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.When theyreached the market-place, she became still more restless,on perceiving the stir and bustle that enlivened the spot;for it was usually more like the broad and lonesome greenbefore a village meeting-house, than the centre of a town sbusiness Why, what is this, mother? cried she. Whereforehave all the people left their work to-day? Is it a play-dayfor the whole world? See, there is the blacksmith! He has341 of 394 The Scarlet Letterwashed his sooty face, and put on his Sabbath-day clothes,and looks as if he would gladly be merry, if any kind bodywould only teach him how! And there is Master Brackett,the old jailer, nodding and smiling at me.Why does he doso, mother? He remembers thee a little babe, my child, answeredHester. He should not nod and smile at me, for all that theblack, grim, ugly-eyed old man! said Pearl. He may nod at thee, if he will; for thou art clad ingray, and wearest the scarlet letter.But see, mother, howmany faces of strange people, and Indians among them,and sailors! What have they all come to do, here in themarket-place? They wait to see the procession pass, said Hester. Forthe Governor and the magistrates are to go by, and theministers, and all the great people and good people, withthe music and the soldiers marching before them. And will the minister be there? asked Pearl. And willhe hold out both his hands to me, as when thou led st meto him from the brook-side? He will be there, child, answered her mother, but hewill not greet thee to-day, nor must thou greet him.342 of 394 The Scarlet Letter What a strange, sad man is he! said the child, as ifspeaking partly to herself. In the dark nighttime he calls usto him, and holds thy hand and mine, as when we stoodwith him on the scaffold yonder! And in the deep forest,where only the old trees can hear, and the strip of sky seeit, he talks with thee, sitting on a heap of moss! And hekisses my forehead, too, so that the little brook wouldhardly wash it off! But, here, in the sunny day, and amongall the people, he knows us not; nor must we know him!A strange, sad man is he, with his hand always over hisheart! Be quiet, Pearl thou understandest not these things,said her mother. Think not now of the minister, but lookabout thee, and see how cheery is everybody s face to-day.The children have come from their schools, and thegrown people from their workshops and their fields, onpurpose to be happy, for, to-day, a new man is beginningto rule over them; and so as has been the custom ofmankind ever since a nation was first gathered they makemerry and rejoice: as if a good and golden year were atlength to pass over the poor old world!It was as Hester said, in regard to the unwonted jollitythat brightened the faces of the people.Into this festalseason of the year as it already was, and continued to be343 of 394 The Scarlet Letterduring the greater part of two centuries the Puritanscompressed whatever mirth and public joy they deemedallowable to human infirmity; thereby so far dispelling thecustomary cloud, that, for the space of a single holiday,they appeared scarcely more grave than most othercommunities at a period of general affliction.But we perhaps exaggerate the gray or sable tinge,which undoubtedly characterized the mood and mannersof the age.The persons now in the market-place ofBoston had not been born to an inheritance of Puritanicgloom.They were native Englishmen, whose fathers hadlived in the sunny richness of the Elizabethan epoch; atime when the life of England, viewed as one great mass,would appear to have been as stately, magnificent, andjoyous, as the world has ever witnessed.Had theyfollowed their hereditary taste, the New England settlerswould have illustrated all events of public importance bybonfires, banquets, pageantries, and processions.Norwould it have been impracticable, in the observance ofmajestic ceremonies, to combine mirthful recreation withsolemnity, and give, as it were, a grotesque and brilliantembroidery to the great robe of state, which a nation, atsuch festivals, puts on.There was some shadow of anattempt of this kind in the mode of celebrating the day on344 of 394 The Scarlet Letterwhich the political year of the colony commenced.Thedim reflection of a remembered splendour, a colourlessand manifold diluted repetition of what they had beheld inproud old London we will not say at a royal coronation,but at a Lord Mayor s show might be traced in thecustoms which our forefathers instituted, with reference tothe annual installation of magistrates.The fathers andfounders of the commonwealth the statesman, the priest,and the soldier seemed it a duty then to assume theoutward state and majesty, which, in accordance withantique style, was looked upon as the proper garb ofpublic and social eminence.All came forth to move inprocession before the people s eye, and thus impart aneeded dignity to the simple framework of a governmentso newly constructed.Then, too, the people were countenanced, if notencouraged, in relaxing the severe and close application totheir various modes of rugged industry, which at all othertimes, seemed of the same piece and material with theirreligion.Here, it is true, were none of the applianceswhich popular merriment would so readily have found inthe England of Elizabeth s time, or that of James no rudeshows of a theatrical kind; no minstrel, with his harp andlegendary ballad, nor gleeman with an ape dancing to his345 of 394 The Scarlet Lettermusic; no juggler, with his tricks of mimic witchcraft; noMerry Andrew, to stir up the multitude with jests, perhapsa hundred years old, but still effective, by their appeals tothe very broadest sources of mirthful sympathy.All suchprofessors of the several branches of jocularity would havebeen sternly repressed, not only by the rigid discipline oflaw, but by the general sentiment which give law itsvitality.Not the less, however, the great, honest face ofthe people smiled grimly, perhaps, but widely too.Norwere sports wanting, such as the colonists had witnessed,and shared in, long ago, at the country fairs and on thevillage-greens of England; and which it was thought wellto keep alive on this new soil, for the sake of the courageand manliness that were essential in them
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