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_Dr. Hardhack's Prescription_
_A Play for Children
in Four Acts ..._
BY
_K. McDOWELL RICE_
"=Dr. Hardhack's Prescription.=" Typewritten suggestions for amateurs
will be loaned on receipt of above price (six cents).
Terms for the plays are as follows:--When used to make money for any
object, the royalty is one-tenth of whatever the play brings in (sale of
tickets, entrance money, gifts at door, etc.), before any expenses are
deducted.
When no admission is charged and no money made by the play, the royalty
(each representation) is from $5.00 up according to length of play and
character of your entertainment.
Should you decide to produce any of the plays, kindly notify me at once,
that no conflicting permissions may be issued. Send name of church,
hall, school or private house where play will be given, also approximate
date of performance. If play is later postponed or abandoned, please
send such information promptly, that all may be properly entered on
permission books.
KATHARINE McDOWELL RICE,
AUTHOR AND PUBLISHER OF PLAYS,
WORTHINGTON, MASS.
_BY KATHARINE MCDOWELL RICE, WORTHINGTON, MASS._
DR. HARDHACK'S PRESCRIPTION
A PLAY FOR CHILDREN IN FOUR SHORT ACTS
A Dramatization of the story, "Little Pussy Willow," by Harriet Beecher
Stowe
GRANDMA PROUDIE
MAMMA PROUDIE
EMILY PROUDIE
AUNT FLIGHTY
AUNT HIGHTY-TIGHTY
PUSSY WILLOW
MARY, the maid
DR. HARDHACK
PERMISSION TO ACT MUST BE OBTAINED OF THE AUTHOR
"A delightful little play, 'Dr. Hardhack's Prescription,' was given
by the Junior Endeavor Society at Lyceum Hall, Worthington, Tuesday
afternoon and evening. The audience was composed largely of
children at the matinee, who were highly entertained, but no more
so than the grown-ups in the evening. Dr. Hardhack was played by a
lad of ten, who did an excellent piece of work. The other parts
were all finely acted by children not much older. The play was
directed by the author and made an entertainment long to be
remembered and one too that netted a nice little sum for the
Juniors' work."--_Hampshire Gazette._
"One of the most charming little plays for children I ever have
seen."--_Mrs. G. J. Thomas, Chattanooga, Tenn._
"We used 'Dr. Hardhack's Prescription' for the Nature Study number
in our annual program. It was given by the youngest pupils and was
a delight to our audience. The play is complete in itself and
perfectly charming, nevertheless I ventured to add an epilog.
Knowing the story of 'Little Pussy Willow,' I adapted the gifts of
the fairies ending with: 'Good night, dearie.' We wish to thank the
author for all her helpful suggestions and for such a sweet
play."--_Caroline Reed Thompson, Head of Department of Expression,
Arizona School of Music, Phenix, Ariz._
"A dear little play and we greatly enjoyed working it up. Our
audience was very enthusiastic and we are being urged to
repeat."--_Miss A. H. Young, Wilton, N. H._
"We gave 'Dr. Hardhack's Prescription' as a Thanksgiving
entertainment by our younger pupils, and everyone was charmed with
it."--_Emma Willard School, Troy, N. Y._
=Price 25 cents=
ALL ENDORSEMENTS UNSOLICITED ALL USED BY PERMISSION
DR. HARDHACK'S PRESCRIPTION
A Play for Children
IN FOUR ACTS
BY
K. McDOWELL RICE
Author of "Mrs. Tubbs's Telegram," "Good King Wenceslas,"
"Mrs. Bagg's Bargain Day," etc., etc.
PUBLISHED BY
K. McDOWELL RICE
Worthington, Mass.
Copyright 1908
by
K. McDowell Rice
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Price 25 cents
Order of K. McDowell Rice
Worthington, Mass.
Printed by Gazette Printing Co.
Northampton, Mass.
In bringing out the play, DR. HARDHACK'S PRESCRIPTION, the author wishes
to acknowledge the kindness of Houghton, Mifflin Company of Boston,
which allows her to publish it. This Company holds the copyright of
"Little Pussy Willow" by Harriet Beecher Stowe, on which the play is
founded. The author of the play has taken much of the conversation
verbatim from the book, as will be seen by reference to "Little Pussy
Willow," which charming story it is hoped may become better known to the
public of to-day through this dramatization. The publishers Houghton,
Mifflin Co., will send the book to any address by mail post-paid for
$1.25.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
GRANDMA PROUDIE.
MAMMA PROUDIE.
EMILY PROUDIE.
AUNT FLIGHTY.
AUNT HIGHTY-TIGHTY.
PUSSY WILLOW.
MARY, the maid.
DR. HARDHACK.
This is a Royalty Play and terms must be made with the author for its
use.
Permission to act or make any use of this play must be obtained of K.
McDowell Rice, Worthington, Massachusetts.
DR. HARDHACK'S PRESCRIPTION.
_DR. HARDHACK makes a professional visit to the _Proudie_ mansion, New
York City. In the sitting-room are gathered GRANDMA PROUDIE (L), MAMMA
PROUDIE (C), AUNT FLIGHTY (R)._
MAMMA PROUDIE. I greatly fear our dear Emily will never be restored to
health.
AUNT FLIGHTY. Oh, don't say that. I've known people to look terribly
white and a great deal thinner than Emily, and not die of it.
GRANDMA PROUDIE. [_To MAMMA P._] I thought you were going to send for
Dr. Hardhack.
MAMMA P. I have sent for him. [_Sighs, rises and comes forward, taking
chair_] [_R_] But what can he do? Someway it doesn't seem as if he could
help. He's such a small man.
GRANDMA P. Size doesn't matter if one has brains. It's brains that
count, my dear. Napoleon was small, but he will live forever. And look
at Alexander Pope. [_Waves hand_]
AUNT F. [_Runs to window_] What! Where is he? Whom did you say to look
at?
GRANDMA P. [_Witheringly_] Alexander Pope, who has been dead one hundred
and fifty years.
AUNT F. [_Simpering_] Oh, I thought you said to look at somebody going
by.
GRANDMA P. I said "Look at Alexander Pope," by which I meant "Consider
Alexander Pope"--a small man, not ever growing to be much larger than a
child. But what a poet! Brains, my dear, brains. In my day it was brains
that decided a person's value. Sometimes I think they have gone out of
fashion.
MAMMA P. But they will come in again, mother. All the old fashions come
round in about so many years, they say.
GRANDMA P. [_Who has returned to her knitting_] Perhaps the time has
come then for brains, for every one speaks so highly of Dr. Hardhack.
_Enter MAID_
MARY. Dr. Hardhack, madam.
MAMMA P. You may bring him in, Mary. [_Maid turns to go, but finds DR.
HARDHACK at her heels_]
MAMMA and GRANDMA P. [_Gasp_] Oh, Dr. Hardhack!
AUNT F. Oh, oh! We did not know you really had come!
DR. HARDHACK. Good morning, ladies. Couldn't stop to be formally
announced. [_Puts his hat absently in AUNT F's sewing-basket. Basket
falls and all the things go tumbling out. DR. H. does not notice_]
AUNT F. [_Simpers_] Oh, oh! [_MAID comes forward and assists AUNT F. in
picking up things_]
DR. H. [_Looks about circle_] Which is my patient, please?
MAMMA P. It is my daughter Emily. I will send for her. [_To MAID_] Mary,
will you ask Miss Emily to come? [_Exit MAID_] Oh, Dr. Hardhack, before
she comes I must say a word to you. [_DR. H. takes chair_] We would be
willing to found a water-cure, to hire a doctor on purpose, to try
homeopathy or hydropathy or allopathy or any other pathy that ever was
heard of if our dear elegant Emily could only be restored. It is her
sensitive nature that wears upon her. She was never made for this world.
She has an exquisiteness of perception that makes her feel even the
creases in a rose leaf.
DR. H. Stuff and folderol, my dear madam! [_ALL start. AUNT F. gasps and
simpers_]
MAMMA P. You are the nineteenth physician that has been called in to
dear Emily.
DR. H. Well, I hope that I may cut out number twenty! [_Enter EMILY very
pale and listless_] Oh, here comes the young lady herself. [_Bows to
EMILY, which greeting E. very languidly returns_] Humph! Let me look at
her. [_Puts up his glasses and looks through them_] [_E. stands
supporting herself by table as though very weak_] Humph! A fashionable
potato sprout! Grown in a cellar! Not a drop of red blood in her veins!
GRANDMA P. [_Aside to MAMMA P._] What odd ways he has, to be sure. But
then they say that's the way he talks to everybody.
DR. H. My dear madam, you have tried to make a girl out of sugar and
almond paste, and now you are distressed that she has not red blood in
her veins and that her lungs gasp and flutter as she goes up-stairs.
Turn her out to grass, my dear madam, turn her out to grass!
AUNT F. [_With hands over ears_] Oh, oh!
DR. H. Yes, I mean what I say. Send her to old Mother Nature to nurse.
MAMMA P. [_Exultantly_] I have said all along, Doctor, that I thought we
ought to have a trained nurse for Emily.
DR. H. Trained fiddlesticks! [_ALL start_] Send her somewhere to a good
honest farmhouse in the hills, and let her run barefoot in the morning
dew, drink new milk from the cow--
MAMMA P. [_Interrupts_] Oh, Doctor, not new milk! Not unsterilized milk!
[_AUNT F. holds up hands in horror_]
DR. H. I mean what I say, madam. Let her drink new milk from the cow,
romp in a good wide barn, learn to hunt hens' eggs, a few things like
this, and I warrant me you'll see another pair of cheeks in a year. Take
off all whalebones and strings around her lungs. Give her a chance,
madam, give her a chance!
MAMMA P. But what medicine shall she take, Doctor?
DR. H. [_Roars his disapproval_] Medicine? No medicine. Medicine won't
do her any good. You may make an apothecary's shop of her stomach--
AUNT F. Oh, oh!
DR. H. [_Turns toward AUNT F._] Yes, _stomach_,--make an apothecary's
shop of her stomach, and matters will be only the worse. Why, there
isn't enough iron in her blood to make a needle. [_Points to needle in
AUNT F'S hand_]
AUNT F. [_Simpers_] Oh, oh!
MAMMA P. Iron in her blood! I never heard the like!
DR. H. Yes, iron, red particles, globules or whatever you please to call
them. Her blood is all water and lymph, and that is the reason that her
cheeks and lips look so like a cambric handkerchief, why she pants and
puffs if she goes up-stairs. [_Motions to E. to come forward, puts head
to examine heart_] Her heart is all right if there were only blood to
work it in, but it sucks and wheezes like a dry pump for want of vital
fluid. [_Emphatically_] She must have more blood, madam, and Nature must
make it for her.
GRANDMA P. We were thinking of going to Newport, Doctor.
DR. H. [_Derisively_] Yes, to Newport! To a ball every night and a
flurry of dressing and flirtation every morning! No such thing! Send her
to an unfashionable old farmhouse where there was never a more exciting
party than a quilting frolic heard of. Let her learn the difference
between huckleberries and blackberries, learn where checkerberries grow
thickest and dig up sweet flag root with her own hands as country
children do. It would do her good to plant a few hills of potatoes--
AUNT F. _Our_ Emily! Potatoes! Oh, dreadful, dreadful!
DR. H. Yes, potatoes. Plant a few hills of potatoes and hoe them herself
as I once heard of a royal princess doing, because [_With emphasis_]
_queens_ can afford to be sensible in the bringing up of _their_
daughters!
MAMMA P. What you say is all very new, Dr. Hardhack. Indeed, we had
never thought of such a thing as sending Emily into the _real_ country.
But I will talk it over with Mr. Proudie, and see what he thinks of it.
DR. H. Well, ladies, I must be going. Good-morning to you all. [_Takes
up hat and medicine case and makes exit in haste_]
MAMMA P. What strange ways he has!
AUNT F. But then you know he's all the fashion.
MAMMA P. People talk of his being small. I never once thought of it.
GRANDMA P. Brains, my dear, brains, or in other words;--good common
sense.
CURTAIN.
ACT II.
_DR. HARDHACK ready to give his last directions. MAMMA PROUDIE, AUNT
FLIGHTY, AUNT HIGHTY-TIGHTY, EMILY and DR. HARDHACK are all seated; E.
reclining languidly in easy chair._
MAMMA P. Well, Doctor, we have decided to let Emily go and stay in the
country as you have directed. I have arranged everything and found a
pleasant place for her with a companion of her own age who is called
Pussy Willow.
DR. H. H'm. Pussy Willow. Well, that begins to sound right. Wouldn't
have found any girl named Pussy Willow at Newport, I'll warrant you.
AUNT HIGHTY-TIGHTY. Do, pray, dear Dr. Hardhack, tell us just how she
must be dressed for that cold mountain region.
AUNT F. It makes me shiver to think of it.
AUNT H.-T. Must she have high-necked, long-sleeved flannels?
AUNT F. I will go right down and buy her half-a-dozen at once. [_Starts
to go, but is waved back by DR. H., and resumes seat_]
DR. H. Not so fast. Let's see about this young lady. [_Endeavors to
introduce his forefinger under the belt of E'S dress. Belt snaps. DR. H.
draws out his finger with a jerk_] I thought so. I supposed that there
wasn't much breathing allowed behind there.
MAMMA P. Oh, I do assure you, Doctor, Emily never dresses tightly.
EMILY. No, indeed! I despise tight lacing. I never wear my clothes any
more than just comfortable.
DR. H. Never saw a woman that did! The courage and constancy of the
female sex in bearing inconveniences is so great, however, that that
will be no test at all. Give me that thing. [_Motions for E.'S belt_]
[_E. hands him same_] You wouldn't catch a man saying he felt
comfortable under such circumstances. [_Holds up the tiny circle_] But
only persuade a girl that she looks stylish and pretty with her waist
drawn in, and you may lace her up till the very life leaves her, and
with her dying breath she will tell you she is nothing more than
"comfortable". So, my young lady, you don't catch me in that way! You
must leave off belts and tight waists of all sorts for six months at
least, and wear only loose sacques so that your lungs may have some
chance to play and fill with the vital air that I am going to send you
to breathe up in the hills.
E. But, Doctor, I don't believe I could hold myself up. [_Droops as
without any strength_] When I sit up in a loose dress I feel so weak I
hardly know what to do. I need the support of something stiff around me.
DR. H. That is because all those nice, strong muscles around your waist
[_Slapping his sides and holding himself very erect with his hands on
his ribs_] which Nature gave you to hold you up, have been bound down
and bandaged and flattened [_Emphasizes the words by each time striking
his right fist in palm of left hand_] until they have no strength in
them.
E. Do you suppose, Doctor, if I should dress as you tell me for six
months, that I would get my health again?
DR. H. It would go a long way towards it. You fashionable girls are not
good for much, to be sure, but if a doctor gets a chance to save one of
you in the way of business, he can't help wishing to do it. So I just
give you your choice.
E. Of course I would like to be well, and in the country up there nobody
will see me, so it's no matter how I look.
MAMMA P. [_Comes forward and puts arm about E._] To be sure it's no
matter. [_Kisses her_] Only get your health, my dear, and then we'll
see.
CURTAIN.