But who ever heard that our _pious_ ancestors
_ducked_ women for scolding?" This writer is much mistaken; for it is
well known that in England (and perhaps in this country in early
times) the "ducking-stool" was resorted to for punishing "scolds."
This was before the days of "women's rights," for there is no record
of any man having been punished in this way.
It is said that the ducking-stool was used in Virginia at one time.
Thomas Hartley writes from there to Governor Endicott of Massachusetts
in 1634, giving an account of the punishing a woman "who by the
violence of her tongue had made her house and neighborhood
uncomfortable." She was ducked five times before she repented; "then
cried piteously, 'Let me go! let me go! by God's help I'll sin so no
more.' They then drew back y^e Machine, untied y^e Ropes, and let her
walk home in her wetted Clothes a hopefully penitent woman." In the
"American Historical Record," vol. i., will be found a very
interesting account of this singular affair, with an engraving of the
"ducking-stool.
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