The Scarlet Letter - Chapter 1 - The Prison-Door

In which the somber threshold of a weather-worn prison—an early monument to the stern necessities of civilised society—is disclosed amid the humble and sorrowful weeds of a nascent colony, where a lone wild rose-bush blooms with fragile beauty upon the very verge of its forbidding door. This emblem of Nature’s quiet compassion stands as a delicate token amid the harshness of human judgement, softly presaging the mingled grief and grace woven through the tale about to unfold.