FREETime's Portraiture (From: "The Doliver Romance and Other Pieces: Tales and Sketches")
by Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864
"Time's Portraiture" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a prose piece that serves as the Carrier's Address to the patrons of "The Salem Gazette" for January 1, 1838. Written during the early to mid-19th century, this work reflects a blend of social commentary and poetic musings, centering on the theme of time and its impact on human life. The piece uses witty and humorous language to critique societal perceptions of time as well as its personification. In this address, the narrator—portraying a newspaper carrier—reflects on the character of Father Time, illustrating a more vibrant and socially engaged figure than traditional depictions suggest. Hawthorne's time is clad in fashionable attire, mingling with the people of Salem, and engaging in daily life while overshadowing their experiences with the relentless passage of time. The Carrier examines misconceptions about Time, highlighting his forgetfulness, shrewdness, and dual nature of comfort and misery that he brings to humanity. The piece culminates in a plea to the patrons for generosity to the carrier, simultaneously capturing the essence of human experience and the inevitability of time's march. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
Automated conservative edition review 2026-10-20T13:09:16.520Z (historical-original-en-v2), Philippines scope. English historical author Hawthorne, Nathaniel, died 1864; original-language author allowlist, matching sole EPUB/catalog creator, no credited contributors, no extra artwork, no flagged editorial/translation/copyright cues in isolated text. US public-domain source label and retained Gutenberg license; EPUB CRC passed. This is rule-based screening, not a worldwide rights opinion or a claim of manual review. Source: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9252; Philippine term reference https://www.ipophil.gov.ph/copyright/. EPUB SHA256 e54566d03d801fadafe5499e3a8207d73bf408b0ee9770bdedebfa0c55cd5a5c; RDF SHA256 d1d9fbcbcb0db8abc4e59cb0e46b955b9d77d350cd51f8a987af77ae53b1ee6d.
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