The Scarlet B

I can't quite convince Amanda that a US history vaction to DC would be fun. However, she believes a Salem Witch Trial history vacation for Halloween is to die for! She finds it fascinating! As we were discussing it last week, I encouraged her to read one of my favorites The Scarlet Letter.

Yesterday, with Hester Prynne still lingering in my thoughts, I stumbled upon Bill's 7th Great-Grandmother Katherine Aines living in Plymouth in 1656/57. She was an outsider, living among Puritans. She came from Ireland as an indentured servant, presumably after Cromwell overtook the Isle. Her husband Alexander Aines, a Scot, survived the Battle of Dunbar and the Death March to Durham Cathedral, and was shipped to the New World with a thousand other prisons of war to labor in the ironworks.

In March 1657 Katherine was publicly whipped for adultery and sentenced to wear a red capital B on her upper garment. If she were ever found without it, she would be whipped again. The B was for Blasphemy. Her husband was also punished -- sentenced to the stockades for "leaving his family and exposing his wife to such tempations."

Romantic literature brought to life! Hmmm . . . blasphemy, rather than adultery, was her mark. She obviously spoke her mind! I imagine she pronounced her accusers' feined piety and foretold their now infamous hypocrisy! I wonder if she mocked their sentence with elaborate embroidery. I must find more!

Bill would rather close the door on this skeleton -- he obviously hasn't read Hawthorne!