HILDA'S DOVES NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE NOTE.Hawthorne's story "The Marble Faun," from which these selections are taken, concerns itself with the fancied resemblance between a young Italian and a famous marble statue. Hilda and the sculptor Kenyon are her friends. Miriam is an artist, and to do with the story except to emphasize the sweet and tender purity of 5 their mistress's character, but these bits of description are among the most beautiful passages of the book. Miriam herself now came forth and taking her way through some of the intricacies of the city entered what might be called either a widening of a street or a small 10 piazza. The neighborhood comprised a baker's oven, emitting the usual fragrance of sour bread; a shoe shop; a linen draper's shop; a pipe and cigar shop; a lottery office; a station for soldiers, with a sentinel pacing in front; and a fruit stand, at which a Roman matron was 5 selling the dry kernels of chestnuts, wretched little figs, and some bouquets of yesterday. A church, of course, was near at hand, the façade of which ascended into lofty pinnacles, whereon were perched two or three winged figures of stone, either angelic or allegorical, blowing stone 10 trumpets in close vicinity to the upper windows of an old and shabby palace. This palace was distinguished by a feature not very common in the architecture of Roman edifices; that is to say, a medieval tower, square, massive, lofty, and battlemented and machicolated at the summit. 15 At one of the angles of the battlements stood a shrine of the Virgin, such as we see everywhere at the street corners of Rome, but seldom or never, except in this solitary instance, at a height above the ordinary level of men's views and aspirations. Connected with this old tower and 20 its lofty shrine there is a legend which we cannot here pause to tell; but for centuries a lamp has been burning before the Virgin's image, at noon, at midnight, and at all hours of the twenty-four, and must be kept burning forever, as long as the tower shall stand; or else the tower itself, 25 the palace, and whatever estate belongs to it, shall pass from its hereditary possessor, in accordance with an ancient vow, and become the property of the Church. As Miriam approached she looked upward and saw,not, indeed, the flame of the never-dying lamp, which was swallowed up in the broad sunlight that brightened the shrine, but a flock of white doves, skimming, fluttering, and wheeling about the topmost height of the tower, their silver wings flashing in the pure transparency of the air. Several of them sat on the ledge of the upper window, pushing one another off by their eager struggle for this favorite station, and all tapping their beaks and flapping their wings tumultuously against the panes; some had 10 alighted in the street, far below, but flew hastily upward at the sound of the window being thrust ajar and opening in the middle on rusty hinges as Roman windows do. A fair young girl, dressed in white, showed herself at the aperture for a single instant and threw forth as much 15 as her two small hands could hold of some kind of food for the flock of eleemosynary doves. It seemed greatly to the taste of the feathered people; for they tried to snatch beakfuls of it from her grasp, caught it in the air, and rushed downward after it upon the pavement. "What a pretty scene this is," thought Miriam, with a kindly smile," and how like a dove she is herself, the fair, pure creature! The other doves know her for a sister, I am sure.” 20 When they reached the Via Portoghese, and approached 25 Hilda's tower, the doves, who were waiting aloft, flung themselves upon the air and came floating down about her head. The girl caressed them and responded to their cooings with similar sounds from her own lips and with words of endearment; and their joyful flutterings and airy little flights, evidently impelled by pure exuberance of 5 spirits, seemed to show that the doves had a real sympathy with their mistress's state of mind. For peace had descended upon her like a dove. Bidding the sculptor farewell, Hilda climbed her tower and came forth upon its summit to trim the Virgin's lamp. 10 The doves, well knowing her custom, had flown up thither to meet her and again hovered about her head; and very lovely was her aspect in the evening sunlight, which had little further to do with the world just then, save to fling a golden glory on Hilda's hair and vanish. 15 Turning her eyes down into the dusky street which she had just quitted, Hilda saw the sculptor still there and waved her hand to him. One of the doves, which had been resting on Hilda's shoulder, suddenly flew downward, as if recognizing him 20 as its mistress's dear friend; and perhaps commissioned with an errand of regard, brushed his upturned face with its wings and again soared aloft. The sculptor watched the bird's return and saw Hilda greet it with a smile. piazza: an open square in an Italian town. - façade (fa-sad' or få-sād'): the front of a building. — machicolated (ma-chik ́ô-lā ́těd): having holes through which missiles could be dropped or melted lead could be poured on an enemy. eleemos'ynary: supported by charity. — Via Portoghese (ve'a por-to-ga ́ză): a street in Rome. A TRIBUTE TO THE DOG NOTE. This defense of a dog was spoken by a Missouri senator many years ago in a country court room. A man's reputation 10 "GENTLEMEN OF THE JURY: The best friend a man has in the world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son or daughter that he has reared with loving 5 care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name, may become traitors to their faith. The money that a man has he may lose. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it most. may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads. The one absolutely unselfish friend that man 15 can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog. "A man's dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the 20 cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his master's side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer; he will lick the wounds and sores that come from encounter with |