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The Toll-Gatherer's Day: A Sketch of Transitory Life

Nathaniel Hawthorne

First published 1842
Type Short Fiction
Length Short Story

A sketch of daily life. "From the vantage of a traveler resting himself on the bench outside the [toll]booth, we see all manner of humanity pass by: a farmer with his oxen, a married couple and their little girl, a pair of young lovers, and even a sour-faced pickle salesman." (Bill Kerwin) At night, the toll-gatherer contemplates the stars and thinks of the ephemeral nature of passing figures.

First published (as by "the author of Twice-Told Tales") in the Democratic Review, October 1837.

Date Publication Publisher Type Page
1842 Twice-Told Tales James Munroe Collection |16
1907 Cover Twice-Told Tales Houghton Mifflin Collection 234
1965 Cover Twice-Told Tales Airmont Books Collection 123
1982 Cover Tales and Sketches The Library of America Omnibus 508
2001 Cover Twice-Told Tales Modern Library Collection 156
October 2004 Twice-Told Tales Project Gutenberg Collection 197
2007 Tales and Sketches The Library of America Omnibus |508
August 2010 Cover Twice-Told Tales Gray Rabbit Publications Collection 130
December 2011 Cover The Collected Supernatural and Weird Fiction of Nathaniel Hawthorne: Volume 4 Leonaur Ltd Collection
December 2011 Cover The Collected Supernatural and Weird Fiction of Nathaniel Hawthorne: Volume 4 Leonaur Ltd Collection