{"id":1923,"date":"2008-04-22T22:55:23","date_gmt":"2008-04-23T02:55:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=1923"},"modified":"2018-08-14T13:20:09","modified_gmt":"2018-08-14T17:20:09","slug":"nathaniel-hawthorne-the-celestial-railroad-and-other-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=1923","title":{"rendered":"(Nathaniel Hawthorne) The Celestial Railroad and Other Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hawthorne\u2019s alle\u00adgor\u00adi\u00adcal short sto\u00adries were, in some ways, the ances\u00adtors of some of the grim\u00admer Twi\u00adlight Zone episodes. This col\u00adlec\u00adtion includes sto\u00adries writ\u00adten between 1832 and 1851, and includes the most famous ones, \u201cYoung Good\u00adman Brown\u201d , \u201cEthan Brand\u201d, \u201cRap\u00adpac\u00adcini\u2019s Daugh\u00adter\u201d, and \u201cDr. Hei\u00addeg\u00adger\u2019s Exper\u00adi\u00adment\u201d. All fine sto\u00adries, but the one that tick\u00adled my fan\u00adcy was the less well known \u201cThe May\u00adpole of Mer\u00adry Mount\u201d. It\u2019s a sort of 1836 ver\u00adsion of <\/span>The Wick\u00ader Man<\/em><\/span>, except that the Puri\u00adtans, not the Pagans, tri\u00adumph. It is all the more inter\u00adest\u00ading because Hawthorne seems to have been well aware of things that would not be part of com\u00admon knowl\u00adedge until James Fraz\u00ader pub\u00adlished <\/span>The Gold\u00aden Bough<\/em><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In this pecu\u00adliar sto\u00adry, it is explained that one vil\u00adlage in New Eng\u00adland was not set\u00adtled by the usu\u00adal grim Puri\u00adtans, but by men who \u201c<\/span>imag\u00adined a wild phi\u00adlos\u00ado\u00adphy of plea\u00adsure, and came thith\u00ader to act out their day\u00addream<\/em><\/span>.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This sets the stage for a con\u00adflict that has played out in Amer\u00adi\u00adcan cul\u00adture, appar\u00adent\u00adly, since the 17th cen\u00adtu\u00adry, when this sto\u00adry is set.:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

All the hered\u00adi\u00adtary pas\u00adtimes of Old Eng\u00adland were trans\u00adplant\u00aded hith\u00ader. The King of Christ\u00admas was duly crowned, and the Lord of Mis\u00adrule bore potent sway. On the Eve of St. John, they felled whole acres of the for\u00adest to make bon\u00adfires, and danced by the blaze all night, crowned with gar\u00adlands, and throw\u00ading flow\u00aders into the flame. At har\u00advest time, though their crop was of the small\u00adest, they made an image with the sheaves of Indi\u00adan corn, and wreathed it with autum\u00adnal gar\u00adlands, and bore it home tri\u00adumphant\u00adly. But what chiefly char\u00adac\u00adter\u00adized the colonists of Mer\u00adry Mount was their ven\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion for the May\u00adpole. It has made their true his\u00adto\u00adry a poet\u00ad\u2019s tale. Spring decked the hal\u00adlowed emblem with young blos\u00adsoms and fresh green boughs; sum\u00admer brought ros\u00ades of deep\u00adest blush, and the per\u00adfect\u00aded foliage of the for\u00adest; autumn enriched it with that red and yel\u00adlow gor\u00adgeous\u00adness which con\u00adverts each wild\u00adwood leaf into a paint\u00aded flower; and win\u00adter sil\u00advered it with sleet, and hung it round with ici\u00adcles, til it flashed in the cold sun\u00adshine, itself a frozen sun\u00adbeam. Thus each alter\u00adnate sea\u00adson did homage to the May\u00adpole, and paid it a trib\u00adute of its own rich\u00adest splen\u00addor. Its votaries danced round it, once, at least, in every month; some\u00adtimes they called it their reli\u00adgion, or their altar; but always, it was the ban\u00adner staff of Mer\u00adry Mount.<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Unfor\u00adtu\u00adnate\u00adly, there were men in the new world of stern\u00ader faith than these May\u00adpole wor\u00adshipers. Not far from Mer\u00adry Mount was a set\u00adtle\u00adment of Puri\u00adtans, most dis\u00admal wretch\u00ades, who said their prayers before day\u00adlight, and then wrought in the for\u00adest or the corn\u00adfield till evening made it prayer time again. Their weapons were always at hand to shoot down the strag\u00adgling sav\u00adage. When they met in con\u00adclave, it was nev\u00ader to keep up the old Eng\u00adlish mirth, but to hear ser\u00admons three hours long, or to pro\u00adclaim boun\u00adties on the heads of wolves and the scalps of Indi\u00adans. Their fes\u00adti\u00advals were fast days, and their chief pas\u00adtime the singing of psalms. Woe to the youth or maid\u00aden who did but dream of a dance! The select\u00adman nod\u00added to the con\u00adsta\u00adble; and there sat the light-heeled repro\u00adbate in the stocks; or if he danced, it was round the whip\u00adping post, which might be termed the Puri\u00adtan Maypole.<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Puri\u00adtans mount a vio\u00adlent assault on Pagan Mer\u00adry Mount, while the rev\u00adellers are danc\u00ading around the May\u00adpole, dressed in ani\u00admal cos\u00adtumes. Hawthorne\u2019s descrip\u00adtive pow\u00ader is mar\u00advelous. At the cen\u00adter of the sto\u00adry stand two beau\u00adti\u00adful youths, the nup\u00adtial King and Queen of the May, \u201c<\/span>But nev\u00ader had their youth\u00adful beau\u00adty seemed so pure as when its glow was chas\u00adtened by adver\u00adsi\u00adty.<\/em><\/span>\u201d They melt the hearts of even the sternest Puri\u00adtan, Endi\u00adcott, who spares them death.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Who can read this fable and not see in it the bipo\u00adlar mad\u00adness of North Amer\u00adi\u00adcan soci\u00adety? Hawthorne\u2019s sto\u00adry was, it seems, based loose\u00adly on an actu\u00adal inci\u00addent in New Eng\u00adland his\u00adto\u00adry, Endi\u00adcott was a real per\u00adson, and the may\u00adpole exist\u00aded, but what exact\u00adly hap\u00adpened, I can\u00adnot say. All Hawthorne\u2019s alle\u00adgories were craft\u00aded to care\u00adful\u00adly bal\u00adance the mun\u00addane and the fan\u00adtas\u00adtic, and to erase the bar\u00adri\u00ader between life and dreams. He was simul\u00adta\u00adne\u00adous\u00adly as fan\u00adtas\u00admagoric as Poe, and a metic\u00adu\u00adlous\u00adly obser\u00advant realist.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There is, by the way, a fine musi\u00adcal treat\u00adment of the sto\u00adry by the com\u00adpos\u00ader Howard Han\u00adson. His opera <\/span>Mer\u00adry Mount<\/em><\/span> pre\u00admiered in 1934. Though it was pop\u00adu\u00adlar in its time, it nev\u00ader remained in the stan\u00addard reper\u00adtoire. A pleas\u00adant suite from the opera gets fair\u00adly reg\u00adu\u00adlar play.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

con\u00adtents:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

16121. (Nathaniel Hawthorne) Roger Malvin\u2019s Bur\u00adial [sto\u00adry]
16122. (Nathaniel Hawthorne) My Kins\u00adman, Major Molineux [sto\u00adry]
16123. (Nathaniel Hawthorne) The Wives of the Dead [sto\u00adry]
16124. (Nathaniel Hawthorne) The Gray Com\u00adpan\u00adion [ato\u00adry]
16125. (Nathaniel Hawthorne) Wake\u00adfield [sto\u00adry]
16126. (Nathaniel Hawthorne) The Ambi\u00adtious Guest [sto\u00adry]
16127. (Nathaniel Hawthorne) Young Good\u00adman Brown [sto\u00adry]
16128. (Nathaniel Hawthorne) The Minister\u2019s Black Veil [sto\u00adry]
16129. (Nathaniel Hawthorne) The May\u00adpole of Mer\u00adry Mount [sto\u00adry]
16130. (Nathaniel Hawthorne) The Great Car\u00adbun\u00adkle [sto\u00adry]
16131. (Nathaniel Hawthorne) Dr. Heidegger\u2019s Exper\u00adi\u00adment [sto\u00adry]
16132. (Nathaniel Hawthorne) Lady Eleanore\u2019s Man\u00adtle [sto\u00adry]
16133. (Nathaniel Hawthorne) Ego\u00adtism, or, The Bosom Ser\u00adpent [sto\u00adry]
16134. (Nathaniel Hawthorne) The Celes\u00adtial Rail\u00adroad [sto\u00adry]
16135. (Nathaniel Hawthorne) The Birth\u00admark [sto\u00adry]
16136. [2] (Nathaniel Hawthorne) Rappaccini\u2019s Daugh\u00adter [sto\u00adry]
16137. (Nathaniel Hawthorne) The Snow Image: A Child\u00adish Mir\u00ada\u00adcle [sto\u00adry]
16138. (Nathaniel Hawthorne) Ethan Brand [sto\u00adry]
16139. (R. P. Black\u00admur) After\u00adword [arti\u00adcle]<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hawthorne\u2019s alle\u00adgor\u00adi\u00adcal short sto\u00adries were, in some ways, the ances\u00adtors of some of the grim\u00admer Twi\u00adlight Zone episodes. This col\u00adlec\u00adtion includes sto\u00adries writ\u00adten between 1832 and 1851, and includes the most famous ones, \u201cYoung Good\u00adman Brown\u201d , \u201cEthan Brand\u201d, \u201cRap\u00adpac\u00adcini\u2019s Daughter\u201d, \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[946,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-b-reading","category-bs-reading-2008"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1923"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1925,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923\/revisions\/1925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}