Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-06-06

! w ITCHCRAFT1s implanted IN tne lutlle
| soil OF human nature. We are 200 years
older than the men and women of old Salem
and ought to have more understanding than
! they had. Yet almost every day there Is
| some item in the newspapers about belief In
witches. This person and that believe them
! selves under the spell of some diabolical in
| fiuence. DR.. Buckley says that at this pres
| ent day two-ehirds of the inhabitants OF the
United States believe in witchcratt
We are able to testify to the astonishing
| number of people who seem unable to trust
| to the law of cause and effect. That look
at the moon over the left shoulder will pro-
| duce a series of misfortunes; that to begin
an undertaking on Friday means the end.
ing of 1t i'll disaster; that if thirteen people
sit down to dinner table one will die, on
account of that unucky party. within a
year; these common superstitions show how
narrow is the gulf which parts us from our
kinsmen, the savages and pagans. venture
! to say that nine inhabitants of Pittsburg
| out of ten. having to go back for some for
| gotten article after they have started on an
GRAND, do so with q reluctance which is not
altogether physical. BY certain instinct
| they think of the association of such re-
turn with the advent of bad luck.
We are not many of US in position to cast
stones at the scared citizens of Salem.
Cotton Mather ard His Theory.
AT Salem, however this superstitious
dread of the unseen and readiness to believe
anything about the unknown, this instinc-
tive propensity to see strange objects in the
dark, and to make ghosts out of posts, this
was emphasized by the unfortunate theories
OF two conscientious parsons and by the
unfortunate tendency Of all theorizers to
maintain their theories, once formed, even
in the face of facts.
One of these men with theory was Rev.
Cotton Mather.
Cotton Mather's theory was that this now
continent was the special habitation of the
devil and his angels. The devil had long
maintained undisputed sway upon these
shores, the dark-faced Indians being his
servants, until the landing of the Pilgrim
fathers. Then the Fl sht began. All the
disasters which befell the settlers, the
severity of the winter, the visitation of dis
ease, the failure of crops, the hosi ility of
savages, the appearance Of heresy-all these
were attributed by Cotton Mather and his
friends to the direct and malignant interpo-
sition Of the devil. The Puritans wanted to
set mp a kingdom of God over on this side of
the Atlantic Ocean, and the devil, that
ancient monopolist, objected.
Cotton Mather stood for orthodoxy and
for the supreme authority of the church in
the realm. He was Puritan of the Puri-
tans. But in his day the new movement was
beginning which continues on into our own
day, and only last week stirred the great
Presbyterian Assemblya at Portland-the set
ting of traditionalism into the background
the testing of even the most venerable of
formularies with the intent of holding fast
only the good. Year by year that inevitable
progress, which no man nor company of
m in tn Enb
on. There are always those who cry out
that the old is better and object to change.
But the new comes, nevertheless. And even
the church grows.
Old Nick Made the Scapesoat.
IN Mather's day that perennial fight was
on, and Mather was on the side of the past.
And just before the troubles came at Salem
there was n new governor appointed, one
Sir William Phipps, who was one of Mnther's
disciples. 1t looked rs if the old orthodoxy
was going to win. Mather was grateful to
the bottom of his honest heart. And he
vowed that he would do whatever difficult
service the good Lord might please to Law
upon him.
And then the devil came and provided
immediate and arduOus occupation for Mas
ter Mather. Dismayed, SO Mather thought,
at this last triumph OF the godly, the arch
o. Shodo1 New En- gland bvway of Salem.
allen witchcraft began. To Cotton Mather
It was the work of Satan.
Sn it was But not quite as Mather
thought. The other man with theory,
though his theory was as fully mistaken,
was nearer to the source of the calamity.
This was the Rev. Mr.. Paris, Stephen Par
ris, minister to the church in Salem.
Some Method in fIis Magic.
Mr.. PARRIs had formerly lived in the
West Indies, and had brought with him,
upon his return, some negro slaves. These
dark complexioned people made friends with
the children of the neighborhood and were
soon found to be the most interest ting story
tellers. At ghost stories they we're past
masters. They had, too, little stock OF
magic, knew how to tell fortunes, were ac-
quainted wit charms; and they filled the
dreams of their young listeners with tho
mysterious terrors of necromancy. There
were ID in this company-an unlucky num-
ber-beside tn e blacks The youngest, a
daughter OF Mr.. Paris, was years old
Three married women were at the other
end of the line. There was girl of II and
another of IL; and the others, two of them
servants, were between II and 20. These
superstitious and ysterical girls, shudder-
ing In the dark ut tha recital of grewsome
ghost stories, trying the dread virtues of
amulets, getting acquainted, as they
Thought, with the Prince of the Power of
the Air, persuaded themselves that they
were being tormented by witches,
and proceeded to name the witches Cur
iously enough, though not unnaturally, the
persons named were those against whom
this circle OF magicians had some personal
grudge.
Thus 1t was started. And Stephen Paris.
being himself persuaded that there was
some truth in this diabolical matter. and
having publically committed himself to the
theory, thereafter felt himself bound in
consistency to prove his point and by his
questions and suggestions even convinced
some of them that their lies wers true as
gospel. Yes; they were bewitched. The
Black Man had them in the books.
They Read bu. Did Not Understand.
THEN it spread, as delusion will. It
got its roots down into the superstitious sub
soil of our human nature Of which we are
all conscious and grew like the mustard
tree o. Scripture. People went back to the
old Bible and found there that mention was
made of witches. And they held. in those
days, as some, it seems, hold still, that
pernicious and unfounded theory to which
the Bible lends no countenance, that the
men who wrote it knew all things infallibly.
If they believed in witches, there must be
witches.
There were witches then, and plainly
enough they were at their devilish work in
Salem: and "thou shalt not suffer a witch to
liver'-so the miserable tragedy began.
Natural superstition, the diseased iinagina-
tion Of dozen foolish women, the ghost
stories OF three negro slaves, the blunder-
ing theories Of two overconsistent parsons,
and mistaken way of reading Holy Scrip
tnre took the liuaa of nnrnh hars of good.