The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Chapter 13 Page 5

to breathe the common air and earn daily bread for little Pearl and herself by the faithful labour of her hands — she was quick to acknowledge her sisterhood with the race of man whenever benefits were to be conferred. None so ready as she to give of her little substance to every demand of poverty, even though the bitter-hearted pauper threw back a gibe in requital of the food brought regularly to his door, or the garments wrought for him by the fingers that could have embroidered a monarch’s robe. None so self-devoted as Hester when pestilence stalked through the town. In all seasons of calamity, indeed, whether general or of individuals, the outcast of society at once found her place.

She came, not as a guest, but as a rightful inmate, into the household that was darkened by trouble, as if its gloomy