"YOUR MOTHER A WITCH."
'Tis a bleak wild, but green and bright
In the summer warmth and the mid-day light,
There's the hum of the bee and the chirp of the wren,
And the dash of the brook from the older glen.
There's the sound of the bell from the scattered flock,
And the shade of the beach lies cool on the rock,
And fresh from the west is the free-wind's breath.
There is nothing here that speaks of death.
--Bryant.
Shortly after the arrest and incarceration of Goodwife Nurse, Reverend
Deodat Lawson, an eminent Boston divine, came to Salem village. All land
travel at that time was on horseback. He lodged at the house of
Nathaniel Ingersol near the home of the minister Mr. Parris. The
appearance of a foreigner in the village was at once the signal for
making a new convert, and the afflicted put themselves on exhibition to
convince him that evil spirits were abroad. He had been but a short time
at the house of Ingersol, when Captain Walcut's daughter Mary came to
see him and speak with him. She greeted him with a smile, and hoped he
had had a pleasant journey.
It was now growing late, and she stood in the door bidding all
good-evening, preparatory to going home. Suddenly the girl gave
utterance to a wild shriek and leaped into the house, holding her wrist
in her left hand.
"What is the matter?" asked Mr. Lawson.
"I am bitten on the wrist," she cried.
"Surely you cannot be bitten, for I have seen nothing to bite you."
"Nevertheless, I am bitten. It is a witch that hath bitten me."
The candle had been burning all the while in the apartment, and Mr.
Lawson knew that no one could have been in the room without his
knowledge.
"Some one hath grievously bitten me!" the girl sobbed.
Mr. Lawson seized the candle and, holding it to her wrist, saw
apparently the marks of teeth, both upper and lower set, on each side of
her wrist. He was lost in wonder and, placing the candle on the mantel,
remarked:
"It is a mystery."
"Yea, verily it is," Lieutenant Ingersol answered; "but you have not
seen the beginning of the wonders of witchcraft in this village. Satan
surely hath been loosed for a little season."
"I have heard much of the sore afflictions of the children at the home
of Mr. Parris," remarked Mr. Lawson.
"And they are sorely afflicted, as I can bear testimony. After tea we
will walk over to his house."
Mr. Lawson assented, and Mary Walcut was sent home. After an early tea,
Mr. Lawson went to the parsonage, which was but a short distance. Mr.
Parris met them at the door. His white, cadaverous face, prominent cheek
bones, aquiline nose, piercing eyes, and wild, disheveled hair giving
him a strange, weird appearance. He greeted Reverend Mr. Lawson warmly
and thanked him for coming all the way from Boston to preach for him
next Lord's Day.
"I am so sorely tried with my many afflictions, that I cannot compose my
mind for sermonizing."
"I have heard somewhat of the afflictions and troubles that beset you,"
Rev. Deodat Lawson answered.
"Verily you cannot have heard more than has occurred. I am maligned,
misunderstood and beset everywhere by the enemies of God."
"Meet it with prayer and humiliation," answered Mr. Lawson.
"I do--I do--and, verily, the Lord is making my enemies my footstool.
Many are already in prison, and many more will yet go to the gallows."
The pastor gnashed his teeth in silent rage, while his eyes gleamed with
hate.
"How are the afflicted children?" asked Mr. Lawson.
"No better. Abigail come hither."
Abigail Williams, the niece of the pastor, came from an adjoining room.
She was a girl of twelve, with a fair face, but cunning eyes, which
deprived her of the innocence of childhood. Mr. Lawson at once entered
into conversation with her, but had not proceeded far, when she uttered
a shriek and, turning her face to the ceiling, whirled about in a
circle, while her eyes, rolling back in her head, snapped like flashes
of light. Her mouth was drawn to the left side of her face and her whole
frame convulsively jerked till she fell to the floor, where she writhed
and struggled, and blood-stained froth issued from her mouth, while Mr.
Lawson gazed upon her appalled. Then she sprang to her feet and hurried
violently to and fro through the room in spite of the efforts to hold
her. Sometimes she made motions as if she would fly, reaching her arms
up as high as she could, and bringing them down at her side, crying:
"Whish! whish! whish!"
Presently she began talking in a strange, hysterical and half inaudible
manner.
"There is Goodwife Nurse!" she cried. "Do you not see her? Why, there
she stands!" and the girl pointed to a corner of the room that was
vacant. Her eyes seemed riveted on some object that kept moving about.
After a short silence, Abigail Williams said:
"There, she is offering me the book to sign; but I won't take it, Goody
Nurse! I won't! I won't! I won't take it! I do not know what book it is.
I am sure it is not God's book. It is the Devil's book, for aught I
know."
Then she remained a moment with her eyes closed and arms folded across
her breast, after which she ran to the fire, and began to throw
fire-brands about the house, and run into the fireplace, against the
back of the wall, as if she would go up the chimney. They caught hold of
her and pulled her out.
"It is nothing uncommon," Mr. Parris explained. "In other fits, the
children have sought to throw themselves into the fire."
Mr. Lawson did not tarry long at the house of the pastor; but returned
to the home of Lieut. Ingersol.
When Sunday came, Mr. Lawson went to the church to preach. Several of
the afflicted people were "at meeting," for it was thought proper that
the afflicted should be in the house of God. So long as one was able to
go to church, they were taken, regardless of any mental affection they
might have. Mrs. Pope, Goodwife Bibber, Abigail Williams, Mary Walcut,
Mary Lewes and Doctor Grigg's maid, all of whom were persons bewitched,
are reported by reliable historians as being present at this "Lord's Day
service." There was also present Goodwife Corey, who was subsequently
arrested for a witch.
While at prayer, Mr. Lawson was interrupted by shrieks and struggles on
the part of the afflicted, and a voice near said:
"Fits!"
He kept on praying for the Lord to relieve them of their torments, while
Charles Stevens, who was in the house, declared that a whip would
relieve them. After the prayer, a psalm was sung, as usual, and then
Abigail Williams, turning to the preacher, said in a loud, coarse voice:
"Now stand up and name your text!"
After he had named his text, she said:
"It is a long text."
He had scarcely begun his sermon, when Mrs. Pope, one of the afflicted
women, bawled out:
"Now, there is enough of that."
"These mad people ought to be kept away from the house of worship,"
declared Charles Stevens to a neighbor.
Rev. Mr. Lawson, unaccustomed to these interruptions, was greatly
annoyed and had to pause frequently in his sermon. Goodwife Corey was
present at the time, and Abigail Williams, in the midst of the sermon,
cried out:
"Look! look, where Goodwife Corey sits on the beam, suckling her yellow
bird betwixt her fingers!"
At this, Ann Putnam, the daughter of Thomas Putnam, said:
"There is a yellow bird sitting on Mr. Lawson's hat, where it hangs on
the pin in the pulpit."
Those who sat nearest the girls tried to restrain them from speaking
aloud; but it was in vain; for, despite all precaution, they would
occasionally blurt out some ridiculous nonsense, which the people
attributed to the results of witchcraft.
"Charles Stevens, what say you, now that your eyes have witnessed these
abominations?" said John Bly.
"I say, if I had my way, I would cure them," answered the youth.
"How would you, pray?" Bly asked.
"With a good whip about their shoulders."
"Beware, Charles Stevens, how you speak so lightly of these afflictions,
lest you bring on yourself the same condemnation of those on Witches'
Hill."
There are some spirits so bold, that they overawe and intimidate even an
enraged populace. Martin Luther's very audacity saved him, on more than
one occasion, and something like the same spirit enabled Charles Stevens
to overcome or overawe the deluded populace of Salem.
A few days after the execution of Goody Nurse, he was passing the
meeting house, when he was accosted by the West Indian negro, John.
"You not believe in witches?" said John.
"No."
"Goody Nurse brought me de book."
"John, I believe you lied. I believe you have perjured yourself and sent
your soul to endless torment," answered Charles Stevens. John was a
cunning rascal and thought to give him a proof positive of the powers of
witchcraft. He fell down in a fit, and Charles applied his cane to him
until he ran howling away effectually cured, while Charles, disgusted
with the black-skinned African, left him and hurried out of the village.
Charles Stevens' favorite walk was across the brook and among the great
old oak trees beyond. His mind was greatly harassed and, like all great
minds when perplexed, sought solitude. He went farther and farther into
the woods and sat down upon a large stone. The recent trial of Goody
Nurse, her conviction and execution moved his soul. He could not
understand how people, civilized and enlightened, could be so deceived
by what, to him, was so apparent.
Charles knew that all were not dishonest in their belief. He even
believed that some of the actors in this tragedy were sincere, but had
been over-persuaded by Mr. Parris, whom he set down as the prime mover
in it all.
He sat for a long time, much longer than he supposed, reflecting on the
past, and planning for the future, when he was startled by hearing
footsteps coming toward him. He raised his head, and saw a young Indian
brave, with his blanket wrapped about his shoulders, carrying a bow in
his hand. His head was ornamented with a bunch of feathers, and his face
was painted with all the gorgeous hues of savage barbaric art. He
recognized Charles Stevens, for, advancing toward him with a smile, he
extended his hand saying:
"My white brother is not happy. What has made him sad?"
The Indian was a good judge of human character, and in the face of the
young white man he read a look of sorrow.
"The white men of Salem are very wicked, Oracus," said Charles. "Not
only are they wicked to their red brothers, but to their white brothers,
as well. They have taken the old and helpless, the weak and forlorn,
and put them to death."
The young savage folded his arms across his massive chest and stood for
a long time in silence. His eyes were upon the ground, and his stolid
features were without show of emotion. His people had suffered wrongs at
the hands of the white men; but in this one he had ever found an
earnest, true friend.
There existed between Charles and the brave a bond of brotherhood as
enduring as life. The young chief inquired what had been done at the
village, and Charles proceeded to tell him all, in as few words as
possible, of the arrest, trial and execution of Goody Nurse and others.
When he had completed the terrible story, the young chief drew his
blanket about his shoulders and said:
"I am your friend, and if your white brothers prove false, remember your
red brother will be true."
"I believe you, Oracus."
"I have shown one white brother through the paths, away from his
enemies, and you will always find Oracus in his forest home ready to
befriend you."
"The time may come when I will need your aid," said Charles Stevens.
After a long interview, he rose and started home. He was near the great
bridge which spanned the brook, when he suddenly came upon a tall,
powerful man, whose sallow face and cavalier-like manner showed him to
be a citizen of the southern colonies. Charles instantly recognized him
as Mr. Joel Martin, the man whom he had seen on that night with Mr.
Parris, Bly and Louder, coming to arrest Cora's father.
"You are Charles Stevens?" the Virginian said, halting before the youth.
"I have no desire to deny my name, for it is that of an honest man; I am
Charles Stevens," he answered.
"Do you know who I am?"
"I suspect you are one whom I saw at my house, though your name I have
not learned."
"I am Joel Martin, and by profession an overseer on a Virginia
plantation. There were but two of us, my brother and I. He was an
overseer of an adjoining plantation, when one day a slave escaped. He
pursued him and was slain."
"I have heard the story," interrupted Charles.
"You have? and from his own lips?"
"I have; and I do not blame the man who was seeking liberty. He was a
white man, as you yourself are. He had committed no crime, save that he
was arrested as one of Monmouth's insurgents and had been captured while
in the ranks of the rebel."
Martin's eyes flashed with fury and, in a voice that was hoarse, he
whispered:
"You aided him to escape; but it shall not avail. I have for years
followed on his trail, and I will not let go my hold on him, until I
have dragged him to the scaffold. No; the blood of my brother cries out
for vengeance, and I will follow him day and night through the trackless
forests, until I have brought the renegade to justice. He cannot conceal
himself so deep in the forest, he cannot hide himself among the savage
tribes, nor burrow so deep in the earth, but that I will find him."
Charles Stevens turned away and was walking toward home, when the tall
Virginian, by a few quick strides, overtook him and, laying his hand on
his shoulder, said:
"You do not care to hear these threats; but I have not done with you
yet. Listen; I want to say more. If you seek to thwart me, I will kill
you. Do you hear?"
"I have no fear of you, Mr. Martin," cried Charles Stevens, turning on
the tall, swarthy southerner a glance which made him quail. "Your
profession is brutality. You are a stranger to mercy; yet I will defy
you. I fear you not, and, if you seek my life, you had better take heed
for your own."
Charles boldly walked away, leaving the discomfited Virginian to fume
and rage alone. The shades of night were falling fast over the village
of Salem, as Charles hurried homeward, and he was amazed as he came in
sight of the house, to see a great throng of people going away from the
door. The young man quickened his pace, hardly knowing whether he was
asleep or awake. A negro slave came running toward him crying:
"Massa! Massa! Massa!"
"What has happened?" asked Charles.
"Um tuk um away! Dey tuk um off!"
"Who?"
"Yo mudder."
"My mother! Oh, God!" Charles Stevens ran swift as a roe buck toward the
crowd, which had now almost reached the jail.
"What does this mean?" he demanded of John Bly, whom he met near the
jail.
"Your mother is a witch," Bly answered.
"You lie!" cried Charles, and with one swift, sure blow, he laid the
slanderer senseless at his feet.
"Hold, Charles Stevens! Hold! Be not rash, or she may fare worse,"
whispered a kind voice at his side, and, turning, he saw the sad face of
John Nurse. He had drunk the bitter cup to its dregs and could advise.
The world seemed swimming before the eyes of Charles Stevens. He tried
to rush to that throng, whom he saw dragging both his mother and Cora
Waters to the jail; but in vain. His feet refused to carry him. He
strove to utter an outcry; but his voice failed, and all became
darkness.