The Scarlet Letter

Before Hester could gather her thoughts and consider what she ought to do with this new and startling information, the sound of military music approached along a nearby street. It signaled the procession of magistrates and citizens on its way toward the meetinghouse. According to a custom established early and observed ever since, the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale would there deliver an Election Sermon.

The front of the procession soon arrived with a slow and stately march. It turned a corner and made its way across the marketplace. The band came first. It contained a variety of instruments, poorly selected and badly played. Yet they achieved their objective, giving a higher and more heroic impression to the scene. Little Pearl clapped her hands at first but then for a moment lost the energy that had kept her in continual motion all morning. She gazed silently, seemingly carried on the waves of sound and as a seabird is carried on the wind. She was brought back to earth by the gleam of the sunshine on the weapons and bright armor of the military company. The soldiers followed the band as an honorary escort for the procession. The company, which still exists today, contained no mercenaries. Its ranks were filled with gentlemen who wished to be soldiers and sought to establish a sort of College of Arms where they might learn the theory and, as far as peaceful exercises could teach, practice of war. The pride each member of the company carried himself with testified to the great value placed on military character at that time. Some of them had served in European wars and could rightly claim the title and stature of a soldier. The entire company, dressed in polished steel with feathers topping their shining helmets, had a brilliant effect that no modern display can hope to equal.