I know you then.You have renounced the Devil, And have become a penitent confessor, The Lord be praised! Go on, I'll follow you.
Wait only till I fetch my horse, that stands Tethered among the trees, not far from here.
TITUBA.
Let me get up behind you, reverend sir.
MATHER.
The Lord forbid! What would the people think, If they should see the Reverend Cotton Mather Ride into Salem with a Witch behind him?
The Lord forbid!
TITUBA.
I do not need a horse!
I can ride through the air upon a stick, Above the tree-tops and above the houses, And no one see me, no one overtake me.
[Exeunt.
SCENE II.-- A room at JUSTICE HATHORNE'S.A clock in the corner.
Enter HATHORNE and MATHER.
HATHORNE.
You are welcome, reverend sir, thrice welcome here Beneath my humble roof.
MATHER.
I thank your Worship.
HATHORNE.
Pray you be seated.You must be fatigued With your long ride through unfrequented woods.
They sit down.
MATHER.
You know the purport of my visit here,--
To be advised by you, and counsel with you, And with the Reverend Clergy of the village, Touching these witchcrafts that so much afflict you;And see with mine own eyes the wonders told Of spectres and the shadows of the dead, That come back from their graves to speak with men.
HATHORNE.
Some men there are, I have known such, who think That the two worlds--the seen and the unseen, The world of matter and the world of spirit--Are like the hemispheres upon our maps, And touch each other only at a point.
But these two worlds are not divided thus, Save for the purposes of common speech, They form one globe, in which the parted s as All flow together and are intermingled, While the great continents remain distinct.
MATHER.
I doubt it not.The spiritual world Lies all about us, and its avenues Are open to the unseen feet of phantoms That come and go, and we perceive them not, Save by their influence, or when at times A most mysterious Providence permits them To manifest themselves to mortal eyes.
HATHORNE.
You, who are always welcome here among us, Are doubly welcome now.We need your wisdom, Your learning in these things to be our guide.
The Devil hath come down in wrath upon us, And ravages the land with all his hosts.
MATHER.
The Unclean Spirit said, "My name is Legion!"Multitudes in the Valley of Destruction!
But when our fervent, well-directed prayers, Which are the great artillery of Heaven, Are brought into the field, I see them scattered And driven like autumn leaves before the wind.
HATHORNE.
You as a Minister of God, can meet them With spiritual weapons: but, alas!
I, as a Magistrate, must combat them With weapons from the armory of the flesh.
MATHER.
These wonders of the world invisible,--
These spectral shapes that haunt our habitations,--The multiplied and manifold afflictions With which the aged and the dying saints Have their death prefaced and their age imbittered,--Are but prophetic trumpets that proclaim The Second Coming of our Lord on earth.
The evening wolves will be much more abroad, When we are near the evening of the world.
HATHORNE.
When you shall see, as I have hourly seen, The sorceries and the witchcrafts that torment us, See children tortured by invisible spirits, And wasted and consumed by powers unseen, You will confess the half has not been told you.
MATHER.
It must be so.The death-pangs of the Devil Will make him more a Devil than before;And Nebuchadnezzar's furnace will be heated Seven times more hot before its putting out.
HATHORNE.
Advise me, reverend sir.I look to you For counsel and for guidance in this matter.
What further shall we do?
MATHER.
Remember this, That as a sparrow falls not to the ground Without the will of God, so not a Devil Can come down from the air without his leave.
We must inquire.
HATHORNE.
Dear sir, we have inquired;
Sifted the matter thoroughly through and through, And then resifted it.
MATHER.
If God permits These Evil Spirits from the unseen regions To visit us with surprising informations, We must inquire what cause there is for this, But not receive the testimony borne By spectres as conclusive proof of guilt In the accused.
HATHORNE.
Upon such evidence We do not rest our case.The ways are many In which the guilty do betray themselves.
MATHER.
Be careful.Carry the knife with such exactness, That on one side no innocent blood be shed By too excessive zeal, and on the other No shelter given to any work of darkness.
HATHORNE.
For one, I do not fear excess of zeal.
What do we gain by parleying with the Devil?
You reason, but you hesitate to act!
Ah, reverend sir! believe me, in such cases The only safety is in acting promptly.
'T is not the part of wisdom to delay In things where not to do is still to do A deed more fatal than the deed we shrink from.
You are a man of books and meditation, But I am one who acts.
MATHER.
God give us wisdom In the directing of this thorny business, And guide us, lest New England should become Of an unsavory and sulphurous odor In the opinion of the world abroad!
The clock strikes.
I never hear the striking of a clock Without a warning and an admonition That time is on the wing, and we must quicken Our tardy pace in journeying Heavenward, As Israel did in journeying Canaan-ward!
They rise.
HATHORNE.
Then let us make all haste; and I will show you In what disguises and what fearful shapes The Unclean Spirits haunt this neighborhood, And you will pardon my excess of zeal.
MATHER.
Ah, poor New England! He who hurricanoed The house of Job is making now on thee One last assault, more deadly and more snarled With unintelligible circumstances Than any thou hast hitherto encountered!
[Exeunt.
SCENE III.-- A room in WALCOT'S House.MARY WALCOT seated in an arm-chair.TITUBA with a mirror.
MARY.
Tell me another story, Tituba.
A drowsiness is stealing over me Which is not sleep; for, though I close mine eyes, I am awake, and in another world.
Dim faces of the dead and of the absent Come floating up before me,--floating, fading, And disappearing.
TITUBA.
Look into this glass.
What see you?
MARY.
Nothing but a golden vapor.
