(ASHER bows his head. DR. JONATHAN gazes at him for a moment,compassionately.)I'll go back to him now. I think he'd better be moved to his room, and put to bed.(Exit DR. JONATHAN, left. For a minute ASHER remains alone, andthen DR. JONATHAN and Dr. FRYE reappear, carrying GEORGE. Theblanket is flung over his knees, and he seems lifeless. They arefollowed by MINNIE, carrying the phial and the glass, and byAUGUSTA. They cross the room and go out, lower right. ASHER walksbehind them as far as the door, hesitates, and then goes out.)(THE CURTAIN falls and remains down a minute to indicate a lapse ofthree hours. When it rises again night has come, the lamps arelighted and the window curtains drawn. ASHER and AUGUSTA arediscovered standing together. ASHER has a black, leather coveredbook in his hand, with one finger in the place where he has beenreading. Both show the effects of a strain.)AUGUSTA (who has been speaking). And when we took him upstairs, I was sure he was going to die—it seemed to me as if nothing could save him. He's been sitting up and talking to us—of course he's pale and weak and wasted, but in spite of that, Asher, he seems to have a strength, a force that he didn't have before he went away. He isn't a boy any more. I can't describe it, but I'm almost afraid of him—!ASHER. He—he hasn't mentioned me?AUGUSTA. No, my dear—and since Jonathan warned me not to, I've said nothing about you. Why is it?ASHER. Jonathan's the master now.AUGUSTA. In spite of what I've felt about him, he has saved George for us. It seems a miracle.ASHER. A scientific miracle.AUGUSTA (indicating the book ASHER holds). And yet you were reading the Bible!ASHER. I just took it down. (He lays it on the table, and touches AUGUSTA, with an unwonted tenderness, on the shoulder). I think we may hope, now, Augusta. But before we can be sure that he'll get well, there's something else to be done.AUGUSTA (anxiously). What?ASHER. Go back to George,—I'll tell you later. It seems that we must trust Jonathan. Here he is now.(Enter DR. JONATHAN, lower right, as AUGUSTA departs.)DR. JONATHAN. George wants to get dressed, and come down.ASHER. You think it wise?DR. JONATHAN. Under the circumstances yes. The heart is practically normal again, we have done all that is physically possible. One half of the experiment seems to have succeeded, and the sooner we try the other half, the better. Are you still willing?ASHER. I'm prepared. I've carried out your—instructions—sent for the committee.DR. JONATHAN (looking at him). Good!ASHER (with an effort). Jonathan, I—I guess I misjudged you—DR. JONATHAN (Smiling). Wait until you are sure. Nothing matters if we can save that boy. By the way, he asked for Timothy, and I've sent for him.ASHER. He asked for Timothy, and not for me!DR. JONATHAN. It seems he saw an officer of Bert's regiment, after the boy was killed. Here's the committee, I think.(The MAID enters, lower right. She does not speak, but ushers inHILLMAN, RENCH and FERSEN, and retires.)HILLMAN. | RENCH. |-Good evening, Mr. Pindar. Good evening, doctor. FERSEN. |ASHER. Good evening.(An awkward silence. From habit, ASHER stares at them defiantly, asDR. JONATHAN goes out, lower right.)HILLMAN (going up to ASHER). How's your son, Mr. Pindar?RENCH. We're real anxious about the Captain.FERSEN (nodding). The boys think a whole lot of him, Mr. Pindar.ASHER. He's better, thank you. The medicine Dr. Pindar has given himRENCH. Didn't I say so? When I heard how he was when he got back, I said to Fred Hillman here,—if anybody can cure him, it's Dr. Jonathan, right here in Foxon Falls!(A pause.)I'm sorry this here difference came up just now, Mr. Pindar, when the Captain come home. We was a little mite harsh—but we was strung up, I guess, from the long shifts. If we'd known your son was comin'—ASHER. You wouldn't have struck?RENCH. We'd have agreed to put it off. When a young man like that is near dying for his country why—anything can wait. But what we're asking is only right.ASHER. Well, right or not right, I sent for you to say, so far as I'm concerned, the strike's over.RENCH. You'll—you'll recognize the union?ASHER. I grant—( he catches himself)—I consent to your demands.(After a moment of stupefaction, their faces light up, and theyapproach him.)RENCH. We appreciate it, Mr. Pindar. This'll make a lot of families happy tonight.FERSEN. It will that.HILLMAN. Maybe you won't believe me, Mr. Pindar, but it was hard to see the shops closed down—as hard on us as it was on you. We take pride in them, too. I guess you won't regret it.ASHER (waving them away). I hope not. I ought to tell you that you may thank my son for this—my son and Dr. Pindar.RENCH. We appreciate it,—just the same.(ASHER makes a gesture as thought to dismiss the subject, as well asthe committee. They hesitate, and are about to leave when GEORGE,followed by DR. JONATHAN, comes in, lower right. His entrance isquite dramatic. He walks with the help of a stick, slowly, but hisbearing is soldierly, authoritative, impressive. He halts when heperceives the committee.)HILLMAN (going up to GEORGE). How are you, Captain?FERSEN. Good to have you home once more.RENCH (going up to GEORGE). Good to see you, Captain, on a day like this. As Larz Fersen said when we were going to strike, “It's a fine day for it.” Well, this is a better day—you home and well, and the strike off.GEORGE (glancing from one to the other, and then at ASHER). What do you mean?RENCH. Why, Mr. Pindar—your father here's just made everybody happy. He's recognized the union, and we're going back to work. We'll turn out machines to make shrapnel enough to kill every Hun in France,—get square with 'em for what they done to you.(They all watch GEORGE, absorbed in the effect this announcement hason him. An expression of happiness grows in his eyes. After amoment he goes up to ASHER.)GEORGE. Dad, why did you do this?ASHER. I'll tell you, George. When you came home this afternoon I realized something I hadn't realized before. I saw that the tide was against me, that I was like that old English king who set his throne on the sands and thought he could stay the waters. If—if anything had happened to you, I couldn't have fought on, but now that you're here with me again, now that you've risked your life and almost lost it for this—this new order in which you believe, why, it's enough for me—I can surrender with honour. I'm tired, I need a rest. I'd have gone down fighting, but I guess you've saved me. I've been true to my convictions,—you, who belong to the new generation, must be true to yours. And as I told you once, all I care about this business is to hand it over to you.GEORGE. You'll help me!ASHER. This seems to be Jonathan's speciality,—science. But I never give my word half heartedly, my boy, and I'll back you to my last dollar. Be prepared for disappointments,—but if you accomplish something, I'll be glad. And if you fail, George,—any failure for a man's convictions is a grand failure.GEORGE. Well, it means life to me, dad. I owe it to you.ASHER (turning toward DR. JONATHAN). No, you owe it to him,—to science.(He puts one hand on GEORGE'S shoulder, and the other, with anabrupt movement, on DR. JONATHAN'S.)And if science will do as much for democracy, then—GEORGE. Then, you're from Missouri. Good old dad!ASHER (huskily, trying, to carry it off, and almost overcome by emotion at the reconciliation). I'm from Missouri, my boy.DR. JONATHAN. Then you're a true scientist, Asher, for science, too, waits to be shown.(ASHER goes out, lower right. Dr. JONATHAN, evidently in supportand sympathy, goes with him. GEORGE and the committee look afterthem, and then GEORGE sits down, and smiles at the men.)GEORGE. And we've got to be scientists, too. Are you fellows willing to take your share in the experiment?HILLMAN. What experiment's that, Captain?GEORGE. Now that you've got your union, what's the good of it?RENCH (after a pause). Why, I thought we'd made that pretty clear, Captain. We've got something to fall back on in case the employers don't live up to their agreements. I'm not speaking of you—GEORGE. In other words, you've got a weapon.RENCH. Well, you might call it that.GEORGE. But weapons imply warfare,—don't they?RENCH. We wouldn't fight with you.GEORGE. Yes, you would,—if our interests conflicted. When I was in the trenches I kept thinking of the quotation Lincoln used, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” We're going to try to perpetuate that house, just as he did.HILLMAN. Lincoln had common sense.GEORGE. Another name for intelligence. And what we've got to decide is whether the old house will do—for democracy—industrial democracy? Can we shore up the timbers—or shall we have to begin to build a new house?RENCH (glancing at HILLMAN). The old one sure enough looks rotten to me. I've said that all along.GEORGE. It seems to have served its day. Has your union got the plans of a new house ready—consulted an architect?RENCH. I'm afraid we don't get you, Captain.GEORGE. You belong to the American Federation of Labour, don't you? Has it got a new house ready to move into?RENCH. Well, I haven't seen any plans.GEORGE. If the old structure's too small, one party or the other will have to be shoved out. The capitalist or the employee. Which will it be?RENCH (laughing). If it comes to that—GEORGE (smiling). There's no question in your mind. But you hadn't thought about it—your Federation hasn't thought about it, or doesn't want to think about it, and your employers don't want to, either.HILLMAN (stroking his moustache). That's soGEORGE. I'll tell you who have thought about it—the Bolshevists and the I. W. W. And because they have a programme,—some programme, any programme, they're more intelligent than we, for the time.RENCH. Those guys?GEORGE. Exactly,—those guys. At least they see that the house isn't fit to live in. They want to pull it down, and go back to living in trees and caves.HILLMAN. That's about right.GEORGE. But you're conservatives, you labour union people—the aristocrats of labour, which means that you don't think. What you really object to, when you come down to it, is that men like my father and me, and the bankers,—we're all in the same boat, most of 'us own banks, too,—control the conditions of life for you and men like you.RENCH. I never heard it put in those words, but by gum, it's so.GEORGE. And your Confederation, your unions are for the skilled workers, whose conditions aren't so bad,—and they're getting better every time you jack up the wages. You complain that we employers aren't thinking of you, but are you thinking of the millions of the unskilled who live from hand to mouth? The old structure's good enough for you, too. But what will the miserable men, who don't sit in, be doing while we're squabbling to see who'll have the best rooms?RENCH. Blow the house up, I guess.GEORGE. If they're rough with it, it'll tumble down like a pack of cards—simply because we're asses. Can't we build a house big enough for all—for a hundred million people and their descendants? A house in which, after a while, there will be no capitalists and no exploiters and no wreckers, only workers—each man and woman on the job they were fitted for? It's a man-sized job, but isn't it worth tackling?RENCH (enthused). It's sure worth tackling, Captain.GEORGE. And can't we begin it, in a modest way, by making a little model of the big house right here in Foxon Falls? Dr. Jonathan will help us.RENCH. Go to it, Captain. We'll trust him and you.GEORGE. Trust is all right, but you've got to go to it, too, and use your headpieces. We've got to sit down together and educate ourselves, who are now employers and employees, get hold of all the facts, the statistics,—and all the elements, the human nature side of it, from the theorists, the students, whom we've despised.RENCH. Well, it's a fact, I hadn't thought much of them intellectuals.GEORGE. They're part of the game—their theories are the basis for an intelligent practice. And what should we be able to do without their figures? Look at what we've worked out in large scale production and distribution in this war! That's a new world problem. Shall we be pioneers here in Foxon Falls in the new experiment?RENCH. An experiment in human chemicals, as the doctor would say. Pioneers! I kind of like that word. You can put me in the wagon, Captain.GEORGE. It will be a Conestoga with the curtains rolled up, so that everybody can see in. No secrets. And it will be a wagon with an industrial constitution.FERSEN. Excuse me, Captain,—but what's that?(RENCH laughs.)GEORGE (smiling). Hasn't it struck you, Fersen, that unless a man has a voice and an interest in the industry in which he works his voice, and interest in the government for which he votes is a mockery?(FERSEN nods.)RENCH. We'll have to give Larz a little education.GEORGE. Oh, I guess he'll make a good industrial citizen. But that's part of the bargain.RENCH. That's fair. Human nature ain't so rotten, when you give it a chance.GEORGE. Well, then, are you willing to try it out, on the level?RENCH. I cal'late we'll stick, Captain.HILLMAN. We sure will.FERSEN. We'll be pioneers!GEORGE. That's good American, Fersen, not to be afraid of an ideal. Shake! We'll sit down with it in a day or two.(They all shake. The members of the committee file out of the room,lower right. GEORGE is left alone for a brief interval, whenMINNIE, in the white costume of a nurse, enters, lower right,with a glass of medicine in her hand.)MINNIE (halting). You're all alone? Where's Dr. Jonathan?GEORGE. He's gone off with dad.MINNIE. It's nine o'clock.(She hands him the glass, he drinks the contents and sets the glasson the table. Then he takes her hands and draws her to him andkisses her. She submits almost passively.)Why are you doing this, George?GEORGE. Because I love you, because I need you, because I'm going to marry you.MINNIE (shaking her head: slowly). No you're not.GEORGE. Why not?MINNIE. You know why not, as well as I do.(She gazes up at him. He is still holding her in his arms.Suddenly she kisses him passionately, breaks away from him andstarts to fly from the room, when she runs into DR. JONATHAN, who isentering, lower right.)DR. JONATHAN. Where are you going, Minnie?(MINNIE halts, and is silent. DR. JONATHAN lays a detaining hand onher arm, and looks from one to the other, comprehendingly.)GEORGE. I've asked her to marry me, Dr. Jonathan.DR. JONATHAN. And what are your objections, Minnie?MINNIE. You know why I can't, Dr. Jonathan. What kind of a wife would I make for him, with his family and friends. I'd do anything for him but that! He wouldn't be happy.DR. JONATHAN. And what's your answer, George?GEORGE. I don't want her for my family and friends,—I want her for myself. This isn't a snap judgment—I've had time to think it over.MINNIE. I didn't mean to be here when you got home. I know I'm not fit to be your wife I haven't had any education.GEORGE. Neither have I. We start level there. I've lived among people of culture, and I've found out that culture chiefly consists of fixed ideas, and obstruction to progress, of hating the President,—of knowing the right people and eating fish with a fork.MINNIE (smiling, though in tears). Well, I never ate fish with a knife, anyway.GEORGE. I spent my valuable youth learning Greek and Latin, and I can't speak or read either of them. I know that Horace wrote odes, and Cicero made orations, but I can't quote them. All I remember about biology is that the fittest are supposed to survive, and in this war I've seen the fittest killed off like flies. You've had several years of useful work in the Pindar Shops and the Wire Works, to say nothing of a course in biological chemistry, psychology and sociology under Dr. Jonathan. I'll leave it to him whether you don't know more about life than I do—about the life and problems of the great mass of people in this country. And now that the strike's over—MINNIE. The strike's over!GEORGE. Yes. I've chosen my life. It isn't going to be divided between a Wall Street office and Newport and Palm Beach. A girl out of a finishing school wouldn't be of any use to me. I'm going to stay right here in Foxon Falls, Minnie, I've got a real job on my hands, and I need a real woman with special knowledge to help me. I don't mean to say we won't have vacations, and we'll sit down and get our education together. Dr. Jonathan will be the schoolmaster.MINNIE. It's a dream, George.GEORGE. Well, Minnie, if it's a dream worth dying for it's a dream worth living for. Your brother Bert died for it.
(ASHER bows his head. DR. JONATHAN gazes at him for a moment,compassionately.)
I'll go back to him now. I think he'd better be moved to his room, and put to bed.
(Exit DR. JONATHAN, left. For a minute ASHER remains alone, andthen DR. JONATHAN and Dr. FRYE reappear, carrying GEORGE. Theblanket is flung over his knees, and he seems lifeless. They arefollowed by MINNIE, carrying the phial and the glass, and byAUGUSTA. They cross the room and go out, lower right. ASHER walksbehind them as far as the door, hesitates, and then goes out.)
(THE CURTAIN falls and remains down a minute to indicate a lapse ofthree hours. When it rises again night has come, the lamps arelighted and the window curtains drawn. ASHER and AUGUSTA arediscovered standing together. ASHER has a black, leather coveredbook in his hand, with one finger in the place where he has beenreading. Both show the effects of a strain.)
AUGUSTA (who has been speaking). And when we took him upstairs, I was sure he was going to die—it seemed to me as if nothing could save him. He's been sitting up and talking to us—of course he's pale and weak and wasted, but in spite of that, Asher, he seems to have a strength, a force that he didn't have before he went away. He isn't a boy any more. I can't describe it, but I'm almost afraid of him—!
ASHER. He—he hasn't mentioned me?
AUGUSTA. No, my dear—and since Jonathan warned me not to, I've said nothing about you. Why is it?
ASHER. Jonathan's the master now.
AUGUSTA. In spite of what I've felt about him, he has saved George for us. It seems a miracle.
ASHER. A scientific miracle.
AUGUSTA (indicating the book ASHER holds). And yet you were reading the Bible!
ASHER. I just took it down. (He lays it on the table, and touches AUGUSTA, with an unwonted tenderness, on the shoulder). I think we may hope, now, Augusta. But before we can be sure that he'll get well, there's something else to be done.
AUGUSTA (anxiously). What?
ASHER. Go back to George,—I'll tell you later. It seems that we must trust Jonathan. Here he is now.
(Enter DR. JONATHAN, lower right, as AUGUSTA departs.)
DR. JONATHAN. George wants to get dressed, and come down.
ASHER. You think it wise?
DR. JONATHAN. Under the circumstances yes. The heart is practically normal again, we have done all that is physically possible. One half of the experiment seems to have succeeded, and the sooner we try the other half, the better. Are you still willing?
ASHER. I'm prepared. I've carried out your—instructions—sent for the committee.
DR. JONATHAN (looking at him). Good!
ASHER (with an effort). Jonathan, I—I guess I misjudged you—
DR. JONATHAN (Smiling). Wait until you are sure. Nothing matters if we can save that boy. By the way, he asked for Timothy, and I've sent for him.
ASHER. He asked for Timothy, and not for me!
DR. JONATHAN. It seems he saw an officer of Bert's regiment, after the boy was killed. Here's the committee, I think.
(The MAID enters, lower right. She does not speak, but ushers inHILLMAN, RENCH and FERSEN, and retires.)
HILLMAN. | RENCH. |-Good evening, Mr. Pindar. Good evening, doctor. FERSEN. |
ASHER. Good evening.
(An awkward silence. From habit, ASHER stares at them defiantly, asDR. JONATHAN goes out, lower right.)
HILLMAN (going up to ASHER). How's your son, Mr. Pindar?
RENCH. We're real anxious about the Captain.
FERSEN (nodding). The boys think a whole lot of him, Mr. Pindar.
ASHER. He's better, thank you. The medicine Dr. Pindar has given him
RENCH. Didn't I say so? When I heard how he was when he got back, I said to Fred Hillman here,—if anybody can cure him, it's Dr. Jonathan, right here in Foxon Falls!
(A pause.)
I'm sorry this here difference came up just now, Mr. Pindar, when the Captain come home. We was a little mite harsh—but we was strung up, I guess, from the long shifts. If we'd known your son was comin'—
ASHER. You wouldn't have struck?
RENCH. We'd have agreed to put it off. When a young man like that is near dying for his country why—anything can wait. But what we're asking is only right.
ASHER. Well, right or not right, I sent for you to say, so far as I'm concerned, the strike's over.
RENCH. You'll—you'll recognize the union?
ASHER. I grant—( he catches himself)—I consent to your demands.
(After a moment of stupefaction, their faces light up, and theyapproach him.)
RENCH. We appreciate it, Mr. Pindar. This'll make a lot of families happy tonight.
FERSEN. It will that.
HILLMAN. Maybe you won't believe me, Mr. Pindar, but it was hard to see the shops closed down—as hard on us as it was on you. We take pride in them, too. I guess you won't regret it.
ASHER (waving them away). I hope not. I ought to tell you that you may thank my son for this—my son and Dr. Pindar.
RENCH. We appreciate it,—just the same.
(ASHER makes a gesture as thought to dismiss the subject, as well asthe committee. They hesitate, and are about to leave when GEORGE,followed by DR. JONATHAN, comes in, lower right. His entrance isquite dramatic. He walks with the help of a stick, slowly, but hisbearing is soldierly, authoritative, impressive. He halts when heperceives the committee.)
HILLMAN (going up to GEORGE). How are you, Captain?
FERSEN. Good to have you home once more.
RENCH (going up to GEORGE). Good to see you, Captain, on a day like this. As Larz Fersen said when we were going to strike, “It's a fine day for it.” Well, this is a better day—you home and well, and the strike off.
GEORGE (glancing from one to the other, and then at ASHER). What do you mean?
RENCH. Why, Mr. Pindar—your father here's just made everybody happy. He's recognized the union, and we're going back to work. We'll turn out machines to make shrapnel enough to kill every Hun in France,—get square with 'em for what they done to you.
(They all watch GEORGE, absorbed in the effect this announcement hason him. An expression of happiness grows in his eyes. After amoment he goes up to ASHER.)
GEORGE. Dad, why did you do this?
ASHER. I'll tell you, George. When you came home this afternoon I realized something I hadn't realized before. I saw that the tide was against me, that I was like that old English king who set his throne on the sands and thought he could stay the waters. If—if anything had happened to you, I couldn't have fought on, but now that you're here with me again, now that you've risked your life and almost lost it for this—this new order in which you believe, why, it's enough for me—I can surrender with honour. I'm tired, I need a rest. I'd have gone down fighting, but I guess you've saved me. I've been true to my convictions,—you, who belong to the new generation, must be true to yours. And as I told you once, all I care about this business is to hand it over to you.
GEORGE. You'll help me!
ASHER. This seems to be Jonathan's speciality,—science. But I never give my word half heartedly, my boy, and I'll back you to my last dollar. Be prepared for disappointments,—but if you accomplish something, I'll be glad. And if you fail, George,—any failure for a man's convictions is a grand failure.
GEORGE. Well, it means life to me, dad. I owe it to you.
ASHER (turning toward DR. JONATHAN). No, you owe it to him,—to science.
(He puts one hand on GEORGE'S shoulder, and the other, with anabrupt movement, on DR. JONATHAN'S.)
And if science will do as much for democracy, then—
GEORGE. Then, you're from Missouri. Good old dad!
ASHER (huskily, trying, to carry it off, and almost overcome by emotion at the reconciliation). I'm from Missouri, my boy.
DR. JONATHAN. Then you're a true scientist, Asher, for science, too, waits to be shown.
(ASHER goes out, lower right. Dr. JONATHAN, evidently in supportand sympathy, goes with him. GEORGE and the committee look afterthem, and then GEORGE sits down, and smiles at the men.)
GEORGE. And we've got to be scientists, too. Are you fellows willing to take your share in the experiment?
HILLMAN. What experiment's that, Captain?
GEORGE. Now that you've got your union, what's the good of it?
RENCH (after a pause). Why, I thought we'd made that pretty clear, Captain. We've got something to fall back on in case the employers don't live up to their agreements. I'm not speaking of you—
GEORGE. In other words, you've got a weapon.
RENCH. Well, you might call it that.
GEORGE. But weapons imply warfare,—don't they?
RENCH. We wouldn't fight with you.
GEORGE. Yes, you would,—if our interests conflicted. When I was in the trenches I kept thinking of the quotation Lincoln used, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” We're going to try to perpetuate that house, just as he did.
HILLMAN. Lincoln had common sense.
GEORGE. Another name for intelligence. And what we've got to decide is whether the old house will do—for democracy—industrial democracy? Can we shore up the timbers—or shall we have to begin to build a new house?
RENCH (glancing at HILLMAN). The old one sure enough looks rotten to me. I've said that all along.
GEORGE. It seems to have served its day. Has your union got the plans of a new house ready—consulted an architect?
RENCH. I'm afraid we don't get you, Captain.
GEORGE. You belong to the American Federation of Labour, don't you? Has it got a new house ready to move into?
RENCH. Well, I haven't seen any plans.
GEORGE. If the old structure's too small, one party or the other will have to be shoved out. The capitalist or the employee. Which will it be?
RENCH (laughing). If it comes to that—
GEORGE (smiling). There's no question in your mind. But you hadn't thought about it—your Federation hasn't thought about it, or doesn't want to think about it, and your employers don't want to, either.
HILLMAN (stroking his moustache). That's so
GEORGE. I'll tell you who have thought about it—the Bolshevists and the I. W. W. And because they have a programme,—some programme, any programme, they're more intelligent than we, for the time.
RENCH. Those guys?
GEORGE. Exactly,—those guys. At least they see that the house isn't fit to live in. They want to pull it down, and go back to living in trees and caves.
HILLMAN. That's about right.
GEORGE. But you're conservatives, you labour union people—the aristocrats of labour, which means that you don't think. What you really object to, when you come down to it, is that men like my father and me, and the bankers,—we're all in the same boat, most of 'us own banks, too,—control the conditions of life for you and men like you.
RENCH. I never heard it put in those words, but by gum, it's so.
GEORGE. And your Confederation, your unions are for the skilled workers, whose conditions aren't so bad,—and they're getting better every time you jack up the wages. You complain that we employers aren't thinking of you, but are you thinking of the millions of the unskilled who live from hand to mouth? The old structure's good enough for you, too. But what will the miserable men, who don't sit in, be doing while we're squabbling to see who'll have the best rooms?
RENCH. Blow the house up, I guess.
GEORGE. If they're rough with it, it'll tumble down like a pack of cards—simply because we're asses. Can't we build a house big enough for all—for a hundred million people and their descendants? A house in which, after a while, there will be no capitalists and no exploiters and no wreckers, only workers—each man and woman on the job they were fitted for? It's a man-sized job, but isn't it worth tackling?
RENCH (enthused). It's sure worth tackling, Captain.
GEORGE. And can't we begin it, in a modest way, by making a little model of the big house right here in Foxon Falls? Dr. Jonathan will help us.
RENCH. Go to it, Captain. We'll trust him and you.
GEORGE. Trust is all right, but you've got to go to it, too, and use your headpieces. We've got to sit down together and educate ourselves, who are now employers and employees, get hold of all the facts, the statistics,—and all the elements, the human nature side of it, from the theorists, the students, whom we've despised.
RENCH. Well, it's a fact, I hadn't thought much of them intellectuals.
GEORGE. They're part of the game—their theories are the basis for an intelligent practice. And what should we be able to do without their figures? Look at what we've worked out in large scale production and distribution in this war! That's a new world problem. Shall we be pioneers here in Foxon Falls in the new experiment?
RENCH. An experiment in human chemicals, as the doctor would say. Pioneers! I kind of like that word. You can put me in the wagon, Captain.
GEORGE. It will be a Conestoga with the curtains rolled up, so that everybody can see in. No secrets. And it will be a wagon with an industrial constitution.
FERSEN. Excuse me, Captain,—but what's that?
(RENCH laughs.)
GEORGE (smiling). Hasn't it struck you, Fersen, that unless a man has a voice and an interest in the industry in which he works his voice, and interest in the government for which he votes is a mockery?
(FERSEN nods.)
RENCH. We'll have to give Larz a little education.
GEORGE. Oh, I guess he'll make a good industrial citizen. But that's part of the bargain.
RENCH. That's fair. Human nature ain't so rotten, when you give it a chance.
GEORGE. Well, then, are you willing to try it out, on the level?
RENCH. I cal'late we'll stick, Captain.
HILLMAN. We sure will.
FERSEN. We'll be pioneers!
GEORGE. That's good American, Fersen, not to be afraid of an ideal. Shake! We'll sit down with it in a day or two.
(They all shake. The members of the committee file out of the room,lower right. GEORGE is left alone for a brief interval, whenMINNIE, in the white costume of a nurse, enters, lower right,with a glass of medicine in her hand.)
MINNIE (halting). You're all alone? Where's Dr. Jonathan?
GEORGE. He's gone off with dad.
MINNIE. It's nine o'clock.
(She hands him the glass, he drinks the contents and sets the glasson the table. Then he takes her hands and draws her to him andkisses her. She submits almost passively.)
Why are you doing this, George?
GEORGE. Because I love you, because I need you, because I'm going to marry you.
MINNIE (shaking her head: slowly). No you're not.
GEORGE. Why not?
MINNIE. You know why not, as well as I do.
(She gazes up at him. He is still holding her in his arms.Suddenly she kisses him passionately, breaks away from him andstarts to fly from the room, when she runs into DR. JONATHAN, who isentering, lower right.)
DR. JONATHAN. Where are you going, Minnie?
(MINNIE halts, and is silent. DR. JONATHAN lays a detaining hand onher arm, and looks from one to the other, comprehendingly.)
GEORGE. I've asked her to marry me, Dr. Jonathan.
DR. JONATHAN. And what are your objections, Minnie?
MINNIE. You know why I can't, Dr. Jonathan. What kind of a wife would I make for him, with his family and friends. I'd do anything for him but that! He wouldn't be happy.
DR. JONATHAN. And what's your answer, George?
GEORGE. I don't want her for my family and friends,—I want her for myself. This isn't a snap judgment—I've had time to think it over.
MINNIE. I didn't mean to be here when you got home. I know I'm not fit to be your wife I haven't had any education.
GEORGE. Neither have I. We start level there. I've lived among people of culture, and I've found out that culture chiefly consists of fixed ideas, and obstruction to progress, of hating the President,—of knowing the right people and eating fish with a fork.
MINNIE (smiling, though in tears). Well, I never ate fish with a knife, anyway.
GEORGE. I spent my valuable youth learning Greek and Latin, and I can't speak or read either of them. I know that Horace wrote odes, and Cicero made orations, but I can't quote them. All I remember about biology is that the fittest are supposed to survive, and in this war I've seen the fittest killed off like flies. You've had several years of useful work in the Pindar Shops and the Wire Works, to say nothing of a course in biological chemistry, psychology and sociology under Dr. Jonathan. I'll leave it to him whether you don't know more about life than I do—about the life and problems of the great mass of people in this country. And now that the strike's over—
MINNIE. The strike's over!
GEORGE. Yes. I've chosen my life. It isn't going to be divided between a Wall Street office and Newport and Palm Beach. A girl out of a finishing school wouldn't be of any use to me. I'm going to stay right here in Foxon Falls, Minnie, I've got a real job on my hands, and I need a real woman with special knowledge to help me. I don't mean to say we won't have vacations, and we'll sit down and get our education together. Dr. Jonathan will be the schoolmaster.
MINNIE. It's a dream, George.
GEORGE. Well, Minnie, if it's a dream worth dying for it's a dream worth living for. Your brother Bert died for it.