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THE FLUTTER OF THE GOLDLEAF
AND OTHER PLAYS
BY
OLIVE TILFORD DARGAN
AND
FREDERICK PETERSON
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1922
COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
PRINTED AT
THE SCRIBNER PRESS
NEW YORK, U. S. A.
CONTENTS
PAGE
THE FLUTTER OF THE GOLDLEAF 1
BY OLIVE TILFORD DARGAN AND FREDERICK PETERSON
THE JOURNEY 49
BY OLIVE TILFORD DARGAN
EVERYCHILD 75
BY FREDERICK PETERSON AND OLIVE TILFORD DARGAN
TWO DOCTORS AT AKRAGAS 103
BY FREDERICK PETERSON
THE FLUTTER OF THE GOLDLEAF
A PLAY IN ONE ACT
BY
Olive Tilford Dargan
AND
Frederick Peterson
CHARACTERS
PHILO WARNER, _a student_
HIRAM WARNER, _his father, the village grocer_
MARY ANN WARNER, _his mother_
DR. BELLOWS, _the village physician_
DR. SEYMOUR, _a city specialist_
REBA SLOAN, _a neighbor's daughter_
THE FLUTTER OF THE GOLDLEAF
SCENE: _Laboratory in the attic of the Warner cottage. At right, toward
rear, entrance from down-stairs. A rude partition, left, with door
in centre. Window centre rear. Large kitchen table loaded with
apparatus. Shelves, similarly loaded, against wall near table, right.
Wires strung about. A rude couch, bench, and several wooden chairs._
_Time, about 8 p.m. Lamp burns on table._ MRS. WARNER _comes
up-stairs, puts her head inside the room nervously, then enters and
looks about._
_Mrs. W._
Such a mess! And the doctors will be here in half an hour! (_Tries to
get busy but seems bothered. Crosses to table and looks at a little
machine that stands upon it._) _That's_ what's driving my boy crazy! If
I only dared to smash it! The right sort of a mother would do just that!
(_Looks at machine with dire meditation._)
_Warner_ (_without, roaring up the stairs_)
Mary Ann!
_Mrs. W._ (_jumps_)
Yes, Hiram!
_Warner_ (_entering_)
Where's Philo?
_Mrs. W._
In the orchard. I watched my chance, and thought I'd redd up a little.
He won't let me touch anything when he's here.
_Warner_
Just about lives up here, don't he?
_Mrs. W._
Day and night now, since he's been too sick to go to the store. And
I can't have Dr. Bellows bring in that specialist from New York with
things lookin' as if a woman had never come up the stairs. (_Dusting
and rattling._)
_Warner_
Philo's not onto what the doctors are after, is he?
_Mrs. W._
He thinks they're coming to look at his machine mostly--and see what's
keepin' him awake nights. But maybe he knows. He's awful sharp.
_Warner_
Sharp? Wish he knew enough to sell eggs and bacon. He's ruinin' my
business. Weighs a pound of coffee as if he was asleep. I can see
customers watchin' him out o' the tail o' their eye. They're gettin'
_afraid_ of him! Mary Ann, the boy's going to be a shame to us. He's
crazy!
_Mrs. W._
Don't you call _my_ boy crazy. I won't hear it, Hiram.
_Warner_
No, you'll wait till the whole village tells you! They're all talkin'
now!
_Mrs. W._
It's none o' their business!
_Warner_
It'll be their business if he flies up and hurts somebody.
_Mrs. W._
Philo wouldn't hurt anything alive. He got mad at me once for killin'
a spider.
_Warner_ (_scornfully_)
Showed his sense there, didn't he?
_Mrs. W._
If Philo's queer it's not from my side of the house. You know what your
mother was like--wanderin' round nights starin' at the stars with that
old spy-glass Captain Barker gave her.
_Warner_
She was a good mother, all the same.
_Mrs. W._
Couldn't cook at all. Your father only kept alive by eating at the
neighbors occasionally--and as for sewing and mending, you children went
in rags till your Aunt Sary came to live with you.
_Warner_
Mother thought a heap of us, though. I remember how she cried because I
wouldn't go to school and went into the grocery business. And she cried
a lot more when I married you. I couldn't understand her--_then_....
_Mrs. W._
Humph! She'd been shut up fast enough if your father hadn't been the
softest-hearted man alive.
_Warner_
Maybe the boy does take after her, but he's worse'n she ever was.
_Mrs. W._
She didn't have any books--or college education--to turn her head.
_Warner_
Nothing to read but the _Weekly Mirror_. It was a good paper, though,
all about crops and stock, and what the country people were doing, and
a love story on the inside page. Father subscribed on her account. She
told him her mind had to have _something_ to work on. But she didn't
take to the paper, and he had to read it himself to get his money's
worth.
_Mrs. W._
A good thing she didn't have a library to get at like Philo. All those
books he brought home didn't do him any good. He began to get queer
about the time he was reading that set of Sir Humphry Davy's Complete
Works, with so much about electrics and the stars, and that sort of
stuff. If we could only get him to quit this studyin' and stay
out-o'-doors....
_Warner_
S'pose we clear out this hole--burn the books, and get rid of all these
confounded wires and jars and fixings. I don't believe he saves a penny
of the wages I give him for helpin' to ruin me. All he makes goes for
this truck. We'll clear it out.
_Mrs. W._
I've thought of that, but we oughtn't to go too far. They're his anyhow,
and I'm afraid----
_Warner_
Well, I'm not afraid! And I'll begin with this devil! (_Pauses over
machine. Starts suddenly._) What's that? He's coming!
_Mrs. W._ (_listening_)
It's only Alice going to her room.
_Warner_
Perhaps we'd better see what the specialist says first.
_Mrs. W._
I know Dr. Bellows wants us to send Philo away. But I'm against that,
first and last.
_Warner_
You wouldn't be if you'd listen to Bellows awhile. You know what he told
me when I met him this morning? "Why, Warner," he says, "I never go to
see the boy without taking a pair of handcuffs in my pocket. It's the
quiet ones that go the wildest when they do break out."
_Mrs. W._
Oh, Hiram, it's not going to be so bad as that. Don't let him set you
against your own flesh and blood. Just let me manage awhile. He needs to
get stirred up about something--get his mind off this. I wish I hadn't
stopped those letters he was getting from Reba Sloan when she went off
to school two years ago.
_Warner_
But you said you'd rather see him dead than married to Sloan's girl.
_Mrs. W._
I meant it, too! But seeing your child dead is not so bad as seeing him
crazy--and if Reba can save him----
_Warner_
How in thunder----
_Mrs. W._
She's a taking girl, Hiram--since she got back. If Philo gets his mind
fixed on _her_, she'll soon have him forgettin' this. Why,--you remember
for three months before we were married you couldn't think o' nothing
but me.
_Warner_
Good Lord! Is that so, Mary Ann?
_Mrs. W._
I had to hurry up the weddin' to save your business. You were letting
Jabe McKenny take all your trade right under your nose.
_Warner_
Sakes 'a' mighty! If I could come out of a spell like that, there's some
hope for our poor chap.
_Mrs. W._
That's what I'm telling you!
_Warner_
But Reba's father--you going to have old fiddler Sloan in the family?
_Mrs. W._
He's come into some money now, and any gentleman can take an interest
in music.
_Warner_
And the mother was that foreign woman.
_Mrs. W._
But she's dead. It's just as well Philo won't have a mother-in-law.
_Warner_
Reba'll have one, all right. If Philo stays queer it'll be hard on the
girl, won't it?
_Mrs. W._
He'll not stay queer. If he gets that girl in his head there won't be
room for anything else--for a while anyway. He'll be worse'n you ever
was. You let me manage it, Hiram.
(PHILO _is heard coming up the stairs. They listen in silence until
he enters. He is talking, not quite audibly, to himself, and
doesn't see them. Goes to table and stands by machine._)
_Philo_
Here--at last--I have caught the word ... the word of the stars.
_Mrs. W._
Philo!
_Philo_ (_looking up_)
Mother!... Father!... (_In alarm._) You haven't touched anything here?
_Mrs. W._
No, my son. I've just put the place to rights a bit. Dr. Seymour is
coming, you know.
_Philo_
Yes. (_Walks the floor, meditating._)
_Warner_
You must come out of this dream, Philo.
_Philo_
It is not a dream! I am the only being in the world who is awake!
_Mrs. W._
My son!
_Philo_
Man sleeps--like the rocks, trees, hills--while all around him, out of
the unseen, beating on blind eyes, deaf ears, numbed brain, sweep the
winds of eternity, the ether waves, the signals from the deeps of space!
_Warner_
Hey, diddle, diddle!
_Philo_
Sleep-walkers all--the people in the streets, the shops--the mad people
with their heaps of gold!
_Mrs. W._
Now don't work yourself up, Philo, with the doctor coming. You want to
tell him about your machine.
_Philo_
Yes. He is a great man. He has studied these things. I will talk to him.
He will not laugh.
_Warner_
Mary Ann, don't you think we'd better bring up some cider? It'll look
more hospitable like.
_Mrs. W._
That city doctor won't care anything about cider.
_Warner_
My cider's good enough for anybody! And Dr. Bellows'll be sure to ask
for it.
_Mrs. W._
Well, wait till he does. (_Looks uneasily about room._) Don't you think,
son, that if you're going to take to having visitors here I'd better
move some furniture up? You could have the haircloth sofa--the springs
are broke anyway--and Alice says she don't want the wax flowers in the
parlor any more. They're turnin' yellow, but you wouldn't notice it up
here.
_Philo_ (_clinching his hands_)
Do what you like, mother, only don't take anything _out_. If anything
happened to my work I believe I'd go crazy!
(_The parents look at each other._)
_Warner_
Thought your work was tendin' the store.
_Philo_
Brother Will is more help there than I am, father.
_Warner_
You're right about that. Will's got a head on.
_Mrs. W._
You'd better go down, Hiram, and meet the doctors.
_Warner_
Alice'll show them up.
_Mrs. W._
Where's that strange smell comin' from? Do you work in the other room,
too, Philo? (_Goes in, left._)
_Philo_
Father ... I'm sorry about the store ... I wish I could tell you ... but
what's the use? You won't believe!
(_Re-enter_ MRS. W.)
_Mrs. W._
Gracious! I couldn't breathe in there! Got to clear _something_ out
before Reba comes up here. She'd have no respect for my housekeeping.
_Philo_
Reba?
_Mrs. W._
Reba Sloan. She's been asking if she couldn't come. She's just wild to
see your machine.
_Philo_
Don't you ever let her up here, mother!
_Mrs. W._
But she asked me, Philo--and a neighbor's daughter, you know----
_Philo_
I thought she was away from home.
_Mrs. W._
Been back a month--walks all about right under your eyes. You ought to
be _civil_, Philo.
_Philo_
I want to see Dr. Seymour. I should like to have him know what I'm
doing. But if you're going to turn the whole village in here, I'll bar
the door, that's all.
_Mrs. W._
My son, if you'd only interest yourself a little----
_Philo_
I'm not interested in anything nearer than thirty-five million miles!
_Warner_
What did I tell you, Mary Ann?
_Mrs. W._
I hear the doctors! Now, Philo, if you can't talk sense, don't say
_anything_.
(_Enter_ SEYMOUR _and_ BELLOWS.)
_Bellows_
Good evening, Warner. How d' do, Mrs. Warner! My friend, Dr. Seymour.
_Warner and Mrs. W._
How do you do, sir!
_Bellows_
Philo, I've brought Dr. Seymour around to have a talk with you. He's
down from New York for a day or two. Been sleeping any better?
_Philo_
Too much. I need all my time. I'm very glad to see you, Dr. Seymour.
(_All take seats._)
_Mrs. W._
I hope you'll excuse the looks of the room, doctor.
_Seymour_
It looks very interesting indeed to me, Mrs. Warner. The workshop of a
student, and a busy one. (_To_ PHILO.) You've been working too hard, I
see.
_Philo_
I'm tired, perhaps, but I am well. When a man makes a momentous
discovery he is apt to be overwrought. He may not eat or sleep well for
a time. He may even appear to be strange or mad.
(MRS. W. _coughs suddenly._)
_Mrs. W._
I'm afraid that's not a comfortable chair, Dr. Seymour.
_Seymour_
Quite comfortable, Mrs. Warner.
_Mrs. W._ (_rapidly_)
Philo is my oldest boy, and I never could keep him away from books.
Will, my second son, is as steady in the store as his father himself,
and Johnny is just fine on the wagon. As for Alice, there's not a neater
all-round girl to be found anywhere. They're healthy, sensible children,
every one of 'em, and don't care what's inside any book in the
world--but Philo was just bent on going to college----
_Seymour_
A very natural bent for an ambitious boy.
_Bellows_
Tell us about the discovery, Philo, my lad.
_Philo_ (_rising and walking slowly up and down the room_)
I think I will. It will be another experiment. I know what the effect
will be on Dr. Bellows. He is an old friend of mine--but you, sir, are a
stranger. I should like to try your mind and see if you are awake or
asleep.
(BELLOWS _winks toward_ SEYMOUR, _who takes no notice, but gives_
PHILO _careful attention._)
_Seymour_
I hope I shall not disappoint you.
_Philo_
I believe we have some points of view in common, for your profession
needs to take note of many problems connected with both evolution and
electricity. I have been a reader of general science for many years.
The fact that on the earth we have had a slow evolution from a monad
to a man contains a promise of further development of man into--let us
say an angel.
_Bellows_
Not very soon, I guess.
_Philo_ (_sharply_)
Hardly in your day, doctor. You needn't worry about the fashion in
wing-feathers.
_Seymour_
Go on, Mr. Warner.
_Philo_
In others of the many millions of globes about us in space, a similar
evolution is going on, and in some the evolution is less advanced than
in ours, in others incomparably more advanced.
_Seymour_
We may admit that.
(BELLOWS _looks to_ WARNER _for sympathy, and shakes his head._)
_Philo_
We have reached a stage when we have begun to peer out into the stellar
depths and question them. We are beginning to master the light and the
lightning, to measure the vastness of space, to weigh the suns, to
determine the elements that comprise them, to talk and send messages
thousands of miles without wires. Each year uncovers new wonders,
infinitely minute, infinitely great.
_Seymour_
True,--all true.
_Philo_ (_becoming more repressed and tensely excited as he goes on_)
The dreams of the alchemists are being realized. That machine yonder
detects the waves from a millionth of a millionth of a milligramme of
radium.
_Seymour_
What!
_Philo_
I have invented a tuned electroscope that would be destroyed by such
waves, so sensitive as to react only to waves from an inconceivable
distance, beyond thirty-five million miles.
_Seymour_ (_trying to take it in_)
Thirty-five million miles!
_Philo_ (_with great tension_)
Three weeks ago I made this instrument, and ever since then, at regular
intervals, there have been rhythmic flutterings of the goldleaf, regular
repetitions, as if it were knocking at the door of earth from the
eternal silences. I have watched it--the same measured fluttering--two
beats--then three--then two--then four and a pause! It is a studied
measure! It has meaning! When I first noticed it--the faint flutter of
the goldleaf--and knew that any waves from a nearer point than
thirty-five million miles would utterly destroy so delicate an
instrument--my hair stood on end. I have watched it three
weeks--alone--and you ask me why I do not sleep!... Look!
(_The doctors spring up electrified, and stare at the instrument._)
_Philo_
There it is again! Two beats--then three--then two--then four--now it
is over!
(SEYMOUR _continues to stare at the instrument._ BELLOWS _subsides
into a chair, looking foolish._)
_Seymour_ (_to himself_)
Impossible!... (_To_ PHILO.) What was it you were saying? What
did you see?
_Philo_
I saw what you saw--signals from a distance farther than the distance
of the nearest planet to our earth.
_Seymour_ (_shaken_)
But I saw nothing. At least a slight movement in anything so sensitive
might be due to many causes....
_Philo_
Yes! It is always the old story. Truths must be hammered into humanity!
Branded in with flame, or driven in with sword and bullet!
_Bellows_ (_starting up alarmed_)
Hadn't we better be going, doctor?
_Philo_
Oh, no! Wait till you've talked me over. Decide whether I'm mad or not!
If I'm a menace to the community! If I must be locked up! My father and
mother are waiting to know. Don't go! Finish your work! (_Rushes into
room, left._)
_Bellows_ (_triumphantly to_ SEYMOUR)
Well?
(SEYMOUR _hesitates, looks at the father and mother, then at_
BELLOWS, _and takes out his match-case._)
_Bellows_ (_making a conquest of the obvious_)
Warner, a little of that fine cider of yours would just finish off our
chat.
_Warner_
Nothing better! (_Starting out, whispers to_ MRS. W.) Where's grandma's
silver pitcher?
_Mrs. W._
I'll get _that_.
(_They go down-stairs._)
_Bellows_ (_laughing_)
She never lets him go to the cellar by himself.
_Seymour_
Not a drinker, is he?
_Bellows_
Oh, no! The pattern of a deacon. But she keeps her hand on.
(SEYMOUR _lights a cigar thinkingly._)
_Bellows_
No use to go over this case. It's clear enough. We'll have our
cider--it's worth waiting for--then go to my office and fix up the
commitment papers.
_Seymour_ (_rubbing his hand slowly over his forehead_)
To talk with such a patient sometimes bewilders the brain. He seemed so
clear in his utterance--so rational----
_Bellows_
Funny, wasn't he? I almost believed it myself for a minute.
_Seymour_
It might be true.
_Bellows_
Hey?
_Seymour_
Perhaps we are all somnambulists moving about in this dream-world we
call practical life. Behind this tough matter that takes so many shapes
and colors, what strange secrets are hidden, just beginning to reach our
dull senses--X-rays, radium emanations, wireless waves.
_Bellows_
Oh, they're natural enough now. Common sense has adopted them.
_Seymour_
Yes, we are easily satisfied. Give a mystery a name and that's enough
for the most of us. But here and there are minds that must explore
further; and if they discover something beyond the comprehension of us
who stay behind, we call them mad.
_Bellows_
Well, none of your mind-puzzles for me. Give me something clear cut,
like typhoid, or measles, an amputation, or new babies, something I can
fix my eyes on. You can take care of the madmen--except when they're
in my own village. I'm not going to have a boy like Philo gibbering
around ready to break out wild any time.
_Seymour_
It's true he may be led into frenzy, or even self-destruction, but it
will be from overwork and loneliness. I must have a talk with the
parents----
_Bellows_
What do you expect _them_ to do? They're asking us for help. And _I'm_
willing to give it to them.
(_Re-enter_ WARNER _and_ MRS. W. _He carries pitcher, she carries
tray with glasses._)
_Seymour_ (_to_ BELLOWS)
We'll see. As I say, the boy has been losing sleep, and giving his mind
no rest.
_Mrs. W._ (_holding tray while_ WARNER _pours cider_)
Just what I say, doctor. He's studied himself sick.
_Seymour_
You must get him out of here, Mrs. Warner. (_Sipping cider._) Excellent,
indeed!
_Mrs. W._
I'm doing my best.
_Warner_ (_to_ BELLOWS, _who has drained his glass_)
You're at home, doctor. Just help yourself.
(_He does._)
_Seymour_
What is his age?
_Mrs. W._
Twenty. He went early to college.
_Seymour_ (_musingly_)
The usual age. Twenty. (_Sighs._) The age of visions and enchantments.
"The thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."
_Bellows_
What are you saying, doctor?
_Seymour_
Just thinking. It's a healthy family, isn't it?
_Mrs. W._
I should say! Why, Will and Johnny and Alice----
_Bellows_
Best sort. The thoroughbreds of the town. Temperate, thriving, regular
at church. Warner here was once county supervisor. (_Clapping him on
shoulder._) Never had a better one.
_Seymour_ (_to_ WARNER)
And your parents?
_Warner_
Father was a sound, practical man. Stood flat-footed, I may say.
_Seymour_
And your mother?
_Mrs. W._
Law me, Hiram Warner thinks there was never anybody in the world like
his mother. And there never _was_!
_Seymour_
That's good to build on. It is clear that your boy is ill, and the
burden of his knowledge, whether truth or delusion, is far too great for
him to bear. If you could interest him for even a brief time in ordinary
life--(_smiling_) miracles that are too common to be disturbing--throw
him with young people----
_Bellows_
You don't mean you won't sign the commitment papers!
_Seymour_
Just that. I shall not sign them.
_Mrs. W._ (_gratefully_)
Oh, doctor!
_Bellows_
After what you saw here with your own eyes? He's completely gone off!
_Seymour_
The boy may be right. Under this tiny consciousness of ours lie vast
fields of subconscious intelligence as yet unexplored. Beyond our earth
are still greater mysteries, unimaginable, unthinkable.
_Bellows_ (_in disgust_)
And I counted on your common sense!
_Seymour_
Common sense is itself too frail and uncertain a thing to be a criterion
of sanity. The common sense of yesterday is to-day's folly, and our
present common sense will be the madness of to-morrow.
_Bellows_
Well, I'll be--I'll wait for you down-stairs, doctor. (_Exit._)
_Seymour_
The lad ought not to be in there alone. (_Goes to door._) Philo, my boy!
(PHILO _comes out. He is extremely pale, his black hair pushed
from his forehead, and his eyes burning, but his manner is calm._)
_Philo_
Well, am I a free man?
_Seymour_
You are free, Philo.
_Philo_ (_perfunctorily_)
Thank you, doctor.
_Seymour_
But you must have rest from this work. These subjects are too
overwhelming for a sane brain to carry without harm. This attic is
gloomy and the atmosphere unhealthy. You must have a complete change.
_Philo_
I see. That is your answer to my discovery. (_Turns suddenly to_
WARNER.) And what do you think of it, father?
_Warner_
I don't seem to get hold of it, somehow, Philo. (_Crosses to machine and
stares at it._) What's the good, anyhow? They're too far away.
'Twouldn't help business.
(PHILO _gives a queer laugh._ WARNER _opens door._)
_Warner_
I'll see you down-stairs, doctor. (_Exit._)
_Philo_ (_turning to_ MRS. W.)
And you, mother?
_Mrs. W._ (_bustling up and gathering tray and glasses_)
I've got to set my bread. (_Crosses to machine and stares at it, holding
tray._) What'll we come to if folks in the stars begin pesterin'? We've
got enough to 'tend to right here. (_Goes out muttering._) Got to set my
bread.
(SEYMOUR _and_ PHILO _look at each other and smile._)
_Seymour_
Won't you come down, Philo?
_Philo_
No. It's livelier for me up here. More to think about. But don't worry
about me, doctor. I know this is the end. If I can't convince you, then
all the world must think it hallucination.
_Seymour_
I'm not unconvinced. I simply don't know. And I'm deeply interested. But
you can't stand it, Philo. Get out of this. Be young. This is for older
heads. You'll have plenty of time. Get out--do anything. Fall in
love--fall in love--that will give you mysteries enough for a while.
Yes, I mean it--and don't forget, my dear boy, that you've interested
me.
(_Shakes hands with_ PHILO _and goes down._ PHILO _listens until
he has reached the foot of the stairs._)
_Philo_
The heavens open--the suns speak--and he is--interested! (_Closes
door._) Alone!... Fall in love! Light the candle and put out the
stars!... (_Returns to his instrument._) ... It is still.
(_Steps are heard on the stairs, then a knock at the door.
He crosses softly to door and shoots the bolt._)
_Voice_ (_without_)
It's Reba, Philo! Won't you let me in?
(_He is silent, and steps retreat._)
_Philo_ (_crossing to centre_)
Reba! That folly's done with, thank God!... (_Begins walking._)
Seymour.... I didn't know how much I was hoping from him.... It is hard,
hard to go on alone. But I _must_! I can't turn back from that call.
When a child cries we turn, and listen, and help. And this--_this_ is
the voice of a world!
(_A knock is heard at door._)
_Voice of_ WARNER
Philo!
_Philo_
Buzz, buzz, old bee!
_Voice_
Come down, son!
_Philo_
Please leave me alone, father. I can't bear anything more to-night.
(_A pause, and_ WARNER _goes down._)
_Philo_ (_coming to table_)
I will work--work--work! (_Busies his hands._) Not a voice to help
me--not a smile of hope--not a touch of sympathy. (_Sits still and
despairing._) ... Perhaps the time is not ripe for larger knowledge.
Nature and the Divinity that guides her must protect their new evolving
creatures. A too sudden revelation and they might perish from sheer
wonder.... Yes, truth must come softened, as a dream, to the man child's
brain. Its naked light would sere and blind him forever.... But to me it
has been given to see--to hear--and keep sane in the light. Oh, from
what planet is the call? From what one of the hundred million spheres?
How many centuries has it been sent outward to the deaf, the dumb, and
the blind? And what is the word? Is it Hail? Help? Hope?... Or is it an
answer? An answer to some signal of mine? How shall I know?... How shall
I know?
(_There is a noise outside the window._ PHILO _does not look up._
REBA _appears and leaps lightly through the windows. Advances centre.
Her dress is of clinging black, relieved by a floating scarf of
cloudy white. She has a mass of blonde hair, and all the charms
properly belonging to her age, which is eighteen._)
_Reba_
Philo!
_Philo_ (_turning_)
Reba!
_Reba_
Don't be angry.
_Philo_
How did you get here?
_Reba_
The window. Don't you remember--you showed me how to climb up once--with
a ladder--the tree--and the shed roof? Oh, the things you've forgotten,
Philo!
(_He goes to door and unbolts it._)
_Philo_
You must go down, Reba. (_She does not move._) What will mother say?
_Reba_ (_laughing_)
She held the ladder for me.
_Philo_
Mother?
_Reba_
You've frightened her so. You mustn't bolt the door again. She's afraid
you'll do something dreadful.
_Philo_
You were not afraid to come.
_Reba_
I like to take risks. Life's dull in this village.
_Philo_
How you've changed, Reba!
_Reba_
It's taken you long enough to find it out. I've been back a month.
_Philo_
You'd better go down. I'm very busy, and I've had a long interruption
this evening.
_Reba_
I'm going to interrupt some more. Dr. Seymour says it's good for you.
_Philo_ (_angrily_)
Dr. Seymour knows you've come?
_Reba_
Yes. He said you might like the surprise. Don't you like it, Philo?
(_Comes near him._ PHILO _turns away and busies himself about
the table and shelves as if he meant to ignore her utterly._
REBA _watches him, then goes to window and takes a large apple
from the ledge. Comes back._)
_Reba_
I brought you an apple--such a love of an apple. There's a whole summer
of sunsets in it. I climbed the tree myself.
_Philo_ (_not looking_)
Thank you; I don't eat.
_Reba_
Don't eat! Well, there it is! (_Throws it on the table. He jumps to
protect his instrument._) You can _lick_ it when you're hungry!
(_He sits down and begins to work. She walks to other side of table
and picks up a book._)
_Reba_
Oh! Our old "Swiss Family Robinson"! The very one we read together! With
our names in it! You've kept it all the time! (_Hugging it._) Dear old
book! (_Turns the leaves._) Why--the leaves are half gone!
_Philo_
They're handy for cleaning my wires.
(_She throws the book down, and stands uncertain._)
_Philo_
Going, Reba? Good night!
_Reba_
No, I'm not going. This is my last chance. You'll bar the window
to-morrow.
_Philo_ (_determinedly_)
Yes, I will.
(_He bends closely over his work. She lies across the table opposite,
watching his movements intently. He fumbles for a tool._)
_Reba_
The little one? Here it is!
(_Hands him a small wire tool. He stares at her face so near his
own, then takes the instrument and works confusedly. Jumps up and
tries to reach a jar on one of the shelves._ REBA _leaps onto a
chair, takes the jar and hands it down. He stares, and takes jar._)
_Reba_ (_as he returns to table_)
Ugh! These jars are so dirty, Philo. May I wash them for you?
_Philo_
Heavens, no!
_Reba_
Oh, _that_ makes you sit up! (_Hums a little, leaps down and begins to
move the things on the table._) I'll make the table tidy for you, Philo.
_Philo_ (_grabbing her hands_)
Stop!
_Reba_ (_sings, swinging his hands across the table_)
"All around the mulberry bush----"
_Philo_
Let go!
_Reba_
Why, you're holding _me_!
(_He drops her hands and goes to window, as if intending flight.
She becomes subtle._)
_Reba_
Dr. Seymour says you've done something wonderful, Philo. Won't you show
me your machine?
_Philo_
No.
_Reba_
But I _care_! I care more than anybody! I _want_ you to be great. I
could sit by you all my life just watching you being great.
(PHILO _smiles. She twirls over to him._) And I don't _like_ to
be still, either.
_Philo_
But suppose people began to laugh at you as they do at me?
_Reba_
I wouldn't care. Show me the machine, Philo.
(_Takes his arm and they move back to table._)
_Philo_
There it is.
_Reba_ (_hovering over it_)
This is it. (_Throwing her head back._) Tell me about it.
_Philo_
Reba--your throat is--so white.
_Reba_ (_bending suddenly over machine_)
There's something moving.
_Philo_
So white.
_Reba_
Two--one--two, three----
(PHILO _goes to door and flings it open._)
_Philo_
Reba, go down!
(_She crosses to door, shuts it, and stands with her back against it._)
_Reba_
Not till we've had a talk, Philo. I've a right to it after what you said
two years ago--when I went away to school. Have you forgotten it? Shall
I tell you what you said?
_Philo_
No!
_Reba_
You said you loved me, Philo. And I believed it for two years. When I
came back you were silent. I've tried to make you speak--I've got in
your way--I've done everything nice girls don't do--because--I love you
as much as you love _that_! (_Waves her hand toward the machine._)
_Philo_
Don't say it. It can't be true. No woman could love so much as that.
(_Goes back to table._)
_Reba_ (_following him_)
I don't ask you to love me. But let me come here and sit by you
sometimes. I could be happy then--though I don't _like_ to be still.
I was going to a dance to-night.
_Philo_
A dance!
_Reba_
But I knew you were up here alone--and I had heard--oh, my dear!--that
they were going to send you away. I couldn't bear it. I _had_ to come.
Oh, Philo, they shall not send you away! Dr. Seymour says all you need
is a new interest.
_Philo_
To dance, perhaps!
_Reba_
Well--why not? It is fun. We were to be in fancy dress, and I was going
as Night. See--(_waving her scarf_) this is my cloud--and my hair is the
moon! I washed it to-day so it would be fluffy. Just see how soft it is!
_Philo_ (_touching her hair_)
How fine! Will you give me a lock, Reba?
_Reba_
Oh, yes! Where are your scissors? Here! (_Takes scissors from table._)
You cut it, Philo. (_He takes scissors._) Anywhere. It's curly at the
neck and temples.
_Philo_ (_cutting lock_)
I don't want a curl. (_Puts hair carefully in table drawer._) I'm making
a new machine and I need long hairs for some of the parts.
_Reba_ (_raging_)
You sha'n't have it! You sha'n't!
(_Tries to open drawer. They struggle. She gets her arms about his
neck._)
_Philo_ (_pushing her off_)
Your throat----
(_Kisses it. She clings to him, and he sits down, holding her on his
knee._)
_Reba_
I knew! I knew! Oh, Philo, you _haven't_ forgotten! You
remember--everything!
_Philo_
Everything!
_Reba_
That day we went fishing and----
_Philo_ (_laughing_)
Forgot the tackle!
_Reba_
And that last evening in the orchard, when you said----
_Philo_
I love you!
_Reba_
Oh, you look just as you did then--so happy! I nearly died when I came
home and saw the change in your face. It seemed to shut me out, like a
great iron door. Philo.... You won't forget again?
_Philo_
Never!
_Reba_
And I may come every day?
_Philo_
Every day!
_Reba_
I'll help you, Philo. I'll give you all my hair. (_Lays her head on his
shoulder._) And I'll let you work and not think of me at all. You can
live with your stars----
_Philo_ (_kissing her_)
There are no stars!
_Reba_ (_laughing_)
I'll never be jealous again! (_Gets up._) Come! Let's see what the dinky
thing is doing!
(_Goes to table._ PHILO _watches her, slowly repeating her name._)
_Reba_
What a little thing it is! And--there _is_ something fluttering!
(PHILO _crosses, still seeing nothing but the girl._)
_Reba_
See--I'm trying to count--two--three----
(_He looks down, and becomes transfixed._)
_Philo_
Oh, my God! They've changed the signal!... Look, Reba! Count the beats!
Count for me! Count!
_Reba_ (_confused_)
Two--three--no, four----
_Philo_
Can't you _count_? Get away! (_Pushes her aside._)
Two--three--four--three-- They have _changed_ it! Oh, I must answer!
_Reba_
Philo----
_Philo_
Go down!
_Reba_ (_clinging to him_)
I won't--I won't----
_Philo_ (_putting her in a chair_)
Sit there, then. And for God's sake be still! (_Returns to machine and
counts under his breath._) It is true--it is true--and I am not ready! I
am dumb, like all the world! I cannot let them know! (_Walks the floor,
muttering_) But I will--I must. (_Crosses to window._) I must do
it!--think of nothing else--nothing! I shall not sleep till it is
done!... But they will call me mad--lock me up before I have finished,
God, before I have finished!
_Reba_
Philo, listen!
_Philo_
It's the world's way ... to beat the spirit down ... the eager spirit,
superbly sane, daring to pierce the barriers between heaven and earth!
_Reba_
I'll not sit here! (_She sits nevertheless._)
_Philo_
Oh, Truth-driven martyrs, seers of visions, prophets of the old world
and the new, born out of your time to suffer by fire, by sword, and
prison bars!
_Reba_ (_cooingly_)
Dear Philo!
_Philo_
I too shall join you! Forerunners of the waking spirit of the world!
(REBA _gets before him as he walks. Completely absorbed, he puts
her aside, absently but gently, as if she were a kitten he did not
wish to hurt._)
_Philo_
I must finish it--I must--before they beat me down! (_Pauses by
machine._) There is no one but me to do it. If I fail they may have
to wait another million years--out there--working, waiting. (_Resumes
walk._) I shall not fail. I have gone too far. God will take my part
now. Be it His own eternal sign, I will answer it!
_Reba_
I'll make you see me!
(_Runs to table, leaps upon it and begins a dance among the wires
and bottles. He is stunned for a moment, then rushes to her, seizes
her waist with both hands, lifts her up, and flings her to a chair._)
_Philo_
Sit there, you dragon-fly! Or I'll crush you! (_Goes to window, as if
for breath and air. Recovers poise._) Let them think me mad. Up here I
shall work it out. And I shall not be alone. Earth will not hear me, but
the heavens will listen. (_Holds his hands toward the stars._) My only
friends!
_Reba_
Crush me! (_She steals up to the table, seizes a large book, and brings
it down with utter destruction upon his machine._ PHILO _turns and sees.
They face each other. She shrinks, terrified._) Don't, Philo! (_Kneels,
throwing back her head, showing the long line of her throat._) Forgive
me! It was driving you mad! I wanted to save you! Don't look like that!
Forgive me, Philo!
_Philo_
Your throat--is--so white!
(_Seizes and chokes her. As he seizes her she gives a cry of terror._
WARNER, MRS. W., SEYMOUR, _and_ BELLOWS _rush up the stairs and
enter._ PHILO _takes his hands from the girl's throat and stands
apart. She lies motionless._)
_Warner_ (_roaring_)
You've managed, Mary Ann!
_Bellows_ (_excitedly_)
Who's right, now, Seymour?
(SEYMOUR _bends over_ REBA, _listening for her heart-beat._)
_Warner_ (_choking_)
A hanging in the family!
_Mrs. W._
Is she--dead?
_Seymour_
No. It is chiefly fear. (_Works over her body._)
_Philo_ (_to himself_)
Poor little bird! Poor little bird!
_Bellows_ (_taking a pair of handcuffs from his pocket and offering them
to_ WARNER)
Better clap these on him. We're none of us safe.
_Philo_
Handcuffs, doctor? I'll make no trouble.
(_Holds out his hands and_ BELLOWS _fastens handcuffs._)
_Bellows_
It's for your own good, Philo.
_Seymour_
Our mistake--our mistake! Poor boy!
_Bellows_
Poor _girl_, I should say!
_Seymour_ (_lifting_ REBA)
I'll take her down-stairs. (_Carries her to door._) I shall need you,
Mrs. Warner.
(MRS. W. _follows, weeping and looking back at_ PHILO.)
_Philo_
I'm all right, mother.
_Mrs. W._
_All right._ Oh, God help him! (_Exit._)
_Bellows_
Clean mad!
_Philo_ (_crosses, and looks down on the wreck of his machine_)
Silent ... but I have heard! The divine whisper has reached me!
_Bellows_
That's still on his mind, you see. Better leave him up here till
morning. Seymour and I will fix up the papers and take him off
to-morrow. I'm sorry, Philo, but you know it's for the best.
_Philo_
I'll make no trouble. Don't worry, doctor.
_Bellows_ (_to himself, going_)
Lord, he's cool! (_Advising_ WARNER, _in cautiously lowered
tone._) That's the way with the worst of them. (_Exit._)
_Warner_
Want me to stay with you, Philo?
_Philo_
No, father.
_Warner_ (_relieved_)
Good night, son. (_At door._) Mother'll send up some blankets. (_Exit._)
_Philo_
Blankets!...
(CURTAIN)
THE JOURNEY
BY
OLIVE TILFORD DARGAN
CHARACTERS
PRINCESS WONG FE, _bride of Yu Tai Shun_
SO SIU, _her friend_
PRINCE CHING
MAKURO, _of Japan_
YU TAI SHUN, _of all nations_
THE JOURNEY
SCENE: _Room in a farmhouse above Siangtan, where the Siang flows among
hills. The rear of room has wide exit to a porch, beyond which show
the tops of pear and peach trees in full bloom. Steps lead down to
the orchard, and the orchard slopes to the river._
WONG FE _and_ SO SIU _present._
_Wong Fe_
My lily So Siu, has not the dishonorable color left my wretched cheeks?
Is not my face like the dough before it goes into the oven?
_So Siu_
Oh, my golden Fe, pearls in the dawn are no fairer!
_Wong Fe_
But these cow-girl's tatters! Would not my gown of meadow-green mist
with the peach-gold underrobe make me less haggard?
_So Siu_
When your lord, Yu Tai Shun, returns from the hills he will say----
_Wong Fe_
Oh, what will he say?
_So Siu_
That the fairies have been your friends. They wove for you this robe of
rose-leaves, and threw over you a gray cloud from the Witch's Mountain.
(WONG FE _trips gaily, then with sudden surrender begins to weep._)
_So Siu_
Have no shame, beloved of miserable So Siu. Water must follow the fire.
I am only a maid, but I know that when the honeymoon is without tears
two pigs have married. Ah, wet my sleeve, my dear one, and not thine
that will lie on the neck of the golden lord, Yu Tai Shun.
_Wong Fe_
When I awoke this morning the sunlight was on my pillow, but Yu Tai Shun
was gone. All day I have not seen his face. And now the last swallow has
left the sky.
_So Siu_
Why did Prince Ching and the young Japanese choose this day to be guests
of Yu Tai Shun? It is sad for the wife when the friends of her lord find
her alone. Yu Tai Shun will beat his doorstep for not calling him.
_Wong Fe_
He will! Prince Ching is almost his father. May his age climb as the
hills, always nearer the sky!
_So Siu_
Indeed, you would be sitting alone in a cloud of sighs, not fast wedded
to the bringer of dawn, Yu Tai Shun, if Prince Ching had not won his way
to your brothers, the mighty princes, Wong Li and Wong Sen.
_Wong Fe_
I kiss his honorable dust! He shall live with my ancestors! And Makuro,
the young Japanese, I shall love him too, for he is most dear to Yu Tai
Shun. Do they still sit in the orchard?
_So Siu_
They have not moved, nor paused in their talking. Do you not hear? Like
bees that cannot choose their flower. It may be that they have brought
news to Yu Tai Shun, and his gloom will pass.
_Wong Fe_
No, I feel it was their coming, like a far cloud, that shadowed him. Oh,
my So Siu, it will be darker now!
_So Siu_
I have sent tea and cakes to the orchard.
_Wong Fe_
It shall not be dark. Do not the fairies of the sun weave a white world
out of the threads of midnight? I will pray to them. We must be merry,
my lily So Siu.
_So Siu_
And why not?
_Wong Fe_
I shall dance to-night before Yu Tai Shun. (_Tripping._) Is it not good
to have feet? My honorable and glorious mamma weeps when I dance, but it
is because she was born too soon and they crippled her beloved feet.
_So Siu_
How glad I am that the old world is gone when only the painted
flower-girls could do the happy things!
_Wong Fe_
And it was my own lord, Yu Tai Shun, who made the earth new again!
(_She listens, suddenly still._)
_So Siu_
He is here!
_Wong Fe_
My darling So Siu....
_So Siu_
I go! (_Darts from room, right._)
_Wong Fe_
I would be dancing, but I cannot move. There are anchors of fear on my
toes.
(_Enter_ YU TAI SHUN, _left. He is dressed in gray flannels, of
American pattern._)
_Shun_ (_stopping before_ WONG FE)
I left a witch-cloud on the hills, and it has dropped down before me.
(_She courtesies to the floor. He snatches her up._)
_Shun_
No! I want my Western bride to-night.
_Wong Fe_
But this is a Chinese orchard, and it is springtime. Let me worship a
little.
_Shun_
Never, my mountain bird!
(_Draws her to the steps, where they sit._)
_Wong Fe_
You are weary, beloved?
_Shun_
Not now. I have my rest. To-morrow you shall go with me.
_Wong Fe_
Up the mountain?
_Shun_
I will show you where I dropped the storm in my heart.
_Wong Fe_ (_timidly_)
Will it come again, Yu Tai Shun?
_Shun_
Nothing can wake it again.
_Wong Fe_
Then indeed I am your bride!
_Shun_
Heart of my body art thou, Wong Fe!
(_Holds her to his breast a moment, looking distantly out. Suddenly
sees his friends approaching._)
_Shun_
We have guests?
_Wong Fe_ (_quickly springing up_)
Forgive me! Your friends are here. Prince Ching, and Makuro, from Japan.
_Shun_
Makuro?
(_He throws up his right hand. In a moment_ PRINCE CHING _and_
Makuro _are seen advancing from the orchard_.)
_Wong Fe_
They have had my welcome. I leave you. (_Crosses to right, reluctantly._)
_Shun_
Return to us soon, my gold of the morning.
(_She goes out_. CHING _and the Japanese enter._)
_Ching_
We have waited, Yu Tai Shun. We knew that the setting sun would turn a
bridegroom home.
_Makuro_
Master!
_Shun_
My friend! What brings you to China?
_Makuro_ (_with steady gaze_)
You know. I have come for you.
_Shun_ (_stubbornly, as if chidden_)
My work is done. China is free.
_Ching_
Her slavery is only beginning. You may hide your body but you cannot
bury your mind under peach-blossoms.
_Shun_
The republic is established.
_Ching_
But not a democracy.
_Shun_
My work is done. Twenty years have I given to the cause of the people.
Now until I die I will toil and sing in the fields of my fathers.
(_They have gradually come to centre of room, which servants have
lighted_. WONG FE _silently returns, but at a sign from_ CHING
_she retreats and remains by wall, right, participating in the
scene that follows, though_ YU TAI SHUN _and_ MAKURO _are unaware
of her presence._)
_Makuro_
Do you remember when I stood here once before, Yu Tai Shun?
_Shun_
Can you ask me that, Makuro?
_Makuro_
Why not, when you seem to have forgotten all that passed between us? I
went from that meeting with an imperishable fire in my heart. I return,
and the light that kindled mine is dark. We stood here, and the words
you spoke were brighter than the lamps of Siangtan that we looked down
upon. Shall I repeat them, Yu Tai Shun?
(_Shun is silent._)
_Ching_
I would hear them, Makuro.
_Makuro_
The master said: "Forty centuries has China been content to plough, to
sow, to reap, and with her harvest support one-quarter of the human lives
on our planet. Drudgery has been her lot, frugality her virtue. Only so
had she lease of breath. Now she is to unlock her mines, build ships,
and roads of commerce, and with the magic of machinery set her people
free. If that magic is owned by a few, there will be no freedom, but
a slavery whose agony no man can tell. Every owner will be a monarch
greater than the Son of Heaven to whom we bowed. We cannot shut them out
by war. We can do it solely by making China a true democracy where the
people themselves own the magic tools and the great ways to the markets.
To do this is the work of all who love Freedom, and I know no other
goddess." Were these your words, Yu Tai Shun?
_Shun_
Yes ... my words.
_Makuro_
That was five years ago. From all parts of the earth come powers
fulfilling your fear. Leagued with our own purblind princes and dwellers
in the dusk, they hover over China, waiting for war and bribery to
dismember her. And you say your work is done. Yu Tai Shun, where have
you buried my master?
_Ching_
In the heart of the Princess Wong Fe.
_Shun_ (_rallying_)
May we not be too stern in our judgment of the lords of steam and iron?
Lei Kung Sang and the British minister of the So-nan mineral beds have
built houses for the people.
_Ching_
And have taken their land. Men who plucked their own fruit, and took
food from their own gardens, now cannot eat until they have torn new
treasure out of the earth for the kind Briton and the good Lei Kung
Sang.
_Shun_
Their days of work were always long and weary.
_Ching_
But they toiled as free men in the sun, and as free men sang from the
river-boats when the moon rose. In America, where there is still much
land and few people, there are places where children go down into the
mines and never see the sun except on the day they call "holy." How will
it be with China's four hundred millions, when there are not even waste
places where those who would flee may gather? For even her great
untilled spaces are being covered by the foreign hand.
_Makuro_
Slavery will be born again with depths the ancients never knew.
_Shun_
But the spirit of brotherhood is growing.
_Makuro_
Power has no brothers! It was you who taught me that, Yu Tai Shun.
_Shun_
Do you forget that we built our republic with the aid of these same
princes of power?
_Ching_
We forget nothing. They let us beat down the throne because they could
not use it--a rigid tradition--but the republic--_they_ are the
republic!
_Shun_
Can we not trust a little? In our greatest need, alien hands have
reached out to help us. And we have true hearts among our Chinese
lords. Not all have joined with the invader to herd the people into
slave-yards. Pei Chen-Ping and Sa Yi are most liberal. You, Prince
Ching, and those you gather to you, have hearts like the rising sun. And
the noble princes of the house of Wong--have they not given me my bride?
_Ching_
Ay, when your sighs had blown around the world for seven years, they
yielded her. You were a power to be checked, and they set a woman in
your path.
_Shun_
No!
_Ching_
It was a Japanese from the Fushun collieries, a Russian prince of the
Northern railways, a French buyer of Yunnan copper, a British ship-baron
of Hongkong, and the Chinese owners of the unworked gold veins of
Szechuan, who went to the brothers of Wong Fe and said: "Give Yu Tai
Shun his bride."
_Shun_
It was you who spoke for me!
_Ching_
You had no father, and in my heart you were my son. I spoke for you
because I believed in you. I did not think that any bribe could lure you
from us. Yours was a soul that we thought would be a torch to every
nation of earth. And you choose to go out like a candle in the breath of
a woman.
(YU TAI SHUN _is bowed and silent._ MAKURO _touches his sleeve._)
_Makuro_
Come with us, master.
_Ching_
In half an hour the boat will stop at the orchard pier for Makuro. He
starts for Japan. It is there you are needed.
_Makuro_
I come from our friends with their summons. Japan's oligarchy of
traders, with every means known to power--school, religion, racial pride
and hate--is fostering the spirit of war. All the seeds of the jungle
are being deliberately sown once more in men's hearts. They are
preparing Japan to hold the largest share of an industrially broken
China and weld her millions into one instrument of hate against the
West.
_Shun_
A pigmy's dream!
_Ching_
A dream that will come true if our giants continue to sleep.
_Makuro_
It is the menace of America that Japan holds before her people till
their hearts roll with fear, their brains grow sick with rage. America,
who has insulted us with exclusion--who has snatched an island chain
from our Eastern waters, and shot, starved, imprisoned thousands
ignorant enough and brave enough to resist her. _That_ is the America my
people are taught to believe in. But you know a different America, where
people love honor and hate war--whose religion is love thy neighbor as
thyself. Come, teach them of that America! You are known in a million
homes of Japan. You have taught us to love you, and where we love, we
listen.
_Shun_ (_with great effort_)
I cannot go. If I part from Wong Fe the blood will leave my veins and
flow back to her.
_Makuro_
Then take her with you.
_Shun_
You know what this journey means.
_Ching_
Yes, you must go free. With such a weight you would be useless. I will
take Wong Fe to her brothers.
_Shun_
I shall hold her forever!
_Ching_
You think joy can last so long? (_To_ MAKURO, _shrugging._) A boy yet!
_Shun_
In Japan you have my young scholar, Onoto. All my knowledge I have given
him. In his heart is my purpose, his eyes hold my vision.
_Makuro_
Onoto!
_Shun_
His years are younger, his flame will leap higher. I am only one who
fails you. In every nation our numbers are growing. Do not fear for
humanity. Our brothers are everywhere.
_Makuro_
You say Onoto?
_Shun_
He has the gift of the shining word--the word that draws the heart as a
full moon at sea draws the eye. I can turn my back on the world and rob
it of nothing, for I have given it Onoto.
_Ching_
How long have you been chirping here like a cricket under a leaf, with
no news from the roadside?
_Shun_
It is three weeks to-day since I brought Wong Fe to the door of my
fathers.
_Ching_
Three weeks! On the very day of your joy Onoto was thrown into prison.
_Shun_
They would not dare!
_Makuro_
They did dare.
_Shun_
In prison--Onoto!
_Makuro_
No, he is not now in prison.
_Shun_
Free?
_Makuro_
The enmity of the powers was bitter. Everywhere he was sowing the seed
of peace. In many a house the ancestral sword was broken at his bidding.
_Shun_
But he is free?
_Makuro_
Yesterday (_glances out at the stars_), at this hour, he was shot.
_Shun_ (_slowly comprehending_)
Then I have been twenty-four hours dead.
(_He steps uncertainly out to the little porch. They gaze at the
floor, respecting his grief_. WONG FE _makes a motion to follow
him._ CHING _stops her with a gesture, and she shrinks back._ YU
TAI SHUN _re-enters._)
_Shun_
Your mercy, friends. (_Crosses left, to exit._)
_Ching_
You will go with us now?
_Shun_ (_turns and hurls the word_)
No!
(_An instant of silence follows his exit, then_ WONG FE _comes
forward._)
_Wong Fe_
Peace to your hearts, honorable friends of Yu Tai Shun! He will depart
with you.
_Ching_
Not yet. We must wait. Invisible chains cannot be broken. But they will
disunite of themselves. Then he will come.
_Wong Fe_
I will send him with you to-night.
_Ching_
_You_ send him?
_Wong Fe_
Do you think I will divide his life so that the two halves can bear no
fruit? That I will wait until he hates me for that ruin?
_Ching_ (_with laughter_)
Hates you, oh princess!
_Wong Fe_
Wait till I must glean in his heart behind a spent passion?--like a poor
widow in the track of a grain-cart?
_Ching_
The coral of your lips will defeat their command, Wong Fe. Near you he
is a dry fagot seized by a flame.
_Wong Fe_
I tell you he will go! Wait in the orchard until you hear the first
whistle of the boat. Then come for him. He will be ready. Go, honorable
friends! He is returning.
_Ching_
It is useless. Your words may bite like winter, but his eyes will see
only the Spring morning.
_Wong Fe_
Go, I beg you, go!
(_They pass out down the steps of porch._ WONG FE _hurries to a small
table, opens a lacquered box and takes from it a stiletto, which she
hides in the folds of her sleeve. She is dancing as_ YU TAI SHUN
_enters, and sings as she dances._)
The thousand odors of Spring
Are the thousand arms of love.
They find thee in the valleys,
On the crest of the hills they reach thee;
Till Spring bear no fragrance
Thou canst not escape them,
The thousand arms of love!
The orchard pool is a pillow,
A pillow for the twin lotus,
And the wings of the flying geese
Are warm in the air of heaven;
They drop to the shadowy lake-sedge,
For sweet looks the earth from the roads of the sky,
And in heaven are no cool grasses.
Ever listening
Are the leaves of the slim dryanda,
Whose heart is the harp of the Spring-wind.
A dryanda-tree is my lover,
And my thoughts are the leaves that listen.
Autumn, Autumn, touch not my leaf-thoughts!
Cast them not down when the pool is grey,
And the teal no more sail two and two
With their breasts above one shadow.
_Shun_
Come to me, Wong Fe! I feel that you have blown through my door like
a rose petal, and will drift away again, leaving me not a footprint
to kiss.
_Wong Fe_
Neither in life nor in death shall I leave you, my lord. Though I seem
to die, and these graces that please you fall to earth like
willow-blossoms, it is not I that will lie on the sand.
_Shun_
Why do you speak of death, Wong Fe?
_Wong Fe_
Because I am so happy. The sages say that we can have no fairer fortune
than to die in our happiest moment.
_Shun_
Do not speak of death. The word blisters the air, though your lips be as
two drops of June rain.
_Wong Fe_
But how sweet to die when I am fairest in your eyes! Every year, at this
time, you would walk down the peach-flower lanes and recall the glow of
my cheek. Oh, Heaven, let me not be a faded wife in the blooming time of
the year!
_Shun_
Thy soul, Wong Fe, is the flower of my worship.
_Wong Fe_
And death would give my soul wholly to you. I should be near you always.
Then morning would not call you to the peaks, leaving me behind in the
tear-dew.
_Shun_
To-morrow we shall go together. Your shadow will be with mine on the
rocks, and under the fir-trees we shall forget the valley.
_Wong Fe_
And the world? Oh, my lord, there are distances farther than the peaks
of Siang, and they will call you from me. It cannot be that you who have
known all lands will be content with one. I would see the strange people
you have made your brothers, would listen to their dreams, and read the
future with their hearts. There are dangers you would not let my body
share--I do not ask that--but my soul, you could forbid it nothing.
_Shun_
What have you heard? What has Makuro said to you?
_Wong Fe_
What should he say but that the cakes were good, and the tea had the
flavor of the fields of Hunan?
_Shun_
We must join our friends. Where do they wait?
_Wong Fe_
They listen for the boat that will stop at the foot of the orchard. Why
do they go? Old friends should not be so brief in greeting. Could they
not stay one night?
_Shun_
No--no. (_Sits down_.) They must go.
_Wong Fe_ (_laying her hand on his shoulder_)
What voice dost thou hear, and wilt not answer?
_Shun_
Nothing--nothing.
_Wong Fe_
You will not long be deaf between the beating of our two hearts. You
will hear and go. That is why I long for the death-fairy to come in my
hour of happiness. You have joined with strong men to lift a heavy yoke
from the world. My smiles cannot feed your spirit. Go with your friends.
Let the whistle of the boat part us.
_Shun_
The cassia-tree may draw itself from earth, and walk on feet of roots
through the world, but I cannot divide my days from yours, for you are
myself, Wong Fe.
_Wong Fe_ (_resigned_)
I believe you, my lord. We shall not part. But what joy it would be to
die now in your presence, while the love-cup is full! Oh, I could not
meet death alone! You know the poor ghost in the song who died in the
absence of her lover? She is always pleading to be allowed to die again
when his arms may be around her. So would my ghost go wailing if I lost
your kiss in death. (_Touches his cheek_.) Is that a tear, Yu Tai Shun?
I torture you because I am so happy! You shall laugh, my prince! I know
a new game we shall play. Little So Siu taught it to me to-day. She says
it is an American game. We call it "Guess behind you!" You turn your
back--like that--and you must tell me what I am doing. When you miss
three times, then I shall tell you what you must pay. Now--what is it
I do?
_Shun_
You throw me a kiss.
_Wong Fe_
So I do! And now, my soul's light?
(_Takes stiletto from her sleeve. The whistle of the boat is heard.
He turns. She hides stiletto._)
_Shun_
Our friends are going.
_Wong Fe_
But wait--there is time. You must guess once more! Oh, you are slow as
ten turns of a river! There!
(_Turns his head with her hands, then snatches the stiletto, stabs
herself and falls. He turns, kneels dazedly, and takes her in his arms
as she dies._ CHING _and_ MAKURO _enter._)
_Ching_
The boat-- (_Stops in consternation._)
_Makuro_ (_softly_)
Master, I did not ask this price.
_Shun_ (_rising_)
It is paid.
(CURTAIN)
EVERYCHILD
A PLAY OR PAGEANT
BY
FREDERICK PETERSON
AND
OLIVE TILFORD DARGAN
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ
_Scene I. The Garden of Joy_
Cho-Cho The Clown Everychild Mother, Father, and dancing children
_Scene II. Sweat-shop_
Father, Mother, three children, Everychild
_Scene III. The Farmstead_
Jim the Father, Mary the Mother, Billie, Tom, and Rosie, their
children. Cho-Cho and Everychild
_Scene IV. The Coal-mine_
Joe, Jack, Bert--three old miners and two boys
_Final Scene. Same as first scene_
Cho-Cho, Everychild, Mother, Father. Old group of children and new
group with Everychild
PROLOGUE
BY CHO-CHO
Good people!
This is the Play of Everychild
With Cho-Cho
As Author and Manager.
The play has defects--
It has good points--
And bad points--
Like the world itself--
Like life!
Perhaps the author of the world
Is something like me,
A little grotesque,
A little whimsical,
Serious often,
Sometimes all the more serious
Seen through a Fool's words
With cap and jingle of bells.
In this droll world
There are lots of children
Who are the children of fools--
Like me.
Good people!
I bespeak your patience
With Everychild
Daughter of a Clown.
SCENE I: _Stage dark as curtain rises. Moderate starlight and quiet
music of cradle-song type. Little fairies come out dancing in the
darkness with firefly lamps and sing the following cradle song:_
Some one is sleeping
Out in the dark
Where fireflies glimmer
Spark upon spark.
Some little stranger
Come from afar
Under the glory
Of moon and of star.
Deep in the blossoms
That drift as they fall
Some one is sleeping
And stirs not at all.
Sleep, little stranger!
The night is near gone;
Sleep, little stranger,
But dream of the dawn!
_The dim light reveals a dark figure lying on the mosses at the foot
of an old tree. As the light grows gradually stronger the dark object
begins to move, to slowly take off one after another of black
coverings, revealing a little girl of nine or ten years, dressed in
white. She rubs her eyes, looks about wonderingly, and slowly rises
to a standing position. Meanwhile the earth grows more luminous and
roseate. The birds have begun to twitter now and then before the dawn,
and their notes increase in number and variety with the approach of
morning. The growing light reveals an orchard of old apple-trees near
at hand in full bloom, with petals falling, and hills and mountains
lifting and towering upward higher and higher into the blue distance.
A path leads from the orchard up the near hills and toward the
heights. The music has grown louder, and is sweet and tender,
interspersed with bird notes. A number of children, girls and boys,
come out and sing and dance under the blossoms of the apple-trees.
They sing the children's song:_
We are of the sunrise
Flower-breath and dew,
Travelling wider circles
Of blue beyond the blue,
Seeking strength of spirit,
Happiness and joy--
Heritage decreed for
Every girl and boy.
Music of the moonbeams
And the orchard rain,
Music of the meadows
Waving with the grain,
Mountains in the sunlight,
Colors of the flowers,
Trailing cloud and shadow--
All of these are ours.
We are of the sunrise
Flower-breath and dew,
Travelling wider circles
Of blue beyond the blue.
_The little girl in the foreground looks with wonder and delight
at the entrancing spectacle. She has her side to the audience.
She raises her arms, listens, rubs her eyes, smiles with joy. She
touches the grass, the flowers, the trees, picks up and smells the
falling apple-blossoms. She begins to dance like the other children.
One of them sees her and runs toward her with arms outstretched.
The newcomer touches her hair and her hands. They smile at each
other. The little girl leads the stranger toward the others and has
her join in the dance. The dancing is in the Greek manner. They play
with a light, large, bubble-like balloon._
_Little Girl_
What is your name?
_Stranger_
I do not understand.
_Little Girl_
Oh, of course, I forgot. I will lead you to some one who will give you a
name.
(_A man and woman have come slowly through the orchard and seated
themselves on a bench under an apple-tree. Two or three of the
children lead the stranger up to them._)
_Stranger_ (_feeling of the hair and gown of the woman_)
Who are you?
_Woman_ (_smiling_)
I am your mother.
_Stranger_ (_feeling of the hair and face and garments of the man_)
Who are you?
_Man_
I am your father.
_Stranger_
What place is this? They told me somewhere--but I have forgotten--that I
should die _there_ which is being born _here_ and come to the earth.
_Mother_
Yes, this is our world, and I shall give you a name. I shall name you
Everychild.
_Everychild_
Is it always and everywhere so beautiful?
_Mother_
No, but it should be so, and some day it will be so.
_Father_
It is a dream we have.
_Mother_
It will be even more beautiful than this, for we shall go higher, and
climb those Morning Mountains. The flowers of the Spirit grow there.
_Everychild_
And we shall gather them?
_Father_
Yes, Everychild. Come now, and bring all the others with you. We will
take that path yonder to the hills.
_Mother_
No, wait! They are not all here. There are some missing. They must all
come.
_Father_
It will be so long to wait. Let us go with these.
_Mother_ (_laying her hand on_ EVERYCHILD'S _head_)
Have we not named her Everychild?
_Father_
Yes. She must go down and find all who have lost their way. Perhaps some
have awakened in the wrong place and are wandering about in the dark
jungle of the world. We will wait here till they come.
_Mother_
Go, Everychild. Find them and bring them all back with you. Take this
lamp. (_Hands her a rose-colored lamp, etc._)
_Father_
Our lamp?
_Mother_
Our love!
_Father_
Take it, Everychild. With this lamp you can find the lost children and
bring them all back with you.
_Mother_
We will wait for them no matter how long.
(EVERYCHILD _starts down along a path leading off the stage to
the right--the music and singing continue through the whole scene._
CHO-CHO _appears, right, for a moment and points her path to her
saying: "This way, Everychild."_)
(CURTAIN FALLS)
CURTAIN _rises revealing_