It is remarkable, that persons who speculate the most boldly often conform with the most perfect quietudeto the external regulations of society. The thought suffices them, without investing itself in the flesh and blood of action. So it seemed to be with Hester. Yet, had little Pearl never come to her from the spiritual world, it might have been far otherwise. Then, she might have come down to us in history, hand in hand with Ann Hutchinson, as the foundress of a religious sect. She might, in one of her phases, have been a prophetess. She might, and not improbably would, have suffered death from the stern tribunalsof the period, for attempting to undermine the foundations of the Puritan establishment. But, in the education of her child, the mother's enthusiasm of thought had something to wreakitself upon. Providence, in the person of this little girl, had assigned to Hester's charge the germand blossom of womanhood, to be cherished and developed amid a host of difficulties. Everything was against her. The world was hostile. The child's own nature had something wrong in it, which continually betokenedthat she had been born amiss- the effluenceof her mother's lawless passion- and often impelled Hester to ask, in bitterness of heart, whether it were for ill or good that the poor little creature had been born at all.
值得重视的是,那些具有最大胆的思想观点的人,对于外界的清规戒律也最能泰然处之。他们满足于思想观点,并不想赋予其行动的血肉。海丝特的情况似乎就是这样。不过,假若小珠儿未曾从精神世界来到她身边的话,她的情况也许就会大不一样了。那样的话,她也许会同安妮·哈钦逊携手并肩,作为一个教派的创始人,名标青史。她也许会在自己的某一时期成为一名女先知。她也许会——并非不可能——因企图颠覆清教制度的基础,而被当时严厉的法官处以死刑。但她的思想热情,因为她成了母亲,得以在教育孩子之中宣泄出去。上天把这小女孩交付给海丝特,就是要她保护女性的幼芽和蓓蕾,在众多的困难中加以抚育和培养。一切都与她作对。世界在以她为敌。孩子的本性中含有欠妥之处,不断表明她降临到这个世界上是个错误——是她母亲无视法律的激情的发泄,而且时常迫使海丝特辛酸地扪心自问:这个可怜的小家伙降生到世上,究竟是祸还是福。
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