I do not believe that the people in early Salem were as modest as our current use of the work "Puritan" implies. Most of these people lived in very small houses -two rooms and a loft - and had large families. How can you be that modest with bodily functions to take care of, babies being born and producing twelve children? Shaming was a cheap and effective way of punishment. You scared the hell out of everyone else who was contemplating or committing the same crime and the guilty person went back to work the next day. Phil