A small upper bedroom in the home of Reverend Samuel Parris, Salem, Massachusetts, in the

spring of the year 1692.
There is a narrow window at the left. Through its leaded panes the morning sunlight

streams. A candle still burns near the bed, which is at the right. A chest, a chair, and a

small table are the other furnishings. At the back a door opens on the landing of the

stairway to the ground floor. The room gives op an air of clean spareness. The roof

rafters are exposed, and the wood colors are raw and unmellowed.
As the curtain rises, Reverend Parris is discovered kneeling be-side the bed, evidently in

prayer. His dau`````