Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-10-07
HOW TO CURE A sCOLD.
The Gentle ART of Sucking and Mu.
.lihs shrew..

I1t-bitS
What our forefathers must have suffered
from the rigors of women's tongues may
be partly gagged by the drastic measures
stools and muzzies. af which several still
survive in different parts Of England, rust
ing in disuse. -
1t is not many years since one of these
instruments of fefonsn' was discovered in
the tower Of old Hackney Church. 1t was
a ducking Cor, perhaps, more correctly,
'cuckingO stool consisting of a stout
framework Of iron hoops, with bottom Of
iron lattice work. on which the scolds of
their enforced baptism in river or pond;
probably in this case in Hackney brook.
which used to flow within a few yards of
where Mare street now stands
Warwickshire is specially rich in these
survivals of eighteenth century ''home-
rule methods. There is one at Kenilworth
Queen Efizabeth's days: and another is to
be found in the crypt of Beauchamp
Church. H. -
But though England in these days of gall
liant husbands and amiable wives has no
use for such barbarc methods, there is
rumor that "ducking' is to be revived in
New Jersey, where certain ladies' tongues
refuse to yield to moral suasion: and muz-
zles are in constant use for refractory wo-
men in the provincial penitentiary at CO.
iogne. Not long ago girl who was wear
ing one VI THESE HluZZieS was FOUND Qeau,
and the chief officials of the prison were
charged with mansaughter. 1t could not
be proved. however, that death was due to
suffocation from the muzzle, and the Off
Gals were acquitted.
In the statute books of Virginia is to be
found this quaint and amusing law:
Whereas many babbling women SANDER
and scandalize their neighbors, for which
their poor husbands are often involved in
chargeable and veXatious suits and costs in
great damages: Be it enacted that in ac-
tions OF SANDER occasioned by the wife, af-
ter judgment passed for the damages the
woman shall be punished by ducking, and
If the SANDER be SO enormous as to be ad-
judged at greater damages than 500 pounds
of tobacco, then the woman to suffer a
ducking for each 500 pounds of tobacco ad-
judged against her husband If he refuses to
pay the tobacco
1t is sad to record that very few husbands
were complacent enough to pay the tobac-
co; and in Virginia to this day prudent
man never ventures to speak of any wo-
man as little duck" The term Of en-
dearment is too painfully reminiscent.
Time was in England when the milder
method of fines was tried: and a woman
whose tongue was source of vexation to
her husband or neighbors was hailed before
the magistrates, and given the option of a
fine or ducking. AS, however, the pay
ment of the fine usually fell to the lot of
the husband it is, perhaps little wonder
that ducking was preferred by him; and If
when the wife had had an experience of
cold water she gave her husband an ex-
peileHce ol not water, at least 1t was pref
cradle to paying heavy fine.
1t is interesting. at the end of the nine
teenth century, to conjure up picture of
a ,ducking, as practiced at the end of the
eighteenth century.
When the 'scold'i had been properly tried
and convicted, she was escorted by a crowd
of her neighbors-in fact by the whole vii
lage-to the nearest pond; and the greener
and Sinner the pond the better. A long
plank was produced, at one end of which
was the "ducking STOOL and in this the
screaming, struggling victim was securely
pnioned.
The chair end of the plank was then
pushed far over the edge of the pond and
a signal it was tilted deep into the green
ooze until the scold. was completely i'm
mersed.
When the dripping, half-drowned woman
was raised to the surface again to the
1eers and laughter of the onlookers it can
be imagined that her tongue wagged to
some purpose. After second dose she
emerged more subdued, and after a third or
fourth she wass as penitent a woman as
the village contained, and was allowed to
proceed home Sadder and wiser woman
until next time. ~
An alternative to the ducking stool was
which was pad1ocked on the head, and
which was provided with a gag which in
sured silence as long as 1t was in position.
Another favorite method of tanning a
shrew' was to carry her through the vii
lage seated on plank, to the accompani-
ment Of all the old pans and kettles the
village could muster. How well for some
of us that we were not born a century
earlier!