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Updated: June 18, 2025
The great persecutions for this imaginary crime have always taken place in lonely places, among the poor, the ignorant, and, above all, the ill-fed. One of the best things in Mr. Upham's book is the portrait of Parris, the minister of Salem Village, in whose household the children who, under the assumed possession of evil spirits, became accusers and witnesses, began their tricks.
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.
When at last Mr. Parris and Thomas Putnam became aware of the condition of their children, they called in the village physician, Dr. Griggs. The latter, finding he could do nothing with his medicines, gave it as his opinion that they were "under an evil hand" the polite medical phrase of that day, for being bewitched.
Alice, rising, said, "It is growing dark. Let us go home." "Alice, are you afraid of the witches, which seem to disturb Mr. Parris and Cotton Mather?" asked Adelpha. "There are no witches," Alice Corey answered with a shudder. "Father and mother both deny that there are any witches, and it is wrong to cry out against my aunt, Goody Nurse." "I dare say it is. The evening grows chill.
As a natural result, when all minds were directed to one channel, as they were by prayer, the superstitious feeling which possessed them passed away, and the household, which a few moments ago was on the verge of hysteria, became more calm, and when all rose from their knees, Mrs. Parris asked her visitor to spend the evening with them. "I fain would stay; but I dread the long walk home."
Sarah Good and six others of whom Salem chose to be rid that day went with her. It was the 19th of July, 1692, when, at a signal, all eight swung off into eternity, and Reverend Mr. Noyes, in his zeal, pointing to the swaying bodies, said: "There hang eight fire-brands of hell!" Mr. Parris, unable to conceal his triumph, declared these the most holy words ever uttered by lips not divine.
No wonder that a writer having occasion to examine into the evidence a few years ago, and commenting on it, should exclaim: "Great God! and is this the road our ancestors had to travel in their pilgrimage in quest of freedom and Christianity? Are these the misunderstood doctrines of total depravity?" Reverend Mr. Noyes seemed to rival Mr. Parris in the persecution of witches. "You are a witch.
Master Noyes suggested that if it were handed over to his reverend brother Parris, he might be able, by a course of religious exercises, to cast out the evil spirit and render the animal serviceable. The apostles and disciples, it would be remembered, often succeeded in casting out evil spirits; though sometimes, we are told, they lamentably failed.
And one of the constables caught Dulcibel by the arm, and turned her around roughly. "This is horrible!" cried Thomas Putnam "and so young and fair-looking, too!" "Ah, they are the worst ones, Master Putnam," said his sympathetic friend, the Rev. Master Parris. "She looks young and pretty, but she may really be a hundred years old," said deacon Snuffles.
There was in Salem a certain Reverend Samuel Parris who had a daughter, a niece, and a negro-Indian servant called Tituba. The children were about twelve years of age, and much in Tituba's society.
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