A showman sets up a pictorial exhibition, a sort of puppet panorama, and cranks it to display the main street of a New England town across two centuries, from the forest path of its first settlers through Puritan sabbaths, Thursday Lectures and the witchcraft delusion. A sceptical spectator in the audience keeps interrupting with complaints about the scenery.
A short, ironic piece from The Snow Image in which Hawthorne turns his Salem inheritance into a moving picture show. Download the free EPUB.