But "The Scarlet Letter"
burst with such force close to its ears, that the indolent public awoke
in good earnest, and never forgot, though it speedily forgave the shock.
There was another smaller but attendant explosion. Hawthorne's prefatory
chapter on the Custom-House incensed some of his fellow-citizens of
Salem, terribly. There seems to have been a general civic clamor against
him, on account of it, though it would be hard to find any rational
justification therefor. In reference to the affair, Hawthorne wrote at
the time:--
"As to the Salem people, I really thought I had been exceedingly
good-natured in my treatment of them. They certainly do not deserve good
usage at my hands, after permitting me ... to be deliberately lied down,
not merely once, but at two separate attacks, and on two false
indictments, without hardly a voice being raised on my behalf."
This refers to political machinations of the party opposed to Hawthorne
as an official: they had pledged themselves, it was understood, not to
ask for his ejection, and afterward set to work to oust him without
cause. There is reason to believe that Hawthorne felt acute exasperation
at these unpleasant episodes for a time. But the annoyance came upon him
when he was worn out with the excitement of composing "The Scarlet
Letter"; and this ebullition of local hostility must moreover have been
especially offensive at a moment when the public everywhere else was
receiving him with acclaim as a person whose genius entitled him to
enthusiastic recognition.
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