Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1911-06-22
|OUCK|NC A SCOLD
A Custom Quite Popular at One
Time In This Country.
NOMEN ALWAYS THE VICTIMS.
In Colonial Days Ducking Stools Were
Common In Maryland. In Virginia
the Penalty Was Often Inflicted. and
Georaia Sinned as Late as 1919.

habits of talking 100 loud and too long
or insists upon saying unpleasant
! things in wrong places and at wrong
seasons there are several things which
of some social standing her husband
may get divorce. or if she belongs
III one OF the lower strata he may
leave her without that little Formally
If she makes life too unbearable for
the neighborS she may possibly be ar
rested and fined IT she lives in Eng
land and interrupts the proceedings OF
parliament, calls names. chases digni
taries to cover whenever they show
themselves in public and knocks Oft
Dolicemen'S helmets she is called Suf
fragette and sometimes imprisoned
But even the most "obstinately oppro
brious and virulent woman to quote
the stately Addison. may be confident
that she will escape the punishment
melted out to her sister Of old What
ever happens. she won't be sentenced
to the ducking stool. In many ways
modern life is tame and lacking in
dramatic inciAent for self assertive
lady. and even the English sutfragettes
complain that they are not taken Sc
riousIy enough
No such claim could have been made
In the past say between the fifteenth
and eighteenth centuries. when far
more rigid views prevailed on the sub
ject OF feminine self repression. In
those days magistrates were unani
nous in the conviction that "meekness
is We chojsest ointment for woman"
and it was held a crime to speak dis
cornfuly" of those in authority. civil
or ecclesiastical woman must not
even indulge in too great freedom OF
speech IN the privacy Of her own home
and neighborhood. Sometimes she did
and then she was attended to in sim
pie yet spectacular manner
She was bound securely to a stou,
chair firmly fixed to the end of long
beam, arranged to work up and down
on the principle Of the seesaw. ON
the edge of "A river or pond On the
bank at the other end man worked
the continuance by means of strong
chain, and she was given ducking.
which lasted until justice was salts
fed or reform was promised. the popu
lace of course gathering in large mum
bcrs to assist at the function.
In England the practice was so gen
erai that each town had its duckine
pond conveniently located where petty
offenders OF various kinds were disci
pinned. The pond for the western part
of London was what is now portion
of Trafalgar square. Charing Cross
Many of the old ducking stools are
still in existence as curiOsities. In the
days of their activity they were kept
in the church porches. where they
doubtless pointed moral as to the
naughty spirit which goeth before a
fall
The first colonists brought the insti
tuition to this country. although it new
er flourished in New England. In fact.
there are no authentic records Of the
actual use OF the ducking stool in
these colonies. although a number OF
women were sentenced to be so pun
ished They had. however. other meth
DDS of treatment for ladies Of shrew
ish disposition, one of these being
the wearing of cleft stick upon the
tongue.
In the central and southern colonies
the custom was quite popular In the
seventeenth century ducLng stools
were in every county in Maryland. and
in 1915 one was placed at the conflu
ence of the Ohio and Monongahela riv
ers. In Virginia the penalty was often
employed and in 1884 Thomas Hart
ly of that colony wrote. 1t Is said TO
Governor Endicott of Massachusetts
giving a detailed account of duckins
, administered to "oue Betsey, wife of
/ John Tucker. who by violence of her
tongue had made his home and ye
neighborhood uncomfortable" Aftc,
describing the machine he adds: "ie
rope was slackened by ye officer. and
We woman was allowed to 90 down
under ye water for We space OF half u
minute Betsey had stout stomach
and would not yield until she had al
lowed herself to be ducked five several
times" After she promised to "sin no
more" Betsey was united and allowed
to walk home in her wetted clothes
hopefully penitent woman"
The ducking stool prevailed longer
in America than In England. In the
old country 1t does not seem to have
! been used later than 1909. but in Geor'
gia women were ducked for scolding
as late as 1919. 1t is interesting to
note that in 1924 woman in Phila'
delphia was sentenced to be ducked
but the decree was not carried out. as
It was "deemed obsolete and contrary
to the spirit OF the times" A writer
on colonial customs states that one OF
the last indictments for ducking In
this country was that of Mrs. Anne
Royal in Washington. a lobbyist. who
became so abusive to congressman
that she was indicted as common
scold before Judge William Cranch
and was sentenced by him to be duck
ed in the Potomac. She was. howev.
er. not subjected to the duck1ng ind1g-
| nity. but was released with fne."-