The incidents which have now been related, and the peculiar traits of
this man, are perhaps sufficient to account for the fact, that he was
spoken of as a person of "a scandalous" life. He had afforded food for
scandal; and it is not surprising, that, in a rural community, where
but few topics for talk occur beyond the village boundaries, all
should have participated, more or less, in criticising his ways, and
that the various difficulties into which he had been drawn, and the
charges against him, should have made him the object of much
prejudice. His wife Martha was also a noticeable character. She was a
professor of religion, a member of the village church, and found her
chief happiness in attendance upon public worship and in private
devotions. Much of her time--indeed, all that she could rescue from
the labors of the household--was spent in prayer. She was a woman of
spirit and pluck, as we shall see.

Another notability of the village was Bridget Bishop. In 1666--then
the widow Wasselbe--she was married to Thomas Oliver. After his death,
she became the wife of Edward Bishop, who is spoken of as a "sawyer."
This term did not describe the same occupation then to which it is
almost wholly applied now. Firewood, in those days, was not, as a
general thing, sawed, but chopped. The sawyer got out boards and
joists, beams, and timber of all kinds, from logs; and before mills
were constructed, or where they were not conveniently accessible, it
was an indispensable employment, and held a high rank among the
departments of useful industry. It was in constant requisition in
shipyards. It was a manly form of labor, requiring a considerable
outlay of apparatus, and developing finely the whole muscular
organization. The implement employed, beside the ordinary tools, such
as wedges, beetles, the broad-axe, chains, and crowbar, was a strong