No More Learning

MARTHA.
'T was only a surmise.

DEACON.
We came to ask you,
You being with us in church covenant,
What part you have, if any, in these matters.

MARTHA.
And I make answer, No part whatsoever.
I am a farmer's wife, a working woman;
You see my spinning-wheel, you see my loom,
You know the duties of a farmer's wife,
And are not ignorant that my life among you
Has been without reproach until this day.
Is it not true?

DEACON.
So much we're bound to own,
And say it frankly, and without reserve.

MARTHA.
I've heard the idle tales that are abroad;
I've heard it whispered that I am a Witch;
I cannot help it. I do not believe
In any Witchcraft. It is a delusion.

DEACON.
How can you say that it is a delusion,
When all our learned and good men believe it,--
Our Ministers and worshipful Magistrates?

MARTHA.
Their eyes are blinded and see not the truth.
Perhaps one day they will be open to it.

DEACON.
You answer boldly. The Afflicted Children
Say you appeared to them.

MARTHA.
And did they say
What clothes I came in?

DEACON.
No, they could not tell.
They said that you foresaw our visit here,
And blinded them, so that they could not see
The clothes you wore.

MARTHA.
The cunning, crafty girls!
I say to you, in all sincerity,
I never have appeared to anyone
In my own person. If the Devil takes
My shape to hurt these children, or afflict them,
I am not guilty of it.