Project Gutenberg 2005-11-01 Public domain in the USA. 78 Hawthorne, Nathaniel 1804 1864 The White Old Maid (From "Twice Told Tales") Reading ease score: 75.1 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. Produced by David Widger and Al Haines. "The White Old Maid (From 'Twice Told Tales')" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a short story written during the early 19th century. The piece intricately explores themes of love, loss, and the passage of time, portraying the tragic fate of two young women who are intertwined by their feelings for the same man, ultimately culminating in one becoming known as the "Old Maid in the Winding-Sheet". This story delves into the complexities of human emotions, particularly grief and longing, against a backdrop of Gothic elements. In the narrative, the story begins with a haunting scene where two maidens mourn over the corpse of a young man, leading to a pact that binds them to meet again in the presence of death. As years pass, one maiden, Edith, is consumed by her sorrow, becoming the "Old Maid" who follows funerals and embodies the spirit of mourning in the town. As the story progresses, the townspeople are left mystified by her spectral presence, reflecting on their own beliefs about life and death. The climax reveals a gathering at the long-deserted mansion where both the "Old Maid" and a stately lady, representing the other maiden, meet in a tragic conclusion, exploring the themes of unfulfilled love and the shadows of the past that haunt the living. (This is an automatically generated summary.) en Short stories New England -- Social life and customs -- Fiction Historical fiction, American PS Text Children's Literature Browsing: Culture/Civilization/Society Browsing: Literature Browsing: Fiction 51887 51888 2024-10-04T10:07:13.106286 2023-10-04T09:12:40.242476 text/html text/html 48637 2021-01-28T09:04:39 text/html; charset=utf-8 18094 2021-01-28T09:04:39 text/html; charset=utf-8 application/zip 104377 2024-10-04T10:07:18.837261 application/epub+zip 103227 2024-10-04T10:07:16.530281 application/epub+zip 83403 2024-10-04T10:07:15.302266 application/epub+zip 226099 2024-10-04T10:07:20.436271 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 219502 2024-10-04T10:07:18.049274 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 190831 2022-09-05T03:31:45.007581 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 43006 42984 2024-10-04T10:07:12.854308 2023-10-04T09:12:40.073504 text/plain; charset=us-ascii text/plain 43257 2021-01-02T00:10:56 text/plain; charset=utf-8 16853 2021-01-02T00:10:56 text/plain; charset=utf-8 application/zip 42981 2021-01-02T00:10:56 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 16793 2021-01-02T00:10:56 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 22148 2024-10-04T10:07:20.564252 application/rdf+xml 15987 2024-10-04T10:07:15.838260 image/jpeg 3633 2024-10-04T10:07:15.569264 image/jpeg 103482 2024-10-04T10:07:13.112295 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia