The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Snow Image by Nathaniel Hawthorne: the immense brands with a long pole. Within the furnace were seen
the curling and riotous flames, and the burning marble, almost
molten with the intensity of heat; while without, the reflection
of the fire quivered on the dark intricacy of the surrounding
forest, and showed in the foreground a bright and ruddy little
picture of the hut, the spring beside its door, the athletic and
coal-begrimed figure of the lime-burner, and the half-frightened
child, shrinking into the protection of his father's shadow. And
when, again, the iron door was closed, then reappeared the tender
light of the half-full moon, which vainly strove to trace out the
indistinct shapes of the neighboring mountains; and, in the upper
The Snow Image |