While the voice of the Uncle who narrates this story is probably not the voice of Hawthorne himself, it is not unlikely that the author shared some of the Uncle's perceptions. The elderly man's sense of a divine presence even in something as simple as a pool of water seems consistent with Hawthorne's faith in Providence.
But I loved to lead them by their little hands along the beach, and
point to nature in the vast and the minute, the sky, the sea, the green earth,
the pebbles and the shells. Then did I discourse of the mighty works and coextensive
goodness of the Deity, with the simple wisdom of a man whose mind had profited
by lonely days upon the deep, and his heart by the strong and pure affections
of his evening home. Sometimes my voice lost itself in a tremulous depth; for
I felt His eye upon me as I spoke. Once, while my wife and all of us were gazing
at ourselves, in the mirror left by the tide in a hollow of the sand, I pointed
to the pictured Heaven below, and bade her observe how religion was strewn every
where in our path; since even a casual pool of water recalled the idea of that
home whither we were travelling, to rest for ever with our children.
