Dulcibel: A Tale of Old Salem

by Henry Peterson

  CHAPTER XIII.

  Dulcibel in Danger.

  The terrible excitement of these days was enough to drive the moreexcitable portion of the inhabitants of Salem almost crazy. The work ofthe house and of the farm was neglected; a large number of suspectedpersons and their relatives were sunk in the deepest grief, the familiesof some of the imprisoned knew not where to get their daily food; fortheir property was generally taken possession of by the officers of thelaw at the time of the arrest, the accused being considered guilty untilthey were proved to be innocent. Upon conviction of a capital offencethe property of the condemned was attainted, being confiscated by thestate; and the constables took possession at once, in order that itmight not be spirited away.

  And no one outside of the circle of the accusers knew whose turn mightcome next. Neither sex, nor age, nor high character, as we have seen,was a bar against the malice, or the wantonness of the "afflicted." Theman or woman who had lived a righteous life for over eighty years, thelittle child who wondered what it all meant, the maiden whose onlyfault might be to have a jealous rival, all were alike in danger.

  Especially were those in peril, however, who dared to take the side ofany of the accused, and express even the faintest disbelief in thejustice of the legal proceedings, or the honesty of the witnesses. Thesewould be surely singled out for punishment. Again and again, had thisbeen done until the voices of all but the very boldest were effectuallysilenced. Those arrested now, as a general thing, would confess at onceto the truthfulness of all the charges brought against them, and eveninvent still more improbable stories of their own, as this mollified theaccusers, and they often would be let off with a solemn reprimand by themagistrates.

  Joseph Putnam and his male servants went constantly armed; and twohorses were kept saddled day and night, in his stable. He never went tothe village unaccompanied; and made no secret of his determination toresist the arrest of himself or, as he had phrased it, "any one withinhis gates," to the last drop of his blood.

  Living with the Goodman Buckley who had leased the Burton property, wasa hired man named Antipas Newton. He was a good worker though nowgetting old, and had in one sense been leased with the place byDulcibel's father.

  Antipas's history had been a sad one. Adopted when left an orphan by abenevolent farmer who had no children, he managed by diligence andstrict economy to acquire by the age of thirty, quite a comfortableproperty of his own. Then the old couple that he called Father andMother became converts to Quakerism. Fined and imprisoned, deprived oftheir property, and, after the expiration of their term of imprisonment,ordered to leave the colony, they had been "harbored" by the man forwhom they had done so much in his early years.

  Antipas was a person of limited intelligence, but of strong affectionsand wide sympathies. Again and again, he harbored these persecuted ones,who despite their whippings and banishment would persist in returning toSalem. Finally, Antipas himself was heavily fined, and his property soldto pay the fines. His wife had died early, but a young daughter who kepthis house in order, and who had failed in her attendance at the churchwhich was engaged in persecuting her father, was also fined heavily. Asher father's property was all gone, and she had no money of her own,she could not pay the fine, and was put in prison, to be sent toBarbados, and sold as a slave, that thus the fine might be collected.But the anguish, and the exposure of her prison, were too much for theyoung girl; and she died before means of transportation could be found.

  As a result of these persecutions, Antipas became demented. As hisinsanity grew evident, the prosecutions ceased; but he was still indanger of starvation, so few would give him employment, both on accountof his impaired mind, and of the odium which attached to any friend ofthe abhorred Quakers.

  Captain Burton, Dulcibel's father, came to the village at this time. Hehad been one of the sea-captains who had indignantly refused to take theSouthwick children, or any other of the Salem children, to Barbados;and he pitied the poor insane man, and gave him employment. Not only didhe do this, but, as we have said, made it an article of the lease of hisproperty, that the Buckleys should also keep Antipas as a farm servant.

  Antipas, to the general surprise of the villagers had proved to be anexcellent servant, notwithstanding his insanity. Only on training daysand other periods of excitement, did his insanity obtrude itself. Atall other times he seemed to be a cheerful, simple-hearted, and verycapable and industrious "hand."

  To Dulcibel, as was natural, Antipas always manifested the greatestdevotion. Her little black mare was always groomed to perfection, henever being satisfied until he took a white linen handkerchief that hekept for the purpose, and, passing it over the mare's shining coat, sawthat no stain or loose black hair remained on it.

  "You think that Mistress Dulcibel is an angel, do you not?" said one ofthe female servants to him about this time, a little scornfully.

  "No, I know what she is," he replied. "Shall I tell you--but if I do,you will not believe"--and he looked at the girl a little doubtfully.

  "Oh, yes, I will," said the girl.

  "Come here then and I will whisper it to you. I heard the minister readabout her once, she is the woman that is 'clothed with the sun and hasthe moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.'"

  "That is wicked, Antipas. If Master Parris heard that you said thingslike that, he would have you whipped and put in the stocks."

  "Master Parris? you mean Beelzebub! I know Beelzebub when I see him."And Antipas gave one of his unnatural, insane laughs, which were gettingvery frequent of late.

  For the general excitement was proving too much for Antipas. Fie stoppedfrequently in his work, and muttered to himself; and then laughedwildly, or shed tears. He talked about the witches and the Devil andevil spirits, and the strange things that he saw at night, in the insanefashion that characterized the "afflicted children."

  As for Dulcibel in these times, she kept pretty much to herself, goingout very little. As she could not sympathize with the general gossip ofthe neighborhood, she remained at home, and consequently had very fewvisitors. Joseph Putnam called whenever he came to the village, which,as I have stated, was but seldom; and Ellis Raymond came every few days.

  Yes, it was a courtship, I suppose; but one of a very grave and seriouscharacter. The conversation generally turned upon the exciting eventscontinually occurring, some new arrest, some new confession, some newand outrageously absurd charges.

  Master Raymond's hand, if anyone accosted him suddenly, instinctivelysought the hilt of his rapier. He was better skilled in the use of thatweapon than was usual, and had no fear that he should be unable toescape from the constables, if not taken at a disadvantage. Still, asthat would compel him to fly into the woods, and as it would separatehim from Dulcibel, he had been very careful not to express in public hisabhorrence of all the recent proceedings. I am afraid that he was guiltyof considerable dissimulation, even paying his court to some of the"afflicted" maidens when he had the opportunity, with soft words andhandsome presents; and trying in this way to enlist a party in hisbehalf, in case he or any of his friends should need supporters.

  Joseph Putnam censured him one day for his double dealing, which was athing not only out of Master Joseph's line, but one which his frank andoutspoken nature rendered it very difficult for him to practise. ButRaymond with his references to King David's behavior towards Achish,King of Gath, and to certain other scripture, especially Paul's being"all things to all men that he might save all," was rather too weightyfor Joseph, whose forte was sensible assertion rather than ingeniousargument. And so Master Raymond persevered in his course, feeling nomore compunction in deceiving the Salemites, as he said to himself, thanhe would in deceiving and cheating a pack of savage wolves, who werethemselves arrayed in sheep's clothing.

  Jethro Sands had of late shown a disposition to renew his attentions toDulcibel; but, after two or three visits, in the last of which he hadgiven the maiden the desired opportunity, she had plainly intimated tohim that the ol
d state of affairs between them could never be restored.

  "I know the reason too," said Jethro, angrily "it is all owing to thatEnglish popinjay, who rides about as if we colonists were not fit todust his pretty coat for him."

  "He is a gentleman, and a friend of mine," replied Dulcibel warmly.

  "Why do you not say a lover of yours, at once?"

  "You have no right to talk to me in that manner. I will not endure it."

  "You will not--how will you help it?" He was now thoroughly angry, andall his native coarseness came to the surface.

  "I will show you," said Dulcibel, the Norse blood of her father glowingin her face. "Good evening, Sir!" and she left the room.

  Jethro had not expected such a quiet, but effective answer. He sattwirling his thumbs, for awhile, hoping that she would return. Butrealizing at last that she would not, he took his departure in atowering anger. Of course this was the last of his visits. But Dulcibelhad made a deadly enemy.

  It was unfortunate, for the maiden already had many who disliked heramong the young people of the village. She was a superior person for onething, and "gave herself airs," as some said. To be superior, withouthaving wealth or an acknowledged high social position, is always to beenvied, and often to be hated. Then again, Dulcibel dressed with morerichness and variety of costume than was usual in the Puritan villages.This set many of the women, both young and old, against her. Her scarletbodice, especially, was a favorite theme for animadversion; some evengoing so far as to call her ironically "the scarlet woman." It iscurious how unpopular a perfectly amiable, sweet-tempered andsweet-tongued maiden may often become, especially with her own sex,because of their innate feeling that she is not, in spite of all hercourteous endeavors, really one of them. It is an evil day for the swanwhen she finds herself the only swan among a large flock of geese.

  Dulcibel's antecedents also were not as orthodox as they might be. Hermother, it was granted, was "pious," and of a "godly" connection; buther father, as he had himself once said, "had no religion to speak of."He had further replied to the question, asked him when he first came toSalem, as to whether he was "a professor of religion," that he was "onlya sea captain, and had no other profession." And a certain freedom ofthought characterized Dulcibel, that she could scarcely have derivedfrom her pious mother. In fact, it was something like the freedom of thewinds and of the clouds, blowing where they liked; and had been probablycaught up by her father in his many voyages over the untrammeled seas.

  At first Dulcibel had been rather impressed by the sermons of MasterParris and Master Noyes and the other ministers, to the effect thatSatan was making a deadly assault upon the "saints," in revenge fortheir interference with his hitherto undisputed domination of the newworld. But the longer she thought about it, the more she was inclined toadopt Joseph Putnam's theory, that his sister-in-law and niece and theother "afflicted" persons were possessed by devils.

  She inclined to this view in preference even to what she knew was EllisRaymond's real conviction, that they were a set of hysterical andvicious girls and women who had rendered themselves half-insane bytampering for a whole winter with their nervous and spiritualorganizations; until they could scarcely now distinguish the true fromthe untrue, the real from the unreal, good from evil, or light fromdarkness.

  "They have become reprobates and given over to an evil mind," saidMaster Raymond to her one day; clothing his thought as nearly as hecould in scriptural language, in order to commend it to her.

  "Yes, this seems to be a reasonable explanation of their wickedconduct," replied Dulcibel. "But I think after all, that it amounts toabout the same thing as Joseph Putnam says, only that his is thestronger and more satisfactory statement."

  And thinking of it, Master Raymond had to come to the same conclusion.His own view and that of his friends were about the same, only they hadexpressed themselves in different phrases.