Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman

“ Olive. They saw a black man by my side in the meeting-house— Ann saw him. She cried out that the cape I gave her put her to dreadful torment. Can I have been a witch unknowingly, and so done this great evil to my father and mother? Tell me, Paul.
Paul. Call up thy wits, Olive! I tell thee thou art no witch. There was no black man at thy side in the meeting-house. Black man! I would one would verily lay hands on that lying hussy. Thou art no witch. ”

“ Most worshipful magistrates, see ye the black cat? See ye any yellow bird? Why are ye not afflicted as well as these maids, when I turn my eyes upon ye? I pray you to consider that. I am no saint; I wot well that I have but poorly done the will of the Lord who made me, but I am a gospel woman and keep to the faith according to my poor measure. Can I be a gospel woman and a witch too? I have never that I know of done aught of harm whether to man or beast. ”

“ Hathorne. Did you teach the child to stick in these pins wherewith to torment folk?
Martha. It availeth me naught to say no, your worship.
Mercy (screams) . Oh, a sharp pain shoot through me when I look at the image! 'Tis through my arms! Oh!
Hathorne (examining the doll) . There is a pin in the arms.
Ann. I feel sharp pains, like pins, in my face; oh, 'tis dreadful!
Hathorne (examining the doll) . There are pins in the face.
Phœbe (sobbing) . No, no! Those are the pins I stuck in for Aunt Corey. Don't let them hang me, Aunt Corey.
Parris. That is sufficient. She has confessed. ”

“ Olive. Nay, I will not. This is no courting night. I cannot idle every night in the week.
Paul. Thou wouldst make a new commandment. A maid shall spin flax every night in the week save the Sabbath, when she shall lay aside her work and be courted. There be young men here in Salem Village, though you may credit it not, Olive, who visit their maids twice every week, and have the fire in the fore room kindled.
Olive. My mother thinks it not well that I should sit up oftener than once a week, nor do I; but be not vexed by it, Paul.
Paul. I love thee better for it, sweetheart. ”

“ Phœbe. Nancy, did they send Aunt Corey and Uncle Corey to jail because I stuck the pins in my doll?
Nancy. I know not. I tell ye my old head spins round like a flax-wheel; when I put my finger on one spoke 'tis another one. These things be too much for a poor old woman like me. It takes folks like their worships the magistrates and Minister Parris to deal with black men and witches, and keep their wits in no need of physic. ”

“ Phœbe. Oh, Uncle Corey, what's the matter?
Giles. The matter is there be too many evil things abroad nowadays for a man to be out after nightfall. When things that can be hit by musket balls lay in wait, old Giles Corey is as brave as any man; but when it comes to devilish black beasts and black men that musket balls bound back from— What! you here, Ann Hutchins? What be you out after dark for?
Ann. I came over to see Olive, Goodman Corey.
Giles. You'd best stayed by your own hearth if you've got one. Young women have no call to be out gadding after dark in these times. ”

“ Parris. Your worship, you should strive in prayer, lest you falter not in the strife against Satan.
Corwin. I know not that I have faltered in any strife against Satan.
Parris. Perchance 'tis but your worship's delicate frame of body causeth you to shrink from this stern duty.
Hathorne. This torment of Giles Corey's can last but a little space now. He hath still his chance to speak and avert his death, and he will do it erelong. They have increased the weights mightily. Fear not, good Master Corwin, Giles Corey will not die; erelong his old tongue will wag like a millwheel. ”

“ Enter Giles Corey in great excitement.
Giles (running across the room, and listening at the door leading to the chamber stairs) . Devil take them! why don't they put an end to it? Why do they let the poor lass be set upon this way? Screeching so you can hear her all over Salem Village! There! hear that, will ye? Out upon them! Widow Hutchins! Widow Hutchins! Can't you give her some physic? Sha'n't I come up there with my musket? Why don't they find out who is so tormenting her and chain her up in prison? 'Tis some witch or other. Oh, I'd hang her; I'd tie the rope myself. Poor lass! poor lass! ”

“ Where be the black man now, jades?
Hathorne (angrily) . Marshal!
Corwin (interposing) . Nay, good Master Hathorne, let Goodman Corey keep his standing. The maid looks near swooning, and albeit his manner be rude, yet his argument hath somewhat of force. In truth, he and the black man cannot occupy one place. Mercy Lewis, see you now this black man anywhere?
Mercy. Yes, your worship.
Corwin. Where?
Mercy. Whispering in your worship's ear.
Parris. May the Lord protect his magistrates from the wiles of Satan, and maintain them in safety for the weal of his afflicted people! ”

“ One of these days folk will say you be a witch yourself. You were ever hard-skulled, and could knock your head long against a truth without being pricked by it. Hold out if you can, when only this morning the ox and the cat were took so strangely here in our own household.
Martha. Shame on you, goodman! The ox and the cat themselves would laugh at you. The cat ate a rat, and it did not set well on her stomach, and the ox slipped in the mire in the yard. ”

“ Oh, 'tis rare sport! (Seizes the doll and sticks in three pins.) This pin be for Ann, this pin be for Paul, and this pin be for Minister Parris. Deary me, I can think of no more! What next, Nancy?
Nancy. I'll do some witchcraft now. I desire to afflict your aunt Corey, because she doth drive me hither and thither like a child, and sets no value on my understanding; Olive, because she made a jest of me; and Goody Bishop, because she hath a fine silk hood.
Phœbe. Here is the doll, Nancy.
Nancy. Nay, I have another way, which you be too young to understand. ”

“ Youths look not thus upon maidens unless they be inclined toward them. But this hussy Olive Corey did come between Paul and my Ann, and that not of her own merits. There is nobody in Salem Village who would say that Olive Corey's looks be aught in comparison with my Ann's, but I trow Goody Corey hath arts which make amends for lack of beauty. I trow all ill-favored folk might be fair would they have such arts used upon them. ”

“ Hathorne. Olive, what did you wear when you walked with the black man?
Olive. Your worship, I walked with no black man.
Ann. There he is now, standing behind her, looking over her shoulder.
Hathorne. What say you to that, Olive?
Olive (looking in terror over her shoulder) . I see no one. I pray you, let my father stand near me.
Parris. Nay; the black man is enough for you.
Giles (forcing his way to his daughter) . Here I be, lass; and it will go hard if the hussies can see the black man and old Giles in one place. ”

“ And then of a week-day ye will see her no more spinning at her wheel in the doorway, nor tending the flowers in her garden. She will come smiling in at your doors no more, nor walk the village street, and ye will always see where she is not, and know that ye have murdered her. ”

“ There be some things in this world folks may not bear, but there be no wickedness they'll stick at when they get started on the way to 't. 'Tis death in any case, and what would ye have me do? Stand before their mad worships and those screeching jades, and plead as though I were before folk of sound mind and understanding? Think ye I would so humble myself for naught?
Paul. But Olive! I tell you 'twill kill her! There may be a chance yet, and you should throw not away however small a one for Olive's sake. She can bear no more. ”

“ We must strive as never before, or all will be lost. The wilderness full of malignant savages, who be the veritable servants of Satan, closes us in, and the cloven footmark is in our midst. There must be no dallying as we would save the colonies. Widow Hutchins saith her daughter is grievously pressed. ”

“ Paul (tastes the porridge) . 'Tis burned.
Giles. It be rare food to keep up the soul of an old man who hath set himself to undergo what I have set myself to undergo. But it matters not. I trow old Giles Corey may well have eat all his life unknowingly to this end, and hath now somewhat of strength to fall back upon. He needs no dainty fare to make him strong to undergo what he hath set himself. How fares my daughter?
Paul. As well as she can fare, poor lass! ”

“ Make sure they be strong, else it will verily go hard with the hussies. They will screech louder yet, and be more like pin-cushions than ever. Art sure they be strong? 'Twere a pity such guileless and tender maids should suffer, and old Giles Corey's hands be rough. He hath hewn wood and handled the plough for nigh eighty years with them, and now these pretty maids say he hurts their soft flesh. In truth, they must be sore afflicted. ”

“ Parris. I suspect there be verily evil work in the cape, and a witch's bodkin hath pierced these cunning eyelets. It goeth so fast now that erelong every guileless, senseless thing in our houses, down to the tinder-box and the candle-stick, will find hinges and turn into a gate, whereby witchcraft can enter. You say, Widow Hutchins, that Olive Corey gave this cape to your daughter?
Hutchins. That did she. Yesterday evening Ann went down to Goody Corey's house for a little chat ”

“ Work the bellows in the face of the north wind. Oh, lass, why came you here? 'Tis worse than the stones. Talk no more to me, good lass; womenkind should meddle not with men's plans. But promise me you will wed with Paul here within three weeks.
Olive. I will never wed.
Giles. Ye will not, hey? Ye will wed with Master Paul Bayley within three weeks. 'Tis the last command your father gives thee. ”

“ That she doth. Martha acts as if the devil were in her about it. She doth nothing but laugh at and make light of the afflicted children, and saith there be no witches. She would not even believe 'twas aught out of the common when our ox and cat were took strangely. If she were herself a witch she could be no more stiff-necked.
Parris. Doth she go out after nightfall?
Giles. That she doth, in spite of all I can say. She hath no fear that an honest gospel woman should have in these times. She went out last night, and I was so angered that I charged her with galloping a broomstick home.
Hathorne. ”

“ Corwin speaks aside to Paul and motions him to take Olive away. Paul takes her by the arm. She shakes her head and will not go.
Hathorne. I trow 'twill take other than an unlettered clown like Giles Corey to stand firm under this stress. He'll speak soon.
Parris. Yea, that he will. He can never hold out. He hath not the mind for it.
Hathorne. It takes a man of finer wit than he to undergo it. He will speak. ”

“ The Meeting-house in Salem Village. Enter People of Salem Village and take seats. The Afflicted Girls, among whom are Ann Hutchins and Mercy Lewis, occupy the front seats. Nancy Fox and Phœbe. Enter the magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin with Minister Parris, escorted by the Marshal, Aids, and four Constables. They place themselves at a long table in front of the pulpit.
Hathorne (rising) . We are now prepared to enter upon the examination. We invoke the blessing of God upon our proceedings, and call upon the Marshal to produce the bodies of the accused. ”