Experimental Production of Three Original Plays Interpretative of the Farm Life of the Midwest

EXPERIKEHTAL PRODUCTION OP THREE ORI&ISAL
PtXX&
INTERPRETATIVE OF THE FARM LIFE
OF THE MIDWEST
by
Warren M. Lee
A dissertation submitted In partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy,
in the Department of Speech and Dramatic Art,
in the Graduate College of the State
University of Iowa
February, 1941
ProQuest N um ber: 10984046
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
X am moat grateful to the many persons who assisted
in the preparation and execution of this dissertation#
especially to professor Vance M. Morton who directed the
first produotlon of Penny Anarchy# to Professor Virgil L.
Baker who directed the initial performances of Saint
Louie g to Miss Marian Galloway who directed the original
production of Glided Prairie, to Mr. Stuart Henry for his
kind criticisms and helpful suggestions on the material
used in Gilded Prairie # to the casts and crews who worked
hard and well# to the **first nighter" audiences for their
helpful criticisms# and above all to Professor E. 0. Mabie
under whose direction this dissertation was conceived and
delivered.
Ill
AUTHOR9S FOREWORD
It la A truism to say that any play worthy of the name,
a reader*a time, or the attention of an audience must stand
ultimately on Its own merits*
Ho apologies, explanations, or
excuses In the form of an author1s f©reword can make immortal,
or even interesting, a play worthy of oblivion.
Such a fore­
word may even aid In pointing the path to oblivion*
Accord­
ingly only suoh comments as pertain to the reasons for and
the problems of composition are included here*
The three plays offered In this dissertation represent In
the opinions of the eommlttee and the author his best efforts
from among some thirty long and short plays written over a
period of fifteen years*
The copies here included are the
revised versions of scripts produced before the "first night er"
audiences of the Iowa Experimental Theatre, the revisions
being based on the oral and written comments of those audiences.
All are written to be acted rather than read.
A comparison of
critical reactions between readers before production and
audiences after performance Indicates that all are more success­
ful when given representation In the theatre.
"Penny Anarchy", the earliest of the three, was written
between February and May of 1933, it being first produced the
following June*
The play grew out of the farm depression and
crisis of that time.
familiar*
The material was contemporary as well as
As author I knew or had known such Incidents and
people as appear in the play.
The farm situation was rapidly becoming acute during the
iv
vInter of XM2-3B*
The depression was striking the farmer with
more severity every day*
Banks were closing*
gages were being foreclosed.
Land mortgages*
Chattel mort­
The farm Bureau,
the Farmers1 Union, and similar organisations were bringing
great pressure to bear on legislators all over agricultural
America for debtor relief laws, for mortgage moratoriums, for
some legislation to aid the farmer before he and his neighbors
met absolute ruin*
The legislatures were slow —
or it seemed so to the farm
men and women who faced imminent dispossession of their goods
and lands*
They sought to help each other*
They banded
together in groups to save by means of "penny auctions" such
as they could at sheriffs* sales*
declared*
The "farm holiday" was
A farm strike I The farmer had always been a docile
independent*
But here, In the face of a desperate crisis, he
was co-operating*
Be was fighting*
Here was a struggle for
existence, the very essence of drama*
"Fenny Anarchy" grew out of the times*
It is an attempt
to lntexpret oontenporary history in terms of the theatre*
The motive for writing "Saint Louie" was considerably
different*
It is a simple farce designed to amuse and to
entertain*
It alms, in terms of the Middle West, to poke fun
good-naturedly at the universal gullibility and superstition
of the human race*
The theme is neither unique nor local but
the characters and the external trappings are of the Midwest*
The principal characters were called into being In an
earlier play, "The Gift Horse".
They were afterwards used in
"My Haymow Home, or the Corncob Reverie."
V
Exactly what touched off the writing of "Saint Louie* I
am unable to eay.
wee interesting,
X had a group of characters which X felt
the grapevine telegraph had brought to ll^it
some reoent "faith cures* not far away.
With that much to go on,
X looked about for a specific situation and a setting.
To my
knowledge a hog house had never been used as the center of
Interest in a play.
Why not try it?
So, with six characters
more or less eccentric and of the Midwest (Louie Is Midwest by
self^adoption), a hog house, and an idea about faith healing,
"Saint Louie* was begun late in 1936.
originally took about three weeks.
produced.
The actual writing
In May of 1937 the play was
With a record of more than three laughs a minute to
reoommend it, "Saint Louie* was re-produced for Commencement.
The present version in each of two productions at the University
of South Dakota during 1940 some 570 laughs were recorded or
more than five a minute*
The preparation for and the writing of "Gilded Prairie*
extended over a period of some two years, 1937 to 1939.
Considerable historical research was necessary.
The search
for a challenging theme began in random examination of material.
A multitude of melodramatic Incidents promptly presented them­
selves.
The frontier of the slx-gun was an era of melodrama;
it was thrilling but somehow ephemeral.
thing more vital if less spectacular.
There must be some­
At last it appeared
rather concretely in a work by Stuar$ Kenry, a man who had
spent his early years in Abilene, Kansas.
Vi
In hi* "Conquering Our Great American Plains" was the
underlying theme of man, the tiller of the soil, pitted against
an unfriendly Nature; a Nature of drouth and dust, of wind and
cold*
Here was, also, the farmer against the trail drover*
Two great themes*
I tried first to incorporate them both; they
seemed inseparable*
It took a lot of friendly criticism and a
production the summer of 1939 to convince me that together they
were too much for one play*
While writing the play I had the marvelous good fortune to
be able to locate and to correspond with Stuart Henry*
He read
the early drafts of "Gilded Prairie" offering numerous comments
and criticisms.
Without his Interest and co-operation I would
have missed much of the "flavor" of the period.
Some of the
incidents as well as several of the characters were developed
from originals In Mr. Henry's work.
"T. C.", Stuart Henry's
elder brother, served as the original model for Lon Allard,
though in the present version of the play Lon is a composite
character derived from half a dozen sources, including among
them "Hunger Flutters" by Paul de Kruif.
Time has been telescoped In the play for purposes of unity*
Minor situations have been created.
pretense at being a history.
of history:
"Gilded Prairie" makes no
It Is rather an Interpretation
Man against Nature on the Kansas wheat frontier.
W. M. L.
Iowa City
January 31, 1941
▼11
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . .
..........
Foreword.
Script or pssarr
..
11
Ill
a n a r c h s .........
Script of SAINT Lotus
..............
l
160
Script Of GILDED PRAIRIE.........
339
Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
512
▼ill
ILLUSTRATIONS
Rage
pjaurr a s a r c b x
Facsimile of first program
.........
2
Lloyd and Annie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
U
Rob, Lloyd and Hazel •
96
"Lynching" scene . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . .
Davie, Rob and Basel . . . . . . .
.......
138
160
SAIHT LOTJIB
Facsimile of first program . . . . . . . .
. ..
168
Louie, Ernestine, Bother end Hal . . . . . . . . .
196
Mouth soaping scene.
198
........
"The fflshatna* scene. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
261
Healing of Lydia...........................
280
Act XXI entrance of Louie. . . . . . .
806
Louie and Hal. . . . . . .
* . , . .
. . . . . . . . . .
812
Facsimile of first program . . . . . . . . . . .
340
Lon, Sarah and Myrt. . . . . . . . .
880
OILDSD PRAIRIE
......
Marsh family and Alley . . . . . . . . . . .
Lon and farmers.
Bibliography
...........
••
404
443
618
1
PENNY ANARCHY
A Six Seen# Play of
Modern Iowa
(Copyright, 1933, by Warren M. Lee)
®(je U m bersitp C fjeatre
D e p a rtm e n t o f Speech
U N IV E R S IT Y
OF
IO W A
P re s e n t*
F o r t h e fir s t tim e o n a n y s ta g e
$ennp gtoarcjjp
By
W ARREN
M.
LEE
U n d e r th e d ir e c tio n o f V a n c e M . M o r t o n
THE
L loyd
R ogers
A n n ie
R ogers
R ob
R od ney S tew a rt
M a ry Snider
. Pierre T r a c y
K a th rin e D u ffy
T o m D orsey
..R u th B urnstedt
Charles Pedri
M a x in e M oore
R aym o n d Levi
R ex Roberts
..G eorge G u yan
T o m m y M a h an
Russell Snider
..C a rl Rcdenbaugh
Russell Lem bke
R o b e rt G rah a m
H a ro ld Kopel
..F ra n k JafFe
E d w in Ford
L o w ell Olson
..M e lv in W h ite
..T o rn D orsey
..D allas D ic k y
M a r y E llen K e lly
R ogers
F l o r ie
■W i l l
Be n t l e y
Be n t l e y .
M in
Joe
CAST
Sa u n d e r s
Sa u n d e r s
H azel
N ewt
___
M c E l r o y - R ogers
Be n tley
T om
P l ter so n .
D on
Bentley.
D a v ie
O ld
R ogers
M ax
C l if f
St e v e
Fr a n k
A l l is o n
Pete
H ank
T ony
E arl
C harley
Judge
M a s o n ....
M ary
E llen
R ogers.
THE
SCENES
Io w a
Inside the Rogers’ farm house
Spring— I 919
M id -s u m m e r— 1922
Late sum m er— 1929
E a rly fa ll— 19 52
T h e Rogers’ b a rn yard
f e t e fa ll— 193 2
T h e house again
W in t e r — 193 3
STUDENT
T E C H N IC A L
CREW S
FO R
T H IS
P R O D U C T IO N
S/age M a n ag er: H a r o ld K opel
C os tum e Crete': E v e ly n H c lm ic k , Rac Sorey
L i g h t in g C r e w : M ild r e d B crn ic k, C harles Pedri
P ro p e r ty C r e w : Dolores B a llu ff, Sadie Sandvig, E dna M c C u llo u g h
June IS , 1933
S tud io T h e a tre , Io w a U n io n
gHmnimr
LLOYD ROGERS
ANNIE ROGERS
ROB ROGERS
FLORIE BENTLEY
MIN SAUNDERS
JOE SAUNDERS
DON BENTLEY
HAZEL MoELROY-ROGERS
NEWT BENTLEY
TOM PETERSON
DAVIE ROGERS
STEVE BROKAW
CLIFF ERXOSON
FRANK MALONEY
ALLY SC»F
SHERIFF
MARY ELLEN ROGERS
Other farmer*
4
4 **■
asiasii
IOWA*
The Rogers* farm.
All scenes except the fifth take place in the
dining room of the ROOERE* farm house*
Scene Five is in the ROOERS* barnyard.
SCENE ONE
Spring of 1919
SCENE TWO
Mld^summer of 1999
SCENE THREE
hate summer of 1999
SCENE FOUR
Early fall of 1939
SCENE FIVE
hate fall of 1939
SCENE SIX
Winter, early in 1933
£
_ 6~
*Penny Anarchy*
Soenc Ope
Spring of 1919.
Evening,
before dark.
the large dining room of the
Old, unmodern farmhouse of the
Hogereee la littered with news­
paper e and pieces of mall order
catalogues where the family
has been packing dishes that
now lie In tubs and boxes on
the floor waiting to be moved.
Outside of these, a few chairs
and a table, and a gold service
star hanging yet in the eurtalnless window, there lanft much
left In the room.
LLOYD ROGERS, a husky SO-yearold farm boy, and his mother,
ANNIE, a tired little woman of 60
with pronounced streaks of gray
in her hair, bustle about during
much of the scene getting things
finally rounded up for moving
the last load in the morning.
6
*» d m
L L O YD S overalls and blue shirt
are quite new not having been
laundered yet.
And ANNIE'S
gingham dreee and apron are not
faded though somewhat aolled
right now.
LLOYD
(Swelling with pride)
Ha, did you hear us talkin X oaa get my new oar tomorrow?
ANNIE
Yeh!
LLOYD
Phillipe le goin to put a starter on a roadster he1# got in
stock!
Oeet It111 be swell to have a oar of my own!
of the other hide'll look envious at me*
Plenty
Specially mine
havln a starter and battery lights instid of them dang
magneto things*
(Quickly,)
But that ain't why I want It.
It's so you and Pa will always
have your oar around when you want it, and X won't be off in
It someplace .
ANNIE
(A little depreoat ingly.)
And so *s you can get up to MoElroy's easier?
LLOYD
Did I tell you what Hazel's violin teacher told her?
that
7
** 7..*►
Mr* Clark knows hla stuff* tool
possibilities as a soloist.
Ha said aha has real
Bays she's got a real sense or
feeling#
ANNIE
Yes* aha does play real well.
EEOYD
Beyl
Make a little goose pimples run up and down your back#
But MeElroys don't know as they can send her where Mr#
Clark would like to *** to have her study#
ANNIE
She*a got a good Job as a male teacher In the consolidated
school. She ever say anything about wanting to go to
college?
EEDYE
Oh* 1 guess she'd like to, but ~ well she's got plans of
her own of course
ANNIE
What plans did you say she *s got?
hum
I'm going to drive out in the new car tomorrow and surprise
Hazel! «— <* But not till we get you moved into your new house *
Don't you feel all excited* Ma, at gettin a new house that's
Just like you want?
ANNIE
(Happy.)
It don't seem real yet#
more than dug.
Don't seem like the cellar could be
But there the house is!
All done and painted#
8
Could hardly even a dreamed of It & few years ago*
Times
sure do change* «*«*• I guess Itf» goln prove out that It has
been worth all the skimpin after all*
LLOYD
Ton'll be real happy in town!
am m
Tea* Sonny* it will be awful nice
even though I'll be
lonesome without you when you go to college*
T
V Avn
JULuXi/
Oh, it'd be good rid&nee*
annxe
It would bet
Not to an old mother*
But 1 want you to get
your education so's you won't have to slave like we've done
in order to get started*
ELOXD
I'd have an advantage if I was to start out on a farm right
now*
ANNIE
Qhf of course* farmln ain't anything what It used to be *»*what with every farmer with his own car*
Some farms even
with electric lights and all*
LLOYD
Hay be X ought to git married and be a farmer instead of
goln to school*
ANNIE
You've got lota of time to get married In y©t# Sonny*
Hazel's
9
** 0 **
a oieo girl and we all like her, but you may find somebody
you think over ao much more of*
LLOYD
Course X don’tthink that* Ka*
ANNIE
mmmm
*•(»*■**■*
Ho* of course you don’t
now.
But X vent to see you make
more of your life than me and your Fa has of ours*
You can’t
do It by gettin into a rut here on the farm*
LLOYD
Xs it ts$>os*lble to keep out of the rut?
ANNIE
It’s perty hard to*
You’re all we’ve got now and we want to
see you make something out of yourself*
say whati
We’re not tryin to
we’re leavin that to you*
LLOYD
Fa’d be pleased if X’d stay here*
ANNIE
Be might*
But your Fa don’t know anything but the farm*
wants you to have an education*
When you get that* then
there’ll be time to think about marriage*
of time and plenty of girls*
Be
There’ll be plenty
X want to see my boy amount to
scan©thing I
LLOYD
Don’t stake too much on me* Ha*
ANNIE
I’d stake everything* we have*
for you*
We’ll do everything we can
Much as I’ll miss you«-yet I’m tickled you *re
10
• 10 «►
goln Co college#
Tour fa and m
never had m y such opportunity#
LLOXD
Well***-*th© old farm*a been kind of good to us#
W©fr© gettln
quit© a little from It **» you and me#
ANNIE
Tee* with prices up where they are#
Forty dollars Is quite
a price to get for each one of them young hogs#
Twenty cents
a poundI
LLOYD
When fa told me he*d get me a car if the pigs brought more
than sixteen cents a pound# 1*11 bet he never flggered they*d
get that high# **• dee# Ma* waltlm to get the car is like
the feelln you have on Christmas Eve «*♦ all thrilled inside
but id shim you could go to sleep so it *11 be morning right
away!
ANNIE
(Thrilled)
X knew!
LLOTD
Bo you feel the same about movln to town
into your new
house?
ANNIE
I*ve waited all my life for It# Sonny# hopin but not stir© it
could ever be#
LLOYD
But It is!
LLOYDs
Gee, Ma, waitln to get the oar is like the feelln
you have on Christmas Eve —
all thrilled inside*
-
to
kmm
Xesl
It lit
And It’s new end clean!
smells fresh like in a lumber yard,
Even the wood In It all
The vamlsh shines so
on the floors that X hate to walk on em*
Ch# nobody will
ever really know how much that new house mans to me.
(Ear face loses its joy as her eyes stop
at the gold service star In the window* }
If mm If only Burton could of lived to seen It*
He helped
us plan it and was so happy we were to have It*
(Almost crying,)
My boy mm shot down mm just because some Kaiser wanted more
than he had when he had more than he could ever use!
(Bitterly.)
And president Wilson!
He said he*d keep us out of war so us
mothers went out and urged everybody to vote for him* mm
And then he took our boys out and had them shot down!
(She breaks down*
LLOYD would like to
comfort her but not knowing just what to
dof he hesitates and then says awkwardlyt)
LLOIB
I think Pa brought some fresh pineapple with the groceries*
AHKIE
(Getting control of her emotion)
X mm x don’t know whether I’ll have time to flat one for
supper*
(Dries her eyes on her dress tail.)
It’s been such a little time since Burton was running around
13
«* 13
hero# * big husky Ilk© you*
happiness*
I don't mean to spoil your
You mustn't mind me for crying a little*
Xf you
ever have any kiddles of your own* you'll understand how a
mother and dad feel for them*
And pray to God that no sons
have to go to war again e* ever#
{Trying to forget ltj
Do you think we can get all the rest of our stuff on at an©
load?
LLOYD
That hayrack111 hold a lot* hut a truck would a been easier
on the furniture*
1 guess we've got nothin that'll he hurt by any Joltin It
gets*
The old furniture will look kind of tacky in the new
house* but a person can't have everything at once*
LLOYD
1 apect it will seem kind of
different to the neighbors
out here*
AHHXE
l*v© wished and waited to get off the farm* but still it's a
little hard to pull out of the old house you've scrubbed and
scraped and got familiar with ever mouse-hole in ~
have this one*
like I
X do hope your Pa won't decide to put grain
In ittbis year*
LLOYD
He don't want to move —
pa don't*
14
AHNXS
Ho# I know ho don’t*
And I hat© to make him* because it
Maas he1© givin up all of M s ambitions here on the fans*
He says that*© ail he knows and he’s put M s ©hole life into
it* How* neither one of M s sons will take it up where he
leaves off*
He*a built it all up from nothin.
Oh* your Fa
has done the best he knew how to be good to M s family
you kids end me*
But he*s a man*
He ain’t understood how
hard the work is for & woman when she’s pulled down all the
time by poor health*
happy*
Lots of women can stand it and be
X guess X was just one that couldn’t** I’ve tried to
be game*
So X don’t think it’s wrong to ask for something
for myself —
It in town*
for the last few years*
And X know he’ll like
Goodness knows* he likes to talk well enough*
LLOYD
Pa won’t mind so much since it’s close enough to town so he
Can get back and forth to overseen that is to keep an doin
some farming*
Is he goln to keep Ole Han in town?
AHHIK
He hasn’t said*
Ole Han*a almost one of the family by now*
Your fa thinks more of that horse than any animal we ever had*
LLOXD
Han’s gettin party well along in years for a useful horse.
(ROB, LLOYD’S father, is heard outside*)
HOB
3cat~~~«»hlss88s mm d a m cats I Hist *«► scat, you d a m brutes I
You’ll git fed in your due timet ~ Hiss scat!
15
m "15 «*
(A oat yeowls in pain*)
Well* dang ya* it aln*t my fault if yer tall gita under my
feet*
—
Now hiss I ScatlU
(HOB comes In through the kitchen*
a farmer of 55 or 60*
but deeply lined*
He is
His face is kindly
His little hair and
mustache are very gray*
His cheeks are
well covered with a beard anyway three
days long*
The shoes
the overalls
and blue waraus he has on are pungent
proof of long familiarity with the
farmyard*)
If we was minus about forty leven cats* may be a person could
git in at the door without trompIn on a desen*
Dang fools
are continually under foot*
LLOYD
You through mllkin already?
I was just comin out*
ROB
No* I had the team to unharness first*
tfiat as I set down to
the cow* what does the d a m brute do but stick her foot in
the bucket so*s It sprung a leak*
ANNIE
Ah# that bucket*a had a hole in It for months*
ROB
It newer leaked before*
ANNIE
1 had a wad of gum stuck on the bottom*
16
m 10 m
EOB
Well* it*s unstuck now#
A piece of that rag111 fix It#
(Begins fixing the pail as he talks,)
0ot ewerthing about ready to load In the morning?
ANNIE
Just about#
EOB
Well «m» we *11 soon have the old place party well vacated#
ANNIE
Be the first time In memory this house has been idle#
Patterson said any more about wantIn to rent the place?
ROB
He bought a place the other day#
be jlst to speealate on*
Course X donvt know «*** may
They’s plenty doln It#
They been
makin a big haul on some of these places, too#
LLOYD
Wouldn't be a bad thing to have a place like the Hurts farm
right now#
ROB
X got about all the land X can take car© of with you goln to
college#
LLOYD
Oh* X donft mean to keep it
while#
Jist to hold for a little
Land like that Is goln to be worth three hunderd
before long*
Hay be more*
17
- XT ROB
Haybs it will.
LLOYD
Other plaoef that ain't near as good land as that has brought
three fifty,
(Rather snippy.)
2 didn't say tony It —
X Jlst said It'd toe a good thing.
ROB
Boaetoody is goln to git aaught.
You oan't make somethin out
of nothin.
LIft)Yp
Land1# worth what people are payin for It or It wouldn't sell*
BOB
Leave speculatin to the speculators*
Land can't go up always*
tt a man's buyln it tor himself, all right; hut if he's
buyln it to git a bigger priee later, he better loofc out*
LLOYD
Prices'll stay up#
People has more money now than they used
to, and havin had it once they won't he satisfied with less.
ANNIE
Living standards sure has some up lots#
BOB
It ain’t always shat you like that makes you fat, it’s what
you gite
LLOYD
You'd throw sold water on ice, Pal
18
ROB
X*b
the old mandm't know muoh, but hi'i all right when
It tooM to gltbia a now ear —
or buyln somethin.
(Still at the buoket)
X don't know but what even a hunderd and twenty la goln to
bo bigger than 1*11 want to handle by myself.
ANNIE
Xeu might sell the forty to olear up the mortgage on the new
house.
ROB
I've thought about It.
sales.
off.
house
But you notion they ain't many oaeh
Takin a mortgage for part wouldn't make us any better
The bank would just as soon keep the mortgage on the
In town.funny thing
fied.Xf he gits out of
a fella ain't never satis­
debt, he goes rlgit away and gits
somethin else with a mortgage fastened on to it.
(LLOXD wanders to the kitohea)
ANNIE
Ton mean the house?
ROB
Nell, that among other things.
Jlst an example.
ANNIE
X suppose I'll never hear the last of it.
Xf you don't want
to move, why don't you say you won't?
ROB
Zee Jlst give the word and X ' U let the new house go to the
highest bidder.
ANNIE)
Hob* I really think you would.
HO®
Xf it was Jlst my selft X would*
But X built it for you, Annie,
and it1• your house * Xf you git tired of me now, the house
here'll be waitin when you pitch me out*
ANNIE
X wish you wouldn't talk like thatf Hob.
HOB
X Jlst want to be perteoted.
ANNIE
Xeu give me something and then you won't let me enjoy it for
making Jibes at itI
It1a always been like that ~
if It
wasn't anything more than a pig you give me*
HOB
Didn't know but what you might want to git rid of me.
Now
you're goln to be a close neighbor of Newt Bentley, be real
handy for Newt to come oalllm*
Fella can't never tell but
what he' e bulldlm a house for hie wife' a second man.
ANNIE
(A little angry)
Xf you weren't going to let me enjoy It* you should never
have built the house for met
ROB
(Bees she's seriousj
I was just Jo shin you; don't git wrathy about ltt
20
- m
ANNIE
Joshint
But you meant «▼»*» word of it*
EOB
Xeh, that** all the thanks X get for doln anything for you*
X knew X*n gettin eld and a ln H much account anymore only
to leesen up on the purse Strings ~~ and X find X even git
kieked for doln that*
ANNIE
X almost wish Z*d never heard of the house!
Because every
time you get a ehanee you* 11 bring It up*
EOB
Well* It1s built now*
Let's not have any trouble about It*
It1# yours and X want you to enjoy It*
too*
Xfd like to enjoy it,
X4ve always done the best by you X»ve been able*
ANNIE
All right —
and X*ve done the best by you*
BOB
X don11 see whatfs the matter with you that you flare up like
this*
ANNIE
Well $ let** not have any more words*
I*m ~
kind of cross*
(After a silence.)
We*ve worked •*-worked together and earned this money by
sklmpln and savin*
Xtfs no more than right that we should
have some pleasure out of It*
BOB
Annie* X don1! want to Interfere with anybody's pleasure*
m
SI
m
514536
We got the house and we*IX keep it#
Xf X live and keep my
health, It* 11 he paid for 00 me way*
Ifiovin to town and
squattln down am a park bench to spin yarns wasn't the kind
of an end X fd planned for my life*
an end as any.
leave it*
But, may he It's as good
fou don’t like the fanxtj
Lloyd's goln to
So X*a doln things for you two now, because X
want you to be happy*
Xou're goln to have what you want if
X oaa give It to you.
(Angry)
Butf by gosh, Ifll never say anything more if it's goln to
upset you eel
Xt locks like after thirty years you'd begin
to know when X was JokXn.
AHNX15
(Quietly)
Rob, we're both of ue mad nows let19 not [email protected] any more.
ROB
(After a time.)
Annie, we're growln old together.
along.
We ought to be able to git
Xt eeems like the last few years we been gettln
farther apart all the time.
went away*
Ever slnoe «*« Ever since Burton
X know, X encouraged him to go.
But X didn't
want a boy of mine to be a slacker, and you didn't either.
X never thought **« oh, X wanted him to come back!
He'd a
been drafted in two weeks if he hadn't enlisted.
ANNIE
***
.
All right, Rob*
;*
*
>'
>-■>•••
*
•
•
•
»
*
*
»
•
^
•••*«
•
m
Nobody* e- bisnlhgyok: V Surt6n*:sYgane now and
nothing will bring hia baek. —
Bat it ai«n*t halp things
•
S8
22
•
any for you to leave tho ohuroh.
ROB
X thought thero wasn't goln to be any more aald about that.
ANNIE
All right.
It X started the argument, I'm sorry. I'm tired
and nervosa and eroaaor than usual.
(LLOXD rattles among the tinware
in the kltohan.)
Whet are you lookin for, LloydT
U.OXD
<Xn kltoharv)
X've found it. —
the other milk buoket.
ANNIE
(To m n i
Old you get the hole fixed?
ROB
Teh.
L10X0
(Entering-)
Looka like we*re havin eonpany.
Two oara drivln in.
ANNIE
What?
well, X hope they don11 stay long,
we ain't had
supper yet.
(A model T Ford engine rattles to
alienoe as it Is raeed and the Ignition
turned off.
The horn button ia held
down so the old vibrator horn squawks
out with It.)
23
* m EOB
XV* e FXorie and Will and 9am Bentley la one ear.
ANNIE
Oh) may be Florie forget somethin this afternoon when ehe wae
helplm me pack*
JOB
(Off,)
Anybody head here?
LLOXD
that eouade like Joe Saunders.
ANNIE
Xt9s Joe and the Missus and ~
good grief # they9rc all
gettin out.
FLOKXS
(Off,)
Blda* t expect me baek <plte a© soon* did yout
(She comes In.
She9 a a atout, friendly
soul ae old ae Annie but a woman who hae
been able to stand the work.)
MIN
(Following MIN le a slim faoed woman.
Just the one that a big burly fellow like
JOE would marry.)
H 9lof Bob.
Lloyd.
Wbll* Annie» X guess 1 aln91 seen you
since laat week at Lincoln9 s.
24
HOB
(doing out to meet the men)
Bit your hog rlngln done , Will?
JOE
(QffJ
Poes Rob Roger9 live beret
ROB
(Off.)
Well, mey be be does —
If It ain't the sheriff *
(the men ere ell outside -- except LLGXD.)
ANNIE
done on In, folks —
If you can get In.
FLORIE
Thought nay be we’d e&teh you folks at supper, Annie.
AHH1E
we hadn’t got around to It yet.
We was Just harin a cold
enaek tonight.
FLORIE
Well, you all like oyster soup, don’t you?
LLOXD
What’s that?
FLORIE
I thought I’d get a raise out of you on that.
you got Basel ower here?
LLGXD
Bhy, X didn’t know anything about this.
Bay, why ain’t
28
$8 ~
FLORXK
CfO ANNXR)
Don tails me the house here ain't goln to lay idle after all,
ANHIE
Whal'd you ssy , Flerie?
FLORIE
X tell you It sure mads ms glad to hear it*
It sure did I
•ANNIE
Oh| if you mean Patterson <*** he's bought himself a plane*
MIN
Is somebody goln to move here, Annie?
FLOHXE
X ain't talkim about Patterson#
U.OXD
X guess Pom told it a little previous, Florte.
florx®
Shy?
Ain't you goln to after all?
Lum>
well —
I'd just got the folks together to talk it over with
them when you drove in .
ANNlE
What are you talkin about?
hum
Qh*~
FLORIE
Eon was tellln me this boy of yours Is goln to get married.
- 86
ANNIE
Lloyd?
LLOYD
X gue»3 you knew more about it than the family.
ROB
(Coming in followed by JOE SAUNDERS and
BON BENTLSX)
Bay, what'■ this about you, Lloyd* that the men1a tellin met
LLOXD
Bell —
X think probly before it goes any farther you'd better
let me talk it over with the folke.
(To ANNIE and ROB.)
feu see X kind of hinted to Boa that Hasel and me might move
on to the farm since you folks is mowin to town.
ANNIE
You and Basel?
LLOYD
—
Teh.
ROB
Bell now that sounds the best to me of anything I've heard
in a long time.
ANNIE
Lloyd you don't mean you're thinking of giving up going to
school?
LLOXD
X guess it amounts to that.
(ANNIE is struck a telling blow by thlsj
86
27
8?
ANNIE
Ii your mind all made upt
LLOYD
(Sailing broadly.)
Party much*.
ROB
J&ft3t aigbt of bo an an excuse for talkln about tho Kurts
land.
LLOYD
Bay bo it was.
JOE
(A big, aeaty farmer of a little past 30.)
Bully fpr ya, Lloyd.
to stay.
The farmer1a day is here now and here
It's a wise boy that gits married and starts out on
a farm right now.
Don, that* s shat you ought to do.
DON
( A good looking boy of LLOYD* s age —
aluays darn sure he’a right.)
No sir, not no.
She farm may be all right for them that
likes it} but I don't!
BIN
«
Don*« goln to toe a tolg lawyer -- ain*t that It, Pont
DON
tott*n darn righto*
JOB
Aw X&wysrs gits shot, Don*
Hoard of one bain hung ones*
DON
X 111 tafce the risk*
28 •
28
JOS
Say, where's Hasel at?
Ain't she oomln?
2X8
MoElroya la hrlngln the oysters, Joe!
JOE
Oh, aore*
FhOEXE
there1 a aoae more of the folks oomln now*
Xf you ain't guessed
It, Annie, some of us neighbor® decided to some over and eat
oysters with you on your last night with us*
ANNIE
Oh, X wondered when X found them soup plates you'd put away
without paokln*
(they laugh a little; ANNIE9a lan1! very
hearty.)
HOB
Sounds like old Frits Bauer talkin.
LLOXD
Xt9 a the whole Bauer tribe, X guess*
MoElroyal
(He runs outside.)
- Curtain
—
And there* s
2d
89 —
••Penny Anarchy"
328Q& lift
Mid-summer of 1928*
Hear noon*
The old ,room has been redecorated
and with new furniture It looks
much different*
A simple elec­
tric chandelier hangs over the
table*
The order of the room
and the hangings show HAZEL* s
good taste In simple but effec­
tive decoration*
HAZEL, now LLQXD*s wife, a nice
looking, strong young woman,
works about the room.
Her dress
Is common but attractively worn*
As she goes about her dusting,
LLOYD comes in,his arms loaded
with groceries*
He is more the
man now and pretty cook-sure
of himself*
HAZEL
lid you buy the store?
LLOYD
X like good food and, boy, we're goln to have it!
That1 s his old oar outside, ain*t It?
the new Bulekst
Hon, you should see
Hakes my mouth water to have one*
not so expensive either*
Pa around?
They1re
-
m
30 *
HAZEL
Our ear** pretty good yet.
LLOYD
Oh* I don’t suppose I’d dare get one.
Pa Is all the time
remindin me now that I’ve had two cars to his one.
But* hell,
1 made the money to pay for am, didn’t X? At least the last
oneI
HAZEL
May he we can get one when hog prices go hack up.
LLOYD
The hogs ain’t ready to go*
(Purr of a tractor heard in the yard.)
Guess Harley got the tractor fixed*
Listen to that purrt
It ’a power I It’ll go right through thing a— make deep
furrows--smooth out.
Bight ahead I -**»«. Lots different
from an old wheesy horse.
HAZEL
It’s kind of thrilling to listen to the sharp purr of an
exhaust.
LLOYD
Isn’t Itl Oh, we’re living In a new age, Hazel. A new age
that gets things done I
HAZEL
(Thought fully •)
But we mustn’t get to going too fast.
LLOYD
Oh no— we don’t want to stumble so we can’t keep up*
Where is Pa?
31
* 31
HAZEL
Said he was going to ride the pony out to look over the earn*
LLOYD
He ain’t happy unless he’s on Ole Nan* 0 back.
get a lot of respeot for Pa.
Say, hut people’s
Hie signature’s as good as gold.
HAZEL
four mother rode out to Bentleys1. She’s coming over for
dimer.
Sent a ralnee pie along.
LLOYD
She knows my kind!
Hazel, you know what I’m going to
do for you?
HAZEL
Peel the potatoes?
LLOYD
Listen*.
You know, Hon, when 1 fatten out these oattle we’re
gettin, I’m goln to get you a new oar — > all your own.
real good lookin buggy, too.
A
Won’t that be perty nice?
HAZEL
(Pleased)
Unhnh.
LLOXD
Have you noticed —
Pa’s seemed actually to get younger these
last few years?
HAZEL
Since we were married.
LLOYD
Yeh.
1 didn’t realize then shat leavin the farm was goln to
32
« 38 —
to hla.
m m
He'd taken pride to learnln hie buelnoee.
Just when he thought It w&e all at an end, we decided that
the farm was the place for u*.
Hon, there la a real thrill
la havin a good feral
HAZEL
fee, there lei
(She le thrilled, too.)
LLOYD
Things ere worth eoaethln.
Life le.
There's big things
ahead for us, Basel.
HAZEL
Your Bother* s happy now —
LLOYD
—
and Dad le.
HAZEL
And we've helped a little to make it.
LLOYD
dee —
you been swell to get along on less than you've
wanted till we oould get better started.
now!
But we're going
We're goln u make somethin real out of this old feral
Dr lees le eoaln baek.
doln to have some new buildings and
new feooes one of these days.
Fix up the house for you*
You're gain to have thlngst
HAZEL
Oh, Buddy I
LLOYD
Two years, Hon, and not one disagreement between us.
33
- 33
HAZEL
May be Just one*
LLOYD
Ho sires!
Hot onat
HAZEL
(Smile &)
Hot onat
—
But Just think what you oould have been if you'd
gone to ooliaga Instead of marrying me*
LLOYD
Kesriste, Hasel!
you*
All the ooliaga a In the world ain't worth
Hhy+ look at Don Bentley*
It's goln to take him six
or seven years to get through law, and then may be he*!! have
somethin to do and &&Y be he won't*
he may work up a good practice ~
man*
In the meantime —
In eight or ten years
when he begins to be an old
well, you don't have to soratoh
through a lot of books to learn to farm!
Where Don spends
a thousand, we're makln three thousand!
HAZEL
Yes, we've made it but it seems like we don't have it now*
LLOYD
Oh, we don't?
Hot the cash <*- no!
just as good*
they oan say dll they want to about machinery
not payln for itself*
But it's Invested In stuff
It may cost more to run a tractor than
to food borooo to do the aerao worfc flaring j&g, gr.QBla S S & a m
**** but horses eat whether they're workin or not —
all year*
Machinery euts your hired help bill in one ihlrdu
Just be­
cause it's different these old duffers holler that it won't
m
34
£54
(Moreen door to kitchen bangs)
Hollo.
EOB
(Coming In*
If any difference, he
seems younger.)
Jlst no*
Where1a the kids at today9 Hazel?
HAZEL
they1re up to Mama*a.
Aunt Bessie had never seen the twine
so Mama took them and Lavlna up home for the day*
LLOYD
Been out lookln the oorn over?
HOB
Hode Ole Man out through some of It*
LLOYD
It* a oomin right along!
BOB
Some of it looksparty nice* hut it wouldnH a hurt any of It
to a heen plowed over onee more*
LLOYD
We went over it three times*
EOB
this is a good year —
for weeds*
May not he hart* hut it*ll
he a little meanto shuck If they1s too many weeds«
Ifm goln
to git the hoe after some of them ouoklehurs this afternoon*
LLOYD
You*ll have a hlg Job on.your hands If you try to hoe out all
them on that Yurts forty*
m
«• SB
ROB
fhey’re beglnnln to sap the ground*
as the hair on a.dog*
Some places they*re thick
In a few days the bunch of us could
clean ero all out*
LLOYD
CftnH hardly stop hayin right now to do It*
ROB
Well, no ~
I reckon not*
Fella can*t git things done like
he ought to sfcea he1 a doln em on such a big scale*
1
guess most of that slower that’s out111 be ready to put tip
this afternoon*
Harley and duo be around?
LLOYD
M «
Harley1s out exerelsin the tractor*
ROB
Ctosh, Lloyd, you know we ought to have a machine shed*
plows is glttin to look rusty as the dickens —
Them
and they was
Jlst new last year*
LLOYD
The shares was greased when we run em In the orchard.
ROB
Then some of the hogs is glttin out in there and rubbia the
grease off.
LLOYD
1 tossed a log in the hole they was glttin out at*
Pa* you
know* 1 think I fll make a trip to Kansas City for some cattle.
Markets looks party favorable*
HOB
Well
I don’t think they’ll go any lower for a while, either*
They was up a little today*
36
LLGXD
What a you think of throe carload?
HOB
Want to undertake three?
LLGXD
Bank's wlllin to bank It*
And how they’re willin!
HOB
They are? ~
Xf we both sign the note*
LLOYD
Well —
yeh
sure*
EOB
Seems to me like two earload ought to be a great plenty.
LLOYD
we got lots of feed to take ears of three*
Gosh yes
even
four or five oarload for that matter.
ROB
A eourse that bunch did turn out party well last year*
LLOYD
Sayt
and they'll turn out even better this year!
got an eye for things like that*
Mercer has
He's watched the markets
for years and he knows what they're goln to do*
ROB
X wish X thought It'd be possible to make enough this year
so*S w« could put Up the other Improvements the place needs.
That line fenoe has got to be cleaned out.
makes it crooked as a ram's horn.
Them trees In it
It'd improve the looks of
the farm a hmderdi percent to git a brand new fence in there.
*m
37
~
LLOYD
Why* iur« we oixii Fa,
And we can paint the building*!
really build the place up!
HOB
1 tell yft# I like to see farm Improvement* kept upt
LLOfD
Might even remodel the house some#
ROB
Teh, that*s one of the first things X want to do*
all modem*
Make it
Trade In this old jimmy of a light plant for a
good one so** Hazel can have an electric washer*
LLOYD
Hear that* Hazel?
HAZEL
(From the kitchen door where she*#
recently gone out*)
What?
ROB
Teh* Basel* If things work out this next year* we*re goln to
have this house all fixed up for you*
LLOYD
Might even he able to get that new baby grand*
Then you could
have people come in and you could play the violin with ea*
HAZEL
Oh* thatfd he nice!
LLOYD
Expansively*
(Expansively*)
X think 1*11 go down to Kansas City Monday*
Spoae you could
38
* 38
kind of
00 around to see the boys take oare of the hay all
right?If©u von91
have to do anything yourself.
(Hie Dad looks at him a moment*
After
all the old man does own the place yet.)
HOB
Well «** yeh ~
X guess so.
LLOYD
<*lve you a chance to exercise Ole Han a little*
HOB
Han1s spry as a kitten yet.
LLOYD
Mercer was tell in me you got the Interest on the house fixed
up satisfactory.
EOB
Borrowed from Peter to pay Paul.
every year*
too
Bosh* taxes Is glttin higher
This new road Is hound to make some difference,
next year.*
LLOYD
Oradln that new road by here Is a big Improvement to the farm.
HOB
Oh, X*m for it
but X Jlst say it all costs.
Xf our
legislators don't know anything else, they sure know how to
Spend the public*s money*
You hear the Savings Bank
dldmH open this morning?
LLOYD
Didn't?
You know X heard they was shakey.
HOB
Well, she ain't even shakey anymore*
The Bentleys got caught
39
«50 •*
some la 11*
Will and Newt both, I guess*
Course anything
Newt lost probly should belong to somebody else*
LLQYP
Will and Newt alnft got that place of the Ire clear* have they?
HOB
Not
Creat big mortgage on It*
X feel sorry for Wlllj X
think Newt's hooked him out of quite a little money*
LLOYD
Newt could do It*
HOB
Newt fould do it*
LLOYD
X heard Newt and Ben Fowler wae hind of at swords points and
Fowler might foreclose on Bentleys*
ROB
Oh? —
On Will1s account I'd hate to see Ben do that*
Will
wanted me to take that mortgage once and X come pertnear
doln It*
Course some way Newt seems to have the whole thing
In his name
actually*
Xf anything happened that prices
should go down considerable* that Bentley mortgage* d he perty
big for whoever* s holdln lb*
LLOYD
They ain’t any balk about the Citizen's Hants;, is they?
HOB
0ht that bank'll hold up all right*
Mercer's a good hanker*
(A ear drives into the yard and stops-)
40
4** 40 **
HAZEL
(Gomes in ana looks oat the door.)
Oh, it* s Mr. Bentley with Lloyd's mother.
HOB
Oh, *111 Brought her?
Newt was there—
thought may be he
would.
LLOYD
hang queer Newt newer got married.
ROB
Xt tehee two to git married.
May be .Newt's not been able
to git anybody*a but hia own oonsent,
waa a time when you
might of had Newt for a Pa, you know.
LLOYD
It la MOwt with Ma.
ROB
Pie?
ANNIE
{Coming In)
Hollo, Basel.
HAZEL
Mother.
How*do, Mr. Bentley.
(NEWP BENTLEY oomes to the door.
He la
about ROB*a age but a rather shiftyeyed man dressed In good but not well
pressed elethes.)
ROB
Le, Newt.
Some on in.
41 •*
mm
(Coming in)
Hollo#
Coot morale*
HOB
Horn a ehairg Hewt?
mm
Thanks#
(But ho Just leans on the baok of it for
tho moment.)
Why
a —
X wanted to see you a minute» Hob* if you ain’t
buoy*
HOB
Welli I guess X ain't «m» very*
HBWf
1 wanted to talk to you*
(ROB gets up to go out#)
d i9 t guess it ain't nothin that needs to he seeret#
(However t he looks around at LfiOXB and
HAZEL so they go out #)
ROb #*•*■«►
(He sits#)
1 don't know how well you1re acquainted with my finances or
how me and will has been runnta the home plaoe.
HOB
1 know somethin about it.
Will losln so many hogs with the
eolerle last year hit you party hard X heard*
41
42
** 42
NEWT
That** Jiet It*
It was an awful unluoky year for us all around
it seemed like.
Everything that would went wrong — • and it's
Inisn makln it a hard row of stumps for us*
We don11 have the
place clear, you know.
ROB
X know you don't*
NEWT
And now the bank oloain end everything —
up.
The mortgage is due
all we got* a looked
we won’t he able to raise the
Interest and Fowler is go in to foreolose.
ROB
Me let
NEWT
What he says.
ROB
He must a decided all of a sudden —
the bank Jiet closin
this morning.
NEWT
well ~
Fowler got sore at me is part of the trouble.
ROB
Xou had the interest money In the bank.
NEWT
Teh*
Well, I tell you, Rob*
1 know X ain't always done
things as square as I ought to may be.
about it sometimes*
I feel perty bad
But, Rob, they1s one man I've always
been square with ***** and that man's you.
«*
43
43
ROB
X guess you have.
HEWT
30 X'» goin to toll you just exactly how things stand.
didn't have the intore ot In the bank.
raise it.
he says.
So Fowler is foreolosin —
Wo
We simply couldn't
to perteot himself -•
If he'd give us a little time ™ but not
he
won't wait at all.
ROB
the mortgage Is pertnear as big as the farm* ain't It?
NEWT
It's bigger -- that is it's bigger than It ought to be* X
grant that.
Of course it was put on when land was the very
highest.
ROB
Spese you'd like to find somebody to take it over.
HEWT
Well* X hate like thunder to lose the place.
And, of course *
it means even more to Will than it does to me.
ROB
Xou surely don't think Will oouldn't find another farm Just
as good.
NEWT
In a way he could of course —
years bulldln the fans up.
but Will's spent a good many
Hew fences and he's got all the
buildings repaired up In good shape.
*» 44
ROB
M |
Will has worked hard —
while you teen settln on your
tail in an insurance off loo do in nothin to retire the loan.
NEW
X'we done tone to retire it.
ROB
Course ever little helps*
You always seemed prosperous, Newt,
Z*» a little surprised to hear you're hash on your Interest*
Don't Fowler want to renew the loan?
NEWT
No ~
says he won't do It*
You wouldn't be in a position,
Rob, to «►-.
ROB
Me?
X got all the land X know what to do with*
NEW
Why, you didn't buy the Kurts land, did you?
ROB
Nope, by gosh*
But X come so dang near it, I been thankin ay
lucky stars ewer since that X oorae-to Just In time*
NEWT
X thought you Just had it rented*
ROB
Nope, Newt, frald X couldn't do much for ya*
NEW
You couldn't?
ROB
Between me and you. Newts
Xt was darn poor business ewer
gettln ao desp in dabt on that farm.
Shay wasn*t any oall
t w it, and 1 heard quite a bit.
m m
Well—
X dldn* t really expeot any help from you.
It don't
make any dlfferenoe to ms; I'd jlst as soon let the farm go.
But on aecount of W1X1 ~
and knowin ho1d made you a loan one
time when you needed It# X thought you might want to eaye
the plane for him*
But you don't and all right*
Will done
what he eould for you when you needed money» hut
you
got to expeot that*
(Gets up.)
BOB
X know — * Will waa darn good to me and X appreolate it*
Why didn't Will oorae oyer with you?
NEWT
Will ain't out a akin fayors*
Xt meant humblin my pride a lot
to drag my self oyer to see you*
well
-
(Beady to go)
BOB
X ain't said a tall that X pcpildnft help you*
see list how X can*
myself ~
But I don't
X'm a long ©hot from be In a rich man
and tfiat little money X got Is all tied up right
now*
NEWT
X oertalhly wouldn't ash you to put yourself out any for me*
BOB
Wow| Newt* you know X ain't got nothin against you.
Xou know
46
46
mar* what ram been able to da than 2 do.
All 2 know is that
if 2*& a had that farm* It wouldn't a had any mortgage on it
now to be oomln due*
Well ~
NEWT
I'm sorry I bothered you.
HOB
I'd like to help Will and you* Newt, but 1 simply ain't in
shape to.
NEWT
6ood day.
HOB
deed day.
(NEWT goes In a huff.)
Gosh, what does Newt Bentley think I am?
ANNIE
Wae It real necessary to tell him all you thought of him?
HOB
He knows he don't honestly deserve any help.
X kind of think
he had his nerve to oome and ask me.
ANNIE
I persuaded him to oome over and see you, Hob.
HOB
(First surprised.)
0h# you
(Then:)
Well —
you think you're tell in me somethin I don't know?
ANNIE
You hold a little grudge a long time.
4»
4?
47*
ROB
| got nothin agin«t Newt.
X got no reason to haw.
If you
wanted him to have tho money so had* you might of got somo
mors on the house*
ANNIE
Oh f I might have )movn
(She starts out of the room)
ROB
(Wanting to do the right thing)
Ton think Fowler will make Florie and Will move off?
ANNIE
He said ha would*
ROB
I den1t think Fowler wants to live on the plane*
ANNIE
Will and Florie has put up lots of improvements on the place.
X*te moat.all modem now.
And they did have awful had luck
last year*
ROB
X know*
died*
X felt sorry as the dickens for Will when hie hogs
He1a a hard workln son~of-a~gun and honest as the day
is long*
But* Annie* that place wouldnH sell for hut darn
little more than the mortgage is*
ANNIE
No, X expect you would he sorry if you did it; —
you could huy the mortgage*
even if
4t
- 48 HOB
Of course X oould take out a loan on part of the farm here.
I'd have to If X was goln to raise the money.
Will was
darn good to me when he had money.
ANNIE
X spose It wouldn't he wise.
But when X saw how It was
goln to make Will end Florie feel, X Jumped at the first
thing that oome Into my mind.
Seems such a shame for em
to have to give up all they've worked so hard for.
HOB
Newt feels perty bad, too, X maglne.
ANNIE
Oh, Rob, don't he a fool.
X knew you'd think that.
want Newt or X'd a married him.
X didn't
You're nothing more than—
Well, aetlng like this all our lives hasn't helped us out
any.
Supposing X'd of acted like an old settln hen ever
time you got near Sarah Stokes.
as X ever did Newt I —
ways, Rob,—
You went with her as m o h
You've been good to me in lots of
hut you're made me awful unhappy in others.
ROB
X can't subsidize everbody and his dog Jiet because he has
bad luck.
For one thing:
them hogs of Bentley' s oould of
been vaccinated.
ANNIE
All right*.
All right!
might be possible.
an old bear.
Forget about it!
X Jlst thought It
You git so mad about everything.
Like
Always draggln out that stupid old Jealousy
from the grave!
49
«**
dO
•.
(She goes out*
HOB sltfi In a rage.
HAZEL
acmes in, spreads the table cloth, and
goes back to the kitchen.
ROB1s deep love
for ANNX® softene hie Unger.
Presently
he gete up and goes to the telephone.)
HOB
(Holding the receiver.)
Eaself chat’s Ben Fowler*s telephone ring?
* Curtain
m
00
*
"Penny Anarchy*
Soane Three
Late summer of 1939.
Evening;
dusk.
The roam still looks pretty good
though the wall paper isn't as
fresh as It onoe was*
A mantle
lamp hangs from the selling* in
place of the else trio
fixture*
throwing a white light over the
room*
All the ROGERS family* except
the third generation* are at
the table with TOM PETERSON, a
bachelor auctioneer of the
neighborhood* a capable man in
his late forties* robust and well
dressed.
Supper is just over.
ANNIE has aged Qonetderalfty and
R0B*s face is more severe*
LLGXB
has tooome a mature and rather
satisfied farmer.
stout.
HAZEL is getting
61
♦ 61 *
*011
(Shoving book from the table.)
Nope -«* no, m o , n o » no, now, Hotel ~
thanke —
thanks, but
not a bite,more * 1*01 stlokln out In front now like a oow In
wet slower*
Best meal I*we set down to in ten years*
Seeln
a table heaped up like thatt you newer would guess they was
anything sailed like hard times on the farm*
LLOYD
Anything galls me, it Is to set down to a table where there
alnvt only barely enough to go around*
ANNIE
Well, some folks ean't always be that particular*
LLOYD
It's generally a fellows own fault if he don't make enough
so*s he ean hawe all he wants to eat.
HOB
Yes, we've always had enough * they has been times, though,
when the wariety wasn't so big*
TOM
Well sir, Basel, 1 enjoyed ewer bit of it elear to the ends
of my toes!
HAZEL
You want to thank mother for It*
ANNIE
(Pleased)
Oh no, 1 didn't!
She cooked It.
*»
033 ..
TOM
Sure was good.
X think the worst punishment for be In an old
booh la hswln to eat so much of ay own oookln.
LLOXD
If yon wonen folks is gola to git to town in tine for the
show, you’d better be startln.
HAZEL
Mother, X don* think I'll ohonge m y dress.
yours, you do It while X clear the table.
AMHIS
Well —
If you need to
all right.
(She goes out.)
ROB
Lloyd, your aether*s feelln better this evenln.
KAZEL
*t*ll do her a lot of good to get her mind off her worries
by seeing a picture show.
ROB
Teh ~
it’ll aake her feel better.
TOM
Somethin tells ae, Rob, that Z left my tobacco in the oar.
ROB
(Setting up)
Well ~
let’s go get it.
(At door.)
Rice night out.
(He and TOM go outside.)
HAZEL
Lloyd, won't you cone with ust
- m
sa
*
LLOYD
He» X don't think X earn about goln.
(He reads the paper.)
HAZEL
You haven't been to a ehow for quite a while —
with me.
LLOYD
HO —
huhuh.
But X really don't want to go, Hazel --tonight.
(%lenee ae HAZEL begins clearing the
table.)
HAZEL
Have you noticed how bare it seems where they out the new
road through what used to be old Lovers' Lane?
They cut
down all the old trees, tore out the bridge and straightened
the river —
straightened the road and graded it a way up.
Xt used to be suoh a pretty curved lame In there up to the
old white bridge.
—
You remember one night out there, Lloyd?
the first night you and I were ever together?
LLOYD
(Engrossed in the paper)
ffnhtih.
HAZEL
The old lane's just a memory.
Of course the new road is nice,
but It's straight and hard and it isn't pretty.
(She smooths LLOYD'S hair.)
they had to spoil all the elderberry bushes and grape-vines.
There's obly a pile of dirty, yellow olay heaped up now. —
An ugly orange-colored iron bridge in place of the old white
wooden one.
M
** B4
LLOYD
V N 7 (U
paint
HLaek one of those day a*
rigit when you get used to It*
the fills and out a.
Xtfll look all
they1IX plant clover along
the road isn't finished yet*
HAZEL
{ think you1re forgotten we ewer had any romance , Lloyd.
LLOYD
Oh nof 1 haven91 # Hamel, but —
<Silence.)
Hogs is down some more.
HAZEL
(Going on with her work.)
I see Paderewski Is to make a farewell tour of this country.
LLOYD
(Moments late.)
Oh, is he?
(Silence.)
What ewer happened to your violin, Hazel?
HAZEL
Oh «
I get it out and play it —
ones in a while.
LLOYD
(Kothlng more Is said till HOB and T0M
return*)
TOM
(Preceding BOB.)
I dldn11 know Annie was so poorly.
- 68 •
80
BOB
Oh, she ain't been well for a Ions tin*. Bor heart's wools:.
And Havin to giro up and. mows book out here —
blow to her, Tea.
it's boon o
Xt* a showed on bor woroo than anything
•inso Burton*o death in tho war.
TOM
X toll ya, Burton was a fine lad.
Mo war soon a boy that
everbedy took to llko thoy did to Burton.
ROB
funny thing —
it waa always like that from the tims ho was
a little Shaver.
TOM
Ho had tho nakins of a fine nan. »* I've never boon a folia
that was afraid of death, but X've never really went out of
ay way to hunt for it.
BOB
X gneeo not many of us do.
I've never got tired enough of
things yet that X didn't want to live all my days out.
fhey'e Jiet one thing:
X don't ever want to live to be a
burden on ay family or anybody sloe's.
(a b n x e returns.)
ANNIE
X guess I'm ready, Basel.
HAZEL
I'll get ay seat.
TOM
fhlnk you oan trust us men here alone, Annie?
* 56 *
ANNIE
X guess if you ean4t toko care of yourselves by now, Tom,
you>11 never bo able to.
HOB
What1o tho ohow you* re goln to oee?
ANNIE
You know tho name of it. Hazel?
HAZEL
X o&w tho naao of it, but X didn*t pay any attention.
*Big Drive* or something they called it.
(Looking through her purse.)
ANNIE
Oh, X got change enough, Hazel *
HAZEL
Ho, no; this one is on mo, Mother.
ANNIE
(TO LLOYD.)
Tott*d bettor oome and go along, Sonny.
LLOYD
Ho, X gucee not this time, M&,
1*11 go next time.
TOM
They all Sit to bo home fellas after they1re married about
so long.
HAZEL
Oh, ho goes enough —
but generally by himself for fear ho* 11
have to take oaro of the kids.
66
fi?
* 6? *
LLOYD
duos# they ©an about all take oaro of theaeelyes now*
Twin®
art over to Haxtl11 folks so muck, they're heglnnln to think
they don't belong to us.
HAZEL
Goodbye
(She and ANNIE go*)
TOM
Goodbye *
HOB
w®'11 ho hors whan you git bask.
(LLOYD puts his Old hat on*)
Say * Lloyd, if you1re
goln
to
thebarn, will you look and
see If 1 loft a
pltoh fork
In
OleKan's stall when 1 bedded
hart
knock It down and break It or hurt herself.
She might
(LLOYD goes out *)
Well, Tom ~
they1s bean several foreclosures this term of
court*
TOM
Yah —
and I'm thinkin it's likely they'll be a few more.
HOB
Yhey'e got to be a bottom*
TOM
Well, we've about reached it*
Fact is, X think we have*
Markets Is up & little this last week*
ROB
Prices where they are, they1s no farmer raakln anything right
now
X don't oars who he is.
68 TOM
Ten knew X oried Byeroft's sale yesterday.
swat perty g » M .
Sons of the stuff
The horses brought around —
-
ROB
By gosh our tools certainly didn't whoa we had our sale.
TOM
Bohody knows that better than ae.
Talked myself blue In the
gills and newer did bring any of it up to a real bid.
People's
got more machinery now than they want.
ROB
Be lost on all that we had.
Judgaent. Trouble was:
Binder, gowers ~
X get it aglnst ay better
We didn't have any plaee to keep it.
everything rusted out or rotted.
Oh, X'd
a been a darn sight better off if X'd newer let Lloyd take
on that Kurtz land to run.
Xf we hadn't had that, we wouldn't
got etuok with that three carload of eattle.
TOM
Meresr told me somethin about that when it happened.
ROB
Lost half X had inweoted in then cattle.
Held ea over a year
from the tine they was first ready to go —
wasn't fit for top prlee.
on ~
jist half.
and then they
We got 41st half what we paid for
Lost all the feed.
X tell ya, X felt perty
sick about it.
TOM
Plenty of others got naught, too, X'a here to tell you.
89
- 89 HOB
we sold our heuoo la t o m because wo toad to do It.
never oald mush, tout X know how Oho felt.
Annie
She'd aot her
haart on that house and ahe was tlokled jiet like a little
kid when we had It tooilt.
It.
Xt was darn herd for me to sell
X seen tears la her eyes whoa oho wont to sign the deed.
X'd a done almost anything right then to of saved It for her
—
tout, gosh, what with the toank olosed and all.
We tooth
felt wo ooulda't let the farm go.
TOM
Badtoetoha, X know!
ROB
feu know X got this Bentley mortgage on my hands, too.
X'd like to git It off —
hops for a while.
Ton.
And
tout It don't look like they's any
X'a too good hearted onoe in a while,
Kewt oome over and X did feel sorry for Will and Florie.
Wouldn't a felt eo toad If X'd a knowed they was goln to plok
up and go to California the next year.
TOM
Newt's made quite a little In land deals out there, X hear.
ROB
well, X heard It, too -- tout he still owes me this last year's
Interest*
He's managed to be out of the offlee ever time
I've tried to see him.
TOM
Newt's to toe trusted J1st about as far as you ean toss a bull.
60
- 60
HOB
Not as far as Newt can toss It*
Between you and mef Tom,
I ’m kind of up a stump to know what to do*
TON
Would tho Kurts land paid out all right if it hadn’t boon for
tho oattls?
HOB
Tom | 1 never did think muoh of uadort&kln things on too big
a soalo• That Kurts land has boon farmed to death*
nor wo wouldn91 a made nothin*
Wo didn’t
And wo was Jist payln
grain rant*
TOM
dash — HOB
Oh, cash rent and X’d a boon a darn sight worse off that X
an right now*
{Knook at tho door.)
Come in*
(NEWT and BON BENTLEX oome in*)
Oh, hello, Newt*
NEWT
dood evenim*
(NEWT hasn’t changed muoh in the seven
years*
Ho is perhaps a little more gray.
BON, however, has aoqulred a veneer of
sophistication and a contempt for the
stock from which he came*
derby*)
Ho wears a
■m ©1 ®
WAtl
lot are ya, Dob?
TOM
Hello, Hewt * God, Don, you afraid somebody111 shoot at you— *
you got to m a r that damn helmet ?
mn
IHe just a hat#
(He tries to hang it up but it wonft
stay on the hook •)
ROB
Jiet lay it on the table, Don, if you can*t get it to stick#
Well, take the weight off your feet, fellows#
HEW
(Sitting#}
Heard you was tryin to see me* Rob#
RGB
I did stop in at your office several times lately, but t
didn’t find ya in#
HEW
t been party busy lately#
TOM
Tour Gd ifornia land keepln you busy?
m m
That and other things#
Got some Interests in Omaha I got
to keep lookln after#
TOM
Interests?
(He looks at ROB significantly#)
61
02
- 02 *
NEWT
Tip*
Too late now for what you wanted to oeo mo about, Rob?
ROB
Tou probly guessed what X was there for.
NEWT
About tho mortgage on tho old place?
ROB
About tho Interest on It.
boon duo a month —
If you remember.
NEWT
Teh, 1 know it.
Probably will be for several more.
ROB
What*& you say. Newt?
PON
We tee decided tee place Isn't worth holding.
ROB
teat a ya mean?
NEWT
Ton can have her, Rob
whole kit and caboodle.
Guess
though It won't be the first thing you've beat me out of*
ROB
Oh now, Newt, X wasn't Intendln to press you.
X oould wait
some longer on the Interest, X reckon, If 1 had to*
NEWT
Well, 1 guess you'll have to.
ROB
Ain't you got tee money, Newt?
m
«* 63
mm
X got the money all right*
X Jiet Intend to hang on to it*
DON
You understand, Mr* Roger*t that you made the mortgage a way
too high*
% y * It approaches the full value of the land*
If you were a good business man9 you’d never make a loan for
more than half the value*
ROB
Bow Jiet hold on a minute*
that mortgage?
Do you know how X oome to have
Didn’t Newt tell you that?
DOB
You bought it up from Ben Fowler at too high a price*
NEWT
Might not of been so muoh too high at the time
but the
bottom has went out of everything since then*
ROB
X don’t want to take your placef Newt*
X don’t want your
farm*
DON
Of course it is possible to reduce the mortgage*
ROB
Reduce the mortgage?
See here, Newt, ain’t you got the money
to meet the Interest?
NEWT
X told you I ’ve got the money
TOM
That’s party strong talk, Newt*
but I ain’t got the mind to*
64
•* 64
NEW?
Well, It ain’t too strong to be basked up*
deln.
X know what X ’m
Xf they1e sny points of doubt botherln you —
an. attorney now*
that’s shy X brought him along —
Don1s
to answer
on*
DON
I ’ll tell you what you oan do now —
ROB
Walt now —
X1!! may be tell you what you oan do, too —
Jiet
keep still till somebody asks you*
DON
Well, I like that!
ROB
Like It or lump it, don’t make a hair’s difference to me*
And
If you oome to pick trouble, Newt, X reckon you oome to the
right place*
X know you been keepln under cower the last
month to avoid aeetln me*
well, I’ve waited on that Interest
Jlst as long as X fm goln to.
X aim to treat people deoent
as long as they don’t make It Impossible for me to*
Don’t
forget that the only reason X took that mortgage was to help
you end Will out of a hole*
DON
How you came Into possession of the mortgage has no bearing
on the case now*
NEW?
X never asked you to take that mortgage*
money If you hadn’t a took It*
It’d a saved me
66
«* 60.•
BOB
You dam eet there and tell me that?
Newt, you old devil you,
the sooner you begin raakln tracks away from here the better
off you1XX be I
You oan probly still outrun me —
and your snotmose attorney.
both you
I ’d never know you was Will
Bentley’s boy.
HEW?
Now, Rob, X didn’t oome over hers to make any trouble.
ROB
Ton «—» ? —
You —
?
Well, then, you been mightily
misunderstood •
NEWT
X don’t want to quarrel with you*
ROB
that do you want , then?
NEW?
X some over to talk business ~
but X’m pertnear out of the
notion now*
ROB
All the business X know Is that your interest’s past due and
X fm needla the money*
NEWT
You ain’t any worse off than anybody else*
damn sight better off than a lot of people.
Pact Is you’re a
You farmers has
bellyached slnoe the day you was bora*
ROB
Well
everthing I’ve done has been out and above board anyhow.
* 66
BOH
t m farmerb don't know when you're wall off.
BOB
Xs that what tho oohoolo wo pay for teaches yout
X reckon
If It hadn't been for a lot of old pluggin farmers workin
fourteen to eighteen hours a day, you wouldn'1 a had this
chanoe to got so smart oil of a sudden.
Booms to me you
was raised on a farm.
BON
Xes.
Ahd X had the Intelligence to get off when the getting
was good*
Still, X have nothing against farming.
But her#
tho farmers have an opportunity to reap tho benefits of
scientific re soaroh on the problems of farming
but they
won't listen to what experts on the subject tell them*
If you mean that son-of~a~gun of a county agent, all X oan
say 1st
Xt looks like If he knows so muoh, he'd be able to
praotloe a little of shat he preaches*
Last year he grew
some of the soabblest oorn X ewer seen*
TOM
Ames must a sent him the wrong book*
ROB
And he's let tin that place he bought go baok.
BOH
X don't know the man here*
it's possible there's an occasion**
al poor one*
ROB
Xt's Jlst a little bit more probable than it is possible, too*
§7
* #7 •
DON
That's the trouble
told.
the farmer a know It all and can* t be
They oould raise twice as much to the acre If they'd
«et wise to things and find out the real advances that have
been made in intensive farming*
ROB
Nay be you can explain this to me then*
If there was twlee
as mueh raised, the price would be j1st half as much*
do twice the work for the same money*
and good business*
We1a
That1s good farming
Will you tell me howt
DON
Oh, the price wouldn't be half*
HOB
No, I don't suppose it'd even be that.
TON
Bumper erop always runs the price down, don't it?
DON
Not necessarily*
NEWT
Course not*
Like 1 was talkln to the president of the Farm
Bureau the other day ******
ROB
There's another one of the worst grafts In the country*
Farm Bureau*
The
in each county they herd In two hundred members
at five dollars a head and then the state says the county
has to appropriate from two to three thousand dollars a year
fop it* OH.
Pop ofaat use nobody know*.
Then they oome out
68
— 88 and say to this man's boy:
"Here's how to rata® you a prise
pig or a prise ©alf .*
DON
And they grow prise winning stook, too*
HOB
Oh yes, 1 know they do*
But, somehow, they newer get around
to sayln anything about how it's been a good thing for the
farm boy to have some say in the prloe he1s to get for that
prise winnln stook — * and the other nlnety^nlne hunderdths
of the stook that ain't prise winnin*
No*
The olubs don* t
git around to dlsoussln the problem of selling corn for
forty seats a bushel when It takes seventy~flve to raise it*
But that ain't in their field, 1 guess*
DON
No, you're got it all wrong*
It's —
TOM
The other day 1 seen a big pudgy man out alrln his wife's
lap-dog*
Don't imagine you'll ewer have any children either,
Don. «--- The dog was one of these ory-eyed orltters and the
eld man was havln an awful time to keep it from bein defiled
by the street mongrel si -*<-**«-* Don't you feel jlst a little
uneasy In here, Don?
DON
1 suppose you've never heard about the man that bought himself
the three new hounds*
HOB
Frobly live Jist as long If t never do.
69
* 60
TOM
But still if you Know it* I spoee It must be good and funny.
BON
The nan9a wife naked him what he was going to do with ao
many doge and he replied that he was going hunting.
Upon
returning he net her with the remark that he'd named the
doge — • *Lawyer*" 1 "Banker" f and "Farmer" —
because the fir at
two got out and hustled at every sound t but the last one
just eat on hie behind and howled.
(NEWT laughs heartily.}
HOB
Z fts a good story.
Only it ought to finish up that the
farmer didn9t begin howl in soon enough*
He1a let every other
business bleed him of his money by the politicians he9s
helped eleot till now hecs got anemia so darn bad he could
lose a leg and never bleed a drop*
TOM
It's fellows like you, Newt, that*s the bolls on farmer Job.
*’■-* No* you don't rank as a boil yet, Bon;
pimple.
BON
Damned If I'll stay here and be insulted.
TOM
dod» he got It I
HOB
(As NKWT and BON go.)
Qoln, Newtt
you're just a
TO
* 70 *
nett
And I ai»*t oomln back.
HOB
1 wen*t be around to ask you for that In tore at agin, either*
{They go and LLOYD comes in.)
LLOYD
Newt and Don seemed to be sore a tout somethin*
BOB
Xt ain't Jlet oonflned to Wewt and Don*
LLOYD
That** the mattert
BOB
Newt Juflt give me a farm*
TOM
Defaulted the Interest*
LLOYD
Did?
The damned old rati
10*11 foreclose.
HOB
X kind of think that was what Newt was gettln at as X
ponder on it *
LLOYD
Did he offer to deed it to you?
HOB
Lloyd, Newt wasn't In an of forlu state of mind*
he don*t know shat "offer* means.
up of words that means "take*.
Anyhow,
His vocabulary is all made
X don*t want that farm.
dues* it don*t pay to ever do anybody a good turn.
Xt they
TL *
71
don't come back and bit* you* some thin fron the outside
snatches away whatever benefit you1re tryIn to do*
They >6
back taxes plied up on that Bentley plaoe*
LLOYD
Oh, they1e bound to be a way out — ♦ always has been*
BOB
We heen gettln In deeper ever sines 1900.
pay Interest on borrowed money.
else has been doln It*
Borrowln money to
I been doln It and everbody
And we been payin big taxes so9s the
polltlolans will have more to loan us.
They's got to be an
end to It all,
TOM
Yah*
But of oourse we have got Improvements* Rob; perman­
ent Improvements.
BOB
Like paved roads and court houses and school houses*
TOM
The school a Is good and I don’t think they’s many men that
regrets the hard roads that’a drug us out of the mud*
BOB
Three thousand miles In the state ~
or is it five thousand?
But did you ever try eatin concrete, Tom* —
or wearln a
brick?
LLOYD
Oh you’re sour tonight, Pa;
you can do about Wewtt
Come out of it.
They’s this
Get a deficiency Judgment.
TOM
It’d serve him the turn he ought to have.
*70 m*
m
72
ROB
Ihat do ya mean —
deficiency Judgment?
LLOYD
At the sheriffs sale you Bid in the Bentley farm for lees
than the mortgage*
the court*11 give you a receivership and
a lean aglmst Newt1s other belonging.
And you get rent
instead of glYin him a free year for redemption and git
nothin*
ROB
0h| I won't do anything like that*
LLOYD
thy not?
You1Ye paid taxes out of your own pocket and
forget Interest*
You won't he gettln anything that isn't
comin to ya*
ROB
Veil -»«* we got to find somethin to pull us out of the hole
we're in.
TOM
You know, Rob, t was thinkin.
week*
1 got a dairy cattle sale next
You're close enough to town; they ought to be somethin
In the idtolesale milk business.
ROB
X got nothin to buy dairy oattle with, Tom; even if 1 wanted
ea*
Cash terms 1*11 bet ya.
TOM
Well, that oould be arranged.
78
•* 78 **
EOB
Nop©.
X*» In clear up to the nook now*
Limn
Fa, it night toe worth lookln Into*
TOM
Thoso 1© registered Guernsey© and Jersey©« and they're golm
to go ©heap*
Course you know ©hat you think; hut if you ain't
busy, you and Lloyd might run over*
LLOYD
*her© 1© it?
TOM
At Duke Roberta's.
It ain't all his stuff, though*
EOB
Nell, 2 don't know.
Right now I feel like I'we had about all
the ventures with eattle and land 2 ©are about.
One© you git
started ins©©tin, danged if you ain't got to keep it up for*,
ewer*
Everthlng I've touched for the last ten year© has lost
me money.
(Auto drives into the yard and stops.)
LLOYD
Bounded like somebody drove in.
TOM
Newt and Don might of forgot somethin they intended to say.
HAZEL
(Off ~
Lloydt
Com© her©!
with a note of apprehension)
74
- 74
EOB
Oo»h# It1a the women folks.
LLOXD
(Going out,)
What you want?
HAZEL
(0ft)
Oq
m
here!
(LLOYD hurries out; HOB follows to the door*)
HOB
What1a the natter?
(LLOXD and HAZEL help ANNIE in*
% e is
very weak.)
ROB
By gosh, shat1s happened?
HAZEL
fake her Into our bedroom.
(ANNIE Is helped Inf HOB follows*
waits*
fOM
Presently LLOXD and HAZEL return.)
HAZEL
(Emotionally upset,)
Oh, Lloyd!
LLOXD
fell me shat happened! Hazel•
HAZEL
It was In the show*
sheuldnH have gone*
X knew the minute we got Inside we
It was a war picture*
I thought It might
m
*70 m
76
be a news reel and not last long*
scenes m
But It —
It was actual
sown*a taken in Franco during the fighting.
they worn bloody!
Oh,
Your mother had Just suggested we leave
when It happened*
LLOYD
%at?
HAZEL
there on the screen — * fighting ~
hand to hand ~
bayonets right through each other ~
running
Oh, It was horrible!
(Verging on hysterlaj
LLOXD
And ~
mother ~
HAZEL
Mother Just went limp.
Hade no noise except to whisper:
"Let's go* • We got to the oar and she seemed better.
wouldn’t hear to a doctor.
Oh, eall one, Lloyd —
She
call one!
Call a doctor*
(She becomes hysterical.)
LLOXD
Easel
(He tries to quiet her until at last she
calms.
HOB comes slowly out of the room
where ANNIE is.
He walks across to his
old chair and elts; hie eyes are full of
tears.
He speaks quietly but rather
baffled.)
EOB
that happened to her, Haxel?
m Curtain -
77
77
*>
*Penny Anarchy*
Early fall of 1938*
Evening.
Dark.
The room is worn and daIlly and
dimly lighted by a kerosene
lamp on the table,
^he ehlny
nlekle on the new base burner
in the oorner eeeme out of place*
A baby carriage stands along the
back wall by the stove.
HAZEL, worn now like the room,
is alone,
the door opens and
LLOYD comes in angry and pouty.
HAZEL
Yon
didn't get through the pioket line?
(Ho answer)
Lloyd, yon
LLOYD
Holt
~
dod damn It.
HAZEL
Well, you don’t need to bite my head off.
LLOYD
(Bursts out after a silence.)
How the hell do they think a man and his family Is goin to
live If he ©an11 get ^nythlpa to market?
78
- 78
HAZEL
perhaps you oau tomorrow.
LLOYD
(*edt it worn11 last mush longer for us.
The aherIff111 soon
be out to take the oattle.
HAZEL
How111 we live, Lloyd, if they take all the sows?
LLOYD
A good and righteous (tod will take care of ust
HAZEL
Xt w o n H help things any to blaspheme, Lloyd.
LLOYD
Oh, hell now| don*t begin to blubber.
HAZEL
Lloyd *•*** Is — * Is your head out?
LLOYD
X don't know!
(Passes his hand over his forehead)
There*s blood from someplaee.
HAZEL
There* * a gash on your head;
Gome over by the lamp.
Lloyd | what happened?
(HOB domes in,)
BOB
Oh, you*re bask, Lloyd.
You didn't get through, then?
LLOYD
Hs«
Hfay,
• TO­
ROS
X tlta't hear the truck drive in.
LLOYD
Willy the truok didn't derive in.
Rim.
My land* what happened to you, LloydT
ell over your Read.
You've got soratehes
And this one on your forehead Isn't so
little.
ROB
Save some trouble?
LLOYD
Panned bastards!
X made up my mind when Z left here that Z
was gain through with that load of milk.
I deeidsd.if they
wouldn't listen to reaeon, X'd go through anyway.
1 talked
»y way through the first bunohj they was fellows Z know and
they realised you got to have something for your family to
Oat.
Shay told me* though, that there was a bigger bunoh on
toward town and I might have sons trouble.
Z got it.
they
had fanes posts and baled hay and rooks and God Almighty
knows;mhat else.
They ain't farmers.
Xt'a a bunoh of hoboes
fron.town that ain't get anything to do and wants to raise
hell.
8em* of em told me to stop and Z told em Z was goIn
on through!
But X hit a log and somebody threw a rook
through the windshield.
®hen a whole mob piled onto the oar.
Z pasted two or three in the Jaw that tried to.get at me*
but finally they drug me rl^it out ofthe seat.
over damn bit of glass they was on the ear.
They smashed
And they wasn't
80
80
-
ifttiifldd with that ant upsettln all the milk out.
Hammed
pitchforks through the tlree and out em all to hell.
X
wasn't euro hut they waa goin to club me to death.
BOB
The eoaa-ef^gume!
LLOYD
X spose they aln*t much left of the truok hy now.
HOB
She was they?
LLOYD
X don’t know.
Three-fourths of em never seen a farm.
X'm
badly mistaken If X ain’t seem a bunoh of em standin around
em the street earners in town lately.
HOB
I heard they was a bunoh of them bonus fellas helpln picket.
LLOYD
X don’t know who they was —
but they was plenty of em.
HAZEL
Thank goodness you dldn*t get hurt any worse.
LLOYD
0 h i don’t tie that clear around my head.
Just put a hunk
of tape over the sore.
(HAZEL obeys.)
HOB
*herefa you leave the truck?
LLOYD
Some of us pushed It out to the side of the road.
81
• 81 BOB
X'n gold out and saddle 01* Man and go down there*.
llqxp
m i l , don't got Into any trouble.
EOB
I always boon ablo to portoot myself yet.
(Ho gooo out.)
LLOXD
that*e all right, Hanoi.
TELEPHONE rings two shorts and a long.
That our ring!
HAZEL
tea.
LLOXD
X'll answer It.
Hollo
Xeh...... Well, by God, I noed
sobs thin to oho or mo up... Well, all right, Art.
Xou stop
by for mo?...-Awrlghti
(To HAZEL)
Thors*o my other pants?
HAZEL
Hanging up la there*
doing soraeplaoe?
LLOXD
doln over to Brisk*s with Art*
Elay a little rummy.
(He gooo Into the bedroom and talks from
there as he ohanges hie pants.)
HAZEL
Isn't to Farley's donee you're goln, Is it?
82
* as iaoto
n P W P V «p»Mr
Nope.
Ibftt if it M S ?
You told me you wouldn* t go*
HAZEL
Well, I couldn’t, Lloyd, with the baby.
LLOYD
You oan't m
hands*
anyplaoe anymore*
We always got a baby on our
X*ve pertne&r forgot how to dance *
HAZEL
Xt i a n H Just my fault, Lloyd, that we have children.
LLOXD
X spose it ain9t possible to pervent it*
HAZEL
Takin life one way is Just as wrong as another as far as X
can see*
LLOXD
Oh, It 1st
When don't say it ain't Just your fault.
HAZEL
You^re getting awfully hard anymore, Lloyd.
LLOXD
Well, X got enough worries on my hands to make me hard!
dot
a bunoh of mouths to feed end don't know shore the next
meal's oomlxt from.
HAZEL
All right —
go ahead*
do to the dance with some other woman
if you want toj but if you ever have time some evening, I'd
lihe to have you stay home with me.
68
•
69
*
LLOXD
•ill t IX you're goin to aet like that,, I've pertnear a mind
t« taka somebody also.
HAZEL
(Alarmed)
Ten noulda1t da that, Lloyd.
LLOXD
(Comae In tuoklng In hie shirt tall)
X told you I’m goln orer to Briek'e to play rummy.
(HAZEL aaya no more.
ROB oomes In for a
different hat.)
ROB
m a r e you goln, Lloyd?
LLOXD
Over to Brisk*sf.
HOB
^onft — * Don11 lose any money.
LLOXD
I’m petnear old enough to take ears of myself.
EOB
leery penny counts nowday*.
LLOYD
X a iVi losin any money.
Bet to have somethin.
X V s Just a little recreation.
And since Hazel* s give up danoin ~~~
HAZEL
When we git rich so1s we can have a nurse to take care of the
children, X may go ones in a while again!
If X ain*t too
84
- §4 -
old*
Or have people some la and play the grand piano — *
wo don't have
yet.
HOB
Why, Hostel* I'm willln to taka ©are of the youngster a a
while of an evenin ~
if you want to go someplaoo *
LLOXD
Vo don't go tonight because I V o made arrangements to go
over to Brisk* s*
(Oar honka outside)
There1a Art*
I won't bo gone late.
(Vo HOB In passing)
Vo wao apoood at ono time to have a dairymen's meotln tonight*
(LLOYD gooo out*}
ROB
Lloyd*e got to runnln around lots lately*
HAZEL
foe» seems to mo ho has;
but ho does need —
recreation*
Bo you suppose It Isn't going to be possible to get any of
our milk through till after the farmers* holiday Is over?
BOB
By that time X guess wo won't have any to get through*
HAZEL
fee
when they take the cows.
But they've got to leave
one for the baby's milk*
ROB
Money
mortgages
eats the heart out of everything.
»
86
-
<tosh# moat ever second farm la bain foreclosed seem® ilk*.
But I ’m still hopin that somathlsi will happen to save us.
HAZEL
X don't know what we’d do If the farm wont.
EOB
than they begun this holiday movement, they preached that
them that had to eot&ld git their stuff through —
specially
perishable stuff*
HAZEL
They don’t enforce It so all over the state*
EOB
Jtst around the bigger places*
That’s what leads me to believe
it ain’t Jlst the farmers that’s doln this bolstrous pickettin.
I't® a bunch of unemployed fellas with a grievance aginst the
government•
HAZEL
If It Isn't the farmers, they ought to do something about It.
Be straying property
like the truck.
HO®
violence * Of course a dollar ain't enough for wholesale milk
but I ain’t sure but us wholesalers’ll starve ourselves out
before we git our price.
HAZEL
Ihat^we get from toe hens won’t furnish a very big table —
If the cows are taken*
Five cents a doaen was what X got
for the last eggs we took to town*
Two hundred forty eggs
%■»
The holiday movement and the milk strike makes an opening for
86
♦ .M
to make & dollar*
that way —
You oan* t food and dreae many children
and yet you1wo got tol
HOB
M i l -• somethin’s got to happen*
it111 he*
X dea#t know Jist what
Lots of taxes won*t to paid this year
sovs the
farms that aim1! foreolosed will he sold for taxes*
Looks
like It might not be many years till the government will own
everything agin*
Because X #m telUn you
when these farms
some up at sheriffs1 sales, the bids is goln to he mighty
scarce*
Oh, the darn mortgage outs both ways, Basel*
Xt
gits the fella that’s got the mortgage and the fella that’s
got the farm it’s on.
Like that Newt Bentley mortgage
old snake-ln-the-grassl
X carried it along without interest
and payln taxes till X couldn’t do It any longer*
take a deficiency Judgment
if it’d a been some people*
X got on my mortgage*
the
Had to
thou^i X wouldn’t a done It then
Now, X can’t pay what interest
Cits you from both sides*
HAZEL
Well — * I don’t know*
HOB
X don’t either, Basel*
X try to keep a stiff upper lip, but
things don’t seem to be gettln any brighter.
Annie didn’t live to see this* —
Course, them, the funeral
expenses didn’t make things any easier.
back to the war, Hazel*
ahead*
MU,
Xt’s a blessing
Ah ~
It all dates
Xf all of us could Just a looked
guess X ’Xl go down and see if they’e any­
thing left of the truck*
(Coes)
87
** 8 7
(HAZEL i# lonely and restless.
Finally
did get* out bar violin* tunes it the
baat aha oan by ear, and plays softly as
Oho stands silhouetted before the window.
DAVIE, one of the twins, ooaes out of
the bedroom in his night olothes.)
HAZEL
Why, Davie, why aren't you in bed asleepT
DAVIE
X had to get up.
HAZEL
Oh.
Well —
just go on out doors.
DAVXE
I —
I heard somebody talkln out there as X got out of bed.
HAZEL
Xt was your grandpa.
He just went away on Ole Nan.
DAVIE
Ho, X seat em, too.
fhey oome up across the pasture.
HAZEL
Oh, Sonny, X think you were seeing things.
(Model f is oranked right outside in the
yard.
HAZEL looks out the window.)
One of em nust of been your father.
DAVIE
Huhuh.
For it was a man and a woman.
»
00
m
-
HAZEL
(Startled at what she noil
Why
shy «***' Lloyd ****—
(The oar drives away*)
He got la with her
and they drove away*
DAVIE
Hie was it* Mama?
Was it Daddy?
HAZEL
yes* —
No! No, it oouldaH have been. ~
hardly,
~
Not
your Daddy ~~ for it was Blossom Tuttle with him*
DAVIE
It did look like Daddy9s cap.
HAZEL
No, Davie
it
it eouldn't have been*
afraid to go out now —
Xou «*■* lou aren11
are you, Sonny?
DAVIE
Huhuh, Kama*
(He goes out*
HAZEL is all worked up at
what she has seen.)
TELEPHONE <—
two shorts and a long.
HAZEL
Hell....Who?*, ..No, Lloyd lsnft here...* Why* he told me he
was going over to Charley Brisco* s ~
to play rummy.
(She hangs up.)
(The room goes black.)
#
#
#
*
*
#
#
8
«► 09 <*
(About midnight that night*
still up*
HAZEL Is
fhe light is very low*
HOB
Comes in*)
ROB
Basel ?~You still up?
HAZEL
(Brooding*)
Tea*
ROB
A i n H Lloyd home yet?
hazel
Lloyd lsnft home*
ROB
Basely you*re worried about something*
What is it?
HAZEL
It*s nothing*
X just couldnH sleep*
HOB
0hf youfve been in bed?
HAZEL
Tee*
^Yes* I got up and dressed again*
ROB
You do»ft think theyfs anything happened to Lloyd?
He often
don*t get home before this*
HAZEL
Ho*
X feel better
now*
X think I 1!! go back to bed*
(She goes*
shoes*
ROB takes off his hat and
As he goes to enter his room,
ft
00
90
m
he notice* the rifle against the doer
near whioh HAZEL has been sitting*
takes the gum out to the kitchen.
He
hazel
stands In her doorway; she almost sails
to ROB to stop.
to hod*
BOB returns and goes on
then HAZEL is sure he*d gone,
she comes hack into the room*
drives Into the yard and stops*
A oar
She goes
to the window#}
HAZEL
With him again!
~~run
He dares to bring her back9* that's right
somebody may see you!
Whey1re waiting out on the
road to take her on home*
(HAZEL goes to the kitchen and returns
with the rifle.)
Oh -«► God r- but I believe what I see with my own eyes!
(BOB comes back In.)
BOB
Basel•
HAZEL
(Turning on him,)
What are you still up for?
EOB
What are
What are you doing with that gun?
HAZEL
I1d ~
X*d forgotten to see whether he took all the cart­
ridges out of It.
t came out to see.
01
91
m
EOB
Didst* t X hear Lloyd drive in?
HAZEL
X didn't hear anybody.
HOB
Basel9 what* e the matter with you?
HAZEL
do on to bed, will you?
% d leave me alone! «
or I'll turn
it on ydu, too!
HOB
I * U tale that gun.
(He twists the gust away from her.)
Bow| what do you think you're doing?
(She will not answer.)
LLOYD
(From a distance,)
Much obliged, 0e!
Good night!
HOB
Sounds like Lloyd.
(LLOYD oomes in.)
LLOYD
(Rather g^ to when he left.)
Mil
supposed you'd all be in bed*
Got her settled!
HAZEL
0hf you got her settled, did you?
LLOYD
(Pulled*)
that?
How was she?
m
*» 0S
HAZEL
I said* how «is aim?
How was Blossom?
LLOYD
•hat do you m a o —
How was Blossom?
Blossom?
HAZEL
(Trembling with rags,)
Haws a good dance?
LLOYD
Banos?
t wasn't at any dance.
HAZEL
it won’t do you any good to 11s!
and go away both times,
1 saw you!
Heavens —
1 saw you come
what a fool you must think
1 am!
(She goes to the phone and rings four
shorts*)
LLOYD
Basel, for gosh sates, what’s got Into you?
Hasel, who are
you sailing?
HAZEL
You ean thank your lucky stars you’re even alive!
I won’t
stay here!
LLOYD
By God, Pa, what Is It?
that1s the matter with her?
HOB
Gosh, 1 don’t know, Lloyd*
LLOYD
Ka&sl, — -
•
88
08 •
HAZEL
Milo... .Hallo, MoElroys'?,...Xs this Mama?..,.Uama, have
all the hoys gone to hod?
Papa la up?
bin ooao over after me right away.
Well, have
I'm oomlng home
I*vs got to dome tonight! .... Nothing —
Yea,
■ .. Lloyd has boom
oat with another woman and If he thlnke I'm going to atand
for that, he'a got another think oomlng!
(Hangs up.)
LLOYD
God Almighty, Basel, do you know what you're eaying?
HAZEL
tel, X know ehat I'm saying!
My mind's olear!
X newer aaw
elearer than X aaw tonight!
LLOYD
I'd like to know what the devil all this fuss la about,
that's the idea of telling the whole neighborhood X been out
with another woman?
that alls you?
HAZEL
Listen here, Lloyd Rogers!
X saw you oome bask here about
ten minutes after you went with Art to Brisk1a.
baok with Blossom Tuttle —
and get the oar!
X aaw!
You oame
or some woman Just as good -»
X didn't happen to be tending your baby and
And X've been sitting up waiting for you.
~
Just to
aee if you'd really oome baok to orawl in bed with me.
you even
dared to bring her In a second time!
should have been in b e d .
And
X know, X
I'd have shot you down as you
-
eame In that door* —
*4
~
#*
Fat# saved you I guess*
better for yon to live in shame.
thought it was
X should have turned the
gun on myself*
lim v
Baselt 1 never earns bask after X went away from here* X
never got the ear.
Shy —
0ht X know shat you saw.
It was
Fritsle Bauer.
HAZEL
Frittie BauerI
LLOYD
X met him at the filling station and told him he could use
ay ear to go to the d&mee • the ear rs back «*- it was bask
when X same.
If you*ve been watching so close, X*d think
you*d h a s e e n X didnH get out of it.
HAZEL
X suppose you thought X oouldnH see the ear waiting out on
the read for Blossom
and didnH see you take her out there!
LLOYD
Of all ,the — - Frltaie might have been with Blossom for all
X know.
HAZEL
Ho, Ffitsle Bauer wa s nH with heri
LLOYD
Hew, Hazel, this is all damfoolishneset
HAZEL
X believe what X see with my own eyes!
You know very well — «*
96
9ft *
LLOYD
Ihat you saw I've got no ldaa.
least X told him ho oould.
Frltzie used the oar —
X don't know —
Z left and here when X got baak.
at
It was here when
If he Drought a woman along
ebon he got It, X suppose you saw her.
Of all the Jumping
at ooneluslons!
HAZEL
Do you think even your own ehlldrsn don't know you?
LLOYD
Whatever you thought , It wasn't any exouse to shout It over
the telephone to the whole oountry1
.
HAZEL
Xt's a good story **- and Frltale's one that will baok It up
for you.
LLOYD
Listen# dod damn It# till Z tell you where X was!
HAZEL
Sure!
You was at Brisk*e -« playin runny!
LLOYD
Ho# X wasn't at Brisk's! — * not for long.
HAZEL
You've even got that fixed.
You went to a lot of bother.
You needn't have been so careful;
X won't make any fuss
about giving you up!
LLOYD
X was at a dairyman's meeting In town!
96
HAZELS
you?
Bo you think even your own children don’t know
m
9?
97
HAZEL
It won't do any good to go on lying.
X won't be1leva you!
(she goes out.)
LLOYD
Woll* by Christ!
HOB
Lloyd, by gosh* I
.
LLOYD
It X over behaved myself In my life,
Frltsle had that oar!
I did tonight.
And X oome homo to this.
was there at the meeting!
Old man MoElroy
How long's she been goin on
like this?
HOB
X Jlst got here.
Che was still up.
She seemed nervous and
wouldn't talk much.
LLOYD
Called home!
<*Qd, ltfll be a fine mess!
father can tell her where I was!
with the retailers.
We got a compromise
Argued myself blue In the face.
that trouble settled for a while.
Basel!
But, damn It, her
Come out here!
Cot
Sow, oome home and — — —
You're not going to leave this house!
Curtain
98
"Penny Anarchy11
SSSBft £im
Late fall of 1939 * A cloudy
afternoon*
Outdoor a*
the part of the barn­
yard between the barn and the
oomorlb Is the strategic point
for watching whoever drives Into
the yard.
So here a group of
men Is posted* „A rusty gasoline
barrel lies over by the baraf
several one-legged milk stools
are hung on the orlb; and a
couple of buekets are up-turned
over posts of the board and pole
fenoe at back.
Men move about.
It is the day of
a oh at tie sale*
JOB SAUNDERS*
who appears little different
than In 1919 except for shabbier
clothe s9 talks with STEVE BHOKAW,
a man smaller than JOE* dark
oomplexloned and determined.
CLIFF
ERIC SON * a big Swede * Joins in
the conversation now and then.
99
4»
«*
JOE
Xt*d a been perty hard on Rob losln everything*
OTRVR
He tried to ear# somethin by put tin all the debts he could on
that Bentley place and lettin them take it.
nothin, .even that wasn't enough*
closure*
But land north
So this farm* s up for fore­
the sale's been postponed*
cliff
X thought It was supposed to a been sold off today*
STEVE
this new law the legislature put through gives the owner two
nore years on his land, so Rob and Lloyd can stay*
All the
sheriff9s sales In the county is postponed aw&ltln Judge
Mason's deolelon*
JOE
Bone says Mason thinks it's unconstitutional.
STEVE
Judge Mason knows which side his bread is buttered on*
JOE
Well, he better*
STEVE
Oh, X tell ya, this is hard on a fella like Hob*
Rob saved this land —
Years ago
bought it from his own pa to keep it
from bein taken in on a mortgage * One time Hob had all this
land clear*
GLXFF
Row'd he git so in debt?
100
100
JOs
Lloyd's spent a lot.
Machinery and stuff.
STEVE
Rob lost a wad on that town property.
CLIFF
Whatever made him loan so much on that Bentley farm?
JOE
Rob1a always seemed like a hard worker.
STEVE
Lloyd4o a good enough worker; but he alnvt no manager.
JOE
Xt4e the times.
what X think:
know how —
You o a n H blame the farmers.
X tell you
The farmers has all of em done the beet they
but they4ve always done It for themselves without
any lookout for anybody else.
% e y took the prloe they was
offered and paid the prloe they was asked without havin any
say at either end.
How they're In a hole, they1re goln to
have to stick together like other industries.
STEVE
Well, that*s what we're here for, aln4t It?
CLIFF
When's the sale begin?
STEVE
The deputy Sheriff and the appraisers has got to git through.
Tom Peterson's along to kind of auctioneer, and they're
sell In as they go along *>«- follern the appraisers right around.
101
(ROB comes la)
Hello* Rob,
ROB
Steve,
STEVE
Well* don't think they'* sola to be any trouble, Rob*
Nobody
else Is oomin, X guess, but we1re still watchin the gats*
Tb at .appraiser the Company sent out has settled down party
mush*
ROB
Teh*
Well «— * Steve* if this sale hadnvt a worked* it1d a hit
Lloyd hard*
It doa9t matter about me*
peorhouse Is in good shape-
because —
well* the
But Lloyd and Easel's got a family*
JOE
Oh* this sale111 work* Rob,
you'll stay right here*
It's
mighty nlee to see the way the farmers is stiokln together
around here.
They4* strength in that sort of unity*
ROB
But we want to use it easy*
Violence won't git anyplace.
STEVE
No sir*
Violence is a last resort*
But if we show the
law and state we mean business* they won't be any violence*
Like that appraiser that's out here today*
him what we want Is persuasion enough*
touch him «*«► Just kind of hover around.
ROB
*eh.
A dozen men tellln
They don't have to
(Presently ROB mores on.)
JOE
Vho m s that jlst drore In?
CLIFF
Newt Bentley it Ieohs like.
JOE
Re know about this sale?
STEVE
Better pat Mewt on that he ain't to hid.
CLIFF
Mewt might he plannln to really buy some stuff.
STEVE
Whatever goes on the block here today. Cliff, is really sold,
see?
We jlst pay our pennies and leare the stuff here on the
farm.
(Galls.)
newt*.
NEWT
Rowdy, Store.
STEVE
Gone ere.
NEWT
(Entering)
Haria a party?
STEVE
Newt, you know how things is heln run today?
• 103 -
mm
Be XT
X Been at sales before •
STEVE
This sale and them from now on Is go in to be & little
different*
You don’t bid to boy*
NEWT
*he don't bid to buy?
X don’t bid fer exercise-
And X’lX do
my biddin without much advioe * Jiueh obliged Jlst the same*
JOE
Newt| looky here* they ain’t to be no bid over twenty-five
sent* here today*
NEWT
(Laugha)
Ha, Joe, what you talkin about?
Stuff’s eheap but It ain’t
that eheap.
STEVE
Xf he don’t ketch on, jlst show him the gate and start him
mowln that way.
JOE
How about it, Newt?
(Join to bid or ain’t you?
NEWT
(Sore.)
I'll do shat X damn please when the sale starts’* When’s
It begin?
STEVE
The gate, boys*
104
-
104 «
JOS
Surry, Mewt, but I guess you ain't welcome here today.
MEWT
Sale* e publle.
STEVE
Listen, Mewt.
Mo stock —
nothin leaves this farm today.
Seas of us le blddin the stuff In at a few pennies, payln
fer It, and leavtn It here for Rob and Lloyd.
We'll show
these bastards with mortgages a few things.
JOB
01ve cm a dollar a hunderd on their investment may he —
or a penny a hunderd.
STEVE
Nothin goes for more than twenty-five eents.
MEWT
Oh, you ean't do that.
It'll be no sale.
STEVE
Oh, we can't, huh?
And when did you flower out so smart?
MEWT
Stuff's got to he sold for two thirds the appraised value.
Any fool knows that.
STEVE
Are you with us or aglnst us?
If you're aglnst, we'll have
to start you hack home.
MEWT
Is this some of Rob Rogers hatehln up?
100 **
m*
10
arm
For or aglnst?
Bo long, Newt!
NEWT
tin1! likely X want to buy nothin.
STEVE
Will ~
don*t expeot to make no bids, then.
ROB
(Returning^
What1* the matter here?
Oh, hello, Newt.
Newt1* all right.
We oould do Jlst as well without him*
STEVE
Hay be it1!! do him good to see things run square ones.
ROB
He won1! do nothin, Steve
If he wants to stay.
STEVE
Well ^
yottfre not to ehirp up with && bid, Newt.
plenty to do all the blddin.
NEWT
When1s the sale
JOE
Xt starts as soon as the appraisers gits dons.
HAZEL
(Oomlng past with LLOYD.)
But what If his deeislon is aglnst us?
We got
f
100
106
-
LLOYD
St w e m H be.
Judge Mason has got mors sense than that*
When
the legislature finally decides to give us a little moratorium,
Mason911 back It up*
X got confidence In him*
But I'd like
to hear, though.
ROB
Sou could a gone to town, Lloyd, If you really wanted to*
LLOYD
X hind of wlsht X had*
HIM
(Calling from off.)
Lloyd1
* Lloyd Rogers!
Woo-hoo!
LLOYD
leh?
MIN
(Off)
Telephone for you*
(LLOYD hurries out*)
HOD
(greeting a man by the b am)
Bello, Rat.
JOE
Oh, your foreclosure*a postponed all right, Hazel, and you1!!
stay right here on the place.
HAZEL
X don91 know shat wefd do If we eouldn11.
MIN
(Comes In with a pan of potato peelings
iw
- lor
that she throw# over the fence*)
Ra*el# I d o n H seem to he aooompliehin much around here.
HAZEL
x‘here isn't so much to do* Min*
(TOH enters.)
JOE
81* Tom*
(TOM Is followed by FRANK MALONEY, the
deputy sheriff, 4and ALLISON* an appraiser
representing the Company.)
TOM
Well* hoy e i she* e all wound up I
CLIFF
Sellln done* too?
TOM
Yep.
Frank1a Jlet got a little checkin over to see that we
didn't ml as nothin*
FRANK
Here* we'll end up this barrel to write on.
JOE
They ain't geln to he no sllp-up now* is they, Frank?
FRANK
No sirt
I've handled enough of these sheriff's sales ~
party well on to it.
NEWT
Sale over?
I'm
103
• 108 STEVE
(Smiling)
Tim mlasad all the fun* Newt!
NEW
Vhat*d atuff sell fer?
(He get* no reply.)
NfaatM atuff eell for?
(LLOYD eomes dashing In.)
HAZEL
% a t was It | Lloyd?
LLOYD
Judge Maeon has decided aglnst ual
and they* re forecloein
on the farm today*
NEWT
1 oould of told you that .
STEVE
What** this, Lloyd?
LLOYD
t donft know just exactly yet*
Bill Wagner oailed and said
the foreclosure on the farm was gola ahead this afternoon on
schedule*
Don Bentley*s there on hand for the loan company*
You bettor stay here, Steve, till things Is all wound up.
dome of the other fellows will pile in the car with me.
(Gome out?)
MIN
#hat*d he say?
What he said*
Yhey*ro foreolosln?
JOE
109
* im *
HAZEL
Wes* today*
STEVE
Judge Mason turned on us!
taken oare of,
Frank?
Did you say worthing here's all
If It Is, I'm --FRANK
N o f they* e a oouple of thing* we missed
or ain't got to*
They1a a milk oow first.
ALLISON
Where Is she?
FRANK
Nov It ain't necessary to hunt her up.
pasture*
She9s out In the
We know shat she's worth.
CLIFF
It's a vender to me If somebody don't stir up a stink about
these lev appraisals.
STEVE
Oh, no, Cliff -*» they're Jlst down In the dumps today and
what they look at don't seem to be worth much.
NEWT
Who holds this ohattle mortgage?
Have they approved of these
appraisers?
FRANK
Sure.
Who's this bird?
He's their man.
JOE
Sure they've approved.
110
* 110
STEVE
(To ALLISON,)
Jlst as well draw In your lip* old fella*
And you don't need
to go ohsepln to the Company that force has been brought to
bear on you*
It ain't*
If you want to*
You1re free to object to what's said
And we're free to object to you.
ALLISON
You fellows need to understand that no one is going to approve
of the prices set here today*
There'll be a suit In court
and all this will be thrown out} so we're just wasting out
time*
STEVE
Time's not slCh as asset right now, so Jlst rest easy*
ALLISON
A dollar for a corn planter*
Ridiculous!
mortgagor Isn't going to approve of that
You Anow that the
and neither will
the court•
STEVE
Now, looAy here
a dollar for one old c o m planter ain't
near as ridiculous as two and a half cents a pound for all
the hogs In the country*
The farmers ain't ashed to approve
the prices set on their hogs, are they?
any say In the matter at all
No, they don't have
not even a® much as you got!
The moneyed men's been sayln what we're to get for our stuff
and now It's Jlst a little more than HAely that we're at
the place where we're goln to begin sayln ^hat they glti
111
• 111
ALLISON
You don't have to sell your hogs If you don't want to*
don1t foroo prices on you*
T&ey
But hare you1re trying to force —
JOB
We don't have to?
STEVE
HO| we don't have to aall*
We don't have to live*
they9a no taxes
no Interest*
They'a nothin like that*
No, we can
held our hogs and grain till we get our prloe*
We can
jump over the moon, too*
FRANK
Cows ~
all forty dents a head*
W)M
Better vary that, ?rankf Have one appraised at thirty-eight
sente, another at thlrty~nine, forty-one, and so on.
You
can't Just lump em off.
ALLISON
Of course that Isn't shat you're doing*
FRANK
Tom, they's this one oow goes yet.
TOM
Well, we want to git everthing disposed of *
(Looking off.)
That the oow —
the one you oan see out there?
ROB
Teh ~
it's her.
TOM
She'll do anyway*
Here, Mr* Allison, in order you don't
- iifi miss nothin:
is* re now sell in that oow out them*
ALLISON
(Disgusted)
All rightTOM
(Ooes upstage followed by most of the
men except ROB.
HAZEL and MIN have
gone from eight*)
Theref gentlemen, is a mighty fine oow*
pasture -- the pioture of contentment*. ~
too —
See her in the
Gives good milk,
two gallon at a sittln If she gives a drop*
she worth?
Wnatfs
^ h e ^ a good oow «*•* who makes a bid?
STEVE
One pent*
TOM
One eent —
I*a bid a penny» now two!
(He goes on with his lingo till the price
reaches twenty-five oente and the oow
Is sold*)
Well# now, Is that all, Frank?
FRANK
All cheeked off ~
except an old horse.
TOM
Oh.
Ole Nan?
ROB
Ole Nan?
No, she alnft mortgaged*
FRANK
fbh, Lloyd** got her In here with the other stuff•
ROS
What?
X never mortgaged her*
nothin only to me.
She1s old* Tom; ain't worth
I'd rather not have her put up*
TOM
(Laughing)
&et to go through the duo prooeee of law* Rob, to git you
a olear title to her*
You oan bid her in*
ROB
Well* she*e in the barn*
TOM
(Singing)
They got the old mare in the barn, boys;
they got the old mare in the barn*
CLIFF
The darned old mare, ehe ain't shat she used to be*
TOM
Mo, boys, her baok may be slnkio from toll ~
And may be her hoofs ain't shod.
and Rob, here*
But she's a real oow horse;
been the best In the state in her day*
She's kept more herds
In the straight and narrow way than any parson ever did!
What am X bid?
VOICE
Micklet
TOM
Mickle —
I'm bid a nlekle here •*** nlekle
nlekle
Who'll
114 *.
make It a -dime ? **** I'm bid a nlekle; make It a dime.
VOICES
bint1a all she's worth, fowl
you're runnln tir too high *
fOM
Boys, I want you to understand that aha1a a runnln horse!
VOICES
Iteh, sweat rune off of her after the first hill*
She ticklish In the flank?
A dead horse ain't ticklish.
that old bone plle'd be worth more dead than allm*
(ROB le downstage f away from the orowd.)
TOM
EOwt boys, 2 got to ask you not to run the property down*
The nag may not be so fat, but her tail•s
trimmed good.
%e
can still see a little outof tooth eyes.
Oh yes, she's seen
better days than she'll ever see again, and she's seen am
better than she ever will again*
But she oanH go at a dime.
VOICE
I'd give thirty-five oents for her for hog feed.
TOM
Is that a bid?
VOICE
I git the horse?
TOM
ton mlg$it make arrangements with Rob.
(ROB resents this funmaking.)
lie
- 116 VOICES
Boys, she can still switch her tall
Then she1a alive*
They ain’t thirty-five sent a worth of hog feed in her.
Hot with hogs at two and a half cent a a potmd.
TOM
Be in wore out ought to make her tender*
VOICES
Well, I111 hid thirty-five eents If 1 can take her along.
She*11 drop on ya if you take her far.
Have to oarry her.
Shoe, Haul
Oit kicked?
Bah, one of her hones Jlst cracked.
Thirty-five oenta if X oan take her.
ROB
Two hunderd dollars!
(There la a alienee at this outburst.)
TOIS
Rob, you aoalrt me.
somebody through.
Thought for a minute the hoys had let
Rob’s got to have his fun.
boys, thirty-five cents was the bid.
now forty.
ROB
1 meant that two hunderd dollars!
TOM
What?
All right,
I’m bid thirty-five --
X meant 111
By gosh ~~~
(Mutter© to himself as he move© away.)
TOM
X think we hotter held up a minute * men. Seems to he some**
thing wrong with Hob.
tfUBIIUHS
What get into the old masiT
Ore at Sootti
Two hunderd dollars*
Ood, It was his own horse anyway*
Nobody was goln to take It*
Well, antiques is high*
CLIFF
(Steps up to TOM,}
Tom, what'd Hob mean by that bid he made?
TOM
We*11 straighten It out*
CLIFF
He was goln to git It back.
fowl?
Why should he be such a damn
Cod, what we ought to do now is for the fellas to
thke the stuff they1we bought —
if that1© the way he's
goln to aet*
VOICES
Oh now, Oilft tClifft shut upI
6LIFF
Looks to me like he don't appreciate what wefre do in for him*
Cliff 0 you1re talkln through your hat.
OLIFF
X'll help a man and ha only too glad to do it* hut when X*»
do in it* X don't want to ho opit on.
That’s what it amounts
to.
HE ST
it Hob's got two hunderd dollars to blow on a dyln horse#
ho don't nead halp.
CLXPF
X ain't goin to spand what faw penni© s X got on somohody
that don't nead nor appreciate it•
TOM
Don't lot yoursalf get hat up# Cliff# over one oow.
bad for your heart#
JOE
Where*d Boh got
NEWT
He sneaked awayi
TOM
(Coming up to HOBj
Bob, now listen
m
Nobody was runnin the stook down#
JOE
No* gosh, Bob, we was just jokln#
STEVE
Ton ought to know that* Boh#
Be
X'n worry. X know you didn't m a n it.
tbs mat tor with mo*
X don't know what's
Was *>«• Was Ole Han appraised, tom?
FRANK
She was appraised at ninety-five cents, Hob*
She was high,
bein one of the first*
HOB
Winety-flve cents*
X should a kept my mouth shut.
things you fellows was sayln was the truth.
Ole Han ain't
nothin actually hut a pile of bones no more*
like her*
Ever thing's gone
What used to have value ain't got none now.
never got old over night —
years*
But them
She's wore out.
truth makes me mad!
my head and bid*
She
it's been oreepin up on her for
But X don't want to believe it!
X want to fight It!
The
That's shy X lost
She wasworth two hunderd as a colt*
0o on, finish it up, Tom.
X'll bid ninety-five cents —
to make It a hunderd percent appraised value*
TOM
Sold to Rob Rogers —
his own horse*
That's all the sale,
men, unless frank can dig u p somethin else*
FRANK
That's all.
LLOYD
(Outside.)
Here he is, boys!
(Comes In almost dragging DON.
soon grows drawing in closer.}
a
crowd
11® «*
mm
See here* what you dolm with Don?
LLGXP
You olear out of here, Newt I
HOB
Lloyd, what a ya do In?
LLOYD
(To DON,)
Jlst stand still there nowl
DOB
You1re only making a damned fool out of yourself.
STEVE
What* a up?
JOE
What** he done, Lloyd?
LLOYD
I 111 tell you what he*s done1
. He1s hid this farm in for a
deficiency!
STEVE
Your plaoe?
LLOYD
This farm here!
he a habit.
Fellas, this deficiency hlddln is gittin to
If we don*t do somethin about it* evsrone of us
is goln to be rm i off of his farm.
They1s ten farm fore­
closures around here inside of the next week —
watch1, —
and Jlst
ever one of am is goln to have a deficiency if
we don*t per vent it I
180
* 180
nJtm tffv
W
«LJrJr
What?
JOS
How much deficiency did ho leave?
STEVE
It a l n H the amount*
Itfa the faot thoy can kick the owner
off right now and take everthing he1s got!
NEWT
What1a thla rumpus, Don?
LLOYD
Don hid thla farm in for one thousand dollars leas than
the mortgage*
JOS
He do that on hie own hook?
LLOYD
The mortgage la due all right and, even if Judge Mason did
go tank on us, we ainft oomplalnln about that*
But here In
Iowa It* a always been customary for a man to have a year to
redeem land in*
JOE
Ton can do It, too?
It1® law you oan!
Why, they oan't make
you get off, Lloyd!
ROB
That deficiency law has got teeth, Joe, but —
NEWT
Yeh, you ought to know all about it, Rob Rogers!
but this place Is worth more than that mortgage!
SfEV®
that 1 0 the idea, Don, of laavth a deficiency when yon know
the place le
worth it?
DOM
It won't eell for the mortgage*
It wouldn't even sell for
what I hid!
STEVE
Oh, It wouldn'tt
Juet show me the money and I 111 pick It up
to fast you oan11 see me for thunder1
*
DON
Just show you the money!
Sure —
just show It to anybody!
that's the Idea!
LLOYD
Xeh* that *s the point*
Nobody's got the each now ao these
companies is haul In in farms for a song because they've got
eworthing their own way!
STEVE
Listen fellae
this business is get tin mighty serious when
families like Hogerses is be in run off their farms*
Now, X
ask any of you where they're goim to move to if they got to
get off.
God damn it, they don't even have a pig shed to
move into*
DON
they should have thought of that when they were getting in so
deep*
The law hasn't changed any!
122
~ 128 -
dor
Prices hast
STEVE
Times has changed1.
DON
That Isn’t the Company* s fault#
JOS
It ain't Rob Roger s's fault, either I
ROB
If we got to, we9re will In to give up the farm in a year ~
when we got time to make some adjustments*
DOE
You've got to whether you're willing or not. You’ll give It
up now!
STEVE
If the place ain’t worth the whole mortgage, how come the
Company leaned that much?
DON
Times have changed2
LLOYD
And the Company isn’t goim to lose anything no matter what
happens to anybody else.
The Company takes none.
The farmer takes all the loss and
Loans was made In high times ~
everthlng else has gone down -«* prices at nothin —
loans come down?
Eo slr-^ee!
but do
They stay right where they
were and so does the Inter's at rate.
Then the Companies hire
■» 188
* lot of guanen Ilk* you to do their dirty work for en and
run their foreclosures!
BON
The eale Is over!
the deal i« oloeed.
*he sale was held
a«*ordlng to law*
If the hid wasn't high enough to suit any
«f you, yon oould of been there and this Is a free oouatryt
JOE
What's a free country?
LLOYD
free for erooka and shysters!
STEVE
X say that hid Should a been six thousand dollars and X'a
tellln you fellas that It's our business to see that It's
raised to that!
( m e SHERIFF, a short, stout nan of 40,
well dressed and Important, comes la.)
SHERIFF
In ease you don't know It, Steve, that suggestion's Just a
little late in the day.
STEVE
Oh, hello. Sheriff, Better cone over and sit down.
SHERIFF
X been settin down.
STEVE
Well, you night git tired!
(SHERIFF holds his ground.)
Earl
us fellas went out and elected you, -—
SHERIFF
You sleeted me to uphold the law*
doln.
That13 Just what X been
And if they's m y of you bolsheviks that don't like
It, we got a cage in town that*11 hold ya till you wool off!
LLOYD
He's In with them finance companies!
SHERIFF
And X ain't goln to he backward about usln that cage* neither*
You men better turn Don loose and let him go back to town
before X load seme of you Into my oar*
LLOYD
We don't turn nobody loose!
STEVE
Wet even you* Earl!
Just sit down!
(SHERIFF sits.)
NEWT
Sheriff $ make am let Don go!
Don't back down!
Make em!
LLOYD
Ment see to It that they ain't nobody comes In that gate
unless you know darned will what they're comln for!
Keep
everbody else off the place while we explain a few things
to these mighty upholders of the law!
SHERIFF
Keep your hands off me!
STEVE
Earlf this mob of men here is Just waltln for the word to do
somethin —
anytfa^nfc to anybody! And they's more oomln!
-
130
130
SHERIFF
Jmst lot ea start somethin!
They batter all eala dean and
go hone.
(data up,)
STEVE
(Seta him down)
Tou're hare, Earl, and you1re goln to atay till we gat thla
thing straightened out!
JOE
Jiet aat atlll, Barit
SHERIFF
1 have my ordara to diaparaa any auapieloua gatharlnga like
thla —
ao all of you better go home.
trust yon — ‘X do of oouraa.
It ain't that I don't
But I'm under oath and I got
to keep It!
LLOYD
Oh not
Aa aoon as we get started to talkin things over, in
eeaea the law and says you oan't do It, beoauss some big
business man might get his preolous toe a trooped on a
littleI
SHERIFF
I've got ray orders and my duties aa sheriff!
ROB
Earl, you might keep your orders about diaperaln suspicious
gatherings to yourself till you know what It's all about any­
way.
Tour oath ain't as Important aa the lives of families.
- im
You’re ome of em, Earlf that** been llvin off the publlo and
you ain't felt thla depression gettin worse and worse for
twelve year* till it1a become a matter of life and death*
Oh ea ain’t go In to starve tomorrow.
It won’t.
It ain’t ooae sudden and
It1a a alow death that eat a in Inch at a time.
ain’t about ua old fellas that I ’m talkln.
soaked beans’ll do ua —
It
A bowl a water-
but that bowl of beans ain’t got the
nourishment In it these fellows’ kids needs'.
SHERIFF
You raise your own meat and vegetable si
If you lived In town,
by God, you’d have something to orab about.
They oan’t raise
their stuff!
BOB
That’s jlst Itl
These banks and loan companies comas In and
drive us off our farms, and still you say we oan raise our
stuff*
Where, by gosh?
the road someplaoe?
X ask you where?
Along the side of
We ain’t askln for a donation.
Only
the right to keep a little land and stock to git along on.
We’re simply askln for the chance to live.
Let me tell you
that If these boys don’t git to keep their land and property,
this glorious government you’re under oath to is goln to have
a civil rebellion on its hand aI
SHERIFF
well, good God* Rogerst what do you expect me to do about It?
X ain’t rummlxt the government.
X oan’t do anything.
ROB
Of course you can’t.
Hone of our officials can.
That’s what
127
■«* I W •*
you*re paid fori
That's what wo got you for ~
because you
eaa*t do anything*.— For ua.
JOE
toll, Earl,
How, you won't b© hurt ao long ao you koop your
ho ad*
SHERIFF
too oan't koop mo horoi
It* a In doflanoo of the government!
LLOYD
Nobody gives a damn about the government!
STEVE
Why ohould wo when they don't for uot
SHERIFF
Frank, I empower you to deputise aa many men aa you need and
go for help,
LLOYD
Nobody leave a hero and nobody oomeal
Jist atay where you are,
Frank,
(FRANK makes no move to go.)
SHERIFF
(There la a tense quiet as he looks around
rather frightened-)
Well —
what do you think you're going to dot
You got me over­
powered rlgit now; but you want to remember that the state la
a damn eight bigger than a puny bunch of farmers.
They'll
come in and down you sooner or later if you get too wise!
LLOYD
That's what you think, Earl- Will, we got committee a all over
*
the state —
188
188
and not only in this state but In others.
And
they* 11 do the sane thins we're doin!
SHERIFF
The lev's been as lenient to you fellows as it possibly oould
be.
sms
Like Judge Mason today!
LUJXD
TO know!
Sneakln in and sellin stuff behind our baoks when
they ain't no bidders there'.
We'11 take a couple of ninutes
right now for you to explain a few things like that to d l
of usa
SHERIFF
Why, there wasn* t nothin seoret about any of the sales. They
was all held aeoerdin to court decree.
then preoedln it is all over newt
Rogers's sale and
That's all Z got to say.
And now if you got the ooauson sense aaeng you that X think
you have« you'll let us fellows go before we get so out of
sorts ws won't be friendly when we do git away.
STEVE
Zou git that, men 7
Earl puts it very emphatically that the
sale is all over.
DON
Of eourse it is!
•e.
1*11 have you all arrested for detaining
I have business in town.
JOE
Tour business'll wait! Ours won't!
18
*
New there’s no reason
»
129
-
why Earl mightn’t change hie mind about
this tale bein allover.
And I ’m go in to make the
that he re-open Rogers’* sale right now for bide —
suggestion
and that
bon raise that bid
of his up to where they ain’t no deficiency.
Just so we can all
be better friends*
DON
That’s impossible!
You’re bolshevistsi
—
Anarchists!
SHERIFF
It’s absolutely impossibleI
XX*OYD
Earl, you open that sale for bids!
SHERIFF
ByOod, it’s closed X tell you!
Only the court can re-open
it!
sms
We’re the law now
we’re tellln you!
is in order!
get that, Earl!
We’re the court —
and
Men, bids on Rob Rogers’s farm mortgage
All right, bon!
JOE
Raise that bid!
DON
X can’t!
LLOYD
You bid her in!
DON
Oan’t you understand English?
(Whining}
I'»» 00V bo jwaar to told.
company.
I'm only an agent for the holding
B u y gave me the hid*
Only the Company earn do that,
I'm powerless to raise It.
wnen you’re talking to me
about It, you're addressing the wrong party.
(Vlolously,)
How, let me gel
Let me get
STEVE
You take the authority and raise that bid!
LLOYD
(Galling}
Men, the'ys a rope out in the gralnsryl
here!
One of you bring It
Set the rest of the fellows rounded up handy 1
We
nay need you!
<Xnereaslag noise of erowd}
SON
(Beginning to get frightened}
I was told to bid five thousand dollars and there the told
stands!
I'm working for a client, gentlemen, and oan h a w
ne personal feelings In the ease at all.
1 opn't raise that
bldt
NEWT
It makes a hell of a big difference who the defloieney* s on,
don't it?
I suppose you've all forgot that It ain't been a
year slnoe Rob Rogers himself and.Lloyd here got a defloieney
judgment and drove me off my farm.
You Oan see egsy enough
that they ain't got nothin aglnet the prlnolple involved.
«* 151 «*
Thty don't hesitate to t&*e the law when it1a In their favor.
Don1* only doin M i duty!
DOW
Rob and Lloyd rnn't against It when It was ooming their way!
Ton bet not!
STEVE
Sure, and you all know why!
There'a a difference!
DON
Unsle Newt Bentley had to take the bankrupt law beoause of
the Judgment brought on by the men that are leading this
Ineurreotlon!
*hy, men, Z'n In the heartiest sympathy with
you In your trials, but— we 11 — what about Mils sale here
today!
Here you've bought with precious pennies things you're
giving bank to these men —
helping them oheat their creditors,
ihy, you1re feeding the very vulture a you think you1re fighting!
cliif
Roger a did take a def loieney on Bentley.
BON
dure,
You seem to have forgotten that!
NEWT
X1d think you could aee from the way Rob anted today that he
aln9t workln with you.
Flared up over nothin, didn't het
LLOYD
You1re a damned orook, Newt Bentley, and you know it!
you — —
BOB
Lloyd! —
Lloyd!
Damn
158
- 158 ~
LLOYD
Let me alone, Dad I
(To mob*}
Where' a that rope at?
ROB
Lloyd!
(LLOYD goes out*
Son, I'm apaakin to you*
ROB follows*)
LLOYD
X can't help itt
TOM
May be Bob and Lloyd did take a judgment agin at Newt*
Bob
didn't want to foreclose* Newt admitted he had the money but
flatlyrefused to
his interest* Dared Rob to foreclose*
Drove Newt tobankruptcy! That bankruptcy
keep from payin debts Newt honestly owed!
was only a ruse to
He had access to
plenty of money! *** Has yeti
HEW
That ain't so!
It's a lie!
TOM
You're the kind that's helped in a big way to make the situa­
tion we're in todayi
the spirit of it!
~
Haln the letter of the law to defy
DON
You're a God damn liar, Tom Peterson!
{TOM is so angry he is ready to strike DON
when he notices HAZEL and MIN in the crowd*
He hesitates*)
IIAZHL
Don't let me atop you, Tom*
(TOM says nothing but represses his
inclination to flghfc*
DON and NEWT *)
HAZEL comes up to
m
1S55 —•
133
.ft'takes a mighty strong man to hold himself hack when liefs
sailed a nans like that# If I was a man, I*d go on and do
Shat Yam didn’t# Ton two can’t see anything hat money* A
farmer1* Just a slave for you to squeese every drop of vital­
ity out of « If you oan# And you’ll try It In every possible
way# You •re not worth striking* There’s nothing in you but
greed#
(To S5EWT*)
You’re so saturated with It that you’r© not even human anymore#
Don*s getting Just like you*
(The MOB Is becoming more noisy# LLOYD
drags in a piece of hay rope by a noosed
end# )
LLOYD
Be ready, men!
VOICES
Get him I
Make him come across I
Drag him out I
String him up I
We’ll hook him on to the hine axel of my car and see if he
can keep up$
SHERIFF
Release me, men!
Frank!
STEVE
Frank, you stay away from him!
LLOYD
Keep that sheriff collared!
SHERIFF
Men, don’t lose your reason I This bolshevism among law abid­
ing citizens!
Backbone —
Iowa farmers — the backbone of the nation!
LLOYD
but there ain’t any flesh left on It!
SHERIFF
Take time to think!
* 134 «*
134
STEVE
We’ve been thinkinl
JOE
fe*ve thought till we1re slek of It!
LLQXB
Thtnkln d o a H get you anywheres!
STEVE
Suokln the hind tit is get tin old after twelve years t
TOM
May be you donft know It, Earl, hut we've done about all the
thlnkln we oan stand and a good necktie party right now
night relieve all our feellne a hell of a lot.
LLOXB
We#re geln to give you just one minute to raise that bid,
Bentley*
One minute!
Heady with the rope, boys!
bob
Men, listen <**■ you understand
I oan only repeat shat I1®
told
STIVE
That's right «•* damned parrot!
hhOXB
We*ve told you shat to repeat*
ROB
Men, keep your heads.
BOH
The loan Company made that bid *»*» not me!
135
LLOYDs
We’re goin to give you just one minute to raise
that bid, Bentley.
One minute!
<*■ 136 «*■
STEW
It that's all you oan say* we don't want to hoar It I
JOE
take him!
STEVE
dimne that rope!
ROB
Hen!
Evan if Bon raised thlo bid* ho ain't sot nothin to
haoh It up with*
ho said*
The Company wouldn't have to stand on what
He's Jist an agonti
JOE
A voluntary agent!
STEVE
Sure* ho didn't have to take this job!
JOE
Make an example of him!
LLOYB
They' s a plane for mildness, but
quiet in explainln what we want*
thisain't It!
We've been
How
BOH
(Pleading for his life*)
Wait* men
wait
X'll — ■ I'll do this
X'll tell you what X'll do!
1LOXD
Tour minute's up!
All right* men!
HAZEL
Lloyd, —
Don't* menl -
xa?
* im do n
(Shrieking^
D o n ' t don’t .<*• for God18 sake don1it ~ Men —
Fleas* lot m
got <*<* lari I —
Frank I —
don11# . — -
boy*
HOB
Mem* 11 atan «»-■«»*»
DON
lea
fell*** -<*> listen
I vlUt
1*11 do it
X pronto* X willt
1*11 raise it!
Let me telegraph the Company »
Let me telegraph! •»«* 1*11 do everything In my power to
raise It!
Don't •*» don*t «*-* Please let me telegraph!
LLOYD
What about It* Men?
JOE
His tune's ohangln!
VOICES
$4k* him!
String him up!
Set him!
DOM
Men, for God’s sake
HOB
Fellows> Eon's ©amln across!
You ain’t after blood.
him a chance to telegraph!
DON
Fleas*
please don't*
I ’ll telegraph.
dive
188
•* 138 *•
ROB
ftiv* him a ehaaoet
W»ll —
by Ood we'll dictate lit
NEWT
X'll have the mllltla out on you fellow*!
By Qod, lt*e regular anarohy!
BOB
Ring neutral» Hasel.
LLOYD
X'll tell you what to say!
_ Curtain -
You aan't do this!
13*
- 13*
*Penny Anarchy*
Scene Six
Winter early In 1933.
Dusk.
Evening.
Very cold.
There is an old Hound Oak heater
replacing the base burner In the
dining room*
Otherwise the old
room la muoh the same.
?he
table la scantily epread for
eupper«
HAZEL, LLOYD, PA VIE, and TOM are
In the room. TOM la leaving*
TOM
He, X got to be gola along fore the old oar gete the ohllle
and won1! start*
LLOYD
You1re welcome to stay to eupper, Tom*
Glad to have you*
HAZEL
I should say act
We won11 have muoh, but you1re mighty welcome
to what we have.
TQM
Oh* I know that, Hazel.
HAZEL
You ought to know It — * after all you1ve done for ua.
140
-
TOM
Hewer done a thing, Ratal*
(JoahingJ
Bat 1 klnda got a notion X batter tan that scamp over there.
What a yon think* Davie?
DAVIE
(Danoes to him)
I don't need tannlni
LLOYD
We'd all a froze to death* Tom, if It hadn't a been for you.
The old atowe sure works good.
TOM
You're sure welcome to her.
by myself
In the winter and Jlst there
X newer heat nothin but the kitchen anyway.
LLOYD
This last week* a been a humdinger,
kept me ohoppin wood all
the time to keep it warm enou^i in here for the kids.
HAZEL
We don't try to heat the bedrooms much.
DAVIE
I'll say you don't.
»rrrrrl
And my nightgown's all holes* too.
X cover up my head when X get into bed!
HAZEL
We felt luoky we had our bads paid for*
hums
?a ought to have lot ua go ahead.
ua keep part of that furniture.
We oould have made era let
«*► 1 4 1
«•*
HAZEL
Xt was awful cheap stuff.
Wasn't worth near what we paid for
It.
LLOYD
If we'd a paid for It* Haael* they couldn't a took It*
HAZEL
Well «*•* you know what 1 mean.
YOU
You say Rob1* chorln?
HAZEL
H#* e out doing something.
LLOYD
Pa ain't been feelln so well lately.
weather the laet few days.
Been kind of under the
Awful blue.
DAVIE
Ole Ban is slok, too.
LLOYD
Yeh*
She1s down and 1 don*t think ©he* 11 ewer git up.
Ought
to knook her on the head and git It over with.
DAVIE
Oh, d o n H kill her, Daddy.
LLOYD
Don't worry.
Your grandad wouldn't let me.
HAZEL
Oh, everything going like It has, 1 think it worries Lloyd's
father qxilte a bit.
142
14®
TOM
Oliy th« old too?** got a lot of spirit In him!
DAVIE
I sure think grump1e swell.
HAZEL
Toil I knew you do*
You think mors of him than you do of your
own folkst Lloyd9 didn't X ses your father take the rifle
out with him?
He ploked It up*
LLOYD
X don11 know*
Whey's been some crows h&ngin around*
Might
of thought he'd get a shot at one*
TOM
Well $ t got to he runnln*
Take oars and sorer up them ears
when you go out, Davie f or you’ll free as em off*
pAVXE
X bout frosted one of my fingers yesterday*
house was sure sold*
Boy, the sohoel
Teacher let us go up around the fire.
(TOM starts out.)
LLOYD
Say, there goes the mall carrier*
(Gets his hat and coat*}
HAZEL
Poor felloe*
He's had a long day of It today with all this
snow*
LLOYD
X believe I'll go out to the mall box with you, Tom*
143
• 143
HAZEL
(Handing LLOYD M e o&p,)
Ten better wear your eap# dear*
TOM
{SlyXx)
Believe you and Lloyd git along better than you did one night.
HAZEL
(Smiling,)
I don't like to be teased about that9 Ton*
TOil
X like to tease ya anyway*
man,
Hear Blossom finally settled on a
But X guess she1s gettin tired of him already*
LLOYD
Believe me that night was the nearest 1 ever come to gettin
shot*
HAZEL
Xt*s nothing Short of a miracle that you didn't*
enough to*
X was mad
Nobody knows how thankful X am that Lloyd* s
father earns in when he did*
Ho proof in the world was strong
enough to make me believe it wasn11 Lloyd X saw get into
that oar with Blossom*
TOM
(Laughs.)
Well «“» good day. Hazel * Behave yourself, Davie*
HAZEL
dome back again, Tom*
♦ 144
DAVIE
g*byel
(TOM and LLOXD go*
DAVIS watohes at the
window as the oar pulle away *)
DAVIE
$•« , it looks sold out* Mama*
HAZEL
See anything of your grandpa out around the barn?
DAVIE
Huhuh*
HAZEL
When he and your daddy oome baek» we can eat*
wouldn*t stay*
eggs and milk w
I f« glad Ton
I guest he knew better, though.
Bread and
all we have anymore*
(Rifle shot a dlatanoe away startled
HAZEL.)
What was that?
DAVIE
Sounded like somebody shot out in the barn*
HAZEL
Oh «►■**
(does quickly to the window,)
Is <*■**•ie that your grandpa leaning in the barn doort
DAVIE
Uhhuh*
X
He must of been shootln at sparrows*
HAZEL
(Relieved)
Xe.*v 1 guess he* s coming to the house*
* 140
1 4 5
(Presently HOB is hoard on the poroh*
Ho comes la very sober*
He hae aged*)
HAZEL
Wae that you shooting?
HOB
Teh*
DAVIE
Bid you get anything?
HOB
I had to shoot Ole Nan, Hazel*
Would perine&r ae aoon a
shot myself * But after all# she was just a horse * Yet ~ DAVIE
<Saddened*)
O h y gee, then Ole Nan is dead?
BOB
Yea# Davie
you wonft get to take any more rides on Ole Nan*
Ooln to be a party cold night, Hazel *
HAZEL
Fraid so.
HOB
Where1s Lloyd?
HAZEL
Why he went as far as the mall box with Worn.
HOB
O h t torn was here*
HAZEL
Said he might be along again later tonight*
146
146
BOB
tom'* one of the beet men X ever knew.
X tell ya —
(Lays an old knife from hie pocket onto
the table ae he gets out of hie coat.)
DAVIE
What you got?
HAZEL
Davidt now may be It9a none of your business.
ROB
that9s an old knife, Davie,
One X lost ye are ago.
DAVIE
dee* It lock* old and rusty —
like It wasn't muoh good.
Hew many years ago did you lose It?
BOB
Oh —
a good many years ago*
% e m s like It anyhow*
DAVIE
Will it open?
BOB
X managed to get one blade open*
HAZEL
Looks like it's about rusted out.
ROB
About.
I bought that knife during the war.
spring ~
Davie*
Lost it that
a while before your mother and daddy were married,
It slipped through a hole In my pocket and X didn't
notice it*
Just found it yesterday•
the hog lot all this time*
It's laid out there in
14?
*
HAZEL
Xt*a a long way* back to 19X91 when Lloyd and X were married*
HOB
May Be It don1! know what9a passed over It in the dust out
there -»* yet ltfe got party Badly aoarred la It.
Davie, ~
you see the pita and holes the rust has eat out of the blade?
Them dldnft grow there In one night. ~~ X epose it staid
party shiny for a vhlle. fhen the nlokle begun to tarnish
and get a little rusty.
to get burled.
good now.
gash year the rust crept over It more
ate some more of it.
Something always eats up.
the rust kept satin away
just eatlm.
or a
the wet dirt and the rains made It begin
to rust In earnest,
yeh
then it begun
May be a pig rooted It In a hole
sow kicked it in.
and more ~
Didn't Show much,
Like money.
~
not makln any noise
So the old knife ain9t much
A i n H mubh more good than X am.
DAVIE
0hf you*re lots of good, grandpa!
HOB
(Hugs DAVIE to him)
Let me tell you„somethin, Davie*
When you grow up, don't
ever set your heart and whole life to hordln up things - eause you ean’t keep em no matter how hard you try.
DAVIE
Oh, X betoha X eouldi
X got a watoh I*ve had for six years!
HOB
(Puzsles at DAVIE for a moment.)
'«* 140
Xeu'Ve heard about the Indiana —
the red men that used to
live around here?
DAVIE
dare*
They was savages*
they hilled people!
HOB
fee.
Killed eg quick!
off their land.
that's why the white men phased em
Finally left em just a few patches and told
em they better stay put there. ~
a little piece of paper
ill the courthouse proved the land was ours.
promised to us9
X guesst like the land of
day another piece of
It'd been
Canaan, then one
paper popped up sayln we'd got the loan
of some money on the land* along side of one that said how
much we had to pay for the use of the land that was already
ours,
these pieces of paper had mouths like little animals
•M* some of em wasn't so little ~
piece of paper
and they eat up the first
ate it all up right there in the court
house without anybody hardly knowin it.
And then the land
wasn't ours anymore,but we couldn't see why »
we wouldn't get off.
It was all we had to live by. Aginst
what the government says, we're stayln.
n a m e they call us.
so we said
X guess they got
Bolshevists and anarchists
just be**
cause we want to live, and make a penny do a dollar's work.
DAVIE
(After a moment of silence.)
That
gramps.
That story ain't so good as some you've told me(
Xt don't make much sense.
14B •*
ROB
No —
m
I guess It don't
• don't make muoh sense*
the lend and we'll keep Itl —
But we're
as long as we oan.
It'll he different sines our shins ain't red*
• Curtain **
JJgx he
150
ROBs
May be it'll be different since our skins ain't red.
151
SAINT LOUIE or
TOE DIVINE BUG
A Commotion In Three Movemente
with a Few Jerks
on
Faith Healing
(Copyrightf 1937, toy Warren M • Lee)
Evening: May 5, 1937—Iowa City, Iowa
Pnifcersitg tEijeatre
D epartm ent of Speech an d
U N IV E R S IT Y O P
E xperim ental T heatre Sem inar
Presents
F o r the firs t tim e on
D ram atic A rt
IOW A
(Speech 211, 212)
any stage
or
T H E D IV IN E BUG
A Commotion in Three Movements
with a few jerks
By
W
M. L e e
arren
D irected by V ir g il L. B a k e r
Designed by A. S. G il l e t t e and W a r r e n M. L e e
L i g h t e d b y H. D. S e l l m a n a n d G a y l a n d D r a e q e r t
(Chronological D irectory)
................................................
E
r n e s t in e
j j al
L o u ie
E sth er
H atcher
P orter
•
• M ary Finley
E d w a rd k y v ig
............................................ W arren M. Leo
Dorothea Carlson
.................................
Jam es W.Butelier
, . , Milo L. Green
.............................................................. F ran k South
M r s. P resto n
............
• • • • L a V e ra a G oodm an
A d e l in e
............................................................... MaiT Weaver
D onald
George Lancaster
J erry
Q u e n tin G r if f ith
g IUj
..........
L y d ia
.............
A c c o r d ia n P l a y e r .
A p h r o d it e ..........
“ P il g r i m s ” Chorus:
Robert Graham
M ary McIntosh
Jam es Seybert
■• ■•
.
A fro d itie
Howard Emerson, Lenore Sperry,
Robert Graham, Muriel King, M ary McIntosh,
Q uentin G riffith, Jean Fitzpatrick, LaV erna Good­
man, M ary Lou Means, Jo h n King, Bill Horn, How­
ard V ander Beek, Laddie Carr.
H al and Louie’s dooryard on the farm .
•
*
*
F irst Movement ................................ - .........
P lanting
( T i m e o u t — 8 m i n u te s )
Second .Voi'fmen#
P a rt 1 ..
...
P a rt 2 ___
P a rt 3 ..........
(8 m inute rest period)
Third Movement
• • Cultivation
..B u d d in g
.Blooming
Ripening
H arvest
Technical Crews: David Johnson, stage manager. John
Felton, W ilbert Pronovost,
L ighting Control: Charles Lown, W inifred Gross.
Costume C rew s: Maidia Dryden, head. K athryn Hausen,
Eloise H urley, Eileen McGrath.
Prompter \ Phyllis Franke.
TH EA TRE STAFF
E . C. M a b ie
......................................
Director
V a n c e M. M o r t o n
.....................
Associate Director
E llsw o rth P routy C o n k l e
. Assistant. Director
H u n t o n D. S e l l m a n
Technical Director
A. S. G i l l e t t e .......................
A rt Director
G r a n t F a i r b a n k s ...............
Voice and Phonetics
E m il y R u s s e l l P r a t t
Executive Secretary
W a l l a c e A. G o a t e s
Business Manager
J o h n P . L e l a n d ................. A ssistant Business Manager
<fM
3
**
ERNESTINE
HAL
LOUIE
ESTHER
HATCHER
HAC
PORTER
HRS. PRESTON
ADELINE
DONALD
JERRI
BILL
LIDIA
SHERIFF
"Pilgrims"
163
154
M is t *
ZONA:
The Lipnan-Br&dy farm
All ao«a«a take place la the dooryard.
. .
. . . . "Planting"
SECOND MOVEMENT. .
. . .*Cultivation"
first movement
Part 1. . . .
Part 9. . . Part S. . . .
THIRD MOVEMENT . .
. "Budding"
. "Bloonlng*
- "Ripening"
. . . . ."Harveet*
166
6
"Saint Louie*
tuak mxmm%
The dooryard of HAL and LOUIE *S
farm out in Iowa*
The house, a
long rambling affair f take a up
moat of the back space. The
back porch# several steps up
from the ground, rune along
part of the house, one end
butting against the "L" on the
north*
Down from the other end
of it la the door to the cepa*
rater shed which has been built
on the end of the kitchen*
On
the porch la the kitchen door
and a couple of windows, some
clothes hanging on nails, an up*
ended orange orate with a wash
pan and a washing machine back
In the corner*
From the tree off the northeast
corner of the house hangs a rope
awing*
Then there la a shiny
red pump just south of the steps
and southeast of that is a
nearly completed hog house , one
166
of the A-shaped variety which is
portable ■«*- In a manner of epeak~
Ins*
* couple of full milk buck**
eta are sitting in the middle
of the yard*
HAL has set them there while he
doe a a bit of swinging*
He le
In blue overalls , faded, and
wears a felt hat with an abbre­
viated brim*
LOUIE is sorting nails at the
porch , smoking a cigar butt In
his pipe and wearing some old
striped overalls that bag In
the seat and a bleached brown
derby*
the boys are around thirty and
would liked to have been vaude­
ville comedians but the pro­
fession so far has seemed too
crowded*
HAL is the larger
and more contagiously Jovial*
LOUIE is lank and lives to make
gadgets and wisecracks*
ERNESTINE, HAL1S wife, comes
out on the porch*
She is neat
and industrious, at times
M7
«* T
good naturedly shrewlah.
With
hie haniwr and nails, LOUIE
swings up on the hog house and
perches on the peak*
HAL
•wings blissfully,
ERNESTINE
Are you going to separate that milk this morning, Hal darling,
or do you plan to let It curdle right there In the buckets?
HAL
I thought may be the cream would.raise so X wouldn’t hare to
•rank that engine to separate it.
ERNESTINE
Esther and X had sort of planned on washing the separator
whea«M»or if you get through with it*
where have you been all
this time?
HAL
Out counting the ears of corn In the field to see if there
is enough at a dollar apiece to pay the taxes.
LOUIE
Is there?
HAL
Teh~~but we may not be able to get that much.
ERNESTINE
Now, please, Hal, go separate that milk.
(HAL leaves the swing*
back into the kltohen.)
ERNESTINE goes
*» 0
m
HAL
(Stops, looking at LOUIE)
I hop® the Old sow appreciates the workmanship In that p&lase.
LOUIE
Oh, she will*
X toll you, Hal, I'm going U
print her name
right there pvor the door— in great big letters:
Aphrodite#
peland china.
HAL
I *11 bet she doesn't even use It after you get It built.
LOUIE
You only hope she won't.
shaatn* her out of it.
You'll probably sit up nights
I'd bet with you If it wasn't for that.
HAL
She'll probably only have two pigs~-evea If the weather Is
good.
LOUIE
two?
Say!
Aphrodite is a real hog*
has ten little ones.
HAL
Hew much?
LOUIE
Have you got anything to belt
HAL
I got ten dollars for a bet like that.
LOUIE
%ake!
I'll bet you money she
9
«•
169
*»
HAL
la a Ahana to taka your aoney ao easy*
LOUIE
Aphrodite knows that It1a tha packing houea for har if Aha
doesn't oraah through.
ERNESTINE
(Comes back out on porch)
Coma on, Hal—
(Ihlstlss as for dog)
Come on in, Railla, and gat your work dona.
HAL
lan11 rush na ao, E m i e f- ~ (Pioks up buckets and goes Into milkroon
singing)
Nobody Ilkaa me? everybody hates me; never git to do shat X
want—
ERNESTINE
®ay# Louie,--I would have thought a m ar t guy Ilka you would
have built that pig shed close to where it was to ha used.
LOUIE
In tha .hog lott
snoots*
Than pigs are too friendly with their dang
Tha tractor can move it easy.
Anyway, X thought it
would ha nice to surprise Aphrodite .
ERNESTINE
Is tha gate big enough to let tha shad go through?
(That's something.
hastily.
LOUIE looks off
ESTHER, LOUIE1a wife, rushes
- 10 nut of the house*
She le apparently
the meet eerloue minded of the quartet
trying as beet she ean to keep things
moving on an even heel*)
m m m
Father* s home!
ERNESTINE
Father?
ESTHER
Father and Mae!
He Just called.
They*re coming over*
LOUIE
I eaid to myeelf thie morning:
it going to change*
Louie9 you knowf the weather
Hey,
Hal
(From milkroom)
Teh?
LOUIS
PonU 1 M
now, but P. 0* le back from Florida!
HAL
(Coming out.)
Hatcher?
LOUIS
Our own daddy-ln-law*
ESTHER
He and Mao got back from their vacation this morning.
HAL
Use | too?
• 11
*
LOUIS
1 thoa^t may b« P, 0. would let him looee down there to
yea* the swampa.
HAL
Juat think how aloe the vines would be for hi* to perform
trepeae an.
ESTHER
Zt isn't Mao's fault mother vialtad an insane asylumn before
ha «aa bora.
LOUIS
She ahomlA hare known batter.
ERNESTIMS
Or It might have been that time father telle about— when Mae
got looae on the raoo traok when a horee raoe wae on. No one
oan be aore.
LOUIE
X only hope the tendency doesn't crop up in our little eon,
Freddie.
ESTHER
Xou don't know what a vacation in the south may have done for
both father and Mao.
LOUIE
I don't even like to think about it.
ESTHER
(Plaintively, eomihg to LOUIE.)
Louie1
LOUIE
ItabT
— 19
ESTHER
* e n H you pX«A«« be nice and polite to them— -Just once—
net
for
Today?
LGUJB
For yon anything* lather#
But it won't keep me from remember­
ing that your old man cheated us out of one hundred and fortyfear acres of good land*
HAL
And after the favor we did him#
ESTHER
X know*
But he eaye he has a surprise for ua— and that1a
ao rare with father that X want everything to be pleasant*
LOUIE
(Muttering)
I can attll hear him pounding on the door of that hotel room
begging ua to go baok and perform for hie crowds at the
eoumty fair*
HAL
Be workla ourselves into a lather In that sun* makln monkey
shines for them people that had lust run a ham vaudeville
aetor out of town*
Risked our lives for old P. G* Hatcher
and his fair association*
LOUIE
And how does he show his gratitude?
Promised us the deeds
to two eighty aoye farms If we'd pitch In and see his people
were entertained*
And what do we get out of it?
to two eight acre patches*
The deeds
m
13
**
ESTHER
Ton know that was our fault} Bin* and Erneatine* s. We've
admitted it. But who would have thought that tha zeros and
ty*• would he left off the worda written In the deede?
LOUIE
I know, Hal and ae waa suokers to let Hatoher take you woaan
la alone to make out then papers.
ERNESTINE
And why keep erring about ItT Bad Juat happened to outanart
you, that waa all.
HAL
But why should a father want to ohoat hie own family?
LOUIS
Sixteen mores lnetead of a hundred and elxtyl Imagine anybody
farming sixteen aoree$
ESTHER
He did give ue the part with the house and-— bulldingo•
LOUIS
Bear big-hearted P. 0.
ESTHER
But you will he nloe to him today, won't you, Louie?
LOUIE
1 said 1 would. Today.
HAL
Karla to rent land to farml
gas that day— the eheateri
It waa Hatoher*a oar was out of
** 1 4
•»
ESTHER
Ualti you aad Hal saved your fifteen hundred dollar forfeit
and got aore for turning your oontraot over to Rex Porter.
ERNESTINE
dad had the eatiefaetlea of seeing Rex get ehaeed out of town.
LOUIE
«* didn't see 11. Ve only heard about It.
HAL
(Ohuokllng)
Old haa aetor Porter!
C&ilsailed our oontraot and got the fun
of being rode out of town on a rail. Re never oaae back to
get even with us for gettin bin that job* did hot
LOUIE
Rea ain't anart enough.
(HAL gate gasoline eaa— an 8 qt. converted
sprinkler— flroa the allhshed.)
ERNESTINE
Only father is smart enough for that.
Mwss
If 1 was as orooked as your old man. I'd be afraid to walk
through a door.
ERNESTINE
this has all been thrashed over and over. Ipu'd just as well
bed down the horses and blow out the lantern. And you behave
yourself today* too* Hal.
HAL
Aw right.
165
ERNESTINES
And you behave yourself today, too, Hal
V
316
(To LOUIE up ob the bog house.)
8s/, Mr. Ooldberg~-yah, you up there— would you fix that trick
punp «e Z
osb
got eons gasoline for the engineT
LOUIE
Von1t you aver learn to run that pump7
ERNESTINE
Supposing that gasoline barrel down there in the well should
spring a leak?
LOUIE
The gasoline would probably all run out
if the hole was
elese to the hotton.
(Slides down)
ERNESTINE
It would oertalnly ruin the water in the well*
LOUIE
It's Just ohieken water.
HAL
dasollne isn't good for ohioksns.
ESTHER
It's the funniest plaoe I ever heard of for a gasoline barrel.
LOUIE
You know how they were stealing the gas, Esther.
do something.
I had to
Fifty gallons they took onoe.
HAL
Wellt it's safe enough now.
at it.
Even the rest of us oan't get
<m 1 7
16?
«•
ESTHER
Two puaps would 1*ave saved oonfuslon.
LOUIE
Is, that* s the idsa.
You get a burglar thoroughly confuted
and he's lost.
ESTHER
Oh I
LOUIE
(TO ERNESTINE)}
New your eld nan would never think of anything like that.
HAL
Net even brother Mae would think of anything like that.
LOUIE
New leek, Hal+*-thi8 slight adjustment and you pump water—
adjust it bank and you punp gas.
See.
HAL
fhleh are you punping nowt
LOUIE
deal
3ee~there are two pipes.
This for gas and— —
ESTHER
It won't save aueh to play around and run gas all over the
ground.
LOUIE
Tou're net supposed to pla~*.
that bueket.
Key look listen, you— dive no
Making me waste perfeotly good gasoline.
a nan.
HAL
The engine tank only holds two gallons.
What
LOUIE
That's all your eon holds.
HAL
Tanks.
(HAL takas gas and goes Into the milkshed.)
ESTHER
If you're going down hy the barn, Louis, bring baak a basket
of sobs.
LOUIS
X see.
J X I'n going.
ESTHER
We'll have to have then before dinner.
Xou're alee, Louie.
ERNESTINE
Zen*re Just a little lamb.
LOUIE
Just a little henpeeked ullquestoast— that* s all.
ERNESTINE
lootshoe, kootehee*.
ESTHER
Of course, if you don't want any dinner—
LOUIE
Sinnert
Ah— a loaf of bread, a chunk of swine—
ESTHER
It's beef today, though, dear.
LOUIE
Okay then— a loaf of bread, a hunk of klne—
m
19
169
«»
ESTHER
It os sad so% U m
toll.
ERNESTINE
(PiOil0 up old newspaper by the steps.)
Tou*re erasy* Louie.
LOUIS
And thee beside me la the wilderness.
Ah, Eether,—
(He reaches to put arm around her but
ehe le gone.)
Little woman, Oner knew what he wee talking
about.
ERNESTINE
Oner nay have.
LOUIS
Well, good day, girls.
1 eee neither of you have souls for
poetry eo X must go alone into the wilderness of the hog lot
and meditate among the oobe.
(Swinge basket to shoulder and goes outj
ESTHER
hen1! meditate too long; we need them before noon.
ERNESTINE
And don* t come traehing any pig meditations Into the kltehem.
(Looking at papor.)
Did you ••• ttli, Sothor?
ESTHER
X wouldn't know from this dlat&no..
(HAL ooma. out of milk.shed}
HAL
Okay.
*h» howl la rowdy to oeold.
20 -
ERNESTINE
this article about am evangelist named Porter.
HAL
Porter?
It 1 »u1t— no— even Rex wouldn't do that.
ESTHER
It lean Rea, is it Ernie?
ERNESTINE
Well— X don't know~
HAL
What4 e It say about him?
ERNESTINE
He was arrested—
HAL
It must be Rex.
ERNESTINE
Well, it was false arrest and—
HAL
Them It Isn't Rex.
ERNESTINE
He sued the Jeweler because of It and collected.
look at his picture.
ESTHER
That's who It lal
HAL
Te« sir.
That one face In fifty million.
(Takes paper and reads.)
ERNESTINE
I can't Imagine-— Rex— an evangelist.
But Just
-
8
1
m
-
HAL
Probably th*
mum
divine bog bit him that hit your nutate
brother Mao.
ESTHER
It ealla hla Raymond in there.
HAL
X eh— but did you eee stoat he did?
He vent In soae plaoe to
get a.wateh fixed and aoted suspicious eo the jeweler oalled
a aop.
ESTHER.
It doesn't say he did It on purpose.
HAL
Ho * hut It* a in very bold type between the lines.
ERNESTINE
Rex*a eery hold type.
HAL
Xeh— and Rex oolleeted for false arrest*
*he nollection
plate antat not have been ao heavy lately.
H i D l ItlSfA
It does say Raymond*
HAL
There may >s tee Porter a-^but only one would pull a trick:
U l » that*
ESTHER
Well, let1e get the kina to cooking*
R*3U
Xt may just look like
U 2
172
m
ERNESTINE
(The girls start Into ths house.)
Xt may.
HAL
(dancing off north)
Look;.
We're havin company *
ERNESTINE
Esthert
11*8 father and Kao!
ESTHER
Father!
HAL
What** that Mao is carrying?
ESTHER
Xt looks like a gun
(Cry of Joy as she runs out following
ERNESTINE.
Father!
HAL follows a step.
In a moment the
girls return with HATCHER.
He is more
of a business man than a farmer and
has Just got home from one of his few
vacations.
A rural rotarlan.
MAC comes la--a little behlnd~~~carry-*
lag a bee*bee gun.
He is past twenty
but he doesa*t aot like it.
In hie
dense way he takes himself very seriously.
If he was a little smarter, he would
173
*23 *
to* a young hellion for he has a hind of
o m e r y disposition*
erate him*
HAL and LOUIE tol­
The girl* are used to him.)
HATCHER
(Talking a* he comes %$}
Xs s ff tout It1* nio* to toe back.
Hello, Hal.
HAL
Hello, P. 3.
ESTHER
Xt* * so good to see you!
And you, too, Hao!
MAC
(Pushing the gun right up on HAL* a face.)
Did you see this?
I bought It down south*
HATCHER
t don*t know shat he wanted of it*
Just a bee~bee gun*
HAL
Oht
Well, lt*e lots safer than a forty-fiee*
ESTHER
Tell ue all about yourself, father.
did you see?
How haw* you been?
Everything*
HATCHER
Well, X had a good rest*
Where 1* Louie?
ESTHER
Louie Just went down to the barn*
Be toaok in a minute*
MAC
(As he examinee the hog house,)
What*e thief
What
«* 24 «*
174
HATCHER
U * i good to too homo again.
Where la Freddie?
ESTHER
Ha*a grow a lot, tot Ho* a ower at Aunt Etta*a for a few daya.
HATCHER
X*« au&oae to aoo the little raaoal.
MAO
ORat la thla thing?
HAL
That* a a bog houae.
MAC
Are you going to beep hoga up bore In the dooryard?
HAL
Son*t yon think that would he nlee?
Wouldn't have to go far
to feed them.
MAC
Huh!
*bo*a building ltf
HAL
Well— we had a oouple of hoga pp here workln on it— hut
they're out to lunoh right now.
MAO
(flatly.)
X don't bellewe you.
(Takea a head on aometbing off toward
the barn.)
HAL
Eaey with that gun, Kao. Tou may put out a window light.
Oh no.
X sheet straight.
HAL
Then the gun may not*
Anybody oare for some gun?
HATCHER
Hewer ohew it*
MAC
I'll take some.
HAL
(Clwing MAC a atiok of it)
X knew a. fellow got gun in hie eyebrows enee.
Had to ahawe
then off.
(Clwee rest of package to the girls)
MAC
Hid yon?
X don't think X will.
ESTHER
Of course you'll stay for dinner— you and Mao.
MAC
% a t hawe you get?
LOUIE
(Coning in with the ooba.)
Cobs, why?
MAC
X wasn't talking to you.
LOUIE
Tou were looking at no.
MAC
X didn't ewen see you.
26 «*
**
LGUXE
(Cushing)
I l l U , F* C. Clad to M O you!
(Shakes HATCHER* o hand and looks to
ESTHER for approbation*)
HATCHER
Wall. It1• nlo© to be back.
LOUIE
Xf11 wet,these ooba in aId© while I1ve got them*
Be back la
a minute*
(Coe© into kltoken)
HAL
(Watching MAC tab© bee~bses out of hie
mouth)
Takln out your false teeth. Mao?
KAO
X don*t have false teeth*
These are bee-beee.
1 donft want
to get them stuck together.
HAL
X should have given you gum before*
MAO
(Chewing*)
Oh, X don't Ilk© It very often*
But X do this morning*
stomach is kind of upset * X was at a revival meeting*
HAL
that set
My
177
* 27
MAC
lm
Louie ought to go and take Bather and Erne atine*
It
would he good for you*
HAL
X don't want indigestion*
MAO
leu probably aren't aa emotional*
The meetInge are Inspira­
tional * There la an evangelist named For ter preaching*
Be
In town tonight*
HAL
Fertert
Hex Fertert
MAO
Oh no I Re looks a little like Rex but hie name la Raymond*
HAL
Is that cot
HATCHES
Things leek about the same as when 1 left*
(He has been moseying around on a tour
of Inspection followed by the girls*)
MAC
Leek out, Hal— the re1e a swell target!
HAL
Take it easy*
(MAC takes gum out of his mouth and plugs
It on the end of his
KAO
M8w IfOk what you mad* me dot
Kind of plugged up, hub?
MAO
Xou SAT* ae that a m on purpooe.
It's all plugged up!
HAL
Z'u airful sorry.
MAO
Xott don't sound like It.
What did you glee no that siloly stuff
for anyway?
HAL
Zf I'd known you'd do that. I'd have given you two sticks.
MAO
see— he dld.it on purpose.
How Z suppose it won't ever shoot
right again.
HATCHER
Xou asked hla for It, McKinley.
MAC
Z did?
— WSll, he shouldn't have given it to me.
Must be
awful cheap gum the way it sticks.
HAL
Here— I'll olean It off for you.
MAC
Oh no you won*t.
know you.
Xou'd like to push it on up in there.
the gun's probably ruined.
HAL
T soh— tseh— tsoh— tech I
MAC
Zt isn't anything funny!
Z
«» 29 ••
179
LOUIE
(Coming out of ths houae.)
foil, li'i a fine day!
Don’t you think oof
MAC
Xt io nott
LOUIS
What are you doing, Mao?
Playing aplder with that web?
MAC
I don’t know why I ever come over here.
ERNESTINE
hid I hear Eether eay you had brought back aome good newa,
father?
HATCHER
that?
Oh yea.
(Takea out wallet.)
I got theae in Florida and thought you might like them.
(All wait)
Here are a eouple for you girla.
ESTHER
Vhat are they for?
HATCHER
Oh, Juat hang them up, I gueaa.
Here are a oouple for you
beya.
HAL
See, thanke, Hatoher.
LOUIE
(Aa they look at the gadget a)
Xou*re a great gay, P. 0.
180
30 **
HATCHER
X have sane things for Freddie out la tho oar.
ERNESTINE
Bap of Florida, isn't It?
HATCHER
Printed on genuine oroeodUo bids.
LOUIE
Imagine that, Hal— genuine orooodlle.
HAL
And all of Florida In that little spaoo.
Xou know, I only
wish X oould express ay gratitude to you for those, P. C.
LOUIE
Be tool
ESTHER
They're awfully outs!
ERNESTINE
Like a bug's sar.
MAC
Bugs don't hare ears.
LOUIS
Oh yes they do, Maokyl
(Shaking HATCHER'S hand)
Thanks a lot, father.
It*« nloe to know you reneahered us
ehlle you ears away; to realise that you think of the smallest
things.
HATCHER
Xou like then, huh?
181
* 31
LOUIE
Father, wo are overwhelmed.
Kane at.
HATCHER
I thought you mlgtit approolate then.
LOUIS
(doing to baok of HAL,)
ft do.
HAL
(To LOUIE)
Are 70a oraey— or shat?
LOUIS
Or whet?
ESTHER
Vo do appreciate these, father.
They are just— darllngt
HATCHER
dlad you like them. —
Well, I guess 1*11 say what I had In
•ind shea X oaae over,
(All get set,)
During ay stay in Florida I went over & number of things on
ay Bind, — -affairs now well in the past.
Affaire where it is
possible others might have been made bitter toward as.
Hot
that that offsets me; but X merely want you to know X have
been thinking.
X have even thought of the plaoes wherein
X might have been too hard a taskmaster.
Now, I'm not
getting.soft hearted aragytttlng of the sort.
bo fair.
But X want to
And after all— oven though a great many times you
girls haven’t Shown me the respect due a father— you are
- 59
my ohlldrsn.
vsry fond.
189
-
^hsre are many things about you of whloh I an
Many tines you have gone against my wishes.
Many times you have not sonsalted me when you should have.
Bat as Z say— you are my daughters.
Z have no others exoept
■eCimiey.
MAO
X*a no daughter.
HAL
Don't argue.
HATCHER
Other ehildren Z mean* MoKlnley.
near and dear to me.
X have no others who are
Z have only my children to live for.
four mother has been dead a long time— but X have tried to
be a wise and fair parent— severe, at times, yes— but only
as severe as Z felt was necessary for your own good.
haps you oouia. have married better.
Perhaps mot*
Per­
At
least you were not hindered In making your own choices.
X
was not consulted but X did not remonstrate •
HAL
Much.
HATCHER
Tour husbands have done a good many foolish things— such
as buying machinery not wisely but too much*
ERNESTINE
Father— pause if we are to applaud.
HATCHER
Prom you X have taken a great deal of back talk, Ernestine—
*» SB
lire team X
thought X would from any child.
After a
remark llko teat X shouldn't wren go on*
ESTHER
tea didn* t mean any harm, father*
Xou are a little wordy
today, hut wa lore you In spite of it all*
Now tall ug—
teat are you leading up tot
HATCHER
Well— -I probably shouldn’t do thi ST­
ERNESTINE
Think about It long enough and you won1!*
HATCHER
Another remark like that from you and X won’t!
LOUIE
Now please— everybody be quiet and let Mr* K&toher have a
word*
We attend you, Mr* Hatoher*
HATCHER
In brief , then— if you will agree to etay five years— as
*oon as your Indebtedness--the taxes, the oar, the radio,
the tractor, and the e o m picker are paid for-^your
indebtedness wiped out, X will deed you the other one
hundred and forty~four of the hundred and sixty*
LOUIE
Would you mind writing that down?
HATCHER
We1!! hare It fixed up In town*
anytime *
I'll meet you at the bank
*• 34
LQUXE
Hal! Hal!
The walling ealta.
ESTHER
Are you aarioua * fathert
HATCHER
Perfectly aarioua.
Tima a hare bean difficult, X know, and
wall* you are the family.
ERNESTINE
Father* you are too* too wonderful.
ESTHER
You1re a dear!
HATCHER
But X don't want any palavering.
HAL
Louie* that1 a our father-ln»law.
LOUIE
(Clasping him by the hand)
Hatcher— father, you've taken an Immense load off our.minds.
X am ao overcome with gratitude X can eoarsely apeak.
HAL
Don't choke up* Louie.
MAC
Thle eeeme perfeotly Billy to me.
ESTHER
Oh* father* you're grand.
MAC
(Examining gun)
hay be thle will ahoot yet.
XS4
**
186
96 «*
LOUIE
well* we better go In and gat the paper a fixed up*
Wo bettor
got to toon*
HAL
1* 11 run the oar out* Louie
(Starts out-)
MAC
Can’t it wait till after dinner?
ESTHER
We*11 come back In tine for dinner*
All of us*
ERNESTINE
Are you going to town in that dirty shirt* Hal?
HAL
Lay one out for me and I ’ll jerk it on.
LOUIE
1 feel at least twenty years younger.
ERNEST INE
(On the porch)
Well* then* 1 suppose you* 11 want a diaper laid out for you*
(does on in)
LOUIE
Would you mind*
HAL
Won girls dust on some powder and let* s go*
(Follows the girls inj
LOUIE
Father* you ought to have a Carnegie medal for this*
(Shakes his handj
186
«h
{56
MAC
Who's going to drive?
E00IE
Miy be Hal will*
May be X will*
May be we'll draw lota*
MAC
that's gambling*
X don't think I'll go anyway*
ItOUIK
Go easy with that gun if you stay here*
(Pumps HAtCHER'a hand again*)
Doesn't it make you feel good to do a good deed like this?
HAtCHER
Xou don't get the deed until the indebtedness is cleared*
1001E
A mere matter of selling the corn*
Guess I'll jerk on a
necktie*
(Hurries Inside*)
MAC
What did you do that for* Father?
HATCHER
Well* someday they'd get it anyway* McKinley*
MAC
X don't care*
X don't want it*
(HATCHER takes out his private folding
drinking cup and goes to the pumpj
pumps the cup full* throws it out and
pumps another*)
HATCHER
They must have put a different pump in here*
(MAG is aiming at something beyond HATCHER*)
13?
-m
MAC
Huh?
(He accidently pops HATCHER with a beebee and ha jumps spilling all ha has
pumped.)
HATCHER
Looh out shat you1ra doing with that gun.
Xou hit met
MAO
Z dl&n*t Inland to*
of you*
that* a
X was aiming over at the other side
what .you gat for talking to me whan Xvm
aiming— it bothers me*
HATCHER
Zf you aver hit me with that thing again t It will be taken
away from you*
MAC
I dldn*t go to hit you*
HATCHER
Donft be aiming In the direction of people*
Xou might put
out somebody9a eye*
MAC
Hot when your back's turned*
HATCHER
Xou shoot In soma other direction!
A second later you
would have made me spill water all over myself.
(Pumps again)
Something around here smalls like gasoline*
188
- 38 •
ESTHER
(°omes oat on porch and m s s HATCHER
about to drink)
Oh, father-(But he takes a mouthful and spits
and gags.)
HATCHER
(Sputtering)
Oh*.
MAO
What*s the matter?
1 didn't do anything that tias,
HATCHER
That water' a got something in it'.
ESTHER
Father, did you drink ItT
HATCHER
Who did that?
Who in the name of common sense put-*What's
in that waterf
(Sputters and spits.)
ERNESTINE
(Sashing out)
What* s happened out here?
ESTHER
Father must have drunk some gasoline!
Louie—
What'll we do?
Hal— oome here quiokl
HATCHER
What is it?
IF month out*
What have you got in that water?
It's burning
« 89
HAL
(tabling la)
What1* up?
ESTHER
Father drank gasoline!
HAL
8hjr?
ERNESTINE
Oat of that Tool punp Louie flxadl
LOUIE
(Looking out of bedroon wlndoi*)
Hejr lMk«*vliat'i all the oonnotlon?
HAL
Katoher got a swig of gasoline, X guess.
LOUIE
lea1re not supposed to drink out of that punp.
HATCHER
Hew did gasoline get In there?
LOUIE
X put it In!
HATCHER
Oh I
Planning to poison net
(LOUIE duoke baek In.)
HAL
ftet sons soap, Ernie, and sons water.
ERNESTINE
Soap?
189
xm
- 4&
(LOUIE pomes out door, shirt tails
flying*)
HAL
Ioh | soap and don* t argue *
(ERNESTINE goes In.)
HATGHKR
Ehy didxiH you have a sign upt
LOUIE
The water In that well is Just for chickens*
MAO
(To LOUIE)
I 111 hot you did It on purpose!
LOUIE
(Still at HATCHER.)
I’d think you oould smell*
MAO
I read about somebody drank gasoline and died.
HATCHER
(To LOUIE)
Tou hoped I ’d drink it and die*
my property*
I know!
So you could get
Shy didn’t you have a sign up?
why dld't
somebody tell met
MAO
I didn’t know about It*
LOUIE
Look * Hatcher* I’m sorry*
would try to drihk it.
It never secured to me anybody
I fixed up a two-way pump so people
191
- 41
wouldn't bo stealing the gas.
(ERNESTINE comes out with box of soap
flake a)
HATCHER
A likely story'*
If X donft die from thls~~HAL
Here* giro me that, Ernie*
Now, P. 0., we're got to waah
out your mouth*
HATCHER
What1a that?
HAL
Don't argue*
Open up or it will be too late*
Open you mouth*
This le an &ntIdote~but don't swallow It*
(Gets HATCBER'e mouth end pours In some
soap flakes*}
Now, slosh that around in your mouth*
Get some water for
him*
LOUIE
I'd think he oould smell*
MAC
(At LOU IK)
Xou did It on purpose*
ESTHER
1 knew something would happen when you put that thing In
the well*
LOUIE
How did X know he was going to try drinking It?
4t$& ••
192
oisiltjSn
n i l , 4 u t 014 you pat It In there for?
LOUIE
8« piopl* woaldn* t steal the gaal
MAO
Trying to poison father, that's what you were! Xou InfIdell
HATCHER
{Mattera)
Oh**—***»—«■
ERNESTINE
Don't talk.
Slosh that around in your month.
HAL
(diving him water.)
Here.
(HATCHER begins to stir up a froth)
LOUIE
Hake your teeth alee and clean, Hatcher.
ESTHER
(All she can do to keep from laughing,)
It's nothing funny, Louie*
ERNESTINE
May be you're not standing where you get the right view*
HATCHER
(Through his teeth)
Don't stand there and smioker!
MAC
(Facing LOUIE)
You ought to be arrested for this!
IS 3
LOUIEs
Make your teeth nice and clean, Hatcher*
104
<* 4-4
LOUIE
Oo on out and shoot tin cans, you*
He isn't hurt*
MAC
If no weren't euppoeed to love our enemiesy I'd hit you*
LOUIE
Pen't let your religion interfere with your natural instincts*
MAC
You911 never be saved*
Your soulte lost*
Poimg things like
this*
(LOUIE eyes him menacingly,)
You oanH sears me*
The hosts of heaven are behind me*
LOUIE
(Coming at him)
Pon't back up then or you’ll tread on their toes*
MAC
(Keeping space between the%)
forgive him for he knows not what he does*
You ought to
get down on your knees and pray for your soul to be sawed,
frying to murder a man with poison gasoline*
LOUIE
You keep on and X will have murder chalked up against me.
MAC
Pen91 look at me that way!
You— you descendant of Calnl
(Points gun at LOUIE)
&aekl
Stop!
The devil is in your heart!
LOUIE
Hey— look out*
Pon't be pointing that bean shooter at msi
19S
«“ 45
m
little Saint Peter, or I'll taka it away from you.
KAO
(Backing LOUIE in HATCHER•a direction)
Don't you touoh that gun}
•leas range*
It's loaded.
It's dangerous at
I'll shoot.
LOUIE
Then shalt not kill!
MAC
The Lord halos then that help themselves!
Ion-— -
(Levels at LOUIS who drops to the ground
as MAC fires.
the baok.
The shot gets HATCHER in
Be wheels around, foaa flying
fron his mouth.)
HATCHER
KoKInlay, you young devil—
(Starts for MAO hut falls over LOUIE)
MAO
Honest, father, I didn't—
HATCHER
(Facing LOUIE on his hands and knees)
What are you doing under my feet?
LOUIE
At present, Goliath, I'n nursing a sore rib where you kicked
as.
HATCHER
that were you there fort
LOUIE
Saint Peter was shooting at ate!
HATCHER
fbatl
MAC
H® got down there because—
HATCHER
(dotting up— with venom)
I Hi going to got that gun and***MAC
Look!
Ho*s frothing at tho mouth!
Ho9* gono mad!
(Points gun at HATCHER}
HAL
(In line of fira)
Look out, Mao.
MAC
Ho1a mad*
Pon*t Lot him bits no!
Everhody got baok.
Look at hi* mouth!
Run Esther and Ernestine*
HATCHER
dive mo that gun, McKinley.
MAC
Look out for him!
HATCHER
Put that thing down*
MAC
Ten stand bank*
X 9m not going to lot you bits mo*
(Banks around tho hog house, HATCHER
following)
X**e got tho magaslne of this full now*
t will, too!
X oan shoot fast*
197
. 47 HATCHER
Don't point that at mo*
MAO
X will. I'll shootI
HATCHER
Zoo do and I'll—
ESTHER
loot
KAO
Ho got bit bar a dog yesterday.
not going to bits no.
It must have boon mad.
drab him, Louie,
dot him, Hal.
He's
Don’t
lot him got at mot
(HATCHER knocks gun from MAC’a hands.
MAC wheels and runs.
HATCHER gets gun
and takes after him)
HATCHER
I'll Oho* you ho* It foals to bo Shot with this thing.
ESTHER
(As they disappear around the oorner
of tho house.)
father, seme book hereI
LOUIE
Let him go.
Mao has it coming.
ESTHER
Hat tho soap.
*
Vo got lets swro.
HAL
«*»
09
198
**
ESTHER
It* • in M * mouthl
ERNESTINE
fill It hurt hint
LOUIE
Soap1* a good disinfectant.
HAL
He* * probably nsedln s o n of that about now*
LOUIE
So am It
(HAG run* In from other side of tho house y
ram* into LOUIE and pushes him to change
direction*)
HAG
He*s after me!
He9* coming!
(Head* for tree and shinnies up it.
HATCHER comes In puffing,
^hey suppress
laughs.)
HATCHER
(Bong* gun down on ground)
there9* some water to get this stuff out of my mouth?
(The laughter explodes.
up gun.)
ERNESTINE
Gome on in the house» father.
HATCHER
It** nothing to laugh at.
LOUIE pick*
199
*
4»
HAL
X«a 4© look tuny’*
ESTHER.
Father, w * n
sorry.
HATCHER
Sorry t A family of lngr&tas.
aeap and than, laugh at mo.
Faed mo gasoline and then
Whore* s some water?
LOUIE
Xou sen get some right hors.
HATCHER
(Eyeing LOUIE)
X oas what?
Shat did you say?
Are you trying to got me to
take some more of that stuff?
(LOUIE haoks away as HATCHER eoaos at
him.)
MAO
(Waving and shouting from tree)
Co on, father— hits Louis I
HATCHER
(Stopped in his tracks)
Where is ho?
Where's MoKlnley?
LOUIE
Ho*s op a tree playing at squirrel.
HATCHER
(Spies him)
1*11 settle with you, MoKlnley,
where's that gun?
@00
ESTHER
Come on in, Father, where there1s some water.
MAO
Louis’s got~-Louie*B to blame * He started all thle.
HATCHER
CIt s me that gun.
I1!! show him how It feels—
ERNESTINE
Come on. Father—
HAL
to on and wash your mouth out.
(The girls and HAL lead HATCHER inside
muttering.
LOUIE is holding MAC at bay*)
LOUIE
So I started it, did It
MAC
Xesf you did!
Xou planted that gasoline for father.
LOUIE
(Leveling off at MACJ
All right—
MAC
Don1!, Louie— that1s loaded*
*
LOUIE
I didn't load it.
MAO
X did.
The Lord will strike you down If you shoot.
LOUIE
Well* Ifll take a.few pot shots at you first, anyway.
as well die happy.
I Just
MAG
fitai#* Loule~~donfi--don*l-~yQU might hit me*
LOUIE
X gat that much confidence in myself*
HAL
(Heturnlng)
You got something treed?
MAG
Mel, take that gun away from him*
HAL
Hhy?
O a n H he hit you?
Here— let me try that* Louie*
LOUIS
Set.up something and I111 practice before I waste ehots on
Mao*
HAL
Here*s Hatcher*a cup.
(Bate it on hog house)
LOUIE
Olay.
Mow watch me*
(Shoots)
HAL
Missed#
(LOUIE shoots again*)
Ecu1re no good*
Let me try it#
LOUIE
Mo, J*8 havin fun*
(MAO starts down from tree.
him *)
LOUIE sees
202
- 58
Ah-ah, Mae!
(MAO shinnies baok up*)
MAO
I'm not coming down.
You be careful of my gun.
HAL
Mere-**
(Oats gun from LOUIE)
LOUIS
Tou better aim at the side of a abed somewhere •
HAL
No, I'm an expert marksman*
You never bear about my trap
SbOotln?
LOUIE
1 knew it shoots off enough*
(HAL shoots*
There is the squawk of a
chicken *)
Oh-Obi
Mow look what you did I Rilled one of the women's
oh tokens*
Are they going to be sore*
HAL
Here~~you take the gun*
They'll think youtdid It*
(MAG starts down again*
LOUIE takes gun*)
LOUIE
May be It would be just as well* Mao, if you stayed up there*
MAO
X have to go In the house*
LOUIE
X*a afraid you'll have to wait*
63 -
MAC
But Louie— Please— perty pie a tie.
HATCHER
(Stomps out In a rage followed by girl a)
Bearly burned the mouth out of me!
Feed me gasoline and them
•eap and then all stand around and snicker!
(The boyfs attention turns to HATCHER.
MAC sneaks down.)
ESTHER
But* Father-—
HATCHER
BwH
*but Father11 met
If I ever had any notion of lettln
that hundred and forty<*four aores go* this treatment here
this morning has got that out of my head*
Trying to poison
net
LOUIE
Bow* Mr* Hatcher, you can't go bash on your word*
HATCHER
Oh, 1 can1!I
Bait and see!
Come on, McKinley.
MAC
B#*~X don*t think I1d better go now.
And you may not be quite
all right yet.
(Automatically wipes his mouth to be sure
it isn't frothing.
scurries into house)
ERNESTINE
The same bright future to behold.
HATCHER goes.
MAC
204
54
•
LOUIE
0hf please* P.
H atQher**~Father— 11 sten—
well I
(But HATCHER is gone.)
HAL
went
ERNESTINE
In faet a well full of gasoline.
ESTHER
Oh, Louie* why did you—
LOUIE
That* s right*
Begin hXamla me*
drink out of that pump*
I didn't ask him to take a
He did It of hie own free will*
ESTHER
You put the gaeollne tank in the well.
LOUIE
People were stealing the gast
well for drinking water*
H* knows we don't use that
Where's his mind?
ESTHER
But it wouldn't hare happened if— Oh what's the use?
were Just on the verge of having everythingpleasant
We
for onoe
la our lives and now it's all spoiled.
LOUIE
Lit him— -let him keep hie old land*
have been.
ESTHER
But—
We o&n go on like we
- 36
ERNESTINE
dupposing, d#ar, w
wait till the heat of failure has cooled*
HAL
That1a a thought*
ESTHER
If oaly— ^
LOUIE
If only what?
Xf a few drop* of gasoline can change your
Old nan* a a tad, It wasn’t wade up good enough to last to
town anyway*
ESTHER
(Choking back a sob.)
Why-Twhy don’t you tuck your shirt In?
LOUIE
(ESTHER’S mood Is contagious)
Because it feels better out*
ESTHER
It doesn’t look as goodr--!1® sorry» Louie*
X know you
didn’t do It ea purpose*
LOUIE
I111 tuck It in if you want me to*
I forgot It*
ESTHER
1 mean about the well*
LOUIE
(Has set gun by tree and is tucking In
shirt)
We’ll padlock It*
we’re friends again*
That’s all that counts*
206
*» 8 # -
ERHE3TINE
a*jr b* «t bvttvr lvav* tfcv lovw-blrda, Hal.
They may want
tv be alone.
HAL
>*jr» don’t ran away.
LOUIE
S«th«rt hoii| do you love mo?
ESTHER
do much oo you do m .
LOUIE
Xhe oloud has passed*
HAL
Xou know— Hatcher la 00re again right now--but aa long as he
came across oneself wo was to got everything up in shape-**
debts paid— and be real nice to him.
Might happen again*
ERNESTINE
Say he I did the best thing by marrying you after all*
HAL
Xeh* hut don't get sentimental*
LOUIE
low might he right at thatp H&1«
And we can afford to risk
a little politeness even— to Hatcher for the extra aores.
Xou persuade hotter than 1 do.
Xou don’t seem to have that
quality of mine that gets on other people* s nerves,
Shy
don’t you run over to where grimes lives and see him about
eslllst that oorn to him?
807
- ffl ~
ESTHER
thy dem*t you do that, Hal?
ERNESTINE
thy don*! no all go?
LOUIE
We don1t want to look like we’re movin In on than.
Anyway
wafll ho gotting hungry pretty soon*
ERNESTINE
1 think you have a tapeworm*
(MAO cornea out eating a cookie*)
MAO
Seed cookies* Hather*
ESTHER
(Following ERNESTINE in)
X hope you dldn*t eat then all*
MAC
X dldn9!*
X have some more In my pockets*
(The girls go in*
HAL
I guess 1*11 go over and see Crimes*
LOUIE
the practical man of affaire*
HAL
The Inventor*
(Starts out*)
LOUIE
Them is fighting wordsf Hal*
MAC goes to his gun.)
208
MAO
A m H
tbi; ewer going to got dlnnor ready?
HAL
Hope.
this Is a fast day, Mao.
(Goes.
MAO sata about knotting up tha
swing to hang from, head down.
LOUIE
starts for hog house.)
ERNESTINE
(From window,)
Mr. Sales!
Chiok!
LOUIE
Are you talking to met
ERNESTINE
Esther says to water the ohlokens.
they're thirsty.
And
don't give them gasoline.
LOUIE
Just a work horse.
(Sets bucket from end of poroh.
pump.
Adjusts
Sauls out new oigar as ha sees
MAO at sslng.)
Say look— what are you doing with that swing?
MAO
It's too low.
(LOUIE lights olgar,)
Why don't you giye up smoking?
to a better life.
I did.
You ought to change
-
«9
LOUIE
Preach to your old man, Mao,
Ho could atand a little convert*
lug.
MAO
0 h f X fa working on him*
^id you notice how much more gentle
ho waft today?
LOUIE
That must have been run before I came In*
(MAC la hanging from awing ready to ahoot)
Hey look! Mae**It lsn4t that I don11 trust you— but-you
know what?
I put up a target on the hack of the b a m the
other day,
X111 give you a prize if you hit the bull1a eye,
MAC
there la It?
LOUIE
hewn back of the barn.
MAC
Honest?
(Falla from awing)
LOUIE
Mure*
MAC
Say thanks!
(Hurries out)
(LOUIE la Just finishing the bucket of
water for the chickens when Bev. PORTER
In clerical dress, and Mrs. PRESTON a
2X0
60 **
gullible woman, come In,
They approach
behind LOUIE as he start© out#)
P0RTBH
How do you do, brother#
LOUIE
(Hot looking back#)
How are you?
(Goes on out of sight to chicken trough#)
PORTER
We are sorry to tether you-*but our oar Just ran out of
gasoline#
LOUIE
(Off#)
See what I can do#
Be with you In a minute*
PORTER
That's very kind of you#
MRS# PRB8T0M
It certainly la#
We didn't have to walk far, either#
LOUIE
(Returning#)
Well— well-*so you say you ran out—
(Seeing PORTER face to face, he stops#
They stare at each other#)
Bid I understand you to call me brother?
MRS# PRE8T0H
Tea#
This Is Rev# Porter, the evangelist who is in town#
LOUIE
Oh?
HRS. PRESTON
X kept trying to think of your name. Hr. -—-Oh, do you know
i m
| other?
PORTER
If we do, I'm afraid I've forgotten the name.
LOUIE
It's a name you ilrfit like to forget.
HRS. PRESTON
Oh, X know.
Xt* a Lipaan, len't it!
PORTER
Perhaps you knew ay brother.
LOUIE
Tour brother?
Don't kid me.
PORTER
Xes.
Hy brother, Rex.
few timee.
I've heard him mention a Lipman a
Xou were old frlenda, X believe?
LOUIE
Xt'e all right.
X know all about Rex'e brothera— the onea
he had and the othera.
How you doing in the raoket?
PORTER
Raoket?
X don't believe X understand you.
a good deal alike.
Rex and I looked
Xou must be thinking of him.
LOUIE
Qh~~twine X euppoee.
2 1 2
62
PORTER
We were ofism to!ton for twins*
MRS* PRESTON
0 h f 1« pour brother In the mini#try, toof Rev* Porter?
PORTER
No.
My brother is dead*
LOUIE
Oh, I*m saddened to hoar that*
A great gup— Rex was*
almost made me lose fifteen hundred dollar* once*
He
^unny**~
Rex never spoke of you*
PORTER
1 am sorry to say that we were estranged for a good while*
LOUXE
Sad*
But Rex was like that*
MRS* PRESTON
Well, we should he getting along, Rev. Porter, don*t you
think?
PORTER
lee*
(TO LOUIBJ
Do you have & gallon or two of gasoline we night purchase?
MRS. PRESTON
We* 11 be ever so grateful if you have*
LOUIE
Teah— well, I guess I got some*
(Sets gasoline can from Just Inside
milk shed door.)
2X3
* 63 **
MRS. PRESTON
is that a dead ohioRan out there?
LOUIE
I'm afraid It li>
(Adjusts pump after laying hie cigar
aside,)
MRS. PRESTON
Do your chickens hare the roup or something?
moo
Mine got it
and X got some stuff in town that eared a great many
of them.
I 111 he glad to find out what it was and-*
LOUIE
Nof that isn't the roup.
It's the bee-bees that chicken had.
NRS. PRESTON
The he e-bees?
I never heard of it.
LOUIE
It's quite rare.
MRS. PRESTON
I do hope no new disease is threatening our flocks.
Do
many of your chickens have it?
LOUIE
(Pumping gasJ
Not at present,
That's the first oaeuality.
MRS. PRESTON
Rare you had a vetiftary?
How does It attack them?
LOUIE
Attack them?
That one flew through the air and hit it.
PORTER
I hog your pardon* hut we wanted gasoline— for the engine--
2M
- 64 not water for the radiator*
LOUIE
That1® what you* re getting-~gasolino*
PORTER
I'm worry*
Do your chickens drink gasoline?
LOUIE
Rot that I know about •
PORTER
It must he alee to have an oil well right in your yard.
HRS* PRESTON
You did take a buoket full from there and put it out for
your chickens*
Perhaps that1e what' 0 killing them*
LOUIE
He*
that buoket w&a full of water*
MRS. PRESTON
Isn't th*, funny I
I'd swear 1 saw you take it from that
pump*
LOUIE
1*& swear you did, too*
PORTER
Oh yes!
1 remember,
hex told me*
You're a miracle man*
Aeoordlng to whether you want gasoline or water, for imst&nes,
yen Just draw It out of the well and there it is.
MRS. PRESTON
Really?
X never heard of anything of the kind*
LOUIE
(Setting oan before tkemj
Well— here's your two gallon*
m
2 U
—
porter
A U right*
HUES. PRESTON
It makes me feel kind of creepy.
PORTER
Oh, It1® a harmless type of miracle that Mr. Lipman perform®.
MRS* PRESTON
Oh, but no one around here know® about ltf do they?
LOUIE
I been keepin it a eeoret.
MRS. PRESTON
Oh* —
Well, how muoh do we owe you?
LOUIE
#m«t the regular price— eighteen cents.
Well, I ’ll let you
have It two for thirty-five.
MRS. PRESTON
(Paying him.)
Here, Mr. Llpaan.
I ’m awfully sorry about your ohloken®.
Will you let me know If you find out more about the dieease?
LOUIE
It wasn’t a disease.
It was a bee-bee.
MRS. PRESTON
Well, what’s a be e-bee?
Is It some kind of an insect?
LOUIE
No, lt*e a little lead ball— shot out of a be e-bee gun.
MRS. PRESTON
Oh, It was shot1.
21A
* 66' **
LOUIE
I* ah— now we*re getting together.
Here, I111 show you where
It hit It*
PORTER
Bon1! toother*
MBS. PRESTON
And 1 thought It we* a disease*
X was so worried.
PORTER
WO all make mistakes*
{PORTER takes a twig, dips it in the gas,
smells It and then strikes a matoh to
it. It burns*
He stamps It out as HAL
comes In.)
HAL
How do*
HRS* Preston
Hello*
This Is Mr. Brady, Row* Porter*
HAL
(A bit menacing when he sees who It 1*3
Hello, Rex!
PORTER
Xfm not Rex.
I had a brother named Rex.
HAL
Well you don91 say!
Well, well, there sure is a resemblance*
PORTER
That1s shat I*we toward.
Wbll, Mrs* Preston,—
21?
67 *
HAL
What 19 Louie doin out there with that dead chicken?
MRS. PRESTON
Oh, he1* «*~Why look!
It** moving.
Why it1* all right.
It*
running away.
LOUIE
(Coming lit)
It got away from me.
HAL
Wasn't It dead?
LOUIE
Sure.
I revived it.
MRS. PRESTON
You do work mir&oles, donftt you?
PORTER
Tea, he ueed to he a regular faith healer.
MRS. PRESTON
Is that *o?
Why, you should keep up that work, Mr. Llpmaa.
LOUIE
Oh, well— you know how It 1*.
MRS. PRESTON
Wei I-*-thank you a thousand time*.
But Mr. Lipman, with all
the siok and the maimed In the world, think of the joy a man
of your abilities oould bring to them.
You shouldn't hide
your light under a bu*hel~~or spend your power* reviving
mere animal*, and-**
** 68
LOUIE
full | may be eventually-**
MRS. PRESTON
Bat why not now?
PORTER
Shall wo go?
MRS* PRESTON
W*ll~gDod day*
PORTER
Oeod day*
Iff**11 leave the oam a* we go by*
LOUIE
Oh yea*
1*11 get It at the gate*
(does for hoard under porch.
HAL ha*
gone In mills:shed.)
PORTER
Thanh you*
MRS. PRESTON
(A* they leave.)
It aeeme incredible that— M r . Llpi&an*Ton know, Hr*. Preston*
I have a traveling companion—
ay singer— who 1* blind?
MRS* PRESTON
Tee*
Poor dear*
I feel ao sorry for her*
PORTER
It would be a great comfort for her to see again*
MRS. PRESTON
And — He can do it?
"»• 69
2 1 9
**
PORTER
X have faith >
MRS. PBESTOM
(Slated.)
Oh~~Ifra going to talk to poor Lydia!
She*8 been confined to
Her wheel ohatr eo long.
(they go.)
HAL
(Coming out.)
Rex1« brothert huh?
LOUIE
Teah— raay be.
Said Hex had died.
HAL
May be he did.
LOUIS
It4e a wonder he dldnft.
HAL
And so you*re a faith healer.
Well.
Well.
LOUIE
due as you dld»*t know my possibilities.
chicken was Just stunned,
^he women hadn’t found it.
did you see Grimes?
HAL
Xeh# X saw him.
He looks perty good*
LOUIE
He looks p—
What did he say?
HAL
HO*
Lucky for you that
Hey-—
m-
*70
£
**
LOUIE
Is that all*
HAL
W U ( i i i repeated it several time a.
LOUIE
Hey look— somebody sorely needs some corn,
we sot to go
out and find then quick so we'll he ready for Hatoher.
MAO
(Coming back from the barn.
Sore.)
Say**! oouldn't find any target on the barn.
LOUIE
The barn?
Z said the henhouse.
MAC
lou said the barn.
LOUIE
Oh ne.
MAC
Ton did, toe*
LOUZS
Well, Z meant the henhouse.
MAC
Ton don't fool me anymore. The only hull's eye behind that
barn was on one of the oattie.
(Starts out— -and then stops suddenly.)
HAL
There's Porter and Mrs. Preston down by the gate.
waving.
They want you to oome down.
They're
2
0
71 *
LOUIE
Me?
Are you tired?
HAL
I*a tired*
I been pereuadln.
LOUIE
Just a peek horse*
(Coe a.)
MAO
t« then a target back of the hexihouee?
HAL
tare •
MAO
Well, there better hot
HAL
I don’t oarry % regular gun beoauee It’s wrong to kill.
Hun ter e are the most inhumane people alive.
shoot so I got a bee-bee gun.
But 1 like to
It’s harmless*
HAL
?r&etleally*
How about that chicken?
MAC
Well— Xou did that1
.
(Coes)
ESTHER
(In door)
Where’s Louie?«»-or you’ll do.
HAL
Louie went down to the gate to receive a gasoline oan.
222
72 -
ESTHER
Somebody borrow it?
HAL
Teh, and Louie went down to collect it*
ESTHER
Well, we need some**
LOUIE
(Coming in carrying a mashed gee can.)
Collect it le right*
Look at it I
HAL
What happened to It?
ERNESTINE
(In door— ESTHER le on porch*)
We need some man power carrying out ashes.
LOUIE
"We’re very sorry," they say, "But we set it down behind the
ear and forgot it and backed over it."
Look at it!
And
it cost seventy-two centsi
HAL
Bid you get pay for It?
LOUIE
No, they drove on*
Porter told the woman I could perform a
miracle and straighten It out.
HAL
It*d take a miracle«
ESTHER
Who was out here just now?
2ES
4M
W *73
HAL
Am
Porter1# brother ana sire* Preston*
ERJJESTXME
Who?
ESTHER
Rex1e brother?
He didn't have any brother*
HAL
010 you eay Rex Porter had died?
LOUIE
Stay be hefe been reincarnated(Something hite him in the head— a
bee-bee.)
ESTHER
What*s the matter, Louie?
LOUIE
I think X feel the preeenoe of a relative*
MAO
(Coming in*}
When are we going to eat?
LOUIE
Did you shoot at me?
MAC
Ho*
Why?
LOUIE
X suppose you shot at the hen house and missed*
MAC
How did you know?
- Curtain -
m
m*
11 #Salnt Louie*
8mm& msmm&
one»
Ho change« Apparently laterin
In the day,
HAL is parked on the porch read­
ing a newspaper*
LOUIE drags
a flooring hoard toward the hog
house*
LOUIE
Hey look* Hal,— why dom*t you call up your old pal Redfleld?
Say he he would want to buy some corn*
HAL
Say he he wonldnH*
LOUIE
fry him*
He1® got plenty of money*
ESTHER
{Chmes to door*)
Whors going to carry these ashes out— or will we have to?
LOUIE
Hal will when he gets through call In Redfleld,
HAL
Redfleld has got plenty money*
He might buy*
LOUIE
fou go call him*
X want to get this hog house floored*
2 2 $
- 75 ~
HAL
U o n H pound your fingers.
(LOUIE crawls Into the bog house and
begins pounding.
coming
HAL meets ESTHER
out of the house with the
bucket of ashes.
HAL takes the bucket
and, hearing LOUIE*s pounding goes
over and knocks on the hog house*
ESTHER goes back inside.
Founding
ceases.)
LOUIE
What?
HAL
Knook-knook(The pounding resumes with vigor. HAL
goes on out.
Very shortly MRS. PRESTON
comes into the yard.
She hears the
pounding and gee s over to the hog house.
She knocks on It.
The pounding Increases.
She knocks again.)
LOUIE
Say| listen playful, come on In if you want to.
The door
isn’t locked.
m S . PRESTON
I beg your pardon?
(A deep silence.
calls.)
She knocks again and
* 76
LOUIE
Hello.
MRS* PRESTON
leu in there?
LOUIE
Teah.
Nhy?
MRS. PRESTON
Hr* Llpman?
LOUIE
Sure.
SIRS. PRESTON
Mr* Brady said X*d find you here.
He said to knock.
LOUIE
(Sticking his head out^his neck, top.)
Oh, he did?
ttiere9s he?
MRS. PRESTON
He was going toward the driveway when 1 saw him.
LOUIE
X suppose he didfiH have any luck.
MRS. PRESTON
Has he been fishing?
LOUIE
PiShing?
X suppose you might eall it that.
MRS. PRESTON
May he the halt he used is not good.
u*e<
My husband used to
2 2 7
- 77
LOUIE
Stay be It isn't*
You want to see me?
MRS. PRESTON
Yee«well— I don't know just how to say it.
We don't have
eo much money at present , but—
LOUIE
Oh# you want to buy the oorn?
(Climbs out of hog house talking.)
We1re willing to fall reasonable.
the best there Is,
It's good oorn.
Really
Nice big ears— eleaa— it's a shame to
sell tig but—
SIRS. PRESTON
0 h # X don't want to buy— that is we have almost a orlb full,
but you see—
LOUIE
Wellf say look—
we might sell part of It.
Split it up.
X think we could do that.
MRS. PRESTON
But X don1! want to buy oorn.
X couldn't.
X just wanted
to ask you something.
LOUIE
Oh, you don't want to buy any oorn.
MRS. PRESTON
No— X— well, X do hope# Mr. Llpman, that you'll be sympathe tie.
You know my sister, Lydia, has been an Invalid for
a long time now.
anymore.
She oan't even get out of her wheel chair
2m
78
LOUIE
© h # Is that right?
MBS, PRESTQW
And the doctors don11 seem ahle to do anything for her*
LOUIE
They don*t?
MBS* PRESTOW
No--an& she1s been to so many*
Poor dear le Just ms patient
as she oaxi be«*~but she doeanft get any better*
LOUIE
Well* Z*m awfully sorry to hear that*
If you111 exouse me~-
MIS* PRESTOM
I knew It would touch your heart*
LOUIE
It does*
MRS* PRESTOM
You1re a good man*
LOUIE
How mush do you want to touoh for?
MRS* PRESTOH
What did you say?
LOUIE
Ifa sorry but I don1! have any money to give you.
MRS* PRESTOH
Money?
WO don1! want money*
X Just want to know If she
earn see you*
LOUIE
fee me?
229
* 79
MRS* PRESTON
Tee*
Well, that i a~~
LOUIE
(Anxious to got back to work.)
Oh sure— I'll ho glad to haws her see mo.
MRS. PRESTON
0 h t would you?
Oh, that1o wonderful• Wovll ho so grateful I
O**ly~otily~we don11 have muoh to pay you.
LOUIE
Oh that’s all right.
It1!! bo a free exhibit.
m s . PRESTON
Ton are a wonderful manv Mr. Llpman.
X Just fool sure she
will bo made happy.
LOUIE
(Baffled.)
To ah sure— I think she will be* too.
In fact there1s no
doubt about it.
MRS. PRESTON
Oh do you?
Oh, Mr. Llpman.
I'm going over to get her.
X #ll
bring her to you In the oar.
LOUIE
Oh, will you?
MRS. PRESTON
foot
X was so sure you’d see her.
I'm presumptuous.
LOUIE
(At sea.)
X hope you don#t think
230
80
Not at all*
say— do you suppose It would affect her hatter
If X waa la the hog house— Ilka thla?
MBS. PRESTON
Why— you do just however you generally do.
LOUXE
However X gen*—
MRS, PRESTON
I 1! ! he back with her*
(Meets HAL.)
X found him*
HAL
That1s fine.
(She goes.)
LOUIE
Listen# Hal# that woman1s a little off upstairs.
HAL
What about It?
LOUIE
She* s bringing her Invalid slater over to see me.
look like a side show?
HAL
Promise you wonft get mad?
LOUIE
Hey*— 11 aten—
HAL
fell# you asked me*
Do I
231
•* 81
LOUIE
X o e n H figure it out.
Way does her slater went to look at
set
HAL
What did Who say?
LOUXE
Oh, she went on a Ions time about how her slater had been
an Invalid for years and how the doctors couldn't do any*
thing for her and on and on and
could she see me,
HAL
In the first place she can't see you because she's blind*
LOUXE
Blind?
Thought she said she was an invalid*
HAL
0 h f she's been laid up for a long time*
no reason at all after her husband died*
She went blind for
Then a little
while later she fell down stairs*
LOUIE
Ye&h?
HAL
That seairt her so she decided she wouldn't walk anymore
and she's stuck tea wheel chair ever since so she can't
hardly stand up now*
LOUIE
The family is nuts, huh?
Ten catch on.
HAL
She won't oome over to
sac
you*
•» 82 **
LOUIS
X get to get lwwrtt to worfc~~or the pigs will too ready for
this*
HAL
I got It*
She's the one you made the hit with.
LOUIS
Who?
Ha l
lire* Pre aton~~wh©n Porter w&a here*
LOUIS
(The light dawns.)
The gasollne~the ahlolcen— *
The faith healer*
(Laugh® *)
LOUIS
So that's what she was drlvin at*
Hal*
Oh, this le terrible,
1*11 probably get run out of the country for this*
That Porter Is responsible*.
I suppose he thin** this la
a Johe*
HAL
(Laughs*)
And I newer ones suspected the powers you have.
LOUIS
film'll expect me to cure her*
HAL
0o right ahead.
2m
- 83 -
umt
Listen— tell em I W ® has a stroke of paralysis or something all of a sudden and 1 can’t see em when they come*
HAL
Supposln they keep ©omin hack*
LOUIE
Supposing you discourage them*
HAL
Supposin J can’t.
LOUIE
well— they* 11 get tired of It in time*
1 could wring that
Porter’s neck*
HAL
Bid you tell the woman she could hrlng her sister here?
LOUIE
Yeah— tout before I realised what— Now look— you encouraged
this crazy Idea*
You tell era something has happened and
I lost my power*
that will settle everything.
(Starts hack to work*)
Bid you call Redfleld?
HAL
X been emptyln ashes.
I’m goln In now to call*
LOUIE
High pressure him* Hal.
Use the old persuasion.
to wipe out them taxes.
I’m just oatchln on how to farm.
HAL
Well— goodbye till supper* my saintly pal.
We got
2
m
** 84 «*
LOUIE
ft* on.
(HAL
Into houset and LOUIE crawl 0
back late the hog house •
DONALD and ADELINE f who wears dark
glasses and seems blind, come In.
They
are of about Porter's age and ilk.
They put on a good act*
They apeak low*
The pounding In the hog house carries
on intermittently*)
ADELINE
You sure this Is the placet
DONALD
Porter says it is*
ADELINE
What1* the rest of the gag, anyway?
DONALD
1 don't follow It*
This Louie la quite a dumb guy, I guess,
and Porter sees a way to square an old account with the
bird*
ADELINE
How?
DONALD
iy gettln people to think he1s a faith healer*
ADELINE
Still Just as clear as ink*
urn
85
DONALD
Will » X AoiiH follov It either*
difference to us*
But that don’t make no
Xou want to get rid of them glasses*
ADELINE
It* S going to he a relief to get out of these things and
he natural again*
DONALD
Of course t your helm blind has brought in collection*
ADELINE
feu Just try pretending to be blind all the time!
DONALD
Not so loud*
I know it isn't any fun*
ADELINE
I 1re done crazy things~-but this is the craziest.
DONALD
feu know how damned irritated Porter It gettin because you
fuse about them glasses*
If you ever want to get rid of
em» this is your chance*
ADELINE
All right*
do into your dance, Donald*
Here comes some**
body*
HAL
(Coming out of the hones*)
Hew do*
(Flings short lasso he has, over pump.)
DONALD
How do you do*
Are you Hr* Louie*-*the healer?
286
- 86 -
HAL
The healer?
No, 1*11 afraid not.
DONALD
Oould we see hia?
fou tee thle poor woman is blind and
medical aoiaaea has given her up.
Might we talk to hint
ADSL INS
We hear that he le wonderful.
We hope that he will see ua,
after thle long Journey.
HAL
How did you hear about hia?
Prom Porter?
DONALD
Porter?
ADELINE
Porter? •~We have met no portera.
eabln eampe.
We have been staying in
We oan't afford hotels.
DONALD
No one was at the gate to meet ua— if that la what you
W# SU *
HAL
Skip It.
mmjim
In a dream 1 wait told that on# day I should find such a
healer In his sanetniDry~~and we hairs searched tirelessly
since that day.
A tew moments ago a traveler told ua of
such a man here* so we came in all haste to see him*
HAL
A preacher?
237
* 87
DONALD
jilt a traveler*
HAL
WOlI*«*Ifli have to talk to him*
He* e la****
DONALD
Oh**t§ that hie sanctuary?
HAL
I guess you might call it that*
the grove*
Just wait out there beyond
X must hold communion with him*
ADELINE
We will wait and pray.
(LOUIE orawl e out of hog house after
euppliee*
He sees DONALD and ADELINE
leaving*)
LOUIE
Hey~**who are they?
HAL
The woman wants to be cured.
LOUIE
Teah?
Well, I' ve gone away on a long vacation*
Porter
send them?
HAL
Where?e something fenny about this.
But they don1! act
like people that would be hooked up with Porter.
LOUIE
I *« suddenly slek<***tell em*
238
00 ***
Listen* Louie* there** no reason why we shouldnH have
some fun out of this#
LOUIE
I d o n H want to see them*
HAL
Tou*re goln to look kind of funny backin out now*
people have come a long ways#
These
She has been guided to you
by & vision#
LOUIE
Hitt? He donft look like no vision to me*
HAL
People have been cured by faith*
LOUIE
By hope and charity# too# I guess*
HAL
It won*t do any harm to try a little incantation*
hurt the woman*
It won*fc
And I believe they1re in dead earnest*
Bay be this is Just what she needs*
LOUIE
It might bet
HAL
It seems this woman had a dream about you a long time ago
and theyfve been lookin for you ever since*
you to the mole on your nose*
LOUIE
(Feels.)
Helena dreamt
She described
289
* 89 ~
HAL
leht
LOUIE
Hal» you remember how 1 dreamed 1 was a Greek god the
ether night?
HAL
May be that wasn*t liver trouble after all.
LOOT®
It*e serewy* Hal«— <*but let*® try it.
Aaythlng on**,
you
bring them in and 1*11 be there in the sanatorium.
(Starts Into the hog house.)
HAL
So &head*~We can put on an act.
Nobody will be hurt.
(When LOUIE is In the hog house
HAL
calls to DONALD and ADELINE.)
wayfarers*—*the healer will hear you from his sanctuary.
(they some in.)
LOUIE
Oh Lord!
(throws out board full of nails he has
sat on.)
DONALD
Hear, Adeline?
He is praying now*— your healer.
(To HAL.)
She has been so patient— waiting years for this day.
Oh happy day.
(LOUIE watohes them through crack in
door.)
- 90 ADELINE
Did he know ere were coming?
HAL
He m e t hawe,
DONALD
What do ere do?
HAL
0 healer-*thle humble voice break* the silence of thy
sanctuary to tell thee a pilgrim le at thy door and would
ehe might be cured,
LOUIE
(From within.)
ehat alleth her?
HAL
She hath been blind slnee birth.
LOUIE
(Startled.)
Blind?
HAL
Xea irerily, blind-
She oannot see.
ERNESTINE
(Comes out on porch.)
Supper1s ready# Hal.
HAL
Slleneet
%
not break the tranquillity of the sanctuary
with thy voice*
240
241
- 91 -
ERNESTINE
Quiet yowftlf,
Where* s Louie?
HAL
00
act intrude thyself I
ERNESTINE
All rlght--but what's It all about?
HAL
Slleneef
There are pilgrims here*
ERNESTINE
X beg your pardon*
ESTHER
(Comes to door and then to porch*)
What's going on?
ERNESTINE
X guess it's the pilgrims— father and mother.
HAL
Art thou of a mind to let her approach?
LOUIE
If she believeth that faith will more mountains, let her
approach.
ADELINE
That voice!
power*
That melodious voice!
X have faith.
His voice Is full of
X have faith I
DONALD
(To Hal.)
She hath**~she has faith.
« 92 -
m2
LOUIE
yprtly* then lei her draw nigh unto the sanctuary.
HAL
(Leads her up.)
She ie nigh.
LOUIE
Wo»an--weman-~do you hear me or art thou not night
ADELINE
X am nigh*
X hear thee*
LOUIE
Hast thou faith?
ADELINE
X hast— I have faith*
LOUIE
A great faith?
ADELINE
Boundless faith la your voioe *
LOUIE
Cover thine eyes with thy hands.
Hast thou done eo?
HAL
Tea verily— she hath done eo*
LOUIE
leap thy hands tightly on thine eyes and when X tell thee
to remove them9 know that thou shalt see.
Think of the
flowers— the lilies of the fields the green pastures—
the reeds and the hushes.
well.
Enow thou**
Believe I
Thou art soon to he
243
- 93 -
(ERNESTINE turns to go into the house
and accidently knocks the bent gas can
against the ash bucket and they clatter
d o m the steps.
HAL, DONALD, and
ADELINE ail look around*
ADELINE
realises her mistake and takes advan­
tage of the moment to complete the
miracle .)
ADELINE
Donald!
Donald!
praises he*
I can see!
X am eell*
I can see!
Qh,
1 earn see again!
(She la very convincing about it.)
DONALD
Dearest!
A miracle!
A miracle!
Thank you sir!
HAL
Thy faith hast moved the mountain of Infirmity— 0 Saint
Louie*
ADELINE
It*a wonderful— too wonderful*
X know not what to say.
Oh, Donald!
HAL
(Low*)
feu better come out, Louie*
I think It actually worked.
LOUIE
(Peering out.)
Did It?
canny.
Kou know I felt funny doim that, Halj ltfs un~
- 94 -
@44
DONALD
(Speaks low to ADELINE*}
0«sf om--let* s get out of here*
Porter1e welt in In the
oar*
ADELINE
(Breaking away*)
Oh Joy— eh the trees— the grass**-the hills— I want to hug
them all*
X earn see again!
X can see*
(Prollos away with DONALD*)
ESTHER
Well* what do you know about thaSt?
MAC
(Napkin tucked in his collar, comes out*}
Shat1* go in on?
Shy don*t we eat?
LOUIE
(Standing before the hog house looking
tr&nsflxsdly into space*)
X V s a power X newer knew I had*
Hal, X*m trembling*
HAL
Don't let It upset you— but it did happen ail right*
LOUIE
She has gone away— happy as a child S
HAL
(Suddenly*)
Say— you know this ought to make a pretty good racket*
LOUIE
No, Hal*
Not this*
84*
- 95 ERNESTINE
Aii X AnMlatf
ESTHER
Cons on in, you nen.
HAL
Coma an, Louie.
Wa really get something here.
we think off this sooner?
Why didn't
Wa ean hash It over while we eat.
LOUIE
(Etherlally.)
X ean't eat.
X must fast.
—
X naet keep this power.
Curtain
346
* 96 "Saint Lout."
sa«.°.a4Maiasffiidt
P..^r| S8B8
A later morning.
LOUIE te living la the hog
home**
He sits, dressed like
the Mahatma and eating from a
tiny hog trough» under which
is spread a red bandana napkin.
ESTHER, ERNESTINE and HAL are
close toy, pleading.
ESTHER
Hew listen, Louie, don’t be silly.
You can’t go on living
out here.
LOUIE
But I must until 1 get more sure of myself.
to heal, I must have more faith.
If I am going
1 must have.
ESTHER
Just because one person came in here and got her eyesight
back doesn’t in any way prove you are a healer.
LOUIE
But that pilgrim was led by a vision.
She searched me out.
HAL
Ieh*~an& frolicked away without paying anything.
LOUIE
(She paid me sufficient in letting me know my powers.
Please
+ vt ~
don* t argue with ra* anymore.
My alnd la m&da upI
(Lays trough aside, dries mouth and
lights up cigar.)
m m m
But, L©uie*>~
LOUIS
I am adamant.
ERNESTINE
You're nuts, if you auk mm*
LOUIE
I aked no on# • H U
you leave me alone with my thoughts?
HAL
Can you beat It?
ERNESTINE
(As they talk apart.)
1 think we1d hotter get a healer for him.
A psychiatrist.
ESTHER
What are we going to do?
HAL
Kay he he* 11 get over it.
ESTHER
But hefs so strange.
He hardly seems to know us.
Staying out here in that hog house.
In it— shat little he does eat.
And
Sleeping and eating
Why did you encourage
him to go ahead, Hal?
HAL
Stash* how was X to know it was going to do this to him?
0® #*
ERNESTINE
Who were tho«e~~plXgrira«?
HAL
I don't know.
But X toll you that woman wag blind as a bat
before Louie wont Into his Incantations.
ESTHER
Xeo"“»X know*
ERNESTINE
Hut oho name to her eight awful qulok when that buoket was
kicked off the porch*
HAL
Knot have been just at the psychological moment*
ERNESTINE
Well— may be Louie will fall on the next ones— and then It
will be all over*
LOUIE
Failure Is a foreign word to me now*
1 have only faith*
ERNESTINE
Sure le nuts*
He*s never been quite this bad before*
Why—
if he was to go ahead* this place would be swamped with the
siek and the maimed*
HAL
There** where X see something*
and we make something out of It*
Let em come In and get cured
Charge em a little—
build up a business*
ESTHER
And have him stay this way?
Living In a trance?
249
*
99
“
HAL
Veil, *• just as well make something out of it— If he's
goln to toe thlo way.
ESTHER
But look at Louis. Poor boy.
He may not even reoognlze
little Predate when he eome* baok from Aunt Etta1a.
ERNESTINE
(Oomes up to LOUIE.)
Listen, punk, remove the mask and get baok to normal.
We
all know It's a gag.
LOUIE
There Is no gag.
There Is power In faith.
Power to neve
mountains.
ERNESTINE
Hell, X like mountains.
How about moving one In on the fans
for no?
LOUIS
Xe of little faitht
Is Jest of powers ye know not of!
ERNESTINE
Ton mean you oould move one In for us?
LOUIE
With all the sink and the maimed la the world, I will not
spend ay energies toying with trloks of oommon magicians.
ERNESTINE
But I'm la earnest.
X oould be so happy with a mountain
out on the west forty.
Even If It Is father's.
260
100 -
HAL
Say, that'• & good Ida*.
It would save oultlv&tin that
patoh of bull-nettles and ouekle-burrs.
Wa oould aako a
n aatr resort out of this— -winter, too.
Say, X see aora
possibilities la this all the time.
LOUIE
Mercenary unbelievers!
ERNESTINE
Swell idea, Halt
HAL
Isn't bad, is it?
ESTHER
Oh, don't aake fun.
HAL
But Esther, think of the possibilities.
ERNESTINE
VS Bight get a few hot springs and geysers along with the
aouatala.
How about it, Louie?
ESTHER
Please don't, you kids.
(Oomes up to LOUIE.)
Louie, being perfectly prosale, there's one thing you
haven't thought of with your new found "Powers."
going to have to live.
LOUIE
The Looooord looksth after his own.
We are
LOUIEs
The Looooord looketh after hie own*
102
HAL
Don*t worry about that, Esther» Ernie and me has got the
solution all worked out#
Have him move in a mountain and
we*ll turn the place into a resort*
vacation and get cured#
People can come os a
With a mountain moved in, your old
man sfi.ll be seared not to give us the land*
ESTHER
You*re ridiculous*
ERNESTINE
How about It, Louie?
LOUIE
You have no fa Ith •
HAL
I have, Xouie*
I believe you can do It#
I hast faith*
LOUIE
Thou hast not *
ESTHER
I don*t think this Is a bit funny
LOUIE
If thou hadst faith, a mountain could be moved for thee.
HAL
I have*
ERNESTINE
So hast I*
ESTHER
(Alarmed*)
Heavens!
Look!
Mountains!
288
- 108 *
HAL
(Startled by hep tone*)
What?
ERNESTIBS
(Also*)
Where?
ESTHER
There on the horison, coming—
(LOUIE bailee— self-satisfied*)
HAL
Hey—
ERNESTINE
Why it— say you people I You had me scared*
(LOUIE*a smile wilts*
That*s clouds*
He looks*)
HAL
So it is*
Funny*
They do look like mountains*
ESTHER
Not Oh yes*
Well* this business is getting under my skin*
ERNESTINE
We •re all going to be nuts yet*
LOUIE
The Lord will provide*
ERNESTINE
Provide space in an institution, I suppose
HAL
X*m beginning to feel like I would just as soon luve skipped
yesterday altogether*
«* 104 •»
ERHL3TIHE
Don’t let it gat you down, Hal*
(MAC comas in excited— -but with gun#)
MAC
©ee, there1a a lot of excitement in townI
BRIHS3TZNB
It isn’t so dead out here#
MAC
1 went to a revival meeting again last night, and— and
Iha kind of out of breath#
HAL
He probably got arrested for carryin firearms*
MAC
Oh no X didn’t*
(Heading for LOUIE#
MAC is now all
affection for him*)
Kev* Porter thinks you’re wonderful, Louie#
He says you’re
the greatest faith healer the world has known. That you can
work miracles*
That you can cure people*
He says thsfc
anyone who has a waning faith should see you and he will
believe again*
That his illness will be cured— -his
Sickness taken away*
ESTHER
This sounds worse and worse to me*
Somebody has got to stop
this foolishness*
MAC
It isn’t foolishness, Esther*
Eev# Porter spent about half
#f his sermon telling about Louie*
I’m glad Louie had seen
255
«• 105 «*
tli# light.
X feel that I*v© helped some*
X am happy for
yea Louie*
LOU IK
(Struggling within#)
Have faith, 0 my soul#
Mac
Oh, I have#
I didn’t believe you before— but I do now*
Rev# Porter «ax& he had never taken much stock In faith
healing— for there were so many fakes— but that this
Saint Louie he had found was real#
knew it#
And to think none of us
A man from outside had to discover It*
SRNSSTXKS
And what brought Porter to the light?
MAC
You see he*a got a singer— a young woman*
She does sing
well and she’s brought in a lot of converts*
She’s wonder­
ful* She sure lei
HAL
Yeh— just what Is this all about?
MAC
01ve me time*
Well— •Adeline— that’s the singer’s name~~
she’s been blind, she had to be led around everywhereand
she must have been unhappy#
1 used to go aroundand talk to
her after the meetings to cheer her up— and may
b©
take her
out to dinner * I even gave her a little money, too— because
the collection all goes to charity*
LOUIE
That is where the money from healing should go*
«* 106 •
HAL
Kew
don’t get that ideal
mac
You know that* a what Hev* Porter said*
Money from faith
goes to charity and gives people hope*
Hope, faith and charity*
mt
Yah?
Ernestine
A smart boy, this Porter*
ESTHER
What about this Adeline?
MAC
Oh,
ahefe a swell kid*
ESTHER
1 know, but what about-**
HAL
She*8 blind*
MAC
Oh, not now*
She’s the one that *s cured*
That Saint Louie did*
That Louie—
I think we all ought to call him that*
ERNESTINE
So she was the pilgrim who was out here?
HAL
Oh, that *s who those were!
LOTJIE
(His faith wavering*}
You don’t mean—
(As he gets up*)
107 -
ESTHER
Somebody is having a lot of fun with you* Louie*
LOTTIE
(Trying to be resolute*)
Wives end kin are the last to believe*
ae*
X want to meditate*
Please don»t disturb
I am going for a walk--to meditate*
ESTHER
I’ll go along*
LOTTIE
Please no*
Ay want to be~in solitude*
(Mumbling* )
Hie singer**^-*-*
(Goes*)
ESTHER
What ean we do to get him out of this crazy notion?
He’s
being made the butt of a practical joke*
MAC
On no* Esther*
It*a real*
HAL
Was this Adeline blind?
MAC
I know she was*
her a lot*
She oouldnlt see anything*
And now she can see*
People sure were impressed
when She came out— *cured~and sang*
ever* And a lot of ©onverts
Ifve talked to
She sang better than
came forward because of her
faith*
SKHSSTIftE
Itest suppose there might be something to this*
m
X08
2
m
HAL
dh, lt*e getting you down now, id it?
ESTHER
B©n*t bo silly, Ernestine*
Ho eanU go on being lik© this*
Sleeping out here in this old hard hog house*
Eating
practically nothing*
MAC
Doss h© sloop out hero?
ESTHER
Yes*
MAC
(Looking in*)
Goo— there isntt men any bed#
Why don11 you put a mattress
in for him?
HAL
I suppose Ifm going to have to find some place else for the
©Id sow#
MAC
There are more people coming out to see**— -Saint Louie#
ESTHER
What?
MAC
I suggested that Rev* Porter might bring a carload of poor
people here—^people Who didn’t have any other way*
And
there were ones at the meeting that wanted to come--and so
finally he said he would— *when there wasn’t anybody else#
HAL
When are they coming?
m
269
«* Jl09 *
mo
I donft know*
Sometime today, I guess*
ESTHER
Oh dearI
HAL
This ought to bring things to a head*
MAC
1 think there ought to be some blankets or something put
in there*
(MAC starts up steps to house*)
HAL
Your attitude vacillates, doesnvt It, Mac?
MAC
I don*t know what youfre talking about*
(Glances behind himaelf-~op©nlng door*)
Lon1! try to be mart I
(Goes in*)
ESTHER
This is going to be terrible If a whole raft of people do
come out here*
HAL
We may see wonders worked— you know that, Esther?
ESTHER
■I hope something happens to knock some sense Into Louie1s
head*
Oh, why— *Oh I don11 know I
ERNESTINE
he you know what this looks like to me?
2 6 0
ESTHER
It1a somebody *a idea of a Joke#
And Louie isn’t ever going
to be able to live It down*
KHWEBTXKS
Porter la at the bottom of this, 1*11 bet you*
ESTHER
But why*«*»
HAL
That Mr a* Preston va$ comin back and didn’t * You know what?
1*11 bet my laat cow Porter talked her out of it*
ERHE3TXBB
And sent hie pals instead*
HAL
Wonder If he#a got aiy more pal a?
ESTHER
Bat even if that’s ao«*~how did he know Louie would turn
into this*
HAL
That*a something to think about*
(MAC returns with blanket of bright hue*
Starting for the hog house, he trips
down the steps*}
ESTHER
Louie isn*t usually this gullible*
HAL
We all fall some*
ESTHER
Wet quite this hard*
2
6
- Ill *
(HATCHER, M s Ireland his hair--bristling,
e m « » in flashing s newspaper*)
HATCHER
What’s tlilsf
What’s this stuff in the paper?
Plastered ail
over the front page!
HAL
What?
ERNESTINE
What are you talking about, Father?
HATCHER
Why are you putting that thing In the hog house, McKinley?
MAC
FOr Saint Louie to lay on*
HATCHER
Who?
(LOUIE oomes back*)
Oh, there you are I
MAC
(To LOUIE*}
tfm making a bed for you, Saint Louie*
HATCHER
Saint Louie*
Thought It was a hog you were talking about*
LOUIE
Hey look— what are you doing there?
MAC
I say I’m making you a bed, Saint Louis*
LOUIE
That is a eamtuary<*~so get out of it*
Thou contamln&teth it*
1
- 118 MAC
Oh— well— I
sorry— really 1
(Goss to porch*)
HATCHER
(Having circled the hog house#)
Sanctuary I
It1# just a plain hog house to me#
Have you
gone ©raay?
LOUIE
Art thou apeak ing to me?
HATGHEE
cfost what ere you up to?
What la all this stuff In the paper?
About you healing the sick and the maimed?
LOUIE
What doth it say?
HATCHER
That you gave somebody her eyesight and a lot of other
poppyeoekl
MAC
0h# he didt
HATCHER
What do you mean~~he did?
Be*s no doctor#
MAC
He*a a faith healer*
HATCHER
(TO LOUIE#)
What are you trying to do-^xaake jackasses out of my family?
LOUIE
We*
The province of a father Is sacred*
~ 115 ERNESTINE
It* a something to have admit It is your family*
HATCHEH
A bunch of lu»atles«*~if you believe this stuff # Whose idea
was this?
Looks to me like you*re headin straight for jail.
LOUIE
At least we might be free of thy company#
you, Hatcher?
Go on away will
I want to meditate#
HAL
X thought you just got back from meditating#
LOUIE
Ye persons of prolix! ty-*«*yc are disturbing my peace of mind#
HATCHER
The rest of you believe this?
HAL
Sell# 1 tell you# Hatcher «•*•*•*#*»»«*
MAO
Of course*
sight#
Because it* a true#
He gave Adeline back her
Saint Louie did#
HATCHER
Quit calling him that*
It*a saereliglousl
MAC
Sew# Borter cMlle him that#
HATCHER
Sew listen to me# t don*t know just what the scheme Is or
how you work itj but X do know it*s crooked and you*re try**
lag to dupe the community to get come easy money#
If you
SM*t call a halt right now# 1*11 see that one is called#
264
* 114 *
LOUIE
Look* Batcher* you talketh through your hat*
You think
everything is crooked that you underatandth not*
There is
plenty of crookedness around* hut not that much*
ESTHER
Hey he Louie la getting back to nomall
ERNESTINE
It sounds more natural*
HATCHER
Well* X*m telling you!
LOUIE
Yesterday* a women who was blind came here and when she
left she could see#
(Imitates action of ABELIKE*s exit*)
HATCHER
Oh* she could!
LOUIE
Of course she co ld*
Ask any of them*
MAC
0h# she could all right*
But 1 don't like quarrels so I'm
going out back of the henhouse and shoot at my target*
HAL
Take it easy*
BATCHER
All right~**but go on and keep still*
MAC
M i l me If any pilgrims come*
X want to see it*
066
<*■'11©
BAX
Okay#
(MAC and his gun go out#)
HATCHER
(To LOTJUS* )
What did you do to this woman that couldn*t see?
LOTJIS
1 got her to believe that my saying ah© was cured would make
her see#
She came#
She had faith#
She saw#
HATCHER
And how much did you get out of It?
LOUIE
A self confidence and a faith I never had before#
HATCHER
Ho#
I mean how much money#
What did you charge her?
LOTTIE
X charged her nothing#
HATCHER
What?
This aaya-~(But HAL has the paper*)
LOTJXB
There Is no ulterior motive her®# Mr# Hatcher#
Any gifts
that we may receive shall be turned over to charity*
HATCHER
Hsed her for free advertising I suppose*
I can see you
turning money over to charifcy~~unless itfs an outfit that
tells complckerst
266
- 116 *
louie
Tour Insults now affecteth me not, Mr* Hatcher*
I am immune
to them*
HATCHER
If youfre such a wonderful faith healer, why ia it just now
coming to the front?
LOUIS
The time was not rips until yesterday*
Mysterious are the
workings such wonders to perform*
HATCHER
Coming from you, that*a nothing short of blasphemy*
LOTTIE
Will you leave me alone?
I see that pilgrims approacheth
and X must cloister myself in this sanctuary*
(He draws back, gets on hand® and knees
and take® a run for the hog house*)
HATCHER
Are the rest of you In this, too?
I can tell you— if it
keeps on, the law is going to be called in*
I won*t stand
for quackery on my place*
SRHBarXHS
Benft get In a stew, father*
W e 1 11 get the matter all ironed
out*
HATCHER
Well, I mean It I
(Coes toward pump with cup then realises
his error and heads Into the house*)
867
• 117 «*
BEHEST INI
#aat look over the paper, Esther*
Every other word is
Porter*
HAL
“Rev* Porter diseovers faith healer*11
ERNESTINK
“Porter convinces him to use his power for the good of
humanity*
Porter1a singer, Hiss Adeline, Is healed first*11
HAL
Knowing Porter there*s a lot between those linos, too*
“Income from healing all to be used for charity***
I think
you were right, Ernie*
ESTHER
But can we prove it?
Can we convince Louie?
Talk to him,
Hal*
ERNESTINE
Say*-there* s a car stopping here*
(HATCHER comes back on porch*}
ESTHER
test?
ERNESTINE
There are two ears of people*
ESTHER
People are coming and you didn*t get to talk to Louie, Hal*
HAL
Wefll see what happens*
2
* ue
HATCHER
Who are those people?
ERHBSTISB
Pilgrims* 1 suspect*
HATCHER
You sound as ©raay as the rest, Ernestine*
HAL
(With paper at hog house*)
Pilgrims are approaching, I think*
LOUIE
X am ready*
HAL
You might look at this paper a little between times, too*
And meditate over it*
(Shoves paper inside*)
EKKE3TXUE
Hal, Rex Is with them*
HAL
Fine!
We shall see what we shall see*
Stick around, Hatcher#
HATCHER
1 % going to— and if necessary call the sheriff*
ERNESTINE
Walt a little while first#
We c m ft stand too much commotion
all at once*
HAL
You folks better go on up on the porch--for box seats*
(They do— HATCHER reluctantly#)
m
269
«* 119 «*
ESTHER
This la awfult
HATCHER
It1a saerelsgei
(PORTER, ADELINE, as an old woman# DONALD#
disguised as an old bearded man on
crutches* JERKY and BILL# news cameramen*
and several other people troop In#}
PORTER
(To M U )
Good day#
HAL
Good morning#
PORTER
We have come as wayfarers hoping for aid from Saint Louie#
Is that hi
HAL
That Is hie#
D* you want to be healed?
POKTEK
le?
No-*-*I*m all right*
It Is this poor old man here*
DONALD
(As old man#)
Yes#
JERRY
Get set now# Bill#
1*11 get over here*
This aln*t everyday stuff*
Get a real shot*
Would you people spread out a
little to make it look like more*
2?0
** x b o —
BILL
All right, Jerry#
Whereas the saint?
JERKY
(Pointing to HAL •)
This one?
HATCHER
fho are you fellows?
Who invited pictures takers on my
place?
HAL
It lsn*t your place now, Hatcher*
HATCHER
The same as*
I don11 want photo-graphers around*
HAL
1 % not sure 1 do either*
But you *re not orderin anybody
Sff our place*
BILL
(To JERKY *)
Family trouble*
Local color*
Good?
JERKY
Swell!
Saint quarrels with father-in-law*
HAL
You just sit back easy, Hatcher, watch the proceedlna and
don*t Interfere*
HATCHER
the not going to have this foolishness publicised all over
the country!
(Flash as picture is take^*)
Hist was that?
Bid you fellows—
get that camera I
£?1
*» 181 *
HAL
Y W guy* better beat It#
HAT CHE B
1*11 a** the editor#
HAL
(Approaching hog house*
Camera* close by*)
There are amongst u«f 0 Saint Louie, newshawks— gentle—
no— men of the press whose lights flasheth*
Wouldst thou
that they be sent away?
LOUIE
Shat manner of men art they?
HAL
intruders near thy sanctuary, defiling this holy ground*
LOUIE
Let them retreat I Let them stand far
off*
forest not, then, let them stand by watching*
If they interBut if they
shouldst Intrude more, verily, let them be cast out bodily*
JEER*
That must be the saint there in the—
BILL
Wonder how big he is?
HAL
Tou fellows get that?
Back up I
HATCHER
Ran them off the place#
HAL
Alieneet
jonny*
272
~
1 2 2
(HATCHER is back on porch*
HAL to
CAMBRAKEH#)
Back you#
BILL
We vant to get this*
HAL
Y o u 111 get this in a minute*
(His flat*)
JERRY
We can get it from there. Bill*
This okay?
HAL
But donft come any closer*
HATCHER
This Is sacrellgious*
Blasphemous*
ERNESTINE
Quiet, father*
HAL
Let there he silence*
What is your ailment, pilgrim?
ADELINE
(Low as she nudges DONALD*)
Make it convincing*
DONALD
Huh?
(Then as old man*)
0h«**my leg has grown stiff until I cannot walk*
this miracle man fro® the good Rev* Porter*
Come, believing*
I heard of
And I have
For years I have been able to walk only
Slightly and that with the aid of crutches*
873
125 MRS* FRESTGN
(Aft she comes In pushing LYDIA In
wheel chair#)
Here we are, Lydia#
But we *11 have to wait It looks like#
How do you do. Rev* Porter!
PORTER
(Taken back#)
Why— how do you do*
(Low to ADEL HIE •)
Look, Addle*
There’s one thsfc *s really alck*
I thought I
got her to stay away for a while«
ADELINE
Stick around for the fun*
HAL
£At hog house* )
There is a pilgrim at thy gate, 0 Saint Louie*
He hath an
affliction in the leg and cannot walk*
LOUIE
Let him approach, 0 Servant Hal*
Let him draw nigh*
HAL
Come on up here*
He drawth nigh*
He is nigh unto thy
sanctuary, 0 Saint*
LOUIE
Thou ha«t done well*
AffHeated pilgrim, thou who standeth
nigh unto my sanctuary, believe and thou shalt be made whole •
DONALD
1 believe*
274
- 124 '•*
LOTTIE
Have faltb and thou shalt wi|lk again *
DONALD
I have a great faith*
louib
Soon, aa thou art now beginning to feel in thy pedal members,
thou Shalt frisk again in the fields, even as the little
lambs frisk-*-or the young calves— or the piggies—
Thou
rihalt be free of they crutches even as tha wind is free*
Thou—
DONALD
(Suddenly drops crutches and grabs his
head*)
Ouch— Jeesl
(Straightens in surprise*)
What the de— —
LOUIE
Feelest thou the work of thy faith, 0 pilgrim?
DONALD
You da—
Yea verily i
Like unto a dart from heaven*
crutches are cast off and my legs are whole*
I an free!
I can walk I Halloluial
My
I am freet
Halleluial
{DONALD goes into a jig and HAL steps
up to tell LOU IB all Is well*
agog.)
PORTBH
Friases be to Saint Louie*
ALL are
276
- 125 ~
ADELINE
Praise him evermore#
MRS* PRESTON
Wonderful*
Wonderful*
Did you see that, Lydia?
1 meiapi
1 wish you could have*
LIDIA
My faith Is strong*
HATCHER
Well, If that don’t beat the card**
Just like something
hit him*
(Buss of amazement with ’'Marvelous*1
"miraculousn "Did you ever?" "Coah~*«**
etc#)
BILL
Jeez, Jerry, you see that?
JERRY
Yeh**-get a picture?
BILL
No#
It took me by surprise*
JERRY
The boss is sure goln to like this*
We got to get that
Saint before we get out of here#
BILL
I never seen anything like It*
MRS* PRESTON
(Creeping up to HAL#)
He* Brady-*~I have brought my slater#
276
m
1
2
6
<*
BILL
Reyf *Terryt tharm’s another one!
We*ll get this!
HAL
Hew do you do# 14rs« Preston*
MRS. PHE3T0I!
We have a great faith In Mr*—
in the saint*
EHHESTBJE
We know this one lsnft phoney*
(HAL helps pash wheel chair around*
LOU IB Is reading paper Inside door of
hog house*)
FOOTER
My Joy Is boundless to see you whole again* brother*
30HALD
It*a wonderful!
It1s wonderful!
FOOTER
CLow—*chuckling# )
Lipman is really In earnest about thlat Ian*t he I
DONALD
Ton*re telling me?
(As he m b s hi a head*}
FOOTER
May be we better leave before the crash*
This is an Invalid*
DONALD
Bon*t laugh— but you know--1 got my doubts about tils guy
fakln*
X got a hell of a pop on the head from that cure*
mean actual pain*
I
* 127 *
PORTER
A pain where— in the leg?
DONALD
H o ^ o n th# head#
There9# av#n & little welt there*
ADELINE
Might have been a feird# Donald*
HAL
(At hog hone#*)
May we have it *llent?**— There i« a eecond pilgrim at thy
gate* 0 Saint Louie*
LYDIA
1*31 so excited*
I just know 1*11 come out of this well*
HAL
(Getting no response he step# closer to
hog house*)
lhat9s the matter?
D o n H you hear well?
LOUIE
Huh?
(Puts down p a p e r - r a t t i a d * )
Ver Ily— what Is it#
0 servant Hal?
HAL
A second pilgrim is at thy gate*
LOUIE
What alls— yeaf what aileth the pilgrim?
HAL
It 1th—
(Decides to go on*)
877
878
m 108 **
It lth thy neighbor *0 sister, Lydia P— ~Your name Isn’t
Preston, is It?
LYDIA
On no*
It’s Colman*
LOUIS
Let her come nea— lg£h*
HAL
Her ©hair is beside thy sanctuary*
LOUIE
Lydia, sister in faith, to the© I need say little*
faith Is boundless*
Thy
Let there be silence— and sfoen it Is
broken thou shalt see and ©halt walk free of pain and
ineumb©rence*
Let there be r11 once#
(Silence*
A [email protected] hits the hog house*
Then another*)
Who ©lleketh on ay sanctuary?
HAL
Wo one clleketh on thy sanctuary, 0 Saiht*
LOUIE
(Mattering*)
I thought I heard something#
(Than quickly*)
Then let alienee reign until the pilgrim is moved to rise*
Silence*
(Silence*
LYDIA seems to have a sharp
pain in her arm*)
LYDIA
Oh— s twitch In my arm*
The call*
X felt the call in my arm—
270
**■ 189
Ilk# a pin prick from heaven*
(Slowly ah© begin® to rise from her
chair*)
ESTHER
look, Ernestine I
(Flash aa another picture la taken*}
LYDIA
Oht
(She fall® back in the chair—*but her
©yea are open and she la looking about*}
What was that?
(She rise# again*
Another bee-bee pope
her*}
Cueh*
Ifm getting up* 0 Saint--you don*t have to prod me
on mymore*
MRS* PRESTON
Lydial You are standing!
You haven91 done that for years*
(Runs to her*}
LYDIA
I
abb*
I can see, too*
I believe I can walk*
(Takes a few halting steps with MRS*
PRESTON fs help.)
I feel a little wobbly*
But I can seel
My legs are kind of weak*
PORTER
(To ADELINE.)
So are mine*
Oh, joy, I can seel
280
LYDIA;
The call.
I felt the call In ay arm —
pin prick from heaven.
like a
- 181
ADBLIHE
B«r«y too*
(LOUIE palls door around and crawls out
far enough to poor through knothole at
goings on.)
LYDIA
You kaow~~Just as t moved a sharp pain hit me In the arm*
Juat like I*d bean struck,
them 1 was all right*
tad than a flash of light,
tad
0h# Isn't It vonderfulf
(General amassment*
HAL stops to say
something to LOUIE and pulls door expos­
ing him to the photographers#)
Get it* Bill--~the salntl
BILL
(Flash,)
Oat it, JTerry*
Let's go,
LOUIE
Hey I
(As he ducks back In,)
JTEKBY
(As he passes PORTER.)
thanks for the tip* Reverend,
this Is something#
PORTfH
Don't mention it,
(BILL and JTBHRY go,)
ADELINE
that does this make us?
Real scoop,
282
• X5£
pom m
X guess ltfa time to move on#
ADELINE
I*d like to got a bettor look at him*
DONALD
So would X#
PORTER
Not much to look at*
HAL
Anyone else In need of heal lug today?
(No answer*—only buzz of people*)
HATCHER
(To girls*)
Never saw anything like it*
ERNESTINE
Neither did I*
ESTHER
May be It wasn’t a practical joke after all*
MRS* PRESTON
(To HAL*)
I wonder***do you suppose we could—
Lydia wants to if she isay*
see***Mr* Llpm&n?
She’s so happy*
ADELINE
(Stepping up*)
I’d like to see him, too*
DONALD
Ask M m to come out that we may see this worker of wonders*
* iaa «*
HAL
1*11 ask him*
(Approaches hog house*)
Louie, some of the folk® would like to see you*
How ahout
it?
LOTTIE
Hay* Tell them I must meditate*
HAL
Still? Can I get you some boiled milk or something?
LOUIE
I ean see no one today*
(Low to HAL*)
Ask me again*
HAL
Wouldst thou but grace us with thy beaming countInenee,
0 SaintI
LOUIE
Sith thou insistethi
(He begins to crawl out*
All are a-atir
and press In around the sanctuary* )
PILGRIMS et al
The saintt
He Is coming out*
The worker of won&wBm
He shall see him*
Etc ,
HAL
Stand back, folks, and give him room*
*• 134
284
**
(LOUIE stands up before the sanctuary*
Those who have not seen him before are
dumbfounded#
They shy away, amazed*)
LOUIE
(Wiping brow*)
The sunbeams penetrateth the sanctuary*
LYDIA
I— I didn’t think he would be like this#
m S * FRESTQH
Hsy«w»he l«n,t hardly dressed*
(HIS appearance really floors PORTER
& CO*)
DOHALD
Heyl
ADELINE
Reverend, you’re trebling*
PORTER
I suppose you’re not*
(All are too amazed to say more*
Thai-*-)
LYDIA
(Timidly*)
Mr* Brady*-**would it be all right to speak right to him***
to thank M m ?
MRS* PRESTON
He loo£s Just like a saint I May be you’d better not*
LYDIA
W#il-*-oh-*~and do you suppose he would take any pay?
080
135
*»
HAL
Bay?
LOUIB
For c h a r l o r charity al one«
(Ha picks up his eating trough and holds
it 11)
HAL
(Geta the idea#)
Now— folks, Just in ease there is any one who wishes to
leave a donation to further this good work, you may file
past the Saint and leave it in the kit.ty--*a~-~-the offering
platter*
PILGKXM et al
Oh, let1a*
Oh, surely#
By all means#
Absolutely*
Btc#
(They take out purses etc# and then file
by, one or two daring to make bold to
touch him*
One even starts to sneak a
slice off the aanetuary^-but sees LOUIE
watching him and leaves without his
souvenir#)
DONALD
Makin a racket out of it, huh?
P0BTEB
Looks like we may be started something that may not net us much*
m
X53 **
LOUIE
(Smells something Is in the air*)
Rev* Porter hath left word that If any of thy friends wish to
make pilgrimages here within the next few days, arrangements
have been made to transport them In hi a car*
DONALD
(Low*)
Get that?
Transport his pilgrims In your carl
ADELINE
Ihat do you call it-*-the Mayflower?
HAL
Is that not right. Rev* Porter?
PORTER
What?— Oh yes— yes**-certainly— anyone* See me at the
revival meet in*
HAL
Those Interested may see Rev* Porter in town and he will see
they are called for and delivered*
(Particularly to MRS* PRESTON *J
Will you please pass that word around?
HATCHER
(Stepping forward*)
When I’m wrong, I*m willing to admit it*
(Deposits a dime in the platter*)
LOU IB
Believe#
HATCHER
(teed toy #
Thanks#
So long
{HATCHER goes*}
MRS# PRESTON
Wall, v e M bettor bo gutting back soon, Lydia#
HAL
Liston, Louie, O Saint, X hast a sore jaw#
LOUIE
Want eat thou me to cure It?
Come here*
Thou must have faith#
HAL
All right*
(A bee-bee hits him*)
Cheesi
LOUIE
that troubleth you?
HAL
that did you do to me?
LOUIE
Keep thy distance#
X had scarcely begun#
HAL
Something hit me In the jaw#
LOUIE
A little round red spot beameth on thy cheek#
Thou are
affected by faith!
(The hiccoughs overtake LOUIE#
troubled*
They continue*)
Let there {hie)-»-Let there be silence!
LOUIE Is
BBS
«* 13S
**
{A bee-bee gat® LOUIE In the head#
He
look® about*)
OUCHt
(The hiccough® have left him*)
They are gone!
MRS* PRESTON
He cured himself*
LYDIA
Amaaing*
MBS* PRESTOS
Perhaps we ought to go*
(Get a bee-bee*)
Ow-~Saint, that*® nice of you**~but there lsn*t anything much
the matter with me* but-**well, we111 see you again In a few
days#
ERNESTINE
I'm sure that will be fine*
(To LYDIA.)
It's grand to see you walk again*
LYDIA
I'm not used to it yet— -but I will be in time, I guess,
bless him*
And £ can seel
MRS* PRESTON
That little gift we left doesn't tell you at all how grate­
ful we are*
Shall we go, Lydia?
You'd better ride to the
ear*
(The PORTER group have suspected bees*)
289
* i m <*
LYDIA
(Climbing Into chair•)
All ri|^t*****0h, I can get in*
I111 reel so free now*
ERNEST IKE
Come and see us#
ESTHER
Yes*
Do*
MRS* PRESTON
J
Yes, and you folks come over*
(They go*
XOtrXE stands and PORTER
approaches him*}
POETEH
It was a wonderful exhibition*
me baffled*
X donft mind admitting it has
I hope your charities thrive*
to see the work you do-**for whom#
I will be interested
Accidents have happened,
you know, where a charity appeared like a false front for a
personal enterpr 1ae— and so lias caused a good deal of trouble
with the law*
I only mention it so you can be on your guard*
It*a sort of like practicing medicine without a license, and
has occasionally drawn something of a fine as well as a
jail sentence*
LQ:
UIE
Thou needst have no fear or worries for us#
PORTER
Oh, I wouldnft want you to think X was suggesting that there
is any possible fake here#
It makes me very happy to realize
that here-*-.in this day of fakes and frauds— -in something
290
** 140 where it la not the duty of an honest cltl&en to report to
the authorities*
LOUIE
fhou heat a noble spirit*
(Gets a real bee-bee bump In the back of
the neck*}
FOOTER
tyh&t troubleth you?
LOUIE
(Looks toward henhou a©— suspecting—
nay convinced*)
With*-naught#
(Bites tongue at error*)
HAL
(Aside with the girls*)
May be there Is something in addition to Faith*
Is It bees?
Ail these pilgrims have been gettto pops like this*
[email protected]
jump and then they was cured*
ERWB8PXKB
Parts and pin pricks From Heaven 1
ESTHER
Some surprise or shock For everyone of them!
The bucket—
the flashlight— the bes*beet
(POETEE is eyeing LOUIE with a big grin*
A window light to the house crashes out*)
FOOTER
Is It possible that some of the calls are going astray?
- 141 *
(Laughs and starts across to DOHALD and
ADKLIHE to go out as MAC comes In with
bee-be© gun*
DOHALD has his whiskers
off*)
MAC
Bid I break something?
(The laughter of PORTER & CO* as they
disappear*
LOUIE eyeing MAC*}
LOTJIE
How you could miss that h©nho\*sa regular aa clockwork!
{MAC dashes off with LOUIE after him*}
•*«* Curtain
mi
222
142 -
*Sftlnt Louiew
Second Movement
Part three*
4ft or supper a
A full moon shines*
(So does a full stomach#)
LOUIB, normal again, sits downoast on the steps holding a
letter*
HAL comes in with a
couple of buckets of milk fresh
from the cove*
HAL
I left one cow for you to milk, Louie*
LOUIE
Don*t Imagine Ifd be Interested*
HAL
Hof
LOUIE
I never feel free to get that familiar--even with a cow*
HAL
You ought to learn to milk#
Supposing I break an arm some­
time*
LOUIE
Supposing you do*
seme time*
You probably wonft break them both at the
Ho, Hal, I take ear© of the hogs— you take
ear© of the cows*
I like It*
it* Even the hogs like it*
You like it*
The cows like
Everybody1® happy*
■** 148
2
m
m
HAL
Hie® to see you so cheerful****again*
tOtfXE
Yesh?
{HAL goes Into mllkshed#
LOUIE lights a
cigar4 ESTHER cornea out and sits by him*}
ESTHER
Pretty tonight$ isn#t it?
LOUIS
Hot bad*
ESTHER
Fall moon*
LOUIE
Yeah# But even It looks like Itfs got a smirk on It*a face
for me#
ESTHER
It hasn *t, though •
LOUIE
1 suppose not#
Only it wouldn#t surprise me much#
ESTHER
You beat Porter at his own game*
LOUIE
(Looks at letter#)
Lid I?
I*m not sure*
ESTHER
Of course you did*
294;
«•* 144 -*
eruestihe
(Comes out and sits on porch#)
lhatfs the matter, eour puss?
A square meal disagree with
you?
LOUIE
Whe meal was all right*
But Ifm having trouble digesting
some of the remarks*
ERNESTINE
Se#s better, Esther*
BOTHER
He’s fine*
I'm proud of him*
LOUIE
You're a loving and loyal wife. Bather, hon— only X don't
know how you do it*
EKKKSTIHB
You're all right, Louie*
We all make mistakes*
LOUIE
Let's talk about Asia or Africa or something*
ErmssTiwE
Well-*-there are the grand llamas of Asia and the witch doctors
In Africa*
(HAL comes out*)
LOU IB
Hay be we better not talk at all.
HAL
&*St sit and meditate, huh?
Go on** rasa me*
LOUIS
X got it coming*
And that Porteri
Hires
a special messenger to bring this out to mat
HAL
mat?
LOUIE
This!
(Hands HAL latter*)
HAL
{Heading»)
"Saint Louie, hare's a hand for you;
Tremendous are the works you do--from your old pal,
Rex Porter— P* 3*
Be seeing you soon***
BOTHER
What?
(HAL gives her letter*)
HAL
I tell you, Louie, in all seriousness, we're missing
swell bet on this*
LOUIE
On what ?
HAL
This faith healing racket*
LOUIE
Oh nsi
BOTHER
Hex has to have his fun*
(Passes letter to ERHESTIUE*)
HAL
It Isn't all over yet* I'm telling you*
• 146
8 9 $
LOUIE
Then we'd probably do bettsr In another oonmunlty.
HAL
Huta.
Everybody thinks joa'r® good no*.
aood to faith heal.
That's all you
Other people's confidence.
LOUIE
And little Mae to sheet bee-bees at the patients.
ERNESTINE
At th»—
pilgrims, Louis.
HAL
we oould arrange that.
LOUIE
I'm not interested.
ESTHER
And X'n all with Louie.
LOUIE
Aphrodite and her pigs are going to need that hog house.
HAL
If that's all that's standing In the way. I'll help you
build another one.
LOUIE
We use argnln, Hal.
HAL
What you get against the business.
LOUIE
In the first plaoe it isn't a business.
eents and four buttons In the collection,
One dollar and nine
ibid the buttons
8®7
■- 1 4 ?
M m ' t «wa all iiu*.
HAL
Coll.otton.l
Oh*rg«.
Have a prloe.
Hake It a bueineee.
ESTHER
It len't really hone at.
HAL
thy Isa1t it?
People ore oured.
ERNJ5STINS
Per ecu.
HAL
They so away healed.
It eaxi he run-~no cure, no pay.
don*i get the moneyf somebody else will.
made these people well.
If we
Louie actually
That1s more than some others can
say a
LOUIE
May he.
It was hoax from he sinning to end.
’The patients
were fakes*
HAL
Mrs. Prestonfs sister?
Oh no.
No fake there.
ESTHER
Faith and a stimulus.
Just as Poe Stiles says.
Often
happens.
LOUIE
dust pure luck*
Wouldnft ever happen again.
HAL
It isn't so hard to plan things out.
alone.
But 1 can*t do it
I d o n H get shy you*re so down anyway, Louie.
LOUIE
X fell for a hoax*
X swallowed it-
X wont off my nut.
HAL
Y eh— but you succeeded*
LOUIE
Onoel
for me.
But I'm rational now*"*If ever—
and no more of it
Oome on, Esther, let's go to bed.
ESTHER
Would you like to take a little walk?
LOUIE
Well— all right.
I donlt care what we do.
(TELEPHONE Inside— three shorts and t
long.)
ERNESTINE
1*11 get It.
ESTHER
Let* s see what It Is* Louie.
(They come down from porch.)
HAL
Bright out tonight.
LOUIE
You mean— nature?
ESTHER
1 think lt#s grand to be out.
LOUIE
(Looking at hog house.)
«* 3.49
HAL
the moonbeams frlsketh on-*— Aphrodite* s house.)
(They only look at HAL*}
What some gum?
it's spearmint.
LOUIE
[email protected] thanks*
(ERNESTINE returns.)
ESTHER
What was it# Ernie?
ERNESTINE
Well, X kind of hate to say*
LOUIE
Somebody wanting to buy the place— *X suppose not *
ERNESTINE
No.
You see there is a group coming out tomorrow bo be
healed*
LOUIE
Oh no I
ERNESTINE
You try to stop them*
HAL
X told you you couldn’t quit.
LOUIE
Let them come out and I'll tell them a few things*
ERNESTINE
It was father calling*
He9s bringing them*
*
299
300
«* U Q •
KAL
fhat?
LOUIE
Oh domft tall me!
HAL
Louie, that*« eelloeal*
Hateher la on our aide now*
Xou
woul&n*1 want to cross him*
LOUIE
0 h t you d o n H think so*
ESTHER
He might give as the rest of the land*
HAL
Nobody hut us right here knows you was taken in on this
hoax, Louie-
And I ’m not even sure of It myself*
Xou know
I fd think It would hurt your pride to admit that Rex Porter
got the hast of you*
LOUIE
Shat do you meam~-R*x got the best of met
ERNESTINE
Blda11 you say so?
HAL
Been sayln It In every look all evening*
ESTHER
How* Louiet eh -*ah»—
LOUIE
Bon* t worry, E ether t l*m not go In off my nut again*
But
301
- 191 *
*hat happened onoe oan he made to happen again.
HAL
Sore*
LOUIS
1*11 shoe that Porter who gets the beet of nhoi
Sou girle
be thlnhln up some deooratlons for around here,
Come on,
help me get Aphrodite out of that shed.
w e anoopln around so Z shut her up.
soole!
HAL
The eanotu&ry* s for Saint Loulel
Curtain —
She got out and
Aphrodite, eoolei
3Q 2
XBU -
*Saint Louie*
Tjtyirft S(tQTeiaqtn%
By now a hot dog stand with tie
signs and prices has boon erected,
there Is a poster offering
special healing prices in club
lots, etc*
there Is a big
sign beneath the porch roof
reading:
"Home of Saint Louie—
Bo cure; no pay11 and the legend
(which apparently It la not)
•Payable to cashier after heal­
ing; deposit required**
on the hog house says:
A sign
*Holy—
Bo not touch.• A row of penants
are tied from the corner porch
post to a tree out of sight.
The
swing Is pulled up out
of the way.
A sort of *throne*
chair Is by the hog house.
ESTHER and ERNESTINE are in the
stand patting out hamburgers or
doing something of the sort.
ESTHER
When Is Porter leaidng town?
ERNESTINE
H e ’s stayed an extra week now.
903
163 ESTHER
I'll feel tatter ehen he gets oat of thia part of the country.
ERNESTINE
Xt keeps you on edge.
(KAO eoaee in with balloons.)
ESTHER
How what are thoee, Moot
HAG
Balloons.
ERHE3TINE
There a clrous in town?
MAO
Ho, X got these at the revival meeting.
See, they float.
eolleotlon.
They're gas filled.
Rev. Porter usee them to take up the
Ton tie on your collection to the string and
then It goes op to the celling.
have to tie on a bill.
The only trouble la— you
Coins won't work.
ERNESTINE
That's one method of Inflating the oolleetion.
MAC
Ton don't Inflate It.
Ton Inflate the balloons.
ESTHER
What are you going to do with them?
MAO
X let one loose and then shoot at it— like clay pigeons.
Only several got away before X oould hit them.
ERNESTINE
Then you ought to have then like homing pigeons.
S04
1M MAC
I111 show you how X do it*
You put those others In the
stand| hut don't let then get away*
(He lets one loose*
Xt goes up out
of sight*)
Aw phooey. It's sought under that limb*)
(he fires and there is a pop of the
bursting balloon as HAL oomes out of
the house dressed in a long robe, high
necked and buttoning clear down to
the ankles*
The design on the robe
resembles a barber pole— broad red
stripes on a background of pale yellow
swirling In a spiral up around the
robe*
The stripes on the sleeves are
blue— good wide stripes— all of them*
The turban follows this latter color
scheme*)
X hit it!
X hit it I
(HAL only looks at the balloons*)
HAL
Gettln better, huh?
MAC
Give me them*
X *11 take them out where there aren't any
trees*
HAL
You better not let Louie ketch you around here*
Phooey!
HAL
(Surveys the layout of signs and all*
Than begins to sing to "Direr the bound**
tng main11*)
Healing, healing, all of the sick and maimed;
(LOUIE* e voice from the inside of the
house chimes in,)
Per ever a blessing shall be found for all of the halt and
lamed*
(LOUIE comes out on the porch.
He is
in a filmy pink— oould it be a negligee
of ESTHER1et
His trousers are visible
through this gown but he haq removed
his outer shirt,
Fastened to the bach
of the gown is a flowing gossamer
scarf the ends of which are secured
to his wrists*
Hhen he raises his
arms and spreads these "wings'1 he makes
the angels jealous*
But he hasn't
left behind either his cigar or his
faded derby*
LOUIE spreads these "wings" and HAL
salutes with a low scraping bow.)
LOUIE
Hal you heard anything ab ut Porter today?
306
iNjtfT'
<cntb?c
'D IV IN E
^OT DOGS'
\0*
LOUIE?
For ever a blessing shall be found for all of
the halt and lame do
307
- 18? HAL
% been keepin my weather eye peeled#
ESTHER
Ion think he*d dare to try and have you arrested?
ERNESTINE
i m
feet he*» afraid to.
HAL
He* a got some trick to spring*
the draw.
But we got to beat him to
The question is how?
ESTHER
Tea— that** it*
How?~~When we don*t know what hefs planning.
L00XE
I got a hunch*^-but It may not be any good.
to see Porter today.
I sort of look
(To the girls.)
When1s your old man eomln around again?
ERNESTINE
I don*t know, but Vac was just here.
LOUIE
Then P. C. must not be far away.
HAL
What Is this mental hurricane?
LOUIE
I sort of figure that Porter may just be waiting for some
slip he can catch us
pretty sure we»re being
watched a good deal~~among the pilgrims.
When he gets
something, he* IX have us arrested— -or try to.
HAL
'I got no doubt of that.
308
- 158 -
ESTHER
Anything like that might ruin the trad#.
LOUIE
We gat to get Porter fir it*
HAL
There’s nothin new you’ve said so far.
LOUIE
I was coalit to that— Oh, here comes P. 0.
HAL
Where does he flgger in?
HATCHER
(Coming in.)
Wood morning!
Oood morula!
ESTHER A ERNESTINE
Hello, Father.
LOUIE
Greetings in the faith, P. C.
HAL
Greetings.
LOUIE
Say, P. 0*
(But P. C. goes right on.)
HATCHER
It’s really wonderful, the work you are doing.
taken in much?
HAL
M&ny~muoh*
Have
- IBS
K3THER
The ledger leeks pretty good.
ERNESTINE
Except the fir at page— -that1 3 oaffee stain.
hatcher
That1* fine--that*a fine,
Xou^re banking It right along?
£S OTTO
Oh ye « *Ire el
HAL
(To LOUIE.)
I wonder what he1® get up his sleeve?
BATCHES!
Well, children* X h a w what X think will be a pleasant
aurprlse for you*
<They emlle— weakly.)
Now before this group of pilgrims arrives— and there is
quite a body coming this morning*-! helped arrange it.
Before they come, X do want you to know X have faith In
you*— all of you.
LOUIE
Thanks* father.
(They all smile with a weaker mile.)
HATCHER
Jtwe brought something for you.
HAL
X knew it.
1*11 bet the dine store likes him.
SOS
3X0
-160HATCHER
Even if all your Income shouldnH chance to go to charity—
It might mot ho constant or satisfactory in all seasons.
60
X have here the deed to the other one hundred and forty-
four acres which you dldn*t get before.
HAL
Edge over and grab lta Louie, before something happens.
HATCHER
If you lllce you can rent out the land.
Here Is the deed
made out to the four of you.
(Plops It on the stand.)
I even had the abstract fixed. Tomorrow or sometime we1!!
go In and check over everything.
I1!! even take that
eernpleker off your hands*
ERNESTINE
Father!
ESTHER
hear Father!
LOUIE
Thou art a strong and noble man* Mr. Hatcher, thou shalt
live to bless this day.
HAL
You*re all right, P. 0 .
HATCHER
Hover mind the palaver.
knew they were wrong.
you.
Just stick to your business.
I told them so.
Garry on the good work.
I
Boys, I fm proud of
But it•e funny how things
au
- 161 -
60
get started.
I heard something about legal difficulties
and that you were contemplating giving this up.
loots
Our healing?
HAL
B o a H you believe ltv P. 0.
HAfdHER
O h 1 X didn't.
LOOTS
We are sodded to our faith.
HAL
Yea, Saint~and till death do us part*
LOUIE
3&yt ?. 0. did you ever get that mousy bach that Hex Porter
get away with the time he ran out on you at the County Fair?
HATCHER
Ho.
X never could find any trace of him.
He disappeared
into thin air*
HAL
that so?
LOUIE
Have you token a good look at this Rev. Porter that1* around?
HATCHER
Ho, not in particular.
Why is he a relation?
HAL
A party close relation, X think?
312
LOUIE 5 We are wedded to our faith *
HAL: Yea, Saint —
and till death do us part®
* 1153 -
HATCHER
Bub that Bax waft kind of dhunky*
L0UXR
XfH
tell you something* P. 0*
X*we found out that this
Rev* Porter le not only a relation— he i# Rex Porter •
HATCHER
Be o&n't be*
Be wouldi*1! have that much effrontery.
Coning right book here!
What make# you think eat
LOCZB
X got this note the other day,
(Pulls letter from hie bosom*)
HATCHER
(Reads it*)
What is this?
A Jake?
HAL
It** Porter4# idea of one.
LOUIE
3Tou notice anything familar about# that signature?
HATCHER
The name*# familsr, bub~~LOUIE
You still got that contract Rex Porter signed for you?
HATCHER
Sure X got it*
X never throw away a contract.
By George!
That signature look# Just like the one on that contract.
If It ls~~Xfm goin right la to town to see the authorities!
l f11 get that Porter if this is him!
for this!
X ^ e waited year#
m 164
(Goes.)
HAL
that ought to hold Porter*
ESTHER
That's g% hue baud!
LOUIE
Well, we bettor got ready for the day's healln* Say, Hal,
did you got that shock apparatus fixed up all right?
HAL
411 Sot*
% o u g h power to euro even the staunchest unbeliever*
LOUIE
The switch Inside the sanctuary for me?
HAL
Eight over the door*
(LOUIE fools.)
Find it?
Ieoh*
LOUIE
This Is going to be good* Hal, you're getting to be
a regular scientist.
HAL
Feh— but that fellow we didn't cure yesterday kind of
bothers me*
LOUIE
Only a stiff neck he had*
Got to expect some failures*
HAL
I tell you* Louie, you didn't sound quite as convincing to
we as you did right at first*
a little rehearsing would help?
What do you think?
Hay be
315
* 165 *
LOUIE
Okay, if you think we need it*
HAL
WouIdnft do any harm#
LOUIE
What*11 we make it?
Paralysis?
HAL
Jhst aa well he tough*
LOUIE
All right you*re bringing them In#
(Takea staunce by hog house*)
HAL
There is a pilgrim at thy gate, 0 Saint Louie*
LOUIE
Man or woman?
HAL
Have your choice*
LOUIE
Start again*
HAL
There is a pilgrim at thy gate, 0 Saint Louie*
LOUIE
How, look— *we got to get this thing right*
me all the time yesterday*
or woman*
It bothered
X never knew whether it was man
Remember now when you emphasize pilgrim I know
It*a a woman-**-“There is a pilgrim at thy gat©, 0 Saint
Louie*"
Really hit It*
But when it*a a ^nan, you say, “There
la a pilgrim at thy gate**
I got it* That*s what I was sayIn*
LOUIE
Come out strong*
All right now*
HAL
(Parked on “throne* chair*)
There is a pil— — *ouchl
(LOUIE punches the switch and HAL leaps
off the chair*}
LOUIE
What1s the matter?
HAL
(irked*)
What do you think this is?
LOUIE
You mean you really want me to tell you?
HAL
Listen, InnocenceI
LOUIE
Take It easy*
I was only trying out the chair*
HAL
Yeh?
Well, it had been tried out I
LOUIE
I was just beln sure*
HAL
You111 get poked yet*
LOUIE
Jk> you want to rehearse, or do you want to argue?
* 167 *
HAL
Another trick like that and ther ©*11 be a performance with­
out any r©hoar sal I
LOUIE
Kelaxt
Relaxl
It was all in fun.
HAL
(Sour*)
start again I Ready?
LOUIE
(Also*)
Yeah I
HAL
There la a PILGRIM at thy gate* 0 Saint Louiel— —■
unless
y©u*d rather it was a man*
LOUIE
Want a hammer to hit the word?
Be Just a little subtle*
HAL
Obvious but yet repressed*
LOUIE
You got iti
How come on, Hal*
This was your idea*
ERNESTINE
Hey— you boys better get leveled off*
pilgrims coming*
HAL
You better get set, smart guy*
LOUIE
All right*
There* s a batch of
318
«« 168 ^
(To girls*)
Listen* we want to try a little different order today*
girls go out and meet the pilgrims*
bring in one at a time#
You
When Hal tells you# Just
Go on and get them before they get
in here*
EKHESTIKE
Bon*t we
get to see it?
LOUIE
Sure* Tdse turns bringing them in*
Better go now*
Donft
argue#
MAC
(Comes in#)
Aw baloney# that*s the third one that fs got away I
(Starts after another balloon*)
lotixe
McKinley*
If thou ahouldst become hungry**-*there are
cookies in the buttery*
MAC
Just what I need*
Thanks!
(Goes into house#)
HAL
Well, you all ready to get set?
LOUIE
Yeah*
How donft forget the emphasis*
gate for men*
HAL
lave faith*
Pilgrim for women"
X69 -
LOUIE
X hast*
(Starts to crawl into hog house*
Backs
out in a hurry*)
Hey*~Hal!
HAL
What?
LOUIE
She9a In there!
HAL
She?
LOUIE
Aphrodite*
HAL
Well, run her out#
LOUIE
X can’t-*
(Mutters Inarticularly to HALj
His face lights up#)
HAL
Let me see*
LOUIE
They1re cute all right#
HAL
They are at that * Remember you bet ten*
LOUIE
Aphrodite won’t fall me* Will you Aphrodite, old hog, old
thing, old sow? Hear her? Reassuring me*
mo
- 170 *
HAL
Dead ailenca was all 1 heard*
ESTHER
{At corner of house*)
About ready?
HAL
Jhat a second*
Louie1* me&Itatin*
1*11 let you know*
ERNESTINE
(Comes in beside ESTHER.}
What*a the delay?
HAL
Aphrodite*
ESTHER
Xn there?
LOUIE
Ysh# in the sanctuary*
(HAL Is looking in*
The girls come over*)
How many, HaL ?
HAL
«*«— seven--eight~--nine~ninei
Well, awful close* Louie*
(The girls crowd around the door*)
ESTHER
Hot There1s another one!
It was hiding!
ERNESTINE
Ten!
HAL
(Pushes others away and looks In*)
381
* 171 *
Well* X*ll
(taking out billfold#)
Verily* thou shalt be dubbed a prophet* 0 Saint Louie#
Lours
fhle profit will be thy loss* 0 solvent Hal#
HAL
(Glancing off*)
Hey* you skirts better guard them pilgrims*
Theytre
wander in this way*
LOUIE
Teh*
Don*t let the® be drift In in here*
('The girls go*)
HAL
Veil* Louie* what are we go in to do?— make the pilgrims
wait for Aphrodite to decide to move the family?
LOUIE
Be nice to have a whole farm of hogs*
Wouldnft It?
raise little p i g s ~ a whole flock of em*
And
Gee* you could get
a lot on a hundred and forty-four acres*
HAL
ITeh* be all right*
But what about the pilgrims?
LOUIE
I d o n H know*
X can 11 get In her© with her*
She might not
like it*
HAL
X have to do all the thinking#
the sanctuary*
I tell you--you get behind
X flX have the girls blindfold them before
theyfre brought in*
2 2 2
«* 172 ~
LOUIE
My vole# wouldn’t sound the same*
HAL
They never
heard you before#
LOUIE
I got it# H A *
part#
You do the part In there and 1*11 do your
You be Saint Louie*
HAL
Oh no*
You don’t get me in there#
They*re cross when the
pigs is little#
LOUIE
She won’t hurt you#
They never hurt strangers#
You know
that when you don’t feel good you don’t mind a stranger like
you do somebody you know#
HAL
That’s your story--but I ’m not stuck with it#
Anyway
Charley Peterson is waiting to be cured*
LOUIE
We can put him off for a day or two*
all off till tomorrow?
Why don’t we put it
I ’m all unstrung#
HAL
0o on*
Cat down behind that #
LOUIE
Well—
(Looks in again*)
0eef Hal——
(MAC* all bristled up, comes dashing out
of the house#
He heads around back of
923
• 173 «•
the hog house*}
me
Stick e m up!
Stick cm up!
I got you covered#
Stick em up
before 1 shoot!
SHERIFF
(Heard#)
Don*t ehoot^-*donft shoot!
me
You get in there!
(He herds In PORTER and the SHERIFF, who
Is pretty old and very near sighted#
The SHERIFF stumbles toward the hog house#)
You stay away from Saint Louiefs sanctuary#
supposed to touch that I
Nobody Is
You stay away from It or 1*11 ping
you!
SHERIFF
Bon*t git excited#
I lost my glasses gittln up so tgulck
and X calnft see#
PORTER
Put that gun down!
MAC
You git In there!
HAL
Hey, Louie, It looks like we got callers#
LOUIE
Where did
they come from?
HAL
Little Macky chased them up out of the brush#
* 174 PORTER
Yew Just go easy with that gua«
SHERIFF
Yeh, you put that danged thing down#
to mo*
I*m the Deputy Sheriff*
You can’t do this
Who are you anyway?
MAC
I ’m McKinley Emaacul Hatcher I
Why?
PORTER
Oh, it1® just a bee-bee gun*
MAC
But it’s dangerous— *if I Shoot you in the eye*
HAL
It’s all right, Mae*
PORTER
Arrest all three of these fellows. Sheriff*
SHERIFF
Threat
I thought it was Just two we was after*
That’s all
1 got warrants for*
LOUIE
What were these two doln, Mac?
MAC
They were sneakin up to sack the sanctuary*
I wasn’t going to let sea*
I saw em*
And
I ’ll protect your sanctuary#
SHERIFF
We wasn’t neither sneaking up to sack It*
We was just eomin
around to hear what was go in on so’® we could arrest Hal
Brady and Louie Llpman#
* 175 -
PORTHR
There they are*
Arrest them*
SHERIFF
Plague take It anyhow*
them glasses*
I caln't see worth a cuss without
Which, two you mean?
Them two women?
PORTER
That's Brady and Lipman dressed like women i
LOUIE
(FsflL setto*)
Why, Reverend Porter, you nasiy man*
Calling us men I
HAL
(Falsetto*)
Fie I
Shame on youl
LOUIE
Sheriff, you wouldn't think of arresting two helpless women,
would you?
SHERIFF
I ain't after no women*
LOUIE
What are the charges against Lipman and. Brady?
PORTER
Don't let them kid you*
They're Just taking advantage
because you eaa 't see them*
SHERIFF
You j1st hash up*
I guess I kin see good enough to tell a
man from a woman by her clothee and her voices*
Anyway I
320
•
176 -
knav thorn Brody and Lipmon boy* and they aln*t tho sort that
w o l d d r « M tap Ilk* *oa*a.
HAIi
Way was you gain to *rr*#t thorn, tariff?
the Reverent here****wwll wherever he te~~there*«*h<» comes la
smd swore out warrants that them foil ora m s fixtn up people
and takln money for doln it without license*
HAL
YOU don’t think they *d do a thing like that, do you Sheriff?
tMrm
You fra such a
nice, handsome zx&n$ Shari ff* you wouldn’t
arrest people for doln good, would you?
1 know you wouldn't*
You’re too nice for that*
porter
Watch out for them*
They ’re trying to dupo you*
asraiFF
X- wasn’t h o m e d yesterday*.
X kin taka care of'myself where
woman la concerned*
Lot; IE
(Rubbing up to MOTIFF*)
Bver ainca I first saw you, Sheriff, you’ve bean my ideal of
what a law officer ought to to*
Besides looks, you’ve got
a clear head that can think things through*
SHERIFF
X m a t allow X always was credited with bain able to hold my
m m where think was concerned*
Brady?
But where is that Lipmnn and
<* 177
327
m
HAL
They was here~«*but they run out Just before you and dear
Rev# Porter came In*
PORTER
They did iiot***thls 1© them!
Here, McKinley, give me those
glasses.
SHERIFF
Glasses?
Where are they?
Give «m to me*
They’re mine.
MAC
Shell I?
(PORTER grabs them#
HAL Is Just a second
late*)
HAL
(Low—
as self to PORTER.)
Give them to me I
PORTER
Here you are, Sheriff*
(HAL has PORTER*0 am*)
Let loose of mel
(LOUIE, giggling runs in behind PORTER
and tickles him in the ribs.)
LOUIE
Are you ticklish, Reverend?
PORTER
(Drops glasses.)
Stop Itl
toy, Mr. Porter!
HAL
To think you’re ticklish#
« 170 <*
(HAL tickles him.)
PORTER
Lay off of mol
SHERIFF
Wb*t*e ell this tomfoolery^
Whore’s them glasses?
(They get PORTER down— tickling him—
Ho pleads for mercy#
llhC Is too baffled
to do anything#)
HAL
Ready to call it quits?
LOUIE
Enough?
PORTER
Yes— •yes— --let me up#
T ATTTtJ!
X feel like an elf in the Maytlmet
(Runs up to HAL*)
HAL
How take it easy!
LOUIE
Let’s get the warrants*
(Up to SHERIFF*}
Oh, Sheriff, are you ticklish?
(Pokes him In the ribs-*-testing for
location of warrants*)
SHERIFF
Tee I am# doggone It****an& you quit#
«. 179 *■
HAL
On this side, too?
(Prodb other tilde *)
SHERIFF
Plague take it--'©at it out*
(HAL & LOUIE prod hi a riba several times*
HAL finds location of warranta*)
LOU IB
(To HAL*)
Find em?
HAL
(Hods*)
You get him from behind*
(The boys skip around the SHERIFF*
LOUIE
comes in from behind aa HAL gets him
from front*
-SHERIFF throws up hi a hands
when tickled and HAL gets warrants*
The
SHERIFF shrieks with laughter*)
SHERIFF
Don*t girls, I calnft stand it*
PORTER
(Having found a pitchfork*)
Oh, no you don*t*
Give them warrants her ©I
(Comes at HAL end LOUIE who make a break
around hog house, PORTER after them*)
MAC
You put that pitchfork down I
{H* pings PORTER as ha rounds turn.)
330
— 1©0 -
PGRTEH
Listen, y o u - " ! 1!! us© this on you yeti
(Has turned to give this to MAC*
LOUIE
get© PORTER from “behind"tickling him#
He drop© fork and HAL gets it*)
You boys are going to pay for this!
(At this point F* C# Hatcher comes In*
HAL is carrying warrants*)
HAL
Look, Louie, the marines!
LOUIE
Thou hast arrived In the nick of time Oh, F* C*t
HATCHER
They told me Ifd find you here#
SHERIFF
That you I hear, P* C*t
see*
I lost my glasses off and I calnft
Who are these here dang women, anyhow, F* C*?
been rarln around here like a coxipl© of wild cats*
They
Where
are them glass©#?
PORTER
[email protected] got your warrants, Sheriff I They took em away
from you*
(To MAC*)
Stop pointing that thing at me*
HATCHER
What warrants?
1
0
1
—
331
1
PORTER
Warrants for the arrest of Louie Lipman, alias the Saint, and
Hal Brady, his cohort#
SHERIFF
By gravy than warrants Is gonel
(HAL has given LOUIE the glasses and
edging to front of hog house#)
PORTER
Stop him!
He *s sneaking the warrants into the hog house!
(HAL tosses the warrants In with
Aphrodite#)
HATCHER
What are you fellows talkln about*
You can't arrest them*
They haven't done anything#
SHERIFF
Where is them warrants?
PORTER
They're In the hog house!
Brady just threw em in there!
LOUIE
Here, Shcriff— w© found your glasses*
SHERIFF'
By cracky"thanks * How**"
(Sees LOUIE*)
What are you doln In that outfit?
HATCHER
Ike, look here*
I was just in and swore out a warrant for the
arrest of Rex Porter.
The judge told me to bring it to you
cut her ©"that you were here with Porter#
«• iBi ■—
SHERIFF
Arrest of Res: Fort erf
Don*t know no Hex Porter*
HATCHER
Thatfe him right there*
PORTER
Xhn afraid there1a mistake
somewhere*
SHERIFF
Him? His name1a Raymond*
FOOTER
That*a right*
Rex*
You see, Bh*. Hatcher, I had a brother named
He was killed in an accident a few years ago*
We
looked a good deal alike*
HATCHER
You got away from me once but you don*t again*
FOOTER
Well, now, 1*11 be glad to go In and clear this all up for
you--and see that Justice Is meted out*
But in as much as
these men here have been engaged In an Illegal practice of
healing, I demand their arrest#
SHERIFF
Yah— P* C*— «* that1® what we come out here for— but but
dagnab lt«*»Xfve lost the warrants*
FOOTER
They took them from you and put them in that so-c
called
sanctuary*
I saw them do it* It*s resisting arrest, tool
(Moves toward it.)
333
*» 185 ■*
MAC
You atay away from that*
porter
Would you mind calling him off, Mr* Hatcher?
LQUXE
It Is all right* McKinley*
Thou neodat to protect the
sanctuary no more*
HAL
Kay# Where beeth a guardian angel looketh after It*
HATCH®
Well, Mr* Porter, since you are Hex1a brother, you may be
able to explain away the strange duplication in fingerprints*
PORTEE
I have never had finger prints taken*
HATCHER
On the contract Rex Porter signed for me, he got his fingers
in the wet ink and left a pretty good print*
It matches
pretty close with some on your favorite song book*
LOUIE
You mean hefs the fellow who ran out on you at the County
Fair six years ago?
HA L
Is that who he Is I
SHERIFF
Let*a see that warrant#
334
m
134
m>
HATCHER
X*ve waited a long time for this#
PORTER
How**w«ll--»Yott don*t take me without you take these fellows
along I
SHERIFF
I*m afraid 1*11 have to take you along, hoys*
HAL
Without warrant at
SHERIFF
You took am away from me, dldnft you?
HAL
He?
LOUIE
(Falsetto*)
Why, lie* Sheriff I
PORTER
I1!! get those warrants for you#
HATCHER
LonH let him get away!
(HAL guards him with pitchfork#)
LOUIE
If Me# Porter should withdraw this complaint, would you
Still have to arrest us I
HATCHER
Of course not* .It*s a frame-up#
SHERIFF
W#e-X reckon not-*everyho&y else seems to figger you’re all
+
right*
338
180 *
IM&eratand, X % just performing my duty*
X hats
to do itw^hseauss I been, thinkin about cornln out to see what
you could do about my eyesight * It’s a dang nuisance*
X
ain’t been able to see worth a cuss since I was struck by
lightnin ten year® ago come Decoration Day*
HATCHER
Saint Louie can fix you up*
HAL
Vhat think©at thou, O Saint Louie?
LOUIE
It sesmeth the opportunity haih arrived!
POETHR
Don’t let em talk you into anything. Sheriff*
bunk*
It’s all
I’ll get those warrants**
HAL
Stay away from there!
SHERIFF
I never figgered they was nothing could be done after I got
these and could see some*
Suppose you could fix them?
LOUIE
Sheriff, thou hast a noble spirit* The day hath come*
Thou hast been led here to be healed*
Sit you here#
(LOUIE seats SHERIFF•
The girls and some Pilgrims com© in*)
PORTER
X demand you arrest those meal
Let me get those warrants!
HAL
I warn you, Rex, there’s a spirit look® after that sanctuary#
336
♦ 100 *
LOUIE
'Thou h&dst beat depart from here in p#ac©~~or a doom ahalt
fall ofc thee--sinister and everlasting!
PORTER
Don»t pull any of that spirit hogwaah on me.
LOUIE
So It shall be even as It is with all disbelievers!
If that
m m Shouldst enter yon sanctuary, his ©oat wouldst run red
with blood*
Fr1ends^-detain him— or be not amazed at the
outcome*
HATCHER
Let him get whatever1s eomln to him*
MAG
Youf& better not let him$ Saint Louie*
He might spoil
something*
LOUIE
Have no fears but for him*
SHERIFF
Let him risk It*
I*d Ilk© to see It*
HAL
Let no one say he was not warned*
PORTER
DonH spread that guff on so thick*
It *a only a ruse to
keep those warrants*
LOUIE
He hath spooked— spoked— spoken! Let him enter*
PORTER
And you take It easy with that pitchfork*
m?
«* 187 m
bal
I*m watchIn It#
(FOOTER dec idea it will be safer to back
in*) He does#)
LOUIE
Have no fears* Ye others ahalt be unharmed!
(HiL slams door shut after FOOTEH*
There Is a commotion inside*)
FOOTER
Watch out I— ~~Tak e it easyI Open that doort
(The chair on th eh the SHERIFF is sitting
flashes and he leaps up and his glasses
fly off*}
SHERIFF
WeXl«*~I*ll be carnsamedl
I can seel
And without my glasses I
(The commotion inside the hog house
lncreases^becomes terrific* The sides
of the hog house fairly heave*
FOOTER
finally kicks the door open and
scrambles out~cloth©a shredded*
He
doesn*t wait for anything but tears out
on a dead run#
HAL slams the door shut#)
HATCHER
He*# making a get away I
SHERIFF
Stop him!
Got him I I can seel
Stop him!
(HATCHER* SHERIFF and MAC tear out after
FOOTER*)
*+
838
188
1OTHEH
What la ItY
HAL
A disbeliever hath been cured}
ERNESTINE
It looks like Porter*
HAL
It ith|
LOTTIE
For thee* Aphrodite}
(Turns "Holy— don11 touch" sign#
reads* "Home Sweet Home*"
It
All listen*
The nursing grunt of Aphrodite, is
plainly heard*)
— Curtain
559
GILDED PKAIRIE
A Drama of the Kansas
wheat Frontier
(Copyright, 1941, by Warren M* Lee)
Evening of August 2, 1939
340
Department of Speech and Dramatic Art
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
Experimental Theatre Seminar - Speech 211S
Presents
For the first time on any stage
GILDED PRAIRIE
by
Warren M. Lee
Directed by Marian Gallaway
Cast
Sarah Allard
.....................
Jen Marsh
.... *............ ..........
Ev Marsh ..............................
Dot Marsh .... .
.....................
Lon Allard ............................
Hank Marsh ............................
Tom Smith ... ..........................
Dave Carson ........... -..............
Alley Malcolm ........................
Myrt Jameson ..........................
Ralph Jameson ..........................
George Horn -..........................
Cleve Roberts .........................
Ab Simmons ............................
Dud Talford ...........................
Clay Hatton
...........................
Myrl Bristol
Bernice Moore
Mildred Basden
Lorraine Pressler
Edward Kyvig
Wendell C • Kennedy
Herman Benner
Emil Anishanslin
Eugene J. Taylor
Jane Marsh
Dick Baldridge
Sam Fetters
Henderson Forsythe
Ronald Van Arsdale
Charles V* Hume
Leonard Marshall
Scenes
A frontier town in Kansas in the 1870*3
Act I
Scene 1.
Scene 2*
Early summer. Morning.
Toward evening the same day.
Intermission
Act II
Scene 1.
Scene 2.
Late August. Mid-day.
A June morning.
Act III
Late fall.
Afternoon.
Designer ..................................... Warren Lee
Stage Manager ................................ Peter Marroney
Properties .......... Arthur Clifton Lamb, Hubert White
Lights
.......... John Felton, Jean Westrum, Francis Gibson
Sound ......................................... John Felton
Paint .............
Jesse
Skriletz, Abraham Moskowitz, Earl
Hoover, James LeVang
Costumes .......... Helen Forrest Lauterer, LaMar Hoaglin,
Maidia Dryden, James Allison, Ruth Rich
Parsons In the Playt
LON ALLARD
MYRT, his wife
LONNIE, their son (7 years)
SARAH, Lon1a mother
MARSHAL
ALLEY MALCOMB
HANK MARSH
EV, his wife
GEN)
) their daughters (16 years)
DOT)
DAVE CARSON, a young farmer
GEORGE HORN
)
DOT) TALFORD
>
NOTE KMTOTSON )
) farmers
JOE EVERS
J
CLEVE ROBERTS j
Other Men
)
542
Scene*
KANSAS*
The Allards1 sod house#
All action occurs before the rough timber and
sod shocks of Lon Allard In a little town of
west-central Kansas in the late 1800s#
ACT ONE
Scene 1 • * * * A morning in early summer*
Scene 2 « # * « « * « #
Later the same day#
ACT TWO
Seme 1 * The next harvestj Saturday night*
Scene 2 « • * • • • The following morning*
Scene 5 # « # # * # # #
A few weeks later*
Scene 4 « * « * « # A bleak day; late fall*
ACT THREE
Scene 1 * *
* * * * * * * * Another summer#
Scene 2 ......... Sunset a few days later#
« 5 *
545
*0 ilded Prairie*
Act One
mmmm***
rnrnmmmm
Scene On#:
A western Kansas frontier
settlement in the late 1800'a*
Early summer.
The sky is clear*
The wind blows incessantly*
Two rough timber and sod houses-**
or shacks —
apart*
stand a distance
The one on the right is
largerj probably has two rooms*
The other la a single room hut
with a small sign over the door*
"Mayor1# Office*.
A little clothes-line staggers
In the wind#
A barrel — per­
haps for rain water — rests
sheltered by the corner of the
larger shack*
A rude bench or two of cotton­
wood*
A tub and a few buckets*
Little else*
A vista of slightly rolling and
treeless prairie stretching for
miles*
Patches of ripened
wheat break the vista irregularly*
m
0
344
m
LON ALLARD sits on a half filled
grain sack fanning soma wheat
In the wind*
LON is a robust
man In his thirtiesf
tallj
clear, sharp eyesj light hair
and the Inevitable mustache*
His carriage Is dominating,
forceful| he Is strong and stoli&j
well educated for his day and
place*
SARAH, LON *s mother, and MYRT,
his wife, are finishing the
washing Including the youngster1s
clothes*
SARAH Is past flftyi her hair
is greying*
Those knowing the
statues of Demeter might look
twice at Sarah*
Her face is
worn, wrinkled but pleasant*
She stubbornly stands up against
the hardships of the frontier
with dogged courage and
persistence*
MXHT la proud and beautiful*
Her gentleness Is the gentleness
of the aristocrat*
Without
being domineering she commands*
**
m
The work goes on In allonce
until the MARSHAL cornea in*
the MARSHAL I s a husky fellow,
straight-forward and fearless*
He la neatly dressed; hi® eyes
cool and penetrating*
He re­
moves his hat before the women*
MARSHAL
Good morning*
SARAH
Good morning# Hr* Smith
LOU
Oh, hello, Tom* Ifm doing a bit of thrashing the old way*
MARSHAL
It promises to be a fruitful harvest*
LON
Yes, does*
Mighty promising wheat crops#
I gathered a
couple of samples last night just to compare the uplands and
the low*
(Holding up samples*)
Can you tell the difference?
MARSHAL
I donft believe X can*
LQH
Well, there ian,t much difference*
If anything the heads are
a little heavier and the stems stubbier on the upland crops*
340
m S m
Frairie gold*
country*
ted they argued mo that this Isn't farming
Fool the hardness of those grains*
Iriks
little
nuggets*
marshal
Lots of new homesteaders coming in*
LOU
Doesn't take long for news of good crop lands to get around*
MARSHAL
That*a right*
Mr* Mayor*
Well* this leads up to shat I came to tell you*
I've decided that It's time to resign*
LOU
Resign?
MARSHAL
The trail herds have dwindled here this summer till about all
you need to keep order is a scarecrow*
LOR
Things have calmed down* but*
MARSHAL
Hays is booming and they need a marshal over there* The
trail herds and the frontier are moving West*
I feel I'd
better go along*
LOR
Why we couldn't think of»*-It wouldn't be at all the same
without you around*
MARSHAL
There won't be any more trouble here*
I'll get soft If I
don't have a bullet to dodge now and again*
*
0
*
LON
Well—
of course— — If you feel like—
you want to go—
marshal
Yeu*ve made It very agreeable for me as marshal*
LON
We have for you?
What do you think you1vo done for us?
Taming those cowhands made this settlement livable*
Maybe
jtou don’t realise it, Tom, but every farmer In this section
owes you a debt of gratitude that can’t ever be paid*
MARSHAL
I was paid for whatever I did*
LON
Without the work yourve done, settlers with families would
still be steering shy of this country*
MARSHAL
I came to help you get order*
hired to do*
Whatever I’ve done, X was
X don’t think you111 need any help from now on*
LON
You gave us order*
And you didn’t kill a man to do it*
X
wouldn’t have believed it possible*
MARSHAL
I would have killed if I’d needed to—
and they knew it*
LON
X hate to see you go— but X reckon Hays does need you*
It
will only make us both feel kind of silly if X try to put into
words— oh, dog-take-it anyhow, Tom*
Good luck to you*
MARSHAL
the same to you*
LON
Well, I1® about through as Mayor; Looks like a new order is
feeling birth pains*
MARSHAL
Here’s the badge* And since I’m leaving town. I’ll keep mj
guns on— if It’s all right*
If it’s all right It
LON
You should ask me if It’s all right!
MARSHAL
thank you*
(Puts out hand*
LON grasps it*)
Good-bye, Mr* Mayor*
LON
Good-bye, to®,
MARSHAL
(tipping his hat to the women*)
Mother Allard*
SARAH
God bless you, tom*
MARSHAL
Mrs* Allard*
MXRY
Good-bye
(they watch the MARSHAL off*)
SARAH
X hate to see tom go#
LON
% do, too — but — he’s right# He’s part of the old order
and that’s moved west*
349
«* 11
(Silence*
LON goes back to his fanning#)
Things should be easier from now on#
MYRT
Yes*
With the herds and the rowdy hands gone#
SARAH
And we have a crop that will grow and produce*
LON
0h# there9s lots of work to be done*
to be built#
Storehouses! elevators
All kinds of things to make this country
civilised#
SARAH
But we can live In peace ehlie ltfs doing# Wo more cattle
to trample the wheat*
It*s been pleasant this year*
LON
Nature has been good to us#
MYBT
It seems everything around has blossomed for us#
have been miserable for you*
trouble# No crops#
It must
All those years with so much
Nature and men against you*
SARAH
Be glad you weren’t here for It# Myrtle*
LON
Still * It doesn’t seem now as if it had been so bad#
Never
does shen it’s over*
mm
There will be time for some of - the finer things now*
money to get them#
And
350
SARAH;
A n d we have a crop that will grow and p r o d u c e .
-*
mi
mm
LON
Settlers taking up th© new land; starting new lives*
In a
few years It won't be Just patches of wheat Ilk© those--scattered her© and there#
These plain© will b© blanketed
In gold#
3ARAH
You should be a very happy man, Lon-**know!ng all you've done
for these plains*
LON
Somebody els© would have done It if I hadn't*
MYRT
But someone else didn't*
SARAH
You earn© and you saw the spring wheat trying to grow —
saw
It come up late and shrivel In th© hot winds before It
ripened*
You brought the winter wheat - the wheat with the
long roots - the. anchored wheat the wind couldn't carry
away - the seeds that sprout in th© fall and sleep through
th© winter * shoot up early In the spring - fill out and
ripen before the searing winds come#
its crop* Lon*
You gave this country
You brought a marshal to tame th© cattle
hands*
MYRT
You pointed the way to the railroad*
0ot It to build on west#
SAHATI
Took this country from the longhorns and gave it to the
farmers*
352
•* 1.4 <*
LON
Looking book It seams vary logical and simple # Ihough it
didn’t seem ao than*
SARAH
It was logical and simple because you made it so#
LOH
fhey were things that had to be done*
really*
out*
It wasn’t planned*
I had no say about it
What I did, happened to work
Lady Luck*
m m
Luck?
or destiny?
SARAH
Call It what you like* It lias been so*
to
you for pointing the way*
great power, Lon
Many men have depended
Many more will*
It gives you
and great responsibility*
LON
I sometimes think they’ve depended on me too much*
"Lon,
idler© shall I get my seed?11 "Lon, the cattle have trampled
my wheat; itfiat shall I do?"
"What about a market?"
do*
I came for a home*
"Where shall we store our wheat?"
I didn’t come to tell others what to
To give you something besides hard
work# mother#
SARAH
It hasn’t been too hard*
LON
To make ours a real home, Myrtle * With fine youngsters*
And
m
mice thlnga for you*
363
1 5
Thing* & wife has a right to expect#
That a aon la entitled to#
Things that haven’t come here
K2OT
I do expect them# Ion#
For us and our boy#
Because with
you 1 know we’ll have them#
SARAH
It’s good#
The amell of the fresh wheat#
Feel of !t# mother#
SARAH
(Spilling It through her fingers#)
Solid and heavy*
LOH
Smooth kernels
like they’d been polished#
SARAH
It will make fine bread to feed a lot of hungry mouths*
LOB
SARAH
Any rust in It?
LOH
Mot In this#
It* a too tough for the rust I
SARAH
The earth can be a bountiful mother#
LOH
The first of our first big crop# Myrtle#
to go#
Cleaned and ready
364
•## 16
MYET
tbm first nails for the ©levator#
LON
Th© first nail®*
MYRT
How soon will you start It?
LON
As soon as th® crop Is harvested and sold# —
And when X am
able to persuade Alloy#
im®
(Looking at the wheat in th® bag#)
Yellow as gold#.
LOH
Take it up
in your hands#
MYBT
(Takes some#)
It *8 smooth#
SARAH
Xtrs t&« life-blood of a country#
MYRT
Sfooever holds this holds power*
SARAH
the power of life.
MYRT
And the power of wealth!
and happinessl
have men1® future® wrapped in you#
men#
Great futures#
Little grains, you
Futures of the sons of
- 17 LOT
Sam## —»wlth families*
And farms#
And fences#
And barns#
And cattle*
m m
(To th# wheat#}
Because on# man was wise enough to bring you her of to teach
the people you would grow#
SARAH
Shat an unscrupulous man In your place might do, Lon*
With
the new elevator, yours will be the bottle neek*
myrt
All the wheat will pass through your hands*
LOW
That* a why I don*t want to build it alone#
m m
But 1 thought you were#
LOH
I want Alley to go in with me#
deal of it "
He ha# the lumber «* a good
In his etock yards and corrals#
They arenft
much good to him now that the big cattle trade is gone*
m m
Partner#?
LOH
Yes, if he1!! do it*
MYBT
Hef» never done you any good, Lon#
18
<*
L03ST
He was a cattle dealer ~~ I was a farmer*
far his advantage ~
as I did*
money for con struction
Of course he worked
I111 only have to put up the
if Alley goes In*
alone means too much responsibility, w
Too much control
too much money, too*
HHf
Can you trust Alley?
LOH
1 think so*
m m
I like to see you do things alone*
When I know they*re going
right*
SARAH
Lon1s a farmer*
He wouldnH be satisfied in business*
And
that** what It would soon be having th© ©levator alone*
MXBT
Have you tdt ked with Alley?
LOH
He* a been away*
1 expect to see him today*
moxx
If he won*t do it, you111 build It alone?
LOH
I suppose I111 have to*
We*v© got to have It*
underway now*
SARAH
Looks like Alley coming this way now*
Should be
19
m
m-
LOH
Yea*. Believe It is*
MYHT
Alley hasn’t been very friendly * sine# the railroad built
on west*
LOH
Ho «**» he’s hardly pas#ed the time of day with me since then*
MYRT
Wateh your dealings with him, Lon*
LOH
Don’t worry, Myrtle*
SARAH
I believe I hear Lonnie, Myrtle*
My hands are all wet*
MXRT
1*11 go*
{ALLEY HALCOMB comes in* He barely speaks
to th© women*
ALLEY is a big fellow, some ten year#
Older than LOH*
He has a long sober face
which appears more elongated because of
the goatee* He is husky but not fat*
He wears a Texas sombrero*
While not of
the South he has a few Southern mannerisms*)
SARAH
Good morning, Mr# Maicomb*
ALLEY
(Grunts*)
Howdy*
m-
**
(MYKT nods to ALLEY and goes Into the
house*}
LGN
HUi day* Alloy®
alley
Yap*
It*a all right#
LOH
Hava a soat#
ALLEY
I don*t mind standing*
LON
things are getting too quiet hare for Tom*
ALLEY
Ho?
LOH
Ha Just resigned^to move on West*
ALLEY
Home of the rest of us wish It was that simple*
LOH
Simple?
ALLEY
Wish we could pull out high and dry as easy as— reslgnln1«
LOH
1 know* Alley; but* I tall you—
—
ALLEY
(Bitterly*)
Of course you know!
You* who was Instrumental— — you who
drove the cattle trade out*— **losIng me everything X had*
and the railroad!
You
m
529
21 ■*»
LOW
X*m sorry If you feel that way* Alley.
But If you*11 listen
a minute-*— *
ALLEY
I M rather talk!
I don*t mind a fair fight— "•►‘
but I*ve got
pretty deep convictions about anybody who aneak a in and
euts you from behind*
LOH
Would you mind explaining that?
ALLEY
Working under cover*
Using every sneaking method possible
to get the railroad to build on west*
LOH
You talk like you know something I don11 *
ALLEY
You organised the Farmers* Protective Association*
LOH
I worked hard at it*
alley
You did it with the one purpose of getting the cattle trade
out of here*
LOH
Exactly*
Texas steers and wheat donft mix*
ALLEY
You and your Assoolation went to th© railroads*
LOH
Yea*
Bid
*
2
2
«*
ALLEY
To them damn fool a in th© East that thinks forty acres is a
fiaeh*-and you sold them the idea that this sand pit is
faming country*
LON
Not sand pit* Alley#
But we did that*
And It wasn*t easy*
But there was nothing sneaking about any of that *
ALLEY
The cattlemen didn•t know anything about what you were doln*
LON
They had only to listen*
Alley Halcomb* we tried and tried
to deal with you cattle inter©s t s - b u t no I You were in the
Saddle*
Buyers*«*~dravera-**«all of you*
over grievances*
You walked out on us*
Y^u wouldnH talk
It was our tough
luek»~lt was our ox that was gored when our crops were
trampled*
Only the cowmen had any rights*
They respected
nothing****-not even human life*
ALLEY
Lon# the cattle interests were only too glad to see th©
law take its course when your nephew was killed*
LON
It wasn*i any of their doings that we got justice in that
case*
They Just knew enough to stay hack from th© Marshal*
But what about Jud Dodson who was murdered on his own farm***—
about Vernon Pierce******about the score of others?
cattlemen lift a restraining hand?
has today the farmers brought#
Did th©
What law this country
<*
m
m
ALLEY
Well~~you got yourself ft railroad directorship out of it—
and you broke me*
LON
I’m sorry it had to hit you, Alley*
But if youfre implying
that 1 got anything from th© railroad, you’re welcome to
look Into it*
X am on th® advisory counoil^^^bat that*©
all*
ALLEY
X Suppose I
You think you’ve got things th© way you farmers
want them now*
But you haven’t got th© country tamed yet*
Get a few more plows out here and the dust will be so thick
you can’t see***you can’t even breathe.*
LON
X thought we might talk over things, Alley**«*but I see we
ean’ti
ALLEY
XFft in the cattle trade was sold out by that railroad*
We
built stockyards and corrals and they promised this, and
that, and the other*
And now they’re wllllng~~and you’re
willing that we should lose everything we got so some suckers
can plow up the grass and starve to d®&th~*»and us along with
them!
The railroad promised to keep that terminal here for
years****-but shat have they don©?
LON
Built on West I
X don’t Ilk© to see any man lose-*-but you
can’t stop progress for one or two*
The frontier is moving
360
04 **
feat*
the longhorns are part of th© frontier and if you
©ant them you*!! have to move with them*
ALLEY
that1© eaay to say~~but you don*t realise the money I’ve
got tied up here*
LOB
I do real lee it I But the farmers have their lives tied up
here!
ALLEY
You*re going to regret your high handed ways* Allard.
Youfr©
no blood brother to God Aim!ghiy-*-~much as you may think sol
You and your farmers will rue th© day you came here*
LOB
Threaten as you like*
The longhorns are gone for
ood and
all!
at r w
iujiuSX
We*11 seel
I don*t go down without taking a pack of hoemen
with met
(Shouting heard in distance.
SABAH
leaves wash to look off*}
LOB
What do you mean by that ?
(Shouts of "firet*
"Prairie fire!'*)
SABAH
Lent
(HANK MARSH bounds in*
•• 25
scar
m
HANK carries a lot of extra weight
aort of Ilka an Inflated windbag.
Probably h© is past forty#
H© la on©
Of th© do^littloa#)
HANK
Lonl
Lonl
Holy Jenifer*
It*a burnlnl
My wheat*a a~burnin*
upl
LOH
What I
HANK
Prairie firet
It*a a~takln* my wheatt
LOH
Come on!
(LOH grabs some empty sacks, plunges
them in water and dashes off with them*}
Come onf Hank!
SARAH
Great grief I
(Follows LOH with other sacks*}
HANK
(His alarm gone#
ALLEY— .)
She*© really a-blasint
ALLEY
Don*fc stand here, you damn fool*
some Interest*
HANK
Where*11 you bet
It*s your field*
Show
304
86 «*
ALLEY
You know*
Get to that fire!
HAKK
(Rushing off shouting#)
Flrelt
Frairle firet
Wheat1a afireI
ALLEY
(Turn® to go*
See a MYRT In door*
He smiles*)
Quite a fixe*
(MYRT looks at him in silence*)
Still a pretty wild country*
(ALLEY goes*
the '’office*#
Billows of smoke rise beyond
MYRT moves toward it#
lights fade out*)
Curtain •*»
The
3*8
* 27 -
Prairie*
Apt One
Scene Two :
Later the same day*
The atmos­
phere Is smokey from the fire*
SARAH cornea In with JBB MARSH*
They carry some kitchen utensils
OT
is buxom and mature for her
fifteen years*
She tends to
the coarse# with a rather wild
and sensual nature*
JOT
Golly*
I
musta scorched my eyebrows*
SARAH
Let me see*
Yes, Jen, X believe you did*
JEM
That was some prairie fire*
SARAH
And a mighty strong prairie wind behind It*)
JEM
Shore roared through our place In no time*
SARAH
Too had*
Burnt up all of your father** wheat*
JOT
Reckon so#
Slch as It was*
(Looks at her dress*)
366
** J20 **
Bah*
I never did have only two dressesj now I only got one*
SARAH
Didnft you get anything out of th© house?
JEN
Jlst a little*
Thur warn *t much time*
Hornsea saved their
house* But twas Jlst luck they could*
The fir© had us all
bottled up afore we seen It*
SARAH
Here cornea your mother and Bottle*
(EV MARSH and DOT come In And drop their
bundles*
EV is a raw-boned woman j attractive If
she kept herself a little better*
Rather coarse In her talk and movementsf
and voluptuous in build*
In conversation ~
She Is loud
perhaps from constantly
battling for dominance over the eternal
wind*
Her hair is bristly and dry*
DOT Is rather pretty In her face though
shabbily dressed and wind-blown*
She is
JEN *s twin sister but her opposite in
most respects*
DOT is angular and plain
and flat chest ©dy the least coarse of
the MARSH family*)
EV
(Puffing*)
Fine countryI
If the sun donft kill you or If you donft git
mf
m *
drotnid In a froshit or if th© wind don't blow you away, you
git fried in a prairie fire#
JEN
If ya ain't froze th© winter before*
EV
Easy enough to see why the Indiana didn't try to stay here*
Ewan a redskin's got more sense than that*
SARAH
Nature ©an be pretty disagreeable if ah© takes a notion*
EV
She seems to have the notion most of the time*
DOT
M d you search yer arm, maw?
EV
Feels like it#
SARAH
It does look quite red, Ewie*
I'll get some fresh lard to
put on It*
JEN
Put some salt on It and you can slice It fer steak*
DOT
Jenl
EV
You wouldn't feel so smart If It was you'd got burnt*
Marsh I
JRH
I never meant nothin*
Jen
- 30 *
368
(EV wait a while SARAH goes into the
house *)
DOT
Where you spoa© we*re goin to live now?
ms
Don told us to come up here*
DOT
But Allards ainft got room enough to keep us all the time*
JBN
May he somebody111 move out and we can have their place#
I
was git tin tired of living in the same house all the time
anyhow*
(LQH and HAHK come in, carrying a few
household effects*
SAHAH returns to
fix EV*s arm*)
LOB
Set your things down anywhere, Hank, and I111 see about get­
ting my paraphanalia out of the office*
It *s the only on©
room but fair eised*
HABE
Be a© much room as we been used to#
JEH
We goin to move in there?
And live in town?
BABK
Yep*
LOB
It will do you for a while, Jen— until your father has a
.«*
chance to gat hia bearings*
to there* Hank*
36*
33. m
I111 Just leave that furniture
Mother and Myrt will let Ev ua© cooking
utensils*
HANK
la saved moat of them*
ION
And wo*11 hunt up some straw tleka you can ua© for beds*
HANK
Yah*
We’ll have to have a place to sleep*
JEN
0olly""-thai’ll b© nice— living there#
It1a got a floori
POT
We’re really much obliged, Lon*
(LOM goes into the office*)
Gee, pay, that’s better than th© house we had*
HANK
It’ll be all rl^nt*
DOT
Shore la good of Lon to let us ua© it*
JBN
(Has been examlng window*}
Heyt That’s gen~oo~in© glass in that windy*
HANK
Yah*
Lon brung it from the East with him*
(HANK goes into office*}
JEN
(To SARAH*)
370
** 33 «•
He sold we could live thur#
(M3TRT cornea out*)
MYRT
Mu*t I hear Lon?
JBN
He1* In the office*
KV
She warn *t talkin to you, Jon*
You keep your put~in out
till your asked*
(LOW comes out of office with a bundle
of papers*
HAWK follows*}
HANK
Well, the office is going to be all right to live in*
LON
It will do you until you can find a place-*-or get another
house built*
HANK
I*m not goin to farm anymore*
LON
Don1! get discouraged, Hank#
We*11 see to it that you get
along until you can grow a crop next year#
HANK
2 was a dang fool for ever farming* Especially land that
God never intended to be farmed*
LON
it isn*t as bad as that*
ing this year*
you look*
Look at the crops that are grow-*
Yellow fields dotted around ©very direction
371
-
33
<*
HARK
W*ll, If they* re Ilk© mine, won*t matter so much if they
horn, too*
Mine didn*t have nothin In the heads to apeak of*
the stems was covered with a rusty lookln stuff*
LON
Rusty?
HANK
Seemed to shut off all the sap*
the heads was either breakln
off or not flllin out*
LON
Rust#
HANK
feu know^~looks kind of rusty*
Some of it was kind of hlaek.
LON
All your field m s that way?
HANK
Nigh on to every stem 1 looked at*
LON
four*a the only field like that?
Do you know?
HANK
I spose they*re all the same*
George E o m fs is I know*
LON
X knew there was some rust «*** hut— — —
(SARAH has got some ”ticks” she hands
to EV.)
EV
Hank* Here** a couple of ticks ready for straw*
(Flings them at HANK.)
m
34
.
m
nmz
(Reluctantly*)
Awright#
3ARAH
You got all your stuff, Lon?
LON
Bight hero*
SABAH
Th*aa wo can begin straightening it up* Ev*
(SARAH and EV go into office*)
m m
(Aa LON arrives near house*)
1 want to talk to you a minute, Lon*
(To LOT and JEN who are looking around*}
Will you girl a take this pall to the spring for some water?
DOT
Sure*
(Takes bucket*}
JEN
(Grabbing bucket and holding It up*}
Hey, It don't even leak#
LOT
Course not*
Come on*
(The girls go out*}
MYRT
You shouldn't have brought them here, Lon*
LON
The Marshes?
372
m
55 w
MYHT
On the other hand It may be beat that you did*
LON
their house burned, Myrtle*
there was nothing else to do*
MYKT
Yee#**»~«*Lon, that prairie fire was set*
LON
Sett
MYHT
It was lighted «■*» Intentionally*
LON
Shat makes you think so?
MYBT
Bank Marsh set it*
Set his own crop afire?
Burned his own house?
That do®sn*t
a m reasonable*
m m
It may not be reasonable but it1a true*
And Alley Maicomb
instigated it*
LON
dot Bank to burn up his own property?
MYHT
Ybu must believe me* Lon*
After you went*-they were here,
Hank and Alley-**-**they didnft say
much ---Alley
him a p w « *— **but I*m sure X*m right, Lon*
tried to bush
374
m
36
«*
LON
But right here?^~~oh~you must be midtaken, Myrt*
mm
Alley made threats to you#
LON
It doesn't make sense*
MYRT
Sow did that fir© start?
LOS
Nobody* knew*
done it*
Thought a spark from the railroad might have
**hat could Hank possibly get out of burning his
own crop?
MYHT
I don't know* But there's something behind that fire*
LOS
You're imagining things. Myrtle*
MXB.T
You're not going to do anything?
LON
I can't very well accuse a man of burning his own wheat*
mm
I hope to God 1 am wrong*
{DOT and JEN return with th© water*)
Thank you, girls*
Bet it her©*
(LON goes into house with papers*}
S&R&H
(With rifle*)
375
** 57 **
Myrtle, do you want to take this?
imcr
Yea, Mother#
(Goes to get gun*)
JEN
(Following MYHT#)
Me hustled— — for w© thought maybe you wanted It for supper#
MYHT
Yes, X did#
Thank you*
JEN
You know what we're goin
to have?
Would you be fer saying?
Jen, hash up your mouth*
JEN
Me ain't got nothin*
We'll have to ©at here*
DOT
Jen*
JEN
What'a th© matter with that?
TOT
We ain't been asked*
'Taln't supper time anybow*
JEN
(To MYHT#)
That Lon's shoo tin iron?
MYRT
No, this one happens to be mine#
JEN
Yours?
Do you shoot?
■* 53
MYHT
Sometimes#
(DAVE CAH SON comes In#}
DAVE
How1 do*
POT
(&&y.)
Oh-*~hullo, Pave*
PAVE
(Embarrassed*)
Howdy, Pot#
*Lo, Jen,
Mis* Allard♦-*-‘" 1 3 Lon about?
MYHT
He*« inside, Pave#
I* 11 tell him#
PAVE
I wanted to see him a minute -* if he ainft busy*
(MYHT goes In with gun*)
JEK
(To PAVE*)
Pot thunk you warnTt never comin around agin#
Thunk you’d
gone clean off and forgot about her*
POT
I didn't neither, Dave*
PAVE
X been aorta busy*
Helpin to cut wheat and all*
POT
How Is your- wheat?
*■
39 **
m m
It ainH so good*
That *a what I want to so® Lon about*
ftLdnH know you was goin to be hero*
But I*m glad you are#
Wo,ro goin to live up here now#
DAVE
Ya are?
With Allards?
DOT
For a while#
Over In Lon*» office*
DA <E
Oh*
I wondered where you *& be goin*
Didn*t see you after
the fire*
DOT
$a Allard brung ua up here*
DAVE
Ifll atop one of these evenings*
JEN
*Ywon*t do you no good#
There aln*t no hay piles around here*
.do t
?en# hesh up I Dave donU want no hay pile#
JEH
He must be a funny feller then*
DOT
Bonft listen to her, Dave*
DAVE
t ainvt* I reckon here comes Lon#
370
** 40 «*
(DAVE moves toward house# )
DOT
(To
mu )
Wiaht you wouldn’t talk to him that way*
Everbody ain’t
like you*
JEN
What’s h© corns to see you for then?
DDK
(Coming out| speaking to MYHT Inside*)
Don’t 1st it disturb you so, Myrt*
How do do, Dave#
DAVE
Howdy*
Quite a firs*
LON
Kind of broke up your harvesting crew for a while*
DAVE
Too bad for Hank*
George Horn was lucky, though*
LOH
We just got it headed off in time, or th© rest of George’s
wheat would have gone, too*
(DOT and JEN go into office*)
DAVE
How you reckon a fir© like that gets started?
DON
It’s hard to tell*
Everything’s so dry#
Why?
DAVE
Fhnny how big it was before anybody seen it*
was strong*
the railroad?
Spread it like fury*
Course th© wind
Spos© it was a spark from
570
'* 41 *
LON
It started up close to the right of way*
I expect we ought
to watch the fialda pretty carefully in the future*
DAVE
Yep*
Prairie fires are bad medicine*
I've always thought
what a lot of dirt a fellers enemies could do hi& by start in
an# of them on his place*
LON
What makes you say that?
DAVE
Be about the meanest thing he could do*
Have to be an awful
ornery cuss, though*
(LON is perturbed*
After a moment•)
LON
Did you want something, Dave?
DAVE
Some of us are kind of worried, Lon*
LON
Worried?
DAVE
There1a an awful lot of rust in the wheat*
LON
Hank said his was Infected*
DAVE
I donft think it1a goin to produce much*
hasn't much In the heads at all.
LON
Are all the fields that way?
That we been cut tin
Scrawny little kernala*
**>
880
42 «*
dave
1 don’t know*
George Horn says hie la*
LON
1 heard that *
mvB
Good many of the fellows are out looking over their fields
now*
Guess they hadn*t paid much attention before*
perty good-Just to see the field*
Looks
It’s when you get in it*
LQN
Worse than last year?
DAVE
Sure seems to he*
LON
I brought some of mine in*
to be all right*
Thrashed It by hand*
It seemed
Of course ltfs a different variety*
It from that little patch of durum I had last year*
B&VJS
It*a that real hard kind?
LON
This here*
(They go to the sacks*)
DAVE
That sure looks different from uftiat we been cut tin*
LON
Let1© £*> have a look at some of that*
DAVE
By golly these Is hard kernels*
Planted
381
- 43 -
LON
% walked through these fields.
Pldrn't 000 any rust in itu
SAVE
You e * n H hardly bite 0 m*
(Yhey start out-)
LON
It*s from that seed X got from.Siberia you know.
a little patch of It last year,
Just had
dared the teed and planted
eeae bigger fields this season.
DAVE
(As they disappear from view*)
Sure leohe like i f a yield*
(Looking out offloe doe?*)
Nee shore did Hank go to with them ticks?
(JEN crowds out past EV.)
do see shy your paw ain*t bank with them ticks.)
JEN
Where*A he go?
EV
He went to get straw In an!
(MYHT comes out to gather the clothes
from the line.)
JEN
Where* s the straw at t
EV
It* 11 be the first straw stack you eome to*
as X do your paw*A pick the olosest one.
You know well
388
- 44
Hope It tin t flat too many beards la it
Tea go and boat hla up.
SARAH
(Coming eat; toward houee.)
J ' U get those ooafortsrs, ft.
EV
Don't giro us no good ones.
They'll git all dirty.
SARAH
We h s sn ' t any very good ones.
JEN
Here* s paw now!
(HANK oeaes In eapty handed*)
EV
Where's then straw ticks at?
HANK
Sown by the straw pile.
We ain't gola down there to sleep on ea.
BANK
They was too balky.
1 oouldn't oarry ea.
Rot go down and git then straw tioks.
EV
(Calls la.)
Jen, you and
Where they at?
HANK
Down there*
DOT
What* maw?
EV
0o with Jen after them etraw ticks your paw filled.
(To HANK.)
You did fill ent?
HANK
That you think 1 took em down there fer?
EV
00 on you youngunat
DOT
Come on, Jen.
JEN
Aw, eoft bireht
EV
Jeni
JEN
1 Just eald *eoft birch*.
EV
Where*A you hear that?
JEN
A feller told me.
804
• 48
EV
fill 4*11*t say It around here.
Go on now!
(SABAH carries in several folded
comforters.)
SABAH
These will do to spread over the tittles.
EV
They leek nioe and soft.
SABAH
They won't be as scratchy If you turn them wrong side up*
EV
A U U 1 « 9OTAtoll io good for the Aids a
(Takes the comforters*)
SARAH
If you want to puli a asaa of turnips, Enle; I'll cock
thorn for supper*
EV
Be glad to •<■**-«*«*«■*—«•******tt******
(Goes Into office.)
SARAH
They're out there in the garden.
(At piie of clothes.)
Those all dry, Myrtle?
MXRT
They seem to he
(SARAH goes into house*
HANK has
settled himself against the office*
He fumbles for his pipe.)
385
47
HANK
(Calling.)
Hey Ev.
(No answer#)
IT$
m
t ain't deaf*
HANK
VbyiiH you answer then?
m
(At door*)
What you want?
HANK
You seen my pipe around?
EV
X have not*
HANK
X suet a loot it eomeplaoe • You sure It warn't In nothin
we Inrung up here*
EV
So eure I'e oertaln!
(She goes to garden*)
HANK
That1s dang queer shore that pipe would of went*
(MYH? ooses over toward HANK*)
Look a like It waa goin to be a aloe evenln, Ills' Allard*
MYRT
Wee*
Woo bad about your wheat*
And your house*
•* 48
SANK
X always aaya— -no uae to ory over spilt milk.
MYRT
Ho* do you suppose that fire started?
HANK
Spark froa that dang train engine.
MXRT
Yon don*t suppose it eould have been a matoh?
HAMS
(Saaptoioualy.)
What yon mean?
MYRT
X dldn*t know.— — Someone night have dropped one.
HANK
Oonld a been X spoae.
But X <2en*t reokon it was.
MYRT
X don't believe you notloed no at the house - when you
and Alley were hare.
HANK
Huh?
When?
What you mean?
HYBY
You know—
when you oame to tell Lon about the fire.
HANK
X was party emelted.
X didn't look around to see who all
was here.
HYR*
Xt might have paid to.
Why did you set that fix’s, Hank?
♦ 40 **
hank :
llhat you drlYin at?
MYHT
That ha* Alley Malcomb to do with it?
HANK
I didn't sot ao flim,
X wouldn't b u m my own etop*
MYHT
You1re lying to rae, Raid.
HANK
You women git funny notions la your beads*
MXRT
Ibis one may not be so funny for you*
HANK
You and your wplty ways,
your belfry.
started.
X always did say you had bats In
X don't know nothin about how that fire
X earn prows It*
MYHT
You earn orowe It?
HANK
You don't bang nothin on me*
X reokon you better forgit
any slob erasy notions, Missus Allard.
Mo tellin what
trouble they might get you in.
MYHT
That1s right. Bank*
Strange X didn't think of that.
HANK
X don't know nothin about it*
(MY comes in with turnips.)
m
*.
00
wr
You don’t know nothin about what?
HANK
HtVer you mind.
m
(To MYRf.)
Hank1# always blowln oft at the mouth*
Don't pay no
attention to him*
HANK
Beckon 1*11 moeey off down to the store.
MYHT
dire my regards to Alley Maleomb.
HANK
What?
■Don1! know if I 1!! see Alley*
MYHT
Tell him Lon was planning to offer him a good price for
the lumber In his corrals — — if hefa kept a civil tongue.
HANK
What1s Lon want of that lumber}
MYHT
Hover you mind about that part*
Just tell Alley.
(HANK goes*)
KV
X heard the railroad movln west kind of put the kibosh on
Alley.
MYHT
That's what I've heard.
see
- 81
(EV g M i into house with turnips.
MYRT finishes folding tbs clothes
she's gathered fro* the lino.)
LON
(Off.)
Iou oaa soo H u t this looks like.
X have sons hero la a
bag.
(LON aones la with DAVE, GEORGE HORN,
and DUD fALFORD,)
GEORGE
Row do. Illssue Allard.
DUD
Row d*do.
a m
good evening.
DAVE
Row what Loa'e got hero really looks like wheat, George.
(Takes handful from hag and shows
It to GEORGE.)
GEORGE
Sure don’t look like that seahhy stuff on ay ran oh.
DUD
Mebba it's a difference In soil.
DAVE
This Is a different kind of wheat.
GEORGE
That you oall It, Lon?
XtU Sam.
the kind they raise In toe dry parte of Siberia.
Where1a you git itt
LON
I got a little of it last years
This ie from toe seed*
momm
they ain’t no rust in it, huh?
LON
fou saw the field*
BO©
Mow mine don’t have mist all over*
But there are great
big patches that do.
DAVE
Xou won’t have half a crop.
BOB
BO*
PAVE
Hone of ue will*
GEORGE
All yours this *---
Burable stuff f Lon?
LON
Practically all of it’s Burins.
X have one little field
that isn’t.
GEORGE
How about me gittin seed of it for next year?
m
X don't
why not.
hOH
an
«* 8 3
•»
DAVE
Hew about it* Lent
the mills are goin to dock us on this
stuff we got, aln11 they?
It1s so shrivelled.
LON
I1* afraid they will*.-*if It’s all like what I saw.
®OHGE
I don1! see no prospect* of much of It being any better*
DUD
Too bad we didn’t all have wheat like this of Lon's.
DAVE
Reckon it won’t do any good to bellyache*
we ain’t.
We sin11—
so
We’ll know better next year.
mom®
What causes that rust, anyway?
LOW
I don’t knew.
Some say It's in the seed.
w m m
Don1! show up till the stuff gets uo~**headln out.
BUD
Alius some dang thing!
X thought maybe this year I ’d
have a little money left over after harvest.
GEQRCHS
like Allard is the only one will show a profit
this year.
DUD
What kind of a deal you be willing to make on seed, Lout
Nhai ever It1a worth on the market .
mom®
Speee a fallow would gat it from you on terms.
LON
If I don't haws to sail too much of it that way.
DAVE
W® san't hardly expect Lon to giro us tins whan he could
git wash on the market •
Dim
Anybody else handle this seed?
LON
Don41 think you can buy It on the market.
aSOHGE
Looks like you can about make your own terms, then.
DAVE
Everybody's goln to want this seed.
LON
X won't bleed you on It*
DAVE
We know that, ten.
pm
t better git after ay shores.
GEORGE
X fll ride out with you.
LON
We'd better get the Association together and talk this out.
«* 90 «*
mmm
ib ifit
SAVE
Shorn you outtln your who at* Loot
LOU
Wo pull Into it tomorrow*
might*
How about mooting Saturday
1*11 haws to Know about how muoh oood to oavo out*
SAVE
Sot you warn booP tho wholo orop right here and got rid of
ovory fcornol*
GEORGE
Saturday might?
L03N
Good enough*
DUD
w horo abouta t
DAVE
Karo ought to bo all right*
wo* 11 bo In town*
LOU
All right*
momm
(Far#wOll.)
Lo«|*
LON
atom*
(Thoy all go out*
w m otto on stop*
SABAH comes out with poallngs for slop*)
S6
SABAH
Whet1* the matter, Lout
LON
Bust*
SABAH
In your wheat?
LON
No-— but in everybody else*s.
SABAH
That's toe bad.
LON
Tee .»<* beo&uae theyfll be wanting seed from me.
SARAH
Youf11 have plenty to go around*
LON
Tee*
X suppose X 1!! have enough to go around, but~-
SARAH
It mill make more bread next year than this*
LON
Tea*
It's the only thing to do.
SARAH
lhab might make you think It wouldn’t be?
LON
X need cash for the elevator.
market X mould get mash.
Belling my wheat on the
But these fellows with only half
a erep or lees won't have anything left after their debts
are eleared to pay me o&ah.
Or X oam*t ask them to.
308
- 30 SARAH
Of oouvfto you oanH.
umr
o a n H h«?
The elevator*a for their benefit*
SARAH
The elevator will ciome somehow*
If these people need the
wheat weed Lorn has, they must have it*
MlRf
Why m e t Lon look after everybody?
to these settlors forever*
He e & n H be god~father
TJ*ey*re Just a paek of sheep*
feu chased off the wolves, Lon, and showed them pasture*
Hew let them shift for themselves a little*
lou*re entitled
to some return*
SABAH
But there won't be any return if they donH have seed*
LON
They must have the seed*
m m
Teu give up the reins every time you get them in your hands*
LON
fhinge will work out.
MYHT
Someday 1 hope we oan have a few things ourselves.
SARAH
Be patient, Myrtle*
ISXRT
Be pattenti
68
$00
(MYRT wheels to go in house*
DOT oomes
in yellihg*)
DOT
Mawt
Maori\
SARAH
0he*s In the house, Dot*
DOT
Mawt
W
(At door*)
are you bellerin about|
Ehere1* Jen and them straw
tlokat
DOT
tee wonft eome*
She w o n H help*
m
0by w o n H shot
DOT
She1* fool In around with a feller*
Right out there in
the open*
E?
Ala* t tee got no sense?
Come on*
SAEAH
teed grief, Swwle**— -III
m
O h ~ ~ I reekon there1s worse things than beln laid*
right out in the open!
(tee goes followed by DOT*)
But
- 69 SARAH
Kay be we ghouldn1t have given them the office, Lon*
m m
That1# some of yoar 1farmere11 you1re caving seed for*
LON
Aren*t many of them like that, Myrtle*
SABAH
There are lota of the good ones*
Xou can't fan out all the
weed seeds *-— ~*->X'11 take some things over so they can eat
la the other place*
(She goes in*}
LOH
X looked around a little-while X wae out*
Around where the
fire started*
MYHT
Find any evidence of— — **-—
LON
Xt wae set*
But mono of the other men know it yet*
MYRT
Bo you have any idea who?
LON
X found this*
(Draws out a clay pipe*)
Whoever it was must have dropped it*
uxm
Let m
see It*
(LON hands it to her.)
» 60 •
LON
duet a olay pip*.
There are lots of clay pipes*
m m
Nothing on It to identify It*
LON
A kind of .a star soratohed on one side, hot that do©m 11
tell mush.
It was op by the oulyert under the tracks.
Some dry stuff had been piled up.
MYHT
Hank Marsh lost hie pipe today.
LON
He wouldn*t have set that fire. Myrtle.
umt
We*11 find out.
(She goes to office and lays pipe in
window*)
LON
Isn11 that a little childish, Myrtf
MXRf
Possibly.
Hut if it is* we*re la for a lot more fires.
I*n sure Alley*a behind this, Loaf
LON
He*s not doing it himself,
why begin on Hankt
m
can be sure of that.
t*m the one Alley is after.
MYRT
Here comes Hank Marsh.
But
(HANK comes In and goes to office*
finding no one he turns.
He*s
smoking a clay pipe*)
HANK
He in your placet
LON
She went to get Jen.
HANK
Oh.
Nice ewenla.
IffSRT
I see you found your pipe*
HANK
This?
Ho, I bought me a new one.
MXRT
Didn't X see your wife lay one there on the window?
LON
MyrtleI
MXHT
Walt.
(HANK has picked up pipe from window*)
HANK
Holy Jenifer. That* s it. Why dldn* t she tell me she
found it?
irfHT
That's yours, Is it?
HANK
Sure it's mine*
400
- m
MYKT
You couldn’t be mistaken?
H ank
So.
X can tell by the smell.
Pipes are like humane,
they
all smell different.
LON
(doing to
h a n k .)
that Isn’t yours, Hank.
HANK
Course It Is.
LON
You can’t tell by the smell.
(Reaching hand for pipe*)
X found that pipe and X want to keep It a while.
HANK
You may of found It but It* a my property.
my mark on It.
A star scratched on the left aide.
LON
then you’re sure ltfe yours?
HANK
Swear on a stack of Bibles.
LON
Couldn’t possibly be anybody el©©1s?
HANK
I ’d know that feller mongat a million.
LON
I ’m sorry, Hank.
Why It1a even got
See?
4<a
63
HANK
•erryj
Why you want It anyhow?
Xou don't smote.
LON
Be you want to know where X found it?
HANK
Teh <* where T
X epose X loot It when X was fight In that fire*
LON
X think you lost It before that.
HANK
Ten think eot
Shy?
(Suddenly*}
What you glttin at, Lon?
LON
X found that -<• up ty the oulrert*
A good place to start
a fire and get away without being seen*
HANK
Oh—
you think that, too, huh?
LON
Xt *e a terrible thing to start a prairie fire In this
country.
HANK
Sposln I.did set ltl
Tou can1! do nothin.
Xt was my own
property.
LON
Tow dldn(t know how far it. would spread*
part of deorge Hern9* crop.
As it w&s It got
408
• #4 •
HAHX
Pltt&la mgr pip* don’t prom nothin*
um
wo ha»8 mu Ataoolatlon, Hank, to tool with affair* of this
oort.
(RANK booonoo alanmd*)
RANK
thoro’o no proof.
xtm
The farmer* in the Association will think a®«
Thing* like
this ere pretty eartoue to them*
m m
{Soared*}
that9IX they do* t*on?
LOU
X d o n t H know that*
Cleorge Boro end Dave Carson ere herd
to held when they9re mad*
m m
X «• X didn’t mean nothin*
•y wheat wee runty
Beally Lon#
I ** I found out
and -*•»
LOU
Sfia with m e t It’e hotter whole than burned*
BASUC
1 —
X Juet went oraey, X &ue*s«
LOW
What1* back of wetting that flrec Hank?
403
~ 08
HANK
Nothin.
LON
Xou're going to he hotter off to tell the truth.
Nho's
involved In thio heeldea you and Alley Hgleoah?
HANK
(At loot.)
Nobody.
JUst ua.
LON
Alloy hired you to do It?
HANK
Xeh.
LON
Nhy?
HANK
1 '• gola to get it for preaching.
LON
Alloy won't hurt you.
I'll eee to that.
Nhy did he put
you up to it?
HANK
to git even with you fellae.
Hlth the farmers.
LON
Who was narked for fire a?
HANK
Bverhody.
that's what he wanted.
LON
So you lit your erop first to throw ue off the traok.
that does Alley think he's going to get out of destroying
all this wheat?
( The MARSH family and ALLEY M A L C O M B .)
406
m
HAWK
If hf could scare out the farmers, the trail herds would
com® bask*
LOW
No, they wouldnH.
Go on*
HANK
Even if they dldmH, he’d of squared accounts ~
gtttin the railroad to build west*
about it*
for you
1 don11 know much
He was payin me to git rid of the wheat*
X
was goin to set a big one soon as the wind got right
then clear out*
You won’t let ©a lynch me, Lon?
LON
You think you've any right to ask for less?
Betraying your
own people?
HANK
But X*m tellin you about it, Lon*
S know*
I fm tellin you everthing
I’ll clear out* Lon; I w o n H ever come back*
SARAH
What about your family?
HANK
They ♦**. they could come later*
EV
(Off*)
Yete em on in there and don*t be so pokey*
(Hhe comes in after DOT and JEN who
carry the stuffed straw ticks*)
400
• 63 *>
Help the yeungttmo put them ticks inside, Honk*
HANK
(Low*)
They don't know nothin about this* Lem~»~ylt#
KV
Ten hoar mo, Hank*
HANK
X beared you!
(Ho help9 girls.)
SARAH
X set your suppers on the table in thore, Hw.
Thought it
would ho looo crowded than in our kitchen--so many of ua.
KV
Reckon it will at that.
(To HANK and the girl a.)
Turn ea up edgewise• One at a time!
that one.
Ho on.
You younguns take
Now grab op to thla one, Hank,
hay
that one over on the fur aide.
(They finally get the ticks inside the
office.
The ALLARDS have drawn away
toward their house.)
SARAH
Newer thought that of Hank.
NXRT
Hero comes Alloy, ion.
SARAH
Coming here?
*
40*
1 0 »»
LON
Looks like It*
SABAH
Bo oareful, hen.
Should I go for helpt
LOH
There won11 ho any troublo.
MXRT
Ho knows X saw him and Hank together.
LOH
You and lather go ahead with your eating.
You might kind
of watoh.
SABAH
Some, Myrtle •
(The women go in.
LOH sits on step
ALLEY eomes in.)
ALLEY
Evenin* Allard.
LOH
Alley.
ALLEY
I sort of shot off my mouth this morning.
LOH
Yes.
You did.
ALLEY
You know how a, fella gets worked up~over login so muoh.
I* at sorry* Lon*
LON
X amt too* Alley.
along*
X always thought we might be able to get
400
- 70 -
allot
Just thought I'd let you know*
No hard feelln’s*
LON
that all | Alley?
allot
X was talkln to one of the fellas#
la the lumber in my corrals.
Hoard you was Interested
X suppose you've lost interest
sines 1 blew off so muoh.
LON
N e ~ n o t exactly.
X wouldn't say X fd lost Interest#
ALLOT
Well— if .you want to talk it over any time— we might come
to terns#
(Starts out*}
LON
Supposing we tails: it over right now*
ALLOT
Well— you know *&atfs there *
LON
I've a good idea
ALLOT
X suppose you'd thought of some sort of a deal.
LON
At one time X had--yes#
ALLOT
What you figure it ought to be worth?
You know what X want of it*
ALLEY
B o n H know as that natters.
LON
1*11 tall you what I fd figured on at on® time, Alley.
going to have to have a grain elevator her® shortly*
of the limber in your building® would work in well*
We*re
Lot
X had
thought if you furnished the lumber and X put up the oost
of labor, it would make a deoent fifty-fifty proposition
for both of us.
ALLEY
X d o n H want an interest in any grain elevator*
LON
Circumstances have changed my idea®, too.
ALLEY
X understood you wanted to buy the lumber.
LON
What you think you ought to have for ItJ
ALLEY
Somewhere near what % put into It.
LOH
You can hardly expect that.
ALLEY
Be Just as useful as new stuff.
B o n H know why the farmers
should expect me to be the good Samaritan.
LON
they donH.
And least of all me.
**
YJJ
410
*»
ALLEY
1*11 sell for cash--*tor half ©f what the lumber coat me*
LOH
X did think your Investment was worth saying at one time*
But X think now youfXl deal on our terms*
We have an
organisation known as the Farmers Protective Association*
alley
You don't have to remind me.
LOH
They are touchy about their crops*
They need an elevator
and you are going to build It for them*
ALLEY
Well, by Qodlt
Who says X amUi
LOB
X do, Alley.
ALLEY
You!
(Snorts.)
I 111 see them all in hell first*
LOH
X wouldn't go Just yet.
There was a prairie fire today*
We know she set it and why*
ALLEY
You may think you do*
LOH
We*re convinced enough to make it stick.
ALLEY
4
Would you explain thatT
there are three aholoes tor you, Alley*
right now before the boy* catoh you;
You can get out
you oan etay end build
an elevator gg our ter^a»»-^whloh will be better than you
deserve; or you oan etay--and be lynched.
ALLS*
You oan11 Intimidate me, Allard*
LON
Z wouldn*1 count on waiting long to make up your mind*
dood night, Alley*
(LON turns to go in the house*
ALLEY
draws a elm-shooter*}
ALLEY
A11 ard— —
«»«»«»«»«*»«»
(A rifle firee from the house window*
ALLEY grabs his Moulder*}
Curtain —
418
• 74 "alidad. Prairie*
Act Two
Saana Onet
Harvest.
A year later.
Saturday night.
A
Bright noon.
Shocked wheat in the dlatanoe.
SARAH re at a In an old rooter.
MYRT on step reading a oarpenter'e drawing.
SARAH
Xeu'll ruin your eyeat Myrtle.
UYRT
The aeon le bright.
SARAH
(Pleasantly.)
These house plans will he worn out yet before you get a
ohanoe to use then.
M m
We* 11 he the envy of the countryside,
with a new house
like this.
SARAH
In a few years they'll he oomaon as the aod houses are new.
A few aore suoh harvests.
MXRf
But ours will ho the first, Mother Allard.
pine and freflh plaster.
Smelling of
Rather thrilling, isn't it?
SARAH
Xt will he very nlee, Myrtle.
413
— 76 **
UYRT
Row oan you be eo ealta about it?
SARAH
X haven11 lived in that aort of house for
bo
long* X won’t
knew how to olean it#
MXRf
OXean it?
Xt will bo nothing.
Ho cracks*
Ho chinks fall­
ing out.
SARAH
Zt will be nine*
(EV comeg in from town.
She looks
younger and la better dressed.)
EV
Country sure is glttea populated.
Xou’d think they was a
elroua in tow**— the crowd that*a around.
elbow room.
Ain’t hardly
Dot and Dave been here?
SARAH
Hot yet.
ev
Reckon Dave worked late tfarapbin*
(Sitting.)
Oh mo-*-X#a all tuckered out.
SARAH
Xou see about the me^tf Evvie?
EV
Teh.
da&fly’s got it laid back for us.
for twenty harvest hands* didn’t you?
Xou said enough
414
s a ha h
U
r
said there'd to about that many*
EV
X told Gadfly t w e n t y - f X
reckon there*11 to enough*
So*« got It In that dry cistern of his*
nice and cool
down there * X weuldst11 mind sleepln there these hot nights*
tent down in It with him to look over the meat*
gadfly, X like to see what I'm buyIn.
then lt*s
Them your house
plans again, Myrtt
m m
Xe s # they are*
m
Reck on it will to fancy all rlg&t?
Xf somethin don't
happen to it before it gits built*
HXRT
Xou*re eery consoling*
EX
X don't seam anything will happen to it*
country*
Here today and gone tomorrow*
always lucky*
But you know this
Course Ion's
He's always on top of the heap*
But now
take me far instance*
MYRT
Xou hare things you didn't haw© before*
BV
Oh-~I ain't oomplalnln*
But if anybody had told me a year
age that my husband would hl$* tail it out of the country
41*
« 77
without leavin a trace— that my two kids would be on
their own— and I*d be worklxi for some body el#e— X*d of said
he wae a bald faced liar.
But her# I am.
SABAH
Xou haven't heard anything from Hank?
ev
&oaft reckon X ewer will*
He*# probably got eome other
woman or get plugged in a poker game,
that*# more like it*
SABAH
X donft haow hew you oan talk that way, Ev.
EV
Oh, Hank had.hi# good point#.
got into him.
X newer figured out what
He was like a oat on a hot stove from the
tine Alley got that bullet in hi# a m till he disappeared.
Hewer could figure--unless him and Alley had teen up to
eome thin.
Funny how Alley took it into hi# head to build
that elevator.
m m
He *11 recoup what he lost when the cattle trade went.
EV
Alley know# hi# way around all right.
Forty nice feller.
Seem# to be able to use hi# shot arm better now.
He
thought far a while it wasn't newer goln to be no good
to him.
Suppoe© it always will be stiff.
Some.
How
did that ffhootin
(DOf and DAVE come in.
a big butter jar.)
DAVE carries
410
- 78 007
Bullo# Maw*
m
Well— a hunk of my own flesh and blood*
Howdy, Pavel
DAVE
Howdy*
(To SARAH*)
Brought along this butter Lon said you wanted*
SABAH
(Taking butter*)
Thank you, Daws*
mm
Said you was goln to need sons for the thrashln orew
Monday*
SABAH
Looks good*
DAVE
Xt*e all fresh*
pot Jist got through ohurnln it*
(SARAH goes In with butter.)
POT
How you been# Maw?
EV
Well now— I been gittin along right good.
POT
Sot a new drees, ainH ya?
EV
dot it on for the first time*
DOT
Shore li party*
goin to git some things when the
wheat*a soldi Paw® says.
BA T®
Reckon evs?bedy will have Sunday dud® now*
the wheat crop
what It is*
(TO MYET,)
Hear Lon* e goln to build a house*
MYHT
We plan to.
BAVE
t e&n*t do that yet*
day.
But Bot and me* s goln to have one some
Bure will he good to see some cash.
George Horn
specta to get his money tonight for that one oar a wheat
he shipped*
POT
What111 he git?
A hundred dollars?
BAYS
Here than that.
BOT
GollyII
(ALLEY somes In.
He carries his right
arm lik© it wag partially parallzed.
He is dlsturted.)
A3A&X
Lon up here?
« 80 **
HXRT
Re hasn't returned.
AL1EX
Still eat on that thraehln orew Jaunt?
UYRT
We expected him bach before this.
ALLRX
If he oomea baek here, tell him Iw&nt to eee him at the
elevator.
Say be perty important.
IttRt
1*11 tell him.
DAVE
George been In to get hie money yet?
ALLEX
Sot yet.
Ze he in toenf
DAVE
Ought to he^^^porty soon j euywoy *
m
EYenin, AlleyI
ALLEY
(To EV*)
Oh, good evenlB— *Mrs* Marsh.
iDldn9t eee you*
(To MYRY.)
Bo sure and toll Lon*
(SARAH comee out.)
Eveoln, Mother Allard*
(ALLEY goes*)
41*
41*
** OX
SABAH
Wonder what* & the matter?
mnf
Nothing X imagine *
DOT
Heard any more from Jen, Maw?
m
8hefe do in all right*
Hays,
Still at that boardin house Job in
One of the fellas from here had seen her*
DAVE
Spose we better git our tr&din done, Dot?
DOT
X spose*
ehyn1! you oorae along9 Maw?
CT
Hah*
X don11 lifce elbowln around*
Xou go on*
DOT
Maw*— —
(Sits by her mother and whispers*)
EV
Well, what about It?
Kou can't git m irried &n& not expect
it*
DAVE
(Starting out*)
You corain now. Dot?
DOT
Teh*
420
- 8S -
(To EV.)
Xwr I n n
i b o n to partyI
EV
I like it.
(Getting up.)
Oueee X will walk • piece with you after all.
(DAVE has gone out.
EV and DOT
follow talking.)
DOT
That you keen eatint
EV
Hethin.
Vhyt
DOT
Snells like it.
EV
Gadfly give ae some grape Juice.
Dave treat you rightT
(They are out.)
SARAH
X do wish Ev was -- a little different than she la.
good hearted -» but—
HXRT
Orape juloe!
SARAH
She*e a funny woman.
MXRT
X was suspiolous when She same In so talkative.
She*s
- 83 -
mi
SARAH
s had a hard row to hoe*
hut she shouldn't do that*
MXRf
We can hardly keep her here*
Behaving this way*
SARAH
But where would she go?
She oan11 work as a harvest hand*
MXR*
She hae*
SARAH
We oan*t send her out to that.
m m
Let her go to her daughter* e*
SARAH
I*d hoped she might go of her own free will*
MTOT
Something will happen one of these days and b© w r y embar­
rassing to all of ue*
% don't want Lonnie to grow up
exposed to her Influence*
SARAH
MXRf
Have you noticed her Interest In Alley?
SARAH
Well— not Alley In particular.
do*
I think moat any man would
She9ft not bad looking— since she keeps herself better.
(LON, in overalls, comes la*)
422
~ §4
LOU
Harvest moon tonight*
M3ERT
(Pleased*)
Lent
t««| It1a a beautiful moon*
SARAH
Hat your crew rounded up?
LOU
Orew of twenty*
We start thrashing early Monday morning*
Lot of wheat In those fields*
solid*
Jt'a heavy and hard and
that Durum wheat was a great find*
SARAH
The earth knows*
She rejoices when the seed Is good*
The
weak she destroys and to the strong she gives life*
LOW
I t fs an uncompromising earth*
SARAH
With men as with the seed.
We are close to her.
devices*
Oh, here we can know the earth*
Man hasnft submerged her with his own
He hasn't forgotten She Is the giver of life*
mxrt
Man must use her fruits.
SARAH
There is more power In a grain of wheat than man Is able
to create*
MXRT
He can use that power*
- s*
SARAH
If be is wise and unselfish.
MXRT
He must be selfish.
We are entitled to comfort and
happiness*
SARAH
Is there greater happiness than the smile of earth In her
fruits?
Than seeing the grain sprout and grow and ripen
to harvest?
MXRT
The fruits of earth are the means to the end— not the end
Itself.
SARAH
To me they are enough.
They are the end.
LON
It* s good to see the country grow.
1OTIT
What a lot of golden stars there are*
LON
It*s a beautiful night.
<Takes MXRT’s hand.)
Happy?
MTRT
Very.~~~-For I have you, Lon.
LON
And X have you.
And a grand mother.
485
4m
** 06
BAVim
(tailing*}
few*
A grandmother*
(They laugh*)
LON
The boy got ovor his oholio?
WGMP
Lonnie9o sound asleep now*
LON
That1© good!
Anything happen tonight T
MXEf
Alloy wanted to see you*
LON
Nhat about?
SORT
No didn't ©ay*
See*aed to think It wae Important*
LON
X suppose X*d hotter go down*
MINT
1*11 walk with you*
LON
Hood*
1*11 ©hangs ny shirt*
(Ho starts in the house ©hen HANK
walks In the yard*
slothes*}
HANK
How a1do*
He*© in flashy
-
8*
-
MYRT
(Ae to a otranger.)
800A
evening.
SARAH
Hollo.
LON
HOW
(They are dumbfounded.)
HANK
Kind of eurprleed to see met
LON
(Aloof.)
Hank liarah'.
SARAH
(To MXRT.)
It* e Hank.
MXRT
fee* Z aee.
RANK
Didn't know whether you'd recognize me or not.
SARAH
Didn't at flrat.
Not expecting to see you and all(An awkward pause.)
HANK
Xt'e me all right.
LON
You look proaperoue.
42*
38 •
mm.
Ev around?
MXBT
What makes you think she night be?
HANK
Heard 4he9s workln for you*
Bet she*IX be surprised to
see net
LON
Where hare you beenf Hank?
HANK
Oh
out west*
MYHf
X think you*d be ashamed to show up now*
HANK
X dldn*t want Ev to think X fd deserted her*
SABAH
What else oould she think?
HANK
Hear Alley Is ruaaln an elevator with you* Lon*
LON
(Significantly }
Alley has made good*
HANK
What X hear*
% o s e he*s dolm perty well ~
elevator business*
Big orops to handle*
LON
% y are you bank here* Hank?
in the
•*■
**
427
hank
Oh *- you know how It la*
A folia misses his family*
hon
fake you a year to real!as that?
HANK
Seam Jam 1m Hays the other day*
dot m
kind of homesick*
Hear Hot married Have Carson*
MYRT
^ulte a lot happens in a year*
HANK
We 11*™-guess 1*11 go down and look around town— sino*
Evvie alm*t here*
Spose Allay*s at the elevator.
LON
I don*t think ha* 11 ears about seeing you*
HANK
Hon* t you?
weii~«*X kinds wanted t© see him*
a little money when 1 left*
1 Could use it*
He owed me
Cot a deal on*
LON
I* d suggest 9 Hank, that you not bring up that old incident*
Alley sees things differently now*
1 suggest you not
bother him*
HANK
that right?
Well^-whatever you Bay, Lon*
See you later*
(NOTE KNCPSON and JOE EVERS, farmers,
come in.)
NOTE
Ewe mill*
428
90 SAEAH
Hood evening| Hate* loe*
LON
Hello» mem*
HowdyI
JOE
If 11 ain't Hank Marsh!
NUTE
*Lot Hank.
You1re quite a stranger,
JOE
thought you'd left these parte for good.
HANK
Got lonesome.
You know how It Is*
Married man.
(they laugh.)
Don't tell Ev you seen me.
X 1!! surprise her.
You fellas
eome to see Lon, X spose— eo-^**”* See you around.
(He goes.)
NUTE
When'd he git hack?
LON
Just this evening, X guess.
JOE
Looks like he'd feathered his nest*
m m
Do you think he'll try to cause any trouble, Lout
420
-
01
LON
I don't believe he oan*
(To m n * )
To n
h i
want to see mot
JOS!
Toll*
We juit ooon George Horn*
others.
He's oomln over with oomo
Somethin about that wheat he shipped.
NOTE
He's all bristled up about something*
<SARAH and MXRT are going into the
house *)
LON
Want to take these plans In, Myrtle?
do stroyod*
MXRT
1*11 take them*
SARAH
How* s Olga, Nutet
NOTE
Forty good*
SARAH
Haven*t seen her for a while.
JOE
(To LON and MXRT.)
Tour house planet
LON
Top*
Don* t want them
JO®
What *3 the matter with this house?
ain't it?
It*® got a wood floor,
Better than what the rest of us hare now*
liOW
It w o n H last forever,
MXRT
We hope we don't have to collapse with it*
Some of us like
to feel we're a little hotter than animals*
JO®
this ain't much of a country for puttla on airs*
spoee when you got money, it's different 1
to ao with less
But X
$ome of us have
so others om h a w more*
That's the
way it goes*
(LOW changes subject.
MXRT and SARAH
go In.)
LON
You say Oeorge is coming over?
NUTS
Yah
He's roundin up the •Bsoclatloru
Ashed us to looate
you.
LON
What reason is there for the Association to meet?
(ALLEY arrives *** followed by HAM*)
ALLEY
(As he comes in.)
But I don't owe you anything.
OS **
4S1
HANK
Now, leoky, Alley • — -— *
NOTE
(To LON«)
Don’t know*
He said there wee to be a *S sedation meeting*
here at your place *
(ALLEY and HANK stop when they see
NOTE and JOE.)
HANK
(TO
ALLEY.)
These farmers ewer heard about your little scheme?
ALLEY
If you think sp inn in a yarn will get you anything, you* we
another think coming.
LON
(Sees ALLEY and HANK* to NOTE and JOE.)
Make yourselwee comfortable, men.
(goes to ALLEY and HANK.)
That do you want, Hank?
HANK
Just eettlln up a deal me and Alley had on once.
ALLEY
(Angered.)
Set out!
X don’t owe you anythlngl
HANK
All rt#ib.
X ’lX Just spill the bean bag!
432
«* W 4
LON
Bank*
We’re haring an Association ma t i n g and we won’t
naed you*
HANK
(Sees cshano©*)
At sooiation?
Wall11
LON
(Beaid© him.)
Don’t try anything*
No one la going to taka your word
agalnat Allay1a and nine*
HANK
Chi
Well-
ALLEY
Try anything and I’ll have you thrown in the oalaboosei
LON
It won’t work, Hank*
flood night*
(HANK goaa*)
ALLEY
Much
— obliged| Lon*
JOE
(Crossing*)
What*a the ruckuet
LON
Nothing*
Hank Just trying to cause a little trouble*
alley
Has fleorg© Horn seen you, Lout
435
LON
Wot yet*
ALLEY
He* a perty eoro-^— about hie oheok.
LON
What about lb?
ALLEY
It &ln*t as muoh ae he expected.
Seem* they oan11 grind
this Purum wheat*
LON
Can* t grind It?
ALLEY
They didi**b pay him much anyway.
Here comes George.
george
(ott *y
Gone right on In#
You all want to be In on this*
KNOT!
Looks like he found most of ©m*
(GEORGE, OL&VE, Dim, and 10 or 15
other farmers oome in*)
azmm
How d*do, Allard*
{His tone has an ominous quality*}
LON
Hello , George*
Olewe*
Pud*
Men*
(The men group around haphazardly.)
GEORGE
We come to see you*
434
$$ •*
hon
Her* I aw.
What* a the trouble?
cum
Plenty It 'ppeara Ilk*.
BUD
Lea Ye George do the talking*
Ton know w© shipped a earload of ray wheat to Kansas City
the other day.
LON
The first ear of the sea son 1 But far from the last*
OTOHOR
Well-—-1 got the cheek for It.
LON
That's prompt service.
GEORGE
Prompt-*~~-— but look at the check.
(Hands check to LON.)
LON
Ten dollars and eigflatyHfour cents?
Oh* there's a mistake
somewhere*
GEORGE
Tom bet there's- a mistake somewhere*•
BUB
Alley Malcomb says may be there's not.
TiON
Alley?
Oh^^of course there's a mistake.
t ldlculoue.
That amount Is
439
- 97 *
GEORG®
Them was «agf sentiments*
But what do you make of thief
(Hands LON a letter*
LON etudiee it*)
LON
They o a n H grind itf
CLEVE
They eay it1a too hard— »elogs their mills*
LON
(Heading*)
#We regret that we eannot accept any further shipments of
this flinty Durum wheat at any prloe*
The mills are
unable to grind
(Ad Lib among men*)
GEORGE
They dldm* t pay nothin for the wheat— -and then take a
look at this freight bill!
(Which he shoves at LON*)
Which they took out before they sent George the check*)
LON
Great Heavens!
CLEVE
Alley was saying you might—
ALLEJC
t said to eee Lon!
GEORGE
Now I wouldn’t implicate for a minute, Lon, that you got us
43t
m ~
into thls-~but
did git that wheat seed fro® you,
(LON stop* and looks o v r the men#)
LON
Tea, you did*
DUD
We'd have been a eight better off if we'd took the risk
Of rust*
Don't hear about rust anywhere this year*
CLEVE
Don't pay to harvest the stuff at this rate#
FARMER
We get a crop and then we can't get rid of it*
CLEVE
There anything can be done about It* Lent
GEORGE
You told uef Lon* to git rid of our old wheat*
LON
X know X did*
X sold mine, too
the little X had*
GEORGS
And you talked up this Russian stuff to us*
LON
They're wrong*
They've got to be wrong*
They grind it
and aake flour out of it in the country it osme from*
GEORGE
There's something got to be done*
DUD
As director for the railroad how much rake-off do you get
on freight that goes out of here?
43?
LQH
I don1t get a cent.
X pay the same freight as any other
person*
CLEVE
We heard different.
LON
®hen yon heard wrong!
GEORGE
^here1© something funny somewherest
What railroad will,
have a big time eolleotin any mortgage interest from me*
TOD
He tool
GLEVE
1*11 let my grain rot in the field before X'll harvest it
for them to take*
OTGRdE
We feel» Lonf that it1s up to you to do something about this.
LON
Are you implying that you think I'm responsible that they
can't grind this wheat?
GHSORGE
X don't know who's responsible.
But that sure ain't much
money for a year's work!
CLEVIS
Xou got Influence) Lon.
W® figgared you was the man to see.
DUD
We didn't know but they might be some reason why they
couldn't grind it.
-
1 0 ©
458
-
LON
I km©w exactly ae much ©bout
morel
Ita* you dot Bad
Thie is the fir at I #dheard
I*m milling to see what I oan do.
and no
they oouldnH grind it#
But l9m only one man.
FARMERS
What are me go In to do If they oan11 grind it?
Why oan1! they grind it?
This ie a hell of a country.
Xshouldn*t a come here.
I do»4t believe it.
Won*t have nothin If we oan11 ©ell our wheat.
New | Lon „ Alley waa sayin
CLEVE
What you think* Lon?
LON
t don* t know. W e 1v« all got the same wheat.
FARMERS
Xt*e all alike.
All that Rue elan etuff.
I t 99 dang hard all right.
©to,
DAVE
Spoee if you wr« to go an see em* Lon-~-~~~-?
LON
That9a about the only way.
It will take time, thought
with no surety of suooeae.
CTo the group.)
Men* the only way X eee la to go directly to the millere.
• 101
CLEVE
You moan for you to go?
LON
Whoever you want to send*
To Kansas Glty#
further If
necessary.
DAVE
You're the one to go.
You got the connections.
GEORGE
^nd how about this freight business?
LON
dotting the market is of first Importancet isn't it?
DAVE
Sure Is*
PAPERS
If the millers won't buy* nobody will.
Unless It's for hog feed#
There's no hogs here.
It's good for seed. But nobody'll buy It for that.
We got to have a market .
GEORGE
Got to have decent freight rates * too#
JOE
That's right.
GEORGE
A market won't be no good if the railroad takes all that's
left for freight!
XOS m
FARMERS
Xehl
Look® Ilk* we was up sand erlek agin*
1 been count In on my wheat money*
GEOR&E
X*d a had MBA, aaney If the railroad hadn't took all that
was loft.
FARMERS
Stores are go In to out credit when they hear this.
Sure they will*
Mo more credit*
Would»ft be so bad if we had some re nerve like Lon.
Lon1a allera got the inside track*
How*d he git where he is?
Lon*a allere got money when he wants It.
He4a got oonneetions~~~baek Eaet.
H e 4e allere top dog here, too*
DUB
Lon*8 in cahoots with the railroad!
LON
%0
said that?
BUB
X said it!
LON
Where did you get your information?
DUB
I got it*.
DAVE
Where?
44$
441
** 105 «*
LON
That*3 a serious charge, Pud*
Where*d you get the Idea?
mm
Why-~~ltre**— !!*« common talk*
Ask any of those fellers.
LON
(Sees ALLEY leaving*)
there you going, Alleyt
ALLEY
There** nobody at the elevator*
Thought X better go down*
LON
It lsn*t likely to get away*
I*d like you to stay here*
ALLEY
X haven*t started any stories*
LON
I*m not saying you havet but you may ts able to help clear
up some*
Now listen to me, inen*'»*X*d like to know where
these rumors that Pud states as accusations did originate*
Who said X was in cahoots with the railroad?
PAVE
Nobody said it I
Pud*s sore because && aln*t gettln a
new house*
DPP
And it don*t look like X will git one for a good long time #
either*.
ALLEY
(Pacifically.)
You know how things start, Lon.
There* s always more or
44$
* 104 *
telk about the fella at the top#
Like you are*
LON
Bad you heard these rumors before?
ALLEY
Just round about— ~onoe in a while*
But X always said* #Go
see Lonj he*11 tell you the truth*!
LOB
X don't propose to have lies spread about me*
Who told you
Pud?
CLEVIS
Seems to me you're more Interested in squelehln rumors than
in doln something about our wheat.
FARMERS
Teh*
What about It?
What we goin to do?
You get connections, Lon*
What's your Idea?
We got to sell our wheat.
What you goin to do?
LON
What do you want me to do?
I've said I'll go to the millers-*
or you oan send somebody else—
if you don't trust me*
we can't let the wheat stay in the fields.
mills that oan grind It*
There must be
We must go ahead and harvest our
crop and store It until we can find a market*
GEOBGE
Store it?
But
443
LON:
I don't propose to have lies spread about me.
444
- 104 *
OLEVE
Where111 we store 1%1
QEOKGUS
Store it In yogi; ©levatorf Z suppose!
FARMERS
X aim*1 got no bine*
Ho money to buy nonef either *
Ho money to pay storage!
LOH
What1e the matter with you men tonight?
as tough as this before without haggling*
We*ve met problems
What's the matter?
Have X committed some crime X don*t know about?
{Wo reply--*-only some mutters.)
This Is a serious proposition and no time for dissention.
Only one oar of this wheat has gone out*
That doesn't
prove nobody oan grind it.
DAVE
Ton better go see the millers, Lon*
nute
Tell them what1s what!
LOU
Would you rather somebody else went?
thrashed wheat as any man here.
But X will go If you want.
I've got as much un-
X don#t went to leave.
Would you rather send George?
GEORGE
1*11 tell em what furrow to follow!
#40
«*
1
0
?
-
BAVK
they w o n H listen to him like they will Lon#
He don*t know
on#
FARMERS
Ho#
Lon1 s the one#
etc.
DAVE
We111 look after your wheat, Lon#
LOU
That1# the will of the Assentation*
MITE
X recommend we ash Lon to go s^e these here miller©#
FARMERS
Only thing to do#
Right#
dot to haw© a market#
dot to ©ell our wheat*
GEORGE
W©ll^»«*thing© better work out.
(Start© out#)
FARMERS
Xou go, Lon#
X gotta git home*
Y©h~-~iay old lady will be fonohlni
Hell of a country#
(Other© ©tart out*)
446
m
10©
m
LON
6© you haw© a minute, Dud?
I #H
talk when thla wheat git® ground.
*
)
Whore we golxi to put thla wheat when it1a thrashed?
LON
Bring it to the elorator -** unleaa you1re your own hins,
(SABAH rune from house*
She1® seem
KV staggering la with DOT.)
SARAH
(Her voiee sick*)
My good grief!
FARMERS
( See EV drunk*)
It* a Ev Mar ah*
She*a drunk*
What1® ahe ooraln here for?
She work® for Allard®•
LON
(Firmly*)
Ev ***►*#!
EV
Howdy, folks.
Leave me alone, Dot*
DOT
(In tears*)
Maw*-*-’
— *«— ***!
1 ©an walk!
44?
** 109 •*
SARAH
I ’ll handle It, Lon*
(0008
to EV.)
Evvie.
m
Well, Mother Allard!
Blesa your heart.
X va all right.
ftARAH
We* 11 put her to bed, Bottle.
DO?
X t ’e awful I
EV
(Weeing ALLEY.)
Well ***• If it ain’t Alley!
don4t want to go to bed!
Hello, Alley*
leave me go.
X
I want to talk to Alley.
SARAH
Evi
EV
Alley ~
we.
it1e all off*
Aln9t he
Hank’s bach*
a skunk, though?
It* a all over between
Ain’t It ead?
(She weeps.)
ALLEY
Y o u ’re drunk I
EV
Am X, Alley?
X couldn’t be.
wouldn’t like it.
I don’t drink.
Mother Allard
Don’t tell her.
(SARAH and DO? are getting her eloser
to offlee*
leave.)
DAVE helps*
Other farmers
441
310 -
Goodnight, hoyet
Have a good time!
(EV oollap««« la SARAH1s arms.
DAVK
help* get her In office.)
(Laet farmers leaving*)
FARMERS
Ala11 torn people affright?
Woulda1t think theyM keep her around -- drlnkln.
She9a olear under.
NOTE
Tou*ll call a meetin when you get baok?
LON
fee, Mute
1*11 make It ae soon ae 1 can.
NOTE
(Motioning to office*)
Shame that happened*
LON
lee*
NOTE
$*night.
Oon*t worry about them bellyaohors like Dud.
LON
good ni^ht, Nut©.
(To ALLS!.)
Wonder chat got Into her?
ALLEY
Too much fire-water.
MXRT
(On step.)
440
• XU
lt*i utterly AlieaiUag*
DOT
(In office door*)
X'a so ashatted*
SARAH
lou can’t help It*
Mh*t happened?
DOT
tt» seen pa* on the street in the crowd.
"My (ted. It* a hlnl"
Then she disappeared.
•anted pa* to eorae bsafc.
She never
X looked for her »« all overt
didn’t know whore ahe'd went.
In a saloon.
X heard her say
When X found her she was
81m m e t a took a awful loti
SARAH
You hotter take Sot hens, Save.
X*ll look after Sv.
POT
Oh — ■ wby’d she have to go and do this?
PAYE
Ooae, Pottle.
(He leads her off.)
POT
(Ae she goes.)
My own aa*j
SARAB
will you fix sons coffee, Myrtle?
MXHT
Tea.
(MXRT goes In house| SARAH in offloe.)
112 -
ALLS*
(To LON.)
too bad that had to happoi*
go sraeh for liquor*
m
right here*
Farmers doa* t
Her working for you and all.
LON
that happened to theae farmers* Alley?
ALLEY
Don’t know.
Jealous of you* may be*
George* of course*
was perty sore about his oheok*
LON
1 don11 blame him for him for that*
somebody1s been starting rumors.
1 would be f too.
That was said when George
got his oheok?
ALLEY
X told him If he had any complaint to see you.
LON
Is that all?
ALLEY
fee.
LON
Nothing was said about freight rates?
ALLEY
Hot in particular.
But
I referred him to you.
LON
Why to me?
ALLEY
You’re on the advisory council for the railroad.
461
- 113 LOH
Bid you tell hln X oould do anything about freight rateet
ALLEX
Ton night have come influenoe .
LOR
Xqu know how far ay Influence would go.
Had you heard
anything about no gltting a rebate on freight that gee a
out of heraT
ALLEX
fhy —
do you?
LOR
ho IJ
ALLEX
I told George X didn't know anything about that.
LOR
Enow nothing about ItT
Xou know dang well X don* ti
What are you trying to do - stir up trouble?
ALLEX
X told hln X didn't know anything.
For hln to see you.
X didn't atlr anything.
LON
Doesn't loch ae If you'd done much to atop It either.
ALLEX
X ©on# up here, Lon, to see you before he got his eheok —
but you wasn't around.
X're said nothing against you!
But
after being beat out of a fortune by a man, you oan hardly
4m
114 ~
expect me to go around oryln his virtue!
and crippled met
Xou*ve ruined me
What more do you want?
LON
(Quietly*)
I think you1we been pretty well treated, Alley »
under the
circumstances.
ALLOT
Before tifod 1 didn't start anything, Lon*
LON
All right» Alley*
ALLOT
(Leaving*)
od 0o&!
(Goes*
M1HT comes across with coffee.
LON stands ~
bewildered.)
nsOT
Xou can find & mill, Lon.
LON
1 hope so*
Curtain
463
XX0
"Gilded prairie11
Act Twy
Scene I w o :
The next day*
Bright sunlight.
SABAH is looking off*
SABAH
(Calls*)
Good luck, son!
(EV oomes out of office*
She carries a
satchel, ready to leave*
speak to SABAH,
She halts to
then decided sheM
hotter not and moves on past her*)
Ewle*
EV
Yeh?
SARAH
Where you going?
EV
Away.
SABAH
How, E w l e
—
EV
You don9t want me here*
You oughta run me out*
bring you trouble if X stay*
SARAH
Wait a few days.
Think it over.
X*ll only
464
- u# -
m
It ain't no u w .
People will begin t&lkln about you folks
if you let me stay around,
they ain't nothin much worse
than a drunken woman*
SARAH
You won* t do it again*
EV
X don't need to agin*
X done it up thorough enough that
You been too good to me for pe to do you more dirt*
time*
SARAH
I want you to stay, Ewle.
EV
No.
Xou may think you do *** but you don't really*
don't.
X don't blame her.
X ain't your kind.
Don't blame nobody but myself.
X got to go*
SARAH
You can't run away from yourself.
EV
That's it.
I'm goin where X belong*
Where X ought to be.
SARAH
And where Is that?
EV
In Hays.
SARAH
Sit down, Ewle.
Myrt
Among my kind.
Don1!* Mother Allard*
You don1! know what you* are do in.
Y o u 1wo got grief enough without me pilin on more*
SARAH
Ho*
things don't look 00 bright• Hut they911 turn out.
You take thle chair.
EV
I can* t stay.
SARAH
We have harvest hands coming tomorrow.
EV
Fellers that was here last night and seen,
what they say about me.
That don't matter.
wonder why you let me stay.
that's Jealous of Lon.*
Why Lon does.
But they'll
There's ones
Don't like to see him gittin ahead.
They're watohln everthin that happens.
you ought to knowed ~
I don't oaar©
Qh„-*~ 1 reckon
1 ought to told you.
SARAH
Ought to have told what?
EV
I ain't no good.
was glad he went.
You know that.
But X did
Alley got interested.
When Hank cleared out, X
miss him.
Things went along.
Well, then
X even thought
may be he was Interested enough to marry me sometime ™
X was rid of Hank.
shine up to Lon.
But he warn't.
If
He wanted me to
X found out he was do in little things to
undermine people's confidence in Lon.
-
XXB
SARAH
I#1# still bitter • Dee on1! be eee that — *— EV
He dornH eee nothin anymore ~
may be ~
but git tin even*
I thought
if X hung on to him «* X*d be able to do somethin
sometime.
But it ain’t in me*
this happened.
Hank shooed up —
and
Nothin will keep a meed.from being a weed.
(She In ready to go.
Oood~bye, Mother Allard.
Picks up her bag.)
Ferglt about me.
SABAH
E w l e «.*. won* t you stay until after harvest at least »«*
to h d p us out.
EV
Ban ms out.
Don* t be so good to me*
SARAH
(Taking bag.)
We need you to help cook.
Curtain «■
- n* "Gilded Friarle*
Apt; Two
Beene Three:
A few we eke later.
The FARMERS, ALLEX aad LOR.
The breach between the FARMERS
and LOR has widened.
LOR
X*we done ay best!
If that leu1! good enough, then X*ve
nothing to suggest!
(Eyes blazing.)
Who1e been elroulatlng these stories?
need some explanation.
sonalities.
These accusations
X don’t like to Indulge In per­
we oan*t do that and work together.
Rut X
would like to know just how widespread this feeling is.
Since X seen to be the fatted calf, Xfn asking for a hear­
ing right now and here infore the whole association.
slok of this backbiting.
to know about It.
X*n
If X #we done anything, X*d like
George, you and Bud seen to be the
ring leaders.
GEORGE
Well, It just scene kind of funny to us that you always
get the or earn while the rest of us gits the skim milk —
that1 s all*
LOR
How do you mean
I get the cream?
They o a n H grind my
40®
wheat, either.
And J W e got more of It to lose on than
any of the rest of you.
bud
that* s It —
you'irs always got m £&%
CLEVE
You got money to fall baok on.
ALLEY
That *s right»
GEORGE
you've got some wheat you pan sell.
DAVE
There* s not much of that.
JOE
You told the rest of us to git rid of our old wheat and to
plant this Durum stuff!
But yqu planted a field of the old
kind.
LOW
Twenty acres.
And why did X plant it?
Hot for the orop hut
to see if I could find out what caused the rust.
JOE
It dldn*t rust this year and now you got it to sell!
But
the rest of us ain't.
DAVE
Ho reason why we should Jump on Lon —
to he luofcy.
DUD
I ain't so sure it's just luok.
heoasue he happens
4S9
-
1S1
DAVE
May be it ain't luck.
May be he's got some brain*.
ALLEX
I donft reckon ypu* 11 do Lon much good standing up for
him, Da to .
DAVE
Why not?
Lon1* done big thing* for this country.
X ain#t
too big & damn fool to see it.
ALLEX
Xt Juat look* like you might be leagued together la all.
Along with your drunken mother-in-law who worka for Lon.
FARMER
She still around here?
ANOTHER
Seen her yesterday*
DAVE
She's nothing to do with this5
ALLEX
Of course not.
But you1re her aon^ln-law.
Birds of a
feather.
DAVE
Damn your insinuations, Alley— ~
LON
Dare 1
No need for you to get mixed in this.
your loyalty*
DAVE
Dumb, gullible farmers*
All of you*
I appreciate
400
199 •
LON
*hat*ll do, Davet
(DAVE calms down.)
PARMER
Wonder why Allard* keep that Marsh woman around?
OTHER
X*ve wondered about that, too*
Person never knows.
AHOTHER
Xt just goes to show*
ALLEX
(To GEORGE.)
Go on.
Put your proposition, George.
GEORGE
Some of ue d i d n H expect you to git anything for us back
east, Lon.
A few things come to light while you was gone.
They fit together a little too good to be aoeldent.
body likes to make money.
Mow this Russian wheat;
Some don*t a are how they do it*
Xou brought it in here ~
everybody else*s erop was took with rust.
seed.
We had to git it of you.
someplace to pay for it.
elevator —
Every­
and
Xou had all the
Most of us soalrt up cash
Xou needed cash to put Into the
so you said*
LON
X did.
GEORGE
Xou loaned that money to Alley — takin a fifty-one per cent
partnership and a mortgage on the other forty-nine— and
had plenty left over.
m
461
iBg **
LON
Bid Alley tell you yrhy the deal was like It was?
ALLEY
Because he’d a murdered me if 1 hadn’t done It hie way.
LOB
So you are at the bottom of thle§ Alley*
OEOHOE
Alley had somethin you wanted and you was goin to have it
regardless of who suffered*
for yourself*
Husslan wheat.
Bell
Sot
Here we are*
We harvest it*
maybe they can't*
his mortgage*
You wanted all that elevator
All of us have got this
they aan9t grind it!
Bo income.
You git the elevator*
Alley oan,t pay
We can*t pay storage
You git the wheat*
LON
I don’t want that elevator*
with less bother*
If I had, I oould have got it
And I certainly don11 want your wheat*
this is Incredible. Fantastic.
Bo you men fcelidVfe this?
GEORGE
If they oan9t grind the wheat — may be you don't want it*
But you’ve got some that would make awful good seed for
next year*
We’ll need seed*
LOB
What do you expect me to do
buy your wheat?
BUB
We was kind of expeetin you to offer to*
of course*
At a low prioe
*** 124 *
LOU
I haven* t got the money to buy it I At any price I
GEORGE
I reckon you could git it •*- jLf we wanted to sell,
LOH
l*m not going to be railroaded into anything*
DUD
No I You1re In the railroad now,
GEORGE
Spose you thought wefd just chalk it up to hard luck,
DUD
And after you got our wheat fer a song and the millers found
could grind it, we couldn’t do nothin,
LON
I can’t believe you’re the men I’ve worked with—-worked
fori
What do you expect me to do?
ALLEY
I ’ll tell you what they expect,
Yhey expect you to contract
for all that wheat,
LOH
Contract for it?
I can’t I tell you,
ALLEY
You can git the money.
On the elevator and your land.
millers will find they can grind it all right*
anything*
The
You won’t lose
Ute fellas will give you a while to go see the
millers again*
463
- 125 -
GEORGE
What do you say, Lou?
MYRT
(Oil step*)
You fools I Are you going to ruin the only man who can help
you?
Are you going to listen to that turncoat scalper?
LOH
MyrtleI
tyntmnrt
J9wJk<fXX
Tell them the truth, Lon*
Tell them the truth about that
branded gossip monger*
LOH
It will do no good to call names*
MYRT
Save yourself*
Tell them*
LOH
What good will it do?
(To the men*-quietly*
All right men*
Broken*)
I*m sorry you wonfi believe me*
I was helping you*
Giving you something*
1 thought
Alley has been
able to Juggle facts and misconstrue motives until It looks
the opposite of what I Intended*
tried too much*
Perhaps 1 tried too hard-*-
I should tell you all to go and be damned!
But I can *t * The country is bigger than any of us*
Our
squabbles will shrivel with the years, or perhaps I*ve been
wrong*
Perhaps what I saw was fool*s gold#
Perhaps it
464
• 120
wasn’t gold I saw on these plains ■
— * but gilt.— *— — —
1 111 do my best to meet your terms.
myrt
Don’t do it, Lon*
Where1s your fight gone?
You’re destroying yourselves if you ruin him.
Listen* men.
You’ve
listened to all the lies Alley Malcomb chose to spread*
How
listen to me{
ALLEY
I spread no lies*
do back to your kitchen--or to your
champagne friends In the East*
Don’t listen to her*
always been too good for you before*
She’s
Why should she condescend
to speak to you now-**except to keep what’s yours for herself*
MYRT
You must listen*
You must llstent
ALLEY
Come on.
Allard says he’ll meet your terns*
LOH
It’s no use* Myrtle.
MYRT
(Taking rifle.)
Oh yes* it is | How* Alley —
cnee before and I will again.
your arm this time.
--I saved my husband with this
From you*
Tell these men why that elevator was
built by you.
ALLEY
(Scared.)
X —
X shan’t splinter
I’ve nothing to tell*
466
*•* 127 «*
MYRT
I'm waiting!
1*011
You1*! better tall them#
Alley
(ALLEY sways#
Leave him there!
He111 com© to*
Falls face down*)
Just scared*
You tell
them# Lon*
LON
It’s no use*
IftYBT
fell them!
LOH
Men— — Alley was pretty bitter when the cattle trade moved
west*
It broke him—
even*
He wanted to drive us out*
of us*
or would have*
There was a prairie fire*
He planned to get
All of us*
To get rid
Took Hank Marshes wheat
you remember*
FARMERS
Alley set it?
Who*& a thought—
-*
LOH
Alley didn’t set it*
He paid Hank to set it*
out— — told Alley that I knew*
Well—
Alley would have killed
a»*— but a bullet got his gun arm first*
Alley built the elevator*
I found that
I kept still and
466
ALLEY
(On ground*)
Bonft believe lt|
( M K la about to slip In office#)
T
There's Hank March#
O
Ask him#
LOH
Hmkt
HAHK
Hah?
ALLEY
Sure he111 admit It at the point of a gun*
What*3 he to
lose by lying?
LOH
Put up the gun*
(MXBT puts up gun.)
Hank#
Regardless of how you answer you sh&n*t be harmed#
How tell these men I Did you or did you not set that prairie
fire for Alley?
HAUK
That burnt my wheat?
LOH
Yes#
Tell the truth*
You won*t be harmed#
HAHK
(Waits*)
Hhy^no—
I never set It*
4 M
129 ALLEY
(hie60 that shows who’s the H ar t
(To HANK*)
X like an honest man*
Come and see me*
&caae on# menj wo*11
go fix out the contrast for Lon to sigh*
(The farmers hesitate*)
LON
Go ahead -«* men*
I1IX come*
(FARMERS more out# talking low*
DAVE
and a few stop by LON.)
DAVE
Some of us ain’t led by the nose# Lon*
(LON pats his shoulder*)
LON
JUmp on the bandwagon* Dave* It won’t matter*
(They go*
EV comes out of office*)
EV
No# you ain’t eomin along 1
HANK
How
Evrte*
EV
From now cm'cverbody pays*
(Stops by ALLARDS*)
Thanks* folks*
headln west*
You was better to me than 1 deserved*
It won*t hurt nobody but me there*
SARAH
Evvle
Ifm
460
**
m
EV
Bo long*
(She hurries out*
HANK
X*OU
* m«h»
X
LON
Get out!
Get out! It
Get out! tit I
(HANK goes*}
MYRT
Fools I Fools I ^11 of them*
SABAH
(Goes to LON*)
Somebody con surely grind the wheat*
LON
Yes*
Yea it
Curtain *»
HAND crosses to LON*)
460
«► 131
“Gilded Prairie"
AglS Tvp
Scene Four:
A bleak day.
Late fall.
The
sky is dull and heavy.
LOWHIE is playing with a thresh**
ing engine he9a made from scraps
of things.
MXRT sits on the step.
LOfTNIE
(Making the sound of a steam engine.)
Chook-e^chook-a-ohook %
mm
Are you warm enough, Lonnie?
LOMHIE
Tes, mother.
(He goes on playing.)
I need a fireman.
W i n you be fireman for me, mother?
(Goes to engine.)
What does the fireman do?
LOHKIE
He feeds in the straw.
MYRT
He?
4?0
- 132 -
lonnie
We'll pretend you1re a man*
It*4 a man's work*
Here's the
straw#
mRT
This la the fuel that gives the engine power*
LONNIE
Yes* mother*
(She puts in the straw and LONNIE turns
the belt wheel*)
Chook-a-chook-a-ehook— — -Hot too much fuel* Mr* Firemen*
m m
Why not?
It will hold more*
LONNIE
It may blow up*
We mustn't force the steam*
MYRT
Oh, forcing power on It may destroy It*
LOMHIE
Chook~&~ehook~a<*chook• Sow you may fire It more*
MYBT
Isn't It about time for the noon whistle?
LONNIE
(Looks at sky*)
Just time*
(LONNIE pulls whistle cord and makes
noise for It#)
Toooooocoootl
Tooooooooott
471
«. 133 ~
hxrt
Shall we go in now?
(Takes LONNIE*s hand*)
Your hands are cold.
LONNIE
You're lonesome for father, aren't you?
MYHT
Aren't you?
LONNIE
Yes*
Will he be eomlng soon?
WRT
He should be*
LONNIE
Why has he staid so long?
HfXHT
He has lots of things to look after#
LONNIE
Will we have more company again *** when father comes home?
MYRT
I expect*
I expect so*
(GatherIng him In her arms*)
Oh, Lonnie*
My precious*
LONNIE
I'm sorry you're lonely*
(GEORGE HORN comes In*)
He back yet?
— 134 •••
myrt
(She hardens*)
Ho*
GEORGE
You heard from him?
m m
Ho*
Gome Lonnie
(She and LOOT IE atari In*)
GEORGE
May be ain't plannln to ever show up here again*
MYRT
He'll come*
GEORGE
Well--— -when he does he better have some money for me from
that railroad*
I need It*
(MTOT and LOOT IE go toward house*)
Too good to even talk to on© of the common herd, huh?
JOTtT
(Turns In door*)
I've nothing to talk to you about, Mr* Horn*
GEORGE
(Ee turns, meeting SARAH coming from
town*)
SARAH
(Pleasantly*)
Good day, George*
4T®
4m
** 135
OBOHOE
(Growls *)
How do*
(Ho atalks out*)
SARAH
Myrtle*
We got a letter*
MIRY
A letter— -"-?
SARAH
From Lorn*
KXKT
What does he say?
SARAH
I haven11 opened it.
But it’s Lon*s writing*
{limn tears letter open*)
MYRT
(Heading*)
My dear family—
I trust this will find you all in as good health as It
leaves me*
Yet it la with a heavy heart that I write*
We
must prepare ourselves to face a future less bright than
we had once hoped*
Yhe managers of the flour mills have
been very courteous to me in giving of their time but their
mills are not built to grind ao hard a wheat.
many places and seen many men*
I have done my utmost*
I have been
1 know you will believe that
Tour faith in me has ever been my
474
- 156 «*
pillar of strength*
God bless you for It*
But in the end
I have failed you.
There will be few of our posse® a ions remaining for us
When my credit©ra are satisfied.
For myself this Is of
little consequence but X am grieved to have brought so over**
whelming a misfortune on you.
saeviflee of you.
Yet X am asking one more
Will you gather together sueh small
possessions as you feel you cannot leave behind and come to
me* for I feel I ©an never return there#
I have saved out a little money to help us get a new
start.
I am forwarding sufficient for your transportation
in a few days#
loving and humbly yours#
Lon Allard#
(There is no comment.
At last SARAH rises
©lowly and moves back toward the plain.
Her gaze wanders her© and there over
the now-dulled stubble fields#
eyes are moist.
SABAH
(Finally#)
We must go to him# Hfyrtie.
MYRT
Yes.
LONNIE
Will w© be going at one©# Mother?
Her
470
- 187 «
IIXRT
V«7 soon*
LOHMIE
must feel very badly*
wrr;T
(Fata LOOT E and stands alone*)
these foolsI
these men stoo listen to lies!
SARAH
We vast take courage and strength to Lon*
mmt
Why did he ever trust Alley Maloomb?
So seared he Tainted —
like a woman I
SARAH
Lon needs us*
KXRT
(Calming*)
Tea*
What shall we take?
L0KH1J5
What say X do* grandmother?
SARAH
(Lovingly*)
You’re a good lad* Lonnie*
LOOT IB
1*11 help.
SABAH
Ojf course you will*
Why didn’t I kill him?
m
AH
138 **
imuin
May 1 take my engine?
SARAH
It*s a good engine*
But don’t you think you could build
even a better one*
IiOHHIE
(Enthused*)
If I had the things *
(DA W and DOT approach*
DOT carries a
little covered pail*}
DAVE
(Cheerfully*)
Good morning*
Kind of chilly weather .
DOT
Here
(To SARAH*)
Here’s a little can of buttermilk*
like it*
SARAH
Oh* thank you*
rnmT
(Kindly*)
Youfre very thoughtful*
DAVE
It ain*t much*
DOT
We never drink it anyway*
X know you and Myrtle
159 «*
L O mi E
atoll 1 take It to?
SARAH
Tea * Would you?
(LGTOIE takes pall to House*)
DAVE
Spose you ain’t heard from Lon*
vmiT
Tea
we’ve heard*
DAVE
When’s he oorain back?
the wheat*
Sure hope he found a mill to grind
Show these smart heads around here a few things*
I never did trust that Alley*
He’s a skunk.
fellers believed him 1 can’t understand*
the mill?
WIRT
Tea*
DAVE
He did?
What’d he say?
When’s he comin?
SARAH
He isn’t coming.
DAVE
He Isn’t?
SARAH
And we’re leaving*
DOT
you’re goto away?
Why these
^id Lon say about
DAVE
Didn't h* find a nlllT
SARAH
Ho.
JCCRT
Mo.
Alloy will haro things hla own way now.
DOT
Golly ~
X hate to have you go away*
You111 oome hack,
won1t you?
SARAH
X don't euppoe© so,
PAVE
Shat111 happen to all that wheat?
SARAH
X don't know.
Seems such a shame for it to he destroyed*
PAVE
Lon had to mortgage everything* didn't he?
To pay off
them fellers like Pleve and Joe and George and Pud*
X'm
sure sorry for Lon*
SARAH
We appreeiate your loyalty* Pave*
PAVE
Reckon X'll have to throw my Purum out, too.
it to the hogs.
So hard they oan't eat it*
Lon'd find a mill.
Tried feedin
But X was sure
So I hewn keepin it,
PGf
Guess we was lucky never to have much.
lose then*
Don't have much to
47#
*• 1 4 1
DAVE
Weil— I'd rather lose with Lon than win with Alley.
SARAH
What will you two do?
DOT
WO *11 git alongw
DAVE
Teh.
Reckon.
Lon give me some of that winter wheat to
plant* I even put In some Durum, I was so sure Lon'd find
a mill.
DOT
Ton're really goln away?
SARAH
Lon wrote us to eome.
DOT
If I can help you do anything. I'll he glad to.
SARAH
Thank you, Dottle.
There won't be mueh.
MYKT
Xou've been so loyal.
Would you like this house when we're
gone?
DOT
(Amazed.)
Huh?
HXRT
It's not so much — »
DAVE
Do you— mean that—
Mis' Allard?
Us— me and Dot— live here?
MXRT
% y not?
It ~
It* a any good to you.
DOT
trolly •• Myrtle — ~ A board floor
*
DAVE
Wall «*«*•<* If - If you was erer to oome back -<* you oould
have it!
(DEPOT AGENT cornea in.)
agent
Mrs* Allard —
Mrs* Lon Allard ■*** this Jist oome In.
Telegram*
umt
It1s from ... «■»«.*»**«**■mm«•*km
AGENT
It 1s from your husband.
SARAH
He’s sending the money, X suppose*
MXRT
Oh, yes*
Thank you*
AGENT
I*m sorry--*-!!*® not money.
Jist a message*
MXHT
Thank you*
AGENT
•A t 18 all right.
(He goes.)
MYRT
(Brightening to Joy.)
483.
• 143 Be' e ooalngl
Mother! «• Mother Allard!
SARAH
Lon* a ooalng for ue!
tam
Yes!
DATE
Ho found a mill after all?
MYRT
Well — — —
ho dooon*t eay.
(Reads.)
• Plano altered,
husband —
— ■
sill arrive tomorrow.
Lon".
—
Curtain —
Your loving
488
“ 144 “
"(Uldad Prairie"
4ai ssxaa.
Scene
Ones
The next summer*
The sky ie bright and clear.
Miles and miles of ripening
wheat*
DAVE and LQH are looking about
the house considering the
possibilities of moving it*
DAVE
Shore is a bat oh of grasshoppers around*
LQH
get thicker every year*
The pests!
SAVE
X think we ©an hoist her up and git her on skids all right*
WM
These bottom logs go olear through this way*
Of oourse X
dldnft figure on it ever being moved when I built it.
DAVE
We*11 have to take off the step •*- but that shouldn't be
mueh of a job*
LON
Bound to lose some of the chinking in the moving.
DAVE
It* 11 be easy put back*
Sure is put together good*
•
488
1 4 ® «*
LON
It was Intended to last a while#
Widen that houee was put
up* I didn't expect to set another for a good many years.
Mother rather hatee to giro up the old thing now*
mm
Per eon gate attached to a place#
You a&y your now one le
gala to have eight rooms?
LOW
fee#
PAVE
That's a lot of rooms*
LOW
Family may grow, you know#
DAVE
That*a why Xf» glad to git this one.
Don't want the next
kid to come ae near freezin as the last one did#
LOW
fhle is good and warm#
DAVE
four new one will he *** with plastered walls'#
% can't
hardly remember what a plaster wall looks like#
can have one some day#
LON
It shouldn't he long, Dare.
(Sees ALLEf coming#)
Well, looks like company#
DAVE
Thought he left this country for good#
LON
X don't suppose he1s hack for any good#
(ALLEf comes In#)
ALLEf
How do#
May be 1
** 148
LON
(Coolly*)
Hello.
ALLEY
X auppoie you know why I’m hor««
No* X don’t.
LON
As a matter of faot X*m surprised to see you.
ALLEY
Wall -«* X didst91 expeot to come book
but
(He stammers around.)
since X bad to oome through thle way — X fre got a deal on.
Thought we might settle up.
LON
Makes a difference who bolds the mortgage# doesn’t ltt
ALLEY
X Just thought you might bare the money ready ~ ~ ~ ~
LON
Yes
X have It ready.
ALLEY
Well
It’d aawe bother later o n ^ Don’t epese X can get
back again.
LON
You haws a callosal effrontery# Alley. That mortgage isn’t
due for four weeks yet.
ALLEY
X know it Isn’t but
LON
I’ll pay you off on the day it’s due and not before.
ALLEY
I ’ll make It right. X sort of need the money.
LON
X can’t help that. Xt Isn’t due yet. You’ll carry it
until it is.
I’ll pay it up —
in full — * but you’ll
wait for it until the last day in the afternoon.
488
14? -
AU.E3C
Afraid you might do ran sous good *«** p&yin now?
LON
There’s always that possibility*
me* Allay,
®fo us® to ask favors of
X9a not dispensing any*
ALLOT
You haven91 got the money I
LON
Well
that1e not your worry.
You’re protected*
You*XI
get the elevator if X don9t pay.
ALLOT
When that due date comes around, 1*11 demand every last
penny X have comini
Don’t forest Iti
LON
X expect you to.
That’s only business*
ALLOT
X suppose you’ve already paid up the railroad the money
you got from them.
LON
Wouldn’t concern you If X had*
You’d Just as well understand
that I’m drawing the lead horse now and X Intend to keep
the re Ins i You’re wasting your time, Alley, and mine too*
Be on your way before you wear out all that grass racing
around*
ALLOT
Well — * I’ll be back!
LON
In four weeks ~
end two days*
4«e
- 140 -
At.LEX
And you 'better have that money ready!
(He clumps out«
DAVE is thoroughly
delighted*)
DAVE
(Laughs*)
Sure have got him by the left hind leg, Loni
He never
thought for a minute you'd find a mill to grind that
Durum wheat.
LON
X had my doubts for a long time*
DAVE
How all these other fellas wish they had the Durum*
LON
They were mighty anxious to get rid of It last summer*
DAVE
X e p a but mow here they are — - gittin hit by rust agin*
Dang fools*
LON
They111 be wanting Durum seed this fall •*- wait and see*
But we want to hold ours* Dave— *-*amd eell to the ones
whofll pay the prime.
They got into this.
They can pay
their way out*
DAVE
They had no eompwnstlone about taking your last penny.
LON
Not ©ay of them, at least*
Tou**~ and Nute
a few of
40?
*
you were loyal.
14* -
X** through helping the rout of then*
DAVE
Vhll —
X better git beak out to the place. Xou think
your new house will be done by September?
LON
that** the prenlse. they’re got the foundation in. the
lumber* i being hauled.
DAVE
Well — we eon git this one moved out to our plaee*
Twon’t mtter.
Anytime before sold weather.
(SARAH ooaae in followed by OROROIS
and DUD.)
SARAH
Lon, there are a eouple of sen who’a like to talk to you*
Be generous to them, eon.
LON
What do they vantf
SARAH
They'll tell you.
(To OBOROK and DUD.)
What was It you wanted to speak to Lon about?
QEOHQE
Why —
we kind of didn't like to bother you, Lon.
you're busy with your new house and all.
DUD
Teh - reokon we esn oome baok if you're busy now*
LON
Ho.
This is as good a time as any.
that is itt
Xnow
486
im
DUD
Well
our wheat's about ready to harvest - euoh as It is.
ommn
Teh ~
we was dang fools to plant that soft stuff*
DUD
L o n # knows that.
What so wondered was about a thrash in
outfit.
m m m
Luke1s ainft very big and ain't in very good shape.
DUD
We kinda wondered when you was goin to git yours out and~«»~
GEORGE
Course we'd expeot to pay good for It.
Good as we oan.
DUD
Oh sure.
We'd meet your terms —
If we could.
LOW
My wheat isn't ready yet*
It'll be several weeks before
I'll want to pull that machine out.
GEORGE
Teh —
1 spose.
We Jist thought may be ~
if they was
enough of us - you'd may be want to git It out earlier.
DUD
We kinda thought that,
thought we'd see you any way.
LON
Wot very.
Mo
what you fellows ought to do is go in
together and get a machine •
48*
* 1*1 -
geohge
Don't reckon we can*
Ho
I spose* Dud* we can do with
Luke *s outfit.
bud
Coure* before the Association broke up - we kind of felt
we hod an Interest in that one of your a.
LQH
X bought that machine. And X don't wont it broken down
when X get ready to use it.
Xf you want to wait until I ’m
through with it, I'll talk terms then.
GEORGE
Don't reckon we earn wait that long.
LQH
That's the best X can do*
PUB
Our wheat won't be very heavy.
It's
— rusty, you
know* and the grasshoppers has et some of It.
LON
X know «•** but X still want the machine in shape when I'm
ready for it.
GEORGE
Well
much obliged any way* Lon.
We'll
see.
(DUD and GEORGE leave.)
SARAH
Why couldn't you let them use it* Lon?
They were willing
to pay.
LON
Let them get one of their own.
I'm not indebted to those men.
4m
- i m *•
date
Reckon not!
SARAH
They see their mistake now,
They were misled.
LOU
T o w 1re toe soft-hearted, Mother*
stand on their own two lege*
They've sot to learn to
They'll make out*
SABAH
'They* re not going to have a very big orop.
The rust.
LON
They*ve themselves to blame for that.
Now, Dave, here kept his senses.
They brought It on •
Went ahead and planted
a big field of wheat that he knew would produce. No****
Horn and Telford and that paok ©anft see past their noses*
(MXRT and LONNIE come from house.
LONNIE wears a fanoy shirt
of Lord Fauntleroy•)
M1RT
Don* t wrinkle your oollar now.
LONNIE
It scratches*
mat
%*ow your father how aloe you look.
LONNIE
(does to LON*)
Father,
Do you think I look aloe?
sort
401
* 103 LOU
Of course. Very handsome .
LONNIE
Why are you lauding?
LON
I'm not laughing at you*
LONNIE
I'm sure Mr. Oarson Is.
PAVE
Oh no.
I think. It's nloe.
Wish X had one*
Well, X
hotter git home.
!000 s *)
LONNIE
I feel very silly!
Don't you thinfc I look silly, grand*
mother?
SABAH
No* Lonnie ** you look very veil*
LONNIE
I feel like a girl*
MXBT
You look a real little gentlemen.
LONNIE
I don't want to he a gentleman.
and run a steam engine.
I want to he an engineer
Like father has.
MYRT
(Squeezes him.)
Oh* Lonnie!
** 104 LONNIE
Yo u *11 muss the collar yet, Mother*
MYHT
Y©u*d toe a regular rag~a-*muffin If I fd let you*
You must
hare alee things when we get la our new house*
LONNIE
X suppose so*
May X take It off now?
MYB*
Yes ™
you may take it off now?
m m
Yhank you*
(He goes Into the house*)
MYBf
Oh «
lt4s grand, Lon ™
to know we ©an hare what we want™
what we1re dreamed and planned fori
LON
(kindly.)
You mustn't make him wear those clothes, Myrtle*
MYRT
Not all the time, of courseLON
He* a a real ladt
MYHT
(Looking off.
Look!
A load of lumber!
I V s oome, Lon!
LON
Yes*
It ©am# yesterday*
Bellghted.)
X V a cocael
* x m «*
4M
WET
And you didn't toll mol
LON
I was afraid you1! go down and begin unloading it*
myrt
Oh Lon I
It1a ourol
All ours!
len't it wonderful!
LON
fee, Myrtle!
waT
It will bo clean and tall and white *»* shaming all the root!
(Laughing,)
Our prairie eaetle I
LON
Xt will ooem a oastle
to this*
(SARAH is with them.)
You can see the foundation, Mather*-*»w ~«*
(Pointing off#)
squared and firm and solid!
There in the sun#
SURAH
No more ants in the butter#
(Happy#)
1*11 miss the little poets*
MYBT
Mother Allard, you111 want to move some of them with us*
SARAH
X oan do without them#
grasshoppers, too#
X could do without a few of these
Seems they get thicker every year*
494
- x&* MYRT
They're harmless creatures*
SARAH
They111 eai olothas if they get a chance *
MYRT
W ©111 have screens to keep them out
now!
In the new
house!
SARAH
You*ve waited a long time for It* Myrtle. And been dieoppointed so many times.
MYRT
Hut not this time#
X don’t know what I 1d do —
If something
did happen again*
LON
Don't worry!
nothing oan stop It now*
The money1a all
set aside*
SARAH
It will look rather naked rising up on the prairie white
and alone*
LON
Oh* 06*11 plant trees#
Lots of them to cover the nakedness*
IfitRT
L e t 9a go over and see the lumber* Lon*
that it1s real.
Breathe its fragrance.
LON
Come along*
MYRT
X 911 get my bonnet*
Touch It and knew
49$
<■* %&7 **
(She start* to house.
She stops,
looking into tike northwest.)
MYRT
Look at that funny cloud in the northwest*
See?
LON
Huh *- must he dust* 1 guess.
SARAH
X hope we don't get another dust storm.
LOU
Li eten-*-*— . Hear that?
(A humming is heard.)
MYRT
Is it a tornado?
LON*
Doesn't look like a wind cloud*
SARAH
Xt sure seems to he doming fast.
There is a roar*
Suppose
we*d hotter go to the © aw?
LON
X don't think it's wind*
Still part of it touches the
ground•
MYRT
It1s hurrying this way fast.
LOM
Xt seems to he riling up the grasshoppers.
Look at them.
SARAH
They must have com© in from the prairie.
quite so many around the garden.
X haven't noticed
406
(The humming Increases toward a roST *)
MYRT
Hear it?
SARAH
LI ftten to that roar — - like swarms of bees,
ho you
suppose it Is bees?
LON
Bee« never go that many in a humeh*
of grasshoppers
Look.at that flook
on the side of the house now*
MYRT
Good Heavens!
SABAH
Seem 0 like It* • raining grasshoppers.
LON
See them on that bush.
Bay~~- ~~They *re eating it up!
(Looks about.
Begins to get exalted*)
Thy--that must be a cloud of graeehopper•i
(The sky gradually darkens.)
SARAH
They get all over a parson.
LON
They’re cleaned the leaves half off that bush already.
There are thousands of the pests— millions— — -(DOT runs In.)
DOT
Where’s Daws?
Where*s Daws?
199 LON
He m a t home.
What1a happened?
sarah
Moral
And more of them!
DOT
We* re In for it# Lent
LOW
In for itt
DOT
Grasshopper plague!
SABAH
Plague 1
DOT
Like the locusts in the Bible!
git atA
They eat everything they oan
They* re thiok~~eatt» everything!
LOB
They w o n H get the wheat.
DOT
Theyfre in our field— -strippin it already!
steal
Dozens on a
And more eomln all the time!
SARAH
Look at that!
Shewed a hole right through my dress sleeve*
LOB
Great guns!
Wefve got to save that wheat!
(LON dashes out.)
SARAH
They* re everywhere— thiek!
<• 160 DOT
X don* t reckon there*11 be much loft to save*
MYRT
Ho*.
No I
No!
(She breaks d o m and weeps*)
SARAH
They1*^ Into the garden, Myrtle!
They* re eating itl
ve fve got to s & n It*
MYRT
(Hopelessly.)
We oan*
SARAH
We ean plow it under!
1*11 pull the plow and you guide!
We*11 throw a furrow of dirt over all that*a above the
ground*
Gome * Myrt! Gomel
(Dazed, MYRT follows*)
WO *11 have to work fast!
49ft
4m
- 1 S1 ~
*0iXded PrairieH
Aot Three
Soane Two;
A few days later*
Sunset*
HXBT and LON alone*
LON
I a there more to paofc?
m m
Only the things we need for tonight*
1/11 do them in the
morning*
LON
1*11 be glad to he gone*
K1HT
We* 11 leave all thle miserable oountry behind - with it* a
wind and drouth and ruet and grasshoppers*
of it* Lon*
Free to live*
We*11 he free
In a few short hours from
now w©*ll he out of it*
LON
We*11 he haefc in civilization.
m m
How wise It was you hadn*t need the money to pay the
mortgagee*
LON
If X had, we wouldn't have gone*
would have had a lot of money*
Alley and the railroad
We *d have had an empty
elevator and a lot of sterile ground*
-
160
600
~
MYHT
But It Isn’t so*
LOB
Bovo Is putting the last of the lumber hack In the freight
oar now*
All that* e left la the foundation.
X suppose
it will never support a house like we had planned*
MXRT
Bo*
But that house will rise on another foundation*
Baok Bast*
Bank home*1
LOB
But the rest aren’t so luoky.
X don’t know what they’ll do*
BXRT
*h.y have never worried for you*
LOB
No~— they haven’t*
And I shan’t for them*
MXHf
Bid Lonnie go out with Mother Allard?
LOB
Over to see Bottle*
Boor Bat.
MXRT
This won’t keep her from having more children - if she
wants*
She got so exelted and over-exerted herself
trying to fight the grasshoppers.
She should have realized
it would happen*
(DAVE oomee in.)
BAYS
Well
It’s all put away, Lon.
* I§3 -
LOU
That1a good* Hera, Dav©~*~—
(Takes out puree*}
This is for you*
DAVE
(Takes cheek*)
Oh «*** hut, U s , w * l h » haul in of that lusher ain’t worth
that muoh.
LON
Tou’ve done other things for me*
You’ll need it*
DAVE
Well *>—
thanks, Lon
h u V ^ *-»*>*>
LON
Y ou’ll hear from me from time to time*
DAVE
Sure hate to see you go, Lon
smart thing for you*
you folks
We’ll miss you*
hut it’s the
&eekon a good many
of the others will mifs you, t o o * ~ — -It’s goin to he a
tough winter for some*
to my chores.
Well*-*—
1 reckon I better git
Is Mother Allard still over to our place?
LON
ihe must he*
DAVE
I’ll eee her, then*
<**byef His1 Allard, if I don’t see you
agin*
MYRT
€tood~byef Dave*
01we your wife the same*
* i#4 **
DAVE
1*11 do that * Well-— ----(Extends hand to LON*)
Oood luck, Lon*
LOW
Oood luek to you, Law#.
X w o n H forget you.
DAVE
We oouldn11 forgit you.
©am*t see you off.
Reckon Dot will he sorry she
Wsll~—
don't take no wooden ntekles.
LOW
A H right, Dare hoy.
(DAVE hurries out to hide his emotion.)
One of the true ones.
MXRf
Would you bring in some fuel# Lon?
1*11 start supper*
LOW
All right.
(As LOW starts for wood, LONNIE scampers
in.)
LONNIE
Hey, Dad, ©an X take my steam engine along?
m m
What did you say, Lonnie I
LONNIE
(Correcting himself.)
X«» sorry, Mother~*-~Father, may 1 take my steam engine?
MXBT
What** better.
1 guess It1* a good thing we*re leaving here.
503
«* i#5 ~
LONNIE
Hqr If Father?
LON
Don't yen think we*d better leave itt
MYRT
You ean build a finer one when we arrive,
(She goes in-)
LON
It is*— a little rusty*
X*» leaving mine*
LONNIE
Well— -----(LON gate wood from behind house
as he and LONNIE talk#)
Do you want to go-— Dad?
LON
Certainly*
D o n H you?
LONNIE
Only because Mother wants to*
I like It here*
I*d like
to stay.
LON
It1a a wonderful place back there*
Many things you*ve
never seen*
LONNIE
I suppose*
Will I have to wear that— ~ suit-*— on the train?
LON
Whatever your mother says*
504
LOHNXE
Oh— you**# no help at all.
LON
(Taking m o d lU •)
%ere* * your grandma?
LONNIE
we net © a w Carson*
She* s talking.
(doing in following LON.)
Mother, I ’m sure 1*11 muss that good anii if I wear it on
the train*
(SARAH enters. She starts In house as
LON comes out*)
LON
How* a Dot?
SARAH
She1a doing nicely*
(LON alts on porch*
to him*)
So m y *
LOU
Yes, Mother*
SARAH
Will it hurt terrible if 1 donH go?
LON
(thunder struck *)
If you d o n H go?
SARAH
do Mast*
SARAH cones
- 1*7 LQM
% y «m. what ar. you talking about?
W * r e not going to
laaya yea bars.
SARAH
Z*a needed hero.
LON
How, Mother— ————
SARAH
X wouldnH be hap >y bach there— knowing how it will be—
here I
LON
Hew it will be?
UXRT
(la door a)
Roil Mother Allard —
feel for these people*
don’t be stubborn.
Of course you
We all do but they’re brought this
oh themselves.
SARAH
They didn’t bring the grasshoppers*
Nut that’s no.difference.
It* a just a matter of my knowing shat 1 want to do*
LON
It’s preposterous*
You couldn’t stay here alone.
SARAH
I won’t be alone,
bottle and have will take me in.
X
couldn’t sleep in a good warm bed knowing there were little
ones without enough covers— or food— or clothing.
might have helped.
Ones X
—
180
600
*»
UXRT
The little one person oould do wouldn't make any difference.
SARAH
Xt will make a difference to the person trying.
Is here.
X wouldn't he happy away.
My plaoe
Xt would he like a
foreign oountry— baok Kaet.
TOT
X night have known I
0ARAH
Xt needn't ohange your plans.
Oo on and lire your 11 res
and forget what's behind. X couldn't forget.
Others may
he different.
MXRT
You want to hold Ion here, tool
future.
You want to ruin his
To drag us all down to the level of these stupid,
thanklegs peaeants. Just as they tried to do and didn't
suooeedl
SARAH
No.
I'm no better than they are.
That's why I'll stay
with them.
MYRT
Well —
I am better!
what we've earned?
And so Is Lon I Why ehouldn't we hare
Year after year it's the same s t o r y -
regular as the seasons.
We want seed.
what you have!
we have not!
A great chorus of "we wants*I
We want money.
We want!
We want!
We want
What you've been smart enough to get— — but
(Uve!
And he's given.
01ve morel
And he's
- 169
glv.n M » t
But lt‘s done no good.
Xt never villi
SARAH
Hover 1* « long tine.
shan't.
X flkanft live to see It.
Xet yen nay t* right.
Xt deeen't take very long
to forget a body starved •— or t rosea —
long.
And yen
X*» not ashing Lon to stay*
not long as tine Is
You are hie irlfoe
you want the same thingsf you should hare thm *
%t
Z shan't
turn prophet and say that even though he has It In his
power to save these people now that it will he a benefit to
him or anyone to save them*
X don't know.
Perhaps they are better gone#
X ean only see the suffering there will be
before another harvest#
But that's almost the present"—
not the future•
1IYKT
It's easy to sentimentalise#
MAH
X say again
you are his wedded wife*
M W
And mother of his son.
LON
Is there no common ground?
Ho way to have you both?
Biiher way It's wrong. .Mother* these families have lived
before without our help*
They will find ways.
We came
alone*
SARAH
Yes, we did*
You want to go.
Let's say no more.
be happy there. Z am contented here.
You will
It would be wrong to
VtQ
608
-
make me go; more wrong to foroe her to stay.
Shall 1 got
•upper nowt
MYRT
I'd started but I'm afraid ltfa ©old.
SARAH
X tall you what.
I'll get supper.
•ay good-bye to you*
Dottle would Ilka to
In tha moving there won11 ba time*
You go while I stir up the meal.
MYRT
l #d rather not*
SARAH
Well, Lon— you must*
She aaked me If you would*
IDIf
All right.
1 won't be long*
MYRT
Why don't you take your mother, toot
You don't hare much time left*
Then you can talk.
Xfil get the meal*
SARAH
If you don't mind*
But won't you go* toot
MYRT
She won't ©are if I don't come.
SARAH
All right.
(SARAH and LQM go out.
them*
St area after them.)
LONNIE
¥
Uother.
MYRT watehea
(In the door.)
§00
MXRfl
Xes# Lonnie?
LONNIE
Where did they go?
intHT
To say goodbye to Dot.
LONNIE
Why do you stare so, Mother?
MXRf
0o X?
Come here* Lonnie*
Bo you l o w your mother very
mu oh tonight?
LONNIE
Of eouree X l o w you* Mother,
MXRf
Would you rather et&y here «** than go?
LONNIE
Aren't we going?
MXRf
If we shoulan*t# would you earet
LONNIE
No*
X shouldn't oare*
For there1d he wheat to thresh.
MXRT
Oh* she Is right*
yet X oan't.
to ask.
He knows she Is*
X know she is.
But
X can't give It all up again* It's too much
But he will someday hate me If X foroe him on*
How many years
to wait If I give In?
face wrinkl©d~~temper of a shrew*
Who knows?
Old hands—
I'll never he content*
- xw
Dlsoord breeds hat©,
why *sk why?
Destroys lore,
Why am X so?
But
X am,
LONNIE
X don*t understand you, Mother.
SORT
Your Mother la a very selfish soman.
LONNIE
No, Mother.
MXRT
But yet she l0 ves«*~*rery deeply.
you#
Remember that#
She lores
She lores your father-***-more than Ilf© Itself#
Always
remember that#
LONNIE
I shall#
But---(She gather© him In her arms and kisses
him*)
Why are you crying?
uxm
Because I lore you both so very much,
(She breaks from him and hurries into
the house and shuts the door*
LONNIE
looks.after her-~puzsled*)
(Pause#)
(There is the crack of a rifle Inside the
house.)
611
- 173 LONNIE
(Run* to the door.)
KotbAZ* •
(frlee door.
Methirl
-— Mother! wemmeoewr«*■«»
Curtain -
It won't open.)
512
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tfnlvera'
lfc'
y Preaa, (mffT'. T p . x & 181.
Hough, Emerson, The Storvofthe C o ^ o y t Hew York, D. Apple tow
and
} i & W ) * Pp* xii & 549#
Houghs ^aerson, The Story of the Outlaws Mew York, A* L#
Burt $ rtjfciisiiera * (1#" Pp * xiv & 400#
Hunter, John Marvin, frail Driver a of Texas t San Antonio,
Jacks on FrteTing' do* (1923)* ' Pp* 600#
Kansas State Historical Society, Collections8 Topeka, Kansas
State Printing Plant# 1T!SS35I£5So T Volumes 1 to 19,
inclusive#
Kansas State Historical Society, A List of Books Indiapenslble
to a Knowledge, of Kansas"''''History'
Topeka, Kansas’&Yate Printing 'Plant# (ToiS). Pp# 16#
Lake, Stuart N#, Wyatt Earo,f Frontier Marshallg Boston & New
York, TOughton
Co#(1931} * Pp# xiv & 380*
Lockwood, Prank C## Pioneer Pays in Arizona; New York, The
Macmillan Sompany* (1932)'#" Pp.' xiv h 38V*
Love, Alice Bmlly, History of Tombstone to 1887s M*A# thesis,
University of Arizona* Unpublished* Pp. 90.
Love, Hobertus, The Rise and Fall of Jesse James t New York.
Londoh,Tfc^^
Presa'
)* Pp, ix & 446#
McCoy, Joseph G*. Historlc ^ketches of the Cattle Tradet
Kansas Ci ty"Mo *V feis ey , WiXie t ''^ Huds on * (1874} *
Pp, 3 & 427*
McNeal, T. A#, When Kansas Was Youngt New York, The Macmillan
Co# (iSsfey*. Pp# ix & 287#
Pelser, Louis, TheCattlemenfg Frontier* Glendale, Calif,,
The Irthur^H,'Clark CompaunLy* (1936)* Pp* 11 & 340.
Pond, Fred B,, Life op Ned Buntline t New York, The Cadmus
Book Shop* (1919)* P p #4 & 159Rob Ins on, Charles, Ihe Kansas Conflict: New York, Harper &
Bros # (W m u ' TpT T‘3ntl1
Rollins, Philip Ashton* The Cowboy* Hew York* Charles Scribner1*
Sons* ( 1 9 2 2 ; * Pp* 555*
Walters, Borens o D*. Tombstone*e Yesterday* Tucson* Acme
printtog c o T i m d T . Fp; ? ri93*
Wilson, He ill 0#J Treasure Express: Hew York, The
Macmillan <Sa!^a^* |l9S6)* Pp* xil & 322*
Winch, Frank, Stirring Blves of Buffalo Bill and Pawnee
Bllit H e w York * 5* fc*' 'Parsone1'& Co7« Inc« (1912) *
T p * 224*
Wright, Robert M«, Bodge City, The Cowboy Capitol*
Wichita, Kansas* WicSita ISagle Press * (1913) •
Pp# 544*