Having by violence and crime thrust one evil out of life,
they are now by patience and benevolence to endeavor to exorcise others.
At the same time, remarking that Providence has infinitely varied ways
of dealing with any deed, Hawthorne leaves a possibility of happiness
for the two penitents, which may become theirs as "a wayside flower,
springing along a path that leads to higher ends." But he also shows, in
Donatello's final delivering of himself up to justice, the wisdom of
some definite judgment and perhaps punishment bestowed by society. Thus,
avenues of thought are opened to us on every side, which we are at
liberty to follow out; but we are not forced, as a mere theorist would
compel us, to pursue any particular one to the exclusion of the others.
In all we may find our way to some mystic monument of eternal law, or
pluck garlands from some new-budded bough of moral truth. The romance is
like a portal of ebony inlaid with ivory,--another gate of
dreams,--swinging softly open into regions of illimitable wisdom. But
some pause on the threshold, unused to such large liberty; and these cry
out, in the words of a well-known critic, "It begins in mystery, and
ends in mist."
Though the book was very successful, few readers grasped the profounder
portions. It is a vast exemplar of the author's consummate charm as a
simple storyteller, however, that he exercised a brilliant fascination
over all readers, notwithstanding the heavy burden of uncomprehended
truths which they were obliged to carry with them.
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