During the 1700’s, it was not uncommon for people to die at an age that we now may consider young. Many things have changed since that time to how we know it to be. However, in “The Diary of Samuel Sewall,” Sewall writes of the unfortunate deaths of his wives. After the death of his wife, Abigail Tilly, he courts Katherine Winthrop (Madam Winthrop). Sewall wants to marry Madam Winthrop and proposes to her several …showed first 75 words of 436 total…

…showed last 75 words of 436 total…she had not pleasure in things of that nature” (161). “Things of that nature” could refer to many things, but it could refer to a sexual relationship, hence the reason why she quotes Apostle Paul in the first place. She does not want any sexual relationship; she wants to concentrate her thoughts on that of the Lord, and if she were in any kind of relationship with Sewall, she would not be able to do so.