,,twice ,,told ,,tales                  
,,fancy',s ,,show-,,box                 
,a ,,morality                        ,by
 ,nathaniel ,hawthorne    ,what is      
,guilt8  ,a stain upon the soul4  ,and  
it is a point of vast interest1 whether 
the soul may contract such stains1 in   
all their depth and flagrancy1 from     
deeds which may have been plotted and   
resolved upon1 but which1 physically1   
have never had existence4  ,must the    
fleshly hand and visible frame of man   
set its seal to the evil designs of the 
soul1 in order to give them their entire
 validity against the sinner8  ,or1     
while none but crimes perpetrated are   
cognizable before an earthly tribunal1  
will guilty thoughts1--of which guilty  
deeds are no more than shadows1--will   
these draw down the full weight of a    
condemning sentence1 in the supreme     
court of eternity8  ,in the solitude of 
a midnight chamber1 or in a desert1 afar
 from men1 or in a church1 while the    
body is kneeling1 the soul may pollute  

itself even with those crimes1 which we 
are accustomed to deem altogether       
carnal4  ,if this be true1 it is a      
fearful truth4  ,let us illustrate the  
subject by an imaginary example4  ,a    
venerable gentleman1 one ,mr4 ,smith1   
who had long been regarded as a pattern 
of moral excellence1 was warming his    
aged blood with a glass or two of       
generous wine4  ,his children being gone
 forth about their worldly business1 and
 his grandchildren at school1 he sat    
alone1 in a deep1 luxurious arm-chair1  
with his feet beneath a richly carved   
mahogany table4  ,some old people have a
 dread of solitude1 and when better     
company may not be had1 rejoice even to 
hear the quiet breathing of a babe1     
asleep upon the carpet4  ,but ,mr4      
,smith1 whose silver hair was the bright
 symbol of a life unstained1 except by  
such spots as are inseparable from human
 nature1 he had no need of a babe to    
protect him by its purity1 nor of a     
grown person to stand between him and   

his own soul4  ,nevertheless1 either    
,manhood must converse with ,age1 or    
,womanhood must soothe him with gentle  
cares1 or ,infancy must sport around his
 chair1 or his thoughts will stray into 
the misty region of the past1 and the   
old man be chill and sad4  ,wine will   
not always cheer him4  ,such might have 
been the case with ,mr4 ,smith1 when1   
through the brilliant medium of his     
glass of old ,madeira1 he beheld three  
figures entering the room4  ,these were 
,fancy1 who had assumed the garb and    
aspect of an itinerant showman1 with a  
box of pictures on her back2 and        
,memory1 in the likeness of a clerk1    
with a pen behind her ear1 an inkhorn at
 her buttonhole1 and a huge manuscript  
volume beneath her arm2 and lastly1     
behind the other two1 a person shrouded 
in a dusky mantle1 which concealed both 
face and form4  ,but ,mr4 ,smith had a  
shrewd idea that it was ,conscience4    
,how kind of ,fancy1 ,memory1 and       
,conscience to visit the old gentleman1 

just as he was beginning to imagine that
 the wine had neither so bright a       
sparkle nor so excellent a flavor as    
when himself and the liquor were less   
aged6  ,through the dim length of the   
apartment1 where crimson curtains       
muffled the glare of sunshine1 and      
created a rich obscurity1 the three     
guests drew near the silver-haired old  
mail4  ,memory1 with a finger between   
the leaves of her huge volume1 placed   
herself at his right hand4 ,conscience1 
with her face still hidden in the dusky 
mantle1 took her station on the left1 so
 as to be next his heart2 while ,fancy  
set down her picture-box upon the table1
 with the magnifying-glass convenient to
 his eye4  ,we can sketch merely the    
outlines of two or three out of the many
 pictures which1 at the pulling of a    
string1 successively peopled the box    
with the semblances of living scenes4   
,one was a moonlight picture2 in the    
background1 a lowly dwelling2 and in    
front1 partly shadowed by a tree1 yet   

besprinkled with flakes of radiance1 two
 youthful figures1 male and female4     
,the young man stood with folded arms1 a
 haughty smile upon his lip1 and a gleam
 of triumph in his eye1 as he glanced   
downward at the kneeling girl4  ,she was
 almost prostrate at his feet1 evidently
 sinking under a weight of shame and    
anguish1 which hardly allowed her to    
lift her clasped hands in supplication4 
,her eyes she could not lift4  ,but     
neither her agony1 nor the lovely       
features on which it was depicted1 nor  
the slender grace of the form which it  
convulsed1 appeared to soften the       
obduracy of the young man4  ,he was the 
personification of triumphant scorn4    
,now1 strange to say1 as old ,mr4 ,smith
 peeped through the magnifying-glass1   
which made the objects start out from   
the canvas with magical deception1 he   
began to recognize the farm-house1 the  
tree1 and both the figures of the       
picture4 ,the young man1 in times long  
past1 had often met his gaze within the 

looking-glass2 the girl was the very    
image of his first love1--his cottage   
love1--his ,martha ,burroughs6  ,mr4    
,smith was scandalized4  ,o1 vile and   
slanderous picture6 he exclaims4  ,when 
have ,i triumphed over ruined innocence8
  ,was not ,martha wedded1 in her teens1
 to ,david ,tomkius1 who won her girlish
 love1 and long enjoyed her affection as
 a wife8  ,and ever since his death1 she
 has lived a reputable widow6           
,meantime1 ,memory was turning over the 
leaves of her volume1 rustling them to  
and fro with uncertain fingers1 until1  
among the earlier pages1 she found one  
which had reference to this picture4    
,she reads it1 close to the old         
gentleman's ear2 it is a record merely  
of sinful thought1 which never was      
embodied in an act2 but1 while ,memory  
is reading1 ,conscience unveils her     
face1 and strikes a dagger to the heart 
of ,mr4 ,smith4  ,though not a          
death-blow1 the torture was extreme4    
,the exhibition proceeded4  ,one after  

another1 ,fancy displayed her pictures1 
all of which appeared to have been      
painted by some malicious artist1 on    
purpose to vex ,mr4 ,smith4  ,not a     
shadow of proof could have been adduced1
 in any earthly court1 that he was      
guilty of the slightest of those sins   
which were thus made to stare him in the
 face4  ,in one scene1 there was a table
 set out1 with several bottles1 and     
glasses half filled with wine1 which    
threw back the dull ray of an expiring  
lamp4 ,there had been mirth and revelry1
 until the hand of the clock stood just 
at midnight1 when murder stepped between
 the boon companions4  ,a young man had 
fallen on the floor1 and lay stone dead1
 with a ghastly wound crushed into his  
temple1 while over him1 with a delirium 
of mingled rage and horror in his       
countenance1 stood the youthful likeness
 of ,mr4 ,smith4 ,the murdered youth    
wore the features of ,edward ,spencer6  
,what does this rascal of a painter     
mean8 cries ,mr4 ,smith1 provoked beyond

 all patience4 ,edward ,spencer was my  
earliest and dearest friend1 true to me 
as ,i to him1 through more than half a  
century4  ,neither ,i1 nor any other1   
ever murdered him4  ,was he not alive   
within five years1 and did he not1 in   
token of our long friendship1 bequeath  
me his gold-headed cane and a mourning  
ring8  ,again had ,memory been turning  
over her volume1 and fixed at length    
upon so confused a page1 that she surely
 must have scribbled it when she was    
tipsy4  ,the purport was1 however1 that1
 while ,mr4 ,smith and ,edward ,spencer 
were heating their young blood with     
wine1 a quarrel had flashed up between  
them1 and ,mr4 ,smith1 in deadly wrath1 
had flung a bottle at ,spencer's head4  
,true1 it missed its aim1 and merely    
smashed a looking-glass2 and the next   
morning1 when the incident was          
imperfectly remembered1 they had shaken 
hands with a hearty laugh4  ,yet1 again1
 while ,memory was reading1 ,conscience 
unveiled her face1 struck a dagger to   

the heart of ,mr4 ,smith1 and quelled   
his remonstrance with her iron frown4   
,the pain was quite excruciating4  ,some
 of the pictures had been painted with  
so doubtful a touch1 and in colors so   
faint and pale1 that the subjects could 
barely be conjectured4 ,a dull1         
semitransparent mist had been thrown    
over the surface of the canvas1 into    
which the figures seemed to vanish1     
while the eye sought most earnestly to  
fix them4  ,but1 in every scene1 however
 dubiously portrayed1 ,mr4 ,smith was   
invariably haunted by his own           
lineaments1 at various ages1 as in a    
dusty mirror4  ,after poring several    
minutes over one of these blurred and   
almost indistinguishable pictures1 he   
began to see that the painter had       
intended to represent him1 now in the   
decline of life1 as stripping the       
clothes from the backs of three         
half-starved children4  ,really1 this   
puzzles me6 quoth ,mr4 ,smith1 with the 
irony of conscious rectitude4  ,asking  

pardon of the painter1 ,i pronounce him 
a fool1 as well as a scandalous knave4  
,a man of my standing in the world1 to  
be robbing little children of their     
clothes6  ,ridiculous6  ,but while he   
spoke1 ,memory had searched her fatal   
volume1 and found a page1 which1 with   
her sad1 calm voice1 she poured into his
 ear4  ,it was not altogether           
inapplicable to the misty scene4  ,it   
told how ,mr4 ,smith had been grievously
 tempted1 by many devilish sophistries1 
on the ground of a legal quibble1 to    
commence a lawsuit against three orphan 
children1 joint heirs to a considerable 
estate4  ,fortunately1 before he was    
quite decided1 his claims had turned out
 nearly as devoid of law as justice4 ,as
 ,memory ceased to read1 ,conscience    
again thrust aside her mantle1 and would
 have struck her victim with the        
envenomed dagger1 only that he          
struggled1 and clasped his hands before 
his heart4  ,even then1 however1 he     
sustained an ugly gash4  ,why should we 

follow ,fancy through the whole series  
of those awful pictures8  ,painted by an
 artist of wondrous power1 and terrible 
acquaintance with the secret soul1 they 
embodied the ghosts of all the never    
perpetrated sins that had glided through
 the lifetime of ,mr4 ,smith4 ,and could
 such beings of cloudy fantasy1 so near 
akin to nothingness1 give valid evidence
 against him1 at the day of judgment8   
,be that the case or not1 there is      
reason to believe that one truly        
penitential tear would have washed away 
each hateful picture1 and left the      
canvas white as snow4  ,but ,mr4 ,smith1
 at a prick of ,conscience too keen to  
be endured1 bellowed aloud1 with        
impatient agony1 and suddenly discovered
 that his three guests were gone4       
,there he sat alone1 a silver-haired and
 highly venerated old man1 in the rich  
gloom of the crimson-curtained room1    
with no box of pictures on the table1   
but only a decanter of most excellent   
,madeira4  ,yet his heart still seemed  

to fester with the venom of the dagger4 
,nevertheless1 the unfortunate old      
gentleman might have argued the matter  
with ,conscience1 and alleged many      
reasons wherefore she should not smite  
him so pitilessly4  ,were we to take up 
his cause1 it should be somewhat in the 
following fashion3 ,a scheme of guilt1  
till it be put in execution1 greatly    
resembles a train of incidents in a     
projected tale4  ,the latter1 in order  
to produce a sense of reality in the    
reader's mind1 must be conceived with   
such proportionate strength by the      
author as to seem1 in the glow of fancy1
 more like truth1 past1 present1 or to  
come1 than purely fiction4  ,the        
prospective sinner1 on the other hand1  
weaves his plot of crime1 but seldom or 
never feels a perfect certainty that it 
will be executed4  ,there is a          
dreaminess diffused about his thoughts2 
in a dream1 as it were1 he strikes the  
death-blow into his victim's heart1 and 
starts to find an indelible blood-stain 

on his hand4  ,thus a novel-writer1 or a
 dramatist1 in creating a villain of    
romance1 and fitting him with evil      
deeds1 and the villain of actual life1  
in projecting crimes that will be       
perpetrated1 may almost meet each other1
 half-way between reality and fancy4    
,it is not until the crime is           
accomplished1 that guilt clinches its   
gripe upon the guilty heart1 and claims 
it for its own4 ,then1 and not before1  
sin is actually felt and acknowledged1  
and1 if unaccompanied by repentance1    
grows a thousand-fold more virulent by  
its self-consciousness4  ,be it         
considered1 also1 that men often        
overestimate their capacity for evil4   
,at a distance1 while its attendant     
circumstances do not press upon their   
notice1 and its results are dimly seen1 
they can bear to contemplate it4  ,they 
may take the steps which lead to crime1 
impelled by the same sort of mental     
action as in working out a mathematical 
problem1 yet be powerless with          

compunction1 at the final moment4  ,they
 knew not what deed it was that they    
deemed themselves resolved to do4  ,in  
truth1 there is no such thing in man's  
nature as a settled and full resolve1   
either for good or evil1 except at the  
very moment of execution4  ,let us hope1
 therefore1 that all the dreadful       
consequences of sin will not be         
incurred1 unless the act have set its   
seal upon the thought4  ,yet1 with the  
slight fancy-work which we have framed1 
some sad and awful truths are           
interwoven4  ,man must not disclaim his 
brotherhood1 even with the guiltiest1   
since1 though his hand be clean1 his    
heart has surely been polluted by the   
flitting phantoms of iniquity4  ,he must
 feel1 that1 when he shall knock at the 
gate of heaven1 no semblance of an      
unspotted life can entitle him to       
entrance there4  ,penitence must kneel1 
and ,mercy come from the footstool of   
the throne1 or that golden gate will    
never open6