Today in Salem: The two men are wincing in the heat as their shovels scrape against endless rocks. A grave shouldn’t be that difficult to dig, especially when it’s only three feet deep. But the soil is famously rocky here, and it will take the Sheriff and his deputy the better part of the afternoon to dig the trench, pull out the rocks, and replace them with soil.
A “good Christian burial” in a graveyard is out of the question for a dead witch, so the deputies have dug a grave for Bridget Bishop near the hanging tree. Tomorrow morning it will be put to good use.
As the men are digging her grave, Bridget is crying with her 25-year-old daughter, who’s come to visit her at the jail. She’s Bridget’s only child, and is here with a bundle of fresh clothes for her mother to wear tomorrow. They are Bridget’s Sabbath clothes, the ones she’s asked for, and her daughter has taken care to fold them neatly.
Will Bridget’s daughter be at the hanging tomorrow? Bridget has told her not to come. There’s nothing to be done, and it will only cause both of them pain. Besides, prayers can be said as easily at home as they can be at the hanging tree.
Tomorrow in Salem: ***Sensitive Content (death)*** HANGED: the once-unruly Bridget Bishop