The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-11-06


the sitting-room. She hurried her
into a closet which had a small
low door, but she knew the
house would be searched if the
poor woman's pursuers had seen her
coming in that direction. 1t would,
therefore, be useless to fasten the
closet door; the best thing would be
to conceal the fact that there was a
closet in the room. Hastily getting a
rope and couple of pegs, she drove
the pegs into the wall at opposite
ends of the room, and tied the rope
from one peg to another; then, on
the rope, she hung clothing, so as to
hide the little door completely; but
her clothing was scanty, and she added
that of her husband and baby; even
then the whole rope was not filled and
she wanted it covered from end to
end, SO no one could peep around the
clothing and see the closet door,
There was an old chest which had
come from England, and from it she
pulled some old clothing which she
had added to that already on the
line.
All this time she kept cautioning
the woman in the closet to keep per-
fec Y quiet, and she gave many quick
glances up the street to see if there
was any one coming to search for
the so called witch. When the line
of clothing completely covered the
wall of the bedroom, Goodwife AL
den went back to her sitting room;
as she entered it, her eyes fell upon
her baby sleeping in his cradle, and
a new idea seized her.
Lifting the cradle gently SO as not
to waken its little occupant, she car
ried it into the bedroom and set it on
the floor, close against the hidden
closet. Then she went again to the
sitting-room, feeling that she had
done all that she possibly could do
to save the poor hunted creature in
the closet. Presently she heard the
tramp Of feet in the street outside;
the door of her little house was I'M
tremendously opened, and six stall
wart men entered-six men to find
one poor, frightened little woman.
The men wore the usual severe Pur-
itan garb, and their solemn faces
were the faces of bigoted men. The
scene which met their gaze was a
peaceful one; sunny little room in
which Goodwife Alden sat spinning
and singing softly to herself. They
could not guess how her heart was
throbbing with fear.
One man spoke to her grimly,
"Hast seen aught of Mistress Dorcas
Gaul, Goodwife7 She is known to
be witch, and we are in search of
her; she was seen to come this way"
To avoid answering his question,
Goodwife Alden began to exclaim
and ask questions; "Was it possible
that Mistress Dorcas was a witch?
Who would have thought it? And
who had cried out against (accused)
hera" Then, with smile, she babe
them search her house, if it so pleased
them. The sitting-room was so small
that it did not take long to see that
there was no one hidden in it. and
then the six men searched the kilch-
en-, and at last crowded into the
bedroom; they found this room very
small and with but little furniture;
one man looked beneath and behind
the bed, but the search went no
farther, for the clatter of their boots
woke the baby and it began to cry
not feeble wall by any means-but
a good, lusty screaming, loud and
long. 1t was frightened at seeing
all those strange, grim faces.
Goodwife Alden came from her
spinning-wheel then and said in
pretended anger, "There, now, you've
wakened the baby with all your clat
teri"
And how that baby did cryl 1t
completely routed the intruders; not
one of them dared go near it, and as
for poking around the clothing which
hung just back of the cradle, why
they never even thought of such a
thingl
The six men trod fast on each
others heels in getting out of the
room, and out of the house. Never
VAS retreat so sudden Once out
side they realized that they had not
searched the bedroom at all, but con-
tented themselves by thinking that
as they could not enter the room
without raising such a tempest, no
enc else could have done so, and
that, therefore, the baby was in sole
possession. Imagine the relief and
thankfulness OF Goodwife Alden and