7.  O, not in cruelty, not in wrath,
     The Reaper came that day,
   ’T was an angel visited the green earth,
     And took the flowers away.

Definitions.—­3.  Sheaves, bundles of grain. 4.  To’ken (pro. to’kn), a souvenir, that which is to recall some person, thing, or event. 6.  Trans-plant’ed, removed and planted in another place.

XXIX.  THE TOWN PUMP.

Nathaniel Hawthorne (b.1804, d.1864) was born in Salem, Mass.  He graduated at Bowdoin College in 1825.  His earliest literary productions, written for periodicals, were published in two volumes—­the first in 1837, the second in 1842—­under the title of “Twice-Told Tales,” “Mosses from an Old Manse,” another series of tales and sketches, was published in 1845.  From 1846 to 1850 he was surveyor of the port of Salem.  In 1852 he was appointed United States consul for Liverpool.  After holding this office four years, he traveled for some time on the continent.  His most popular works are “The Scarlet Letter,” a work showing a deep knowledge of human nature, “The House of the Seven Gables,” “The Blithedale Romance.” and “The Marble Faun,” an Italian romance, which is regarded by many as the best of his works.  Being of a modest and retiring disposition, Mr. Hawthorne avoided publicity.  Most of his works are highly imaginative.  As a prose writer he has no superior among American authors.  He died at Plymouth, N. H., while on a visit to the White Mountains for his health.

[Scene.—­The corner of two principal streets.  The Town Pump talking through its nose.]

1.  Noon, by the north clock!  Noon, by the east!  High noon, too, by those hot sunbeams which fall, scarcely aslope, upon my head, and almost make the water bubble and smoke in the trough under my nose.  Truly, we public characters have a tough time of it!  And among all the town officers, chosen at the yearly meeting, where is he that sustains, for a single year, the burden of such manifold duties as are imposed, in perpetuity, upon the Town Pump?

2.  The title of town treasurer is rightfully mine, as guardian of the best treasure the town has.  The overseers of the poor ought to make me their chairman, since I provide bountifully for the pauper, without expense to him that pays taxes.  I am at the head of the fire department, and one of the physicians of the board of health.  As a keeper or the peace, all water drinkers confess me equal to the constable.  I perform some of the duties of the town clerk, by promulgating public notices, when they are pasted on my front.

3.  To speak within bounds, I am chief person of the municipality, and exhibit, moreover, an admirable pattern to my brother officers by the cool, steady, upright, downright, and impartial discharge of my business, and the constancy with which I stand to my post.  Summer or winter, nobody seeks me in vain; for all day long I am seen at the busiest corner, just above the market, stretching out my arms to rich and poor alike; and at night I hold a lantern over my head, to show where I am, and to keep people out of the gutters.