THE WOMAN
I am sorry for you.
ED
Why?
THE WOMAN
[_Feeling her way and sadly._] Because you have the brain to say those
things, and not the spirit to believe them. I couldn’t say them, and
yet I’ve got something you haven’t got. [_With more sureness._] Because
I know the thing you said was true.
ED
Will you sit down?
THE WOMAN
No--I’ll go. [_Stands there uncertainly._] I don’t know why I should be
disappointed. I suppose it’s not fair to ask you to be as big as the
truth you saw. Why should I expect you would be?
ED
I’m sorry. I suppose now you’ll regret your tombstone.
THE WOMAN
No--it was wonderful to ride across this country and see all the
people. The train moving along seemed to make something move in me. I
had thoughts not like any thoughts I’d ever had before--your words like
a spring breaking through the dry country of my mind. I thought of how
you call your paper “A Journal of The Social Revolution,” and I said
to myself--This is the Social Revolution! Knowing that your tombstone
doesn’t matter! _Seeing_--that’s the Social Revolution.
ED
Seeing--?
THE WOMAN
[_As if it is passing before her._] A plain, dark trees off at the
edge, against the trees a little house and a big barn. A flat piece of
land fenced in. Stubble, furrows. Horses waiting to get in at the barn;
cows standing around a pump. A tile yard, a water tank, one straight
street of a little town. The country so still it seems dead. The trees
like--hopes that have been given up. The grave yards--on hills--they
come so fast. I noticed them first because of my tombstone, but I got
to thinking about the people--the people who spent their whole lives
right near the places where they are now. There’s something in the
thought of them--like the cows standing around the pump. So still, so
patient, it--kind of hurts. And their pleasures:--a flat field fenced
in. Your great words carried me to other great words. I thought of
Lincoln, and what he said of a few of the dead. I said it over and
over. I said things and didn’t know the meaning of them ’till after
I had said them. I said--“The truth--the truth--the truth that opens
from our lives as water opens from the rocks.” Then I knew what that
truth was. [_Pause, with an intensity peculiarly simple._] “Let us
here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.” I
mean--all of them. [_A gesture, wide, loving._] Let life become what it
may become!--so beautiful that everything that is back of us is worth
everything it cost.
[_Enter TOM._
TOM
I’ve got--[_Feeling something unusual._] Sorry to butt in, but I can
still get that job on _The Evening World_. If this paper is going to
stop, I’ve got to know it.
ED
Stop! This paper can’t stop!
TOM
Can’t stop! Last I heard, it couldn’t do anything else.
ED
That was--long ago.
TOM
Oh--you’ve got something to go on with?
ED
Yes, something to go on with.
TOM
I see. [_Looks at woman, as if he doesn’t see, glances at her
suit-case._] I’m glad. But--I’ve got to be sure. This--is the truth?
ED
The truth. The truth that opens from our lives as water opens from the
rocks.
[_TOM backs up._
THE WOMAN
[_Turning a shining face to THE PRINTER._] Nobody really _needs_ a
tombstone!
(CURTAIN)
* * * * *
CLOSE THE BOOK
A COMEDY IN ONE ACT
* * * * *
First Performed by the Provincetown Players, New York, Nov. 2, 1917
ORIGINAL CAST
JHANSI EDITH UNGER
PEYTON ROOT, _an Instructor in the University_ JAMES LIGHT
MRS. ROOT, PEYTON’S _Mother_ SUSAN GLASPELL
MRS. PEYTON, _His Grandmother_ CLARA SAVAGE
UNCLE GEORGE PEYTON,
_President of the Board of Regents_ JUSTUS SHEFFIELD
BESSIE ROOT ALICE MACDOUGAL
STATE SENATOR BYRD DAVID CARB
MRS. STATE SENATOR BYRD ESTHER PINCH
CLOSE THE BOOK
SCENE: _The library in the ROOT home, the library of middle-western
people who are an important family in their community, a university
town, and who think of themselves as people of culture. It is a room
which shows pride of family: on the rear wall are two large family
portraits--one a Revolutionary soldier, the other a man of a later
period. On the low book-cases, to both sides of door rear, and on
the mantel, right, are miniatures and other old pictures. There is
old furniture--mahogany recently done over: an easy chair near the
fireplace, a divan left. A Winged Victory presides over one of the
book-cases, a Burne Jones is hung. It is a warmly lighted, cheerful
room--books and flowers about. At the rear is a door opening on the
hall, at the left a door into another room. There is a corner window
at the right. JHANSI and PEYTON are seated on the divan. MRS. ROOT is
just going into the hall. She seems perturbed. JHANSI is dressed as a
non-conformist, but attractively. PEYTON is a rather helpless young
man, with a sense of humor that is itself rather helpless._
MRS. ROOT
I’ll see, Peyton, if your grandmother isn’t ready to come down.
[_She leaves them._
JHANSI
[_Springing up._] It’s absurd that I should be here!
PEYTON
I know, Jhansi, but just this once--as long as it means so much to
mother, and doesn’t really hurt us.
JHANSI
But it does hurt me, Peyton. These walls stifle me. You come of people
who have been walled in all their lives. It doesn’t cage you. But me--I
am a gypsy! Sometimes I feel them right behind me--all those wanderers,
people who were never caught; feel them behind me pushing me away from
all this!
PEYTON
But not pushing you away from me, dear. You love me, Jhansi, in spite
of my family?
JHANSI
If I didn’t love you do you think I could endure to come to this
dreadful place? [_A look about the comfortable room_]--and meet these
dreadful people? Forgive me for alluding to your home and family,
Peyton, but I must not lose my honesty, you know.
PEYTON
No, dear; I don’t think you are losing it. And perhaps I’d better
not lose mine either. There’s one thing I haven’t mentioned yet.
[_Hesitates._] Mr. Peyton is coming to dinner tonight.
JHANSI
Mr. Peyton. _What_ Peyton?
PEYTON
Yes--that one.
JHANSI
And you ask me--standing for the things I do in this university--to sit
down to dinner with the president of the board of regents!
PEYTON
Mother’d asked him before I knew it.
JHANSI
[_With scorn._] Your uncle!
PEYTON
He’s not my uncle--he’s mother’s. And you see it’s partly on account
of grandmother just getting back from California. He’s grandmother’s
brother-in-law, you know. I suppose she doesn’t realize what it means
to have to sit down to dinner with him--she’s done it so much. And then
mother thought it would be nice for you to meet him.
JHANSI
Nice!
PEYTON
He’s pleasant at dinner.
JHANSI
Pleasant!
PEYTON
Mother’s a little worried about my position in the university.
JHANSI
It would be wonderful for you to lose your position in the university.
PEYTON
Yes--wonderful.
JHANSI
And then you and I could walk forth free!
PEYTON
Free--but broke.
JHANSI
Peyton, you disappoint me. Just the fact that that man is coming to
dinner changes you.
PEYTON
Oh, no. But you are fortunately situated, Jhansi, having no people.
It’s easier to be free when there’s nobody who minds.
JHANSI
I am going!
PEYTON
Oh come now, dearest, you can’t go when you’re expected for dinner.
Nobody’s that free.
JHANSI
Dinner! A dinner to celebrate our engagement! It’s humiliating, Peyton.
I should take you by the hand and you and I should walk together down
the open road.
PEYTON
We will, Jhansi; we will--in time.
JHANSI
We should go now.
PEYTON
Think so? Mother’s going to have turkey.
JHANSI
Better a dinner of berries and nuts--!
PEYTON
We’ll have berries--cranberries, and nuts, too.
JHANSI
Where is my coat?
PEYTON
[_Seizing her and kissing her._] Some day, serene and unhampered, we’ll
take to the open road--a road with berries and nuts.
[_GRANDMOTHER PEYTON and MRS. ROOT are at the door._
MRS. ROOT
Mother, this is Peyton’s friend Miss Mason. One of our important
students.
GRANDMOTHER
[_In her brittle way._] Yes? I never was a very important student
myself. I didn’t like to study. Because my family were professors, I
suppose.
MRS. ROOT
Peyton’s grandmother is a descendant of Gustave Phelps--one of the
famous teachers of pioneer days.
JHANSI
[_Her head going up._] I am a descendant of people who never taught
anybody anything!
PEYTON
Jhansi and I were just going to finish an article on Free Speech which
must get to the Torch this evening.
GRANDMOTHER
[_Moving toward the big chair near the fire._] Free Speech? How amusing.
PEYTON
You may be less amused some day, grandmother.
[_JHANSI and PEYTON go into the other room._
GRANDMOTHER
That may be a free speech. I wouldn’t call it a pleasant one.
MRS. ROOT
[_Sinking to the divan._] Oh, he was speaking of the open road
again--berries and nuts--!
GRANDMOTHER
[_Beginning to knit._] Berries and nuts? Well, it sounds quite
innocuous to me. Some of our young people are less simple in their
tastes.
MRS. ROOT
[_In great distress._] Mother, how would you like to see your grandson
become a gypsy?
GRANDMOTHER
Peyton a gypsy? You mean in a carnival?
MRS. ROOT
No, not in a carnival! In _life_.
GRANDMOTHER
But he isn’t dark enough.
MRS. ROOT
And is _that_ the only thing against it! I had thought you would be a
help to me, mother.
GRANDMOTHER
Well, my dear Clara, I have no doubt I will be a help to you--in time.
This idea of Peyton becoming a gypsy is too startling for me to be a
help instantly. In the first place, could he be? You can’t be anything
you take it into your head to be--even if it is undesirable. And then,
why should he be? Doesn’t he still teach English right here in the
university?
MRS. ROOT
I don’t know how much longer he’ll teach it. He said the other day that
American literature was a toddy with the _stick_ left out. Saying that
of the very thing he’s paid to teach! It got in the papers and was
denounced in an editorial on “Untrue Americans.” Peyton--a descendant
of John Peyton of Valley Forge! [_Indicates the Revolutionary
portrait_]--denounced in an article on Untrue Americans! And in one of
those awful columns--those silly columns--they said maybe the stick
hadn’t been left out of his toddy. But it isn’t that. Peyton doesn’t
drink--to speak of. It’s this girl. _She’s_ the stick. And I tell you
people don’t like it, mother. It’s not what we pay our professors
_for_. Peyton used to be perfectly satisfied with civilization. But now
he talks about society. Makes light remarks.
GRANDMOTHER
I should say that was going out of his way to be disagreeable. What
business has a professor of English to say anything about society? It’s
not in his department.
MRS. ROOT
I told Peyton he should be more systematic.
GRANDMOTHER
How did this gypsy get here?
MRS. ROOT
She was brought up by a family named Mason. But it seems she was a
gypsy child, who got lost or something, and those Masons took her in.
I’m sure it was very good of them, and it’s too bad they weren’t able
to make her more of a Christian. She is coming to have a following in
the university! There are people who seem to think that because you’re
outside society you have some superior information about it.
GRANDMOTHER
Well, don’t you think you’re needlessly disturbed? In my day, a young
man would be likely enough to fall in love with a good-looking gypsy,
not very likely to marry her.
MRS. ROOT
Times have changed, mother. They marry them now. [_Both sigh._] Of
course, it’s very commendable of them.
GRANDMOTHER
[_Grimly._] Oh, quite--commendable.
MRS. ROOT
I was brought up in university circles. I’m interested in _ideas_. But
sometimes I think there are too _many_ ideas.
GRANDMOTHER
An embarrassment of riches. So you have set out to civilize the young
woman?
MRS. ROOT
I’d rather have her sit at my table than have my son leave some morning
in a covered wagon!
GRANDMOTHER
I wonder how it is about gypsies. About the children. I wonder if it’s
as it is with the negroes.
MRS. ROOT
_Mother!_
GRANDMOTHER
It would be startling, wouldn’t it?--if one of them should turn out to
be a real gypsy and take to this open road.
MRS. ROOT
[_Covering her face._] Oh!
GRANDMOTHER
Quite likely they’d do it by motor.
MRS. ROOT
[_Rising._] Mother!--how can you say such dreadful things--and just
when I have this _trying_ dinner. Oh, I wish Bessie would come! [_Goes
to the window._] She is a comfort to me.
GRANDMOTHER
Where is Bessie?
MRS. ROOT
She’s away in the motor. [_Again shudders._] Bessie feels dreadfully
about her brother. She is trying to do something. She said it would be
a surprise--a happy surprise. [_Someone heard in the hall._] Perhaps
this is Bessie. [_Enter MR. PEYTON._] Oh, it’s Uncle George.
UNCLE GEORGE
Early I know. Came to have a little visit with Elizabeth. [_Goes to
GRANDMOTHER and shakes hands._] How are you, young woman?
GRANDMOTHER
My nerves seem to be stronger than the nerves I see around me. And how
are you, George?
UNCLE GEORGE
Oh, I’m _well_.
GRANDMOTHER
But--?
UNCLE GEORGE
Responsibilities.
GRANDMOTHER
The bank?
UNCLE GEORGE
I’d rather run ten banks than a tenth of a university. You can control
money.
MRS. ROOT
I’m sorry, Uncle George, that Peyton should be adding to your worries.
UNCLE GEORGE
What’s the matter with Peyton?
GRANDMOTHER
Wild oats.
UNCLE GEORGE
Well, I wish he’d sow them in less intellectual fields.
MRS. ROOT
I am prepared to speak freely with you, Uncle George. The matter with
Peyton is this girl. Well, they’re going to be married. Yes [_Answering
his gesture of protest_] and I think it’s a good thing. She won’t be
in a position to say so much about freedom after she is married.
UNCLE GEORGE
But they say she’s a gypsy.
MRS. ROOT
She won’t be a gypsy after she’s Peyton’s wife. She’ll be a married
woman.
UNCLE GEORGE
Yes, but in the meantime we will have swallowed a gypsy.
GRANDMOTHER
And I was just wondering how it would be about the children.
MRS. ROOT
Mother, please don’t be indelicate again.
[_Pause._
GRANDMOTHER
Well, if there’s nothing else we may speak of, let’s talk about free
speech. They’re writing a paper on it in there.
UNCLE GEORGE
I don’t know what this university is coming to! An institution of
learning! It isn’t that I don’t believe in free speech. Every true
American believes in free speech, but--
[_Slight Pause._
GRANDMOTHER
[_With Emphasis._] Certainly.
UNCLE GEORGE
Ask them to come out here with their paper on free speech. I’ll be glad
to give them the benefit of my experience.
MRS. ROOT
Yes, it will be delightful to all be together.
[_She goes to get PEYTON and JHANSI._
GRANDMOTHER
This girl doesn’t look to me like one who is thirsting for the benefit
of another person’s experience.
UNCLE GEORGE
She’s a bad influence. She’s leading our young people to criticise the
society their fathers have builded up.
GRANDMOTHER
There’s a great deal of ingratitude in the world.
[_MRS. ROOT returns, followed by the two young people._
MRS. ROOT
I told Uncle George you were eager to bring him and Jhansi together.
Jhansi, this is Mr. Peyton, who looks after the affairs of the
university for you students. Of course you’ve heard about Miss Mason,
Uncle George, one of our--cleverest students.
UNCLE GEORGE
Yes, we were speaking of Miss Mason’s cleverness just the other day--in
board meeting.
JHANSI
And just the other day--at the student assembly--we were speaking of
how you look after the affairs of the university for us.
GRANDMOTHER
I hope you both spoke affectionately.
UNCLE GEORGE
Well, Peyton, very busy I take it. You’re adding to your duties, aren’t
you?
PEYTON
Not that I know of.
UNCLE GEORGE
Your grandmother said something about a high falutin paper on free
speech.
PEYTON
I suppose that’s an inherited tendency. You know one of my ancestors
signed a paper on free speech. It had a high falutin name: “The
Declaration of Independence”!
MRS. ROOT
I wish Bessie would come!
UNCLE GEORGE
Do you think much about your ancestors, Peyton?
PEYTON
Not a great deal.
UNCLE GEORGE
Peyton has some rather interesting ancestors, Miss Mason. There’s
Captain John Peyton. That’s his picture. He helped win one of the
battles which made this country possible--the country in which you
are living. And a descendant of John Peyton--Richard Peyton [_Points
out the picture_] gave the money which founded this university--the
university in which you are now acquiring your education.
JHANSI
[_Lightly._] Perhaps it would be quite as well if this university--and
this country--never had existed.
MRS. ROOT
I don’t see why Bessie _doesn’t_ come!
JHANSI
Of course I look at it as an outsider. I am not a part of your society.
UNCLE GEORGE
Peyton is.
MRS. ROOT
There’s Bessie!
[_Bessie rushes in._
BESSIE
Grandmother! [_Swiftly kissing her._] How wonderful to have you with us
again! Dear Uncle George!
UNCLE GEORGE
Glad you got here, Bessie. Your mother has been looking for you.
BESSIE
[_A movement of greeting to JHANSI._] Isn’t it beautiful to all be
together? A real family party! And now--we have a moment or two before
dinner, mother?
MRS. ROOT
The man who brought the turkey in from the country had a runaway, so it
was a little late in arriving.
BESSIE
How fortunate! Oh, it does seem that all things work together for the
best. Mother, I have had a completely successful day!
GRANDMOTHER
Where’ve you been, Bessie?
BESSIE
I’ve been fifty miles to the north--in Baxter County. Does that mean
anything to you, Jhansi?
JHANSI
Not a thing.
BESSIE
[_Still breathlessly._] Dear uncle, I hope you will understand what I
am about to do. It might seem unrestrained--not in the best of taste,
but it’s just because you stand for so much in Peyton’s life that I
want you to hear our good news as soon as we hear it ourselves. You
knew that these two children were in love and going to be married.
[_A bow from UNCLE GEORGE._] You know--Jhansi dear, I may speak very
freely, may I not?
JHANSI
I believe in free speech.
BESSIE
Yes--how dear of you. Jhansi has endured in proud silence a great
grief. And now, dear child, because of the touching dignity with which
you have stood outside and alone, it is a moment of special joyfulness
to me when I can say--Welcome Within!
PEYTON
What are you talking about, Bessie?
BESSIE
You must not stand outside society! You belong _within_ the gates. You
are one of us!
JHANSI
I’m _not_.
BESSIE
Dear child you are as respectable as we are.
JHANSI
[_Rising._] I am _not_.
BESSIE
Of course, you can’t grasp it in an instant. But I have looked it all
up, dear. I have the proofs.
PEYTON
Well it wasn’t your affair, Bessie.
BESSIE
I made it my affair because I love my brother. Jhansi dear, [_As one
who tells tremendous good news_] your father was Henry Harrison, a
milkman in the town of Sunny Center--an honorable and respected man.
Your parents were married in the Baptist Church!
JHANSI
I deny it! I deny this charge!
BESSIE
[_Stepping to the hall._] Dear Senator and Mrs. Byrd, will you come now?
[_Enter STATE SENATOR BYRD and MRS. STATE SENATOR BYRD, MRS. BYRD
carrying a large book._
BESSIE
Jhansi dear, you are about to enter upon the happiest moment of your
life, for State Senator Byrd, one of our law-making body, is a cousin
of your dear dead mother.
SENATOR BYRD
Aggie’s little girl!
[_He goes to JHANSI with outstretched hands. But AGGIE’S little girl
stands like a rock._
BESSIE
And here, Jhansi, is your cousin Mrs. Byrd, who has come all this way
to assure you you have a family.
MRS. BYRD
Indeed you have! There’s Ella Andrews, one of our teachers--a lovely
girl. She’s your first cousin. We are second cousins. You may have
some little family pride in knowing that I was last spring elected
President of the Federated Clubs of Baxter County. Just last week I
entertained the officers of all the clubs at our home--our new home,
erected last year after your cousin Ephraim completed his first term in
the upper house of the State Legislature. Your cousin Ephraim has been
re-elected. He is on the Ways and Means Committee.
UNCLE GEORGE
[_Approaching SENATOR BYRD._] I have heard of Senator Ephraim Byrd of
the Ways and Means Committee. That was good work you fellows--
[_They talk of this._
MRS. ROOT
And to think, Jhansi, that your cousin Mrs. Byrd is a prominent
clubwoman!
GRANDMOTHER
[_After a look at JHANSI._] Her cup runneth over.
MRS. ROOT
Isn’t Bessie wonderful, mother? How did you find it all out, Bessie?
BESSIE
From clue to clue I worked my way to Sunny Center. I would say to
myself--Do this for Peyton; do this for Jhansi. And so, I heard of an
old minister who had been there years and years. I went to him and--he
had married Jhansi’s father and mother! Dearest child, your mother
taught in his Sunday-School!
SENATOR BYRD
Oh, yes, Aggie loved the Baptist Sunday-School!
JHANSI
It’s very strange that my mother--I am referring to Mrs. Mason--never
told me of this!
BESSIE
But she never told you you were a gypsy, either, did she? No; she just
wanted you to think you were their own child. And then I suppose you
heard some foolish tale at school.
MRS. BYRD
You see Jhansi’s mother and father--her real ones--died of typhoid
fever before she was two years old. They got it from the cows. Well,
the Harrisons were friends of the Mason’s--they all worked together
in the church--and so they took Jhansi, and soon after that they
moved away and we lost track of them. You know what a busy world it
is--particularly for people who have duties in their community.
JHANSI
I haven’t accepted this story! You can’t prove it!
[_MRS. BYRD impressively hands her husband the book._
SENATOR BYRD
“Iowa descendants of New England families.”
MRS. ROOT
Oh, yes; that is _one_ of the books in which our family is written up!
[_To PEYTON._] My dearest boy, from my heart I congratulate you!
SENATOR BYRD
Pages fifty-seven to sixty-one--inclusive, are devoted, Jhansi, to our
family.
MRS. BYRD
My own family appears on page 113.
[_SENATOR BYRD holds the book out to JHANSI, who once more stands
like a rock. UNCLE GEORGE steps forward to look at the book._
UNCLE GEORGE
Oh, you are a descendant of Peter Byrd.
SENATOR BYRD
One of those dare-devils whose leg was shot under him at Bull Run.
BESSIE
You heard that, Jhansi?
MRS. ROOT
A descendant of Peter Byrd!--whose leg was shot _under_ him--
JHANSI
So _this_ is what I was brought here for, is it? To have my character
torn down--to ruin my reputation and threaten my integrity by seeking
to muzzle me with a leg at Bull Run and set me down in the Baptist
Sunday-School in a milk-wagon! I see the purpose of it all. I
understand the hostile motive behind all this--but I tell you it’s a
_lie_. Something here [_Hand on heart_] tells me I am not respectable!
UNCLE GEORGE
Reaction.
JHANSI
I am Jhansi--Jhansi--a child of the gypsies! I am a wanderer! I am an
outlaw!
MRS. BYRD
Yes, you are Jhansi. And did you ever stop to think how you came by
that outlandish name?
JHANSI
It has always assured me of my birthright.
MRS. BYRD
Well, you’d better look in your geography. You were named after a town
in India where your mother’s missionary circle was helping to support a
missionary.
SENATOR BYRD
Aggie was crazy about the missionaries.
JHANSI
[_Falling back, breaking._] Peyton, I release you from our engagement.
PEYTON
No. N-o; don’t do that. [_Stoutly._] I love you for yourself alone--in
spite of anything that may be true. But I must say Bessie--!
JHANSI
[_Beginning to sob._] I can’t bear it. I can’t bear it! And to think
that _Peyton’s_ mother was an illegitimate child.
MRS. ROOT
[_Dazed._] What’s that?
GRANDMOTHER
[_Rising._] Yes; what is that?
MRS. ROOT
Am I to understand--?
GRANDMOTHER
Am I to be told--at my age--that I gave birth to an illegitimate child?
This is a surprise to me--and not a pleasant one!
PEYTON
[_To JHANSI._] It would have been better not to have mentioned that.
UNCLE GEORGE
This _is_ reaction. I think perhaps we need a physician.
JHANSI
I don’t need a physician. Peyton certainly told me that his mother was
an illegitimate child. Of course, Peyton, if you were just _boasting_
about your family--say so.
UNCLE GEORGE
What have you to say, Peyton?
GRANDMOTHER
Before he says anything, Bessie, you bring me that portfolio from the
lower right-hand corner of my desk. Key in the upper left hand pigeon
hole.
[_Bessie goes._
MRS. ROOT
Peyton!
PEYTON