August 15, 2025 • 43 mins
Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil" tells the story of Reverend Hooper who mysteriously begins wearing a black veil over his face, transforming his relationship with his congregation and exploring the hidden nature of sin and secrets.
• Reverend Hooper appears with a black veil covering his face, shocking his congregation
• The community reacts with fear, speculation, and avoidance
• The veil creates a powerful effect during a funeral and ruins the mood at a wedding
• Elizabeth, Hooper's fiancée, confronts him about removing the veil but he refuses
• Despite being feared and isolated, Hooper becomes more effective in ministering to sinners
• On his deathbed, Hooper reveals that everyone wears invisible veils, hiding their true selves
• The veil serves as a powerful symbol for the secrets and sins that separate us from others
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello, Are you tired?
You will be.
This is Ron Reads Boring Books.
Today we're reading Black Veilby Nathaniel Hawthorne.
(00:27):
The sexton stood in the porch ofMilford Meeting House pulling
busily at the bell rope.
The old people of the villagecame stooping along the street.
Stooping along the street,children with bright faces
(00:49):
tripped merrily beside theirparents or mimicking a graver
gait in the conscious dignity oftheir Sunday clothes.
Spruce bachelors lookedsidelong at the pretty maidens
and fancied that the Sabbathsunshine made them prettier than
on weekdays, when the thong hadmostly streamed into the porch.
(01:13):
The sexton began to toll thebell, keeping his eye on the
Reverend Mr Hooper's door.
The first glimpse of theclergyman's figure was the
signal for the bell to cease itssummons.
But what has good possum Hoopergot upon his face, cried the
(01:37):
sexton in astonishment.
All within hearing immediatelyturned about and beheld the
semblance of Mr Hooper pacingslowly his meditative way toward
the meeting house.
With one accord they startedexpressing more wonder than if
some strange minister werecoming to dust the cushions of
(02:01):
Mr Hooper's pulpit, the cushionsof Mr Hooper's pulpit.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Are you sure it is our parson?
Speaker 1 (02:09):
inquired Goodman Gray of the Sexton.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Of certainty it is good.
Mr Hooper replied the Sexton hewas to have some exchanged
pulpits with Parson Shute ofWestbury but Parson Shute sent
to excuse himself, yesterdaybeing to preach a funeral sermon
.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
The cause of so much amazement may appear
sufficiently slight.
Mr Hooper, gentlemanly personof about thirty, though still a
bachelor, was dressed with dueclerical neatness, as if a
careful wife had starched hisband and brushed the weekly dust
(02:54):
from his Sunday's garb.
There was but one thingremarkable in his appearance
swathed about his forehead,swathed about his forehead and
hanging down over his face solow as to be shaken by his
breath, mr Hooper had on a blackveil.
On a nearer view it seemed toconsist of two folds of crepe
(03:18):
which entirely concealed hisfeatures, except the mouth and
chin, but probably did notintercept his sight further than
to give a darkened aspect toall living and inanimate things.
With this gloomy shade beforehim, good Mr Hooper walked
(03:40):
onward at a slow and quiet pace,stooping somewhat and looking
on the ground, as is customarywith abstracted men, yet nodding
kindly to those of hisparishioners who still waited on
the meeting-house steps.
But so wonderstruck were theythat his greeting hardly met
with a return.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
I can't really feel as if good Mr Hooper's face was
behind that piece of crepe, saidthe sexton.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
I don't like it muttered an old woman as she
hobbled into the meeting house.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
He has changed himself into something awful
only by hiding his face.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Our parson has gone mad cried Goodman Gray,
following him across thethreshold.
A rumor of some unaccountablephenomenon had preceded Mr
Hooper into the meeting-houseand set all the congregation
astir Few could refrain fromtwisting their heads toward the
door.
(04:41):
Many stood upright and turneddirectly about, while several
boys clambered upon their seatsand came down again with a
terrible racket.
There was a general bustle, arustling of the woman's gowns
and shuffling of the men's feet,greatly at variance with that
hushed repose which shouldattend the entrance of the
(05:04):
minister.
But Mr Hooper appeared not tonotice the perturbation of his
people.
He entered with an almostnoiseless step, bent his head
mildly to the pews on each sideand bowed as he passed his
oldest parishioner, awhite-haired grandsire who
(05:26):
occupied an armchair in thecenter of the aisle.
It was strange to observe howslowly this venerable man became
conscious of something singularin the appearance of his pastor
.
He seemed not to fully partakeof the prevailing wonder till Mr
Hooper had ascended the stairsand showed himself in the pulpit
(05:48):
, face to face with hiscongregation, except for the
black veil.
That mysterious emblem wasnever once withdrawn.
It shook with his measuredbreath as he gave out the psalm.
It threw its obscurity betweenhim and the holy page as he read
(06:11):
the scriptures, and while heprayed, the veil lay heavily
upon his uplifted countenance.
Did he seek to hide it from thedread being whom he was
addressing?
Such was the effect of thissimple piece of crepe that more
than one woman of delicatenerves was forced to leave the
(06:33):
meeting-house.
Yet perhaps the pale-facedcongregation was almost as
fearful a sight to the ministeras his black veil to them.
Mr Hooper had the reputation ofa good preacher, but not an
energetic one.
He strove to win his peopleheavenward by mild, pervasive
influences rather than to drivethem thither by the thunders of
(06:58):
the word.
The sermon which he nowdelivered was marked by the same
characteristics of style andmanner as the general series of
his pulpit oratory.
But there was something, eitherin the sentiment of the
discourse itself or in theimagination of the auditors,
(07:19):
which made it greatly the mostpowerful effort that they had
ever heard from their pastor'slips.
Greatly, the most powerfuleffort that they had ever heard
from their pastor's lips.
It was tinged, rather moredarkly than usual, with the
gentle gloom of Mr Hooper'stemperament.
The subject had reference tosecret sit and those sad
(07:47):
mysteries which we hide from ournearest and dearest, would fain
conceal from our ownconsciousness, even forgetting
that the omniscient can detectthem.
The subtle power was breathedinto his words.
Each member of the congregation,the most innocent girl, the man
(08:15):
of hardened breast, felt as ifthe preacher had crept upon them
behind his awful veil anddiscovered their hoarded
iniquity of deed or thought.
Many spread their clasped handson their bosoms.
There was nothing terrible inwhat Mr Hooper said, at least no
violence.
And yet, with every tremor ofhis melancholy voice, the
hearers quaked.
An unsought pathos came hand inhand with all.
(08:36):
So sensible were the audienceof some unwanted attribute in
their minister that they longedfor a breath of wind to blow
aside the veil, almost believingthat a stranger's visage would
be discovered through the form,gesture and voice.
(08:57):
Though the form, gesture andvoice were those of Mr Hooper,
were those of Mr Hooper?
At the close of the services,the people hurried out with
indecorous, indecorous confusion, eager to communicate their
(09:19):
pent-up amazement and consciousof lighter spirits the moment
they lost sight of the blackveil.
Some gathered in little circles, huddling closely together,
with their mouths all whisperingin the center.
Some went homeward alone,wrapped in silent meditation.
(09:41):
Some talked loudly and profanedthe Sabbath day with
ostentatious laughter.
A few shook their sagaciousheads, intimating that they
could penetrate the mystery,while one or two affirmed that
(10:04):
there was no mystery at all, butonly that Mr Hooper's eyes were
so weakened by the midnightlamp as to require a shade.
After a brief interval, forthcame good Mr Hooper, also in the
rear of his flock.
In the rear of his flock,turning his veiled face from one
(10:24):
group to another.
He paid due reverence to thehoary heads, saluted the
middle-aged with kind dignity astheir friend and spiritual
guide, greeted the young withmingled authority and love and
laid his hands on the littlechildren's heads to bless them.
Such was always his custom onthe Sabbath day.
(10:48):
Strange and bewildered looksrepaid him for his courtesy.
None, as on former occasions,aspired to the honor of walking
by their pastor's side.
Old Squire Saunders, doubtlessby an accidental lapse of memory
, neglected to invite Mr Hooperto his table, where the good
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clergyman had been wont to blessthe food almost every Sunday
since his settlement.
He returned, therefore, to theparsonage and at the moment of
closing the door, was observedto look back upon the people,
all of whom had fixed their eyesupon the minister.
A sad smile gleamed faintlyfrom beneath the black veil and
(11:36):
flickered about his mouthglimmering as he disappeared.
How strange, said a lady.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
That simple black veil, such as any woman might
wear on her bonnet, shouldbecome such a terrible thing on
Mr Hooper's face?
Speaker 3 (11:59):
Something must surely be amiss with Mr Hooper's
intellect observed her husband,the physician of the village.
But the strangest part of theaffair is that the effect of his
victory, even on a sober-mindedman like myself the black veil,
though it covers only ourpastor's face, throws its
(12:21):
influence over his whole "'andmakes him ghost-like from head
to foot.
"'do you not feel it so'"'Truly I do', replied the lady.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
"'and I would not be alone with him for the world.
"'i wonder he is not afraid tobe alone with himself' "'Men
sometimes also said her husband.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
The afternoon service was attended with similar
circumstances.
At its conclusion, the belltolled for the funeral of a
young lady.
The relatives and friends wereassembled in the house and the
more distant acquaintances stoodabout the door speaking of the
good qualities of the deceased.
(13:09):
When their talk was interruptedby the appearance of Mr Hooper,
still covered with his blackveil, it was now an appropriate
emblem.
The clergyman stepped into theroom where the corpse was laid
and bent over the coffin to takea last farewell of his deceased
parishioner.
(13:29):
As he stooped, the veil hungstraight down from his forehead
so that if her eyelids had notbeen closed forever, the dead
maiden might have seen his face.
Could Mr Hooper be fearful ofher glance that he so hastily
(13:53):
caught back the black veil?
A person who watched theinterview between the dead and
the living scrupled not toaffirm that at the instant when
the clergyman's features weredisclosed, the corpse had
slightly shuddered, rustling theshroud and muslin cap, though
the countenance remained thecomposure of death.
(14:13):
A superstitious old woman wasthe only witness of this prodigy
.
From the coffin, mr Hooperpassed into the chamber of the
mourners and thence to the headof the staircase to make a
funeral prayer.
It was a tender andheart-dissolving prayer, full of
(14:34):
sorrow yet imbued withcelestial hopes that the music
of a heavenly harp, swept by thefingers of the dead, seemed
faintly to be heard amongst thesaddest accents of the minister.
The people trembled, thoughthey but darkly understood him
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when he prayed that they andhimself and all of mortal race
might be ready, as he trustedthis young maiden had been, for
the dreadful hour that shouldsnatch the veil from their faces
.
The bearers went heavily forthand the mourners followed,
saddening all the streets, withthe dead before them and Mr
(15:16):
Hooper in his black veil behind.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Why do you look back?
Speaker 4 (15:24):
said one in the procession to his partner I had
a fancy replied she that theminister and the maiden spirit
were walking hand in hand and sohad I, at the same moment, said
the other.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
That night, the handsome couple in Milford
Village were to be joined inwedlock.
Though reckoned a melancholyman, mr Hooper had a placid
cheerfulness for such occasions,which often excited a
sympathetic smile where liveliermerriment would have been
thrown away.
There was no quality of hisdisposition which made him more
(16:06):
beloved than this.
The company at the weddingawaited his arrival with
impatience, trusting that thestrange awe which had gathered
over him throughout the daywould now be dispelled.
But such was not the result.
When Mr Hooper came, the firstthing that their eyes rested on
(16:26):
was the same horrible black veilwhich had added deeper gloom to
the funeral and could pretendnothing but evil to the wedding.
Such was its immediate effect onthe guests that a cloud seemed
to have rolled duskily frombeneath the black crepe and
(16:46):
dimmed the light of the candles.
The bridal pair stood beforethe minister, but the bride's
cold fingers quivered in thetremulous hand of the bridegroom
and her death-like palenesscaused a whisper that the maiden
who had been buried a few hoursbefore was come from her grave
to be married.
(17:06):
If ever another wedding were sodismal, it was that famous one
where they told the wedding nail.
After performing the ceremony,mr Hooper raised a glass of wine
to his lips, wishing happinessto the new married couple, in a
strain of mild pleasantry thatought to have brightened the
(17:29):
features of the guests like acheerful gleam from the hearth.
At that instant, catching aglimpse of his figure in the
looking-glass, the black veilinvolved his own spirit in the
horror with which it overwhelmedall the others.
His frame shuddered, his lipsgrew white, he spilled the
(17:53):
untasted wine upon the carpetand rushed forth into darkness.
The earth too had on her blackveil veil.
(18:14):
The next day, the whole villageof Milford talked of little else
than Parson Hooper's black veil.
That, and the mystery concealedbehind it, supplied a topic for
discussion betweenacquaintances meeting in the
street and good women gossipingat their open windows, it was
the first item of news that thetavern keeper told to his guests
(18:36):
.
The children babbled of it ontheir way to school.
Way to school, one imitativelittle imp covered his face with
an old black handkerchief,thereby so affrighting his
(18:57):
playmates that the panic seizedhimself and he well now lost his
wits.
It was remarkable that all thebusy bodies and impertinent
people in the parish, not oneventured to put the plain
(19:18):
question to Mr Hooper before hedid this thing.
Hitherto, whenever thereappeared the slightest call for
such interference, he had neverlacked advisors nor shown
himself adverse to being guidedby their judgment.
If he erred at all, it was byso painful a degree of
(19:39):
self-distrust that even themildest censure would lead him
to consider an indifferentaction as a crime.
Yet, though so well acquaintedwith this amiable weakness, no
individual among hisparishioners chose to make the
black veil a subject of friendlyremonstrance.
(20:03):
There was a feeling of dread,neither plainly confessed nor
carefully concealed, whichcaused each to shift the
responsibility upon another tillat length.
It was found expedient to senda deputation of the church in
order to deal with Mr Hooperabout the mystery before it
(20:24):
should grow into a scandal.
Never did an embassy so illdischarge its duties.
The minister received them withfriendly courtesy but remained
silent After they were seated,leaving to his visitors the
whole burden of introducingtheir important business.
The topic, it might be supposed,was obvious enough.
(20:46):
There was the black veilswathed around Mr Hooper's
forehead and concealing everyfeature above his placid mouth,
on which at times there couldperceive the glimmering of a
melancholy smile.
But that piece of crepe totheir imagination, seems to hang
down over his heart, a symbolof a fearful secret between him
(21:10):
and them.
Were the veil, but cast aside.
They might speak freely of it,but not until then.
Thus they sat a considerabletime speechless, confused and
shrinking uneasily from MrHooper's eye, which they felt to
(21:34):
be fixed upon them with aninvisible glance.
Finally, the deputies returnedabashed to their constituents,
pronouncing the matter tooweighty to be handled except by
a council of the churches, ifindeed it might not require a
general synod.
But there was one person in thevillage, unappalled by the awe
(21:57):
with which the black veil hadimpressed all besides herself.
When the deputies returned,without an explanation or even
venturing to demand one, she,with the calm energy of her
character, determined to chaseaway the strange cloud that
appeared to be saddling aroundMr Hooper every moment more
darkly than before.
(22:17):
As his plighted wife, it shouldbe her privilege to know what
the black veil concealed.
Wife, it should be herprivilege to know what the black
veil concealed.
At the minister's first visit,therefore, she entered upon the
subject with a direct sympathy,which made the task easier both
for him and her.
After he had seated himself,she fixed her eyes steadfastly
(22:40):
upon the veil, but could discernnothing of the dreadful gloom
that had so overawed themultitude.
It was but a double fold ofcrape hanging down from his
forehead to his mouth andslightly stirring with his
breath.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
No, she said aloud and smiling there is nothing
terrible in this piece of crape,except that it hides a face
which I am always glad to lookupon.
Come, good sir, let the sunshine from behind the cloud.
Firstly, aside your black veil.
Then tell me why you put it on.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Mr Hooper's smile glimmered faintly.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
There is an hour to come, said he, when all of us
shall cast aside our veils.
Take it not amiss, belovedfriend, if I wear this piece of
crepe till then.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Your words are a mystery too returned the young
lady.
Take away the veil from them,at least.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
Elizabeth, I will said he so far as my vow may
suffer me.
No, then, this veil is a typeand a shadow symbol, and I am
bound to wear it ever, both inlight and darkness, in solitude
and before the gaze ofmultitudes.
And as with strangers, so withmy familiar friends, no mortal
(24:10):
eye will see it withdrawn.
This dismal shade must separateme from the world.
Even you, elizabeth, can nevercome behind it.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
What grievous affliction has befallen you she
earnestly inquired that youshould trust.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Thus darken you should, thus darken your eyes
forever if it be a sign ofmourning replied mr hooper I,
perhaps, like most other mortals, have sorrows dark enough to be
typified by a black veil.
But what if the world?
Speaker 4 (24:49):
will not believe that it is the type of an innocent
sorrow urged Elizabeth.
Beloved and respected as youare, there may be whispers that
you hide your face under theconsciousness of secret sin.
For the sake of your holyoffice, do away with this
(25:10):
scandal.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
The color rose into her cheeks as she intimated the
nature of the rumors that werealready abroad in the village.
But Mr Hooper's mildness didnot forsake him.
He even smiled again, that samesad smile which always appeared
(25:34):
like a faint glimmering oflight proceeding from the
obscurity beneath the veil.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
If I hide my face for sorrow, there is cause enough,
he merely replied.
And if I cover it for secretsin, what mortal might not do
the same?
Speaker 1 (25:57):
And with his gentle but unconquerable obstinacy did
he resist her entreaties Atlength.
Elizabeth sat silent For a fewmoments.
She appeared lost in thought,considering probably what new
(26:19):
methods might be tried towithdraw her foyer from so dark
a fantasy.
Be tried to withdraw her foyerfrom so dark a fantasy which, if
it had no other meaning, wasperhaps a symbol of mental
disease, though a firmercharacter than his own.
The tears rolled down hercheeks, but in an instant, as it
(26:40):
were, a new feeling took theplace of sorrow.
Her eyes were fixed insensiblyon the black veil when, like a
sudden twilight in the air, itsterrors fell around her.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
She arose and stood trembling before him and do you
feel it then, at last?
Speaker 1 (27:02):
said he mournfully.
She made no reply, but coveredher eyes with her hand and
turned to leave the room.
He rushed forward and caughther arm.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
Have patience with me , elizabeth cried he
passionately.
Do not desert me, though.
This veil must be between ushere on earth, be mine, and
hereafter there shall be no veilover my face, no darkness
between our souls.
It is but a mortal veil.
It is not for eternity.
(27:34):
Oh, you know not how lonely Iam and how frightened to be
alone behind my black veil.
Do not leave me in thismiserable obscurity forever.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
Lift the veil at once and look me in the face said
she Never.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
It cannot be replied.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Mr Hooper.
Speaker 4 (27:59):
Then farewell said Elizabeth.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
She withdrew her arm from his grasp and slowly
departed, pausing at the door togive one long, shuddering gaze
that seemed almost to penetratethe mystery of the black veil.
But even amid his grief, mrHooper smiled to think that only
(28:25):
a material emblem had separatedhim from happiness, though the
horrors which it shadowed forthmust be drawn darkly between the
fondest of lovers.
From that time, no attemptswere made to remove Mr Hooper's
black veil, or by or by a directappeal to discover the secret
(28:46):
which it was supposed to hide.
By persons who claimed asuperiority to popular prejudice
, it was reckoned more.
An eccentric whim such as oftenmingles with the sober actions
of men otherwise rational andtinges them all with its own
(29:08):
semblance of insanity.
But with the multitude, mrHooper was irreparably a
bug-bearer.
He could not walk the streetwith any peace of mind, so
conscious was he that the gentleand timid would turn aside to
avoid him and the others wouldmake it a point of hardyhood to
(29:32):
throw themselves in his way.
Class compelled him to give uphis customary walk at sunset to
the burial ground, for when heleaned pensively over the gate
there would always be facesbehind the gravestones peeping
(29:55):
at his black veil.
A fable went the rounds thatthe stare of the dead people
drove him thence.
It grieved him to the verydepths of his kind heart to
observe how the children fledfrom his approach, breaking up
their merriest sports, while hismelancholy figure was yet afar
(30:21):
off.
Figure was yet afar off.
Their instinctive dread causedhim to feel, more strongly than
ought else, that a preternaturalhorror was interwoven with the
threads of the black crape.
In truth, his own antipathy tothe veil was known to be ah, so
(30:42):
great that he never to be, ah sogreat that he never willingly
passed before a mirror norstooped to drink at a steel
fountain, lest in its peacefulbosom he should be affrighted by
himself.
This was what gave plausibilityto the whispers that Mr
Hooper's conscience tortured himfor some great crime, too
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horrible to be entirelyconcealed or otherwise than so
obscurely intimated.
Thus, from beneath the blackveil, there rolled a cloud into
the sunshine, an ambiguity ofsin or sorrow which enveloped
(31:26):
the poor minister, so that loveor sympathy could never reach
him.
It was said that ghost or fiendconsorted with him there, with
self-shudderings and outwardterrors.
He walked continually in itsshadow, groping darkly within
his own soul or gazing through amedium that saddened the whole
(31:47):
world.
Even the lawless wind, it wasbelieved, respected his dreadful
secret and never blew aside theveil.
But still good.
Mr Hooper sadly smiled at thepale visages of the worldly
throng as he passed by.
(32:07):
Among all its bad influences,the black veil had the one
desirable effect of making itswearer a very efficient
clergyman.
By the aid of his mysteriousemblem for there was no other
apparent cause he became a manof awful power over souls that
were in agony of sin.
(32:28):
His converts always regardedhim with a dread peculiar to
themselves, affirming though,but figuratively, that before he
brought them to celestial light, they had been with him behind
the black veil.
Its gloom, indeed, enabled himto sympathize with all dark
(32:49):
affections.
Dying sinners cried aloud forMr Hooper and would not yield
their breath till he appeared,though ever as he stooped to
whisper consolation, theyshuddered at the veiled face so
near their own, such were theterrors of the black veil.
Even when death had bared hisvisage, strangers came long
(33:14):
distances to attend service athis church with the mere idle
purpose of gazing at his figure,because it was forbidden them
to behold his face, but manywere made to quake ere they
departed.
Once, during Governor Belcher'sadministration, mr Hooper was
(33:35):
appointed to preach the electionsermon.
Covered with his black veil, hestood before the chief
magistrate, the council and therepresentatives, and wrought so
deep an impression that thelegislative measures of that
year were characterized by allthe gloom and piety of our
(33:58):
earliest ancestral swayancestral sway.
In this manner, mr Hooper spenta long life, irreproachable in
outward act, yet shrouded indismal suspicions.
Kind and loving, though unlovedand dimly feared.
A man apart from men, shunnedin their health and joy but
(34:21):
never summoned to their aid.
Shunned in their health and joybut never summoned to their aid
, but ever summoned to their aidin mortal anguish.
As years wore on, shedding theirsnows above his sable veil, he
acquired a name throughout theNew England churches, and they
called him Father Hooper.
(34:41):
Nearly all his parishioners,who were of mature age when he
was settled, had been borne awayby many a funeral.
He had one congregation in thechurch and a more crowded one in
the churchyard, and havingwrought so late into the evening
and done his work so well, itwas now good Father Hooper's
(35:04):
turn to rest.
Several persons were visible bythe shaded candlelight in the
death chamber of the oldclergyman.
Natural connections, he hadnone, but there was the
decorously grave, though unmoved, physician, seeking only to
(35:27):
mitigate the last pangs of thepatient whom he could not save.
There were the deacons andother eminently pious members of
his church.
There also was the Reverend MrClark of Westbury, a young and
zealous divine who had ridden inhaste to pray by the bedside of
(35:48):
the expiring minister.
There was the nurse, no hiredhandmaiden of death, but one
whose calm affection had enduredthus long in secrecy and
solitude, amid the chill of age,and would not perish even at
the dying hour.
Who but Elizabeth?
(36:09):
And there lay the hoary head ofgood Father Hooper, upon the
death pillow, with the blackveil still swathed about his
brow and reaching down over hisface, so that each more
difficult gasp of his faintbreath caused it to stir All
through life.
That piece of crepe had hungbetween him and the world.
(36:31):
It had separated him fromcheerful brotherhood and woman's
love.
Arid kept him in that saddestof all prisons.
His own heart, and still it layupon his face, as if to deepen
the gloom of his darksomechamber and shade him from the
(36:52):
sunshine of eternity.
For some time previous, his mindhad been confused, wavering
doubtfully between the past andthe present and hovering forward
, as it were, at intervals, intothe indistinctness of the world
to come, there had beenfeverish turns which tossed him
(37:13):
from side to side and wore awaywhat little strength he had.
But in his most convulsivestruggles and in the wildest
vagaries of his intellect, whenno other thought retained its
sober influence, he still showedan awful solicitude lest the
(37:34):
black veil should slip aside,even if his bewildered soul
could have forgotten there was afaithful woman at his pillow
who, with averted eyes, wouldhave covered that aged face
which she had last beheld in thecomeliness of manhood At length
(37:55):
.
The death-stricken old man layquietly in the torpor of mental
and bodily exhaustion, with animperceptible pulse and breath
that grew fainter and fainter,except when a long, deep and
irregular inspiration seemed toprelude the flight of his spirit
.
The minister of Westburyapproached the bedside
(38:19):
"'Venerable Father Hooper', saidhe.
Speaker 3 (38:22):
"'the moment of your release is at hand.
"'are you ready for the liftingof the veil that shuts in time
from eternity'?
Speaker 1 (38:31):
"'Father Hooper at first replied merely by feeble
motion of his head.
"'then, apprehensive perhaps,that his meaning might be
doubtful, "'he exerted himselfto speak.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
"'yay', said he in faint accents "'my soul hath a
patient weariness until thatveil be lifted' "'And it is
fitting', resumed the ReverendMr Clark, "'that a man so given
to prayer "'of such a blamefulexample, holy indeed, and
thought "'so far as mortaljudgment may pronounce, Is it
(39:07):
fitting that a father in thechurch should leave a shadow on
his memory that may seem toblacken a life so pure?
I pray you, my venerablebrother, let not this thing be
Suffer us to be gladdened byyour triumphant aspect as you go
to your reward.
Before the veil of eternity belifted, let me cast aside the
(39:28):
black veil from your face andthus speaking, the reverend mr
clark bent forward to reveal themystery of so many years.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
But exerting a sudden energy that made all the
beholders stand aghast, fatherHooper snatched both his hands
from beneath the bedclothes andpressed them strongly on the
black veil, resolute to struggleif the minister of Westbury
would contend with a dying man.
Never cried the veiledclergyman On earth.
Never cried the veiledclergyman.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
On earth never.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
Dark old men, exclaimed the affrighted
minister with what horriblecrime upon your soul.
Are you now passing to thejudgment?
Father Hooper's breath heaved,it rattled in his throat, but
with a mighty effort, graspingforward with his hands, he
(40:27):
caught hold of life and held itback till he could speak.
He even raised himself in bedand there he sat, shivering with
the arms of death around himwhile the black veil hung down.
Awful at that last moment inthe gathering, terrors of a
lifetime.
And yet the faint, sad smile sooften there now seemed to
(40:49):
glimmer from its obscurity andlinger on Father Hooper's lips.
Speaker 3 (40:56):
Why do you tremble at me alone?
Speaker 1 (40:59):
cried he, turning his veiled face around the circle
of pale spectators.
Speaker 3 (41:04):
Tremble also at each other's have.
Men avoided me and women shownno pity, and children screamed
and fled, only for my black veil.
What, but the mystery which itobscurely typifies, has made
this piece of crepe so awful?
When the friend shows hisinmost heart to his friend, the
(41:45):
lover to his best beloved, whenman does not vainly shrink from
the eye of his creator and deemme a monster for the symbol
beneath which I have lived anddied.
I look around me and lo, on thevery visage, a black veil.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
While his auditors shrank from one another in
mutual affright, father Hooperfell back upon his pillow a
veiled corpse, with a faintsmile lingering on the lips,
still veiled.
They laid him in his pillow.
A veiled corpse, with a faintsmile lingering on the lips,
still veiled.
They laid him in his coffin.
And a veiled corpse.
They bore him to the grave.
(42:13):
The grass of many years hassprung up and withered on that
grave.
The burial stone is moss-grown.
The burial stone is moss-grownand good.
Mr Hooper's face is dust, butawful still is the thought that
(42:41):
it moldered beneath the blackveil.
Thank you for listening to theminister's black veil by
Nathaniel Hawthorne.
If you will, please give thispodcast a five star rating and a
(43:03):
good review and please share itwith someone else.
Thank you.
Hello, Are you tired?
You will be.
This is Ron Reads Boring Books.
Today we're reading Black Veilby Nathaniel Hawthorne.
(00:27):
The sexton stood in the porch ofMilford Meeting House pulling
busily at the bell rope.
The old people of the villagecame stooping along the street.
Stooping along the street,children with bright faces
(00:49):
tripped merrily beside theirparents or mimicking a graver
gait in the conscious dignity oftheir Sunday clothes.
Spruce bachelors lookedsidelong at the pretty maidens
and fancied that the Sabbathsunshine made them prettier than
on weekdays, when the thong hadmostly streamed into the porch.
(01:13):
The sexton began to toll thebell, keeping his eye on the
Reverend Mr Hooper's door.
The first glimpse of theclergyman's figure was the
signal for the bell to cease itssummons.
But what has good possum Hoopergot upon his face, cried the
(01:37):
sexton in astonishment.
All within hearing immediatelyturned about and beheld the
semblance of Mr Hooper pacingslowly his meditative way toward
the meeting house.
With one accord they startedexpressing more wonder than if
some strange minister werecoming to dust the cushions of
(02:01):
Mr Hooper's pulpit, the cushionsof Mr Hooper's pulpit.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Are you sure it is our parson?
Speaker 1 (02:09):
inquired Goodman Gray of the Sexton.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Of certainty it is good.
Mr Hooper replied the Sexton hewas to have some exchanged
pulpits with Parson Shute ofWestbury but Parson Shute sent
to excuse himself, yesterdaybeing to preach a funeral sermon
.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
The cause of so much amazement may appear
sufficiently slight.
Mr Hooper, gentlemanly personof about thirty, though still a
bachelor, was dressed with dueclerical neatness, as if a
careful wife had starched hisband and brushed the weekly dust
(02:54):
from his Sunday's garb.
There was but one thingremarkable in his appearance
swathed about his forehead,swathed about his forehead and
hanging down over his face solow as to be shaken by his
breath, mr Hooper had on a blackveil.
On a nearer view it seemed toconsist of two folds of crepe
(03:18):
which entirely concealed hisfeatures, except the mouth and
chin, but probably did notintercept his sight further than
to give a darkened aspect toall living and inanimate things.
With this gloomy shade beforehim, good Mr Hooper walked
(03:40):
onward at a slow and quiet pace,stooping somewhat and looking
on the ground, as is customarywith abstracted men, yet nodding
kindly to those of hisparishioners who still waited on
the meeting-house steps.
But so wonderstruck were theythat his greeting hardly met
with a return.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
I can't really feel as if good Mr Hooper's face was
behind that piece of crepe, saidthe sexton.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
I don't like it muttered an old woman as she
hobbled into the meeting house.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
He has changed himself into something awful
only by hiding his face.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Our parson has gone mad cried Goodman Gray,
following him across thethreshold.
A rumor of some unaccountablephenomenon had preceded Mr
Hooper into the meeting-houseand set all the congregation
astir Few could refrain fromtwisting their heads toward the
door.
(04:41):
Many stood upright and turneddirectly about, while several
boys clambered upon their seatsand came down again with a
terrible racket.
There was a general bustle, arustling of the woman's gowns
and shuffling of the men's feet,greatly at variance with that
hushed repose which shouldattend the entrance of the
(05:04):
minister.
But Mr Hooper appeared not tonotice the perturbation of his
people.
He entered with an almostnoiseless step, bent his head
mildly to the pews on each sideand bowed as he passed his
oldest parishioner, awhite-haired grandsire who
(05:26):
occupied an armchair in thecenter of the aisle.
It was strange to observe howslowly this venerable man became
conscious of something singularin the appearance of his pastor
.
He seemed not to fully partakeof the prevailing wonder till Mr
Hooper had ascended the stairsand showed himself in the pulpit
(05:48):
, face to face with hiscongregation, except for the
black veil.
That mysterious emblem wasnever once withdrawn.
It shook with his measuredbreath as he gave out the psalm.
It threw its obscurity betweenhim and the holy page as he read
(06:11):
the scriptures, and while heprayed, the veil lay heavily
upon his uplifted countenance.
Did he seek to hide it from thedread being whom he was
addressing?
Such was the effect of thissimple piece of crepe that more
than one woman of delicatenerves was forced to leave the
(06:33):
meeting-house.
Yet perhaps the pale-facedcongregation was almost as
fearful a sight to the ministeras his black veil to them.
Mr Hooper had the reputation ofa good preacher, but not an
energetic one.
He strove to win his peopleheavenward by mild, pervasive
influences rather than to drivethem thither by the thunders of
(06:58):
the word.
The sermon which he nowdelivered was marked by the same
characteristics of style andmanner as the general series of
his pulpit oratory.
But there was something, eitherin the sentiment of the
discourse itself or in theimagination of the auditors,
(07:19):
which made it greatly the mostpowerful effort that they had
ever heard from their pastor'slips.
Greatly, the most powerfuleffort that they had ever heard
from their pastor's lips.
It was tinged, rather moredarkly than usual, with the
gentle gloom of Mr Hooper'stemperament.
The subject had reference tosecret sit and those sad
(07:47):
mysteries which we hide from ournearest and dearest, would fain
conceal from our ownconsciousness, even forgetting
that the omniscient can detectthem.
The subtle power was breathedinto his words.
Each member of the congregation,the most innocent girl, the man
(08:15):
of hardened breast, felt as ifthe preacher had crept upon them
behind his awful veil anddiscovered their hoarded
iniquity of deed or thought.
Many spread their clasped handson their bosoms.
There was nothing terrible inwhat Mr Hooper said, at least no
violence.
And yet, with every tremor ofhis melancholy voice, the
hearers quaked.
An unsought pathos came hand inhand with all.
(08:36):
So sensible were the audienceof some unwanted attribute in
their minister that they longedfor a breath of wind to blow
aside the veil, almost believingthat a stranger's visage would
be discovered through the form,gesture and voice.
(08:57):
Though the form, gesture andvoice were those of Mr Hooper,
were those of Mr Hooper?
At the close of the services,the people hurried out with
indecorous, indecorous confusion, eager to communicate their
(09:19):
pent-up amazement and consciousof lighter spirits the moment
they lost sight of the blackveil.
Some gathered in little circles, huddling closely together,
with their mouths all whisperingin the center.
Some went homeward alone,wrapped in silent meditation.
(09:41):
Some talked loudly and profanedthe Sabbath day with
ostentatious laughter.
A few shook their sagaciousheads, intimating that they
could penetrate the mystery,while one or two affirmed that
(10:04):
there was no mystery at all, butonly that Mr Hooper's eyes were
so weakened by the midnightlamp as to require a shade.
After a brief interval, forthcame good Mr Hooper, also in the
rear of his flock.
In the rear of his flock,turning his veiled face from one
(10:24):
group to another.
He paid due reverence to thehoary heads, saluted the
middle-aged with kind dignity astheir friend and spiritual
guide, greeted the young withmingled authority and love and
laid his hands on the littlechildren's heads to bless them.
Such was always his custom onthe Sabbath day.
(10:48):
Strange and bewildered looksrepaid him for his courtesy.
None, as on former occasions,aspired to the honor of walking
by their pastor's side.
Old Squire Saunders, doubtlessby an accidental lapse of memory
, neglected to invite Mr Hooperto his table, where the good
(11:12):
clergyman had been wont to blessthe food almost every Sunday
since his settlement.
He returned, therefore, to theparsonage and at the moment of
closing the door, was observedto look back upon the people,
all of whom had fixed their eyesupon the minister.
A sad smile gleamed faintlyfrom beneath the black veil and
(11:36):
flickered about his mouthglimmering as he disappeared.
How strange, said a lady.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
That simple black veil, such as any woman might
wear on her bonnet, shouldbecome such a terrible thing on
Mr Hooper's face?
Speaker 3 (11:59):
Something must surely be amiss with Mr Hooper's
intellect observed her husband,the physician of the village.
But the strangest part of theaffair is that the effect of his
victory, even on a sober-mindedman like myself the black veil,
though it covers only ourpastor's face, throws its
(12:21):
influence over his whole "'andmakes him ghost-like from head
to foot.
"'do you not feel it so'"'Truly I do', replied the lady.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
"'and I would not be alone with him for the world.
"'i wonder he is not afraid tobe alone with himself' "'Men
sometimes also said her husband.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
The afternoon service was attended with similar
circumstances.
At its conclusion, the belltolled for the funeral of a
young lady.
The relatives and friends wereassembled in the house and the
more distant acquaintances stoodabout the door speaking of the
good qualities of the deceased.
(13:09):
When their talk was interruptedby the appearance of Mr Hooper,
still covered with his blackveil, it was now an appropriate
emblem.
The clergyman stepped into theroom where the corpse was laid
and bent over the coffin to takea last farewell of his deceased
parishioner.
(13:29):
As he stooped, the veil hungstraight down from his forehead
so that if her eyelids had notbeen closed forever, the dead
maiden might have seen his face.
Could Mr Hooper be fearful ofher glance that he so hastily
(13:53):
caught back the black veil?
A person who watched theinterview between the dead and
the living scrupled not toaffirm that at the instant when
the clergyman's features weredisclosed, the corpse had
slightly shuddered, rustling theshroud and muslin cap, though
the countenance remained thecomposure of death.
(14:13):
A superstitious old woman wasthe only witness of this prodigy
.
From the coffin, mr Hooperpassed into the chamber of the
mourners and thence to the headof the staircase to make a
funeral prayer.
It was a tender andheart-dissolving prayer, full of
(14:34):
sorrow yet imbued withcelestial hopes that the music
of a heavenly harp, swept by thefingers of the dead, seemed
faintly to be heard amongst thesaddest accents of the minister.
The people trembled, thoughthey but darkly understood him
(14:54):
when he prayed that they andhimself and all of mortal race
might be ready, as he trustedthis young maiden had been, for
the dreadful hour that shouldsnatch the veil from their faces
.
The bearers went heavily forthand the mourners followed,
saddening all the streets, withthe dead before them and Mr
(15:16):
Hooper in his black veil behind.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Why do you look back?
Speaker 4 (15:24):
said one in the procession to his partner I had
a fancy replied she that theminister and the maiden spirit
were walking hand in hand and sohad I, at the same moment, said
the other.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
That night, the handsome couple in Milford
Village were to be joined inwedlock.
Though reckoned a melancholyman, mr Hooper had a placid
cheerfulness for such occasions,which often excited a
sympathetic smile where liveliermerriment would have been
thrown away.
There was no quality of hisdisposition which made him more
(16:06):
beloved than this.
The company at the weddingawaited his arrival with
impatience, trusting that thestrange awe which had gathered
over him throughout the daywould now be dispelled.
But such was not the result.
When Mr Hooper came, the firstthing that their eyes rested on
(16:26):
was the same horrible black veilwhich had added deeper gloom to
the funeral and could pretendnothing but evil to the wedding.
Such was its immediate effect onthe guests that a cloud seemed
to have rolled duskily frombeneath the black crepe and
(16:46):
dimmed the light of the candles.
The bridal pair stood beforethe minister, but the bride's
cold fingers quivered in thetremulous hand of the bridegroom
and her death-like palenesscaused a whisper that the maiden
who had been buried a few hoursbefore was come from her grave
to be married.
(17:06):
If ever another wedding were sodismal, it was that famous one
where they told the wedding nail.
After performing the ceremony,mr Hooper raised a glass of wine
to his lips, wishing happinessto the new married couple, in a
strain of mild pleasantry thatought to have brightened the
(17:29):
features of the guests like acheerful gleam from the hearth.
At that instant, catching aglimpse of his figure in the
looking-glass, the black veilinvolved his own spirit in the
horror with which it overwhelmedall the others.
His frame shuddered, his lipsgrew white, he spilled the
(17:53):
untasted wine upon the carpetand rushed forth into darkness.
The earth too had on her blackveil veil.
(18:14):
The next day, the whole villageof Milford talked of little else
than Parson Hooper's black veil.
That, and the mystery concealedbehind it, supplied a topic for
discussion betweenacquaintances meeting in the
street and good women gossipingat their open windows, it was
the first item of news that thetavern keeper told to his guests
(18:36):
.
The children babbled of it ontheir way to school.
Way to school, one imitativelittle imp covered his face with
an old black handkerchief,thereby so affrighting his
(18:57):
playmates that the panic seizedhimself and he well now lost his
wits.
It was remarkable that all thebusy bodies and impertinent
people in the parish, not oneventured to put the plain
(19:18):
question to Mr Hooper before hedid this thing.
Hitherto, whenever thereappeared the slightest call for
such interference, he had neverlacked advisors nor shown
himself adverse to being guidedby their judgment.
If he erred at all, it was byso painful a degree of
(19:39):
self-distrust that even themildest censure would lead him
to consider an indifferentaction as a crime.
Yet, though so well acquaintedwith this amiable weakness, no
individual among hisparishioners chose to make the
black veil a subject of friendlyremonstrance.
(20:03):
There was a feeling of dread,neither plainly confessed nor
carefully concealed, whichcaused each to shift the
responsibility upon another tillat length.
It was found expedient to senda deputation of the church in
order to deal with Mr Hooperabout the mystery before it
(20:24):
should grow into a scandal.
Never did an embassy so illdischarge its duties.
The minister received them withfriendly courtesy but remained
silent After they were seated,leaving to his visitors the
whole burden of introducingtheir important business.
The topic, it might be supposed,was obvious enough.
(20:46):
There was the black veilswathed around Mr Hooper's
forehead and concealing everyfeature above his placid mouth,
on which at times there couldperceive the glimmering of a
melancholy smile.
But that piece of crepe totheir imagination, seems to hang
down over his heart, a symbolof a fearful secret between him
(21:10):
and them.
Were the veil, but cast aside.
They might speak freely of it,but not until then.
Thus they sat a considerabletime speechless, confused and
shrinking uneasily from MrHooper's eye, which they felt to
(21:34):
be fixed upon them with aninvisible glance.
Finally, the deputies returnedabashed to their constituents,
pronouncing the matter tooweighty to be handled except by
a council of the churches, ifindeed it might not require a
general synod.
But there was one person in thevillage, unappalled by the awe
(21:57):
with which the black veil hadimpressed all besides herself.
When the deputies returned,without an explanation or even
venturing to demand one, she,with the calm energy of her
character, determined to chaseaway the strange cloud that
appeared to be saddling aroundMr Hooper every moment more
darkly than before.
(22:17):
As his plighted wife, it shouldbe her privilege to know what
the black veil concealed.
Wife, it should be herprivilege to know what the black
veil concealed.
At the minister's first visit,therefore, she entered upon the
subject with a direct sympathy,which made the task easier both
for him and her.
After he had seated himself,she fixed her eyes steadfastly
(22:40):
upon the veil, but could discernnothing of the dreadful gloom
that had so overawed themultitude.
It was but a double fold ofcrape hanging down from his
forehead to his mouth andslightly stirring with his
breath.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
No, she said aloud and smiling there is nothing
terrible in this piece of crape,except that it hides a face
which I am always glad to lookupon.
Come, good sir, let the sunshine from behind the cloud.
Firstly, aside your black veil.
Then tell me why you put it on.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Mr Hooper's smile glimmered faintly.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
There is an hour to come, said he, when all of us
shall cast aside our veils.
Take it not amiss, belovedfriend, if I wear this piece of
crepe till then.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Your words are a mystery too returned the young
lady.
Take away the veil from them,at least.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
Elizabeth, I will said he so far as my vow may
suffer me.
No, then, this veil is a typeand a shadow symbol, and I am
bound to wear it ever, both inlight and darkness, in solitude
and before the gaze ofmultitudes.
And as with strangers, so withmy familiar friends, no mortal
(24:10):
eye will see it withdrawn.
This dismal shade must separateme from the world.
Even you, elizabeth, can nevercome behind it.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
What grievous affliction has befallen you she
earnestly inquired that youshould trust.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Thus darken you should, thus darken your eyes
forever if it be a sign ofmourning replied mr hooper I,
perhaps, like most other mortals, have sorrows dark enough to be
typified by a black veil.
But what if the world?
Speaker 4 (24:49):
will not believe that it is the type of an innocent
sorrow urged Elizabeth.
Beloved and respected as youare, there may be whispers that
you hide your face under theconsciousness of secret sin.
For the sake of your holyoffice, do away with this
(25:10):
scandal.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
The color rose into her cheeks as she intimated the
nature of the rumors that werealready abroad in the village.
But Mr Hooper's mildness didnot forsake him.
He even smiled again, that samesad smile which always appeared
(25:34):
like a faint glimmering oflight proceeding from the
obscurity beneath the veil.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
If I hide my face for sorrow, there is cause enough,
he merely replied.
And if I cover it for secretsin, what mortal might not do
the same?
Speaker 1 (25:57):
And with his gentle but unconquerable obstinacy did
he resist her entreaties Atlength.
Elizabeth sat silent For a fewmoments.
She appeared lost in thought,considering probably what new
(26:19):
methods might be tried towithdraw her foyer from so dark
a fantasy.
Be tried to withdraw her foyerfrom so dark a fantasy which, if
it had no other meaning, wasperhaps a symbol of mental
disease, though a firmercharacter than his own.
The tears rolled down hercheeks, but in an instant, as it
(26:40):
were, a new feeling took theplace of sorrow.
Her eyes were fixed insensiblyon the black veil when, like a
sudden twilight in the air, itsterrors fell around her.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
She arose and stood trembling before him and do you
feel it then, at last?
Speaker 1 (27:02):
said he mournfully.
She made no reply, but coveredher eyes with her hand and
turned to leave the room.
He rushed forward and caughther arm.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
Have patience with me , elizabeth cried he
passionately.
Do not desert me, though.
This veil must be between ushere on earth, be mine, and
hereafter there shall be no veilover my face, no darkness
between our souls.
It is but a mortal veil.
It is not for eternity.
(27:34):
Oh, you know not how lonely Iam and how frightened to be
alone behind my black veil.
Do not leave me in thismiserable obscurity forever.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
Lift the veil at once and look me in the face said
she Never.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
It cannot be replied.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Mr Hooper.
Speaker 4 (27:59):
Then farewell said Elizabeth.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
She withdrew her arm from his grasp and slowly
departed, pausing at the door togive one long, shuddering gaze
that seemed almost to penetratethe mystery of the black veil.
But even amid his grief, mrHooper smiled to think that only
(28:25):
a material emblem had separatedhim from happiness, though the
horrors which it shadowed forthmust be drawn darkly between the
fondest of lovers.
From that time, no attemptswere made to remove Mr Hooper's
black veil, or by or by a directappeal to discover the secret
(28:46):
which it was supposed to hide.
By persons who claimed asuperiority to popular prejudice
, it was reckoned more.
An eccentric whim such as oftenmingles with the sober actions
of men otherwise rational andtinges them all with its own
(29:08):
semblance of insanity.
But with the multitude, mrHooper was irreparably a
bug-bearer.
He could not walk the streetwith any peace of mind, so
conscious was he that the gentleand timid would turn aside to
avoid him and the others wouldmake it a point of hardyhood to
(29:32):
throw themselves in his way.
Class compelled him to give uphis customary walk at sunset to
the burial ground, for when heleaned pensively over the gate
there would always be facesbehind the gravestones peeping
(29:55):
at his black veil.
A fable went the rounds thatthe stare of the dead people
drove him thence.
It grieved him to the verydepths of his kind heart to
observe how the children fledfrom his approach, breaking up
their merriest sports, while hismelancholy figure was yet afar
(30:21):
off.
Figure was yet afar off.
Their instinctive dread causedhim to feel, more strongly than
ought else, that a preternaturalhorror was interwoven with the
threads of the black crape.
In truth, his own antipathy tothe veil was known to be ah, so
(30:42):
great that he never to be, ah sogreat that he never willingly
passed before a mirror norstooped to drink at a steel
fountain, lest in its peacefulbosom he should be affrighted by
himself.
This was what gave plausibilityto the whispers that Mr
Hooper's conscience tortured himfor some great crime, too
(31:05):
horrible to be entirelyconcealed or otherwise than so
obscurely intimated.
Thus, from beneath the blackveil, there rolled a cloud into
the sunshine, an ambiguity ofsin or sorrow which enveloped
(31:26):
the poor minister, so that loveor sympathy could never reach
him.
It was said that ghost or fiendconsorted with him there, with
self-shudderings and outwardterrors.
He walked continually in itsshadow, groping darkly within
his own soul or gazing through amedium that saddened the whole
(31:47):
world.
Even the lawless wind, it wasbelieved, respected his dreadful
secret and never blew aside theveil.
But still good.
Mr Hooper sadly smiled at thepale visages of the worldly
throng as he passed by.
(32:07):
Among all its bad influences,the black veil had the one
desirable effect of making itswearer a very efficient
clergyman.
By the aid of his mysteriousemblem for there was no other
apparent cause he became a manof awful power over souls that
were in agony of sin.
(32:28):
His converts always regardedhim with a dread peculiar to
themselves, affirming though,but figuratively, that before he
brought them to celestial light, they had been with him behind
the black veil.
Its gloom, indeed, enabled himto sympathize with all dark
(32:49):
affections.
Dying sinners cried aloud forMr Hooper and would not yield
their breath till he appeared,though ever as he stooped to
whisper consolation, theyshuddered at the veiled face so
near their own, such were theterrors of the black veil.
Even when death had bared hisvisage, strangers came long
(33:14):
distances to attend service athis church with the mere idle
purpose of gazing at his figure,because it was forbidden them
to behold his face, but manywere made to quake ere they
departed.
Once, during Governor Belcher'sadministration, mr Hooper was
(33:35):
appointed to preach the electionsermon.
Covered with his black veil, hestood before the chief
magistrate, the council and therepresentatives, and wrought so
deep an impression that thelegislative measures of that
year were characterized by allthe gloom and piety of our
(33:58):
earliest ancestral swayancestral sway.
In this manner, mr Hooper spenta long life, irreproachable in
outward act, yet shrouded indismal suspicions.
Kind and loving, though unlovedand dimly feared.
A man apart from men, shunnedin their health and joy but
(34:21):
never summoned to their aid.
Shunned in their health and joybut never summoned to their aid
, but ever summoned to their aidin mortal anguish.
As years wore on, shedding theirsnows above his sable veil, he
acquired a name throughout theNew England churches, and they
called him Father Hooper.
(34:41):
Nearly all his parishioners,who were of mature age when he
was settled, had been borne awayby many a funeral.
He had one congregation in thechurch and a more crowded one in
the churchyard, and havingwrought so late into the evening
and done his work so well, itwas now good Father Hooper's
(35:04):
turn to rest.
Several persons were visible bythe shaded candlelight in the
death chamber of the oldclergyman.
Natural connections, he hadnone, but there was the
decorously grave, though unmoved, physician, seeking only to
(35:27):
mitigate the last pangs of thepatient whom he could not save.
There were the deacons andother eminently pious members of
his church.
There also was the Reverend MrClark of Westbury, a young and
zealous divine who had ridden inhaste to pray by the bedside of
(35:48):
the expiring minister.
There was the nurse, no hiredhandmaiden of death, but one
whose calm affection had enduredthus long in secrecy and
solitude, amid the chill of age,and would not perish even at
the dying hour.
Who but Elizabeth?
(36:09):
And there lay the hoary head ofgood Father Hooper, upon the
death pillow, with the blackveil still swathed about his
brow and reaching down over hisface, so that each more
difficult gasp of his faintbreath caused it to stir All
through life.
That piece of crepe had hungbetween him and the world.
(36:31):
It had separated him fromcheerful brotherhood and woman's
love.
Arid kept him in that saddestof all prisons.
His own heart, and still it layupon his face, as if to deepen
the gloom of his darksomechamber and shade him from the
(36:52):
sunshine of eternity.
For some time previous, his mindhad been confused, wavering
doubtfully between the past andthe present and hovering forward
, as it were, at intervals, intothe indistinctness of the world
to come, there had beenfeverish turns which tossed him
(37:13):
from side to side and wore awaywhat little strength he had.
But in his most convulsivestruggles and in the wildest
vagaries of his intellect, whenno other thought retained its
sober influence, he still showedan awful solicitude lest the
(37:34):
black veil should slip aside,even if his bewildered soul
could have forgotten there was afaithful woman at his pillow
who, with averted eyes, wouldhave covered that aged face
which she had last beheld in thecomeliness of manhood At length
(37:55):
.
The death-stricken old man layquietly in the torpor of mental
and bodily exhaustion, with animperceptible pulse and breath
that grew fainter and fainter,except when a long, deep and
irregular inspiration seemed toprelude the flight of his spirit
.
The minister of Westburyapproached the bedside
(38:19):
"'Venerable Father Hooper', saidhe.
Speaker 3 (38:22):
"'the moment of your release is at hand.
"'are you ready for the liftingof the veil that shuts in time
from eternity'?
Speaker 1 (38:31):
"'Father Hooper at first replied merely by feeble
motion of his head.
"'then, apprehensive perhaps,that his meaning might be
doubtful, "'he exerted himselfto speak.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
"'yay', said he in faint accents "'my soul hath a
patient weariness until thatveil be lifted' "'And it is
fitting', resumed the ReverendMr Clark, "'that a man so given
to prayer "'of such a blamefulexample, holy indeed, and
thought "'so far as mortaljudgment may pronounce, Is it
(39:07):
fitting that a father in thechurch should leave a shadow on
his memory that may seem toblacken a life so pure?
I pray you, my venerablebrother, let not this thing be
Suffer us to be gladdened byyour triumphant aspect as you go
to your reward.
Before the veil of eternity belifted, let me cast aside the
(39:28):
black veil from your face andthus speaking, the reverend mr
clark bent forward to reveal themystery of so many years.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
But exerting a sudden energy that made all the
beholders stand aghast, fatherHooper snatched both his hands
from beneath the bedclothes andpressed them strongly on the
black veil, resolute to struggleif the minister of Westbury
would contend with a dying man.
Never cried the veiledclergyman On earth.
Never cried the veiledclergyman.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
On earth never.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
Dark old men, exclaimed the affrighted
minister with what horriblecrime upon your soul.
Are you now passing to thejudgment?
Father Hooper's breath heaved,it rattled in his throat, but
with a mighty effort, graspingforward with his hands, he
(40:27):
caught hold of life and held itback till he could speak.
He even raised himself in bedand there he sat, shivering with
the arms of death around himwhile the black veil hung down.
Awful at that last moment inthe gathering, terrors of a
lifetime.
And yet the faint, sad smile sooften there now seemed to
(40:49):
glimmer from its obscurity andlinger on Father Hooper's lips.
Speaker 3 (40:56):
Why do you tremble at me alone?
Speaker 1 (40:59):
cried he, turning his veiled face around the circle
of pale spectators.
Speaker 3 (41:04):
Tremble also at each other's have.
Men avoided me and women shownno pity, and children screamed
and fled, only for my black veil.
What, but the mystery which itobscurely typifies, has made
this piece of crepe so awful?
When the friend shows hisinmost heart to his friend, the
(41:45):
lover to his best beloved, whenman does not vainly shrink from
the eye of his creator and deemme a monster for the symbol
beneath which I have lived anddied.
I look around me and lo, on thevery visage, a black veil.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
While his auditors shrank from one another in
mutual affright, father Hooperfell back upon his pillow a
veiled corpse, with a faintsmile lingering on the lips,
still veiled.
They laid him in his pillow.
A veiled corpse, with a faintsmile lingering on the lips,
still veiled.
They laid him in his coffin.
And a veiled corpse.
They bore him to the grave.
(42:13):
The grass of many years hassprung up and withered on that
grave.
The burial stone is moss-grown.
The burial stone is moss-grownand good.
Mr Hooper's face is dust, butawful still is the thought that
(42:41):
it moldered beneath the blackveil.
Thank you for listening to theminister's black veil by
Nathaniel Hawthorne.
If you will, please give thispodcast a five star rating and a
(43:03):
good review and please share itwith someone else.
Thank you.
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