The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1911-06-09
DUGklNC 4 SC0LD
A Custom Quite Popular at One
Time In This Country.
WOMEN ALWAYS THE VICTIMS.
Ia Colonial Days Duckins Stools Were
Common In Maryland, In Virginia
the Penalty Was Often Inflicted, and
Georgia Sinned as Late as 1919.

u
habits OF talking 100 loud and too long
or insists upon saying unpleasant
things I'm wrong places and at wrong
seasons there are several things which
may happen TO her. If she is person
Of some social standing her husband
may get divorce. or If she belongs
| I'm one Of the lower strata he may
! leave her without that little formality.
| If she makes life too unbearable for
the neighbors she may possibly be ar
rested and fined. If she livesein Eng
| land and interrupts the proceedings OF
parliament. calls names, chases digni'
tares 10 cover whenever they show
| themselves in public and knocks OH
Dolicpmen's helmets she Is called sur
fragctte and sometimes imprisoned.
Int even the most "obstinately oppro-
| briOus and virulent woman" 10 quote
! the stately Addison. may be confident
thar she will escape the punishment
meted out 10 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 incident for q self assertive
lady. and even the English ragettes
| complain that they are not taken Sc
riously 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
iect of feminine self repression. In
those days magistrates were unani-
nous i'm the conviction that "meekness
is We chojsest orniment for woman"
and.it was held crime to speak dis
cornfully" of those in authority. civil
or ecclesiastical. woman must not
even indulge i'm 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 stout
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 a man worked
the contrivance by means of a strong
chain, and she was given a ducking.
which lasted until justice was salts
fed or reform was promised. the popu-
lace OF course gathering in large mum
bers to assist at the function
In England the practice was so gen
eral that each town had its duckine
| pond conveniently located where petty
offenders of various kinds were disci'
plined The pond for the western part
Of London was what is now Il 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 a moral as TO the
naughty spirit which goeth before
fall
The first colonists brought the insti
| tuition TO this country, although II nev
| er nourishCd i'm New England In fact.
| there are no authentic records OF the
actual use of the ducking stool in
| these colonies. although number of
women were sentenced TO be so pun.
ished They had, however. other meth
| ods OF treatment for ladies of n 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 ducking stools
were in every county In Maryland, and
in 1875 one was placed at the coniu
| 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. Ii Is said, to
| Governor Eudicott of Massachusetts.
! giving a detailed account OF ducking
! administered 10 "oue BetSey, wife of
John Tucker who 10y violence of her
| tongue had made his home and ye
neighborhood uncomfortable" After
! describing the machine be adds: "Ye
,ope was slackened by We officer. aud
We woman was allowed 10 go down
under We water for We space of half a
minute Retsey had a 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 i'm her wetted clothes
a hopefully peuitent 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 1870. but In Geor
gia women were ducked for scolding
rs late as 1912. II is interesting tn
note that I'm 1924 n woman In Phila
delphia was sentenced To he ducked.
but the decree was not carried out. as
IL was deemed obsolete and contrary
10 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. lobbyist. who