The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1911-06-20
DUCKINC A SCOLD
A Custom Quite Popular at One
Time In This Country.
WOMEN ALWAYS THE VICTIMS.


the Penalty Was Often INFLICTED, end
Georgia sinnsd as Late az 1873.
Nowadays II a woman forms the
habits of talking too loud and too long
or insists upon saying unpleasant
things In wrong places and at wrong
seasons there are several things which
may happen to her. II she is person
Of some social standing her husband
may get q divorce or If she belongs
In one Of the lower strata he may
leave her without that little formality.
IL she makes Life too unbearable for
the neighbors she may possibly be ar
rested and fined. II she lives In Eng
land and interrupts the proceedings OF
parliament, calls names, chases digni.
tar1es to cover whenever they show
themselves in public and knocks of
policemen's helmets she Is called a 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 incident for self assertive
lady, and even the English suffragettes
complain that they are not taken Be
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
1ect Of feminine self repression In
those days magistrates we're unani'
nous In the conviction that ''meeknesf
Is ye choJsest ointment for a woman "
and It was held a crime to speak dis
cornfully" Of those In authority, civil
or ecclesiastical. A woman must MOI
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 a 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, OF
the edge Of river or pond On the
bank at the other end man worked
the contrivancs by means of strong
chain, and she was given ducking
which lasted until justice was satis
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 90 gen
eral 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 ars
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 Q
fall.
The first colonists brought the insti
tut1on to this country, although 1t new
er fourished 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
fshed They had. however, other meth
DDS Of treatment for ladies of shrew
fish 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 tbs
seventeenth century ducking stools
were in every county in Maryland. and
IN 1775 one was placed at the conflu
ence Of the Ohio and Monongaheia riv
ers. In Virginia the penalty was otter
employed. and In 1884 Thomas Hart
ly Of that colony wrote. it L. said, t
Governor Endicctt Of Massachusetts,
giving detailed account Of a duckint
administered to zone Betsey. wife o.
John Tucker, who by violence Of bel
tongue had made bis home and "
neighborhood uncomfortable" Aftel
describing the machine he adds: "Y,
rope was slackened by ye officer, and
ye woman was allowed to go dow
under ye water for We space Of half {
minute Betsey had a stout stomach
and would not yield until she had al
lowed herself to be ducked five several
<fvr,ao R<o~ che v,rox,Seod 20 sso3r, NJ
more Betsey was united and allowed
TO walk home In her wetted clothes
a hopefully penitent woman"
The ducking stool prevailed longer
in America than In England In the
old country it does not seem to have
been used later than 1909. but In Geor
gia women were ducked for scoldinl
as late as l819 1t is interesting te
note that In 1924 a woman In Phila
delphia was sentenced to be ducked
but the decree was not carried out. as
1t 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 II
this country vas that Of Mrs. Anne
Royal In Washington. lobbyist, who
became SO abusive to congressman
that she was indicted as common
scold before Judge william Crancf
and was sentenced by him to be duck
ed in the Potomac. She was, howev
er, not subjected to the ducking indig
nifty. but was released with a fne."-
BeIlman.
Needed the Money Badly.
A newspaper man of Washington
was apuroacbed one morning by