TIME: The following day, early afternoon. A storm is raging, with wind and rain and occasional bright flashes of lightning and heavy peals of thunder. ASHER is pacing up and down the room, folding and unfolding his hands behind his back, when AUGUSTA enters, lower right, her knitting in her hand. There is a flash and a peal of thunder.
AUGUSTA. Oh! Asher, did you know that the elm at the end of the Common was struck just now?—that splendid old landmark!
ASHER. All the old landmarks are being struck down, one after another.
AUGUSTA (going up to him and putting her hand on his arm). I've been so nervous all day. Do be careful how you go about during this strike. Those sullen and angry groups of men on the street this morning—
ASHER. Oh, they wouldn't dare touch me. If we only had a state constabulary we'd soon break that sort of thing up. But the Legislature trembles whenever a labour leader opens his mouth.
AUGUSTA (sitting down and taking up her knitting). If only I could be of some help to you! But it's always been so.
ASHER. You've been a good wife, Augusta!
AUGUSTA. I don't know. I've kept your house, I've seen that you were well fed, but I've been thinking lately how little that is for a woman—for a human being.
ASHER (surprised). Why, Augusta! I can't remember the time when you haven't been busy. You've taken an active part in church work and looked out for the people of the village.
AUGUSTA. Yes, and what has it all amounted to? The poor are ungrateful, they won't go near the church, and today they're buying pianos. Soon there won't be any poor to help.
ASHER. That's so. We'll be the paupers, if this sort of thing keeps on.
AUGUSTA. I've tried to do my duty as a Christian woman, but the world has no use, apparently, for Christians in these times. And whenever you have any really serious trouble, I seem to be the last person you take into your confidence.
ASHER. I don't worry you with business matters.
AUGUSTA. Because you do not regard me as your intellectual equal.
ASHER. A woman has her sphere. You have always filled it admirably.
AUGUSTA. “Adorn” is the word, I believe.
ASHER. To hear you talk, one would think you'd been contaminated by Jonathan. You, of all people!
AUGUSTA. There seems to be no place for a woman like me in these days,—I don't recognize the world I'm living in.
ASHER. You didn't sleep a wink last night, thinking of George.
AUGUSTA. I've given up all hope of ever seeing him again alive.
(Enter DR. JONATHAN, lower right. His calmness is in contrast to the storm, and to the mental states of ASHER and AUGUSTA.)
Why, Jonathan, what are you doing out in this storm?
DR. JONATHAN. I came to see you, Augusta.
AUGUSTA (knitting, trying to hide her perturbation at his appearance). Did you? You might have waited until the worst was over. You still have to be careful of your health, you know.
DR. JONATHAN (sitting down). There are other things more important than my health. No later news about George, I suppose.
ASHER. Yes. I got another telegram early this morning saying that he is on his way home on a transport.
DR. JONATHAN. On his way home!
ASHER. If he lives to arrive. I'll show you the wire. Apparently they can't make anything out of his condition, but think it's shell shock. This storm has been raging along the coast ever since nine o'clock, the wires are down, but I did manage to telephone to New York and get hold of Frye, the shell-shock specialist. In case George should land today, he'll meet him.
DR. JONATHAN. Frye is a good man.
ASHER. George is hit by a shell and almost killed nearly a month ago, and not a word do I hear of it until I get that message in your house yesterday! Then comes this other telegram this morning. What's to be said about a government capable of such inefficiency? Of course the chances of his landing today are small, but I can't leave for New York until tonight because that same government sends a labour investigator here to pry into my affairs, and make a preliminary report. They're going to decide whether or not I shall keep my property or hand it over to them! And whom do they send? Not a business man, who's had practical experience with labour, but a professor out of some university,—a theorist!
DR. JONATHAN. Awkward people, these professors. But what would you do about it, Asher? Wall up the universities?
ASHER. Their trustees, who are business men, should forbid professors meddling in government and politics. This fellow had the impudence to tell me to my face that my own workmen, whom I am paying, aren't working for me. I'm only supposed to be supplying the capital. We talk about Germany being an autocracy it's nothing to what this country has become!
DR. JONATHAN (smiling). An autocracy of professors instead of business men. Well, every dog has his day. And George is coming home.
ASHER. And what is there left to hand over to him if he lives? What future has the Pindar Shops,—which I have spent my life to build up?
DR. JONATHAN. If George lives, as we hope, you need not worry about the future of the Pindar Shops, I think.
AUGUSTA. If God will only spare him!
ASHER. I guess I've about got to the point where I don't believe that a God exists.
(A flash and a loud peal of thunder.)
AUGUSTA. Asher
ASHER. Then let Him strike me!
(He hurries abruptly out of the door, left.)
AUGUSTA (after a silence). During all the years of our married life, he has never said such a thing as that. Asher an atheist!
DR. JONATHAN. So was Job, Augusta,—for a while.
AUGUSTA (avoiding DR. JONATHAN'S glance, and beginning to knit). You wanted to speak to me, Jonathan?
(The MAID enters, lower right.)
MAID. Timothy Farrell, ma'am.
(Exit maid, enter TIMOTHY FARRELL.)
AUGUSTA. I'm afraid Mr. Pindar can't see you just now, Timothy.
TIMOTHY. It's you I've come to see, ma'am, if you'll bear with me,—who once took an interest in Minnie.
AUGUSTA. It is true that I once took an interest in her, Timothy, but I'm afraid I have lost it. I dislike to say this to you, her father, but it's so.
TIMOTHY. Don't be hard on her, Mrs. Pindar. She may have been wild-like in Newcastle, but since she was back here to work for the doctor she's been a good girl, and that happy I wouldn't know her, and a comfort to me in me old age,—what with Bert gone, and Jamesy taken to drink! And now she's run away and left me alone entirely, with the shops closed, and no work to do.
AUGUSTA (knitting). She's left Foxon Falls?
TIMOTHY (breaking down for a moment). When I woke up this morning I found a letter beside me bed—I'm not to worry, she says and I know how fond of me she was—be the care she took of me. She's been keeping company with no young man—that I know. If she wasn't working with the doctor on that discovery she'd be home with me.
AUGUSTA. I'm sorry for you, Timothy, but I don't see what I can do.
TIMOTHY. I minded that you were talking to her yesterday in the lab'rat'ry, before the telegram came about Mr. George.
AUGUSTA. Well?
TIMOTHY. It was just a hope, ma'am, catching at a straw-like.
AUGUSTA (tightening her lips). I repeat that I'm sorry for you, Timothy. I have no idea where she has gone.
TIMOTHY (looking at her fixedly. She pauses in her knitting and returns his look). Very well, ma'am—there's no need of my bothering you. You've heard nothing more of Mr. George?
AUGUSTA (with sudden tears). They're sending him home.
TIMOTHY. And now that ye're getting him back, ma'am, ye might think with a little more charity of her that belongs to me—the only one I'd have left.
(TIMOTHY goes out, lower right. AUGUSTA is blinded by tears. She lets fall her ball of wool. DR. JONATHAN picks it up.)
AUGUSTA. I try to be fair in my judgments, and true to my convictions, but what Minnie has done cannot be condoned.
DR. JONATHAN (sitting down beside AUGUSTA) And what has Minnie done, Augusta?
AUGUSTA. You ask me that? I try hard to give you credit, Jonathan, for not knowing the ways of the world—but it's always been difficult to believe that Minnie Farrell had become well—a bad woman.
DR. JONATHAN. A bad woman. I gather, then, that you don't believe in the Christian doctrines of repentance and regeneration.
AUGUSTA (bridling). The leopard doesn't change his spots. And has she shown any sign of repentance? Has she come to me and asked my pardon for the way in which she treated me? Has she gone to church and asked God's forgiveness? But I know you are an agnostic, Jonathan,—it grieves me. I couldn't expect you to see the necessity of that.
DR. JONATHAN. If it hadn't been for Minnie, I shouldn't have been able to achieve a discovery that may prove of value to our suffering soldiers, as well as to injured operatives in factories. In spite of the news of her brother's death, Minnie worked all afternoon and evening. It was midnight when we made the successful test, after eight months of experiment.
AUGUSTA. I hope the discovery may be valuable. It seems to me that there is too much science in these days and too little religion. I've never denied that the girl is clever.
DR. JONATHAN. But you would deny her the opportunity to make something of her cleverness because in your opinion; she has broken the Seventh Commandment. Is that it?
AUGUSTA. I can't listen to you when you talk in this way.
DR. JONATHAN. But you listen every Sunday to Moses—if it was Moses?—when he talks in this way. You have made up your mind, haven't you, that Minnie has broken the Commandment?
AUGUSTA. I'm not a fool, Jonathan.
DR. JONATHAN. You are what is called a good woman. Have you proof that Minnie is what you would call a bad one?
AUGUSTA. Has she ever denied it? And you heard her when she stood up in this room and spoke of her life in Newcastle.
DR. JONATHAN. But no court of law would convict her on that.
AUGUSTA. And she had an affair with George. Oh, I can't talk about it!
DR. JONATHAN. I'm afraid that George will wish to talk about it, when he comes back.
AUGUSTA, She's been corresponding with George—scheming behind my back.
DR. JONATHAN. Are you sure of that?
AUGUSTA. She confessed to me that she had had letters from him.
DR. JONATHAN. And that she'd written letters in return?
AUGUSTA. What right have you to catechize me, Jonathan?
DR. JONATHAN. The same right, Augusta, that you have to catechize Minnie. Only I wish to discover the truth, and apparently you do not. She left me a letter, too, in which she said, “Don't try to find me—I wouldn't come back if you did. Mrs. Pindar was right about me, after all—I had to break loose again.” Now, Augusta, I'd like to know what you make of that?
AUGUSTA. It's pretty plain, isn't it?
DR. JONATHAN. If the girl were really “bad,” as you insist, would she say a thing like that?
AUGUSTA. I'm afraid I'm not an authority on Minnie's kind.
DR. JONATHAN. Well, I am. The only motive which could have induced her to leave my laboratory and Foxon Falls—her father—is what you would call a Christian motive.
AUGUSTA. What do you mean?
DR. JONATHAN. An unselfish motive. She went because she thought she could help someone by going.
AUGUSTA. Why—do you discuss this with me?
DR. JONATHAN. Because I've come to the conclusion that you know something about Minnie's departure, Augusta.
AUGUSTA (again on the verge of tears). Well, then, I do. I am responsible for her going—I'm not ashamed of it. Her remaining here was an affront to all right thinking people. I appealed to her, and she had the decency to leave.
DR. JONATHAN. Decency is a mild word to apply to her sacrifice.
AUGUSTA. I suppose, with your extraordinary radical views, you mean that she might have remained here and married George. One never can predict the harm that a woman of that kind can do.
DR. JONATHAN (rising). The harm that a bad woman can do, Augusta, is sometimes exceeded only by the harm a good woman can do. You are unfortunately steeped in a religion which lacks the faith in humanity that should be its foundation. The girl has just given you the strongest proof of an inherent goodness, and you choose to call her bad. But if you will not listen to Moses and the prophets, how will you listen to Christ?
AUGUSTA. Jonathan! Where are you going?
DR. JONATHAN. To find Minnie Farrell and bring her back to Foxon Falls.
(He goes out, lower right. AUGUSTA sits for a while, motionless, and then makes an attempt to go on with her knitting. A man's face is seen pressed against the glass of the middle window. AUGUSTA does not perceive him. He disappears, the glass door, upper right, opens slowly and PRAG enters! His clothes are wet, he is unshaven, he is gaunt and ill, and his eyed gleans. He leaves the door open behind him. Once inside the room, he halts and stares at AUGUSTA, who gathers up her knitting and rises. She does not lack courage.)
AUGUSTA. What do you want?
PRAG. I come to see Mr. Pindar.
AUGUSTA. The proper place to see Mr. Pindar is in his office. What do you mean by forcing your way into this house?
PRAG (advancing). I have no right here—it is too fine for me, yes?
(Through the window the figure of a woman is seen running across the lawn, and a moment later MINNIE FARRELL comes in through the open doorway, upper right. She is breathless and somewhat wet.)
AUGUSTA. Minnie!
PRAG (turning and confronting MINNIE). So! You come back to Foxon Falls, too!
MINNIE. You guessed it.
PRAG. You follow me?
MINNIE. But you're some sprinter! (She seizes him by the arm.) Come on, Prag,—you haven't got any business here, and you know it.
PRAG (stubbornly). I come to see Mr. Pindar. I vill see him!
AUGUSTA. He isn't home.
PRAG. Then I vait for him.
MINNIE (glancing toward the study door, where she suspects ASHER is). No you don't, either! You come along with me.
(She pulls him, and he resists. They begin to struggle. AUGUSTA cries out and runs to MINNIE's assistance.)
Keep away, Mrs. Pindar. If Mr. Pindar's home, find him and tell him not to come in here. This man's crazy.
PRAG (struggling with MINNIE). Crazy, is it? What is it to you—what I do with Mr. Pindar. He is also your enemy—the enemy of all work-peoples.
(AUGUSTA, after a second's indecision, turns and runs toward the door, left, that leads into ASHER's study. MINNIE tries to push PRAG toward the doorway, upper right, but she is no match for the nervous strength he is able to summon up in his fanatical frenzy. Just as AUGUSTA reaches the study door, it is flung open and ASHER appears.)
ASHER. What's the matter?
(Then he sees MINNIE and PRAG struggling and strides toward them. AUGUSTA tries to prevent him reaching them. PRAG wrenches himself free from MINNIE and draws a pistol front his pocket. MINNIE flings herself between him and ASHER, who momentarily halts, too astonished to act.)
PRAG (to MINNIE). Get avay! He kill my wife, he drive me out of my home—he will not have the unions. I shoot him! Get oudt!
ASHER. Stand aside, Minnie, I'll take care of him.
(AUGUSTA cries out. ASHER advances, seizes MINNIE by the shoulder and thrusts her aside. PRAG has the pistol levelled at him.)
PRAG. Recognize the unions, or I shoot!
ASHER. Lower that pistol! Do you think you can intimidate me?
PRAG. They can hang me,—I die for freedoms!
(He is apparently about to pull the trigger, but he does not. His eyes are drawn away from ASHER, toward the doorway, lower right, where DR. JONATHAN is seen standing, gazing at him. Gradually his arm drops to his side, and DR. JONATHAN goes up to him and takes the pistol from his hand. PRAG breaks down, sobbing violently.)
It is no good! I can't—now.
DR. JONATHAN (his hand on PRAG'S shoulder). Come with me, Prag, to my house.
(He leads PRAG, shaken by sobs, out of the doorway, upper right, and they are seen through the windows crossing the lawn and disappearing.)
AUGUSTA. Oh, Asher!
(She goes up to him and puts her hand on his arm, and then turns to MINNIE.)
You saved him
MINNIE. Dr. Jonathan saved him. He'd save everybody, if they'd let him. Ever since he took care of Prag's wife, when she died, he's got him hypnotized.
ASHER. You've done a brave thing, Minnie. I shan't forget it.
MINNIE. I want you to forget it. I wouldn't like to see anybody hurt.
AUGUSTA. But—how did you happen to be here—in Foxon Falls?
MINNIE. Oh, I didn't mean to come back. I'm going away again.
AUGUSTA. I have no right to ask you to go away, now.
ASHER. What's this? Did you ask Minnie to leave Foxon Falls?
AUGUSTA. Asher, I'd like to talk with Minnie, if you don't mind.
ASHER (glancing at the two women). Well, I shan't forget what you've done, Minnie.
(He goes out, lower right.)
MINNIE (who is on the verge of losing her self-control). I didn't come back to Foxon Falls to talk to you again, Mrs. Pindar. I'm sorry, but I've got to go.
AUGUSTA. Where?
MINNIE. You didn't care yesterday—why should you care today?
AUGUSTA (with an effort). I ought to tell you that Dr. Pindar has declined Mr. Pindar's offer.
MINNIE. He isn't going to take charge of the hospital?
AUGUSTA. No.
MINNIE. But if he's so poor, how's he going to live? He can't afford to hire me to help him.
AUGUSTA. I don't know. Dr. Pindar was about to leave in search of you.
MINNIE. I was afraid of that—when he ought to be going to New York to test the discovery at the hospitals there. He meant to.
AUGUSTA. You must see him.
MINNIE. Oh, I'll see him now. That was what hurt me most, lying to him about why I was leaving—letting him think I was sick of working with him.
AUGUSTA. Minnie, I'm willing to say that I was mistaken about you. You may have been unwise, but you never did anything wrong. Isn't it so?
MINNIE. Why do you think that now? What changed you? Just because I might have helped to keep Mr. Pindar from being shot by a crazy man—that didn't change you, did it?
AUGUSTA. I was mistaken!
MINNIE. If you thought I was bad yesterday, I'm bad today.
AUGUSTA. A bad woman couldn't have done what you did just now.
MINNIE. Don't you believe it, Mrs. Pindar. I knew a woman in Newcastle—but there's no use going into that, I guess. There's worse kinds of badness than what you call bad.
AUGUSTA. I—I can't discuss it. But I want to be just. I'm convinced that I did you a wrong—and I'm sorry. Won't you believe me?
MINNIE. But you'll never forgive me—even if I hadn't done what you thought—on account of what happened with George.
AUGUSTA. I—I'll try.
MINNIE. No, don't try—forgiveness doesn't come that way, Mrs. Pindar. (With sudden acuteness.) It was on account of George, not Dr. Jonathan, that you wanted to get me out of Foxon Falls.
AUGUSTA. I repeat—I shouldn't have asked you to go. Isn't that enough?
MINNIE. I told you not to worry about me and George. I ran away from him once—I guess I won't have to do it again.
AUGUSTA. You—you ran away from him?
MINNIE. From the church, too, and from the Bible class and from you, and from the shops. But I'm free now, there isn't any danger of my going wrong,—I know what I can do, I've learned my job—Dr. Jonathan's taught me. You needn't have me on your conscience, either. I'll go across and see if I can help Dr. Jonathan take care of that poor wreck, Prag. Life's been too tough for him—
AUGUSTA (starting forward to detain her). Wait a moment, Minnie,—tell me how you happened to come back, to be here so—providentially.
MINNIE. There wasn't anything providential about it. I took the six o'clock train to Newcastle this morning. Not that I had any notion of staying there. I ran into Prag at the station. I nursed his wife, you know—and he started in to tell me how he was coming up to Foxon Falls to shoot Mr. Pindar because he'd closed down the works rather than recognize the union. I knew that Prag was just about crazy enough to do it, because I've heard Dr. Jonathan talk about the mental disease he's got. That was about ten, and the train for Foxon Falls was leaving in a few minutes. I ran into the booth to phone Dr. Jonathan, but the storm had begun down there, and I couldn't get a connection. So I caught the train, and when it pulled in here I saw Pray jump out of the smoking car and start to run. I couldn't run as fast as he could, and I'd only got to the other side of the Common when I saw him walk into the house.
AUGUSTA (after a pause). Minnie, you'll stay here now? Your father needs you—I—I should never forgive myself if you left.
MINNIE. Tell me, Mrs. Pindar,—have you heard anything more from George?
AUGUSTA (hesitating). Yes—Mr. Pindar got a telegram this morning.
MINNIE. He's coming home! When will he get here?
AUGUSTA. I—don't know. Oh, I'm afraid he may never get here—alive.
MINNIE. Don't say that! George will live—he's got to live.
AUGUSTA (gazing, at her). What makes you think so?
MINNIE. Because he's needed so in the world—in Foxon Falls.
(She starts for the doorway, upper right.)
AUGUSTA. You're not going?
MINNIE. I couldn't stay here—now.
AUGUSTA. Why—why not?
MINNIE (in tears). I should think you'd know why not!
AUGUSTA. You mean—you care—you care that much?
MINNIE. I'm going.
(She turns to leave the room when the sound of an automobile is heard without, the brakes going on, etc. MINNIE, who has got as far as the doorway, upper right halts and stares.)
AUGUSTA (excitedly). What is it?
MINNIE. An automobile. Oh, Mrs. Pindar—it's him—it's George!
(She draws back from the doorway, her hands clasped.)
AUGUSTA. George! (She hurries toward the doorway, speaking as she goes.) Where is he?
Why doesn't he come in?
MINNIE (staring out). He can't. Oh, I'll get Dr. Jonathan!
(She is speaking as AUGUSTA goes out.) (Mingling with other voices, ASHER's resonant and commanding voice is heard.)
ASHER (without). Bring him in through the library—it's easier for you, George.
(MINNIE who obviously cannot now escape through the doorway, upper right, without GEORGE seeing her, after a second's resolution dashes across the room and out of the door, lower right. A moment later GEORGE is brought in through the doorway, upper right, leaning heavily on Dr. FRYE, a capable looking man, whose well fitting business suit and general appearance indicate a prosperous city practice. GEORGE is in uniform. He is much thinner, and his face betrays acute suffering. His left arm hangs helpless at his side.) (ASHER and AUGUSTA follow, ASHER with a look of pain which has been increased by an incident which occurred at the automobile, where GEORGE refused to allow ASHER to help support him.) (GEORGE gets a little way into the room when he stops, sways a little, and spasmodically puts his hand to his heart. ASHER, in a frenzy of anxiety, again approaches to help him, but GEORGE repulses him.)
GEORGE (protesting with what strength he has, as if in fear). N—no, dad, I'd rather not—I—I can get along.
(ASHER halts and gazes at him mutely, and then looks at AUGUSTA.)
DR. FRYE. You'd better sit down here a minute and rest, Captain Pindar.
(ASHER starts to pull up an armchair, but AUGUSTA looks at him and shakes her head, and pulls it up herself. GEORGE sinks into the chair, leans back his head and closes his eyes. AUGUSTA hovers over him, smoothing his hair.)
AUGUSTA. Is there nothing we can do, Dr. Frye? A little brandy—?
Dr. FRYE (who is evidently trying to hide his own concern by a show of professional self-confidence), I think I'd wait a few moments.
GEORGE (murmuring). I—I'll be all right, mother
(DR. FRYE stands gazing down at him a few seconds and then comes forward into the room to join ASHER.)
ASHER. For God's sake tell me what it is, doctor! Why did you leave New York with him when he was in this condition? Was it because?
Dr. FRYE (speaking more rapidly than is his wont). He was surprisingly well, considering everything, when we left New York, and the army medical men advised taking him home. I thought an automobile better than a slow train. I tried to telephone you, but the storm—
ASHER. I know.
Dr. FRYE. I sent you a wire.
ASHER. I didn't get it.
DR. FRYE. It was impossible to get a good nurse on account of the influenza epidemic. In fact, I didn't think he needed one—but I thought you'd feel more comfortable if I came. He seemed extraordinary well, even cheerful until we got right into Foxon Falls. We were passing your shops, and a big crowd of men were there, making a noise, shouting at a speaker. Is there a strike on here?
ASHER. Yes. You say he got like this when he saw the crowd?
DR. FRYE (indicating GEORGE). As you see. He fell back on the cushions as though he'd been hit—it all happened in a second. I have the history of the case from the army people—he had an attack something like this abroad.
ASHER. Did you notice how he avoided me?
DR. FRYE (with reluctance). That may not be anything. It's his heart, at present,—and yet I'm convinced that this is a case for a psychologist as well as for a medical man. I confess I'm puzzled, and as soon as we can get a connection with New York I want to summon Barnwell.
ASHER. I'll see if I can get a wire through.
DR. FRYE. Telephone Plaza 4632.
(ASHER hurries out, lower right. Dr. FRYE returns to GEORGE to take his pulse when DR. JONATHAN enters, upper right. He crosses the room directly to GEORGE and stands looking down at him.)
AUGUSTA (who is a little behind GEORGE'S chair, gives DR. JONATHAN an agonized glance, which she transfers to Dr. FRYE when he drops GEORGE'S wrist). George! George, dear!
(DR. FRYE is silent Then ASHER reenters.)
ASHER (in a low tone, to Dr. FRYE). They think they can get New York within half an hour.
(DR. FRYE nods. His attention is now fixed upon DR. JONATHAN, whose gaze is still focussed on GEORGE. ASHER and AUGUSTA now begin to look at DR. JONATHAN. Gradually, as though by the compulsion of DR. JONATHAN'S regard; GEORGE slowly opens his eyes.)
GEORGE (stammering). Dr. Jonathan!
DR. JONATHAN. I'm here, George.
GEORGE. Is there-is there a strike in the shops?
(DR. JONATHAN glances at ASHER.)
ASHER (hesitating, speaking with difficulty). Don't worry about that now, George.
GEORGE. Why—why are they striking?
ASHER. I'll tell you all about it later—when you feel better.
GEORGE (feebly, yet insistent). I—I want to know.
ASHER. We can't talk about it now, my boy—later.
GEORGE. Did—did you get my letter—the letter in which I begged you—
ASHER. Yes, yes—I'll explain it all tomorrow.
GEORGE. I—I may not be here—tomorrow. You didn't do what—I asked? It's—so simple—when you've thought about it—when you've fought for it.
ASHER. I—I had a plan, George. We'll go over it
(He approaches GEORGE.)
GEORGE (shrinking). No—no!
(ASHER recoils. MINNIE FARRELL appears, upper right, from the direction of the Common. She carries a phial, a dropper and some water in a glass. Seeing the group gathered about GEORGE, she hesitates, but DR. JONATHAN motions her to come forward.)
W—who is that? Minnie?
(GEORGE makes an attempt to sit up, but his head falls back and his eyes close again. Then DR. JONATHAN lays his hand on Dr. FRYE's arm, as though to draw him aside.)
Dr. FRYE. Is this Dr. Jonathan Pindar? I wondered if you were a relation—(he glances at ASHER)—but I wasn't looking for you in Foxon Falls. If you have something to suggest—?
DR. JONATHAN ( taking the phial and the dropper from MINNIE). With your permission. In any case it can do no harm.
DR. FRYE. By all means: If I had realized you were here—!
(ASHER looks on in astonishment. DR. JONATHAN measures out a few drops of the liquid from the phial into the glass of water, which MINNIE holds.)
DR. JONATHAN. George, will you take this?
(He holds the glass while GEORGE drinks. To Dr. FRYE:)
There's a lounge in Mr. Pindar's study.
(To AUGUSTA:) Get a blanket.
(AUGUSTA goes toward the door, lower right, while MINNIE Starts to retire.)
We'll need you, Minnie.
(He hands MINNIE the glass, dropper and phial. The two physicians pick GEORGE up and carry him out, left, followed by MINNIE. ASHER goes a little way and then halts with a despairing gesture. AUGUSTA having gone for the blanket, ASHER is left alone, pacing, until she returns.)
AUGUSTA (going through the room from right to left, with the blanket). Ah, Asher!
(ASHER begins pacing again, when Dr. FRYE reenters from the left.)
ASHER. Is there—is there any hope?
DR. FRYE (his hand on ASHER'S sleeve). I can tell you more when I have had a chance to talk with Dr. Pindar. This seems to be one of his cases—but I confess, when I mentioned Barnwell, I didn't think of him. The situation came so suddenly. And in spite of his name being yours, I didn't expect to find him here.
ASHER. Then you know of Jonathan?
DR. FRYE. I didn't know of him until I read the book which he published about a year ago. When I was in Baltimore in March, I asked for him at Johns Hopkins's, and they told me that he had gone to New England for his health. Extraordinary to meet him here—and today!
ASHER. What book? He's never spoken to me of any book.
DR. FRYE. On the Physical Effects of Mental Crises. There has been a good deal of controversy about it in the profession, but I'm one of those who believe that the physician must seek to cure, not only the body, but the soul. We make a guess—though he's published no religion—the true scientist is the minister of the future.
ASHER. I never realized that Jonathan—!
DR. FRYE (smiling a little). No prophet is without honour save in his own country.
ASHER. What has he given George?
DR. FRYE. I can't tell you exactly, but I can make a guess—though he's published no account of his recent experiments.
(As DR. JONATHAN reenters from the left.)
He will undoubtedly tell you himself. (Exit Dr. FRYE, left.)
ASHER. Will he live?
DR. JONATHAN. I'll be frank with you, Asher,—I don't know. All we can do is to wait.
ASHER. I call God to witness there's nothing I wouldn't do, no sacrifice I wouldn't make, if that boy could be saved!
DR. JONATHAN. Remember that, Asher.
ASHER. Remember what?
DR. JONATHAN. If his life is saved, you will be called upon to make a sacrifice, to do your part.
ASHER. My part?
DR. JONATHAN. Yes. What I have given him—the medicine—is only half the battle—should it succeed. My laboratory experiments were only completed last night.
ASHER. This is what you have been working on?
DR. JONATHAN. It happens to be. But I have had no chance to test it—except on animals. I meant to have gone to a war hospital in New York today. If it works, then we shall have to try the rest of the experiment,—your half of it.
ASHER. What's that?
DR. JONATHAN. You probably noticed that George avoided you.
ASHER. It's more than I can bear. You know what we've been to each other. If he should die—feeling that way—!
DR. JONATHAN. George hasn't lost his affection for you; if it were so, we shouldn't have that symptom. I will tell you, briefly, my theory of the case. But first let me say, in justice to Frye, that he was in no position to know certain facts that give the clue to George's condition the mental history.
ASHER. I don't understand.
DR. JONATHAN. The day he left home, for France, certain things happened to him to arouse his sympathy with what we call working people, their lives and aspirations. As you know, George has a very human side,—he loves his fellow men. He'd never thought of these things before. He went with them, naturally, to you, and I infer that you suppressed him!
ASHER. I told him I couldn't discuss certain aspects. His emotional state troubled me,—he was going away, and I imagined he would get over it.
DR. JONATHAN. He didn't get over it. It was an emotional crisis. He left home with a conflict in his mind,—a conflict between his affection for you and that which he had suddenly come to see was right. I mean, right for today, for the year and hour in which we are living. This question of the emancipation of labour began a hundred years ago, with the introduction of machinery and the rise of modern industry, and in this war it has come to a head. Well, as the time approached for George to risk his life for his new beliefs, his mental conflict deepened. He talked with other young men who believed they were fighting for the same cause. And then—it must have been shortly before he was wounded—he wrote you that appeal.
ASHER. The letter I read to you!
DR. JONATHAN. The fact that in his own home, in the shops which bore his name, no attempt had been made to meet the new issues for which he was going into battle, weighed upon him. Then came the shell that shattered his body. But the probabilities are that he was struck down, unconscious, at the very moment when the conflict in his mind was most acute. He was thinking of you, of the difference you and he had had, he was lonely, he was afraid for the bravest men feel fear. To him the bursting of the shell was the bursting of the conflict within him. I won't go into the professional side of the matter, the influence of the mental state on the physical—but after the wound healed, whenever anything occurred to remind him of the conflict,—a letter from you, the sight of the strikers this afternoon at the shops, meeting you once more, a repetition came of what happened when the shell struck him. Certain glands fail in their functions, the heart threatens to stop and put an end to life. If my theory is correct, what I have given him may tide over that danger, but only on one condition can he continue to live and become a useful member of society.
ASHER. What condition?
DR. JONATHAN. That the mental conflict, the real cause of the trouble, he resolved. The time has come, Asher, when you must make your choice between your convictions and your son.
ASHER. Speak out.
DR. JONATHAN. I mean that you must be prepared to tell George, if he recovers, that you have abandoned your attitude toward the workmen, that you are willing to recognize their union, settle the strike, and go even further than in their ignorance they ask. You must try the experiment in the democratization of industry on which George's heart is set. Otherwise I will not answer for his sanity, I cannot even give you the hope that he will live.
ASHER. I never heard of a mental conflict producing such a state!
DR. JONATHAN. Remember, you have said that you will make any sacrifice to save George's life.
ASHER (turning on DR. JONATHAN). You're not trying to play on my—my superstition,—at a time like this!
DR. JONATHAN. I'm not dealing with superstition, Asher, but with science. If George revives, he will wish to talk with you.
ASHER. When?
DR. JONATHAN. Probably this evening—or never. I ask you the question—will you yield your convictions?
(ASHER bows his head. DR. JONATHAN gazes at him for a moment, compassionately.)
I'll go back to him now. I think he'd better be moved to his room, and put to bed.
(Exit DR. JONATHAN, left. For a minute ASHER remains alone, and then DR. JONATHAN and Dr. FRYE reappear, carrying GEORGE. The blanket is flung over his knees, and he seems lifeless. They are followed by MINNIE, carrying the phial and the glass, and by AUGUSTA. They cross the room and go out, lower right. ASHER walks behind them as far as the door, hesitates, and then goes out.)
(THE CURTAIN falls and remains down a minute to indicate a lapse of three hours. When it rises again night has come, the lamps are lighted and the window curtains drawn. ASHER and AUGUSTA are discovered standing together. ASHER has a black, leather covered book in his hand, with one finger in the place where he has been reading. Both show the effects of a strain.)
AUGUSTA (who has been speaking). And when we took him upstairs, I was sure he was going to die—it seemed to me as if nothing could save him. He's been sitting up and talking to us—of course he's pale and weak and wasted, but in spite of that, Asher, he seems to have a strength, a force that he didn't have before he went away. He isn't a boy any more. I can't describe it, but I'm almost afraid of him—!
ASHER. He—he hasn't mentioned me?
AUGUSTA. No, my dear—and since Jonathan warned me not to, I've said nothing about you. Why is it?
ASHER. Jonathan's the master now.
AUGUSTA. In spite of what I've felt about him, he has saved George for us. It seems a miracle.
ASHER. A scientific miracle.
AUGUSTA (indicating the book ASHER holds). And yet you were reading the Bible!
ASHER. I just took it down. (He lays it on the table, and touches AUGUSTA, with an unwonted tenderness, on the shoulder). I think we may hope, now, Augusta. But before we can be sure that he'll get well, there's something else to be done.
AUGUSTA (anxiously). What?
ASHER. Go back to George,—I'll tell you later. It seems that we must trust Jonathan. Here he is now.
(Enter DR. JONATHAN, lower right, as AUGUSTA departs.)
DR. JONATHAN. George wants to get dressed, and come down.
ASHER. You think it wise?
DR. JONATHAN. Under the circumstances yes. The heart is practically normal again, we have done all that is physically possible. One half of the experiment seems to have succeeded, and the sooner we try the other half, the better. Are you still willing?
ASHER. I'm prepared. I've carried out your—instructions—sent for the committee.
DR. JONATHAN (looking at him). Good!
ASHER (with an effort). Jonathan, I—I guess I misjudged you—
DR. JONATHAN (Smiling). Wait until you are sure. Nothing matters if we can save that boy. By the way, he asked for Timothy, and I've sent for him.
ASHER. He asked for Timothy, and not for me!
DR. JONATHAN. It seems he saw an officer of Bert's regiment, after the boy was killed. Here's the committee, I think.
(The MAID enters, lower right. She does not speak, but ushers in HILLMAN, RENCH and FERSEN, and retires.)
HILLMAN. | RENCH. |-Good evening, Mr. Pindar. Good evening, doctor. FERSEN. |
ASHER. Good evening.
(An awkward silence. From habit, ASHER stares at them defiantly, as DR. JONATHAN goes out, lower right.)
HILLMAN (going up to ASHER). How's your son, Mr. Pindar?
RENCH. We're real anxious about the Captain.
FERSEN (nodding). The boys think a whole lot of him, Mr. Pindar.
ASHER. He's better, thank you. The medicine Dr. Pindar has given him
RENCH. Didn't I say so? When I heard how he was when he got back, I said to Fred Hillman here,—if anybody can cure him, it's Dr. Jonathan, right here in Foxon Falls!
(A pause.)
I'm sorry this here difference came up just now, Mr. Pindar, when the Captain come home. We was a little mite harsh—but we was strung up, I guess, from the long shifts. If we'd known your son was comin'—
ASHER. You wouldn't have struck?
RENCH. We'd have agreed to put it off. When a young man like that is near dying for his country why—anything can wait. But what we're asking is only right.
ASHER. Well, right or not right, I sent for you to say, so far as I'm concerned, the strike's over.
RENCH. You'll—you'll recognize the union?
ASHER. I grant—( he catches himself)—I consent to your demands.
(After a moment of stupefaction, their faces light up, and they approach him.)
RENCH. We appreciate it, Mr. Pindar. This'll make a lot of families happy tonight.
FERSEN. It will that.
HILLMAN. Maybe you won't believe me, Mr. Pindar, but it was hard to see the shops closed down—as hard on us as it was on you. We take pride in them, too. I guess you won't regret it.
ASHER (waving them away). I hope not. I ought to tell you that you may thank my son for this—my son and Dr. Pindar.
RENCH. We appreciate it,—just the same.
(ASHER makes a gesture as thought to dismiss the subject, as well as the committee. They hesitate, and are about to leave when GEORGE, followed by DR. JONATHAN, comes in, lower right. His entrance is quite dramatic. He walks with the help of a stick, slowly, but his bearing is soldierly, authoritative, impressive. He halts when he perceives the committee.)
HILLMAN (going up to GEORGE). How are you, Captain?
FERSEN. Good to have you home once more.
RENCH (going up to GEORGE). Good to see you, Captain, on a day like this. As Larz Fersen said when we were going to strike, “It's a fine day for it.” Well, this is a better day—you home and well, and the strike off.
GEORGE (glancing from one to the other, and then at ASHER). What do you mean?
RENCH. Why, Mr. Pindar—your father here's just made everybody happy. He's recognized the union, and we're going back to work. We'll turn out machines to make shrapnel enough to kill every Hun in France,—get square with 'em for what they done to you.
(They all watch GEORGE, absorbed in the effect this announcement has on him. An expression of happiness grows in his eyes. After a moment he goes up to ASHER.)
GEORGE. Dad, why did you do this?
ASHER. I'll tell you, George. When you came home this afternoon I realized something I hadn't realized before. I saw that the tide was against me, that I was like that old English king who set his throne on the sands and thought he could stay the waters. If—if anything had happened to you, I couldn't have fought on, but now that you're here with me again, now that you've risked your life and almost lost it for this—this new order in which you believe, why, it's enough for me—I can surrender with honour. I'm tired, I need a rest. I'd have gone down fighting, but I guess you've saved me. I've been true to my convictions,—you, who belong to the new generation, must be true to yours. And as I told you once, all I care about this business is to hand it over to you.
GEORGE. You'll help me!
ASHER. This seems to be Jonathan's speciality,—science. But I never give my word half heartedly, my boy, and I'll back you to my last dollar. Be prepared for disappointments,—but if you accomplish something, I'll be glad. And if you fail, George,—any failure for a man's convictions is a grand failure.
GEORGE. Well, it means life to me, dad. I owe it to you.
ASHER (turning toward DR. JONATHAN). No, you owe it to him,—to science.
(He puts one hand on GEORGE'S shoulder, and the other, with an abrupt movement, on DR. JONATHAN'S.)
And if science will do as much for democracy, then—
GEORGE. Then, you're from Missouri. Good old dad!
ASHER (huskily, trying, to carry it off, and almost overcome by emotion at the reconciliation). I'm from Missouri, my boy.
DR. JONATHAN. Then you're a true scientist, Asher, for science, too, waits to be shown.
(ASHER goes out, lower right. Dr. JONATHAN, evidently in support and sympathy, goes with him. GEORGE and the committee look after them, and then GEORGE sits down, and smiles at the men.)
GEORGE. And we've got to be scientists, too. Are you fellows willing to take your share in the experiment?
HILLMAN. What experiment's that, Captain?
GEORGE. Now that you've got your union, what's the good of it?
RENCH (after a pause). Why, I thought we'd made that pretty clear, Captain. We've got something to fall back on in case the employers don't live up to their agreements. I'm not speaking of you—
GEORGE. In other words, you've got a weapon.
RENCH. Well, you might call it that.
GEORGE. But weapons imply warfare,—don't they?
RENCH. We wouldn't fight with you.
GEORGE. Yes, you would,—if our interests conflicted. When I was in the trenches I kept thinking of the quotation Lincoln used, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” We're going to try to perpetuate that house, just as he did.
HILLMAN. Lincoln had common sense.
GEORGE. Another name for intelligence. And what we've got to decide is whether the old house will do—for democracy—industrial democracy? Can we shore up the timbers—or shall we have to begin to build a new house?
RENCH (glancing at HILLMAN). The old one sure enough looks rotten to me. I've said that all along.
GEORGE. It seems to have served its day. Has your union got the plans of a new house ready—consulted an architect?
RENCH. I'm afraid we don't get you, Captain.
GEORGE. You belong to the American Federation of Labour, don't you? Has it got a new house ready to move into?
RENCH. Well, I haven't seen any plans.
GEORGE. If the old structure's too small, one party or the other will have to be shoved out. The capitalist or the employee. Which will it be?
RENCH (laughing). If it comes to that—
GEORGE (smiling). There's no question in your mind. But you hadn't thought about it—your Federation hasn't thought about it, or doesn't want to think about it, and your employers don't want to, either.
HILLMAN (stroking his moustache). That's so
GEORGE. I'll tell you who have thought about it—the Bolshevists and the I. W. W. And because they have a programme,—some programme, any programme, they're more intelligent than we, for the time.
RENCH. Those guys?
GEORGE. Exactly,—those guys. At least they see that the house isn't fit to live in. They want to pull it down, and go back to living in trees and caves.
HILLMAN. That's about right.
GEORGE. But you're conservatives, you labour union people—the aristocrats of labour, which means that you don't think. What you really object to, when you come down to it, is that men like my father and me, and the bankers,—we're all in the same boat, most of 'us own banks, too,—control the conditions of life for you and men like you.
RENCH. I never heard it put in those words, but by gum, it's so.
GEORGE. And your Confederation, your unions are for the skilled workers, whose conditions aren't so bad,—and they're getting better every time you jack up the wages. You complain that we employers aren't thinking of you, but are you thinking of the millions of the unskilled who live from hand to mouth? The old structure's good enough for you, too. But what will the miserable men, who don't sit in, be doing while we're squabbling to see who'll have the best rooms?
RENCH. Blow the house up, I guess.
GEORGE. If they're rough with it, it'll tumble down like a pack of cards—simply because we're asses. Can't we build a house big enough for all—for a hundred million people and their descendants? A house in which, after a while, there will be no capitalists and no exploiters and no wreckers, only workers—each man and woman on the job they were fitted for? It's a man-sized job, but isn't it worth tackling?
RENCH (enthused). It's sure worth tackling, Captain.
GEORGE. And can't we begin it, in a modest way, by making a little model of the big house right here in Foxon Falls? Dr. Jonathan will help us.
RENCH. Go to it, Captain. We'll trust him and you.
GEORGE. Trust is all right, but you've got to go to it, too, and use your headpieces. We've got to sit down together and educate ourselves, who are now employers and employees, get hold of all the facts, the statistics,—and all the elements, the human nature side of it, from the theorists, the students, whom we've despised.
RENCH. Well, it's a fact, I hadn't thought much of them intellectuals.
GEORGE. They're part of the game—their theories are the basis for an intelligent practice. And what should we be able to do without their figures? Look at what we've worked out in large scale production and distribution in this war! That's a new world problem. Shall we be pioneers here in Foxon Falls in the new experiment?
RENCH. An experiment in human chemicals, as the doctor would say. Pioneers! I kind of like that word. You can put me in the wagon, Captain.
GEORGE. It will be a Conestoga with the curtains rolled up, so that everybody can see in. No secrets. And it will be a wagon with an industrial constitution.
FERSEN. Excuse me, Captain,—but what's that?
(RENCH laughs.)
GEORGE (smiling). Hasn't it struck you, Fersen, that unless a man has a voice and an interest in the industry in which he works his voice, and interest in the government for which he votes is a mockery?
(FERSEN nods.)
RENCH. We'll have to give Larz a little education.
GEORGE. Oh, I guess he'll make a good industrial citizen. But that's part of the bargain.
RENCH. That's fair. Human nature ain't so rotten, when you give it a chance.
GEORGE. Well, then, are you willing to try it out, on the level?
RENCH. I cal'late we'll stick, Captain.
HILLMAN. We sure will.
FERSEN. We'll be pioneers!
GEORGE. That's good American, Fersen, not to be afraid of an ideal. Shake! We'll sit down with it in a day or two.
(They all shake. The members of the committee file out of the room, lower right. GEORGE is left alone for a brief interval, when MINNIE, in the white costume of a nurse, enters, lower right, with a glass of medicine in her hand.)
MINNIE (halting). You're all alone? Where's Dr. Jonathan?
GEORGE. He's gone off with dad.
MINNIE. It's nine o'clock.
(She hands him the glass, he drinks the contents and sets the glass on the table. Then he takes her hands and draws her to him and kisses her. She submits almost passively.)
Why are you doing this, George?
GEORGE. Because I love you, because I need you, because I'm going to marry you.
MINNIE (shaking her head: slowly). No you're not.
GEORGE. Why not?
MINNIE. You know why not, as well as I do.
(She gazes up at him. He is still holding her in his arms. Suddenly she kisses him passionately, breaks away from him and starts to fly from the room, when she runs into DR. JONATHAN, who is entering, lower right.)
DR. JONATHAN. Where are you going, Minnie?
(MINNIE halts, and is silent. DR. JONATHAN lays a detaining hand on her arm, and looks from one to the other, comprehendingly.)
GEORGE. I've asked her to marry me, Dr. Jonathan.
DR. JONATHAN. And what are your objections, Minnie?
MINNIE. You know why I can't, Dr. Jonathan. What kind of a wife would I make for him, with his family and friends. I'd do anything for him but that! He wouldn't be happy.
DR. JONATHAN. And what's your answer, George?
GEORGE. I don't want her for my family and friends,—I want her for myself. This isn't a snap judgment—I've had time to think it over.
MINNIE. I didn't mean to be here when you got home. I know I'm not fit to be your wife I haven't had any education.
GEORGE. Neither have I. We start level there. I've lived among people of culture, and I've found out that culture chiefly consists of fixed ideas, and obstruction to progress, of hating the President,—of knowing the right people and eating fish with a fork.
MINNIE (smiling, though in tears). Well, I never ate fish with a knife, anyway.
GEORGE. I spent my valuable youth learning Greek and Latin, and I can't speak or read either of them. I know that Horace wrote odes, and Cicero made orations, but I can't quote them. All I remember about biology is that the fittest are supposed to survive, and in this war I've seen the fittest killed off like flies. You've had several years of useful work in the Pindar Shops and the Wire Works, to say nothing of a course in biological chemistry, psychology and sociology under Dr. Jonathan. I'll leave it to him whether you don't know more about life than I do—about the life and problems of the great mass of people in this country. And now that the strike's over—
MINNIE. The strike's over!
GEORGE. Yes. I've chosen my life. It isn't going to be divided between a Wall Street office and Newport and Palm Beach. A girl out of a finishing school wouldn't be of any use to me. I'm going to stay right here in Foxon Falls, Minnie, I've got a real job on my hands, and I need a real woman with special knowledge to help me. I don't mean to say we won't have vacations, and we'll sit down and get our education together. Dr. Jonathan will be the schoolmaster.
MINNIE. It's a dream, George.
GEORGE. Well, Minnie, if it's a dream worth dying for it's a dream worth living for. Your brother Bert died for it.
CURTAIN
PG EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
Economic freedom, without which political freedom is a farce
Flaming flag of a false martyrdom
It's money that makes you free
Often times principles is nothing but pride
We can't take Christianity too literally
All books are sourced from Project Gutenberg