his drunkard's badge was made permanent.

"1634. Robert Coles, for drunkenes by him comitted at Rocksbury, shalbe
disfranchized, weare about his necke, & soe to hange vpon his outwd
garment a D. made of redd cloth & sett vpon white; to continyu this for
a yeare, and not to have itt off any time hee comes among company, Vnder
the penalty of xls for the first offence & vL for the second &
afterwards to be punished by the Court as they think meete, alsoe hee is
to weare the D. outwards."

We might be justified in drawing an inference from the latter clause
that some mortified wearers of a scarlet letter had craftily turned it
away from public gaze, hoping thus to escape public odium and ostracism.

Paupers were plainly labelled, as was the custom everywhere in England.
In New York, the letters N. Y. showed to what town they submitted. In
Virginia this law was in force:

"That every person who shall receive relief from the parish, and be sent
to the said house, shall, upon the shoulder of the right sleeve of his
or her uppermost garment, in an open and visible manner, wear a badge
with the name of the parish to which he or she belongs, cut in red,
blue or green cloth, as the vestry or church wardens shall direct; and
if any poor person shall neglect or refuse to wear such badge, such
offence may be punished either by ordering his or her allowance to be
abridged, suspended or withdrawn, or the offender to be whipped not
exceeding five lashes for one offence; and if any person not entitled to
relief, as aforesaid, shall presume to wear such badge, he or she shall
be whipped for every such offence."

The conditions of wearing "in an open and visible manner" may have been
a legal concession necessitated by the action of the English goody who,
when ordered to wear a pauper's badge, demurely pinned it on an
under-petticoat.

A more limited and temporary mortification of a transgressor consisted
in the marking by significant letters or labels inscribed in large
letters with the name or nature of the crime. These were worn only while
the offender was exposed to public view or ridicule in cage, or upon
pillory, stocks, gallows or penance stool, or on the meeting house
steps, or in the market-place.

An early and truly characteristic law for those of Puritan faith reads
thus:

"If any interrupt or oppose a preacher in season of worship, they shall
be reproved by the Magistrate, and on a repetition, shall pay L5 or
stand two