SCENE 31 - Afternoon, road leading past BIRCH cottage
and gate of the LOCUSTS
(Capt. LAWTON and Dr. SITGREAVES, astride their horses, halt as they
watch a procession gather and proceed down the road toward the WHARTON grounds.)
(Four men support the body on a rude bier, and four others walk in advance,
ready to relieve their friends from their burden. The peddler walks next
to the coffin, and by his side moves KATY HAYNES, the housekeeper, with
a most enveloping look of woe; next to the mourners come Mr. WHARTON and
his son, the English Captain. Two or three old men and women, with a few
straggling boys, bring up the rear.)
(Capt. LAWTON sits in his saddle in rigid silence, until the bearers
come opposite to his position, and then, for the first time, HARVEY raises
his eyes from the ground, and sees the enemy that he dreads so near to him.
)
(The first impulse of the peddler is certainly flight; but recovering
his recollection, he fixes his eyes on the coffin of his parent, and passes
the trooper with a firm step but swelling heart. LAWTON slowly lifts his
cap, and continues uncovered until Mr. WHARTON and his son move by, when,
accompanied by the surgeon, he rides leisurely in the rear, maintaining
an inflexible silence.)
(CAESAR emerges from the cellar kitchen of the cottage and with a face
of settled solemnity, adds himself to the number of followers of the funeral,
yet at a most respectful distance from the horsemen. He had placed around
his arm, a little above the elbow, a napkin of unsullied whiteness, exhibiting
himself in the garniture of mourning. He was a great lover of propriety
and was stimulated by the desire to show his friend from Georgia all the
decencies of a New York funeral.)
(The graveyard was an enclosure on the grounds of Mr. WHARTON fenced
with stone, and set apart for this purpose some years before. It was not,
however, intended as a burial place for his own family.)
(LAWTON makes a move to follow the procession when it leaves the highway,
but he is recalled by a hint from his companion that he is taking the wrong
road.)
Dr. SITGREAVES: Of all the methods adopted by man for the disposal of
his earthly remains, which do you prefer, LAWTON? In some countries, the
body is left to be devoured by wild beasts; in others it is consumed on
a funeral pyre; and others buried in the bowels of the earth. Which do you
prefer?
LAWTON: All are agreeable, though the speediest interments give the
cleanest fields. Of which are you an admirer?
Dr. SITGREAVES: The last, as practiced by ourselves, for the other three
are destructive of all the opportunities for dissection; whereas, in the
last, the coffin can lie in peaceful decency, while the remains are made
to subserve the useful purposes of science. Ah, Captain, I enjoy comparatively
few opportunities of such a nature, to what I expected on entering the army.
(LAWTON, following the group they had left with his eyes - )
LAWTON: To what may these pleasures numerically amount in a year?
(He withdraws his gaze from the graveyard.)
Dr. SITGREAVES: Within a dozen, upon my honor; my best picking is when
the corps is detached, for when we are with the main army, there are so
many boys to be satisfied, that I seldom get a good subject. Those youngsters
are as wasteful as prodigals, and as greedy as vultures.
LAWTON: A dozen! Why I furnish you as many with my own hands.
Dr. SITGREAVES: Ah, JOHN, it is seldom I can do anything with your patients;
you disfigure them woefully; believe me, JOHN, when I tell you as a friend
that your system is all wrong. You necessarily destroy life, and then you
injure the body so that it is unfit for the only use that can be made of
a dead man.
(The trooper continues silence as the most probable means of preserving
peace between them. The surgeon takes a last look at the burial as they
round the foot of the hill that shuts the valley from their sight.)
Dr. SITGREAVES: One might get a natural death from that graveyard tonight,
if there was but time and opportunity! The patient must be the father of
the lady we saw this morning.
LAWTON: The petticoat doctor? - she with the sun-drenched complexion;
but the lady was not the gentleman's daughter; only his medico-petticoat
attendant; and HARVEY, whose name was made to rhyme with every word in her
song, is the renowned peddler-spy.
Dr. SITGREAVES: What! He who unhorsed you?
LAWTON: No man ever unhorsed me, Dr. SITGREAVES, I fell by mischance
of Roanoke; rider and beast kissed the earth together.
Dr. SITGREAVES: A warm embrace, from the love spots it left on your
shoulder; 'tis a thousand pities that you cannot find where the tattling
rascal lies hid.
LAWTON: He followed his father's body.
Dr. SITGREAVES (cries): And you let him pass? Let us return immediately
and take him; to-morrow you shall have him hanged, JOHN, and damn him, I'll
dissect him.
LAWTON: Softly, softly, my dear Archibald, would you arrest a man while
paying the last offices to a dead father? Leave him to me, and I pledge
myself he shall have justice.
( The doctor mutters about the postponement of vengeance. They continue
their ride to the quarters of the corps in discussions concerning the welfare
of the human body.)
SCENE 32 - Afternoon, same time at the grave side
(HARVEY supported a grave and collected manner, that was expected of
a male mourner; KATY, with some reputation for a tender heart, really weeps,
especially when she sees countenances of the few females there fixed upon
her.)
(The muscles of the peddler's face are seen to move, and as the first
clod of earth fell on the tenement of his father, sending up that dull hollow
sound, his whole frame for an instant convulses. His body bends down as
if in pain, and his fingers work while his hands hang lifeless by his sides.
There is an expression on his countenance that seems to announce the writhing
of a soul, but it is transient.)
(He stands erect, draws a long breath and looks around him as though
having attained the mastery of his emotions. The grave is soon filled and
a rough stone placed at either end. The neighbors, who had offered their
services for this solemn duty, look to the mourner and tip their hats. He
also uncovers his head, and gathers his energy.)
HARVEY: My friends and neighbors, I thank you for assisting me to bury
my dead out of my sight.
(A solemn pause succeeds the customary address, and the group disperses
in silence; a few walking with the mourners back to their habitation, but
respectfully leaving them at its entrance.)
SCENE 33 - Late afternoon, inside BIRCH cottage
(The peddler and KATY are followed into the building by one man, who
was well known in the surrounding country as a "speculator.")
(KATY's heart palpitates with dreadful forebodings, but HARVEY hands
him a chair, evidently prepared for the visit. The peddler goes to his door,
taking a cautious glance around the valley, quickly returns to the visitor.)
HARVEY: The sun has just left the top of the eastern hill. My time presses
me; here is the deed for the house and lot. Everything is done according
to law.
(The man takes the paper, and thoroughly examines its contents, while
HARVEY gathers together articles which he intended to include in the stores
to leave the building with himself.)
(KATY had already inquired of HARVEY whether his father had left a will,
and she saw he had placed the Bible in the bottom of the new pack, which
she had made for him with stoical indifference, but as the six silver spoons
are laid carefully by its side, a sudden tinge of her conscience objects
to such a palpable waste of property, and she breaks the silence.)
KATY: When you marry , HARVEY, you may miss those spoons.
HARVEY: I shall never marry.
SPECULATOR: I'm rather tiresome about this conveyance.
HARVEY: Why so?
SPECULATOR: I'm afraid it won't stand good in law. I know that two of
the neighbors leave home to-morrow morning, to have the place entered for
confiscation; and if I should give forty pounds, and lose it all, 't would
be a dead pull-back to me.
HARVEY: They can only take my right; pay me two hundred dollars, and
the house is yours. You are a well known Whig, and you at least they won't
trouble.
(As he speaks, there is a strange bitterness of manner, mingled with
the shrewd care he expresses concerning the sale of his property.)
SPECULATOR: Say one hundred, and it is a bargain.
(He says with a grin intended to be a good natured smile.)
HARVEY: A bargain! I thought the bargain was already made.
SPECULATOR: Nothing is a bargain until papers are delivered and the
money paid in hand.
HARVEY: You have the paper.
SPECULATOR: Ay, and will keep it, if you will excuse the money; come,
say one hundred and fifty, and I won't be hard; here - here is just the
money.
(The peddler looks through the window and sees with dismay that the evening
is fast advancing, and knows well that he endangers his life by remaining
in the dwelling after dark; yet he cannot tolerate the idea of being defrauded
in this manner in a bargain that had already been fairly made.)
SPECULATOR: Well, mayhap you can find another man to trade with between
this and morning; but, if you don't, your title won't be worth much afterwards.
KATY: Take it, HARVEY.
(KATY says, feeling it impossible to resist a tinder like the one before
her in English guineas. Her voice rouses the peddler to a new idea.)
HARVEY: I agree to the price (takes the money and places part of it
in her hand),; had I other means to pay you, I would have lost all, rather
than to have suffered myself to be defrauded of part.
SPECULATOR: You may lose all yet.
(He rises and leaves the building.)
KATY: Yes, he knows your failing, HARVEY, he thinks with me, now the
old gentleman is gone, you will want a careful body to take care of your
concerns.
KATY sings prelude to TOO LATE:
"Because ... you know ... every man sometime ... should
have a wife and family ... you've been working many years ... and I've been
waiting patiently ..."
HARVEY sings TOO LATE:
"I know ... I Know ... I KNOW."
"But I've LOST ... I've lost ... the right to love ...
as other men do ... it's too late ... too late ... to give my name ... that's
wallowed in shame ... to love a good woman like you ....It takes all ...
all ... the effort I can give ... to climb these hills ... drive my soul
... keep the role ... that I chose to live."
"What comes first ... in one man's life ... depends ...
upon the time ... the time ... The Time ... THE TIME ... is precious now
... a passion to fill ... a purpose still ... must be first ... in this
heart of mine ... The constant running ... constant fear ... no time for
things ... most men hold dear ... the goal I've set ... the price ... I
pay ... exhausts my courage ... ev' ... ry ... day."
(HARVEY shakes his head in dismay, then busies himself in preparations
for his departure, while the spinster's mind returns again to the subject.)
(She had lived so many years in expectation of a termination to her
hopes, so different from that which now seemed likely to occur, that the
idea of separation began to give her more uneasiness than she had thought
herself capable of feeling, about a man so destitute and friendless.)
HARVEY and KATY sing STRANGELY NEW:
HARVEY sings:
"You saw the purchase made ... gold was needed for your
pay ... take what you will ... and go ... we should no longer stay."
KATY sings:
"But now where ... will you go .. in these woods ... where
do you roam?"
HARVEY sings:
"Providence will guide me ... where to find another home."
KATY sings:
"If you would persuade me ... I'd leave with you on my
own."
HARVEY (avoids her subject) sings STRANGELY NEW:
"'Tis sad to leave ... this lovely valley ... where
people like ... all race of men ... but to me it matters nothing ... there's
only what I do-o ... all places are alike now ... and faces strangely new
... they seem all the same, too ..."
KATY sings NOT SO:
"Oh, not so, not so ... HARVEY look at me ... my face
is not strange to you. (HARVEY sings:) Yes, good woman ... at least
you're one ... who knows my face ... and you may speak ... in my defense
... if you ever have a chance ... someday ... (KATY sings:) Oh, that
I would ... I will, I will ... "
"I will defend you ... anywhere ... to my last drop ...
even if ... you like the king ... I've heard he's not ... so bad as talk."
HARVEY sings:
"How dreadful it is to die ... and leave this name behind
me ... but there is one who someday ... may seek and try to find me."
KATY sings:
"No-o-o-o ... don't talk of dying so ... Please ... don't
leave me with this thought ... at least ... keep on trying ... to find ...
the goals you've sought."
HARVEY (gently takes her hand) sings:
"'Tis painful to part with you ... good woman ... but we
shall meet ... in the hereafter ... again."
(The door bursts open, as the voice heard causes the peddler to sink
in despair on the chest from which he has risen, -)
HEAD SKINNER shouts: In the regions of darkness!
(He laughs sarcastically.)
HEAD SKINNER: - - What? Another pack, Mr. BIRCH, and so well stuffed
so soon!
(Regaining his firmness, and springing to his feet with energy -)
HARVEY: Have you not done enough? Is it not enough to harass the last
moments of a dying man, to impoverish me; what more would you have?
HEAD SKINNER (with cool malignity): Your blood.
HARVEY: And for money, like the ancient Judas, you would grow rich with
the price of blood.
HEAD SKINNER: Ay, and a fair price it is, fifty guineas; nearly the
weight of that carcass of yours in gold.
KATY: Here, here are fifty guineas, and these drawers and this bed,
are all mine; if you will give HARVEY but one hour's start from the door,
they shall be yours.
HEAD SKINNER: One hour?
KATY: But a single hour, here take the money.
(He looks longingly at the money, and reaches for it.)
HARVEY (cries out): Hold! Put no faith in this miscreant.
HEAD SKINNER (taking the money): She may do what she pleases with her
faith, but I have the money in good keeping; as for you, Mr. BIRCH, we will
bear your insolence, for the fifty guineas that are to pay for your gallows.
HARVEY: Go on, take me to Major DUNWOODIE; he at least may be kind,
although he may be just.
HEAD SKINNER: I can do better than by marching so far in such disgraceful
company; this Mr. DUNWOODIE has let one or two Tories go at large; but the
troop of Captain LAWTON is quartered some half mile nearer, and his receipt
will get me the reward as soon as his Major's. How relish you the idea of
supping with Captain LAWTON this evening, Mr. BIRCH?
KATY (cries loudly): Give me my money or set HARVEY free.
HEAD SKINNER: Your bribe was not enough, good woman, unless there is
money in this bed.
(He thrusts his bayonet into the ticking, ripping it some distance, then
takes malicious satisfaction in scattering its contents about the room.
Losing sight of her own personal danger in concern for her newly acquired
possessions, KATY again cries)
KATY: If there is a law in the land, I will be righted.
HEAD SKINNER: The law of the neutral ground is the law of the strongest.
(A figure stands in the shadow of the door, as if afraid to be seen in
the company of the Skinners; but a blaze of light raised by some articles
thrown in the fire by his persecutors, shows the peddler the face of the
purchaser of his little domain.)
(Some whispering between this man and one of the Skinners induces HARVEY
to suspect he had been the dupe of a contrivance in which that wretch has
participated. It is, however, too late to regret, and he follows the party
from the house with a firm and collected tread, as if marching to a triumph,
not to a gallows.)
SCENE 34 - Night, in yard outside BIRCH cottage
In passing through the yard, the Head Skinner trips over a billet of
wood, and receives a momentary hurt from the fall. Exasperated at the incident,
the fellow springs to his feet, filling the air with obscenities.
HEAD SKINNER: The curse of heaven light on that log; the night is too
dark for us to move in; throw that brand of fire in yon pile of tow, to
light up the scene.
SPECULATOR: Hold, you'll fire the house!
HEAD SKINNER: And see the farther.
(He hurls the brand in the midst of combustibles. In an instant the side
of the building catches fire.)
HEAD SKINNER: Come let us move towards the heights while we have light
to pick our road.
SPECULATOR: Villain! Is this your friendship - this my reward for kidnapping
the peddler?
HEAD SKINNER: 'Twould be wise to move away from the light if you mean
to entertain us with abuse, or we may see too well to miss our mark.
(The next instant he is as good as his threat, but happily misses the
terrified speculator and equally appalls the spinster, who sees herself
again reduced from comparative wealth to poverty, by the blow. Prudence
dictated to these two a speedy retreat in different directions.)
(KATY enters the burning house and shortly emerges, having hastily grabbed
a few possessions before the fire reaches the interior, then runs in the
direction of the WHARTONS. She pauses, when close enough to feel safer,
and watches the cottage in the distance go up in flames, with a turmoil
of emotions.)
KATY sings THE TIMES:
"Thomas Paine
was right ... 'These are the times that try men's souls.' ... The times
... The Times ... THE TIMES ... how differently ... our lives would be ...
if it were not for ... the times ... The Times ... THE TIMES"
KATY continues singing THE TIMES:
"I hate that word ... it took away ... my life, my love
... the only one ... I'll ever have ... any time ... He's here ... he's
Here ... he's HERE on EARTH ... but for how long? ... and not for me ...
not for any woman ... because of ... the times ... The Times ... THE TIMES
... How differently ... our lives would be ... if it were not for ... the
times."
"People do not know this man ... a peddler's all they see
... so gentle kind ... and I know inside ... that he would love me ... if
it were not for ... the times ... The Times ... THE TIMES ... I HATE THAT
WORD! ... it took away ... my life, my love ... the only one ...I'll ever
have ... any time ...
"I know he would not marry me ... until this nation here
is born ... and only when ... both it and he ... will be ... complete .-.
ly ... free-e-e-e-e."
END of PART ONE
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