Priscilla's Diary (Salem Witch Trials)

30 February 1692

My name is Priscilla Parker, and I am 27 years old. I have a family of my own and we live towards the outside of town. I have three kids and hoping for another. My oldest is Margaret and she is 7 years old. Then I have my only son Ralph, who is 5. My husband and I had troubles having another child, but soon enough Elinor came into the world and she is now 2. I am so thankful that God has blessed me with the healthy children I have. My husband is Bernard Parker. He owns a shop in town and sells many crops from his farm. While he's tending the shop, I watch over the farm and my children help me with our small garden so they could learn skills without ruining my husband's pride and joy.
    I was fortunate to have some spare time today and I was able to talk with one of my husband's best customer's wife, Catherine. I knew her from a while back also. Our moms knew each other and when there were days like this, we would play together. She had four kids of her own, but she lost her oldest daughter this winter. She told me that there were rumors that witches were in the area. I could not believe in such thing, but I was also scared at the idea of my family being cursed by them. What if they came and attacked us in the middle of the night? I sent Ralph to the school earlier with his doublet and while I was talking with Catherine, he ran past me and towards home. I had to see what was wrong. 
    I walked in and noticed that his doublet was missing. I asked him where it went and he did not want to tell me. I told him he shouldn't keep secrets because God doesn't want him to lie and he told me that he got to school later because he was playing with his friends and he noticed an unfamiliar boy climbing down from a tree in the woods. He went over to him and since the boy looked cold, gave him his doublet. I scolded him, saying that he was to go to school and not talk to others that were not from our town. With talk of witches, anything unknown has to be off-limits.