinned castles is Europe;
others represented Napoleon's battles and Nelson's
sea fights; and in the midst of these might be seen
a gigantic, brown, hairy hand, which might have
been mistrken for the hand of Destiny, tough in
truth it was only the showman pointing his fore
finger to various scenes of the conflict, white its
owner gave his oiieal illostraticers. When, with
much merriment al its abominable deficiency of
merit, the exhibition was concluded, the German
bade tittle Joe pm his head into the Lox Viewed
through the magnifying glasses, the boy's round
rosy visage assumed the strangest irnagmable as
pect of an immense Titattic child, the mouth grin
ning broadly, and the eyes and every othet feature
ovetflowing with fun at the 3.4 e. leadenly. how
ever, that meory bee turned pal g, and its expres
sion turned to horror, for this easily impressed and
excitable child had become sensible that the e 3 es
of Ethan Brand was fixed upon him thicnqh the
glass
- .
lou make the little man to be afraid, captain,"
said the Getman jelly, turning op the Jerk and
Wong outline of his usage from his stooping
"But look again, and, by chance, l thall
casoie you to see something Mai, is sere fine, upon
my word !" . ,
Ethan Brand gated into the bas kw an ittuant,
and then; awning back, imbed futedly of tire GN-
U:MD. Wpm, had be seen t Nadding o spiennal,
Ex a anions yen* who 104 PeePdangt 411144 it at
the sagas atoinent, beheld :014 4 Want Vacs td
remember rou u eTe dE,,b ans z an d
lc te st....wmaa
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" Ah, captain," whispered the Jew. oil 111nrem.
burgh, with a dark smile, " I &LI it to be heavy
matter in my show-box;--This tinpantonable Sin !
By my faith, captain, it has ,wearied my shoulders
this day to carry it over the ntoor.tain."
"Peace!" answ e red Ulm) Brand, sternly, "or
get thee into the furnace yortilei."
The Jew's exhibition had scarcely concluded,
when a great elderly dog—who seemed to be his
own master, as no person in the company' laid
claim to him—saw fit to render himself the object
of public notice.. Hitherto he had shown himself
as a very quiet, well disposed old dog, going rJund
from one to another, and, by way of being sociable,
offering his rough head to be patted by any kindly
band that would take so much trouble. But now,
all of a sudden, this grave and venerable (padre
ped, of his own mere motion, and without the.
slightest suggestion from ally body else, begat' to
run around after his tail, which to heighten the ab
surdity of the scene was a great deal shorter than
it should hate been. Never• was seen such head
king eagerness in pursuit of an object that could
not possibly be attained ; never was heard such a
tremendous outbreak of growhng, snarli.ig, bark
ing and snapping, as if one end of the ridiculous
brute's body were at deadly and most unkriivea
ble enmity with the other. Faster and fx.ter round I
about went the cur, and faster and still faster fled
the unapproachable brevity of tits tail, and louder
and deicer grew his veils of rage and animosity,
until utterly exhausted, and as far from the goal" as
ever, the foolish old dog ceased his performance as
suddenly as he had begun it. The next moment
lie was as quiet, mild, sensible, and respectable in
his deportment as when he first scraped acquain
tance with the company.
As may be supposed, the'eEhibition was greeted
with universal laughter, clapping of bands and
shouts of • Encore!' to which the canine performer
responded by wagging all that there was to wag of
his tail, but appeared totally unable to repeat his
very suceessful effort to amuse the spectators.
Meanwhile, Ethan Brand had resumed his seat
upon the log, and moved, tt might be, by a per
cerion of some remote analogy between his own
case and that of:his self-pursuing cut, he broke in
to the awful Welt which, more than any other to
ken, expressed the condition of his inward being.
And et that moment the merriment of the party
was at an end ; they stood about, dreading least the
inaespicious sound should be reverberated amend
the horizon, and that mountain would thunder is to
mountain, and so the sound be prolonged -open
their ears. Then, whispering to one another tha.
it was late; that the moon was almost down; that
the August night was growing chill, they hurried
homeward., leaving the lime-burner and little Joe
to deal as they might with their unwelcome guest.
Save for these three human beings, the open space
on the hill-side was a solitude, set in a v.ig gloom
.if forest. Beyond that darksome velem, the &re
lights glimmered on the stately hunks and almoiit
black foliage of pines, imermixed with the I.gfrer
verdure of sapling oak., maples and pop!ass, while
here and there lay the gigot tic corpses of tires. de
caying an the leaf-strewn soil. And it seemed to
little Joe—a timorous and imaginative chtld—the
the silent forest was holding its breath . until some
fearful thing should happen.
Ethan Brand thrust more wood into the fire, and
closed the door of the kiln; then looking over his
shoulder at the lime-burner and his son, he bade,
rather than advi-ed, them to retire to rest:
" For myself, I cannot sleep," said be ; "I have
matters that it ctncerns me to meditate ' upon. I
will watch the fire, as I used to dr , in the old time"
"And call the devil out oldie !unlace to keep
you company, I *oppose," muntred Bantam, who
had been making intimate acquaintance with the
black bottle above mentioned. " But watch if you
like, and call as many devils as you like? Foe my
part, I be all the better fin a Ettooze. Come,
Joe 7
As boy 1,:loa hi. hither into the: but, he look
ed back at the waparer, and tears came nee his
eye., his tein'er spilt tied an inturion od the
bleak and terrible loneliness in which this man bad
enved‘ped himself
When they were go:te, Edon Brand sat iisterting
to the cracking of the kindled wood, and looking
at the spirits of ti•e that issued through ;he chit.k.
of the door. These trifles, however, mice so fa
miliar, had but the sligh•est hold of hisattent:on,
while deep within his mind he was reviewinr. the
orailual bet marvelous chane that bad been snouted
upon him by the search to which he had devoted
himself. He remembered how the night dew had
fallen upon him, how the dark :forest had whisper
ed to him; how the emirs had gleamed upon him,
a simple arid !twin man, wa tc hing hia!fire in the
years gone by, and even musing as it burned. lie
remembered with what tend'erriess. with what line
and sympathy fur mankind, and a hat pi.y for' ho
mar. gadt and woe, he had first be;un to co,tens
pla!e ihizse ideas which ats.ersarils became the
spiration of his tile; with what teerenee he had
then ksoked inuo the heart of man, viewing it as a
temple ofminally divided, and, however desecra
ted. 641;1 to be hell sacred by a broth*: • with what
awful fear he had ...tepee-wed his par.ee.a::-3 pray
ed that the Unpardonable. Sin min h i never be re
sealed to him. Then eil•n , sl that va.: ii.:ettecl ua t
dereloremmit, wbi th, in es pogress, di:curbed the
counterpoise between tits maid and heart_
The idea that possessed his life had operafied as
fa means of education ;it had rah-ell him from the
[level of an unlettered lahmer to stand'en a star
light eminence, whithar the philot.opliers of the
midi, laden with the lore at universities,. might
vainly strive to clamber after him. So much For
the intellect ! Bat where was the Erail That in-
deeA, had itraetel, had contrived, had hardened - ,
had perished !! It ha ceased to pastakeof the esti.
venal throb. fie bad Last bold of the,' annefic
eislrfof bantsaity. 11e,sras nr.v . !euiei l i a brathe;
en l l-P2atizV. chicheng aie a thigeOgli 9 1 cWr
AMITIMOIMIIIgES kr the key of sycgtally4 seNeh
fire ham a rt.! all is eerier. he aas
now a ccld ohterrer,looking - on mankmd ., 4s We
sobject ol his experiment, and $t length couserting
man and woman to Whirl pippais, and pulling the
wires that moved them to such degrees of crime
as were demanded for his Wady.
Thus Elton Brand became a fiend. He began
to be so from the moment that his moral nature had
ceased to keep the•pace of improvement with him
intellect. And now, as his highest effort, and in.
es-stable development—as the bright and gorgeous
Borer, and rich, delicious fruit of his life's labor—
he had discovered the Unpardonable Sin.
" What more have I to seek? What more to
achiere ?" said c: Iran Brand to himselE "My
task is done, and Well done !''
Staring from the log frith a certain alacrity in
gait, arid ascending the hillock of earth that was
raised against the stone circumference of the lime
kiln, he thus reached the top of the structure. It
was a space of perhaps ten feet across, from edge
to edge, presenting a view of the upper surface of
the immense mass of broken marble with which
the kiln was heapel. All these innumerable block,
and fragments of marble were red-hot and vividly
on tire, sending up great spouts of blue flame,
which quivered aloft and danced madly, as with- ,
in a magic circle, and sank and rose again, tech
continual and multitudinous activity. As the Imo.
ly man bent forward over this - terrible body of fire,
the blasting heat smcte against his person with a
breath that, it might, be supposed, would have
scorched and shrivelled him up in a moment.
Ethan Brand stood erect, and raised his arms nn
high. The bite flame played upon his face, and
imparted the wild and ghastly light 'which alone
could have suited his expression ; it was that of a
fiend on the verge of plungir.g into his gulf of in
tense torment
"0, Mother EAT il i," cried he, who an no
more my mother, and In whose bosom this frame
shall never be resolved ! 0, mankind, whose broth
erhood 1 have east oft, and trampled thy great
heart beneath my feet ! 0, stars of heaven, that
shone on me of old, as if to light me onward acid
upward ! Farewell all, and forever ! Come, dead
ly element of fire, henceforth my familiar friend !
Embrace me as f do thee !
That night the sound of i fearful peal of laugh
ter rolled heavily through the sleep of the lime
burner:and hie little son ; dim shapes of horror anti
anguish haunted their therms ; and seemed still
present in the rode hovel when they opened Mist
eyes to the daylight_
aUp boy, up !" cried the lime burner, sliding)
about him. ." Thank Heaven, the night has gone
last ; and rather than pan another such, 1 would
watch my lime-kiln, widejawake (or aftwelvernohth
This Ethan Brand, with his humbug at an..thipar
donable Sin, has done mono each mighty Ervin in
taking my place !"
He issued from the hut, followed by fide Joe,
who kept fist hold of his father'S hand. ,The
amishine was already pouring its gold upon we
mountain tops, and though the valleys were still
in shatiowi they smiled cheerfully in the promise
of the bright day that was hastening onward The
village completely shut in by hills, which &sells:it
away gently about ; to, looked as it it had rested
peacefully in the hollow on the great band of Prov
idence. Each dwelling was distinctly visible ;the
lode spires of the-two chinches pointed upward,
mat caught a forellimmering of tnightnesa from
the sun•gilt skies upon their weather-cocks. The
tavern was astir, and the figure of the old smoke.
dried stage agent, cigar in mouth, was seen be
neath the stoop. Old Grayloek was glorified with
a golden cloud upon his head. Scattered likewise
upon the breasts of the surrounding nttnnitains
there were heaps of hoary mists, in fantastic shapes
some of them far down into the valley, others
high up towanls.the summits, and sill others of
ihe same family nf ini.4ts and chuck's, hovering in
-the-gold radiance of the upper atmoopbore. Stet -
putl - t from one to another of the clouds that rested
on the hills, and thence to the loftier brotherhood
that sailed in the air, it seemed almost as it mortal
I . man might thus amend mho the heaven'y
Earth was so mingled with sky that it was a day
' dream to look at it.,
To supply that charm . of the larnihar and home
; ly whkh nature so rea,hly adopts into a aume like
' ILts, the stage coach was rattling down the mom-
min road, aril the driver rounded his horn, able
each caught up the notes a 2 d indertsritied them in
a rich and varied and elaborate hammy. 01
iirh.ch the 41:2 1 ;insl pericumer could lay claim to lit
tle sham. The great 11:11# played a concert sum*
themielrett, each contribc:irg 1 strain of airy
sweet:AesS.
Little )oe's,LAee hrr4htened at once
" Dem fa:her,n cried he, skipping eheetilyteamd
fro," that grange man is ;tete, and the sky and
Ole rnnantains ail seem giai of r
io ton, if five hunirei hi:L4t?l' of lime ate not
ti I ;,ac! Me fellow hereabouts atzain, T
feel like t.=.ing him into the finned !"
t1 : 111 hie bor.. plc is his !semi, he ascended to
Ih , • irp of the kiln. Ater a - moment's pause , he
calleJ to his too :
Cum/ op here, Jse-:'saki he-
S. liaie Joe ran up be Eiikrt =ad stood by his
La-ber's site. The marble was bomt into pedee,
snow white ikr.e. But, on ilstalce, in the
of the circle—snow-white too, anal thamtghly can
! vereti into Itme.-lay a human skeleton. ia this at.
eitt vie of a perpros whet, of fmn toil, firs dawn
:o a 1-v,; reisa 2 .e. htt2 the raw---irsacqu to Say
was the shape of a human beast.
, d“....r.0r
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MEI
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" zLe Inte-bnmer, laiit an owls,
b3l Le 13.13 le! die fire g 3 down, and no thanks
Was the fellfres4 Erroll made of madder:mi.'
ed Baru - am, emus perpleti4
am_ " As any rale t , gas ttocni into shat lootakte ,
'peels; good hole ; and. taking atMe tones fr,
galter, my lune-kilm is ban a begai the iiedlidiff
,Sueayiegobe mde lime tenter leeLl 114414.
and te..v It b. 13 brim i tte:emPF,- "be
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