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Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864

"Passages from the American Notebooks, Volume 1"

Elsewhere, a farm-house was lighted by
it, and no other fuel used in the coldest weather.
Gnomes, or other mischievous little fiends, to be represented as
burrowing in the hollow teeth of some person who has subjected himself to
their power. It should be a child's story. This should be one of many
modes of petty torment. They should be contrasted with beneficent
fairies, who minister to the pleasures of the good.
A man will undergo great toil and hardship for ends that must be many
years distant,--as wealth or fame,--but none for an end that may be close
at hand,--as the joys of heaven.
Insincerity in a man's own heart must make all his enjoyments, all that
concerns him, unreal; so that his whole life must seem like a merely
dramatic representation. And this would be the case, even though he were
surrounded by true-hearted relatives and friends.
A company of men, none of whom have anything worth hoping for on earth,
yet who do not look forward to anything beyond earth!
Sorrow to be personified, and its effect on a family represented by the
way in which the members of the family regard this dark-clad and
sad-browed inmate.


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