| A
throng
{of
bearded men},
{in
sad-coloured garments
and grey steeple-crowned hats},
inter-mixed
{with
women},
some wearing hoods, and others bareheaded, was
assembled
{in front} {of a wooden edifice},
the
door
{of
which}
was
heavily timbered
{with
oak},
and
studded
{with
iron spikes}.
The
founders
(of "have recognized") {of a new
colony},
whatever Utopia (DO of "might
project") {of human virtue
and happiness} they
might
originally
project,
have
invariably
recognised it
(DO){among their earliest practical
necessities} to
allot a
portion {of the
virgin soil} {as a cemetery},
and
another
portion {as the site} {of
a prison}. {In
accordance} {with this rule}
it may
safely
be
assumed that the
forefathers
{of
Boston}
had built the
first prison-house (DO) somewhere
{in
the
Vicinity} {of Cornhill},
almost
as seasonably as they
marked
out
the first burial-ground
(DO), {on Isaac Johnson's lot},
and
{round about his grave},
which
subsequently
became
the
nucleus (PN) {of
all the congregated sepulchres} {in the old
churchyard} {of King's Chapel}.
Certain
(PA) it is
that, some
fifteen or
twenty years {after the
settlement} {of the town}, the
wooden jail
was
already
marked
{with
weather-stains and
other
indications} {of age},
which
gave
a
yet
darker
aspect
(DO) {to
its beetle-browed and gloomy front}.
The
rust
{on
the ponderous
iron-work} {of its oaken door} looked
more
antique
(PA)
{than
anything else} {in the New World}.
{Like
all} that
pertains
{to crime},
it
seemed
never
to have known
a
youthful era (DO).
{Before this ugly edifice},
and
{between it and the wheel-track}
{of the street},
was
a
grass-plot,
much
overgrown {with
burdock, pig-weed, apple-pern, and such unsightly
vegetation}, which
evidently found
something
(DO) congenial {in the soil}that
had so
early borne the
black flower (DO) {of
civilised society},
a prison. But {on
one side} {of the portal}, and
rooted almost
{at the threshold},
was
a
wild rose-hush,
covered,
{in this
month} {of June},
{with
its delicate gems}, which
might
be
imagined[CNE]
to offer
their fragrance
and fragile beauty {to
the
prisoner} as
he went in,
and
{to
the condemned criminal}
as he
came
forth
{to
his doom}, {in
token} that
the
deep
heart {of
Nature} could
pity and be
kind
(PA) {to him}.
|