ave its beginning and
origin? Coffin in his _Old Times in the Colonies_ has summed up the
matters briefly and vividly: "The saddest story in the history of our
country is that of the witch craze at Salem, Mass. brought about by a
negro woman and a company of girls. The negress, Tituba, was a slave,
whom Rev. Samuel Parris, one of the ministers of Salem, had purchased in
Barbadoes. We may think of Tituba as seated in the old kitchen of Mr.
Parris's house during the long winter evenings, telling witchcraft
stories to the minister's niece, Elizabeth, nine years old. She draws a
circle in the ashes on the hearth, burns a lock of hair, and mutters
gibberish. They are incantations to call up the devil and his imps. The
girls of the village gather in the old kitchen to hear Tituba's stories,
and to mutter words that have no meaning. The girls are Abigail
Williams, who is eleven; Anne Putnam, twelve; Mary Walcot; and Mary
Lewis, seventeen; Elizabeth Hubbard, Elizabeth Booth, and Susannah
Sheldon, eighteen; and two servant girls, Mary Warren, and Sarah
Churchill. Tituba taught them to bark like dogs, mew like cats, grunt
like hogs, to creep through chairs and under tables on their hands and
feet, and pretend to have spasms.... Mr. Parris had read the books and
pamphlets published in England ... and he came to the conclusion that
they were bewitched. He sent for Doctor Griggs who said that the girls
were not sick, and without doubt were bewitched.... The town was on
fire. Who bewitches you? they were asked. Sarah Good, Sarah Osbum, and
Tituba, said the girls. Sarah Good was a poor, old woman, who begged her
bread from door to door. Sarah Osburn was old, wrinkled, and
sickly."[25]

The news of the peculiar actions of the girls spread throughout the
settlement; people flocked to see their antics. By this time the
children had carried the "fun" so far that they dared not confess, lest
the punishment be terrific, and, therefore, to escape the consequences,
they accused various old women of bewitching them. Undoubtedly the
little ones had no idea that the delusion would seize so firmly upon
the superstitious nature of the people; but the settlers, especially the
clergymen and the doctors, took the matter seriously and brought the
accused to trial. The craze spread; neighbor accused neighbor; enemies
apparently tried to pay old scores by the same method; and those who did
not confess were put to death. It is a fact worth noting that th