They dragged him, bound, to Gallows Hill (I saw the flowers among the grass); The women came,--I hear them still,-- They held their babes to see him pass. God curse them!--Nay,--Oh God forgive! He said it while their lips reviled; He kissed my lips,--he whispered: "Live! The father loves thee in the child." Then earth and sky grew black,--I fell-- I lay as stone beside their stone. They did their work. They earned their Hell. I woke on Gallows Hill, alone. Oh Christ who suffered, Christ who blessed, Shield him upon the gallows tree! O babe, his babe, beneath my breast, He died for thee!--he died for me! EDNAH PROCTOR CLARKE. The case of Giles Corey is one of the most tragic in all this hideous drama. When arrested and brought before the court, he refused to plead--"stood mute," as the law termed it. The penalty for "standing mute," according to the English law of the time, was that the prisoner "be remanded to prison ... and there be laid on his back on the bare floor...; that there be placed upon his body as great a weight of iron as he can bear, and more," until death should ensue. This was the penalty Giles Corey suffered. THE TRIAL From "Giles Corey of the Salem Farms" [September 7, 1692] SCENE II.--_Interior of the Meeting-house._ MATHER _and the Magistrates seated in front of the pulpit. Before them a raised platform._ MARTHA _in chains_. COREY _near her_. MARY WALCOT _in a chair. A crowd of spectators, among them_ GLOYD. _Confusion and murmurs during the scene._ HATHORNE CALL Martha Corey. MARTHA I am here. HATHORNE Come forward. _She ascends the platform._ The Jurors of our Sovereign Lord and Lady The King and Queen, here present, do accuse you Of having on the tenth of June last past, And divers other times before and after, Wickedly used and practised certain arts Called Witchcrafts, Sorceries, and Incantations, Against one Mary Walcot, single woman, Of Salem Village: by which wicked arts The aforesaid Mary Walcot was tormented, Tortured, afflicted, pined, consumed, and wasted, Against the peace of our Sovereign Lord and Lady The King and Queen, as well as of the Statute Made and provided in that case. What say you? MARTHA Before I answer, give me leave to pray. HATHORNE We have not sent for you, nor are we here, To hear you pray, but to examine you In whatsoever is alleged against you Why do you hurt this person? MARTHA I do not. I am not guilty of the charge against me. MARY Avoid, she-devil! You may torment me now! Avoid, avoid, Witch! MARTHA I am innocent. I never had to do with any Witchcraft Since I was born. I am a gospel woman. MARY You are a gospel Witch! MARTHA (_clasping her hands_) Ah me! ah me! Oh, give me leave to pray!