Twice Told Tales - Nathaniel Hawthorne

seat lay a bundle neatly done up in brown paper, the direction of which I had the
idle curiosity to read: "MISS SUSAN HUGGINS, at the PROVINCE HOUSE."
A pretty chambermaid, no doubt. In truth, it is desperately hard work when we
attempt to throw the spell of hoar antiquity over localities with which the living
world and the day that is passing over us have aught to do. Yet, as I glanced at
the stately staircase down which the procession of the old governors had
descended, and as I emerged through the venerable portal whence their figures
had preceded me, it gladdened me to be conscious of a thrill of awe. Then,
diving through the narrow archway, a few strides transported me into the densest
throng of Washington street.