States, during_ PRESIDENT WILSON’S _tour on behalf of the Treaty of
Versailles. September 25th, 1919. When the door is open, the speaker’s
voice in the main hall is distinctly audible._
ADMIRAL GRAYSON _is waiting anxiously_. MRS. WILSON _hurries in_.
MRS. WILSON: The President--it’s critical. He must be persuaded
against continuing this tour.
GRAYSON: I have been saying that, ma’am, for a long time.
MRS. WILSON: But it grows more urgent. I left the platform to find
you. How he’ll finish I don’t know. He was swaying and the utterance
seemed more difficult each minute. Nothing but his iron determination
sustains him.
GRAYSON: Nothing but the depth of his convictions and his devotion to
the task he has begun, have brought him so far.
MRS. WILSON: You must prevail on him, Admiral. If he breaks, the
League breaks. Use that with him.
GRAYSON: Prevail. Have you ever tried, ma’am, to prevail upon a
monolith? (TUMULTY _enters, jubilant_). How does it go?
TUMULTY: He’s carrying them. The old wonderful Wilson touch. Listen.
_He throws open the door. The President’s rich, musical voice, full of
power, is borne in upon them._
MRS. WILSON: Why, he sounds to be quite recovered.
GRAYSON (_reverently_): Hush, ma’am. It is the voice of a prophet.
WILSON (_off_): Now that the mists of this great question have cleared
away, I believe that men will see the truth, eye to eye and face to
face. There is one thing that the American people always rise to and
extend their hand to, and that is the truth of justice and of liberty
and of peace. We have accepted that truth, and we are going to be led
by it; and it is going to lead us, and through us the world, out into
pastures of quietness and peace, such as the world never dreamed of
before.
_Prolonged applause. The President enters, followed by local magnates
and his staff._
TUMULTY: Oh, Governor, this is the best you’ve ever done.
WILSON: Tumulty, it does me good to hear you speak so. I guess--why,
surely this building is strangely unsteady--or--Everything’s going.
Why, Grayson, it’s--it’s dark.
GRAYSON: Bear up, Sir. A touch of vertigo. You’re tired.
WILSON (_horror in his eyes_): No. My speech. Failing. I
can’t--articulate.
_He sinks into_ GRAYSON’S _arms, and is lowered into a chair_. MRS.
WILSON _falls on her knees beside him_.
TUMULTY: In God’s name, Admiral----?
GRAYSON: Paralysis. The tour is over.
_They prepare to carry the President away._
THE SCENE CLOSES.