Curious Punishments Of Bygone Days

Alice Morse Earle was a social historian of great note at the turn of the century, and many of her books have lived on as well-researched and well-written texts of everyday life in Colonial America. Curious Punishments of Bygone Days was published in 1896. It is a catalog of early American crimes and their penalties, with chapters on the pillories, stocks, the scarlet letter, the ducking stool, discipline of authors and books (egad!), and four other horrifying examples of ways in which those who transgressed the laws of Colonial America were made to pay for their sins.

'Curious Punishments of Bygone Days' is a history book published written by Alice Morse Earle. The subject of the chapters is various archaic punishments. Morse seems to make a distinction between stocks for the feet, in the Stocks chapter, and stocks for the head, described in the Pillory article- which itself clashes with the modern-day understanding of a pillory as a whipping post.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

There is no doubt that our far-away grandfathers, whether of English, French, Dutch, Scotch or Irish blood, were much more afraid of ridicule than they were even of sinning, and far more than we are of extreme derision or mockery to-day. This fear and sensitiveness they showed in many ways. They were vastly touchy and resentful about being called opprobrious or bantering names; often running petulantly to the court about it and seeking redress by prosecution of the offender. And they were forever bringing suits in petty slander and libel cases. Colonial court-rooms "bubbled over with scandal and gossip and spite." A creature as obsolete as his name, a "makebayt," was ever-present in[Pg 2] the community, ever whispering slander, ever exciting contention, and often also haled to court for punishment; while his opposite, a make-peace, was everywhere sadly needed. Far-seeing magistrates declared against the make-bait, as even guilty of stirring up barratry, or as Judge Sewall, the old Boston Puritan termed it, at least "gravaminous."

Curious Punishments of Bygone Days is a history book published in 1896. It was written by Alice Morse Earle and printed by Herbert S. Stone & Company.

"Alice Morse Earle, who has made considerable reputation as a patient delver among the oddities of our Colonial times, gives us a quaint and desirable volume in her 'Curious Punishments of Bygone Days.' Her researches have gone far, and she is able to compare old English and other customs; but the book concerns itself almost wholly with the Thirteen Colonies. The bilboes and the stocks, the ducking-stool and the scold's bridle, the pillory and the whipping-post, public penance, military punishments, branding and maiming - to all these she gives chapters, fortified with extracts from the old records of court and church. These pages are not only flavorsome and highly diverting, but a very useful reminder what inhumane creatures our forefathers were only a little while ago. It is not every intelligent American who is aware, for instance, that the beastly whipping of half-stripped women at the cart's tail was for more than a century a New England custom in full force. The Spanish inquisition was not a whit more cruel than our godly ancestors of Salem and Boston and Jamestown." -The Land of Sunshine: A Southern California Magazine "A great deal of interesting information found in ransacking court records, letters, newspapers and other documents for the historical foundation of the books she has written on colonial life. The subject is not a pleasant one, she admits; but the thrill of indignation aroused by the thought of the pillory and ducking-stool is toned down by the recollection that such punishments will never be inflicted again. Antiquity may lend the cloak of dignity to such matters, but it is doubtful. The humorous element is often to the front. There is much entertainment as well as instruction." -Philadelphia Press "In this dainty little volume Alice Morse Earle has done a real service, not only to present readers, but to future students of bygone customs. To come upon all the information that is here put into readable shape, one would be obligated to search through many ancient and cumbrous records." -Boston Transcript "Mrs. Alice Morse Earle has made a diverting and edifying book in her 'Curious Punishments of Bygone Days,' which is published in a style of quaintness befitting the theme." -New York Tribune "This light and entertaining volume is the most recent of Mrs. Earle's popular antiquarian sketches, and will not fail to amuse and mildly instruct readers who love to recall the grim furnishings and habits of previous centuries, without too much serious consideration of the root from which they sprang, the circumstances in which they flourished, or the uses they served." -The Independent

Bonded Leather binding