Page:Salem - a tale of the seventeenth century (IA taleseventeenth00derbrich).pdf/173



CHAPTER X.

EXCOMMUNICATION.

"None shall weep for thee—none shall pray for thee; Never a parting psalm be sung; Never a priest shall point death's way for thee,  Never a passing bell be rung."

After the fearful sentence had been pronounced, Mrs. Nurse was again taken to Salem jail, and there kept, loaded with chains and bound with cords, until her execution, it seeming to be the general belief that more restraint was needed for witches than for any other criminals.

But a new affliction was preparing for the aged and suffering Christian.

Upon the 3d of July, in the morning of the Sabbath-day, at the close of the services, after the sacrament of the Lord's Supper had been administered, it was propounded by the elders, and unanimously consented to by