Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-09-05
AMONG MUSrY BOOKS.
THE rpLER NOSES AROUND IN THE
VIRGINIA STATE LIBRARY.
Yg WOMAN OF VI OLDEH TINES.
rso,x she Was Punished for scoia-
ing and observation-disclosures '"'-
,,,e. NJ Hundreds Of Years Ago
A Curious Bible.
A Curious Bib

=, "a mistake to suppose that all
the talking In this world has peeh oo"'
by the women Of the nineteeh,h oe"
turv The ladies of the eighteenth cen
fury accomplished their snare vi ~
too. and SO also did the danes OF the
hundred years preceding. AS eV'uenco
of this latter fact witness tine results
OF my researches in the State Lipiai''
which led me TO believe that women
always have and always VIII taiA w
much. In a musty, time-worn volume.
meliowed by the lapse OF 10 years
recently came across a venerable pooA
entitled "a Complete Collection OF LAWS
of Virginia Now in Force" The work
was printed in England In looz' anu 10
still in an excellent state Of preserya-
ton. Hardly had / turned over a nun
bred pages when my eagle eye III on
the following:
IAN ACT FOR PUNISHMENT OF
sCANDALOUS PERSONS: whereas
many Babling Women SANDER and scan
dalize their Neighbors, for which their
poor Husbands are often involved III
chargeable and vexatious SUITS anu
cost in great Damages; Be 1t, therefore,
enacted by the Authority aforesaiu'
That in Actions of SANDER, occasioned
by the Wife, after Judgment passed TOT
the Damages, the Woman shall be pun
ished by Ducking; and If the SANDER
be SO enormous as to be adjudged at
greater Damages than Five hundred
mounds Of Tobacco; then the Woman
to suffer a Ducking for each Five nun
dred pounds Of Tobacco adJudged
against her husband, If he refuses 10
pay the Tobacco"
What a pathetic story this ancient
statute tells-yea, the same old story or
poor husbands" and fussy wives, tnat
has been ever ringing in our ears.
While the primary aim of this article
shall be to call public attention TO the
literary treasures in the State Library
7 cannot refrain from turning aside 10
expiain this "ducking" process, wnlch
was aimed to check that awful evil or
Islander. In a charming work on Gu
rious Punishments of Bygone Days,
Alice Morse Earle dwells on this use
fuI implement of Colonial times. "The
ducking STOOL says she, seems 10
have been placed on the lowest ana
most contempt-bearing stage among
English instruments Of punishment. The
pillory and stocks, the gibbet, and even
the whipping-post, have seen many
noble victim, many martyr. But L
cannot think any save the most ignopie
criminals ever sat in a ducking stool.
The authoress then quotes the language
of a French traveller who visited Eng
land I'm 100. Says he: 1.-THE way Of pun
ishing scolding women is pleasant %
enough. They fasten an arm chair to
the end Of two beams II or Is feet long,
and parallel to each other. so that these
two pieces of wood with their two ends
embrace the chair, which hangs between
them by q sort of axle, by which means
II plays freely, and always remains in
the natural horizontal position in which
a chair should be that person may SIT
conveniently in It, whether you raise
IL or let il down. They set up post on
the bank of a pond or river, and over
this post they lay, almost In equilibrio.
the two pieces of wood, at one eng OF
which the chair hangs just over the
water. They place the woman in this
chair, and so plunge her into the water
as often as the sentence directs, In order
TO cool her immoferate heat"
PERHAPS some Of you are wondering
whether there really was much of this
ducking business in Virginia. L grieve to
saw there was. In 1884 one Thomas
Hartley, from Hungar's Parish, wrote a
description Of the tongue-subduing pro-
cess: 1.-THE day afore yesterday at of
We clock in we afternoon" says he. Il
saw this punishment given to one Betsy,
wife of John Tucker, who by ye violence
of her tongue has made his house and ye
neighborhood uncomfortable" Another
"scolding quean" was ducked three times
from the yardarm Of a vessel lying In
James river. A woman In Northampton
county was drawn over Kings creek at
the stern OF a boat. One Margaret
Jones was likewise sentenced by the
flames City Court in 1926 TO suffer
pretty much the same penalties. And
there were others. In every case the
punishment was made to fit the crime
1t would be unjust to the predominant
sex of troublesome loquacity not to say
a word about the men Of those olden
times. They, too, had their faults, and
were wont to scandaliZe. In the ven
cradle book of laws. from which l have
already quoted, there is the following
statute:
"Whereas many idle and busie-headed
People do forge and divulge false Rumors
and Reports TO the great disturbance OF
the Peace OF his Royae Majesties leige
People in this COLONY: BE IT Enacted
That what person or persons soever shall
forge or divulge any such false Reports
tending to the trouble of the Country
he shall be by the next Justice of the
| Peace sent for and bound over to tn,
next County Court, where If he produce
not his Author. he shall be fined Two
thousand pounds of Tobacco Tor less 4
the Court think fit to lessen it, and be
sides give bond for his Behaviour If it die
appear to the Court that he did mali
ciously publish or invent it,"
But to return TO the State Library
and to some of the curious tones among
the 5000 volumes in this magnificent
collection. DO not fancy that i am a
bibliomaniac, and that / shall bore yot
with dry details. 1t is merely my pur-
pose TO mention some of the curious
works in the library. First OF all, let
me remind you that in the days OF
long ago, there was no such stuff as
light Observation-Disclosures literally OF
metaphorically speaking. -Four or five
hundred years ago you couldn't spend
your time in a hammock reading, nor
could you slip volume into your pocket
for perusal during Office hours when the
boss was out. And why? Simply be-
cause the average book In those days
weighed from ten to fifteen pounds, and
was as bulky as the immense family
Bible, which you have left unmolested
for so many years. To verify my state
ments. l refer you to the Oldest book
on the shelves OF the Commonwealth
| at least, the oldest 1 know Of 1t Is q
volume of Plinys Natural Histories
and was printed In 1476 which. as you