The Scarlet Letter

what does Nathanial Hawthame find one idle and rainy day in the salem custom house?

the scarlet letter question

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Hawthorne discovers a small package wrapped in ancient yellow parchment and tied with red tape. Inside was a commission signed by Governor Shirley.

"Unbending the rigid folds of the parchment cover, I found it to be a commission, under the hand and seal of Governor Shirley, in favour of one Jonathan Pine, as Surveyor of His Majesty’s Customs for the Port of Salem, in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. I remembered to have read (probably in Felt’s ‘Annals’) a notice of the decease of Mr. Surveyor Pue, about fourscore years ago; and likewise, in a newspaper of recent times, an account of the digging up of his remains in the little graveyard of St. Peter’s Church, during the renewal of that edifice." (Page 45)

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The Scarlet Letter