An excerpt that reveals the traditional New England suspicion of art and a tendency to associate it with the devil's work

. . . On the whole, there was something so airy and yet so real in the figure, and withal so perfectly did it represent Drowne's image, that people knew not whether to suppose the magic wood etherealized into a spirit, or warmed and softened into an actual woman.

"One thing is certain," muttered a Puritan of the old stamp. "Drowne has sold himself to the devil; and doubtless this gay Captain Hunnewell is a party to the bargain."

Full text of "Drowne’s Wooden Image" from Mosses From an Old Manse