Historical fiction, American; New England -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Short stories
“The governor and his mighty men,” she said, “have gathered together,
taking counsel among themselves and saying, ‘What shall we do unto this
people—even unto the people that have come into this land to put our
iniquity to the blush?’ And, lo! the devil entereth into the
council-chamber like a lame man of low stature and gravely apparelled,
with a dark and twisted countenance and a bright, downcast eye. And he
standeth up among the rulers; yea, he goeth to and fro, whispering to
each; and every man lends his ear, for his word is ‘Slay! Slay!rsquo;
But I say unto ye, Woe to them that slay! Woe to them that shed the
blood of saints! Woe to them that have slain the husband and cast forth
the child, the tender infant, to wander homeless and hungry and cold
till he die, and have saved the mother alive in the cruelty of their
tender mercies! Woe to them in their lifetime! Cursed are they in the
delight and pleasure of their hearts! Woe to them in their death-hour,
whether it come swiftly with blood and violence or after long and
lingering pain! Woe in the dark house, in the rottenness of the grave,
when the children’s children shall revile the ashes of the fathers!
Woe, woe, woe, at the judgment, when all the persecuted and all the
slain in this bloody land, and the father, the mother and the child,
shall await them in a day that they cannot escape! Seed of the faith,
seed of the faith, ye whose hearts are moving with a power that ye know
not, arise, wash your hands of this innocent blood! Lift your voices,
chosen ones, cry aloud, and call down a woe and a judgment with me!”
Having thus given vent to the flood of malignity which she mistook for
inspiration, the speaker was silent. Her voice was succeeded by the
hysteric shrieks of several women, but the feelings of the audience
generally had not been drawn onward in the current with her own. They
remained stupefied, stranded, as it were, in the midst of a torrent
which deafened them by its roaring, but might not move them by its
violence. The clergyman, who could not hitherto have ejected the
usurper of his pulpit otherwise than by bodily force, now addressed her
in the tone of just indignation and legitimate authority.
“Get you down, woman, from the holy place which you profane,” he said,
“Is it to the Lord’s house that you come to pour forth the foulness of
your heart and the inspiration of the devil? Get you down, and remember
that the sentence of death is on you—yea, and shall be executed, were
it but for this day’s work.”
“I go, friend, I go, for the voice hath had its utterance,” replied
she, in a depressed, and even mild, tone. “I have done my mission unto
thee and to thy people; reward me with stripes, imprisonment or death,
as ye shall be permitted.” The weakness of exhausted passion caused her
steps to totter as she descended the pulpit stairs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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