The Devil's 'restraining machine'

“One of the earliest institutions in every New England community was a pair of stocks. The first public building was a meeting-house, but often before any house of God was builded, the Devil got his restraining machine.’’

— Alice Morse Earle (1851-1911), historian. Her writing focused on small sociological details and became invaluable for some 20th Century  social historians. She wrote books on Colonial America (and especially New England ), such as Curious Punishments of Bygone Days.