Dulcibel

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Dulcibel, by Henry Peterson

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Title: Dulcibel A Tale of Old Salem
Author: Henry Peterson
Illustrator: Howard Pyle
Release Date: February 11, 2007 [EBook #20569]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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[Illustration: She stood up serene but heroic]
DULCIBEL
A Tale of Old Salem
BY
HENRY PETERSON
Author of
"Pemberton, or One Hundred Years Ago"
Illustrations by
HOWARD PYLE
PHILADELPHIA
The John C. Winston Co.
1907
Copyright 1907
BY
Walter Peterson.

Contents.
Chapter. Page.
I DULCIBEL BURTON 1
II IN WHICH SOME NECESSARY INFORMATION IS GIVEN 12
III THE CIRCLE IN THE MINISTER'S HOUSE 17
IV SATAN'S ESPECIAL GRUDGE AGAINST OUR PURITAN FATHERS 22
V LEAH HERRICK'S POSITION AND FEELINGS 24
VI A DISORDERLY SCENE IN CHURCH 27
VII A CONVERSATION WITH DULCIBEL 32
VIII AN EXAMINATION OF REPUTED WITCHES 47
IX ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY MORE ALLEGED WITCHES 54
X BRIDGET BISHOP CONDEMNED TO DIE 59
XI EXAMINATION OF REBECCA NURSE 64
XII BURN ME OR HANG ME, I WILL STAND IN THE TRUTH OF CHRIST 73
XIII DULCIBEL IN DANGER 80
XIV BAD NEWS 91
XV THE ARREST OF DULCIBEL AND ANTIPAS 94
XVI DULCIBEL IN PRISON 102
XVII DULCIBEL BEFORE THE MAGISTRATES 107
XVIII WELL, WHAT NOW? 123
XIX ANTIPAS WORKS A MIRACLE 128
XX MASTER RAYMOND GOES TO BOSTON 136
XXI A NIGHT INTERVIEW 139
XXII THE REVEREND MASTER PARRIS EXORCISES "LITTLE WITCH" 149
XXIII MASTER RAYMOND ALSO COMPLAINS OF AN "EVIL HAND" 162
XXIV MASTER RAYMOND'S LITTLE PLAN BLOCKED 166
XXV CAPTAIN ALDEN BEFORE THE MAGISTRATES 172
XXVI CONSIDERING NEW PLANS 180
XXVII THE DISSIMULATION OF MASTER RAYMOND 188
XXVIII THE CRUEL DOINGS OF THE SPECIAL COURT 192
XXIX DULCIBEL'S LIFE IN PRISON 199
XXX EIGHT LEGAL MURDERS ON WITCH HILL 205
XXXI A NEW PLAN OF ESCAPE 214
XXXII WHY THE PLAN FAILED 221
XXXIII MISTRESS ANN PUTNAM'S FAIR WARNING 230
XXXIV MASTER RAYMOND GOES AGAIN TO BOSTON 237
XXXV CAPTAIN TOLLEY AND THE STORM KING 244
XXXVI SIR WILLIAM PHIPS AND LADY MARY 252
XXXVII THE FIRST RATTLE OF THE RATTLESNAKE 262
XXXVIII CONFLICTING CURRENTS IN BOSTON 269
XXXIX THE RATTLESNAKE MAKES A SPRING 273
XL AN INTERVIEW WITH LADY MARY 280
XLI MASTER RAYMOND IS ARRESTED FOR WITCHCRAFT 287
XLII MASTER RAYMOND ASTONISHES THE MAGISTRATES 293
XLIII WHY THOMAS PUTNAM WENT TO IPSWICH 303
XLIV HOW MASTER JOSEPH CIRCUMVENTED MISTRESS ANN 309
XLV THE TWO PLOTTERS CONGRATULATE EACH OTHER 330
XLVI MISTRESS ANN'S OPINION OF THE MATTER 336
XLVII MASTER RAYMOND VISITS LADY MARY 343
XLVIII CAPTAIN TOLLEY'S PROPOSITIONS 351
XLIX MASTER RAYMOND CONFOUNDS MASTER COTTON MATHER 355
L BRINGING AFFAIRS TO A CRISIS 366
LI LADY MARY'S COUP D'ETAT 371
LII AN UNWILLING PARSON 385
LIII THE WEDDING TRIP AND WHERE THEN 394
LIV SOME CONCLUDING REMARKS 397

=Illustrations.=
Page.
STOOD UP SERENE BUT HEROIC FRONTISPIECE.
"THE LORD KNOWS THAT I HAVEN'T HURT THEM" 68
MARCHED FROM JAIL FOR THE LAST TIME 208
CHAPTER I.
Dulcibel Burton.
In the afternoon of a sunny Autumn day, nearly two hundred years ago, a young man was walking along one of the newly opened roads which led into Salem village, or what is now called Danvers Centre, in the then Province of Massachusetts Bay.
The town of Salem, that which is now the widely known city of that name, lay between four and five miles to the southeast, on a tongue of land formed by two inlets of the sea, called now as then North and South Rivers. Next to Plymouth it is the oldest town in New England, having been first settled in 1626. Not till three years after were Boston and Charlestown commenced by the arrival of eleven ships from England. It is a significant fact, as showing the hardships to which the early settlers were exposed, that of the fifteen hundred persons composing this Boston expedition, two hundred died during the first winter. Salem has also the honor of establishing the first New England church organization, in 1629, with the Reverend Francis Higginson as its pastor.
Salem village was an adjunct of Salem, the town taking in the adjacent lands for the purpose of tillage to a distance of six miles from the meeting-house. But in the progress of settlement, Salem village also became entitled to a church of its own; and it had one regularly established at the date of our story, with the Reverend Samuel Parris as presiding elder or minister.
There had been many bickerings and disputes before a minister could be found acceptable to all in Salem village. And the present minister was by no means a universal favorite. The principal point of contention on his part was the parsonage and its adjacent two acres of ground. Master Parris claimed that the church had voted him a free gift of these; while his opponents not only denied that it had been done, but that it lawfully could be done. This latter view was undoubtedly