And makes us rather bear _these_ lesser ills,
Than fly to _those_ of greater magnitude.
Thus error does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied over with undue clemency,
And pedagogues of great pith and spirit,
With this regard their _firmness_ turn away,
And lose the name of _government_.

-------------------------

We here record a curious affair which took place in the State of
Georgia in the year 1811. At the Superior Court at Milledgeville a
Mrs. Palmer, who, the account states, "seems to have been rather glib
of the tongue, was indicted, tried, convicted, and, in pursuance of
the sentence of the Court, was punished by being publicly ducked in
the Oconee River for--_scolding_." This, we are told, was the first
instance of the kind that had ever occurred in that State, and
"numerous spectators attended the execution of the sentence." A paper
copying this account says that the "crime is old, but the punishment
is new," and that "in the good old days of our Ancestors, when an
unfortunate woman was accused of Witchcraft she was tied neck and
heels and thrown into a pond of Water: if she drowned, it was agreed
that she was no witch; if she swam, she was immediately tied to a
stake and burnt alive. But who ever heard that our _pious_ ancestors
_ducked_ women for scolding?" This writer is much mistaken; for it is
well known that in England (and perhaps in this country in early
times) the "ducking-stool" was resorted to for punishing "scolds."
This was before the days of "women's rights," for there is no record
of any man having been punished in this way.