The Christmas Banquet (From "Mosses from an Old Manse")
()
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Born in 1804, Nathaniel Hawthorne is known for his historical tales and novels about American colonial society. After publishing The Scarlet Letter in 1850, its status as an instant bestseller allowed him to earn a living as a novelist. Full of dark romanticism, psychological complexity, symbolism, and cautionary tales, his work is still popular today. He has earned a place in history as one of the most distinguished American writers of the nineteenth century.
Read more from Nathaniel Hawthorne
Mosses from an Old Manse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twice-Told Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Christmas Library: 250+ Essential Christmas Novels, Poems, Carols, Short Stories...by 100+ Authors Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/550 Great Love Letters You Have To Read (Golden Deer Classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Classic American Short Story MEGAPACK ® (Volume 1): 34 of the Greatest Stories Ever Written Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Gothic Novel Collection Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nathaniel Hawthorne's Short Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTanglewood Tales: Greek Myths for Kids Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Wonder Book for Girls & Boys Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tanglewood Tales - Illustrated by Milo Winter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gothic Classics: 60+ Books in One Volume Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Oxford Book of American Essays Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Aprenda Ingles! Learn Spanish! LA LETRA ESCARLATA: En Ingles y Espanol Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Harvard Classics: All 71 Volumes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Greatest American Short Stories: 50+ Classics of American Literature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsClassic Christmas Stories: A Collection of Timeless Holiday Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Christmas Banquet (From "Mosses from an Old Manse")
Related ebooks
The Christmas Banquet (From "Mosses from an Old Manse") Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChills & Goosebumps for Holidays Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsON A DARK CHRISTMAS NIGHT – 25 Holiday Spook Classics & Murder Mysteries Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMERRY SPOOKY CHRISTMAS (25 Weird & Supernatural Tales in One Edition) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Certain Hour Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 102, April, 1866 A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Certain Hour (Barnes & Noble Digital Library) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFragments from the Journal of a Solitary Man (From: "The Doliver Romance and Other Pieces: Tales and Sketches") Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThirteen Souls Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpeeches: Literary and Social, Illustrated Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChippings with a Chisel (From "Twice Told Tales") Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOld Wine and New Occasional Discourses Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStudies and Essays: The Inn of Tranquility, and Others Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Speeches: Literary and Social Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Black Eagle; Ticonderoga Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Complete Essays of John Galsworthy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Essential James Branch Cabell Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSome Reminiscences Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSociety and Solitude (Barnes & Noble Digital Library) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Sorrows of Satan or, The Strange Experience of One Geoffrey Tempest, Millionaire, A Romance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Essays: Francis Bacon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsViolets and Other Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSome Private Views Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsViolets and Other Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhen God Laughs & Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPipefuls Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Fortunes of Nigel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Eulogies of Howard A Vision Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSoutherly Busters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Altar of the Dead Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Christmas Banquet (From "Mosses from an Old Manse")
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The Christmas Banquet (From "Mosses from an Old Manse") - Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Christmas Banquet (From Mosses From An Old Manse
), by Nathaniel Hawthorne
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: The Christmas Banquet (From Mosses From An Old Manse
)
Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
Posting Date: December 8, 2010 [EBook #9228] Release Date: November, 2005 First Posted: September 6, 2003 Last Updated: February 6, 2007
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHRISTMAS BANQUET ***
Produced by David Widger. HTML version by Al Haines.
MOSSES FROM AN OLD MANSE
By Nathaniel Hawthorne
THE CHRISTMAS BANQUET
[FROM THE UNPUBLISHED "ALLEGORIES OF THE HEART."]
I have here attempted,
said Roderick, unfolding a few sheets of manuscript, as he sat with Rosina and the sculptor in the summer-house,—I have attempted to seize hold of a personage who glides past me, occasionally, in my walk through life. My former sad experience, as you know, has gifted me with some degree of insight into the gloomy mysteries of the human heart, through which I have wandered like one astray in a dark cavern, with his torch fast flickering to extinction. But this man, this class of men, is a hopeless puzzle.
Well, but propound him,
said the sculptor. Let us have an idea of hint, to begin with.
Why, indeed,
replied Roderick, he is such a being as I could conceive you to carve out of marble, and some yet unrealized perfection of human science to endow with an exquisite mockery of intellect; but still there lacks the last inestimable touch of a divine Creator. He looks like a man; and, perchance, like a better specimen of man than you ordinarily meet. You might esteem him wise; he is capable of cultivation and refinement, and has at least an external conscience; but the demands that spirit makes upon spirit are precisely those to which he cannot respond. When at last you come close to him you find him chill and unsubstantial,—a mere vapor.
I believe,
said Rosina, I have a glimmering idea of what you mean.
Then be thankful,
answered her husband, smiling; but do not anticipate any further illumination from what I am about to read. I have here imagined such a man to be—what, probably, he never is—conscious of the deficiency in his spiritual organization. Methinks the result would be a sense of cold unreality wherewith he would go shivering through the world, longing to exchange his load of ice for any burden of real grief that fate could fling upon a human being.
Contenting himself with this preface, Roderick began to read.
In a certain old gentleman's last will and testament there appeared a bequest, which, as his final thought and deed, was singularly in keeping with a long life of melancholy eccentricity. He devised a considerable sum for establishing a fund, the interest