Dulcibel A Tale of Old Salem

Henry Peterson

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pubOne.info present you this wonderfully illustrated edition. 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.

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• Publié par: Pub One Info
• Date de parution: 06 novembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9782819937227
• Langue: English

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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.
Copyright 1907
BY
Walter Peterson.


She stood up serene but heroic
CHAPTER I.
Dulcibel Burton.
In the afternoon of a sunny Autumn day, nearly twohundred years ago, a young man was walking along one of the newlyopened roads which led into Salem village, or what is now calledDanvers Centre, in the then Province of Massachusetts Bay.
The town of Salem, that which is now the widelyknown city of that name, lay between four and five miles to thesoutheast, on a tongue of land formed by two inlets of the sea,called now as then North and South Rivers. Next to Plymouth it isthe oldest town in New England, having been first settled in 1626.Not till three years after were Boston and Charlestown commenced bythe 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 Bostonexpedition, two hundred died during the first winter. Salem hasalso the honor of establishing the first New England churchorganization, in 1629, with the Reverend Francis Higginson as itspastor.
Salem village was an adjunct of Salem, the towntaking in the adjacent lands for the purpose of tillage to adistance of six miles from the meeting-house. But in the progressof settlement, Salem village also became entitled to a church ofits own; and it had one regularly established at the date of ourstory, with the Reverend Samuel Parris as presiding elder orminister.
There had been many bickerings and disputes before aminister could be found acceptable to all in Salem village. And thepresent minister was by no means a universal favorite. Theprincipal point of contention on his part was the parsonage and itsadjacent two acres of ground. Master Parris claimed that the churchhad voted him a free gift of these; while his opponents not onlydenied that it had been done, but that it lawfully could be done.This latter view was undoubtedly correct; for the parsonage landwas a gift to the church, for the perpetual use of its pastor,whosoever he might be. But Master Parris would not listen to reasonon this subject, and was not inclined to look kindly upon the menwho steadfastly opposed him.
The inhabitants of Salem village were a goodly aswell as godly people, but owing to these church differences abouttheir ministers, as well as other disputes and lawsuits relative tothe bounds of their respective properties, there was no littleamount of ill feeling among them. Small causes in a village arejust as effective as larger ones in a nation, in producing discordand strife; and the Puritans as a people were distinguished by allthat determination to insist upon their rights, and that scorn ofcompromising difficulties, which men of earnest and honest butnarrow natures have manifested in all ages of the world.Selfishness and uncharitableness are never so dangerous as whenthey assume the character of a conscientious devotion to the justand the true.
But all this time the young man has been walkingalmost due north from the meeting house in Salem village.
The road was not what would be called a good one inthese days, for it was not much more than a bridle-path; the ridingbeing generally at that time on horseback. But it was not therather broken and uneven condition of the path which caused thefrown on the young pedestrian's face, or the irritability shown bythe sharp slashes of the maple switch in his hand upon the aspiringweeds along the roadside.
“If ever mortal man was so bothered, ” he mutteredat last, coming to a stop. “Of course she is the best match, theother is below me, and has a spice of Satan in her; but then shemakes the blood stir in a man. Ha! ”
This exclamation came as he lifted his eyes from theground, and gazed up the road before him. There, about half a miledistant, was a young woman riding toward him. Then she stopped herhorse under a tree, and evidently was trying to break off a switch,while her horse pranced around in a most excited fashion. The horseat last starts in a rapid gallop. The young man sees that in tryingto get the switch, she has allowed the bridle to get loose and overthe horse's head, and can no longer control the fiery animal. Downthe road towards him she comes in a sharp gallop, striving to stopthe animal with her voice, evidently not the least frightened, butholding on to the pommel of the saddle with one hand while shemakes desperate grasps at the hanging rein with the other.
The young Puritan smiled, he took in the situationwith a glance, and felt no fear for her but rather amusement. Hewas on the top of a steep hill, and he knew he could easily stopthe horse as it came up; even if she did not succeed in regainingher bridle, owing to the better chances the hill gave her.
“She is plucky, anyhow, if she is rather a tamewench, ” said he, as the girl grasped the bridle rein at last, whenabout half way up the hill, and became again mistress of theblooded creature beneath her.
“Is that the way you generally ride, Dulcibel? ”asked the young man smiling.
“It all comes from starting without my riding whip,” replied the girl. “Oh, do stop! ” she continued to the horse whonow on the level again, began sidling and curveting.
“Give me that switch of yours, Jethro. Now, youshall see a miracle. ”
No sooner was the switch in her hand, than theaspect and behavior of the animal changed as if by magic. You mighthave thought the little mare had been raised in the enclosure of aQuaker meeting-house, so sober and docile did she seem.
“It is always so, ” said the girl laughing. “Thelittle witch knows at once whether I have a whip with me or not,and acts accordingly. No, I will not forgive you, ” and she gavethe horse two or three sharp cuts, which it took like a martyr.“Oh, I wish you would misbehave a little now; I should like topunish you severely. ”
They made a very pretty picture, the littlejet-black mare, and the mistress with her scarlet paragon bodice,even if the latter was entirely too pronounced for the taste of thegreat majority of the inhabitants, young and old, of Salemvillage.
“But how do you happen to be here? ” said thegirl.
“I called to see you, and found you had gone on avisit to Joseph Putnam's. So I thought I would walk up the road andmeet you coming back. ”
“What a sweet creature Mistress Putnam is, and bothso young for man and wife. ”
“Yes, Jo married early, but he is big enough andstrong enough, don't you think so? ”
“He is a worshiped man indeed. Have you met thestranger yet? ”
“That Ellis Raymond? No, but I hear he is somethingof a popinjay in his attire, and swelled up with the conceit thathe is better than any of us colonists. ”
“I do not think so, ” and the girl's cheek colored adeeper red. “He seems to be a very modest young man indeed. I likedhim very much. ”
“Oh, well, I have not seen him yet. But they say hisfather was a son of Belial, and fought under the tyrant at Naseby.”
“But that is all over and his widowed mother is oneof us. ”
“Hang him, what does it matter! ” Then, changing histone, and looking at her a little suspiciously. “Did Leah Herricksay anything to you against me the other night at the husking?”
“I do not allow people to talk to me against myfriends, ” replied she earnestly.
“She was talking to you a long time I saw. ”
“Yes. ”
“It must have been an interesting subject. ”
“It was rather an unpleasant one to me. ”
“Ah! ”
“She wanted me to join the 'circle' which they havejust started at the minister's house. She says that old Tituba haspromised to show them how the Indians of Barbados conjure andpowwow, and that it will be great sport for the winter nights.”
“What did you say to it? ”
“I told her I would have nothing to do with suchthings; that I had no liking for them, and that I thought it waswrong to tamper with such matters. ”
“That was all she said to you? ” and the young manseemed to breathe more freely.
The girl was sharp-witted— what girl is not so inall affairs of the heart? — and it was now her turn. “Leah is veryhandsome, ” she said.
“Yes— everybody says so, ” he replied coolly, as ifit were a fact of very little importance to him, and a matter whichhe had thought very little about.
Dulcibel, was not one to aim all around the remark;she came at once, simply and directly to the point.
“Did you ever pay her any attentions? ”
“Oh, no, not to speak of. What made you think ofsuch an absurd thing? ”
“'Not to speak of'— what do you mean? ”
“Oh, I kept company with her for awhile— before youcame to Salem— when we were merely boy and girl. ”
“There never was any troth plighted between you?”
“How foolish you are, Dulcibel! What has started youoff on this track? ”
“Yourself. Answer me plainly. Was there ever anylove compact between you? ”
“Oh, pshaw! what nonsense all this is! ”
“If you do not answer me, I shall ask her this veryevening. ”
“Of course there was nothing between us— nothing ofany account— only a boy and girl affair— calling her my littlewife, and that kind of nonsense. ”
“I think that a great deal. Did that continue up tothe time I came to the village? ”
“How seriously you take it all! Remember, I haveyour promise, Dulcibel. ”
“A promise on a promise is no promise— every girlknows that. If you do not answer me fully and truly, Jethro, Ishall ask Leah. ”
“Yes, ” said the young man desperately “there was akind of childish troth up to that time, but it was, as I said, amere boy and girl affair. ”
“Boy and girl! You were eighteen, Jethro; and shesixteen nearly as old as Joseph Putnam and his wife were when theymarried. ”
“I do not care. I will not be bound by it; and Leahknows it. ”
“You acted unfairly toward me, Jethro. Leah has theprior right. I recall my troth. I will not marry you without herconsent. ”