CHAPTER III.
The Circle in the Minister's House.
It would, perhaps be unfair to hold the Reverend Master Parrisresponsible for the wild doings that went on in the parsonage houseduring the winter evenings of 1691-2, in the face of his solemnassertion, made several years afterwards, that he was ignorant of them.And yet, how could such things have been without the knowledge either ofhimself or his wife? Mistress Parris has come down to us with thereputation of a kindly and discreet woman--nothing having been said toher discredit, so far as I am aware, even by those who had a bittercontroversy with her husband. And yet she certainly must have known ofthe doings of the famous "circle," even if she refrained from speakingof them to her husband.
At the very bottom of the whole thing, perhaps, were the West Indianslaves--"John Indias" and his wife Tituba, whom Master Parris hadbrought with him from Barbados. There were two children in the house, alittle daughter of nine, named Elizabeth; and Abigail Williams, threeyears older. These very probably, Tituba often had sought to impress, asis the manner of negro servants, with tales of witchcraft, the"evil-eye" and "evil hand" spirits, powwowing, etc. Ann Putnam, anotherprecocious child of twelve, the daughter of a near neighbor, SergeantPutnam, the parish clerk, also was soon drawn into the knowledge of thesavage mysteries. And, before very long, a regular "circle" of these andolder girls was formed for the purpose of amusing and startlingthemselves with the investigation and performance of forbidden things.
At the present day this would not be so reprehensible. We arecomparatively an unbelieving generation; and what are called "spiritualcircles" are common, though not always unattended with mischievousresults. But at that time when it was considered a deadly sin to seekintercourse with those who claimed to have "a familiar spirit," thatsuch practices should be allowed to go on for a whole winter, in thehouse of a Puritan minister, seems unaccountable. But the fact itself isundoubted, and the consequences are written in mingled tears and bloodupon the saddest pages of the history of New England.
Among the members of this "circle" were Mary Walcott, aged seventeen,the daughter of Captain Walcott; Elizabeth Hubbard and Mercy Lewis, alsoseventeen; Elizabeth Booth and Susannah Sheldon, aged eighteen; and MaryWarren, Sarah Churchhill and Leah Herrick, aged twenty; these latterbeing the oldest of the party. They were all the daughters ofrespectable and even leading men, with the exception of Mercy Lewis,Mary Warren, Leah Herrick and Sarah Churchhill, who were living out asdomestics, but who seem to have visited as friends and equals the othergirls in the village. In fact, it was not considered at that timedegrading in country neighborhoods--perhaps it is not so now in manyplaces--for the sons and daughters of men of respectability, and even ofproperty, to occupy the position of "help" or servant, eating at thesame table with, and being considered members of the family. In the casebefore us, Mercy Lewis, Mary Warren and Sarah Churchhill seem to havebeen among the most active and influential members of the party. ThoughAbigail Williams, the minister's niece, and Ann Putnam, only eleven andtwelve years of age respectively, proved themselves capable of animmense deal of mischief.
What the proceedings of these young women actually were, neithertradition nor any records that I have met with, informs us; but theresult was even worse than could have been expected. By the close of thewinter they had managed to get their nervous systems, theirimaginations, and their minds and hearts, into a most dreadfulcondition. If they had regularly sold themselves to be the servants ofthe Evil One, as was then universally believed to be possible--and whichmay really be possible, for anything I know to the contrary--theircondition could hardly have been worse than it was. They were liable tosudden faintings of an unnatural character, to spasmodic movements andjerkings of the head and limbs, to trances, to the seeing of witches anddevils, to deafness, to dumbness, to alarming outcries, to impudent andlying speeches and statements, and to almost everything else that wasfalse, irregular and unnatural.
Some of these things were doubtless involuntary but the voluntary andinvoluntary seemed to be so mingled in their behavior, that it wasdifficult sometimes to determine which was one and which the other. Themoral sense seemed to have become confused, if not utterly lost for thetime.
They were full of tricks. They stuck concealed pins into their bodies,and accused others of doing it--their contortions and trances were to agreat extent mere shams--they lied without scruple--they bore falsewitness, and what in many, if not most, cases they knew was falsewitness, against not only those to whom they bore ill will but againstthe most virtuous and kindly women of the neighborhood; and if thereligious delusion had taken another shape, and we see no reason why itshould not have done so, and put the whole of them on trial as seekersafter "familiar spirits" and condemned the older girls to death, therewould at least have been some show of justice in the proceedings; while,as it is, there is not a single ray of light to illuminate the judicialgloom.
When at last Mr. Parris and Thomas Putnam became aware of the conditionof their children, they called in the village physician, Dr. Griggs. Thelatter, finding he could do nothing with his medicines, gave it as hisopinion that they were "under an evil hand"--the polite medical phraseof that day, for being bewitched.
That important point being settled, the next followed of course, "Whohas bewitched them?" The children being asked said, "Tituba."