CHAPTER ONE

The Prison Door

A crowd of bearded men and tired-looking women in poor clothing stood in front of the door to the prison. The original residents of the town had built a prison and a cemetery before constructing most other buildings in the town. The frightening-looking prison was quite near the cemetery; inside the prison, the main view through the window was of the cemetery. Like all that relates to crime, it seemed that the prison never looked youthful or new, but rather looked always ugly and terrifying.

In front of the prison was a piece of grass, on which a great amount of weeds had grown. Just near the door to the prison, however, grew a wild rosebush, covered in tender blossoms. One could imagine this to be a last offering of beauty to the prisoner as he went into the feared place, showing nature's pity and kindness.

This rosebush had stayed alive, but no one in the town knew how the small gift from nature survived. Many believed that the bush had come up before the original residents of the town had arrived, and the tiny plant had not been cut down as the great trees surrounding it had been. Others insisted that the bush had sprung up after the noble religious leader, Ann Hutchinson, had entered the prison after speaking against Puritanism. She was taken to the town prison, but was later removed from the town.

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