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diff --git a/41653-0.txt b/41653-0.txt index 704984f..419f40b 100644 --- a/41653-0.txt +++ b/41653-0.txt @@ -1,25 +1,4 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Seven Short Plays, by Lady Gregory - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Seven Short Plays - -Author: Lady Gregory - -Release Date: December 18, 2012 [EBook #41653] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SEVEN SHORT PLAYS *** - - - +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41653 *** Produced by Joseph R. Hauser, Turgut Dincer and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. Music @@ -5917,360 +5896,4 @@ to be of great stature.”—_Chicago Tribune._ End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Seven Short Plays, by Lady Gregory -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SEVEN SHORT PLAYS *** - -***** This file should be named 41653-0.txt or 41653-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/1/6/5/41653/ - -Produced by Joseph R. Hauser, Turgut Dincer and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. Music -transcribed by Brian Foley using LilyPond. - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm -concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared -with anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project -Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. -unless a copyright notice is included. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Seven Short Plays - -Author: Lady Gregory - -Release Date: December 18, 2012 [EBook #41653] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SEVEN SHORT PLAYS *** - - - - -Produced by Joseph R. Hauser, Turgut Dincer and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. Music -transcribed by Brian Foley using LilyPond. - - - - - - - - - - _By Lady Gregory_ - - - Irish Folk-History Plays - - First Series: The Tragedies - Grania. Kincora. Dervorgilla - - Second Series: The Tragic Comedies - The Canavans. The White Cockade. The Deliverer - - New Comedies - The Bogie Men. The Full Moon. Coats. Damer's - Gold. McDonough's Wife - - Our Irish Theatre - A Chapter of Autobiography - - Seven Short Plays - Spreading the News. Hyacinth Halvey. The Rising - of the Moon. The Jackdaw. The Workhouse Ward. - The Travelling Man. The Gaol Gate - - The Golden Apple - A Kiltartan Play for Children - - - - - Seven Short Plays - - By - - Lady Gregory - - - G. P. Putnam's Sons - New York and London - The Knickerbocker Press - 1916 - - - COPYRIGHT, 1903, by LADY AUGUSTA GREGORY - - COPYRIGHT, 1904, by LADY GREGORY - - COPYRIGHT, 1905, by LADY GREGORY - - COPYRIGHT, 1906, by LADY GREGORY - - COPYRIGHT, 1909, by LADY GREGORY - - -These plays have been copyrighted and published simultaneously in the -United States and Great Britain. - -All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign -languages. - -All acting rights, both professional and amateur, are reserved in the -United States, Great Britain, and all countries of the Copyright -Union, by the author. Performances forbidden and right of presentation -reserved. - -Application for the right of performing these plays or reading them in -public should be made to Samuel French, 28 West 38th St., New York -City, or 26 South Hampton St., Strand, London. - - -Second Impression - -The Knickerbocker Press, New York - - - - -DEDICATION - - -_To you, W. B. YEATS, good praiser, wholesome dispraiser, heavy-handed -judge, open-handed helper of us all, I offer a play of my plays for -every night of the week, because you like them, and because you have -taught me my trade._ - - AUGUSTA GREGORY - - _Abbey Theatre, - May 1, 1909._ - - - - -CONTENTS - - PAGE - - SPREADING THE NEWS 1 - - HYACINTH HALVEY 29 - - THE RISING OF THE MOON 75 - - THE JACKDAW 93 - - THE WORKHOUSE WARD 137 - - THE TRAVELLING MAN 155 - - THE GAOL GATE 173 - - MUSIC FOR THE SONGS IN THE PLAYS 189 - - NOTES, &C. 196 - - - - -SPREADING THE NEWS - -PERSONS - - _Bartley Fallon._ - _Mrs. Fallon._ - _Jack Smith._ - _Shawn Early._ - _Tim Casey._ - _James Ryan._ - _Mrs. Tarpey._ - _Mrs. Tully._ - _A Policeman_ (JO MULDOON). - _A Removable Magistrate._ - -SPREADING THE NEWS - - _Scene: The outskirts of a Fair. An Apple Stall, Mrs. Tarpey - sitting at it. Magistrate and Policeman enter._ - - -_Magistrate_: So that is the Fair Green. Cattle and sheep and mud. No -system. What a repulsive sight! - -_Policeman_: That is so, indeed. - -_Magistrate_: I suppose there is a good deal of disorder in this -place? - -_Policeman_: There is. - -_Magistrate_: Common assault? - -_Policeman_: It's common enough. - -_Magistrate_: Agrarian crime, no doubt? - -_Policeman_: That is so. - -_Magistrate_: Boycotting? Maiming of cattle? Firing into houses? - -_Policeman_: There was one time, and there might be again. - -_Magistrate_: That is bad. Does it go any farther than that? - -_Policeman_: Far enough, indeed. - -_Magistrate:_ Homicide, then! This district has been shamefully -neglected! I will change all that. When I was in the Andaman Islands, -my system never failed. Yes, yes, I will change all that. What has -that woman on her stall? - -_Policeman:_ Apples mostly--and sweets. - -_Magistrate:_ Just see if there are any unlicensed goods -underneath--spirits or the like. We had evasions of the salt tax in the -Andaman Islands. - -_Policeman:_ (_Sniffing cautiously and upsetting a heap of apples._) I -see no spirits here--or salt. - -_Magistrate:_ (_To Mrs. Tarpey._) Do you know this town well, my good -woman? - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ (_Holding out some apples._) A penny the half-dozen, -your honour. - -_Policeman:_ (_Shouting._) The gentleman is asking do you know the -town! He's the new magistrate! - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ (_Rising and ducking._) Do I know the town? I do, to be -sure. - -_Magistrate:_ (_Shouting._) What is its chief business? - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ Business, is it? What business would the people here -have but to be minding one another's business? - -_Magistrate:_ I mean what trade have they? - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ Not a trade. No trade at all but to be talking. - -_Magistrate:_ I shall learn nothing here. - - (_James Ryan comes in, pipe in mouth. Seeing Magistrate he - retreats quickly, taking pipe from mouth._) - -_Magistrate:_ The smoke from that man's pipe had a greenish look; he -may be growing unlicensed tobacco at home. I wish I had brought my -telescope to this district. Come to the post-office, I will telegraph -for it. I found it very useful in the Andaman Islands. - - (_Magistrate and Policeman go out left._) - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ Bad luck to Jo Muldoon, knocking my apples this way and -that way. (_Begins arranging them._) Showing off he was to the new -magistrate. - - (_Enter Bartley Fallon and Mrs. Fallon._) - -_Bartley:_ Indeed it's a poor country and a scarce country to be -living in. But I'm thinking if I went to America it's long ago the day -I'd be dead! - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ So you might, indeed. - - (_She puts her basket on a barrel and begins putting parcels in - it, taking them from under her cloak._) - -_Bartley:_ And it's a great expense for a poor man to be buried in -America. - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ Never fear, Bartley Fallon, but I'll give you a good -burying the day you'll die. - -_Bartley:_ Maybe it's yourself will be buried in the graveyard of -Cloonmara before me, Mary Fallon, and I myself that will be dying -unbeknownst some night, and no one a-near me. And the cat itself may be -gone straying through the country, and the mice squealing over the -quilt. - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ Leave off talking of dying. It might be twenty years -you'll be living yet. - -_Bartley:_ (_With a deep sigh._) I'm thinking if I'll be living at the -end of twenty years, it's a very old man I'll be then! - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ (_Turns and sees them._) Good morrow, Bartley Fallon; -good morrow, Mrs. Fallon. Well, Bartley, you'll find no cause for -complaining to-day; they are all saying it was a good fair. - -_Bartley:_ (_Raising his voice._) It was not a good fair, Mrs. Tarpey. -It was a scattered sort of a fair. If we didn't expect more, we got -less. That's the way with me always; whatever I have to sell goes down -and whatever I have to buy goes up. If there's ever any misfortune -coming to this world, it's on myself it pitches, like a flock of crows -on seed potatoes. - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ Leave off talking of misfortunes, and listen to Jack -Smith that is coming the way, and he singing. - - (_Voice of Jack Smith heard singing:_) - - I thought, my first love, - There'd be but one house between you and me, - And I thought I would find - Yourself coaxing my child on your knee. - Over the tide - I would leap with the leap of a swan, - Till I came to the side - Of the wife of the Red-haired man! - - (_Jack Smith comes in; he is a red-haired man, and is carrying - a hayfork._) - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ That should be a good song if I had my hearing. - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ (_Shouting._) It's "The Red-haired Man's Wife." - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ I know it well. That's the song that has a skin on it! - - (_She turns her back to them and goes on arranging her - apples._) - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ Where's herself, Jack Smith? - -_Jack Smith:_ She was delayed with her washing; bleaching the clothes -on the hedge she is, and she daren't leave them, with all the tinkers -that do be passing to the fair. It isn't to the fair I came myself, -but up to the Five Acre Meadow I'm going, where I have a contract for -the hay. We'll get a share of it into tramps to-day. (_He lays down -hayfork and lights his pipe._) - -_Bartley:_ You will not get it into tramps to-day. The rain will be -down on it by evening, and on myself too. It's seldom I ever started -on a journey but the rain would come down on me before I'd find any -place of shelter. - -_Jack Smith:_ If it didn't itself, Bartley, it is my belief you would -carry a leaky pail on your head in place of a hat, the way you'd not -be without some cause of complaining. - - (_A voice heard, "Go on, now, go on out o' that. Go on I - say."_) - -_Jack Smith:_ Look at that young mare of Pat Ryan's that is backing -into Shaughnessy's bullocks with the dint of the crowd! Don't be -daunted, Pat, I'll give you a hand with her. - - (_He goes out, leaving his hayfork._) - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ It's time for ourselves to be going home. I have all I -bought put in the basket. Look at there, Jack Smith's hayfork he left -after him! He'll be wanting it. (_Calls._) Jack Smith! Jack -Smith!--He's gone through the crowd--hurry after him, Bartley, he'll be -wanting it. - -_Bartley:_ I'll do that. This is no safe place to be leaving it. (_He -takes up fork awkwardly and upsets the basket._) Look at that now! If -there is any basket in the fair upset, it must be our own basket! (_He -goes out to right._) - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ Get out of that! It is your own fault, it is. Talk of -misfortunes and misfortunes will come. Glory be! Look at my new -egg-cups rolling in every part--and my two pound of sugar with the -paper broke---- - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ (_Turning from stall._) God help us, Mrs. Fallon, what -happened to your basket? - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ It's himself that knocked it down, bad manners to him. -(_Putting things up._) My grand sugar that's destroyed, and he'll not -drink his tea without it. I had best go back to the shop for more, -much good may it do him! - - (_Enter Tim Casey._) - -_Tim Casey:_ Where is Bartley Fallon, Mrs. Fallon? I want a word with -him before he'll leave the fair. I was afraid he might have gone home -by this, for he's a temperate man. - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ I wish he did go home! It'd be best for me if he went -home straight from the fair green, or if he never came with me at all! -Where is he, is it? He's gone up the road (_jerks elbow_) following -Jack Smith with a hayfork. - - (_She goes out to left._) - -_Tim Casey:_ Following Jack Smith with a hayfork! Did ever any one -hear the like of that. (_Shouts._) Did you hear that news, Mrs. -Tarpey? - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ I heard no news at all. - -_Tim Casey:_ Some dispute I suppose it was that rose between Jack -Smith and Bartley Fallon, and it seems Jack made off, and Bartley is -following him with a hayfork! - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ Is he now? Well, that was quick work! It's not ten -minutes since the two of them were here, Bartley going home and Jack -going to the Five Acre Meadow; and I had my apples to settle up, that -Jo Muldoon of the police had scattered, and when I looked round again -Jack Smith was gone, and Bartley Fallon was gone, and Mrs. Fallon's -basket upset, and all in it strewed upon the ground--the tea here--the -two pound of sugar there--the egg-cups there--Look, now, what a great -hardship the deafness puts upon me, that I didn't hear the -commencement of the fight! Wait till I tell James Ryan that I see -below; he is a neighbour of Bartley's, it would be a pity if he -wouldn't hear the news! - - (_She goes out. Enter Shawn Early and Mrs. Tully._) - -_Tim Casey:_ Listen, Shawn Early! Listen, Mrs. Tully, to the news! -Jack Smith and Bartley Fallon had a falling out, and Jack knocked Mrs. -Fallon's basket into the road, and Bartley made an attack on him with -a hayfork, and away with Jack, and Bartley after him. Look at the -sugar here yet on the road! - -_Shawn Early:_ Do you tell me so? Well, that's a queer thing, and -Bartley Fallon so quiet a man! - -_Mrs. Tully:_ I wouldn't wonder at all. I would never think well of a -man that would have that sort of a mouldering look. It's likely he has -overtaken Jack by this. - - (_Enter James Ryan and Mrs. Tarpey._) - -_James Ryan:_ That is great news Mrs. Tarpey was telling me! I suppose -that's what brought the police and the magistrate up this way. I was -wondering to see them in it a while ago. - -_Shawn Early:_ The police after them? Bartley Fallon must have injured -Jack so. They wouldn't meddle in a fight that was only for show! - -_Mrs. Tully:_ Why wouldn't he injure him? There was many a man killed -with no more of a weapon than a hayfork. - -_James Ryan:_ Wait till I run north as far as Kelly's bar to spread -the news! (_He goes out._) - -_Tim Casey:_ I'll go tell Jack Smith's first cousin that is standing -there south of the church after selling his lambs. (_Goes out._) - -_Mrs. Tully:_ I'll go telling a few of the neighbours I see beyond to -the west. (_Goes out._) - -_Shawn Early:_ I'll give word of it beyond at the east of the green. - - (_Is going out when Mrs. Tarpey seizes hold of him._) - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ Stop a minute, Shawn Early, and tell me did you see red -Jack Smith's wife, Kitty Keary, in any place? - -_Shawn Early:_ I did. At her own house she was, drying clothes on the -hedge as I passed. - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ What did you say she was doing? - -_Shawn Early:_ (_Breaking away._) Laying out a sheet on the hedge. -(_He goes._) - -_Mrs. Tarpey_: Laying out a sheet for the dead! The Lord have mercy -on us! Jack Smith dead, and his wife laying out a sheet for his -burying! (_Calls out._) Why didn't you tell me that before, Shawn -Early? Isn't the deafness the great hardship? Half the world might be -dead without me knowing of it or getting word of it at all! (_She sits -down and rocks herself._) O my poor Jack Smith! To be going to his -work so nice and so hearty, and to be left stretched on the ground in -the full light of the day! - - (_Enter Tim Casey._) - -_Tim Casey:_ What is it, Mrs. Tarpey? What happened since? - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ O my poor Jack Smith! - -_Tim Casey:_ Did Bartley overtake him? - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ O the poor man! - -_Tim Casey:_ Is it killed he is? - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ Stretched in the Five Acre Meadow! - -_Tim Casey:_ The Lord have mercy on us! Is that a fact? - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ Without the rites of the Church or a ha'porth! - -_Tim Casey:_ Who was telling you? - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ And the wife laying out a sheet for his corpse. (_Sits -up and wipes her eyes._) I suppose they'll wake him the same as -another? - - (_Enter Mrs. Tully, Shawn Early, and James Ryan._) - -_Mrs. Tully:_ There is great talk about this work in every quarter of -the fair. - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ Ochone! cold and dead. And myself maybe the last he was -speaking to! - -_James Ryan:_ The Lord save us! Is it dead he is? - -_Tim Casey:_ Dead surely, and the wife getting provision for the wake. - -_Shawn Early:_ Well, now, hadn't Bartley Fallon great venom in him? - -_Mrs. Tully:_ You may be sure he had some cause. Why would he have -made an end of him if he had not? (_To Mrs. Tarpey, raising her -voice._) What was it rose the dispute at all, Mrs. Tarpey? - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ Not a one of me knows. The last I saw of them, Jack -Smith was standing there, and Bartley Fallon was standing there, quiet -and easy, and he listening to "The Red-haired Man's Wife." - -_Mrs. Tully:_ Do you hear that, Tim Casey? Do you hear that, Shawn -Early and James Ryan? Bartley Fallon was here this morning listening -to red Jack Smith's wife, Kitty Keary that was! Listening to her and -whispering with her! It was she started the fight so! - -_Shawn Early:_ She must have followed him from her own house. It is -likely some person roused him. - -_Tim Casey:_ I never knew, before, Bartley Fallon was great with Jack -Smith's wife. - -_Mrs. Tully:_ How would you know it? Sure it's not in the streets they -would be calling it. If Mrs. Fallon didn't know of it, and if I that -have the next house to them didn't know of it, and if Jack Smith -himself didn't know of it, it is not likely you would know of it, Tim -Casey. - -_Shawn Early:_ Let Bartley Fallon take charge of her from this out so, -and let him provide for her. It is little pity she will get from any -person in this parish. - -_Tim Casey:_ How can he take charge of her? Sure he has a wife of his -own. Sure you don't think he'd turn souper and marry her in a -Protestant church? - -_James Ryan:_ It would be easy for him to marry her if he brought her -to America. - -_Shawn Early:_ With or without Kitty Keary, believe me it is for -America he's making at this minute. I saw the new magistrate and Jo -Muldoon of the police going into the post-office as I came up--there -was hurry on them--you may be sure it was to telegraph they went, the -way he'll be stopped in the docks at Queenstown! - -_Mrs. Tully:_ It's likely Kitty Keary is gone with him, and not -minding a sheet or a wake at all. The poor man, to be deserted by his -own wife, and the breath hardly gone out yet from his body that is -lying bloody in the field! - - (_Enter Mrs. Fallon._) - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ What is it the whole of the town is talking about? And -what is it you yourselves are talking about? Is it about my man -Bartley Fallon you are talking? Is it lies about him you are telling, -saying that he went killing Jack Smith? My grief that ever he came -into this place at all! - -_James Ryan:_ Be easy now, Mrs. Fallon. Sure there is no one at all in -the whole fair but is sorry for you! - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ Sorry for me, is it? Why would any one be sorry for me? -Let you be sorry for yourselves, and that there may be shame on you -for ever and at the day of judgment, for the words you are saying and -the lies you are telling to take away the character of my poor man, -and to take the good name off of him, and to drive him to destruction! -That is what you are doing! - -_Shawn Early:_ Take comfort now, Mrs. Fallon. The police are not so -smart as they think. Sure he might give them the slip yet, the same as -Lynchehaun. - -_Mrs. Tully:_ If they do get him, and if they do put a rope around his -neck, there is no one can say he does not deserve it! - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ Is that what you are saying, Bridget Tully, and is that -what you think? I tell you it's too much talk you have, making -yourself out to be such a great one, and to be running down every -respectable person! A rope, is it? It isn't much of a rope was needed -to tie up your own furniture the day you came into Martin Tully's -house, and you never bringing as much as a blanket, or a penny, or a -suit of clothes with you and I myself bringing seventy pounds and two -feather beds. And now you are stiffer than a woman would have a -hundred pounds! It is too much talk the whole of you have. A rope is -it? I tell you the whole of this town is full of liars and schemers -that would hang you up for half a glass of whiskey. (_Turning to go._) -People they are you wouldn't believe as much as daylight from without -you'd get up to have a look at it yourself. Killing Jack Smith indeed! -Where are you at all, Bartley, till I bring you out of this? My nice -quiet little man! My decent comrade! He that is as kind and as -harmless as an innocent beast of the field! He'll be doing no harm at -all if he'll shed the blood of some of you after this day's work! That -much would be no harm at all. (_Calls out._) Bartley! Bartley Fallon! -Where are you? (_Going out._) Did any one see Bartley Fallon? - - (_All turn to look after her._) - -_James Ryan:_ It is hard for her to believe any such a thing, God help -her! - - (_Enter Bartley Fallon from right, carrying hayfork._) - -_Bartley:_ It is what I often said to myself, if there is ever any -misfortune coming to this world it is on myself it is sure to come! - - (_All turn round and face him._) - -_Bartley:_ To be going about with this fork and to find no one to take -it, and no place to leave it down, and I wanting to be gone out of -this--Is that you, Shawn Early? (_Holds out fork._) It's well I met -you. You have no call to be leaving the fair for a while the way I -have, and how can I go till I'm rid of this fork? Will you take it and -keep it until such time as Jack Smith---- - -_Shawn Early:_ (_Backing._) I will not take it, Bartley Fallon, I'm -very thankful to you! - -_Bartley:_ (_Turning to apple stall._) Look at it now, Mrs. Tarpey, it -was here I got it; let me thrust it in under the stall. It will lie -there safe enough, and no one will take notice of it until such time -as Jack Smith---- - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ Take your fork out of that! Is it to put trouble on me -and to destroy me you want? Putting it there for the police to be -rooting it out maybe. (_Thrusts him back._) - -_Bartley:_ That is a very unneighbourly thing for you to do, Mrs. -Tarpey. Hadn't I enough care on me with that fork before this, running -up and down with it like the swinging of a clock, and afeard to lay it -down in any place! I wish I never touched it or meddled with it at -all! - -_James Ryan:_ It is a pity, indeed, you ever did. - -_Bartley:_ Will you yourself take it, James Ryan? You were always a -neighbourly man. - -_James Ryan:_ (_Backing._) There is many a thing I would do for you, -Bartley Fallon, but I won't do that! - -_Shawn Early:_ I tell you there is no man will give you any help or -any encouragement for this day's work. If it was something agrarian -now---- - -_Bartley:_ If no one at all will take it, maybe it's best to give it -up to the police. - -_Tim Casey:_ There'd be a welcome for it with them surely! -(_Laughter._) - -_Mrs. Tully:_ And it is to the police Kitty Keary herself will be -brought. - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ (_Rocking to and fro._) I wonder now who will take the -expense of the wake for poor Jack Smith? - -_Bartley:_ The wake for Jack Smith! - -_Tim Casey:_ Why wouldn't he get a wake as well as another? Would you -begrudge him that much? - -_Bartley:_ Red Jack Smith dead! Who was telling you? - -_Shawn Early:_ The whole town knows of it by this. - -_Bartley:_ Do they say what way did he die? - -_James Ryan:_ You don't know that yourself, I suppose, Bartley Fallon? -You don't know he was followed and that he was laid dead with the stab -of a hayfork? - -_Bartley:_ The stab of a hayfork! - -_Shawn Early:_ You don't know, I suppose, that the body was found in -the Five Acre Meadow? - -_Bartley:_ The Five Acre Meadow! - -_Tim Casey:_ It is likely you don't know that the police are after the -man that did it? - -_Bartley:_ The man that did it! - -_Mrs. Tully:_ You don't know, maybe, that he was made away with for -the sake of Kitty Keary, his wife? - -_Bartley:_ Kitty Keary, his wife! - - (_Sits down bewildered._) - -_Mrs. Tully:_ And what have you to say now, Bartley Fallon? - -_Bartley:_ (_Crossing himself._) I to bring that fork here, and to -find that news before me! It is much if I can ever stir from this -place at all, or reach as far as the road! - -_Tim Casey:_ Look, boys, at the new magistrate, and Jo Muldoon along -with him! It's best for us to quit this. - -_Shawn Early:_ That is so. It is best not to be mixed in this business -at all. - -_James Ryan:_ Bad as he is, I wouldn't like to be an informer against -any man. - - (_All hurry away except Mrs. Tarpey, who remains behind her - stall. Enter magistrate and policeman._) - -_Magistrate:_ I knew the district was in a bad state, but I did not -expect to be confronted with a murder at the first fair I came to. - -_Policeman:_ I am sure you did not, indeed. - -_Magistrate:_ It was well I had not gone home. I caught a few words -here and there that roused my suspicions. - -_Policeman:_ So they would, too. - -_Magistrate:_ You heard the same story from everyone you asked? - -_Policeman:_ The same story--or if it was not altogether the same, -anyway it was no less than the first story. - -_Magistrate:_ What is that man doing? He is sitting alone with a -hayfork. He has a guilty look. The murder was done with a hayfork! - -_Policeman:_ (_In a whisper._) That's the very man they say did the -act; Bartley Fallon himself! - -_Magistrate:_ He must have found escape difficult--he is trying to -brazen it out. A convict in the Andaman Islands tried the same game, -but he could not escape my system! Stand aside--Don't go far--have the -handcuffs ready. (_He walks up to Bartley, folds his arms, and stands -before him._) Here, my man, do you know anything of John Smith? - -_Bartley:_ Of John Smith! Who is he, now? - -_Policeman:_ Jack Smith, sir--Red Jack Smith! - -_Magistrate:_ (_Coming a step nearer and tapping him on the -shoulder._) Where is Jack Smith? - -_Bartley:_ (_With a deep sigh, and shaking his head slowly._) Where is -he, indeed? - -_Magistrate:_ What have you to tell? - -_Bartley:_ It is where he was this morning, standing in this spot, -singing his share of songs--no, but lighting his pipe--scraping a match -on the sole of his shoe---- - -_Magistrate:_ I ask you, for the third time, where is he? - -_Bartley:_ I wouldn't like to say that. It is a great mystery, and it -is hard to say of any man, did he earn hatred or love. - -_Magistrate:_ Tell me all you know. - -_Bartley:_ All that I know--Well, there are the three estates; there is -Limbo, and there is Purgatory, and there is---- - -_Magistrate:_ Nonsense! This is trifling! Get to the point. - -_Bartley:_ Maybe you don't hold with the clergy so? That is the -teaching of the clergy. Maybe you hold with the old people. It is what -they do be saying, that the shadow goes wandering, and the soul is -tired, and the body is taking a rest--The shadow! (_Starts up._) I was -nearly sure I saw Jack Smith not ten minutes ago at the corner of the -forge, and I lost him again--Was it his ghost I saw, do you think? - -_Magistrate:_ (_To policeman._) Conscience-struck! He will confess all -now! - -_Bartley:_ His ghost to come before me! It is likely it was on account -of the fork! I to have it and he to have no way to defend himself the -time he met with his death! - -_Magistrate:_ (_To policeman._) I must note down his words. (_Takes -out notebook._) (_To Bartley:_) I warn you that your words are being -noted. - -_Bartley:_ If I had ha' run faster in the beginning, this terror would -not be on me at the latter end! Maybe he will cast it up against me at -the day of judgment--I wouldn't wonder at all at that. - -_Magistrate:_ (_Writing._) At the day of judgment---- - -_Bartley:_ It was soon for his ghost to appear to me--is it coming -after me always by day it will be, and stripping the clothes off in -the night time?--I wouldn't wonder at all at that, being as I am an -unfortunate man! - -_Magistrate:_ (_Sternly._) Tell me this truly. What was the motive of -this crime? - -_Bartley:_ The motive, is it? - -_Magistrate:_ Yes; the motive; the cause. - -_Bartley:_ I'd sooner not say that. - -_Magistrate:_ You had better tell me truly. Was it money? - -_Bartley:_ Not at all! What did poor Jack Smith ever have in his -pockets unless it might be his hands that would be in them? - -_Magistrate:_ Any dispute about land? - -_Bartley:_ (_Indignantly._) Not at all! He never was a grabber or -grabbed from any one! - -_Magistrate:_ You will find it better for you if you tell me at once. - -_Bartley:_ I tell you I wouldn't for the whole world wish to say what -it was--it is a thing I would not like to be talking about. - -_Magistrate:_ There is no use in hiding it. It will be discovered in -the end. - -_Bartley:_ Well, I suppose it will, seeing that mostly everybody knows -it before. Whisper here now. I will tell no lie; where would be the -use? (_Puts his hand to his mouth, and Magistrate stoops._) Don't be -putting the blame on the parish, for such a thing was never done in -the parish before--it was done for the sake of Kitty Keary, Jack -Smith's wife. - -_Magistrate:_ (_To policeman._) Put on the handcuffs. We have been -saved some trouble. I knew he would confess if taken in the right way. - - (_Policeman puts on handcuffs_.) - -_Bartley:_ Handcuffs now! Glory be! I always said, if there was ever -any misfortune coming to this place it was on myself it would fall. I -to be in handcuffs! There's no wonder at all in that. - - (_Enter Mrs. Fallon, followed by the rest. She is looking back - at them as she speaks._) - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ Telling lies the whole of the people of this town are; -telling lies, telling lies as fast as a dog will trot! Speaking -against my poor respectable man! Saying he made an end of Jack Smith! -My decent comrade! There is no better man and no kinder man in the -whole of the five parishes! It's little annoyance he ever gave to any -one! (_Turns and sees him._) What in the earthly world do I see before -me? Bartley Fallon in charge of the police! Handcuffs on him! O -Bartley, what did you do at all at all? - -_Bartley:_ O Mary, there has a great misfortune come upon me! It is -what I always said, that if there is ever any misfortune---- - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ What did he do at all, or is it bewitched I am? - -_Magistrate:_ This man has been arrested on a charge of murder. - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ Whose charge is that? Don't believe them! They are all -liars in this place! Give me back my man! - -_Magistrate_. It is natural you should take his part, but you have no -cause of complaint against your neighbours. He has been arrested for -the murder of John Smith, on his own confession. - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ The saints of heaven protect us! And what did he want -killing Jack Smith? - -_Magistrate:_ It is best you should know all. He did it on account of -a love affair with the murdered man's wife. - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ (_Sitting down._) With Jack Smith's wife! With Kitty -Keary!--Ochone, the traitor! - -_The Crowd:_ A great shame, indeed. He is a traitor, indeed. - -_Mrs. Tully:_ To America he was bringing her, Mrs. Fallon. - -_Bartley:_ What are you saying, Mary? I tell you---- - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ Don't say a word! I won't listen to any word you'll -say! (_Stops her ears._) O, isn't he the treacherous villain? Ohone go -deo! - -_Bartley:_ Be quiet till I speak! Listen to what I say! - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ Sitting beside me on the ass car coming to the town, so -quiet and so respectable, and treachery like that in his heart! - -_Bartley:_ Is it your wits you have lost or is it I myself that have -lost my wits? - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ And it's hard I earned you, slaving, slaving--and you -grumbling, and sighing, and coughing, and discontented, and the priest -wore out anointing you, with all the times you threatened to die! - -_Bartley:_ Let you be quiet till I tell you! - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ You to bring such a disgrace into the parish. A thing -that was never heard of before! - -_Bartley:_ Will you shut your mouth and hear me speaking? - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ And if it was for any sort of a fine handsome woman, -but for a little fistful of a woman like Kitty Keary, that's not four -feet high hardly, and not three teeth in her head unless she got new -ones! May God reward you, Bartley Fallon, for the black treachery in -your heart and the wickedness in your mind, and the red blood of poor -Jack Smith that is wet upon your hand! (_Voice of Jack Smith heard -singing._) - - The sea shall be dry, - The earth under mourning and ban! - Then loud shall he cry - For the wife of the red-haired man! - -_Bartley:_ It's Jack Smith's voice--I never knew a ghost to sing -before----. It is after myself and the fork he is coming! (_Goes back. -Enter Jack Smith._) Let one of you give him the fork and I will be -clear of him now and for eternity! - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ The Lord have mercy on us! Red Jack Smith! The man that -was going to be waked! - -_James Ryan:_ Is it back from the grave you are come? - -_Shawn Early:_ Is it alive you are, or is it dead you are? - -_Tim Casey:_ Is it yourself at all that's in it? - -_Mrs. Tully:_ Is it letting on you were to be dead? - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ Dead or alive, let you stop Kitty Keary, your wife, -from bringing my man away with her to America! - -_Jack Smith:_ It is what I think, the wits are gone astray on the -whole of you. What would my wife want bringing Bartley Fallon to -America? - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ To leave yourself, and to get quit of you she wants, -Jack Smith, and to bring him away from myself. That's what the two of -them had settled together. - -_Jack Smith:_ I'll break the head of any man that says that! Who is it -says it? (_To Tim Casey:_) Was it you said it? (_To Shawn Early:_) Was -it you? - -_All together:_ (_Backing and shaking their heads._) It wasn't I said -it! - -_Jack Smith:_ Tell me the name of any man that said it! - -_All together:_ (_Pointing to Bartley._) It was _him_ that said it! - -_Jack Smith:_ Let me at him till I break his head! - - (_Bartley backs in terror. Neighbours hold Jack Smith back._) - -_Jack Smith:_ (_Trying to free himself._) Let me at him! Isn't he the -pleasant sort of a scarecrow for any woman to be crossing the ocean -with! It's back from the docks of New York he'd be turned (_trying to -rush at him again_), with a lie in his mouth and treachery in his -heart, and another man's wife by his side, and he passing her off as -his own! Let me at him can't you. - - (_Makes another rush, but is held back._) - -_Magistrate:_ (_Pointing to Jack Smith._) Policeman, put the handcuffs -on this man. I see it all now. A case of false impersonation, a -conspiracy to defeat the ends of justice. There was a case in the -Andaman Islands, a murderer of the Mopsa tribe, a religious -enthusiast---- - -_Policeman:_ So he might be, too. - -_Magistrate:_ We must take both these men to the scene of the murder. -We must confront them with the body of the real Jack Smith. - -_Jack Smith:_ I'll break the head of any man that will find my dead -body! - -_Magistrate:_ I'll call more help from the barracks. (_Blows -Policeman's whistle._) - -_Bartley:_ It is what I am thinking, if myself and Jack Smith are put -together in the one cell for the night, the handcuffs will be taken -off him, and his hands will be free, and murder will be done that time -surely! - -_Magistrate:_ Come on! (_They turn to the right._) - - - - -HYACINTH HALVEY - - -PERSONS - - _Hyacinth Halvey._ - _James Quirke, a butcher._ - _Fardy Farrell, a telegraph boy._ - _Sergeant Carden._ - _Mrs. Delane, Postmistress at Cloon._ - _Miss Joyce, the Priest's House-keeper._ - - -HYACINTH HALVEY - - - _Scene: Outside the Post Office at the little town of Cloon. - Mrs. Delane at Post Office door. Mr. Quirke sitting on a chair - at butcher's door. A dead sheep hanging beside it, and a thrush - in a cage above. Fardy Farrell playing on a mouth organ. Train - whistle heard._ - -_Mrs. Delane:_ There is the four o'clock train, Mr. Quirke. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Is it now, Mrs. Delane, and I not long after rising? It -makes a man drowsy to be doing the half of his work in the night time. -Going about the country, looking for little stags of sheep, striving -to knock a few shillings together. That contract for the soldiers -gives me a great deal to attend to. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I suppose so. It's hard enough on myself to be down -ready for the mail car in the morning, sorting letters in the half -dark. It's often I haven't time to look who are the letters from--or -the cards. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ It would be a pity you not to know any little news might -be knocking about. If you did not have information of what is going -on who should have it? Was it you, ma'am, was telling me that the new -Sub-Sanitary Inspector would be arriving to-day? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ To-day it is he is coming, and it's likely he was in -that train. There was a card about him to Sergeant Carden this -morning. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ A young chap from Carrow they were saying he was. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ So he is, one Hyacinth Halvey; and indeed if all that -is said of him is true, or if a quarter of it is true, he will be a -credit to this town. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Is that so? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Testimonials he has by the score. To Father Gregan they -were sent. Registered they were coming and going. Would you believe me -telling you that they weighed up to three pounds? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ There must be great bulk in them indeed. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ It is no wonder he to get the job. He must have a great -character so many persons to write for him as what there did. - -_Fardy:_ It would be a great thing to have a character like that. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Indeed I am thinking it will be long before you will -get the like of it, Fardy Farrell. - -_Fardy:_ If I had the like of that of a character it is not here -carrying messages I would be. It's in Noonan's Hotel I would be, -driving cars. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Here is the priest's housekeeper coming. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ So she is; and there is the Sergeant a little while -after her. - - (_Enter Miss Joyce._) - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Good-evening to you, Miss Joyce. What way is his -Reverence to-day? Did he get any ease from the cough? - -_Miss Joyce:_ He did not indeed, Mrs. Delane. He has it sticking to -him yet. Smothering he is in the night time. The most thing he comes -short in is the voice. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I am sorry, now, to hear that. He should mind himself -well. - -_Miss Joyce:_ It's easy to say let him mind himself. What do you say -to him going to the meeting to-night? (_Sergeant comes in._) It's for -his Reverence's _Freeman_ I am come, Mrs. Delane. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Here it is ready. I was just throwing an eye on it to -see was there any news. Good-evening, Sergeant. - -_Sergeant:_ (_Holding up a placard._) I brought this notice, Mrs. -Delane, the announcement of the meeting to be held to-night in the -Courthouse. You might put it up here convenient to the window. I hope -you are coming to it yourself? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I will come, and welcome. I would do more than that for -you, Sergeant. - -_Sergeant:_ And you, Mr. Quirke. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I'll come, to be sure. I forget what's this the meeting -is about. - -_Sergeant:_ The Department of Agriculture is sending round a lecturer -in furtherance of the moral development of the rural classes. -(_Reads._) "A lecture will be given this evening in Cloon Courthouse, -illustrated by magic lantern slides--" Those will not be in it; I am -informed they were all broken in the first journey, the railway -company taking them to be eggs. The subject of the lecture is "The -Building of Character." - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Very nice, indeed. I knew a girl lost her character, -and she washed her feet in a blessed well after, and it dried up on -the minute. - -_Sergeant:_ The arrangements have all been left to me, the Archdeacon -being away. He knows I have a good intellect for things of the sort. -But the loss of those slides puts a man out. The thing people will not -see it is not likely it is the thing they will believe. I saw what -they call tableaux--standing pictures, you know--one time in Dundrum---- - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Miss Joyce was saying Father Gregan is supporting you. - -_Sergeant:_ I am accepting his assistance. No bigotry about me when -there is a question of the welfare of any fellow-creatures. Orange and -green will stand together to-night. I myself and the station-master -on the one side; your parish priest in the chair. - -_Miss Joyce:_ If his Reverence would mind me he would not quit the -house to-night. He is no more fit to go speak at a meeting than -(_pointing to the one hanging outside Quirke's door_) that sheep. - -_Sergeant:_ I am willing to take the responsibility. He will have no -speaking to do at all, unless it might be to bid them give the -lecturer a hearing. The loss of those slides now is a great annoyance -to me--and no time for anything. The lecturer will be coming by the -next train. - -_Miss Joyce:_ Who is this coming up the street, Mrs. Delane? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I wouldn't doubt it to be the new Sub-Sanitary -Inspector. Was I telling you of the weight of the testimonials he got, -Miss Joyce? - -_Miss Joyce:_ Sure I heard the curate reading them to his Reverence. -He must be a wonder for principles. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Indeed it is what I was saying to myself, he must be a -very saintly young man. - - (_Enter Hyacinth Halvey. He carries a small bag and a large - brown paper parcel. He stops and nods bashfully._) - -_Hyacinth:_ Good-evening to you. I was bid to come to the post -office---- - -_Sergeant:_ I suppose you are Hyacinth Halvey? I had a letter about -you from the Resident Magistrate. - -_Hyacinth:_ I heard he was writing. It was my mother got a friend he -deals with to ask him. - -_Sergeant:_ He gives you a very high character. - -_Hyacinth:_ It is very kind of him indeed, and he not knowing me at -all. But indeed all the neighbours were very friendly. Anything any -one could do to help me they did it. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I'll engage it is the testimonals you have in your -parcel? I know the wrapping paper, but they grew in bulk since I -handled them. - -_Hyacinth:_ Indeed I was getting them to the last. There was not one -refused me. It is what my mother was saying, a good character is no -burden. - -_Fardy:_ I would believe that indeed. - -_Sergeant:_ Let us have a look at the testimonials. - - (_Hyacinth Halvey opens parcel, and a large number of envelopes - fall out._) - -_Sergeant:_ (_Opening and reading one by one_). "He possesses the fire -of the Gael, the strength of the Norman, the vigour of the Dane, the -stolidity of the Saxon"---- - -_Hyacinth:_ It was the Chairman of the Poor Law Guardians wrote that. - -_Sergeant:_ "A magnificent example to old and young"---- - -_Hyacinth:_ That was the Secretary of the DeWet Hurling Club---- - -_Sergeant:_ "A shining example of the value conferred by an eminently -careful and high class education"---- - -_Hyacinth:_ That was the National Schoolmaster. - -_Sergeant:_ "Devoted to the highest ideals of his Mother-land to such -an extent as is compatible with a hitherto non-parliamentary -career"---- - -_Hyacinth:_ That was the Member for Carrow. - -_Sergeant:_ "A splendid exponent of the purity of the race"---- - -_Hyacinth:_ The Editor of the _Carrow Champion_. - -_Sergeant:_ "Admirably adapted for the efficient discharge of all -possible duties that may in future be laid upon him"---- - -_Hyacinth:_ The new Station-master. - -_Sergeant:_ "A champion of every cause that can legitimately benefit -his fellow-creatures"---- Why, look here, my man, you are the very one -to come to our assistance to-night. - -_Hyacinth:_ I would be glad to do that. What way can I do it? - -_Sergeant:_ You are a newcomer--your example would carry weight--you -must stand up as a living proof of the beneficial effect of a high -character, moral fibre, temperance--there is something about it here I -am sure--(_Looks._) I am sure I saw "unparalleled temperance" in some -place---- - -_Hyacinth:_ It was my mother's cousin wrote that--I am no drinker, but -I haven't the pledge taken---- - -_Sergeant:_ You might take it for the purpose. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ (_Eagerly._) Here is an anti-treating button. I was made -a present of it by one of my customers--I'll give it to you (_sticks it -in Hyacinth's coat_) and welcome. - -_Sergeant:_ That is it. You can wear the button on the platform--or a -bit of blue ribbon--hundreds will follow your example--I know the boys -from the Workhouse will---- - -_Hyacinth:_ I am in no way wishful to be an example---- - -_Sergeant:_ I will read extracts from the testimonials. "There he is," -I will say, "an example of one in early life who by his own unaided -efforts and his high character has obtained a profitable -situation"--(_Slaps his side._) I know what I'll do. I'll engage a few -corner-boys from Noonan's bar, just as they are, greasy and sodden, to -stand in a group--there will be the contrast--The sight will deter -others from a similar fate--That's the way to do a tableau--I knew I -could turn out a success. - -_Hyacinth:_ I wouldn't like to be a contrast--- - -_Sergeant:_ (_Puts testimonials in his pocket._) I will go now and -engage those lads--sixpence each, and well worth it--Nothing like an -example for the rural classes. - - (_Goes off, Hyacinth feebly trying to detain him._) - -_Mrs. Delane:_ A very nice man indeed. A little high up in himself, -may be. I'm not one that blames the police. Sure they have their own -bread to earn like every other one. And indeed it is often they will -let a thing pass. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ (_Gloomily._) Sometimes they will, and more times they -will not. - -_Miss Joyce:_ And where will you be finding a lodging, Mr. Halvey? - -_Hyacinth:_ I was going to ask that myself, ma'am. I don't know the -town. - -_Miss Joyce:_ I know of a good lodging, but it is only a very good man -would be taken into it. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Sure there could be no objection there to Mr. Halvey. -There is no appearance on him but what is good, and the Sergeant after -taking him up the way he is doing. - -_Miss Joyce:_ You will be near to the Sergeant in the lodging I speak -of. The house is convenient to the barracks. - -_Hyacinth:_ (_Doubtfully._) To the barracks? - -_Miss Joyce:_ Alongside of it and the barrack yard behind. And that's -not all. It is opposite to the priest's house. - -_Hyacinth:_ Opposite, is it? - -_Miss Joyce:_ A very respectable place, indeed, and a very clean room -you will get. I know it well. The curate can see into it from his -window. - -_Hyacinth:_ Can he now? - -_Fardy:_ There was a good many, I am thinking, went into that lodging -and left it after. - -_Miss Joyce:_ (_Sharply._) It is a lodging you will never be let into -or let stop in, Fardy. If they did go they were a good riddance. - -_Fardy:_ John Hart, the plumber, left it---- - -_Miss Joyce:_ If he did it was because he dared not pass the police -coming in, as he used, with a rabbit he was after snaring in his hand. - -_Fardy:_ The schoolmaster himself left it. - -_Miss Joyce:_ He needn't have left it if he hadn't taken to -card-playing. What way could you say your prayers, and shadows -shuffling and dealing before you on the blind? - -_Hyacinth:_ I think maybe I'd best look around a bit before I'll -settle in a lodging---- - -_Miss Joyce:_ Not at all. _You_ won't be wanting to pull down the -blind. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ It is not likely _you_ will be snaring rabbits. - -_Miss Joyce:_ Or bringing in a bottle and taking an odd glass the way -James Kelly did. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Or writing threatening notices, and the police taking a -view of you from the rear. - -_Miss Joyce:_ Or going to roadside dances, or running after -good-for-nothing young girls---- - -_Hyacinth:_ I give you my word I'm not so harmless as you think. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Would you be putting a lie on these, Mr. Halvey? -(_Touching testimonials._) I know well the way you will be spending -the evenings, writing letters to your relations---- - -_Miss Joyce:_ Learning O'Growney's exercises---- - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Sticking post cards in an album for the convent bazaar. - -_Miss Joyce:_ Reading the _Catholic Young Man_---- - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Playing the melodies on a melodeon---- - -_Miss Joyce:_ Looking at the pictures in the _Lives of the Saints_. -I'll hurry on and engage the room for you. - -_Hyacinth:_ Wait. Wait a minute---- - -_Miss Joyce:_ No trouble at all. I told you it was just opposite. -(_Goes._) - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I suppose I must go upstairs and ready myself for the -meeting. If it wasn't for the contract I have for the soldiers' -barracks and the Sergeant's good word, I wouldn't go anear it. (_Goes -into shop._) - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I should be making myself ready too. I must be in good -time to see you being made an example of, Mr. Halvey. It is I myself -was the first to say it; you will be a credit to the town. (_Goes._) - -_Hyacinth:_ (_In a tone of agony._) I wish I had never seen Cloon. - -_Fardy:_ What is on you? - -_Hyacinth:_ I wish I had never left Carrow. I wish I had been drowned -the first day I thought of it, and I'd be better off. - -_Fardy:_ What is it ails you? - -_Hyacinth:_ I wouldn't for the best pound ever I had be in this place -to-day. - -_Fardy:_ I don't know what you are talking about. - -_Hyacinth:_ To have left Carrow, if it was a poor place, where I had -my comrades, and an odd spree, and a game of cards--and a coursing -match coming on, and I promised a new greyhound from the city of -Cork. I'll die in this place, the way I am. I'll be too much closed -in. - -_Fardy:_ Sure it mightn't be as bad as what you think. - -_Hyacinth:_ Will you tell me, I ask you, what way can I undo it? - -_Fardy:_ What is it you are wanting to undo? - -_Hyacinth:_ Will you tell me what way can I get rid of my character? - -_Fardy:_ To get rid of it, is it? - -_Hyacinth:_ That is what I said. Aren't you after hearing the great -character they are after putting on me? - -_Fardy:_ That is a good thing to have. - -_Hyacinth:_ It is not. It's the worst in the world. If I hadn't it, I -wouldn't be like a prize mangold at a show with every person praising -me. - -_Fardy:_ If I had it, I wouldn't be like a head in a barrel, with -every person making hits at me. - -_Hyacinth:_ If I hadn't it, I wouldn't be shoved into a room with all -the clergy watching me and the police in the back yard. - -_Fardy:_ If I had it, I wouldn't be but a message-carrier now, and a -clapper scaring birds in the summer time. - -_Hyacinth:_ If I hadn't it, I wouldn't be wearing this button and -brought up for an example at the meeting. - -_Fardy:_ (_Whistles._) Maybe you're not, so, what those papers make -you out to be? - -_Hyacinth:_ How would I be what they make me out to be? Was there ever -any person of that sort since the world was a world, unless it might -be Saint Antony of Padua looking down from the chapel wall? If it is -like that I was, isn't it in Mount Melleray I would be, or with the -Friars at Esker? Why would I be living in the world at all, or doing -the world's work? - -_Fardy:_ (_Taking up parcel._) Who would think, now, there would be so -much lies in a small place like Carrow? - -_Hyacinth:_ It was my mother's cousin did it. He said I was not reared -for labouring--he gave me a new suit and bid me never to come back -again. I daren't go back to face him--the neighbours knew my mother had -a long family--bad luck to them the day they gave me these. (_Tears -letters and scatters them._) I'm done with testimonials. They won't be -here to bear witness against me. - -_Fardy:_ The Sergeant thought them to be great. Sure he has the -samples of them in his pocket. There's not one in the town but will -know before morning that you are the next thing to an earthly saint. - -_Hyacinth:_ (_Stamping._) I'll stop their mouths. I'll show them I can -be a terror for badness. I'll do some injury. I'll commit some crime. -The first thing I'll do I'll go and get drunk. If I never did it -before I'll do it now. I'll get drunk--then I'll make an assault--I tell -you I'd think as little of taking a life as of blowing out a candle. - -_Fardy:_ If you get drunk you are done for. Sure that will be held up -after as an excuse for any breaking of the law. - -_Hyacinth:_ I will break the law. Drunk or sober I'll break it. I'll -do something that will have no excuse. What would you say is the worst -crime that any man can do? - -_Fardy:_ I don't know. I heard the Sergeant saying one time it was to -obstruct the police in the discharge of their duty---- - -_Hyacinth:_ That won't do. It's a patriot I would be then, worse than -before, with my picture in the weeklies. It's a red crime I must -commit that will make all respectable people quit minding me. What can -I do? Search your mind now. - -_Fardy:_ It's what I heard the old people saying there could be no -worse crime than to steal a sheep---- - -_Hyacinth:_ I'll steal a sheep--or a cow--or a horse--if that will leave -me the way I was before. - -_Fardy:_ It's maybe in gaol it will leave you. - -_Hyacinth:_ I don't care--I'll confess--I'll tell why I did it--I give -you my word I would as soon be picking oakum or breaking stones as to -be perched in the daylight the same as that bird, and all the town -chirruping to me or bidding me chirrup---- - -_Fardy:_ There is reason in that, now. - -_Hyacinth:_ Help me, will you? - -_Fardy:_ Well, if it is to steal a sheep you want, you haven't far to -go. - -_Hyacinth:_ (_Looking round wildly._) Where is it? I see no sheep. - -_Fardy:_ Look around you. - -_Hyacinth:_ I see no living thing but that thrush---- - -_Fardy:_ Did I say it was living? What is that hanging on Quirke's -rack? - -_Hyacinth:_ It's (_fingers it_) a sheep, sure enough---- - -_Fardy:_ Well, what ails you that you can't bring it away? - -_Hyacinth:_ It's a dead one---- - -_Fardy:_ What matter if it is? - -_Hyacinth:_ If it was living I could drive it before me---- - -_Fardy:_ You could. Is it to your own lodging you would drive it? Sure -everyone would take it to be a pet you brought from Carrow. - -_Hyacinth:_ I suppose they might. - -_Fardy:_ Miss Joyce sending in for news of it and it bleating behind -the bed. - -_Hyacinth:_ (_Distracted_). Stop! stop! - -_Mrs. Delane:_ (_From upper window._) Fardy! Are you there, Fardy -Farrell? - -_Fardy:_ I am, ma'am. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ (_From window._) Look and tell me is that the telegraph -I hear ticking? - -_Fardy:_ (_Looking in at door._) It is, ma'am. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Then botheration to it, and I not dressed or undressed. -Wouldn't you say, now, it's to annoy me it is calling me down. I'm -coming! I'm coming! (_Disappears._) - -_Fardy:_ Hurry on, now! hurry! She'll be coming out on you. If you are -going to do it, do it, and if you are not, let it alone. - -_Hyacinth:_ I'll do it! I'll do it! - -_Fardy:_ (_Lifting the sheep on his back._) I'll give you a hand with -it. - -_Hyacinth:_ (_Goes a step or two and turns round._) You told me no -place where I could hide it. - -_Fardy:_ You needn't go far. There is the church beyond at the side of -the Square. Go round to the ditch behind the wall--there's nettles in -it. - -_Hyacinth:_ That'll do. - -_Fardy:_ She's coming out--run! run! - -Hyacinth: (_Runs a step or two._) It's slipping! - -_Fardy:_ Hoist it up! I'll give it a hoist! (_Halvey runs out._) - -_Mrs. Delane:_ (_Calling out._) What are you doing Fardy Farrell? Is -it idling you are? - -_Fardy:_ Waiting I am, ma'am, for the message---- - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Never mind the message yet. Who said it was ready? -(_Going to door._) Go ask for the loan of--no, but ask news of--Here, -now go bring that bag of Mr. Halvey's to the lodging Miss Joyce has -taken---- - -_Fardy:_ I will, ma'am. (_Takes bag and goes out._) - -_Mrs. Delane:_ (_Coming out with a telegram in her hand._) Nobody -here? (_Looks round and calls cautiously._) Mr. Quirke! Mr. Quirke! -James Quirke! - -_Mr. Quirke:_ (_Looking out of his upper window with soap-suddy -face_). What is it, Mrs. Delane? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ (_Beckoning._) Come down here till I tell you. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I cannot do that. I'm not fully shaved. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ You'd come if you knew the news I have. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Tell it to me now. I'm not so supple as I was. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Whisper now, have you an enemy in any place? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ It's likely I may have. A man in business---- - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I was thinking you had one. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Why would you think that at this time more than any -other time? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ If you could know what is in this envelope you would -know that, James Quirke. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Is that so? And what, now, is there in it? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Who do you think now is it addressed to? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ How would I know that, and I not seeing it? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ That is true. Well, it is a message from Dublin Castle -to the Sergeant of Police! - -_Mr. Quirke:_ To Sergeant Carden, is it? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ It is. And it concerns yourself. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Myself, is it? What accusation can they be bringing -against me? I'm a peaceable man. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Wait till you hear. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Maybe they think I was in that moonlighting case---- - -_Mrs. Delane:_ That is not it---- - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I was not in it--I was but in the neighbouring -field--cutting up a dead cow, that those never had a hand in---- - -_Mrs. Delane:_ You're out of it---- - -_Mr. Quirke:_ They had their faces blackened. There is no man can say -I recognized them. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ That's not what they're saying---- - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I'll swear I did not hear their voices or know them if I -did hear them. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I tell you it has nothing to do with that. It might be -better for you if it had. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ What is it, so? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ It is an order to the Sergeant bidding him immediately -to seize all suspicious meat in your house. There is an officer coming -down. There are complaints from the Shannon Fort Barracks. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I'll engage it was that pork. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ What ailed it for them to find fault? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ People are so hard to please nowadays, and I recommended -them to salt it. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ They had a right to have minded your advice. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ There was nothing on that pig at all but that it went -mad on poor O'Grady that owned it. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ So I heard, and went killing all before it. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Sure it's only in the brain madness can be. I heard the -doctor saying that. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ He should know. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I give you my word I cut the head off it. I went to the -loss of it, throwing it to the eels in the river. If they had salted -the meat, as I advised them, what harm would it have done to any -person on earth? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I hope no harm will come on poor Mrs. Quirke and the -family. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Maybe it wasn't that but some other thing---- - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Here is Fardy. I must send the message to the Sergeant. -Well, Mr. Quirke, I'm glad I had the time to give you a warning. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I'm obliged to you, indeed. You were always very -neighbourly, Mrs. Delane. Don't be too quick now sending the message. -There is just one article I would like to put away out of the house -before the Sergeant will come. (_Enter Fardy._) - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Here now, Fardy--that's not the way you're going to the -barracks. Anyone would think you were scaring birds yet. Put on your -uniform. (_Fardy goes into office._) You have this message to bring -to the Sergeant of Police. Get your cap now, it's under the counter. -(_Fardy reappears, and she gives him telegram._) - -_Fardy:_ I'll bring it to the station. It's there he was going. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ You will not, but to the barracks. It can wait for him -there. - - (_Fardy goes off. Mr. Quirke has appeared at door._) - -_Mr. Quirke:_ It was indeed a very neighbourly act, Mrs. Delane, and -I'm obliged to you. There is just _one_ article to put out of the way. -The Sergeant may look about him then and welcome. It's well I cleared -the premises on yesterday. A consignment to Birmingham I sent. The -Lord be praised isn't England a terrible country with all it consumes? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Indeed you always treat the neighbours very decent, Mr. -Quirke, not asking them to buy from you. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Just one article. (_Turns to rack._) That sheep I -brought in last night. It was for a charity indeed I bought it from -the widow woman at Kiltartan Cross. Where would the poor make a profit -out of their dead meat without me? Where now is it? Well, now, I could -have swore that that sheep was hanging there on the rack when I went -in---- - -_Mrs. Delane:_ You must have put it in some other place. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ (_Going in and searching and coming out._) I did not; -there is no other place for me to put it. Is it gone blind I am, or is -it not in it, it is? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ It's not there now anyway. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Didn't you take notice of it there yourself this -morning? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I have it in my mind that I did; but it's not there -now. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ There was no one here could bring it away? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Is it me myself you suspect of taking it, James Quirke? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Where is it at all? It is certain it was not of itself -it walked away. It was dead, and very dead, the time I bought it. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I have a pleasant neighbour indeed that accuses me that -I took his sheep. I wonder, indeed, you to say a thing like that! I to -steal your sheep or your rack or anything that belongs to you or to -your trade! Thank you, James Quirke. I am much obliged to you indeed. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Ah, be quiet, woman; be quiet---- - -_Mrs. Delane:_ And let me tell you, James Quirke, that I would sooner -starve and see everyone belonging to me starve than to eat the size -of a thimble of any joint that ever was on your rack or that ever will -be on it, whatever the soldiers may eat that have no other thing to -get, or the English that devour all sorts, or the poor ravenous people -that's down by the sea! (_She turns to go into shop._) - -_Mr. Quirke:_ (_Stopping her._) Don't be talking foolishness, woman. -Who said you took my meat? Give heed to me now. There must some other -message have come. The Sergeant must have got some other message. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ (_Sulkily._) If there is any way for a message to come -that is quicker than to come by the wires, tell me what it is and I'll -be obliged to you. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ The Sergeant was up here making an excuse he was -sticking up that notice. What was he doing here, I ask you? - -Mrs. Delane: How would I know what brought him? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ It is what he did; he made as if to go away--he turned -back again and I shaving--he brought away the sheep--he will have it for -evidence against me---- - -_Mrs. Delane:_ (_Interested._) That might be so. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I would sooner it to have been any other beast nearly -ever I had upon the rack. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Is that so? - -Mr. Quirke: I bade the Widow Early to kill it a fortnight ago--but she -would not, she was that covetous! - -_Mrs. Delane:_ What was on it? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ How would I know what was on it? Whatever was on it, it -was the will of God put it upon it--wasted it was, and shivering and -refusing its share. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ The poor thing. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Gone all to nothing--wore away like a flock of thread. It -did not weigh as much as a lamb of two months. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ It is likely the Inspector will bring it to Dublin? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ The ribs of it streaky with the dint of patent -medicines---- - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I wonder is it to the Petty Sessions you'll be brought -or is it to the Assizes? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I'll speak up to them. I'll make my defence. What can -the Army expect at fippence a pound? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ It is likely there will be no bail allowed? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Would they be wanting me to give them good quality meat -out of my own pocket? Is it to encourage them to fight the poor -Indians and Africans they would have me? It's the Anti-Enlisting -Societies should pay the fine for me. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ It's not a fine will be put on you, I'm afraid. It's -five years in gaol you will be apt to be getting. Well, I'll try and -be a good neighbour to poor Mrs. Quirke. - - (_Mr. Quirke, who has been stamping up and down, sits down and - weeps. Halvey comes in and stands on one side._) - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Hadn't I heart-scalding enough before, striving to rear -five weak children? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I suppose they will be sent to the Industrial Schools? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ My poor wife---- - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I'm afraid the workhouse---- - -_Mr. Quirke:_ And she out in an ass-car at this minute helping me to -follow my trade. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I hope they will not arrest her along with you. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I'll give myself up to justice. I'll plead guilty! I'll -be recommended to mercy! - -_Mrs. Delane:_ It might be best for you. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Who would think so great a misfortune could come upon a -family through the bringing away of one sheep! - -_Hyacinth:_ (_Coming forward._) Let you make yourself easy. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Easy! It's easy to say let you make yourself easy. - -_Hyacinth:_ I can tell you where it is. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Where what is? - -_Hyacinth:_ The sheep you are fretting after. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ What do you know about it? - -_Hyacinth:_ I know everything about it. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I suppose the Sergeant told you? - -_Hyacinth:_ He told me nothing. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I suppose the whole town knows it, so? - -_Hyacinth:_ No one knows it, as yet. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ And the Sergeant didn't see it? - -_Hyacinth:_ No one saw it or brought it away but myself. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Where did you put it at all? - -_Hyacinth:_ In the ditch behind the church wall. In among the nettles -it is. Look at the way they have me stung. (_Holds out hands._) - -_Mr. Quirke:_ In the ditch! The best hiding place in the town. - -_Hyacinth:_ I never thought it would bring such great trouble upon -you. You can't say anyway I did not tell you. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ You yourself that brought it away and that hid it! I -suppose it was coming in the train you got information about the -message to the police. - -_Hyacinth:_ What now do you say to me? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Say! I say I am as glad to hear what you said as if it -was the Lord telling me I'd be in heaven this minute. - -_Hyacinth:_ What are you going to do to me? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Do, is it? (_Grasps his hand._) Any earthly thing you -would wish me to do, I will do it. - -_Hyacinth:_ I suppose you will tell---- - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Tell! It's I that will tell when all is quiet. It is I -will give you the good name through the town! - -_Hyacinth:_ I don't well understand. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ (_Embracing him._) The man that preserved me! - -_Hyacinth:_ That preserved you? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ That kept me from ruin! - -_Hyacinth:_ From ruin? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ That saved me from disgrace! - -_Hyacinth:_ (_To Mrs. Delane._) What is he saying at all? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ From the Inspector! - -_Hyacinth:_ What is he talking about? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ From the magistrates! - -_Hyacinth:_ He is making some mistake. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ From the Winter Assizes! - -_Hyacinth:_ Is he out of his wits? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Five years in gaol! - -_Hyacinth:_ Hasn't he the queer talk? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ The loss of the contract! - -_Hyacinth:_ Are my own wits gone astray? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ What way can I repay you? - -_Hyacinth:_ (_Shouting._) I tell you I took the sheep---- - -_Mr. Quirke:_ You did, God reward you! - -_Hyacinth:_ I stole away with it---- - -_Mr. Quirke:_ The blessing of the poor on you! - -_Hyacinth:_ I put it out of sight---- - -_Mr. Quirke:_ The blessing of my five children---- - -_Hyacinth:_ I may as well say nothing---- - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Let you be quiet now, Quirke. Here's the Sergeant -coming to search the shop---- - - (_Sergeant comes in: Quirke leaves go of Halvey, who arranges - his hat, etc._) - -_Sergeant:_ The Department to blazes! - -_Mrs. Delane:_ What is it putting you out? - -_Sergeant:_ To go to the train to meet the lecturer, and there to get -a message through the guard that he was unavoidably detained in the -South, holding an inquest on the remains of a drake. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ The lecturer, is it? - -_Sergeant:_ To be sure. What else would I be talking of? The lecturer -has failed me, and where am I to go looking for a person that I would -think fitting to take his place? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ And that's all? And you didn't get any message but the -one? - -_Sergeant:_ Is that all? I am surprised at you, Mrs. Delane. Isn't it -enough to upset a man, within three quarters of an hour of the time of -the meeting? Where, I would ask you, am I to find a man that has -education enough and wit enough and character enough to put up -speaking on the platform on the minute? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ (_Jumps up._) It is I myself will tell you that. - -_Sergeant:_ You! - -_Mr. Quirke:_ (_Slapping Halvey on the back._) Look at here, Sergeant. -There is not one word was said in all those papers about this young -man before you but it is true. And there could be no good thing said -of him that would be too good for him. - -_Sergeant:_ It might not be a bad idea. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Whatever the paper said about him, Sergeant, I can say -more again. It has come to my knowledge--by chance--that since he came -to this town that young man has saved a whole family from destruction. - -_Sergeant:_ That is much to his credit--helping the rural classes---- - -_Mr. Quirke:_ A family and a long family, big and little, like sods of -turf--and they depending on a--on one that might be on his way to dark -trouble at this minute if it was not for his assistance. Believe me, -he is the most sensible man, and the wittiest, and the kindest, and -the best helper of the poor that ever stood before you in this square. -Is not that so, Mrs. Delane? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ It is true indeed. Where he gets his wisdom and his wit -and his information from I don't know, unless it might be that he is -gifted from above. - -_Sergeant:_ Well, Mrs. Delane, I think we have settled that question. -Mr. Halvey, you will be the speaker at the meeting. The lecturer sent -these notes--you can lengthen them into a speech. You can call to the -people of Cloon to stand out, to begin the building of their -character. I saw a lecturer do it one time at Dundrum. "Come up here," -he said, "Dare to be a Daniel," he said---- - -_Hyacinth:_ I can't--I won't---- - -_Sergeant:_ (_Looking at papers and thrusting them into his hand._) -You will find it quite easy. I will conduct you to the platform--these -papers before you and a glass of water--That's settled. (_Turns to -go._) Follow me on to the Courthouse in half an hour--I must go to the -barracks first--I heard there was a telegram--(_Calls back as he goes._) -Don't be late, Mrs. Delane. Mind, Quirke, you promised to come. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Well, it's time for me to make an end of settling -myself--and indeed, Mr. Quirke, you'd best do the same. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ (_Rubbing his cheek._) I suppose so. I had best keep on -good terms with him for the present. (_Turns._) Well, now, I had a -great escape this day. - - (_Both go in as Fardy reappears whistling._) - -_Hyacinth:_ (_Sitting down._) I don't know in the world what has come -upon the world that the half of the people of it should be cracked! - -_Fardy:_ Weren't you found out yet? - -_Hyacinth:_ Found out, is it? I don't know what you mean by being -found out. - -_Fardy:_ Didn't he miss the sheep? - -_Hyacinth:_ He did, and I told him it was I took it--and what happened -I declare to goodness I don't know--Will you look at these? (_Holds out -notes._) - -_Fardy:_ Papers! Are they more testimonials? - -_Hyacinth:_ They are what is worse. (_Gives a hoarse laugh._) Will you -come and see me on the platform--these in my hand--and I speaking--giving -out advice. (_Fardy whistles._) Why didn't you tell me, the time you -advised me to steal a sheep, that in this town it would qualify a man -to go preaching, and the priest in the chair looking on. - -_Fardy:_ The time I took a few apples that had fallen off a stall, -they did not ask me to hold a meeting. They welted me well. - -_Hyacinth:_ (_Looking round._) I would take apples if I could see -them. I wish I had broke my neck before I left Carrow and I'd be -better off! I wish I had got six months the time I was caught setting -snares--I wish I had robbed a church. - -_Fardy:_ Would a Protestant church do? - -_Hyacinth:_ I suppose it wouldn't be so great a sin. - -_Fardy:_ It's likely the Sergeant would think worse of it--Anyway, if -you want to rob one, it's the Protestant church is the handiest. - -_Hyacinth:_ (_Getting up._) Show me what way to do it? - -_Fardy:_ (_Pointing._) I was going around it a few minutes ago, to see -might there be e'er a dog scenting the sheep, and I noticed the window -being out. - -_Hyacinth:_ Out, out and out? - -_Fardy:_ It was, where they are putting coloured glass in it for the -distiller---- - -_Hyacinth:_ What good does that do me? - -_Fardy:_ Every good. You could go in by that window if you had some -person to give you a hoist. Whatever riches there is to get in it -then, you'll get them. - -_Hyacinth:_ I don't want riches. I'll give you all I will find if you -will come and hoist me. - -_Fardy:_ Here is Miss Joyce coming to bring you to your lodging. Sure -I brought your bag to it, the time you were away with the sheep---- - -_Hyacinth:_ Run! Run! - - (_They go off. Enter Miss Joyce._) - -_Miss Joyce:_ Are you here, Mrs. Delane? Where, can you tell me, is -Mr. Halvey? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ (_Coming out dressed._) It's likely he is gone on to -the Courthouse. Did you hear he is to be in the chair and to make an -address to the meeting? - -_Miss Joyce:_ He is getting on fast. His Reverence says he will be a -good help in the parish. Who would think, now, there would be such a -godly young man in a little place like Carrow! - - (_Enter Sergeant in a hurry, with telegram._) - -_Sergeant:_ What time did this telegram arrive, Mrs. Delane? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I couldn't be rightly sure, Sergeant. But sure it's -marked on it, unless the clock I have is gone wrong. - -_Sergeant:_ It is marked on it. And I have the time I got it marked on -my own watch. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Well, now, I wonder none of the police would have -followed you with it from the barracks--and they with so little to -do---- - -_Sergeant:_ (_Looking in at Quirke's shop._) Well, I am sorry to do -what I have to do, but duty is duty. - - (_He ransacks shop. Mrs. Delane looks on. Mr. Quirke puts his - head out of window._) - -_Mr. Quirke:_ What is that going on inside? (_No answer._) Is there -any one inside, I ask? (_No answer._) It must be that dog of -Tannian's--wait till I get at him. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ It is Sergeant Carden, Mr. Quirke. He would seem to be -looking for something---- - - (_Mr. Quirke appears in shop. Sergeant comes out, makes another - dive, taking up sacks, etc._) - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I'm greatly afraid I am just out of meat, Sergeant--and -I'm sorry now to disoblige you, and you not being in the habit of -dealing with me---- - -_Sergeant:_ I should think not, indeed. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Looking for a tender little bit of lamb, I suppose you -are, for Mrs. Carden and the youngsters? - -_Sergeant:_ I am not. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ If I had it now, I'd be proud to offer it to you, and -make no charge. I'll be killing a good kid to-morrow. Mrs. Carden -might fancy a bit of it---- - -_Sergeant:_ I have had orders to search your establishment for -unwholesome meat, and I am come here to do it. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ (_Sitting down with a smile._) Is that so? Well, isn't -it a wonder the schemers does be in the world. - -_Sergeant:_ It is not the first time there have been complaints. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I suppose not. Well, it is on their own head it will -fall at the last! - -_Sergeant:_ I have found nothing so far. _Mr. Quirke:_ I suppose not, -indeed. What is there you could find, and it not in it? - -_Sergeant:_ Have you no meat at all upon the premises? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I have, indeed, a nice barrel of bacon. - -_Sergeant:_ What way did it die? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ It would be hard for me to say that. American it is. How -would I know what way they do be killing the pigs out there? -Machinery, I suppose, they have--steam hammers---- - -_Sergeant:_ Is there nothing else here at all? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I give you my word, there is no meat living or dead in -this place, but yourself and myself and that bird above in the cage. - -_Sergeant:_ Well, I must tell the Inspector I could find nothing. But -mind yourself for the future. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Thank you, Sergeant. I will do that. (_Enter Fardy. He -stops short._) - -_Sergeant:_ It was you delayed that message to me, I suppose? You'd -best mend your ways or I'll have something to say to you. (_Seizes and -shakes him._) - -_Fardy:_ That's the way everyone does be faulting me. (_Whimpers._) - - (_The Sergeant gives him another shake. A half-crown falls out - of his pocket._) - -_Miss Joyce:_ (_Picking it up._) A half-a-crown! Where, now, did you -get that much, Fardy? - -_Fardy:_ Where did I get it, is it! - -_Miss Joyce:_ I'll engage it was in no honest way you got it. - -_Fardy:_ I picked it up in the street---- - -_Miss Joyce:_ If you did, why didn't you bring it to the Sergeant or -to his Reverence? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ And some poor person, may be, being at the loss of it. - -_Miss Joyce:_ I'd best bring it to his Reverence. Come with me, Fardy, -till he will question you about it. - -_Fardy:_ It was not altogether in the street I found it---- - -_Miss Joyce:_ There, now! I knew you got it in no good way! Tell me, -now. - -_Fardy:_ It was playing pitch and toss I won it---- - -_Miss Joyce:_ And who would play for half-crowns with the like of you, -Fardy Farrell? Who was it, now? - -_Fardy:_ It was--a stranger---- - -_Miss Joyce:_ Do you hear that? A stranger! Did you see e'er a -stranger in this town, Mrs. Delane, or Sergeant Carden, or Mr. Quirke? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Not a one. - -_Sergeant:_ There was no stranger here. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ There could not be one here without me knowing it. - -_Fardy:_ I tell you there was. - -_Miss Joyce:_ Come on, then, and tell who was he to his Reverence. - -_Sergeant:_ (_Taking other arm._) Or to the bench. - -_Fardy:_ I did get it, I tell you, from a stranger. - -_Sergeant:_ Where is he, so? - -_Fardy:_ He's in some place--not far away. - -_Sergeant:_ Bring me to him. - -_Fardy:_ He'll be coming here. - -_Sergeant:_ Tell me the truth and it will be better for you. - -_Fardy:_ (_Weeping._) Let me go and I will. - -_Sergeant:_ (_Letting go._) Now--who did you get it from? - -_Fardy:_ From that young chap came to-day, Mr. Halvey. - -_All:_ Mr. Halvey! - -_Mr. Quirke:_ (_Indignantly._) What are you saying, you young ruffian -you? Hyacinth Halvey to be playing pitch and toss with the like of -you! - -_Fardy:_ I didn't say that. - -_Miss Joyce:_ You did say it. You said it now. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Hyacinth Halvey! The best man that ever came into this -town! - -_Miss Joyce:_ Well, what lies he has! - -_Mr. Quirke:_ It's my belief the half-crown is a bad one. May be it's -to pass it off it was given to him. There were tinkers in the town at -the time of the fair. Give it here to me. (_Bites it._) No, indeed, -it's sound enough. Here, Sergeant, it's best for you take it. - - (_Gives it to Sergeant, who examines it._) - -_Sergeant:_ Can it be? Can it be what I think it to be? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ What is it? What do you take it to be? - -_Sergeant:_ It is, it is. I know it. I know this half-crown---- - -_Mr. Quirke:_ That is a queer thing, now. - -_Sergeant:_ I know it well. I have been handling it in the church for -the last twelvemonth---- - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Is that so? - -_Sergeant:_ It is the nest-egg half-crown we hand round in the -collection plate every Sunday morning. I know it by the dint on the -Queen's temples and the crooked scratch under her nose. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ (_Examining it._) So there is, too. - -_Sergeant:_ This is a bad business. It has been stolen from the -church. - -_All:_ O! O! O! - -_Sergeant:_ (_Seizing Fardy._) You have robbed the church! - -_Fardy:_ (_Terrified._) I tell you I never did! - -_Sergeant:_ I have the proof of it. - -_Fardy:_ Say what you like! I never put a foot in it! - -_Sergeant:_ How did you get this, so? - -_Miss Joyce:_ I suppose from the stranger? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I suppose it was Hyacinth Halvey gave it to you, now? - -_Fardy:_ It was so. - -_Sergeant:_ I suppose it was he robbed the church? - -_Fardy:_ (_Sobs._) You will not believe me if I say it. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ O! the young vagabond! Let me get at him! - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Here he is himself now! - - (_Hyacinth comes in. Fardy releases himself and creeps behind him._) - -_Mrs. Delane:_ It is time you to come, Mr. Halvey, and shut the mouth -of this young schemer. - -_Miss Joyce:_ I would like you to hear what he says of you, Mr. -Halvey. Pitch and toss, he says. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Robbery, he says. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Robbery of a church. - -_Sergeant:_ He has had a bad name long enough. Let him go to a -reformatory now. - -_Fardy:_ (_Clinging to Hyacinth._) Save me, save me! I'm a poor boy -trying to knock out a way of living; I'll be destroyed if I go to a -reformatory. (_Kneels and clings to Hyacinth's knees._) - -_Hyacinth:_ I'll save you easy enough. - -_Fardy:_ Don't let me be gaoled! - -_Hyacinth:_ I am going to tell them. - -_Fardy:_ I'm a poor orphan---- - -_Hyacinth:_ Will you let me speak? - -_Fardy:_ I'll get no more chance in the world---- - -_Hyacinth:_ Sure I'm trying to free you---- - -_Fardy:_ It will be tasked to me always. - -_Hyacinth:_ Be quiet, can't you. - -_Fardy:_ Don't you desert me! - -_Hyacinth:_ Will you be silent? - -_Fardy:_ Take it on yourself. - -_Hyacinth:_ I will if you'll let me. - -_Fardy:_ Tell them you did it. - -_Hyacinth:_ I am going to do that. - -_Fardy:_ Tell them it was you got in at the window. - -_Hyacinth:_ I will! I will! - -_Fardy:_ Say it was you robbed the box. - -_Hyacinth:_ I'll say it! I'll say it! - -_Fardy:_ It being open! - -_Hyacinth:_ Let me tell, let me tell. - -_Fardy:_ Of all that was in it. - -_Hyacinth:_ I'll tell them that. - -_Fardy:_ And gave it to me. - -_Hyacinth:_ (_Putting hand on his mouth and dragging him up._) Will -you stop and let me speak? - -_Sergeant:_ We can't be wasting time. Give him here to me. - -_Hyacinth:_ I can't do that. He must be let alone. - -_Sergeant:_ (_Seizing him._) He'll be let alone in the lock-up. - -_Hyacinth:_ He must not be brought there. - -_Sergeant:_ I'll let no man get him off. - -_Hyacinth:_ I will get him off. - -_Sergeant:_ You will not! - -_Hyacinth:_ I will. - -_Sergeant:_ Do you think to buy him off? - -_Hyacinth:_ I will buy him off with my own confession. - -_Sergeant:_ And what will that be? - -_Hyacinth:_ It was I robbed the church. - -_Sergeant:_ That is likely indeed! - -_Hyacinth:_ Let him go, and take me. I tell you I did it. - -_Sergeant:_ It would take witnesses to prove that. - -_Hyacinth:_ (_Pointing to Fardy._) He will be witness. - -_Fardy:_ O! Mr. Halvey, I would not wish to do that. Get me off and I -will say nothing. - -_Hyacinth:_ Sure you must. You will be put on oath in the court. - -_Fardy:_ I will not! I will not! All the world knows I don't -understand the nature of an oath! - -_Mr. Quirke:_ (_Coming forward._) Is it blind ye all are? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ What are you talking about? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Is it fools ye all are? - -_Miss Joyce:_ Speak for yourself. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Is it idiots ye all are? - -_Sergeant:_ Mind who you're talking to. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ (_Seizing Hyacinth's hands._) Can't you see? Can't you -hear? Where are your wits? Was ever such a thing seen in this town? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Say out what you have to say. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ A walking saint he is! - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Maybe so. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ The preserver of the poor! Talk of the holy martyrs! -They are nothing at all to what he is! Will you look at him! To save -that poor boy he is going! To take the blame on himself he is going! -To say he himself did the robbery he is going! Before the magistrate -he is going! To gaol he is going! Taking the blame on his own head! -Putting the sin on his own shoulders! Letting on to have done a -robbery! Telling a lie--that it may be forgiven him--to his own injury! -Doing all that I tell you to save the character of a miserable slack -lad, that rose in poverty. - - (_Murmur of admiration from all._) - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Now, what do you say? - -_Sergeant:_ (_Pressing his hand._) Mr. Halvey, you have given us all a -lesson. To please you, I will make no information against the boy. -(_Shakes him and helps him up._) I will put back the half-crown in the -poor-box next Sunday. (_To Fardy._) What have you to say to your -benefactor? - -_Fardy:_ I'm obliged to you, Mr. Halvey. You behaved very decent to -me, very decent indeed. I'll never let a word be said against you if I -live to be a hundred years. - -_Sergeant:_ (_Wiping eyes with a blue handkerchief._) I will tell it -at the meeting. It will be a great encouragement to them to build up -their character. I'll tell it to the priest and he taking the chair---- - -_Hyacinth:_ O stop, will you---- - -_Mr. Quirke:_ The chair. It's in the chair he himself should be. It's -in a chair we will put him now. It's to chair him through the streets -we will. Sure he'll be an example and a blessing to the whole of the -town. (_Seizes Halvey and seats him in chair._) Now, Sergeant, give a -hand. Here, Fardy. - - (_They all lift the chair with Halvey in it, wildly protesting._) - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Come along now to the Courthouse. Three cheers for -Hyacinth Halvey! Hip! hip! hoora! - - (_Cheers heard in the distance as the curtain drops._) - - - - -THE RISING OF THE MOON - - -PERSONS - - _Sergeant._ - _Policeman X._ - _Policeman B._ - _A Ragged Man._ - - -THE RISING OF THE MOON - - - _Scene: Side of a quay in a seaport town. Some posts and - chains. A large barrel. Enter three policemen. Moonlight._ - - - (_Sergeant, who is older than the others, crosses the stage to - right and looks down steps. The others put down a pastepot and - unroll a bundle of placards._) - -_Policeman B:_ I think this would be a good place to put up a notice. -(_He points to barrel._) - -_Policeman X:_ Better ask him. (_Calls to Sergt._) Will this be a good -place for a placard? - - (_No answer._) - -_Policeman B:_ Will we put up a notice here on the barrel? (_No -answer._) - -_Sergeant:_ There's a flight of steps here that leads to the water. -This is a place that should be minded well. If he got down here, his -friends might have a boat to meet him; they might send it in here from -outside. - -_Policeman B:_ Would the barrel be a good place to put a notice up? - -_Sergeant:_ It might; you can put it there. - - (_They paste the notice up._) - -_Sergeant:_ (_Reading it._) Dark hair--dark eyes, smooth face, height -five feet five--there's not much to take hold of in that--It's a pity I -had no chance of seeing him before he broke out of gaol. They say he's -a wonder, that it's he makes all the plans for the whole organization. -There isn't another man in Ireland would have broken gaol the way he -did. He must have some friends among the gaolers. - -_Policeman B:_ A hundred pounds is little enough for the Government to -offer for him. You may be sure any man in the force that takes him -will get promotion. - -_Sergeant:_ I'll mind this place myself. I wouldn't wonder at all if -he came this way. He might come slipping along there (_points to side -of quay_), and his friends might be waiting for him there (_points -down steps_), and once he got away it's little chance we'd have of -finding him; it's maybe under a load of kelp he'd be in a fishing -boat, and not one to help a married man that wants it to the reward. - -_Policeman X:_ And if we get him itself, nothing but abuse on our -heads for it from the people, and maybe from our own relations. - -_Sergeant:_ Well, we have to do our duty in the force. Haven't we the -whole country depending on us to keep law and order? It's those that -are down would be up and those that are up would be down, if it -wasn't for us. Well, hurry on, you have plenty of other places to -placard yet, and come back here then to me. You can take the lantern. -Don't be too long now. It's very lonesome here with nothing but the -moon. - -_Policeman B:_ It's a pity we can't stop with you. The Government -should have brought more police into the town, with _him_ in gaol, and -at assize time too. Well, good luck to your watch. - - (_They go out._) - -_Sergeant:_ (_Walks up and down once or twice and looks at placard._) -A hundred pounds and promotion sure. There must be a great deal of -spending in a hundred pounds. It's a pity some honest man not to be -the better of that. - - (_A ragged man appears at left and tries to slip past. Sergeant - suddenly turns._) - -_Sergeant:_ Where are you going? - -_Man:_ I'm a poor ballad-singer, your honour. I thought to sell some -of these (_holds out bundle of ballads_) to the sailors. (_He goes -on._) - -_Sergeant:_ Stop! Didn't I tell you to stop? You can't go on there. - -_Man:_ Oh, very well. It's a hard thing to be poor. All the world's -against the poor! - -_Sergeant:_ Who are you? - -_Man:_ You'd be as wise as myself if I told you, but I don't mind. I'm -one Jimmy Walsh, a ballad-singer. - -_Sergeant:_ Jimmy Walsh? I don't know that name. - -_Man:_ Ah, sure, they know it well enough in Ennis. Were you ever in -Ennis, sergeant? - -_Sergeant:_ What brought you here? - -_Man:_ Sure, it's to the assizes I came, thinking I might make a few -shillings here or there. It's in the one train with the judges I came. - -_Sergeant:_ Well, if you came so far, you may as well go farther, for -you'll walk out of this. - -_Man:_ I will, I will; I'll just go on where I was going. (_Goes -towards steps._) - -_Sergeant:_ Come back from those steps; no one has leave to pass down -them to-night. - -_Man:_ I'll just sit on the top of the steps till I see will some -sailor buy a ballad off me that would give me my supper. They do be -late going back to the ship. It's often I saw them in Cork carried -down the quay in a hand-cart. - -_Sergeant:_ Move on, I tell you. I won't have any one lingering about -the quay to-night. - -_Man:_ Well, I'll go. It's the poor have the hard life! Maybe yourself -might like one, sergeant. Here's a good sheet now. (_Turns one over._) -"Content and a pipe"--that's not much. "The Peeler and the goat"--you -wouldn't like that. "Johnny Hart"--that's a lovely song. - -_Sergeant:_ Move on. - -_Man:_ Ah, wait till you hear it. (_Sings:_) - - There was a rich farmer's daughter lived near the town of Ross; - She courted a Highland soldier, his name was Johnny Hart; - Says the mother to her daughter, "I'll go distracted mad - If you marry that Highland soldier dressed up in Highland plaid." - -_Sergeant:_ Stop that noise. - - (_Man wraps up his ballads and shuffles towards the steps_) - -_Sergeant:_ Where are you going? - -_Man:_ Sure you told me to be going, and I am going. - -_Sergeant:_ Don't be a fool. I didn't tell you to go that way; I told -you to go back to the town. - -_Man:_ Back to the town, is it? - -_Sergeant:_ (_Taking him by the shoulder and shoving him before him._) -Here, I'll show you the way. Be off with you. What are you stopping -for? - -_Man:_ (_Who has been keeping his eye on the notice, points to it._) I -think I know what you're waiting for, sergeant. - -_Sergeant:_ What's that to you? - -_Man:_ And I know well the man you're waiting for--I know him well--I'll -be going. - - (_He shuffles on._) - -_Sergeant:_ You know him? Come back here. What sort is he? - -_Man:_ Come back is it, sergeant? Do you want to have me killed? - -_Sergeant:_ Why do you say that? - -_Man:_ Never mind. I'm going. I wouldn't be in your shoes if the -reward was ten times as much. (_Goes on off stage to left_). Not if it -was ten times as much. - -_Sergeant:_ (_Rushing after him._) Come back here, come back. (_Drags -him back._) What sort is he? Where did you see him? - -_Man:_ I saw him in my own place, in the County Clare. I tell you you -wouldn't like to be looking at him. You'd be afraid to be in the one -place with him. There isn't a weapon he doesn't know the use of, and -as to strength, his muscles are as hard as that board (_slaps -barrel_). - -_Sergeant:_ Is he as bad as that? - -_Man:_ He is then. - -_Sergeant:_ Do you tell me so? - -_Man:_ There was a poor man in our place, a sergeant from -Ballyvaughan.--It was with a lump of stone he did it. - -_Sergeant:_ I never heard of that. - -_Man:_ And you wouldn't, sergeant. It's not everything that happens -gets into the papers. And there was a policeman in plain clothes, -too.... It is in Limerick he was.... It was after the time of the -attack on the police barrack at Kilmallock.... Moonlight ... just -like this ... waterside.... Nothing was known for certain. - -_Sergeant:_ Do you say so? It's a terrible county to belong to. - -_Man:_ That's so, indeed! You might be standing there, looking out -that way, thinking you saw him coming up this side of the quay -(_points_), and he might be coming up this other side (_points_), and -he'd be on you before you knew where you were. - -_Sergeant:_ It's a whole troop of police they ought to put here to -stop a man like that. - -_Man:_ But if you'd like me to stop with you, I could be looking down -this side. I could be sitting up here on this barrel. - -_Sergeant:_ And you know him well, too? - -_Man:_ I'd know him a mile off, sergeant. - -_Sergeant:_ But you wouldn't want to share the reward? - -_Man:_ Is it a poor man like me, that has to be going the roads and -singing in fairs, to have the name on him that he took a reward? But -you don't want me. I'll be safer in the town. - -_Sergeant:_ Well, you can stop. - -_Man:_ (_Getting up on barrel._) All right, sergeant. I wonder, now, -you're not tired out, sergeant, walking up and down the way you are. - -_Sergeant:_ If I'm tired I'm used to it. - -_Man:_ You might have hard work before you to-night yet. Take it easy -while you can. There's plenty of room up here on the barrel, and you -see farther when you're higher up. - -_Sergeant:_ Maybe so. (_Gets up beside him on barrel, facing right. -They sit back to back, looking different ways._) You made me feel a -bit queer with the way you talked. - -_Man:_ Give me a match, sergeant (_he gives it and man lights pipe_); -take a draw yourself? It'll quiet you. Wait now till I give you a -light, but you needn't turn round. Don't take your eye off the quay -for the life of you. - -_Sergeant:_ Never fear, I won't. (_Lights pipe. They both smoke._) -Indeed it's a hard thing to be in the force, out at night and no -thanks for it, for all the danger we're in. And it's little we get but -abuse from the people, and no choice but to obey our orders, and never -asked when a man is sent into danger, if you are a married man with a -family. - -_Man:_ (_Sings_)-- - - As through the hills I walked to view the hills and shamrock plain, - I stood awhile where nature smiles to view the rocks and streams, - On a matron fair I fixed my eyes beneath a fertile vale, - As she sang her song it was on the wrong of poor old Granuaile. - -_Sergeant:_ Stop that; that's no song to be singing in these times. - -_Man:_ Ah, sergeant, I was only singing to keep my heart up. It sinks -when I think of him. To think of us two sitting here, and he creeping -up the quay, maybe, to get to us. - -_Sergeant:_ Are you keeping a good lookout? - -_Man:_ I am; and for no reward too. Amn't I the foolish man? But when -I saw a man in trouble, I never could help trying to get him out of -it. What's that? Did something hit me? - - (_Rubs his heart._) - -_Sergeant:_ (_Patting him on the shoulder._) You will get your reward -in heaven. - -_Man:_ I know that, I know that, sergeant, but life is precious. - -_Sergeant:_ Well, you can sing if it gives you more courage. - -_Man:_ (_Sings_)-- - - Her head was bare, her hands and feet with iron bands were bound, - Her pensive strain and plaintive wail mingles with the evening gale, - And the song she sang with mournful air, I am old Granuaile. - Her lips so sweet that monarchs kissed.... - -_Sergeant:_ That's not it.... "Her gown she wore was stained with -gore." ... That's it--you missed that. - -_Man:_ You're right, sergeant, so it is; I missed it. (_Repeats -line._) But to think of a man like you knowing a song like that. - -_Sergeant:_ There's many a thing a man might know and might not have -any wish for. - -_Man:_ Now, I daresay, sergeant, in your youth, you used to be sitting -up on a wall, the way you are sitting up on this barrel now, and the -other lads beside you, and you singing "Granuaile"?... - -_Sergeant:_ I did then. - -_Man:_ And the "Shan Bhean Bhocht"?... - -_Sergeant:_ I did then. - -_Man:_ And the "Green on the Cape?" - -_Sergeant:_ That was one of them. - -_Man:_ And maybe the man you are watching for to-night used to be -sitting on the wall, when he was young, and singing those same -songs.... It's a queer world.... - -_Sergeant:_ Whisht!... I think I see something coming.... It's only a -dog. - -_Man:_ And isn't it a queer world?... Maybe it's one of the boys you -used to be singing with that time you will be arresting to-day or -to-morrow, and sending into the dock.... - -_Sergeant:_ That's true indeed. - -_Man:_ And maybe one night, after you had been singing, if the other -boys had told you some plan they had, some plan to free the country, -you might have joined with them ... and maybe it is you might be in -trouble now. - -_Sergeant:_ Well, who knows but I might? I had a great spirit in those -days. - -_Man:_ It's a queer world, sergeant, and it's little any mother knows -when she sees her child creeping on the floor what might happen to it -before it has gone through its life, or who will be who in the end. - -_Sergeant:_ That's a queer thought now, and a true thought. Wait now -till I think it out.... If it wasn't for the sense I have, and for my -wife and family, and for me joining the force the time I did, it might -be myself now would be after breaking gaol and hiding in the dark, and -it might be him that's hiding in the dark and that got out of gaol -would be sitting up where I am on this barrel.... And it might be -myself would be creeping up trying to make my escape from himself, and -it might be himself would be keeping the law, and myself would be -breaking it, and myself would be trying maybe to put a bullet in his -head, or to take up a lump of a stone the way you said he did ... no, -that myself did.... Oh! (_Gasps. After a pause._) What's that? -(_Grasps man's arm._) - -_Man:_ (_Jumps off barrel and listens, looking out over water._) It's -nothing, sergeant. - -_Sergeant:_ I thought it might be a boat. I had a notion there might -be friends of his coming about the quays with a boat. - -_Man:_ Sergeant, I am thinking it was with the people you were, and -not with the law you were, when you were a young man. - -_Sergeant:_ Well, if I was foolish then, that time's gone. - -_Man:_ Maybe, sergeant, it comes into your head sometimes, in spite of -your belt and your tunic, that it might have been as well for you to -have followed Granuaile. - -_Sergeant:_ It's no business of yours what I think. - -_Man:_ Maybe, sergeant, you'll be on the side of the country yet. - -_Sergeant:_ (_Gets off barrel._) Don't talk to me like that. I have my -duties and I know them. (_Looks round._) That was a boat; I hear the -oars. - - (_Goes to the steps and looks down._) - -_Man:_ (_Sings_)-- - - O, then, tell me, Shawn O'Farrell, - Where the gathering is to be. - In the old spot by the river - Right well known to you and me! - -_Sergeant:_ Stop that! Stop that, I tell you! - -_Man:_ (_Sings louder_)-- - - One word more, for signal token, - Whistle up the marching tune, - With your pike upon your shoulder, - At the Rising of the Moon. - -_Sergeant:_ If you don't stop that, I'll arrest you. - - (_A whistle from below answers, repeating the air._) - -_Sergeant:_ That's a signal. (_Stands between him and steps._) You -must not pass this way.... Step farther back.... Who are you? You are -no ballad-singer. - -_Man:_ You needn't ask who I am; that placard will tell you. (_Points -to placard._) - -_Sergeant:_ You are the man I am looking for. - -_Man:_ (_Takes off hat and wig. Sergeant seizes them._) I am. There's -a hundred pounds on my head. There is a friend of mine below in a -boat. He knows a safe place to bring me to. - -_Sergeant:_ (_Looking still at hat and wig._) It's a pity! It's a -pity. You deceived me. You deceived me well. - -_Man:_ I am a friend of Granuaile. There is a hundred pounds on my -head. - -_Sergeant:_ It's a pity, it's a pity! - -_Man:_ Will you let me pass, or must I make you let me? - -_Sergeant:_ I am in the force. I will not let you pass. - -_Man:_ I thought to do it with my tongue. (Puts hand in breast.) What -is that? - - (_Voice of Policeman X outside:_) Here, this is where we left him. - -_Sergeant:_ It's my comrades coming. - -_Man:_ You won't betray me ... the friend of Granuaile. (_Slips behind -barrel._) - - (_Voice of Policeman B:_) That was the last of the placards. - -_Policeman X:_ (_As they come in._) If he makes his escape it won't be -unknown he'll make it. - - (_Sergeant puts hat and wig behind his back._) - -_Policeman B:_ Did any one come this way? - -_Sergeant:_ (_After a pause._) No one. - -_Policeman B:_ No one at all? - -_Sergeant:_ No one at all. - -_Policeman B:_ We had no orders to go back to the station; we can stop -along with you. - -_Sergeant:_ I don't want you. There is nothing for you to do here. - -_Policeman B:_ You bade us to come back here and keep watch with you. - -_Sergeant:_ I'd sooner be alone. Would any man come this way and you -making all that talk? It is better the place to be quiet. - -_Policeman B:_ Well, we'll leave you the lantern anyhow. (_Hands it to -him._) - -_Sergeant:_ I don't want it. Bring it with you. - -_Policeman B:_ You might want it. There are clouds coming up and you -have the darkness of the night before you yet. I'll leave it over here -on the barrel. (_Goes to barrel._) - -_Sergeant:_ Bring it with you I tell you. No more talk. - -_Policeman B:_ Well, I thought it might be a comfort to you. I often -think when I have it in my hand and can be flashing it about into -every dark corner (_doing so_) that it's the same as being beside the -fire at home, and the bits of bogwood blazing up now and again. - - (_Flashes it about, now on the barrel, now on Sergeant._) - -_Sergeant:_ (_Furious._) Be off the two of you, yourselves and your -lantern! - - (_They go out. Man comes from behind barrel. He and Sergeant - stand looking at one another._) - -_Sergeant:_ What are you waiting for? - -_Man:_ For my hat, of course, and my wig. You wouldn't wish me to get -my death of cold? - - (_Sergeant gives them._) - -_Man:_ (_Going towards steps._) Well, good-night, comrade, and thank -you. You did me a good turn to-night, and I'm obliged to you. Maybe -I'll be able to do as much for you when the small rise up and the big -fall down ... when we all change places at the Rising (_waves his hand -and disappears_) of the Moon. - -_Sergeant:_ (_Turning his back to audience and reading placard._) A -hundred pounds reward! A hundred pounds! (_Turns towards audience._) I -wonder, now, am I as great a fool as I think I am? - - -_Curtain._ - - - - -THE JACKDAW - - -PERSONS - - JOSEPH NESTOR _An Army Pensioner._ - MICHAEL COONEY _A Farmer._ - MRS. BRODERICK _A Small Shopkeeper._ - TOMMY NALLY _A Pauper._ - SIBBY FAHY _An Orange Seller._ - TIMOTHY WARD _A Process Server._ - - -THE JACKDAW - - - _Scene: Interior of a small general shop at Cloon. Mrs. - Broderick sitting down. Tommy Nally sitting eating an orange - Sibby has given him. Sibby, with basket on her arm, is looking - out of door._ - - -_Sibby:_ The people are gathering to the door of the Court. The -Magistrates will be coming there before long. Here is Timothy Ward -coming up the street. - -_Timothy Ward:_ (_Coming to door._) Did you get that summons I left -here for you ere yesterday, Mrs. Broderick? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ I believe it's there in under the canister. (_Takes -it out._) It had my mind tossed looking at it there before me. I know -well what is in it if I made no fist of reading it itself. It's no -wonder with all I had to go through if the reading and writing got -scattered on me. - -_Ward:_ You know it is on this day you have to appear in the Court? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ It isn't easy to forget that, though indeed it is -hard for me to be keeping anything in my head these times, but maybe -remembering to-morrow the thing I was saying to-day. - -_Ward:_ Up to one o'clock the magistrates will be able to attend to -you, ma'am, before they will go out eating their meal. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Haven't I the mean, begrudging creditors now that -would put me into the Court? Sure it's a terrible thing to go in it -and to be bound to speak nothing but the truth. When people would meet -with you after, they would remember your face in the Court. What way -would they be certain was it in or outside of the dock? - -_Ward:_ It is not in the dock you will be put this time. And there -will be no bodily harm done to you, but to seize your furniture and -your goods. It's best for me to be going there myself and not to be -wasting my time. (_Goes out._) - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Many a one taking my goods on credit and I seeing -their face no more. But nothing would satisfy the people of this -district. Sure the great God Himself when He came down couldn't please -everybody. - -_Sibby:_ I am thinking you were talking of some friend, ma'am, might -be apt to be coming to your aid. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Well able he is to do it if the Lord would but put -it in his mind. Isn't it a strange thing the goods of this world to -shut up the heart of a brother from his own, the same as Esau and -Jacob, and he having a good farm of land in the County Limerick. It is -what I heard that in that place the grass does be as thick as grease. - -_Sibby:_ I suppose, ma'am, you wrote giving him an account of your -case? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Sure, Mr. Nestor, the dear man, has his fingers wore -away writing for me, and I telling him all he had or had not to say. -At Christmas I wrote, and at Little Christmas, and at St. Brigit's -Day, and on the Feast of St. Patrick, and after that again such time -as I had news of the summons being about to be served. And you may ask -Mrs. Delane at the Post Office am I telling any lie saying I got no -word or answer at all.... It's long since I saw him, but it is the way -he used to be, his eyes on kippeens and some way suspicious in his -heart; a dark weighty tempered man. - -_Sibby:_ A person to be crabbed and he young, it is not likely he will -grow kind at the latter end. - -_Tommy Nally:_ That is no less than true now. There are crabbed people -and suspicious people to be met with in every place. It is much that I -got a pass from the Workhouse this day, the Master making sure when I -asked it that I had in my pocket the means of getting drink. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ It would maybe be best to go join you in the -Workhouse, Tommy Nally, when I am out of this, than to go walking the -world from end to end. - -_Tommy Nally:_ Ah, don't be saying that, ma'am; sure you couldn't be -happy within those walls if you had the whole world. Clean outside, -but very hard within. No rank but all mixed together, the good, the -middling and the bad, the well reared and the rough. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Sure I'm not asking to go in it. You could never be -as stiff in any place as in any sort of little cabin of your own. - -_Tommy Nally:_ The tea boiled in a boiler, you should close your eyes -drinking it, and ne'er a bit of sugar hardly in it at all. And our -curses on them that boil the eggs too hard! What use is an egg that is -hard to any person on earth? And as to the dinner, what way would a -tasty person eat it not having a knife or a fork? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ That I may live to be in no one's way, but to have -some little corner of my own! - -_Tommy Nally:_ And to come to your end in it, ma'am! If you were the -Lady Mayor herself you'd be brought out to the deadhouse if it was ten -o'clock at night, and not a wash unless it was just a Scotch lick, and -nobody to wake you at all! - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ I will not go in it! I would sooner make any shift -and die by the side of the wall. Sure heaven is the best place, heaven -and this world we're in now! - -_Sibby:_ Don't be giving up now, ma'am. Here is Mr. Nestor coming, -and if any one will give you an advice he is the one will do it. Why -wouldn't he, he being, as he is, an educated man, and such a great one -to be reading books. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ So he is too, and keeps it in his mind after. It's a -wonder to me a man that does be reading to keep any memory at all. - -_Nally:_ It's easy for him to carry things light, and his pension paid -regular at springtime and harvest. - - (_Nestor comes in reading "Tit-Bits."_) - -_Nestor:_ There was a servant girl in Austria cut off her finger -slicing cabbage.... - -_All:_ The poor thing! - -_Nestor:_ And her master stuck it on again with glue. That now was a -very foolish thing to do. What use would a finger be stuck with glue -that might melt off at any time, and she to be stirring the pot? - -_Sibby:_ That is true indeed. - -_Nestor:_ Now, if I myself had been there, it is what I would have -advised.... - -_Sibby:_ That's what I was saying, Mr. Nestor. It is you are the grand -adviser. What now will you say to poor Mrs. Broderick that has a -summons out against her this day for up to ten pounds? - -_Nestor:_ It is what I am often saying, it is a very foolish thing to -be getting into debt. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Sure what way could I help it? It's a very done-up -town to be striving to make a living in. - -_Nestor:_ It would be a right thing to be showing a good example. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ They would want that indeed. There are more die with -debts on them in this place than die free from debt. - -_Nestor:_ Many a poor soul has had to suffer from the weight of the -debts on him, finding no rest or peace after death. - -_Sibby:_ The Magistrates are gone into the Courthouse, Mrs. Broderick. -Why now wouldn't you go up to the bank and ask would the manager -advance you a loan? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ It is likely he would not do it. But maybe it's as -good for me go as to be sitting here waiting for the end. - - (_Puts on hat and shawl._) - -_Nestor:_ I now will take charge of the shop for you, Mrs. Broderick. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ It's little call there'll be to it. The time a -person is sunk that's the time the custom will go from her. (_She goes -out._) - -_Nally:_ I'll be taking a ramble into the Court to see what are the -lads doing. (_Goes out._) - -_Sibby:_ (_Following them._) I might chance some customers there -myself. - - (_Goes out calling--oranges, good oranges._) - -_Nestor:_ (_Taking a paper from his pocket, sitting down, and -beginning to read._) "Romantic elopement in high life. A young lady at -Aberdeen, Missouri, U.S.A., having been left by her father an immense -fortune...." - - (_Stops to wipe his spectacles, puts them on again and looks - for place, which he has lost. Cooney puts his head in at door - and draws it out again._) - -_Nestor:_ Come in, come in! - -_Cooney:_ (_Coming in cautiously and looking round._) Whose house now -might this be? - -_Nestor:_ To the Widow Broderick it belongs. She is out in the town -presently. - -_Cooney:_ I saw her name up over the door. - -_Nestor:_ On business of her own she is gone. It is I am minding the -place for her. - -_Cooney:_ So I see. I suppose now you have good cause to be minding -it? - -_Nestor:_ It would be a pity any of her goods to go to loss. - -_Cooney:_ I suppose so. Is it to auction them you will or to sell them -in bulk? - -_Nestor:_ Not at all. I can sell you any article you will require. - -_Cooney:_ It would be no profit to herself now, I suppose, if you did? - -_Nestor:_ What do you mean saying that? Do you think I would defraud -her from her due in anything I would sell for her at all? - -_Cooney:_ You are not the bailiff so? - -_Nestor:_ Not at all. I wonder any person to take me for a bailiff! - -_Cooney:_ You are maybe one of the creditors? - -_Nestor:_ I am not. I am not a man to have a debt upon me to any -person on earth. - -_Cooney:_ I wonder what it is you are at so, if you have no claim on -the goods. Is it any harm now to ask what's this your name is? - -_Nestor:_ One Joseph Nestor I am, there are few in the district but -know me. Indeed they all have a great opinion of me. Travelled I did -in the army, and attended school and I young, and slept in the one bed -with two boys that were learning Greek. - -_Cooney:_ What way now can I be rightly sure that you are Joseph -Nestor? - -_Nestor:_ (_Pulling out envelope._) There is my pension docket. You -will maybe believe that. - -_Cooney:_ (_Examining it._) I suppose you may be him so. I saw your -name often before this. - -_Nestor:_ Did you now? I suppose it may have travelled a good -distance. - -_Cooney:_ It travelled as far as myself anyway at the bottom of -letters that were written asking relief for the owner of this house. - -_Nestor:_ I suppose you are her brother so, Michael Cooney? - -_Cooney:_ If I am, there are some questions that I want to put and to -get answers to before my mind will be satisfied. Tell me this now. Is -it a fact Mary Broderick to be living at all? - -_Nestor:_ What would make you think her not to be living and she -sending letters to you through the post? - -_Cooney:_ I was saying to myself with myself, there was maybe some -other one personating her and asking me to send relief for their own -ends. - -_Nestor:_ I am in no want of any relief. That is a queer thing to say -and a very queer thing. There are many worse off than myself, the Lord -be praised! - -_Cooney:_ Don't be so quick now starting up to take offence. It is -hard to believe the half the things you hear or that will be told to -you. - -_Nestor:_ That may be so indeed; unless it is things that would be -printed on the papers. But I would think you might trust one of your -own blood. - -_Cooney:_ I might or I might not. I had it in my mind this long time -to come hither and to look around for myself. There are seven -generations of the Cooneys trusted nobody living or dead. - -_Nestor:_ Indeed I was reading in some history of one Ulysses that -came back from a journey and sent no word before him but slipped in -unknown to all but the house dog to see was his wife minding the -place, or was she, as she was, scattering his means. - -_Cooney:_ So she would be too. If Mary Broderick is in need of relief -I will relieve her, but if she is not, I will bring away what I -brought with me to its own place again. - -_Nestor:_ Sure here is the summons. You can read that, and if you will -look out the door you can see by the stir the Magistrates are sitting -in the Court. It is a great welcome she will have before you, and the -relief coming at the very nick of time. - -_Cooney:_ It is too good a welcome she will give me I am thinking. It -is what I am in dread of now, if she thinks I brought her the money so -soft and so easy, she will never be leaving me alone, but dragging all -I have out of me by little and little. - -_Nestor:_ Maybe you might let her have but the lend of it. - -_Cooney:_ Where's the use of calling it a lend when I may be sure I -never will see it again? It might be as well for me to earn the value -of a charity. - -_Nestor:_ You might do that and not repent of it. - -_Cooney:_ It is likely I'll be annoyed with her to the end of my -lifetime if she knows I have as much as that to part with. It might be -she would be following me to Limerick. - -_Nestor:_ Wait now a minute till I will give you an advice. - -_Cooney:_ It is likely my own advice is the best. Look over your own -shoulder and do the thing you think right. How can any other person -know the reasons I have in my mind? - -_Nestor:_ I will know what is in your mind if you will tell it to me. - -_Cooney:_ It would suit me best, she to get the money and not to know -at the present time where did it come from. The next time she will -write wanting help from me, I will task her with it and ask her to -give me an account. - -_Nestor:_ That now would take a great deal of strategy.... Wait now -till I think.... I have it in my mind I was reading in a penny novel -... no but on the "Gael" ... about a boy of Kilbecanty that saved his -old sweetheart from being evicted. - -_Cooney:_ I never heard my sister had any old sweetheart. - -_Nestor:_ It was playing Twenty-five he did it. Played with the -husband he did, letting him win up to fifty pounds. - -_Cooney:_ Mary Broderick was no cardplayer. And if she was itself she -would know me. And it's not fifty pounds I am going to leave with her, -or twenty pounds, or a penny more than is needful to free her from the -summons to-day. - -_Nestor:_ (_Excited._) I will make up a plan! I am sure I will think -of a good one. It is given in to me there is no person so good at -making up a plan as myself on this side of the world, not on this side -of the world! I will manage all. Leave here what you have for her -before she will come in. I will give it to her in some secret way. - -_Cooney:_ I don't know. I will not give it to you before I will get a -receipt for it ... and I'll not leave the town till I'll see did she -get it straight and fair. Into the Court I'll go to see her paying it. - - (_Sits down and writes out receipt._) - -_Nestor:_ I was reading on "Home Chat" about a woman put a note for -five pounds into her son's prayer book and he going a voyage. And when -he came back and was in the church with her it fell out, he never -having turned a leaf of the book at all. - -_Cooney:_ Let you sign this and you may put it in the prayer book so -long as she will get it safe. (_Nestor signs. Cooney looks -suspiciously at signature and compares it with a letter and then gives -notes._) - -_Nestor:_ (_Signing._) Joseph Nestor. - -_Cooney:_ Let me see now is it the same handwriting I used to be -getting on the letters. It is. I have the notes here. - -_Nestor:_ Wait now till I see is there a prayer book.... (_Looks on -shelf_). Treacle, castor oil, marmalade.... I see no books at all. - -_Cooney:_ Hurry on now, she will be coming in and finding me. - -_Nestor:_ Here is what will do as well.... "Old Moore's Almanac." I -will put it here between the leaves. I will ask her the prophecy for -the month. You can come back here after she finding it. - -_Cooney:_ Amn't I after telling you I wouldn't wish her to have sight -of me here at all? What are you at now, I wonder, saying that. I will -take my own way to know does she pay the money. It is not my intention -to be made a fool of. - - (_Goes out._) - -_Nestor:_ You will be satisfied and well satisfied. Let me see now -where are the predictions for the month. (_Reads._) "The angry -appearance of Scorpio and the position of the pale Venus and Jupiter -presage much danger for England. The heretofore obsequious Orangemen -will refuse to respond to the tocsin of landlordism. The scales are -beginning to fall from their eyes." - - (_Mrs. Broderick comes in without his noticing her. She gives a - groan. He drops book and stuffs notes into his pocket._) - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Here I am back again and no addition to me since I -went. - -_Nestor:_ You gave me a start coming in so noiseless. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ It is time for me go to the Court, and I give you my -word I'd be better pleased going to my burying at the Seven Churches. -A nice slab I have there waiting for me, though the man that put it -over me I never saw him at all, and he a far off cousin of my own. - -_Nestor:_ Who knows now, Mrs. Broderick, but things might turn out -better than you think. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ What way could they turn out better between this and -one o'clock? - -_Nestor:_ (_Scratching his head._) I suppose now you wouldn't care to -play a game of Twenty-five? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ I am surprised at you, Mr. Nestor, asking me to go -cardplaying on such a day and at such an hour as this. - -_Nestor:_ I wonder might some person come in and give an order for ten -pounds' worth of the stock? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Much good it would do me. Sure I have the most of it -on credit. - -_Nestor:_ Well, there is no knowing. Some well-to-do person now -passing the street might have seen you and taken a liking to you and -be willing to make an advance or a loan. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Ah, who would be taking a liking to me as they might -to a young girl in her bloom. - -_Nestor:_ Oh, it's a sort of thing might happen. Sure age didn't catch -on to you yet; you are clean and fresh and sound. What's this I was -reading in "Answers." (_Looks at it._) "Romantic elopement...." - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ I know of no one would be thinking of me for a wife -... unless it might be yourself, Mr. Nestor.... - -_Nestor:_ (_Jumping up and speaking fast and running finger up and -down paper._) "Performance of Dick Whittington." ... There now, there -is a story that I read in my reading, it was called Whittington and -the Cat. It was the cat led to his fortune. There might some person -take a fancy to your cat.... - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Ah, let you have done now. I have no cat this good -while. I banished it on the head of it threatening the jackdaw. - -_Nestor:_ The jackdaw? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ (_Fetches cage from inner room._) Sure I reared it -since the time it fell down the chimney and I going into my bed. It is -often you should have seen it, in or out of its cage. Hero his name -is. Come out now, Hero. - - (_Opens cage._) - -_Nestor:_ (_Slapping his side._) That is it ... that's the very thing. -Listen to me now, Mrs. Broderick, there are some might give a good -price for that bird. (_Sitting down to the work._) It chances now -there is a friend of mine in South Africa. A mine owner he is ... very -rich ... but it is down in the mine he has to live by reason of the -Kaffirs ... it is hard to keep a watch upon them in the half dark, -they being black. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ I suppose.... - -_Nestor:_ He does be lonesome now and again, and he is longing for a -bird to put him in mind of old Ireland ... but he is in dread it would -die in the darkness ... and it came to his mind that it is a custom -with jackdaws to be living in chimneys, and that if any birds would -bear the confinement it is they that should do it. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ And is it to buy jackdaws he is going? - -_Nestor:_ Isn't that what I am coming to. (_He pulls out notes._) Here -now is ten pounds I have to lay out for him. Take them now and good -luck go with them, and give me the bird. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Notes is it? Is it waking or dreaming I am and I -standing up on the floor? - -_Nestor:_ Good notes and ten of them. Look at them! National Bank they -are.... Count them now, according to your fingers, and see did I tell -any lie. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ (_Counting._) They are in it sure enough ... so long -as they are good ones and I not made a hare of before the magistrates. - -_Nestor:_ Go out now to the Court and show them to Timothy Ward, and -see does he say are they good. Pay them over then, and its likely you -will be let off the costs. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ (_Taking shawl._) I will go, I will go. Well, you -are a great man and a kind man, Joseph Nestor, and that you may live a -thousand years for this good deed. - -_Nestor:_ Look here now, ma'am, I wouldn't wish you to be mentioning -my name in this business or saying I had any hand in it at all. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ I will not so long as it's not pleasing to you. -Well, it is yourself took a great load off me this day! (_She goes -out._) - -_Nestor:_ (_Calling after her._) I might as well be putting the -jackdaw back into the cage to be ready for the journey. (_Comes into -shop._) I hope now he will be well treated by the sailors and he -travelling over the sea.... Where is he now.... (_Chirrups._) Here -now, come here to me, what's this your name is.... Nero! Nero! (_Makes -pounces behind counter._) Ah, bad manners to you, is it under the -counter you are gone! - - (_Lies flat on the floor chirruping and calling, Nero! Nero! - Nally comes in and watches him curiously._) - -_Nally:_ Is it catching blackbeetles you are, Mr. Nestor? Where are -they and I will give you a hand.... - -_Nestor:_ (_Getting up annoyed._) It's that bird I was striving to -catch a hold of for to put him back in the cage. - -_Tommy Nally:_ (_Making a pounce._) There he is now. (_Puts bird in -cage._) Wait now till I'll fasten the gate. - -_Nestor:_ Just putting everything straight and handy for the widow -woman I am before she will come back from the settlement she is making -in the Court. - -_Nally:_ What way will she be able to do that? - -_Nestor:_ I gave her advice. A thought I had, something that came from -my reading. (_Taps paper._) Education and reading and going in the -army through the kingdoms of the world; that is what fits a man now to -be giving out advice. - -_Tommy:_ Indeed, it's good for them to have you, all the poor ignorant -people of this town. - -_Cooney:_ (_Coming in hurriedly and knocking against Nally as he goes -out._) What, now, would you say to be the best nesting place in this -town. Nests of jackdaws I should say. - -_Nestor:_ There is the old mill should be a good place. To the west of -the station it is. Chimneys there are in it. Middling high they are. -Wait now till I'll tell you of the great plan I made up.... - -_Cooney:_ What are you asking for those rakes in the corner? It's no -matter, I'll take one on credit, or maybe it is only the lend of it -I'll take. ... I'll be coming back immediately. (_He goes out with -rake._) - -_Sibby:_ (_Coming in excitedly._) If you went bird-catching, Mr. -Nestor, tell me what way would you go doing it? - -_Nestor:_ It is not long since I was reading some account of that ... -lads that made a trade of it ... nets they had and they used to be -spreading them in the swamps where the plover do be feeding.... - -_Sibby:_ Ah, sure where's the use of a plover! - -_Nestor:_ And snares they had for putting along the drains where the -snipe do be picking up worms.... But if I myself saw any person going -after things of the sort, it is what I would advise them to stick to -the net. - -_Sibby:_ What now is the price of that net in the corner? - -_Nestor:_ (_Taking it down._) It is but a little bag that is, suitable -for carrying small articles; it would become your oranges well. -Twopence I believe, Sibby, is what I should charge you for that. - -_Sibby:_ (_Taking money out of handkerchief._) Give it to me so! Here -I'll get the start of you, Timothy Ward, anyway. - - (_She takes it and goes out, almost overturning Timothy Ward, - who is rushing in._) - -_Nestor:_ Well, Timothy, did you see the Widow Broderick in the Court? - -_Ward:_ I did see her. It is in it she is, now, looking as content as -in the coffin, and she paying her debt. - -_Nestor:_ Did she give you any account of herself? - -_Ward:_ She did to be sure, and to the whole Court; but look here now, -I have no time to be talking. I have to be back there when the -magistrates will have their lunch taken. Now you being so clever a -man, Mr. Nestor, what would you say is the surest way to go catching -birds? - -_Nestor:_ It is a strange thing now, I was asked the same question not -three minutes ago. I was just searching my mind. It seems to me I have -read in some place it is a very good way to go calling to them with -calls; made for the purpose they are. You have but to sit under a tree -or whatever place they may perch and to whistle ... suppose now it -might be for a curlew.... (_Whistles._) - -_Timothy Ward:_ Are there any of those calls in the shop? - -_Nestor:_ I would not say there are any made for the purpose, but -there might be something might answer you all the same. Let me see -now.... (_Gets down a box of musical toys and turns them over._) - -_Ward:_ Is there anything now has a sound like the croaky screech of a -jackdaw? - -_Nestor:_ Here now is what we used to be calling a corncrake.... -(_Turns it_.) Corncrake, corncrake ... but it seems to me now that to -give it but the one creak, this way ... it is much like what you would -hear in the chimney at the time of the making of the nests. - -_Ward:_ Give it here to me! - - (_Puts a penny on counter and runs out._) - -_Tommy Nally:_ (_Coming in shaking with excitement._) For the love of -God, Mr. Nestor, will you give me that live-trap on credit! - -_Nestor:_ A trap? Sure there is no temptation for rats to be settling -themselves in the Workhouse. - -_Nally:_ Or a snare itself ... or any sort of a thing that would make -the makings of a crib. - -_Nestor:_ What would you want, I wonder, going out fowling with a -crib? - -_Nally:_ Why wouldn't I want it? Why wouldn't I have leave to catch a -bird the same as every other one? - -_Nestor:_ And what would the likes of you be wanting with a bird? - -_Nally:_ What would I want with it, is it? Why wouldn't I be getting -my own ten pounds? - -_Nestor:_ Heaven help your poor head this day! - -_Nally:_ Why wouldn't I get it the same as Mrs. Broderick got it? - -_Nestor:_ Well, listen to me now. You will not get it. - -_Nally:_ Sure that man is buying them will have no objection they to -come from one more than another. - -_Nestor:_ Don't be arguing now. It is a queer thing for you, Tommy -Nally, to be arguing with a man like myself. - -_Nally:_ Think now all the good it would do me ten pound to be put in -my hand! It is not you should be begrudging it to me, Mr. Nestor. Sure -it would be a relief upon the rates. - -_Nestor:_ I tell you you will not get ten pound or any pound at all. -Can't you give attention to what I say? - -_Nally:_ If I had but the price of the trap you wouldn't refuse it to -me. Well, isn't there great hardship upon a man to be bet up and to -have no credit in the town at all. - -_Nestor:_ (_Exasperated, and giving him the cage._) Look here now, I -have a right to turn you out into the street. But, as you are silly -like and with no great share of wits, I will make you a present of -this bird till you try what will you get for it, and till you see will -you get as much as will cover its diet for one day only. Go out now -looking for customers and maybe you will believe what I say. - -_Nally:_ (_Seizing it._) That you may be doing the same thing this -day fifty years! My fortune's made now! (_Goes out with cage._) - -_Nestor:_ (_Sitting down._) My joy go with you, but I'm bothered with -the whole of you. Everyone expecting me to do their business and to -manage their affairs. That is the drawback of being an educated man! - - (_Takes up paper to read._) - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ (_Coming in._) I declare I'm as comforted as Job -coming free into the house from the Court! - -_Nestor:_ Well, indeed, ma'am, I am well satisfied to be able to do -what I did for you, and for my friend from Africa as well, giving him -so fine and so handsome a bird. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Sure Finn himself that chewed his thumb had not your -wisdom, or King Solomon that kept order over his kingdom and his own -seven hundred wives. There is neither of them could be put beside you -for settling the business of any person at all. - - (_Sibby comes in holding up her netted bag._) - -_Nestor:_ What is it you have there, Sibby? - -_Sibby:_ Look at them here, look at them here.... I wasn't long -getting them. Warm they are yet; they will take no injury. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ What are they at all? - -_Sibby:_ It is eggs they are ... look at them. Jackdaws' eggs. - -_Nestor:_ (_Suspiciously._) And what call have you now to be bringing -in jackdaws' eggs? - -_Sibby:_ Is it ten pound apiece I will get for them do you think, or -is it but ten pound I will get for the whole of them? - -_Nestor:_ Is it drink, or is it tea, or is it some change that is come -upon the world that is fitting the people of this place for the asylum -in Ballinasloe? - -_Sibby:_ I know of a good clocking hen. I will put the eggs under -her.... I will rear them when they'll be hatched out. - -_Nestor:_ I suppose now, Mrs. Broderick, you went belling the case -through the town? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ I did not, but to the Magistrates upon the bench -that I told it out of respect to, and I never mentioned your name in -it at all. - -_Sibby:_ Tell me now, Mrs. Broderick, who have I to apply to? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ What is it you are wanting to apply about? - -_Sibby:_ Will you tell me where is the man that is after buying your -jackdaw? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ (_Looking at Nestor._) What's that? Where is he, is -it? - -_Nestor:_ (_Making signs of silence._) How would you know where he is? -It is not in a broken little town of this sort such a man would be -stopping, and he having his business finished. - -_Sibby:_ Sure he will have to be coming back here for the bird. I will -stop till I'll see him drawing near. - -_Nestor:_ It is more likely he will get it consigned to the shipping -agent. Mind what I say now, it is best not be speaking of him at all. - - (_Timothy Ward comes in triumphantly, croaking his toy. He has - a bird in his hand._) - -_Ward:_ I chanced on a starling. It was not with this I tempted him, -but a little chap that had him in a crib. Would you say now, Mr. -Nestor, would that do as well as a jackdaw? Look now, it's as handsome -every bit as the other. And anyway it is likely they will both die -before they will reach to their journey's end. - -_Nestor:_ (_Lifting up his hands._) Of all the foolishness that ever -came upon the world! - -_Ward:_ Hurry on now, Mrs. Broderick, tell me where will I bring it to -the buyer you were speaking of. He is fluttering that hard it is much -if I can keep him in my hand. Is it at Noonan's Royal Hotel he is or -is it at Mack's? - -_Nestor:_ (_Shaking his head threateningly._) How can you tell that -and you not knowing it yourself? - -_Ward:_ Sure you have a right to know what way did he go, and he after -going out of this. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ (_Her eyes apprehensively on Nestor._) Ah, sure, my -mind was tattered on me. I couldn't know did he go east or west. -Standing here in this place I was, like a ghost that got a knock upon -its head. - -_Ward:_ If he is coming back for the bird it is here he will be -coming, and if it is to be sent after him it is likely you will have -his address. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ So I should, too, I suppose. Where now did I put it? -(_She looks to Nestor for orders, but cannot understand his signs, and -turns out pocket._) That's my specs ... that's the key of the box ... -that's a bit of root liquorice.... Where now at all could I have left -down that address? - -_Ward:_ There has no train left since he was here. Sure what does it -matter so long as he did not go out of this. I'll bring this bird to -the railway. Tell me what sort was he till I'll know him. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ (_Still looking at Nestor._) Well, he was middling -tall ... not very gross ... about the figure now of Mr. Nestor. - -_Ward:_ What aged man was he? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ I suppose up to sixty years. About the one age, -you'd say, with Mr. Nestor. - -_Ward:_ Give me some better account now; it is hardly I would make him -out by that. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ A grey beard he has hanging down ... and a bald -poll, and grey hair like a fringe around it ... just for all the world -like Mr. Nestor! - -_Nestor:_ (_Jumping up._) There is nothing so disagreeable in the -whole world as a woman that has too much talk. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Well, let me alone. Where's the use of them all -picking at me to say where did I get the money when I am under orders -not to tell it? - -_Ward:_ Under orders? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ I am, and strong orders. - -_Ward:_ Whose orders are those? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ What's that to you, I ask you? - -_Ward:_ Isn't it a pity now a woman to be so unneighbourly and she -after getting profit for herself? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Look now, Mr. Nestor, the way they are going on at -me, and you saying no word for me at all. - -_Ward:_ How would he say any word when he hasn't it to say? The only -word could be said by any one is that you are a mean grasping person, -gathering what you can for your own profit and keeping yourself so -close and so compact. It is back to the Court I am going, and it's no -good friend I'll be to you from this out, Mrs. Broderick! - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Amn't I telling you I was bidden not to tell? - -_Sibby:_ You were. And is it likely it was you yourself bid yourself -and gave you that advice, Mrs. Broderick? It is what I think the bird -was never bought at all. It is in some other way she got the money. -Maybe in a way she does not like to be talking of. Light weights, -light fingers! Let us go away so and leave her, herself and her money -and her orders! (_Timothy Ward goes out, but Sibby stops at door._) -And much good may they do her. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Listen to that, Mr. Nestor! Will you be listening to -that, when one word from yourself would clear my character! I leave it -now between you and the hearers. Why would I be questioned this way -and that way, the same as if I was on the green table before the -judges? You have my heart broke between you. It's best for me to heat -the kettle and wet a drop of tea. - - (_Goes to inner room._) - -_Sibby:_ Tell us the truth now, Mr. Nestor, if you know anything at -all about it. - -_Nestor:_ I know everything about it. It was to myself the notes were -handed in the first place. I am willing to take my oath to you on -that. It was a stranger, I said, came in. - -_Sibby:_ I wish I could see him and know him if I did see him. - -_Nestor:_ It is likely you would know a man of that sort if you did -see him, Sibby Fahy. It is likely you never saw a man yet that owns -riches would buy up the half of this town. - -_Sibby:_ It is not always them that has the most that makes the most -show. But it is likely he will have a good dark suit anyway, and -shining boots, and a gold chain hanging over his chest. - -_Nestor:_ (_Sarcastically._) He will, and gold rings and pins the same -as the King of France or of Spain. - - (_Enter Cooney, hatless, streaked with soot and lime, - speechless but triumphant. He holds up a nest with nestlings._) - -_Nestor:_ What has happened you, Mr. Cooney, at all? - -_Cooney:_ Look now, what I have got! - -_Nestor:_ A nest, is it? - -_Cooney:_ Three young ones in it! - -_Nestor:_ (_Faintly._) Is it what you are going to say they are -jackdaws! - -_Cooney:_ I followed your directions.... - -_Nestor:_ How do you make that out? - -_Caoney:_ You said the mill chimneys were full of them.... - -_Nestor:_ What has that to do with it? - -_Cooney:_ I left my rake after me broken in the loft ... my hat went -away in the millrace ... I tore my coat on the stones ... there has -mortar got into my eye.... - -_Nestor:_ The Lord bless and save us! - -_Cooney:_ But there is no man can say I did not bring back the birds, -sound and living and in good health. Look now, the open mouths of -them! (_All gather round_.) Three of them safe and living.... I lost -one climbing the wall. ... Where now is the man is going to buy them? - -_Sibby:_ (_Pointing at Nestor._) It is he that can tell you that. - -_Cooney:_ Make no delay bringing me to him. I'm in dread they might -die on me first. - -_Nestor:_ You should know well that no one is buying them. - -_Sibby:_ No one! Sure it was you yourself told us that there was! - -_Nestor:_ If I did itself there is no such a man. - -_Sibby:_ It's not above two minutes he was telling of the rings and -the pins he wore. - -_Nestor:_ He never was in it at all. - -_Cooney:_ What plan is he making up now to defraud me and to rob me? - -_Sibby:_ Question him yourself, and you will see what will he say. - -_Cooney:_ How can I ask questions of a man that is telling lies? - -_Nestor:_ I am telling no lies. I am well able to answer you and to -tell you the truth. - -_Cooney:_ Tell me where is the man that will give me cash for these -birds, the same as he gave it to the woman of this house? - -_Sibby:_ That's it, that is it. Let him tell it out now. - -_Cooney:_ Will you have me ask it as often as the hairs of my head? If -I get vexed I will make you answer me. - -_Nestor:_ It seems to me to have set fire to a rick, but I am well -able to quench it after. There is no man in South Africa, or that came -from South Africa, or that ever owned a mine there at all. Where is -the man bought the bird, are you asking? There he is standing among us -on this floor. (_Points to Cooney._) That is himself, the very man! - -_Cooney:_ (_Advancing a step._) What is that you are saying? - -_Nestor:_ I say that no one came in here but yourself. - -_Cooney:_ Did he say or not say there was a rich man came in? - -_Sibby:_ He did, surely. - -_Nestor:_ To make up a plan.... - -_Cooney:_ I know well you have made up a plan. - -_Nestor:_ To give it unknownst.... - -_Cooney:_ It is to keep it unknownst you are wanting! - -_Nestor:_ The way she would not suspect.... - -_Cooney:_ It is I myself suspect and have cause to suspect! Give me -back my own ten pounds and I'll be satisfied. - -_Nestor:_ What way can I give it back? - -_Cooney:_ The same way as you took it, in the palm of your hand. - -_Nestor:_ Sure it is paid away and spent.... - -_Cooney:_ If it is you'll repay it! I know as well as if I was inside -you you are striving to make me your prey! But I'll sober you! It is -into the Court I will drag you, and as far as the gaol! - -_Nestor:_ I tell you I gave it to the widow woman.... - - (_Mrs. Broderick comes in._) - -_Cooney:_ Let her say now did you. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ What is it at all? What is happening? Joseph Nestor -threatened by a tinker or a tramp! - -_Nestor:_ I would think better of his behaviour if he was a tinker or -a tramp. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ He has drink taken so. Isn't drink the terrible -tempter, a man to see flames and punishment upon the one side and -drink upon the other, and to turn his face towards the drink! - -_Cooney:_ Will you stop your chat, Mary Broderick, till I will drag -the truth out of this traitor? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Who is that calling me by my name? Och! Is it -Michael Cooney is in it? Michael Cooney, my brother! O Michael, what -will they think of you coming into the town and much like a rag on a -stick would be scaring in the wheatfield through the day? - -_Cooney:_ (_Pointing at Nestor._) It was going up in the mill I -destroyed myself, following the directions of that ruffian! - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ And what call has a man that has drink taken to go -climbing up a loft in a mill? A crooked mind you had always, and -that's a sort of person drink doesn't suit. - -_Cooney:_ I tell you I didn't take a glass over a counter this ten -year. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ You would do well to go learn behaviour from Mr. -Nestor. - -_Cooney:_ The man that has me plundered and robbed! Tell me this now, -if you can tell it. Did you find any pound notes in "Old Moore's -Almanac"? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ I did not to be sure, or in any other place. - -_Nestor:_ She came in at the door and I striving to put them into the -book. - -_Cooney:_ Look are they in it now, and I will say he is not tricky, -but honest. - -_Nestor:_ You needn't be looking.... - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ (_Turning over the leaves._) Ne'er a thing at all in -it but the things that will or will not happen, and the days of the -changes of the moon. - -_Cooney:_ (_Seizing and shaking it._) Look at that now! (_To -Nestor._) Will you believe me now telling you that you are a rogue? - -_Nestor:_ Will you listen to me, ma'am.... - -_Cooney:_ No, but listen to myself. I brought the money to you. - -_Nestor:_ If he did he wouldn't trust you with it, ma'am. - -_Cooney:_ I intended it for your relief. - -_Nestor:_ In dread he was you would go follow him to Limerick. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ It is not likely I would be following the like of -him to Limerick, a man that left me to the charity of strangers from -Africa! - -_Cooney:_ I gave the money to him.... - -_Nestor:_ And I gave it to yourself paying for the jackdaw. Are you -satisfied now, Mary Broderick? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Satisfied, is it? It would be a queer thing indeed I -to be satisfied. My brother to be spending money on birds, and his -sister with a summons on her head. Michael Cooney to be passing -himself off as a mine-owner, and I myself being the way I am! - -_Cooney:_ What would I want doing that? I tell you I ask no birds, -black, blue or white! - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ I wonder at you now saying that, and you with that -clutch on your arm! (_Cooney indignantly flings away nest._) -Searching out jackdaws and his sister without the price of a needle -in the house! I tell you, Michael Cooney, it is yourself will be -wandering after your burying, naked and perishing, through winds and -through frosts, in satisfaction for the way you went wasting your -money and your means on such vanities, and she that was reared on the -one floor with you going knocking at the Workhouse door! What good -will jackdaws be to you that time? - -_Cooney:_ It is what I would wish to know, what scheme are the whole -of you at? It is long till I will trust any one but my own eyes again -in the whole of the living world. - - (_She wipes her eyes indignantly. Tommy Nally rushes in the - bird and cage still in his hands._) - -_Nally:_ Where is the bird buyer? It is here he is said to be. It is -well for me get here the first. It is the whole of the town will be -here within half an hour; they have put a great scatter on themselves -hunting and searching in every place, but I am the first! - -_Nestor:_ What is it you are talking about? - -_Nally:_ Not a house in the whole street but is deserted. It is much -if the Magistrates themselves didn't quit the bench for the pursuit, -the way Tim Ward quitted the place he had a right to be! - -_Nestor:_ It is some curse in the air, or some scourge? - -_Nally:_ Birds they are getting by the score! Old and young! Where is -the bird-buyer? Who is it now will give me my price? - - (_He holds up the cage._) - -_Cooney:_ There is surely some root for all this. There must be some -buyer after all. It's to keep him to themselves they are wanting. -(_Goes to door._) But I'll get my own profit in spite of them. - - (_He goes outside door, looking up and down the street._) - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Look at what Tommy Nally has. That's my bird. - -_Nally:_ It is not, it's my own! - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ That is my cage! - -_Nally:_ It is not, it is mine! - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Wouldn't I know my own cage and my own bird? Don't -be telling lies that way! - -_Nally:_ It is no lie I am telling. The bird and the cage were made a -present to me. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Who would make a present to you of the things that -belong to myself? - -_Nally:_ It was Mr. Nestor gave them to me. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Do you hear what he says, Joseph Nestor? What call -have you to be giving a present of my bird? - -_Nestor:_ And wasn't I after buying it from you? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ If you were it was not for yourself you bought it, -but for the poor man in South Africa you bought it, and you defrauding -him now, giving it away to a man has no claim to it at all. Well, now, -isn't it hard for any man to find a person he can trust? - -_Nestor:_ Didn't you hear me saying I bought it for no person at all? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Give it up now, Tommy Nally, or I'll have you in -gaol on the head of it. - -_Nally:_ Oh, you wouldn't do such a thing, ma'am, I am sure! - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Indeed and I will, and have you on the treadmill for -a thief. - -_Nally:_ Oh, oh, oh, look now, Mr. Nestor, the way you have made me a -thief and to be lodged in the gaol! - -_Nestor:_ I wish to God you were lodged in it, and we would have less -annoyance in this place! - -_Nally:_ Oh, that is a terrible thing for you to be saying! Sure the -poorhouse itself is better than the gaol! The nuns preparing you for -heaven and the Mass every morning of your life.... - -_Nestor:_ If you go on with your talk and your arguments it's to gaol -you will surely go. - -_Nally:_ Milk of a Wednesday and a Friday, the potatoes steamed very -good.... It's the skins of the potatoes they were telling me you do -have to be eating in the gaol. It is what I am thinking, Mr. Nestor, -that bird will lie heavy on you at the last! - -_Nestor:_ (_Seizing cage and letting the bird out of the door._) Bad -cess and a bad end to it, and that I may never see it or hear of it -again! - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Look what he is after doing! Get it back for me! -Give it here into my hands I say! Why wouldn't I sell it secondly to -the buyer and he to be coming to the door? It is in my own pocket I -will keep the price of it that time! - -_Nally:_ It would have been as good you to have left it with me as to -be sending itself and the worth of it up into the skies! - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ (_Taking Nestor's arm._) Get it back for me I tell -you! There it is above in the ash tree, and it flapping its wings on a -bough! - -_Nestor:_ Give me the cage, if that will content you, and I will -strive to entice it to come in. - -_Cooney:_ (_Coming in._) Everyone running this way and that way. It is -for birds they are looking sure enough. Why now would they go through -such hardship if there was not a demand in some place? - -_Nestor:_ (_Pushing him away._) Let me go now before that bird will -quit the branch where it is. - -_Cooney:_ (_Seizing hold of him._) Is it striving to catch a bird for -yourself you are now? - -_Nestor:_ Let me pass if you please. I have nothing to say to you at -all. - -_Cooney:_ Laying down to me they were worth nothing! I knew well you -had made up some plan! The grand adviser is it! It is to yourself you -gave good advice that time! - -_Nestor:_ Let me out I tell you before that uproar you are making will -drive it from its perch on the tree. - -_Cooney:_ Is it to rob me of my own money you did and to be keeping me -out of the money I earned along with it! - - (_Threatens Nestor with "Moore's Almanac," which he has picked up._) - -_Sibby:_ Take care would there be murder done in this place! - - (_She seizes Nestor, Mrs. Broderick seizes Cooney. Tommy Nally - wrings his hands._) - -_Nestor:_ Tommy Nally, will you kindly go and call for the police. - -_Cooney:_ Is it into a den of wild beasts I am come that must go -calling out for the police? - -_Nestor:_ A very unmannerly person indeed! - -_Cooney:_ Everyone thinking to take advantage of me and to make their -own trap for my ruin. - -_Nestor:_ I don't know what cause has he at all to have taken any -umbrage against me. - -_Cooney:_ You that had your eye on my notes from the first like a goat -in a cabbage garden! - -_Nestor:_ Coming with a gift in the one hand and holding a dagger in -the other! - -_Cooney:_ If you say that again I will break your collar bone! - -_Nestor:_ O, but you are the terrible wicked man! - -_Cooney:_ I'll squeeze satisfaction out of you if I had to hang for -it! I will be well satisfied if I'll kill you! - - (_Flings "Moore's Almanac" at him._) - -_Nestor:_ (_Throwing his bundle of newspapers._) Oh, good jewel! - -_Ward:_ (_Coming in hastily._) Whist the whole of you, I tell you! The -Magistrates are coming to the door! (_Comes in and shuts it after -him._) - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ The Lord be between us and harm! What made them go -quit the Court? - -_Ward:_ The whole of the witnesses and of the prosecution made off -bird-catching. The Magistrates sent to invite the great mine-owner to -go lunch at Noonan's with themselves. - -_Cooney:_ Horses of their own to stick him with they have. I wouldn't -doubt them at all. - -_Ward:_ He could not be found in any place. They are informed he was -never seen leaving this house. They are coming to make an -investigation. - -_Nestor:_ Don't be anyway uneasy. I will explain the whole case. - -_Ward:_ The police along with them.... - -_Cooney:_ Is the whole of this district turned into a trap? - -_Ward:_ It is what they are thinking, that the stranger was made away -with for his gold! - -_Cooney:_ And if he was, as sure as you are living, it was done by -that blackguard there! - - (_Points at Nestor._) - -_Ward:_ If he is not found they will arrest all they see upon the -premises.... - -_Cooney:_ It is best for me to quit this. - - (_Goes to door._) - -_Ward:_ Here they are at the door. Sergeant Carden along with them. -Hide yourself, Mr. Nestor, if you've anyway to do it at all. - - (_Sounds of feet and talking and knock at the door. Cooney - hides under counter. Nestor lies down on top of bench, spreads - his newspaper over him. Mrs. Broderick goes behind counter._) - -_Nestor:_ (_Raising paper from his face and looking out._) Tommy -Nally, I will give you five shillings if you will draw "Tit-Bits" over -my feet. - - -_Curtain_ - - - - -THE WORKHOUSE WARD - - -PERSONS - - _Mike McInerney_ } PAUPERS - _Michael Miskell_ } - _Mrs. Donohoe_, A COUNTRYWOMAN - - -THE WORKHOUSE WARD - - - _Scene: A ward in Cloon Workhouse. The two old men in their - beds._ - - -_Michael Miskell:_ Isn't it a hard case, Mike McInerney, myself and -yourself to be left here in the bed, and it the feast day of Saint -Colman, and the rest of the ward attending on the Mass. - -_Mike McInerney:_ Is it sitting up by the hearth you are wishful to -be, Michael Miskell, with cold in the shoulders and with speckled -shins? Let you rise up so, and you well able to do it, not like myself -that has pains the same as tin-tacks within in my inside. - -_Michael Miskell:_ If you have pains within in your inside there is no -one can see it or know of it the way they can see my own knees that -are swelled up with the rheumatism, and my hands that are twisted in -ridges the same as an old cabbage stalk. It is easy to be talking -about soreness and about pains, and they maybe not to be in it at all. - -_Mike McInerney:_ To open me and to analyse me you would know what -sort of a pain and a soreness I have in my heart and in my chest. But -I'm not one like yourself to be cursing and praying and tormenting the -time the nuns are at hand, thinking to get a bigger share than myself -of the nourishment and of the milk. - -_Michael Miskell:_ That's the way you do be picking at me and faulting -me. I had a share and a good share in my early time, and it's well you -know that, and the both of us reared in Skehanagh. - -_Mike McInerney:_ You may say that, indeed, we are both of us reared -in Skehanagh. Little wonder you to have good nourishment the time we -were both rising, and you bringing away my rabbits out of the snare. - -_Michael Miskell:_ And you didn't bring away my own eels, I suppose, I -was after spearing in the Turlough? Selling them to the nuns in the -convent you did, and letting on they to be your own. For you were -always a cheater and a schemer, grabbing every earthly thing for your -own profit. - -_Mike McInerney:_ And you were no grabber yourself, I suppose, till -your land and all you had grabbed wore away from you! - -_Michael Miskell:_ If I lost it itself, it was through the crosses I -met with and I going through the world. I never was a rambler and a -card-player like yourself, Mike McInerney, that ran through all and -lavished it unknown to your mother! - -_Mike McInerney:_ Lavished it, is it? And if I did was it you yourself -led me to lavish it or some other one? It is on my own floor I would -be to-day and in the face of my family, but for the misfortune I had -to be put with a bad next door neighbour that was yourself. What way -did my means go from me is it? Spending on fencing, spending on walls, -making up gates, putting up doors, that would keep your hens and your -ducks from coming in through starvation on my floor, and every four -footed beast you had from preying and trespassing on my oats and my -mangolds and my little lock of hay! - -_Michael Miskell:_ O to listen to you! And I striving to please you -and to be kind to you and to close my ears to the abuse you would be -calling and letting out of your mouth. To trespass on your crops is -it? It's little temptation there was for my poor beasts to ask to -cross the mering. My God Almighty! What had you but a little corner of -a field! - -_Mike McInerney:_ And what do you say to my garden that your two pigs -had destroyed on me the year of the big tree being knocked, and they -making gaps in the wall. - -_Michael Miskell:_ Ah, there does be a great deal of gaps knocked in a -twelvemonth. Why wouldn't they be knocked by the thunder, the same as -the tree, or some storm that came up from the west? - -_Mike McInerney:_ It was the west wind, I suppose, that devoured my -green cabbage? And that rooted up my Champion potatoes? And that ate -the gooseberries themselves from off the bush? - -_Michael Miskell:_ What are you saying? The two quietest pigs ever I -had, no way wicked and well ringed. They were not ten minutes in it. -It would be hard for them eat strawberries in that time, let alone -gooseberries that's full of thorns. - -_Mike McInerney:_ They were not quiet, but very ravenous pigs you had -that time, as active as a fox they were, killing my young ducks. Once -they had blood tasted you couldn't stop them. - -_Michael Miskell:_ And what happened myself the fair day of -Esserkelly, the time I was passing your door? Two brazened dogs that -rushed out and took a piece of me. I never was the better of it or of -the start I got, but wasting from then till now! - -_Mike McInerney:_ Thinking you were a wild beast they did, that had -made his escape out of the travelling show, with the red eyes of you -and the ugly face of you, and the two crooked legs of you that -wouldn't hardly stop a pig in a gap. Sure any dog that had any life -in it at all would be roused and stirred seeing the like of you going -the road! - -_Michael Miskell:_ I did well taking out a summons against you that -time. It is a great wonder you not to have been bound over through -your lifetime, but the laws of England is queer. - -_Mike McInerney:_ What ailed me that I did not summons yourself after -you stealing away the clutch of eggs I had in the barrel, and I away -in Ardrahan searching out a clocking hen. - -_Michael Miskell:_ To steal your eggs is it? Is that what you are -saying now? (_Holds up his hands._) The Lord is in heaven, and Peter -and the saints, and yourself that was in Ardrahan that day put a hand -on them as soon as myself! Isn't it a bad story for me to be wearing -out my days beside you the same as a spancelled goat. Chained I am and -tethered I am to a man that is ramsacking his mind for lies! - -_Mike McInerney:_ If it is a bad story for you, Michael Miskell, it is -a worse story again for myself. A Miskell to be next and near me -through the whole of the four quarters of the year. I never heard -there to be any great name on the Miskells as there was on my own race -and name. - -_Michael Miskell:_ You didn't, is it? Well, you could hear it if you -had but ears to hear it. Go across to Lisheen Crannagh and down to -the sea and to Newtown Lynch and the mills of Duras and you'll find a -Miskell, and as far as Dublin! - -_Mike McInerney:_ What signifies Crannagh and the mills of Duras? Look -at all my own generations that are buried at the Seven Churches. And -how many generations of the Miskells are buried in it? Answer me that! - -_Michael Miskell:_ I tell you but for the wheat that was to be sowed -there would be more side cars and more common cars at my father's -funeral (_God rest his soul!_) than at any funeral ever left your own -door. And as to my mother, she was a Cuffe from Claregalway, and it's -she had the purer blood! - -_Mike McInerney:_ And what do you say to the banshee? Isn't she apt to -have knowledge of the ancient race? Was ever she heard to screech or -to cry for the Miskells? Or for the Cuffes from Claregalway? She was -not, but for the six families, the Hyneses, the Foxes, the Faheys, the -Dooleys, the McInerneys. It is of the nature of the McInerneys she is -I am thinking, crying them the same as a king's children. - -_Michael Miskell:_ It is a pity the banshee not to be crying for -yourself at this minute, and giving you a warning to quit your lies -and your chat and your arguing and your contrary ways; for there is no -one under the rising sun could stand you. I tell you you are not -behaving as in the presence of the Lord! - -_Mike McInerney:_ Is it wishful for my death you are? Let it come and -meet me now and welcome so long as it will part me from yourself! And -I say, and I would kiss the book on it, I to have one request only to -be granted, and I leaving it in my will, it is what I would request, -nine furrows of the field, nine ridges of the hills, nine waves of the -ocean to be put between your grave and my own grave the time we will -be laid in the ground! - -_Michael Miskell:_ Amen to that! Nine ridges, is it? No, but let the -whole ridge of the world separate us till the Day of Judgment! I would -not be laid anear you at the Seven Churches, I to get Ireland without -a divide! - -_Mike McInerney:_ And after that again! I'd sooner than ten pound in -my hand, I to know that my shadow and my ghost will not be knocking -about with your shadow and your ghost, and the both of us waiting our -time. I'd sooner be delayed in Purgatory! Now, have you anything to -say? - -_Michael Miskell:_ I have everything to say, if I had but the time to -say it! - -_Mike McInerney:_ (_Sitting up._) Let me up out of this till I'll -choke you! - -_Michael Miskell:_ You scolding pauper you! - -_Mike McInerney:_ (_Shaking his fist at him._) Wait a while! - -_Michael Miskell:_ (_Shaking his fist._) Wait a while yourself! - - (_Mrs. Donohoe comes in with a parcel. She is a countrywoman - with a frilled cap and a shawl. She stands still a minute. The - two old men lie down and compose themselves._) - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ They bade me come up here by the stair. I never was in -this place at all. I don't know am I right. Which now of the two of ye -is Mike McInerney? - -_Mike McInerney:_ Who is it is calling me by my name? - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ Sure amn't I your sister, Honor McInerney that was, -that is now Honor Donohoe. - -_Mike McInerney:_ So you are, I believe. I didn't know you till you -pushed anear me. It is time indeed for you to come see me, and I in -this place five year or more. Thinking me to be no credit to you, I -suppose, among that tribe of the Donohoes. I wonder they to give you -leave to come ask am I living yet or dead? - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ Ah, sure, I buried the whole string of them. Himself -was the last to go. (_Wipes her eyes._) The Lord be praised he got a -fine natural death. Sure we must go through our crosses. And he got a -lovely funeral; it would delight you to hear the priest reading the -Mass. My poor John Donohoe! A nice clean man, you couldn't but be fond -of him. Very severe on the tobacco he was, but he wouldn't touch the -drink. - -_Mike McInerney:_ And is it in Curranroe you are living yet? - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ It is so. He left all to myself. But it is a lonesome -thing the head of a house to have died! - -_Mike McInerney:_ I hope that he has left you a nice way of living? - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ Fair enough, fair enough. A wide lovely house I have; -a few acres of grass land ... the grass does be very sweet that grows -among the stones. And as to the sea, there is something from it every -day of the year, a handful of periwinkles to make kitchen, or cockles -maybe. There is many a thing in the sea is not decent, but cockles is -fit to put before the Lord! - -_Mike McInerney:_ You have all that! And you without ere a man in the -house? - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ It is what I am thinking, yourself might come and keep -me company. It is no credit to me a brother of my own to be in this -place at all. - -_Mike McInerney:_ I'll go with you! Let me out of this! It is the name -of the McInerneys will be rising on every side! - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ I don't know. I was ignorant of you being kept to the -bed. - -_Mike McInerney:_ I am not kept to it, but maybe an odd time when -there is a colic rises up within me. My stomach always gets better the -time there is a change in the moon. I'd like well to draw anear you. -My heavy blessing on you, Honor Donohoe, for the hand you have held -out to me this day. - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ Sure you could be keeping the fire in, and stirring -the pot with the bit of Indian meal for the hens, and milking the goat -and taking the tacklings off the donkey at the door; and maybe putting -out the cabbage plants in their time. For when the old man died the -garden died. - -_Mike McInerney:_ I could to be sure, and be cutting the potatoes for -seed. What luck could there be in a place and a man not to be in it? -Is that now a suit of clothes you have brought with you? - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ It is so, the way you will be tasty coming in among -the neighbours at Curranroe. - -_Mike McInerney:_ My joy you are! It is well you earned me! Let me up -out of this! (He sits up and spreads out the clothes and tries on -coat.) That now is a good frieze coat ... and a hat in the fashion ... -(_He puts on hat._) - -_Michael Miskell:_ (_Alarmed._) And is it going out of this you are, -Mike McInerney? - -_Mike McInerney:_ Don't you hear I am going? To Curranroe I am going. -Going I am to a place where I will get every good thing! - -_Michael Miskell:_ And is it to leave me here after you you will? - -_Mike McInerney:_ (_In a rising chant._) Every good thing! The goat -and the kid are there, the sheep and the lamb are there, the cow does -be running and she coming to be milked! Ploughing and seed sowing, -blossom at Christmas time, the cuckoo speaking through the dark days -of the year! Ah, what are you talking about? Wheat high in hedges, no -talk about the rent! Salmon in the rivers as plenty as turf! Spending -and getting and nothing scarce! Sport and pleasure, and music on the -strings! Age will go from me and I will be young again. Geese and -turkeys for the hundreds and drink for the whole world! - -_Michael Miskell:_ Ah, Mike, is it truth you are saying, you to go -from me and to leave me with rude people and with townspeople, and -with people of every parish in the union, and they having no respect -for me or no wish for me at all! - -_Mike McInerney:_ Whist now and I'll leave you ... my pipe (_hands it -over_); and I'll engage it is Honor Donohoe won't refuse to be sending -you a few ounces of tobacco an odd time, and neighbours coming to the -fair in November or in the month of May. - -_Michael Miskell:_ Ah, what signifies tobacco? All that I am craving -is the talk. There to be no one at all to say out to whatever thought -might be rising in my innate mind! To be lying here and no conversible -person in it would be the abomination of misery! - -_Mike McInerney:_ Look now, Honor.... It is what I often heard said, -two to be better than one.... Sure if you had an old trouser was full -of holes ... or a skirt ... wouldn't you put another in under it that -might be as tattered as itself, and the two of them together would -make some sort of a decent show? - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ Ah, what are you saying? There is no holes in that -suit I brought you now, but as sound it is as the day I spun it for -himself. - -_Mike McInerney:_ It is what I am thinking, Honor ... I do be weak an -odd time ... any load I would carry, it preys upon my side ... and -this man does be weak an odd time with the swelling in his knees ... -but the two of us together it's not likely it is at the one time we -would fail. Bring the both of us with you, Honor, and the height of -the castle of luck on you, and the both of us together will make one -good hardy man! - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ I'd like my job! Is it queer in the head you are grown -asking me to bring in a stranger off the road? - -_Michael Miskell:_ I am not, ma'am, but an old neighbour I am. If I -had forecasted this asking I would have asked it myself. Michael -Miskell I am, that was in the next house to you in Skehanagh! - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ For pity's sake! Michael Miskell is it? That's worse -again. Yourself and Mike that never left fighting and scolding and -attacking one another! Sparring at one another like two young pups you -were, and threatening one another after like two grown dogs! - -_Mike McInerney:_ All the quarrelling was ever in the place it was -myself did it. Sure his anger rises fast and goes away like the wind. -Bring him out with myself now, Honor Donohoe, and God bless you. - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ Well, then, I will not bring him out, and I will not -bring yourself out, and you not to learn better sense. Are you making -yourself ready to come? - -_Mike McInerney:_ I am thinking, maybe ... it is a mean thing for a -man that is shivering into seventy years to go changing from place to -place. - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ Well, take your luck or leave it. All I asked was to -save you from the hurt and the harm of the year. - -_Mike McInerney:_ Bring the both of us with you or I will not stir out -of this. - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ Give me back my fine suit so (_begins gathering up the -clothes_), till I'll go look for a man of my own! - -_Mike McInerney:_ Let you go so, as you are so unnatural and so -disobliging, and look for some man of your own, God help him! For I -will not go with you at all! - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ It is too much time I lost with you, and dark night -waiting to overtake me on the road. Let the two of you stop together, -and the back of my hand to you. It is I will leave you there the same -as God left the Jews! - - (_She goes out. The old men lie down and are silent for a moment._) - -_Michael Miskell:_ Maybe the house is not so wide as what she says. - -_Mike McInerney:_ Why wouldn't it be wide? - -_Michael Miskell:_ Ah, there does be a good deal of middling poor -houses down by the sea. - -_Mike McInerney:_ What would you know about wide houses? Whatever sort -of a house you had yourself it was too wide for the provision you had -into it. - -_Michael Miskell:_ Whatever provision I had in my house it was -wholesome provision and natural provision. Herself and her -periwinkles! Periwinkles is a hungry sort of food. - -_Mike McInerney:_ Stop your impudence and your chat or it will be the -worse for you. I'd bear with my own father and mother as long as any -man would, but if they'd vex me I would give them the length of a rope -as soon as another! - -_Michael Miskell:_ I would never ask at all to go eating periwinkles. - -_Mike McInerney:_ (_Sitting up._) Have you anyone to fight me? - -_Michael Miskell:_ (_Whimpering._) I have not, only the Lord! - -_Mike McInerney:_ Let you leave putting insults on me so, and death -picking at you! - -_Michael Miskell:_ Sure I am saying nothing at all to displease you. -It is why I wouldn't go eating periwinkles, I'm in dread I might -swallow the pin. - -_Mike McInerney:_ Who in the world wide is asking you to eat them? -You're as tricky as a fish in the full tide! - -_Michael Miskell:_ Tricky is it! Oh, my curse and the curse of the -four and twenty men upon you! - -_Mike McInerney:_ That the worm may chew you from skin to marrow bone! -(_Seizes his pillow._) - -_Michael Miskell:_ (_Seizing his own pillow._) I'll leave my death on -you, you scheming vagabone! - -_Mike McInerney:_ By cripes! I'll pull out your pin feathers! -(_Throwing pillow._) - -_Michael Miskell:_ (_Throwing pillow._) You tyrant! You big bully you! - -_Mike McInerney:_ (_Throwing pillow and seizing mug._) Take this so, -you stobbing ruffian you! - - (_They throw all within their reach at one another, mugs, - prayer books, pipes, etc._) - - -_Curtain_ - - - - -THE TRAVELLING MAN - - -PERSONS - - _A Mother._ - _A Child._ - _A Travelling Man._ - - -THE TRAVELLING MAN - -A MIRACLE PLAY - - - _Scene: A cottage kitchen. A woman setting out a bowl and jug - and board on the table for bread-making._ - -_Child:_ What is it you are going to make, mother? - -_Mother:_ I am going to make a grand cake with white flour. Seeds I -will put in it. Maybe I'll make a little cake for yourself too. You -can be baking it in the little pot while the big one will be baking in -the big pot. - -_Child:_ It is a pity daddy to be away at the fair on a Samhain night. - -_Mother:_ I must make my feast all the same, for Samhain night is more -to me than to any other one. It was on this night seven years I first -came into this house. - -_Child:_ You will be taking down those plates from the dresser so, -those plates with flowers on them, and be putting them on the table. - -_Mother:_ I will. I will set out the house to-day, and bring down the -best delf, and put whatever thing is best on the table, because of the -great thing that happened me seven years ago. - -_Child:_ What great thing was that? - -_Mother:_ I was after being driven out of the house where I was a -serving girl.... - -_Child:_ Where was that house? Tell me about it. - -_Mother:_ (_Sitting down and pointing southward._) It is over there I -was living, in a farmer's house up on Slieve Echtge, near to Slieve na -n-Or, the Golden Mountain. - -_Child:_ The Golden Mountain! That must be a grand place. - -_Mother:_ Not very grand indeed, but bare and cold enough at that time -of the year. Anyway, I was driven out a Samhain day like this, because -of some things that were said against me. - -_Child:_ What did you do then? - -_Mother:_ What had I to do but to go walking the bare bog road through -the rough hills where there was no shelter to find, and the sharp wind -going through me, and the red mud heavy on my shoes. I came to -Kilbecanty.... - -_Child:_ I know Kilbecanty. That is where the woman in the shop gave -me sweets out of a bottle. - -_Mother:_ So she might now, but that night her door was shut and all -the doors were shut; and I saw through the windows the boys and the -girls sitting round the hearth and playing their games, and I had no -courage to ask for shelter. In dread I was they might think some -shameful thing of me, and I going the road alone in the night-time. - -_Child:_ Did you come here after that? - -_Mother:_ I went on down the hill in the darkness, and with the dint -of my trouble and the length of the road my strength failed me, and I -had like to fall. So I did fall at the last, meeting with a heap of -broken stones by the roadside. - -_Child:_ I hurt my knee one time I fell on the stones. - -_Mother:_ It was then the great thing happened. I saw a stranger -coming towards me, a very tall man, the best I ever saw, bright and -shining that you could see him through the darkness; and I knew him to -be no common man. - -_Child:_ Who was he? - -_Mother:_ It is what I thought, that he was the King of the World. - -_Child:_ Had he a crown like a King? - -_Mother:_ If he had, it was made of the twigs of a bare blackthorn; -but in his hand he had a green branch, that never grew on a tree of -this world. He took me by the hand, and he led me over the -stepping-stones outside to this door, and he bade me to go in and I -would find good shelter. I was kneeling down to thank him, but he -raised me up and he said, "I will come to see you some other time. -And do not shut up your heart in the things I give you," he said, "but -have a welcome before me." - -_Child:_ Did he go away then? - -_Mother:_ I saw him no more after that, but I did as he bade me. (_She -stands up and goes to the door._) I came in like this, and your father -was sitting there by the hearth, a lonely man that was after losing -his wife. He was alone and I was alone, and we married one another; -and I never wanted since for shelter or safety. And a good wife I made -him, and a good housekeeper. - -_Child:_ Will the King come again to the house? - -_Mother:_ I have his word for it he will come, but he did not come -yet; it is often your father and myself looked out the door of a -Samhain night, thinking to see him. - -_Child:_ I hope he won't come in the night time, and I asleep. - -_Mother:_ It is of him I do be thinking every year, and I setting out -the house, and making a cake for the supper. - -_Child:_ What will he do when he comes in? - -_Mother:_ He will sit over there in the chair, and maybe he will taste -a bit of the cake. I will call in all the neighbours; I will tell them -he is here. They will not be keeping it in their mind against me then -that I brought nothing, coming to the house. They will know I am -before any of them, the time they know who it is has come to visit me. -They will all kneel down and ask for his blessing. But the best -blessing will be on the house he came to of himself. - -_Child:_ And are you going to make the cake now? - -_Mother:_ I must make it now indeed, or I will be late with it. I am -late as it is; I was expecting one of the neighbours to bring me white -flour from the town. I'll wait no longer, I'll go borrow it in some -place. There will be a wedding in the stonecutter's house Thursday, -it's likely there will be flour in the house. - -_Child:_ Let me go along with you. - -_Mother:_ It is best for you to stop here. Be a good child now, and -don't be meddling with the things on the table. Sit down there by the -hearth and break up those little sticks I am after bringing in. Make a -little heap of them now before me, and we will make a good fire to -bake the cake. See now how many will you break. Don't go out the door -while I'm away, I would be in dread of you going near the river and it -in flood. Behave yourself well now. Be counting the sticks as you -break them. - - (_She goes out._) - -_Child:_ (_Sitting down and breaking sticks across his knee._) One--and -two--O I can break this one into a great many, one, two, three, -four.--This one is wet--I don't like a wet one--five, six--that is a great -heap.--Let me try that great big one.--That is too hard.--I don't think -mother could break that one.--Daddy could break it. - - (_Half-door is opened and a travelling man comes in. He wears a - ragged white flannel shirt, and mud-stained trousers. He is - bareheaded and barefooted, and carries a little branch in his - hand._) - -_Travelling Man:_ (_Stooping over the child and taking the stick._) -Give it here to me and hold this. - - (_He puts the branch in the child's hand while he takes the - stick and breaks it._) - -_Child:_ That is a good branch, apples on it and flowers. The tree at -the mill has apples yet, but all the flowers are gone. Where did you -get this branch? - -_Travelling Man:_ I got it in a garden a long way off. - -_Child:_ Where is the garden? Where do you come from? - -_Travelling Man:_ (_Pointing southward._) I have come from beyond -those hills. - -_Child:_ Is it from the Golden Mountain you are come? From Slieve na -n-Or? - -_Travelling Man:_ That is where I come from surely, from the Golden -Mountain. I would like to sit down and rest for a while. - -_Child:_ Sit down here beside me. We must not go near the table or -touch anything, or mother will be angry. Mother is going to make a -beautiful cake, a cake that will be fit for a King that might be -coming in to our supper. - -_Travelling Man:_ I will sit here with you on the floor. - - (_Sits down._) - -_Child:_ Tell me now about the Golden Mountain. - -_Travelling Man:_ There is a garden in it, and there is a tree in the -garden that has fruit and flowers at the one time. - -_Child:_ Like this branch? - -_Travelling Man:_ Just like that little branch. - -_Child:_ What other things are in the garden? - -_Travelling Man:_ There are birds of all colours that sing at every -hour, the way the people will come to their prayers. And there is a -high wall about the garden. - -_Child:_ What way can the people get through the wall? - -_Travelling Man:_ There are four gates in the wall: a gate of gold, -and a gate of silver, and a gate of crystal, and a gate of white -brass. - -_Child:_ (_Taking up the sticks._) I will make a garden. I will make a -wall with these sticks. - -_Travelling Man:_ This big stick will make the first wall. - - (_They build a square wall with sticks._) - -_Child:_ (_Taking up branch._) I will put this in the middle. This is -the tree. I will get something to make it stand up. (_Gets up and -looks at dresser._) I can't reach it, get up and give me that shining -jug. - - (_Travelling Man gets up and gives him the jug._) - -_Travelling Man:_ Here it is for you. - -_Child:_ (_Puts it within the walls and sets the branch in it._) Tell -me something else that is in the garden? - -_Travelling Man:_ There are four wells of water in it, that are as -clear as glass. - -_Child:_ Get me down those cups, those flowery cups, we will put them -for wells. (_He hands them down._) Now I will make the gates, give me -those plates for gates, not those ugly ones, those nice ones at the -top. - - (_He takes them down and they put them on the four sides for - gates. The Child gets up and looks at it._) - -_Travelling Man:_ There now, it is finished. - -_Child:_ Is it as good as the other garden? How can we go to the -Golden Mountain to see the other garden? - -_Travelling Man:_ We can ride to it. - -_Child:_ But we have no horse. - -_Travelling Man:_ This form will be our horse. (_He draws a form out -of the corner, and sits down astride on it, putting the child before -him._) Now, off we go! (_Sings, the child repeating the refrain_)-- - - Come ride and ride to the garden, - Come ride and ride with a will: - For the flower comes with the fruit there - Beyond a hill and a hill. - - _Refrain_ - - Come ride and ride to the garden, - Come ride like the March wind; - There's barley there, and water there, - And stabling to your mind. - -_Travelling Man:_ How did you like that ride, little horseman? - -_Child:_ Go on again! I want another ride! - -_Travelling Man_ (_sings_)-- - - The Archangels stand in a row there - And all the garden bless, - The Archangel Axel, Victor the angel - Work at the cider press. - - _Refrain_ - - Come ride and ride to the garden, &c. - -_Child:_ We will soon be at the Golden Mountain now. Ride again. Sing -another song. - -_Travelling Man_ (_sings_)-- - - - O scent of the broken apples! - O shuffling of holy shoes! - Beyond a hill and a hill there - In the land that no one knows. - - _Refrain_ - - Come ride and ride to the garden, &c. - - -_Child:_ Now another ride. - -_Travelling Man:_ This will be the last. It will be a good ride. - - (_The mother comes in. She stares for a second, then throws - down her basket and snatches up the child._) - -_Mother:_ Did ever anyone see the like of that! A common beggar, a -travelling man off the roads, to be holding the child! To be leaving -his ragged arms about him as if he was of his own sort! Get out of -that, whoever you are, and quit this house or I'll call to some that -will make you quit it. - -_Child:_ Do not send him out! He is not a bad man; he is a good man; -he was playing horses with me. He has grand songs. - -_Mother:_ Let him get away out of this now, himself and his share of -songs. Look at the way he has your bib destroyed that I was after -washing in the morning! - -_Child:_ He was holding me on the horse. We were riding, I might have -fallen. He held me. - -_Mother:_ I give you my word you are done now with riding horses. Let -him go on his road. I have no time to be cleaning the place after the -like of him. - -_Child:_ He is tired. Let him stop here till evening. - -_Travelling Man:_ Let me rest here for a while, I have been travelling -a long way. - -_Mother:_ Where did you come from to-day? - -_Travelling Man:_ I came over Slieve Echtge from Slieve na n-Or. I had -no house to stop in. I walked the long bog road, the wind was going -through me, there was no shelter to be got, the red mud of the road -was heavy on my feet. I got no welcome in the villages, and so I came -on to this place, to the rising of the river at Ballylee. - -_Mother:_ It is best for you to go on to the town. It is not far for -you to go. We will maybe have company coming in here. - - (_She pours out flour into a bowl and begins mixing._) - -_Travelling Man:_ Will you give me a bit of that dough to bring with -me? I have gone a long time fasting. - -_Mother:_ It is not often in the year I make bread like this. There -are a few cold potatoes on the dresser, are they not good enough for -you? There is many a one would be glad to get them. - -_Travelling Man:_ Whatever you will give me, I will take it. - -_Mother:_ (_Going to the dresser for the potatoes and looking at the -shelves._) What in the earthly world has happened all the delf? Where -are the jugs gone and the plates? They were all in it when I went out -a while ago. - -_Child:_ (_Hanging his head._) We were making a garden with them. We -were making that garden there in the corner. - -_Mother:_ Is that what you were doing after I bidding you to sit still -and to keep yourself quiet? It is to tie you in the chair I will -another time! My grand jugs! (_She picks them up and wipes them._) My -plates that I bought the first time I ever went marketing into Gort. -The best in the shop they were. (_One slips from her hand and -breaks._) Look at that now, look what you are after doing. - - (_She gives a slap at the child._) - -_Travelling Man:_ Do not blame the child. It was I myself took them -down from the dresser. - -_Mother:_ (_Turning on him._) It was you took them! What business had -you doing that? It's the last time a tramp or a tinker or a rogue of -the roads will have a chance of laying his hand on anything in this -house. It is jailed you should be! What did you want touching the -dresser at all? Is it looking you were for what you could bring away? - -_Travelling Man:_ (_Taking the child's hands._) I would not refuse -these hands that were held out for them. If it was for the four winds -of the world he had asked, I would have put their bridles into these -innocent hands. - -_Mother:_ (_Taking up the jug and throwing the branch on the floor._) -Get out of this! Get out of this I tell you! There is no shelter here -for the like of you! Look at that mud on the floor! You are not fit to -come into the house of any decent respectable person! - - (_The room begins to darken._) - -_Travelling Man:_ Indeed, I am more used to the roads than to the -shelter of houses. It is often I have spent the night on the bare -hills. - -_Mother:_ No wonder in that! (_She begins to sweep floor._) Go out of -this now to whatever company you are best used to, whatever they are. -The worst of people it is likely they are, thieves and drunkards and -shameless women. - -_Travelling Man:_ Maybe so. Drunkards and thieves and shameless women, -stones that have fallen, that are trodden under foot, bodies that are -spoiled with sores, bodies that are worn with fasting, minds that are -broken with much sinning, the poor, the mad, the bad.... - -_Mother:_ Get out with you! Go back to your friends, I say! - -_Travelling Man:_ I will go. I will go back to the high road that is -walked by the bare feet of the poor, by the innocent bare feet of -children. I will go back to the rocks and the wind, to the cries of -the trees in the storm! (_He goes out._) - -_Child:_ He has forgotten his branch! - - (_Takes it and follows him._) - -_Mother:_ (_Still sweeping._) My good plates from the dresser, and -dirty red mud on the floor, and the sticks all scattered in every -place. (_Stoops to pick them up._) Where is the child gone? (_Goes to -door._) I don't see him--he couldn't have gone to the river--it is -getting dark--the bank is slippy. Come back! Come back! Where are you? -(_Child runs in._) - -_Mother:_ O where were you? I was in dread it was to the river you -were gone, or into the river. - -_Child:_ I went after him. He is gone over the river. - -_Mother:_ He couldn't do that. He couldn't go through the flood. - -_Child:_ He did go over it. He was as if walking on the water. There -was a light before his feet. - -_Mother:_ That could not be so. What put that thought in your mind? - -_Child:_ I called to him to come back for the branch, and he turned -where he was in the river, and he bade me to bring it back, and to -show it to yourself. - -_Mother:_ (_Taking the branch._) There are fruit and flowers on it. It -is a branch that is not of any earthly tree. (_Falls on her knees._) -He is gone, he is gone, and I never knew him! He was that stranger -that gave me all! He is the King of the World! - - - - -THE GAOL GATE - - -PERSONS - - _Mary Cahel_ AN OLD WOMAN - _Mary Cushin_ HER DAUGHTER-IN-LAW - _The Gatekeeper_ - - -THE GAOL GATE - - - _Scene: Outside the gate of Galway Gaol. Two countrywomen, one - in a long dark cloak, the other with a shawl over her head, - have just come in. It is just before dawn._ - - -_Mary Cahel:_ I am thinking we are come to our journey's end, and that -this should be the gate of the gaol. - -_Mary Cushin:_ It is certain it could be no other place. There was -surely never in the world such a terrible great height of a wall. - -_Mary Cahel:_ He that was used to the mountain to be closed up inside -of that! What call had he to go moonlighting or to bring himself into -danger at all? - -_Mary Cushin:_ It is no wonder a man to grow faint-hearted and he shut -away from the light. I never would wonder at all at anything he might -be driven to say. - -_Mary Cahel:_ There were good men were gaoled before him never gave in -to anyone at all. It is what I am thinking, Mary, he might not have -done what they say. - -_Mary Cushin:_ Sure you heard what the neighbours were calling the -time their own boys were brought away. "It is Denis Cahel," they were -saying, "that informed against them in the gaol." - -_Mary Cahel:_ There is nothing that is bad or is wicked but a woman -will put it out of her mouth, and she seeing them that belong to her -brought away from her sight and her home. - -_Mary Cushin:_ Terry Fury's mother was saying it, and Pat Ruane's -mother and his wife. They came out calling it after me, "It was Denis -swore against them in the gaol!" The sergeant was boasting, they were -telling me, the day he came searching Daire-caol, it was he himself -got his confession with drink he had brought him in the gaol. - -_Mary Cahel:_ They might have done that, the ruffians, and the boy -have no blame on him at all. Why should it be cast up against him, and -his wits being out of him with drink? - -_Mary Cushin:_ If he did give their names up itself, there was maybe -no wrong in it at all. Sure it's known to all the village it was Terry -that fired the shot. - -_Mary Cahel:_ Stop your mouth now and don't be talking. You haven't -any sense worth while. Let the sergeant do his own business with no -help from the neighbours at all. - -_Mary Cushin:_ It was Pat Ruane that tempted them on account of some -vengeance of his own. Every creature knows my poor Denis never handled -a gun in his life. - -_Mary Cahel:_ (_Taking from under her cloak a long blue envelope._) I -wish we could know what is in the letter they are after sending us -through the post. Isn't it a great pity for the two of us to be -without learning at all? - -_Mary Cushin:_ There are some of the neighbours have learning, and you -bade me not bring it anear them. It would maybe have told us what way -he is or what time he will be quitting the gaol. - -_Mary Cahel:_ There is wonder on me, Mary Cushin, that you would not -be content with what I say. It might be they put down in the letter -that Denis informed on the rest. - -_Mary Cushin:_ I suppose it is all we have to do so, to stop here for -the opening of the door. It's a terrible long road from Slieve Echtge -we were travelling the whole of the night. - -_Mary Cahel:_ There was no other thing for us to do but to come and to -give him a warning. What way would he be facing the neighbours, and he -to come back to Daire-caol? - -_Mary Cushin:_ It is likely they will let him go free, Mary, before -many days will be out. What call have they to be keeping him? It is -certain they promised him his life. - -_Mary Cahel:_ If they promised him his life, Mary Cushin, he must live -it in some other place. Let him never see Daire-caol again, or Daroda -or Druimdarod. - -_Mary Cushin:_ O, Mary, what place will we bring him to, and we driven -from the place that we know? What person that is sent among strangers -can have one day's comfort on earth? - -_Mary Cahel:_ It is only among strangers, I am thinking, he could be -hiding his story at all. It is best for him to go to America, where -the people are as thick as grass. - -_Mary Cushin:_ What way could he go to America and he having no means -in his hand? There's himself and myself to make the voyage and the -little one-een at home. - -_Mary Cahel:_ I would sooner to sell the holding than to ask for the -price paid for blood. There'll be money enough for the two of you to -settle your debts and to go. - -_Mary Cushin:_ And what would yourself be doing and we to go over the -sea? It is not among the neighbours you would wish to be ending your -days. - -_Mary Cahel:_ I am thinking there is no one would know me in the -workhouse at Oughterard. I wonder could I go in there, and I not to -give them my name? - -_Mary Cushin:_ Ah, don't be talking foolishness. What way could I -bring the child? Sure he's hardly out of the cradle; he'd be lost out -there in the States. - -_Mary Cahel:_ I could bring him into the workhouse, I to give him some -other name. You could send for him when you'd be settled or have some -place of your own. - -_Mary Cushin:_ It is very cold at the dawn. It is time for them open -the door. I wish I had brought a potato or a bit of a cake or of -bread. - -_Mary Cahel:_ I'm in dread of it being opened and not knowing what -will we hear. The night that Denis was taken he had a great cold and a -cough. - -_Mary Cushin:_ I think I hear some person coming. There's a sound like -the rattling of keys. God and His Mother protect us! I'm in dread of -being found here at all! - - (_The gate is opened, and the Gatekeeper is seen with a lantern - in his hand._) - -_Gatekeeper:_ What are you doing here, women? It's no place to be -spending the night time. - -_Mary Cahel:_ It is to speak with my son I am asking, that is gaoled -these eight weeks and a day. - -_Gatekeeper:_ If you have no order to visit him it's as good for you -go away home. - -_Mary Cahel:_ I got this letter ere yesterday. It might be it is -giving me leave. - -_Gatekeeper:_ If that's so he should be under the doctor, or in the -hospital ward. - -_Mary Cahel:_ It's no wonder if he's down with the hardship, for he -had a great cough and a cold. - -_Gatekeeper:_ Give me here the letter to read it. Sure it never was -opened at all. - -_Mary Cahel:_ Myself and this woman have no learning. We were loth to -trust any other one. - -_Gatekeeper:_ It was posted in Galway the twentieth, and this is the -last of the month. - -_Mary Cahel:_ We never thought to call at the post office. It was -chance brought it to us in the end. - -_Gatekeeper:_ (_Having read letter._) You poor unfortunate women, -don't you know Denis Cahel is dead? You'd a right to come this time -yesterday if you wished any last word at all. - -_Mary Cahel:_ (_Kneeling down._) God and His Mother protect us and -have mercy on Denis's soul! - -_Mary Cushin:_ What is the man after saying? Sure it cannot be Denis -is dead? - -_Gatekeeper:_ Dead since the dawn of yesterday, and another man now in -his cell. I'll go see who has charge of his clothing if you're wanting -to bring it away. - - (_He goes in. The dawn has begun to break._) - -_Mary Cahel:_ There is lasting kindness in Heaven when no kindness is -found upon earth. There will surely be mercy found for him, and not -the hard judgment of men! But my boy that was best in the world, that -never rose a hair of my head, to have died with his name under -blemish, and left a great shame on his child! Better for him have -killed the whole world than to give any witness at all! Have you no -word to say, Mary Cushin? Am I left here to keen him alone? - -_Mary Cushin:_ (_Who has sunk on to the step before the door, rocking -herself and keening._) Oh, Denis, my heart is broken you to have died -with the hard word upon you! My grief you to be alone now that spent -so many nights in company! - -What way will I be going back through Gort and through Kilbecanty? The -people will not be coming out keening you, they will say no prayer for -the rest of your soul! - -What way will I be the Sunday and I going up the hill to the Mass? -Every woman with her own comrade, and Mary Cushin to be walking her -lone! - -What way will I be the Monday and the neighbours turning their heads -from the house? The turf Denis cut lying on the bog, and no -well-wisher to bring it to the hearth! - -What way will I be in the night time, and none but the dog calling -after you? Two women to be mixing a cake, and not a man in the house -to break it! - -What way will I sow the field, and no man to drive the furrow? The -sheaf to be scattered before springtime that was brought together at -the harvest! - -I would not begrudge you, Denis, and you leaving praises after you. -The neighbours keening along with me would be better to me than an -estate. - -But my grief your name to be blackened in the time of the blackening -of the rushes! Your name never to rise up again in the growing time of -the year! (_She ceases keening and turns towards the old woman._) But -tell me, Mary, do you think would they give us the body of Denis? I -would lay him out with myself only; I would hire some man to dig the -grave. - - (_The Gatekeeper opens the gate and hands out some clothes._) - -_Gatekeeper:_ There now is all he brought in with him; the flannels -and the shirt and the shoes. It is little they are worth altogether; -those mountainy boys do be poor. - -_Mary Cushin:_ They had a right to give him time to ready himself the -day they brought him to the magistrates. He to be wearing his Sunday -coat, they would see he was a decent boy. Tell me where will they bury -him, the way I can follow after him through the street? There is no -other one to show respect to him but Mary Cahel, his mother, and -myself. - -_Gatekeeper:_ That is not to be done. He is buried since yesterday in -the field that is belonging to the gaol. - -_Mary Cushin:_ It is a great hardship that to have been done, and not -one of his own there to follow after him at all. - -_Gatekeeper:_ Those that break the law must be made an example of. Why -would they be laid out like a well behaved man? A long rope and a -short burying, that is the order for a man that is hanged. - -_Mary Cushin:_ A man that was hanged! O Denis, was it they that made -an end of you and not the great God at all? His curse and my own curse -upon them that did not let you die on the pillow! The curse of God be -fulfilled that was on them before they were born! My curse upon them -that brought harm on you, and on Terry Fury that fired the shot! - -_Mary Cahel:_ (_Standing up._) And the other boys, did they hang them -along with him, Terry Fury and Pat Ruane that were brought from -Daire-caol? - -_Gatekeeper:_ They did not, but set them free twelve hours ago. It is -likely you may have passed them in the night time. - -_Mary Cushin:_ Set free is it, and Denis made an end of? What justice -is there in the world at all? - -_Gatekeeper:_ He was taken near the house. They knew his footmark. -There was no witness given against the rest worth while. - -_Mary Cahel:_ Then the sergeant was lying and the people were lying -when they said Denis Cahel had informed in the gaol? - -_Gatekeeper:_ I have no time to be stopping here talking. The judge -got no evidence and the law set them free. - - (_He goes in and shuts gate after him._) - -_Mary Cahel:_ (_Holding out her hands._) Are there any people in the -streets at all till I call on them to come hither? Did they ever hear -in Galway such a thing to be done, a man to die for his neighbour? - -Tell it out in the streets for the people to hear, Denis Cahel from -Slieve Echtge is dead. It was Denis Cahel from Daire-caol that died in -the place of his neighbour! - -It is he was young and comely and strong, the best reaper and the best -hurler. It was not a little thing for him to die, and he protecting -his neighbour! - -Gather up, Mary Cushin, the clothes for your child; they'll be wanted -by this one and that one. The boys crossing the sea in the springtime -will be craving a thread for a memory. - -One word to the judge and Denis was free, they offered him all sorts -of riches. They brought him drink in the gaol, and gold, to swear -away the life of his neighbour! - -Pat Ruane was no good friend to him at all, but a foolish, wild -companion; it was Terry Fury knocked a gap in the wall and sent in the -calves to our meadow. - -Denis would not speak, he shut his mouth, he would never be an -informer. It is no lie he would have said at all giving witness -against Terry Fury. - -I will go through Gort and Kilbecanty and Druimdarod and Daroda; I -will call to the people and the singers at the fairs to make a great -praise for Denis! - -The child he left in the house that is shook, it is great will be his -boast in his father! All Ireland will have a welcome before him, and -all the people in Boston. - -I to stoop on a stick through half a hundred years, I will never be -tired with praising! Come hither, Mary Cushin, till we'll shout it -through the roads, Denis Cahel died for his neighbour! - - (_She goes off to the left, Mary Cushin following her._) - - -_Curtain_ - - - - -MUSIC FOR THE SONGS IN THE PLAYS - - -[Illustration: Music sheet for THE RED-HAIRED MAN'S WIFE - - THE RED-HAIRED MAN'S WIFE - - _Spreading the News._ - - I thought, my first love, there'd be but one house between you and me, - And I thought I would find yourself coaxing my child on your knee. - Over the tide I would leap with the leap of a swan, - Till I came to the side of the wife of the red-haired man.] - - -[Illustration: Music sheet for GRANUAILE - - GRANUAILE - - _The Rising of the Moon._ - - As through the hills I walked to view the bills and sham-rock plain, - I stood a while where nature smiles to view the rocks and streams. - On a ma-tron fair I fixed my eyes beneath a fer-tile vale, - As she sang her song--it was on the wrong of poor old Gran-u-aile. - - Her head was bare, her hands and feet with iron bands were bound, - Her pensive strain and plaintive wail mingles with the evening gale, - And the song she sang with mournful air, I am old Granuaile, - Her lips so sweet that monarchs kissed--] - - -[Illustration: Music sheet for JOHNNY HART - -JOHNNY HART - - _The Rising of the Moon._ - - There was a rich far-mer's daugh-ter lived near the town of Ross; - She courted a High-land soldier, His name was John-ny Hart; - Says the mother to her daughter, "I'll go distracted mad - If you mar-ry that Highland soldier dressed up to his High-land plaid."] - - -[Illustration: Music sheet for THE RISING OF THE MOON - - THE RISING OF THE MOON - - O, then, tell me, Shawn O' Far-rell, where the gath'ring is to be. - In the old spot by the river, Right well known to you and me. - One word more, for signal token whistle up the march-ing tune, - With your pike up - on your shoulder at the rising of the moon.] - - -[Illustration: Music sheet for GAOL GATE - - GAOL GATE - - Caions. - - _Tempo, ad lib._ - - What way will I be the Sun-day - And I going up the hill to the Mass; - Ev'ry woman with her own comrade - And Mary Cush-in to be walk-ing her lone. - - {_Spoken_.} - What way drive the furrow? - {_Sings_.} - The sheaf to be scat-tered before spring-time that was - brought together at the harvest! - - {_Spoken_.} - I would not--an estate. - {_Sings_.} - But my grief your name to be blackened in - the time of the black'ning of the rushes - Your ... name never to rise up again - In the growing time ... of ... the year.] - - - - -NOTES AND CASTS - -SPREADING THE NEWS - -The idea of this play first came to me as a tragedy. I kept seeing as -in a picture people sitting by the roadside, and a girl passing to the -market, gay and fearless. And then I saw her passing by the same place -at evening, her head hanging, the heads of others turned from her, -because of some sudden story that had risen out of a chance word, and -had snatched away her good name. - -But comedy and not tragedy was wanted at our theatre to put beside the -high poetic work, _The King's Threshold_, _The Shadowy Waters_, _On -Baile's Strand_, _The Well of the Saints_; and I let laughter have its -way with the little play. I was delayed in beginning it for a while, -because I could only think of Bartley Fallon as dull-witted or silly -or ignorant, and the handcuffs seemed too harsh a punishment. But one -day by the sea at Duras a melancholy man who was telling me of the -crosses he had gone through at home said--"But I'm thinking if I went -to America, its long ago to-day I'd be dead. And its a great expense -for a poor man to be buried in America." Bartley was born at that -moment, and, far from harshness, I felt I was providing him with a -happy old age in giving him the lasting glory of that great and -crowning day of misfortune. - -It has been acted very often by other companies as well as our own, -and the Boers have done me the honour of translating and pirating it. - - -HYACINTH HALVEY - -I was pointed out one evening a well-brushed, well-dressed man in the -stalls, and was told gossip about him, perhaps not all true, which -made me wonder if that appearance and behaviour as of extreme -respectability might not now and again be felt a burden. - -After a while he translated himself in my mind into Hyacinth; and as -one must set one's original a little way off to get a translation -rather than a tracing, he found himself in Cloon, where, as in other -parts of our country, "character" is built up or destroyed by a -password or an emotion, rather than by experience and deliberation. - -The idea was more of a universal one than I knew at the first, and I -have had but uneasy appreciation from some apparently blameless -friends. - - -THE RISING OF THE MOON - -When I was a child and came with my elders to Galway for their salmon -fishing in the river that rushes past the gaol, I used to look with -awe at the window where men were hung, and the dark, closed gate. I -used to wonder if ever a prisoner might by some means climb the high, -buttressed wall and slip away in the darkness by the canal to the -quays and find friends to hide him under a load of kelp in a fishing -boat, as happens to my ballad-singing man. The play was considered -offensive to some extreme Nationalists before it was acted, because it -showed the police in too favourable a light, and a Unionist paper -attacked it after it was acted because the policeman was represented -"as a coward and a traitor"; but after the Belfast police strike that -same paper praised its "insight into Irish character." After all these -ups and downs it passes unchallenged on both sides of the Irish Sea. - - -THE JACKDAW - -The first play I wrote was called "Twenty-five." It was played by our -company in Dublin and London, and was adapted and translated into -Irish and played in America. It was about "A boy of Kilbecanty that -saved his old sweetheart from being evicted. It was playing -Twenty-five he did it; played with the husband he did, letting him win -up to 50." - -It was rather sentimental and weak in construction, and for a long -time it was an overflowing storehouse of examples of "the faults of my -dramatic method." I have at last laid its ghost in "The Jackdaw," and -I have not been accused of sentimentality since the appearance of -this. - -THE WORKHOUSE WARD - -I heard of an old man in the workhouse who had been disabled many -years before by, I think, a knife thrown at him by his wife in some -passionate quarrel. - -One day I heard the wife had been brought in there, poor and sick. I -wondered how they would meet, and if the old quarrel was still alive, -or if they who knew the worst of each other would be better pleased -with one another's company than with that of strangers. - -I wrote a scenario of the play, Dr. Douglas Hyde, getting in plot what -he gave back in dialogue, for at that time we thought a dramatic -movement in Irish would be helpful to our own as well as to the Gaelic -League. Later I tried to rearrange it for our own theatre, and for -three players only, but in doing this I found it necessary to write -entirely new dialogue, the two old men in the original play obviously -talking at an audience in the wards, which is no longer there. - -I sometimes think the two scolding paupers are a symbol of ourselves -in Ireland--[Gaelic script and words]--"it is better to be quarrelling -than to be lonesome." The Rajputs, that great fighting race, when they -were told they had been brought under the Pax Britannica and must give -up war, gave themselves to opium in its place, but Connacht has not -yet planted its poppy gardens. - - -THE TRAVELLING MAN - -An old woman living in a cabin by a bog road on Slieve Echtge told me -the legend on which this play is founded, and which I have already -published in "Poets and Dreamers." - -"There was a poor girl walking the road one night with no place to -stop, and the Saviour met her on the road, and He said--'Go up to the -house you see a light in; there's a woman dead there, and they'll let -you in.' So she went, and she found the woman laid out, and the -husband and other people; but she worked harder than they all, and she -stopped in the house after; and after two quarters the man married -her. And one day she was sitting outside the door, picking over a bag -of wheat, and the Saviour came again, with the appearance of a poor -man, and He asked her for a few grains of the wheat. And she -said--'Wouldn't potatoes be good enough for you?' And she called to the -girl within to bring out a few potatoes. But He took nine grains of -the wheat in His hand and went away; and there wasn't a grain of wheat -left in the bag, but all gone. So she ran after Him then to ask Him to -forgive her; and she overtook Him on the road, and she asked -forgiveness. And He said--'Don't you remember the time you had no house -to go to, and I met you on the road, and sent you to a house where -you'd live in plenty? And now you wouldn't give Me a few grains of -wheat.' And she said--'But why didn't you give me a heart that would -like to divide it?' That is how she came round on Him. And He -said--'From this out, whenever you have plenty in your hands, divide it -freely for My sake.'" - -And an old woman who sold sweets in a little shop in Galway, and whose -son became a great Dominican preacher, used to say--"Refuse not any, -for one may be the Christ." - -I owe the Rider's Song, and some of the rest, to W. B. Yeats. - - -THE GAOL GATE - -I was told a story some one had heard, of a man who had gone to -welcome his brother coming out of gaol, and heard he had died there -before the gates had been opened for him. - -I was going to Galway, and at the Gort station I met two cloaked and -shawled countrywomen from the slopes of Slieve Echtge, who were -obliged to go and see some law official in Galway because of some -money left them by a kinsman in Australia. They had never been in a -train or to any place farther than a few miles from their own village, -and they felt astray and terrified "like blind beasts in a bog" they -said, and I took care of them through the day. - -An agent was fired at on the road from Athenry, and some men were -taken up on suspicion. One of them was a young carpenter from my old -home, and in a little time a rumour was put about that he had informed -against the others in Galway gaol. When the prisoners were taken -across the bridge to the courthouse he was hooted by the crowd. But at -the trial it was found that he had not informed, that no evidence had -been given at all; and bonfires were lighted for him as he went home. - -These three incidents coming within a few months wove themselves into -this little play, and within three days it had written itself, or been -written. I like it better than any in the volume, and I have never -changed a word of it. - - -FIRST PRODUCTIONS OF THE PLAYS - -SPREADING THE NEWS was produced for the first time at the opening of -the Abbey Theatre, on Tuesday, 27th December, 1904, with the following -cast: - - _Bartley Fallon_ W. G. FAY - _Mrs. Fallon_ SARA ALGOOD - _Mrs. Tully_ EMMA VERNON - _Mrs. Tarpey_ MAIRE NI GHARBHAIGH - _Shawn Early_ J. H. DUNNE - _Tim Casey_ GEORGE ROBERTS - _James Ryan_ ARTHUR SINCLAIR - _Jack Smith_ P. MACSUIBHLAIGH - _A Policeman_ R. S. NASH - _A Removable Magistrate_ F. J. FAY - - -HYACINTH HALVEY was first produced at the Abbey Theatre on 19th -February, 1906, with the following cast: - - _Hyacinth Halvey_ F. J. FAY - _James Quirke, a butcher_ W. G. FAY - _Fardy Farrell, a telegraph boy_ ARTHUR SINCLAIR - _Sergeant Carden_ WALTER MAGEE - _Mrs. Delane, Postmistress at Cloon_ SARA ALLGOOD - _Miss Joyce, the Priest's House-keeper_ BRIGIT O'DEMPSEY - - -THE GAOL GATE was first produced at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on 20th -October, 1906, with the following cast: - - _Mary Cahel_ SARA ALLGOOD - _Mary Cushin_ MAIRE O'NEILL - _The Gate Keeper_ F. J. FAY - - -THE JACKDAW was first produced at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on 23rd -February, 1907, with the following cast: - - _Joseph Nestor_ F. J. FAY - _Michael Cooney_ W. G. FAY - _Mrs. Broderick_ SARA ALLGOOD - _Tommy Nally_ ARTHUR SINCLAIR - _Sibby Fahy_ BRIGIT O'DEMPSEY - _Timothy Ward_ J. M. KERRIGAN - - -THE RISING OF THE MOON was first produced at the Abbey Theatre, -Dublin, on 9th March, 1907, with the following cast: - - _Sergeant_ ARTHUR SINCLAIR - _Policeman X._ J. A. O'ROURKE - _Policeman B._ J. M. KERRIGAN - _Ballad Singer_ W. G. FAY - - -WORKHOUSE WARD was first produced at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on -20th April, 1908, with the following cast: - - _Mike M'Inerney_ ARTHUR SINCLAIR - _Michael Miskell_ FRED O'DONOVAN - _Mrs. Donohue_ MARIE O'NEILL - - - - -_A Selection from the Catalogue of_ - -G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS - -Complete Catalogues sent on application - - The Golden Apple - - A Kiltartan Play for Children - - By - Lady Gregory - - Author of "Seven Short Plays" - "Our Irish Theatre" - "Irish Folk-History Plays," etc. - - _8 Eight full-page Illustrations in color_ - _$1.25 net._ - - -This play deals with the adventures of the King of Ireland's son, who -goes in search of the Golden Apple of Healing. The scenes are laid in -the Witch's Garden, the Giant's House, the Wood of Wonders, and the -King of Ireland's Room. It is both humorous and lyrical, and should -please children and their elders, alike. The colored illustrations -have the same old faery-tale air as the play itself. - - - Irish Folk-History Plays - - By - - LADY GREGORY - - _First Series. The Tragedies_ - - GRANIA KINCORA DERVORGILLA - - _Second Series. The Tragic Comedies_ - - THE CANAVANS THE WHITE COCKADE THE DELIVERER - - _2 vols. Each, $1.5O net. By mail, $1.65_ - -Lady Gregory has preferred going for her material to the traditional -folk-history rather than to the authorized printed versions, and she -has been able, in so doing, to make her plays more living. One of -these, Kincora, telling of Brian Boru, who reigned in the year 1000, -evoked such keen local interest that an old farmer travelled from the -neighborhood of Kincora to see it acted in Dublin. - -The story of Grania, on which Lady Gregory has founded one of these -plays, was taken entirely from tradition. Grania was a beautiful young -woman and was to have been married to Finn, the great leader of the -Fenians; but before the marriage, she went away from the bridegroom -with his handsome young kinsman, Diarmuid. After many years, when -Diarmuid had died (and Finn had a hand in his death), she went back to -Finn and became his queen. - -Another of Lady Gregory's plays, The Canavans dealt with the stormy -times of Queen Elizabeth, whose memory is a horror in Ireland second -only to that of Cromwell. - -The White Cockade is founded on a tradition of King James having -escaped from Ireland after the battle of the Boyne in a wine barrel. - -The choice of folk history rather than written history gives a -freshness of treatment and elasticity of material which made the late -J. M. Synge say that "Lady Gregory's method had brought back the -possibility of writing historic plays." - -All these plays, except Grania, which has not yet been staged, have -been very successfully performed in Ireland. They are written in the -dialect of Kiltartan, which had already become familiar to readers of -Lady Gregory's books. - - - New Comedies - - By - - LADY GREGORY - - The Bogie Men--The Full Moon--Coats - Damer's Gold--McDonough's Wife - - _8, With Portrait in Photogravure. $1.50 net. By mail, $1.65_ - -The plays have been acted with great success by the Abbey Company, and -have been highly extolled by appreciative audiences and an -enthusiastic press. They are distinguished by a humor of unchallenged -originality. - -One of the plays in the collection, "Coats," depends for its plot upon -the rivalry of two editors, each of whom has written an obituary -notice of the other. The dialogue is full of crisp humor. "McDonough's -Wife," another drama that appears in the volume, is based on a legend, -and explains how a whole town rendered honor against its will. "The -Bogie Men" has as its underlying situation an amusing misunderstanding -of two chimney-sweeps. The wit and absurdity of the dialogue are in -Lady Gregory's best vein. "Damer's Gold" contains the story of a miser -beset by his gold-hungry relations. Their hopes and plans are upset by -one they had believed to be of the simple of the world, but who -confounds the Wisdom of the Wise. "The Full Moon" presents a little -comedy enacted on an Irish railway station. It is characterized by -humor of an original and delightful character and repartee that is -distinctly clever. - - - Irish Plays - - By - LADY GREGORY - -Lady Gregory's name has become a household word in America and her -works should occupy an exclusive niche in every library. Mr. George -Bernard Shaw, in a recently published interview, said Lady Gregory "is -the greatest living Irishwoman.... Even in the plays of Lady Gregory, -penetrated as they are by that intense love of Ireland which is -unintelligible to the many drunken blackguards with Irish names who -make their nationality an excuse for their vices and their -worthlessness, there is no flattery of the Irish; she writes about the -Irish as Molire wrote about the French, having a talent curiously -like Molire." - -"The witchery of Yeats, the vivid imagination of Synge, the amusing -literalism mixed with the pronounced romance of their imitators, have -their place and have been given their praise without stint. But none -of these can compete with Lady Gregory for the quality of -universality. The best beauty in Lady Gregory's art is its -spontaneity. It is never forced.... She has read and dreamed and -studied, and slept and wakened and worked, and the great ideas that -have come to her have been nourished and trained till they have grown -to be of great stature."--_Chicago Tribune._ - - G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS - NEW YORK LONDON - - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Seven Short Plays, by Lady Gregory - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SEVEN SHORT PLAYS *** - -***** This file should be named 41653-8.txt or 41653-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/1/6/5/41653/ - -Produced by Joseph R. Hauser, Turgut Dincer and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Seven Short Plays - -Author: Lady Gregory - -Release Date: December 18, 2012 [EBook #41653] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SEVEN SHORT PLAYS *** - - - - -Produced by Joseph R. Hauser, Turgut Dincer and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. Music -transcribed by Brian Foley using LilyPond. - - - - - - -</pre> <p class="head2"><i>By Lady Gregory</i></p> @@ -7230,374 +7196,7 @@ stature.”—<i>Chicago Tribune.</i></p> -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Seven Short Plays, by Lady Gregory - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SEVEN SHORT PLAYS *** - -***** This file should be named 41653-h.htm or 41653-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/1/6/5/41653/ - -Produced by Joseph R. Hauser, Turgut Dincer and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Seven Short Plays - -Author: Lady Gregory - -Release Date: December 18, 2012 [EBook #41653] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SEVEN SHORT PLAYS *** - - - - -Produced by Joseph R. Hauser, Turgut Dincer and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. Music -transcribed by Brian Foley using LilyPond. - - - - - - - - - - _By Lady Gregory_ - - - Irish Folk-History Plays - - First Series: The Tragedies - Grania. Kincora. Dervorgilla - - Second Series: The Tragic Comedies - The Canavans. The White Cockade. The Deliverer - - New Comedies - The Bogie Men. The Full Moon. Coats. Damer's - Gold. McDonough's Wife - - Our Irish Theatre - A Chapter of Autobiography - - Seven Short Plays - Spreading the News. Hyacinth Halvey. The Rising - of the Moon. The Jackdaw. The Workhouse Ward. - The Travelling Man. The Gaol Gate - - The Golden Apple - A Kiltartan Play for Children - - - - - Seven Short Plays - - By - - Lady Gregory - - - G. P. Putnam's Sons - New York and London - The Knickerbocker Press - 1916 - - - COPYRIGHT, 1903, by LADY AUGUSTA GREGORY - - COPYRIGHT, 1904, by LADY GREGORY - - COPYRIGHT, 1905, by LADY GREGORY - - COPYRIGHT, 1906, by LADY GREGORY - - COPYRIGHT, 1909, by LADY GREGORY - - -These plays have been copyrighted and published simultaneously in the -United States and Great Britain. - -All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign -languages. - -All acting rights, both professional and amateur, are reserved in the -United States, Great Britain, and all countries of the Copyright -Union, by the author. Performances forbidden and right of presentation -reserved. - -Application for the right of performing these plays or reading them in -public should be made to Samuel French, 28 West 38th St., New York -City, or 26 South Hampton St., Strand, London. - - -Second Impression - -The Knickerbocker Press, New York - - - - -DEDICATION - - -_To you, W. B. YEATS, good praiser, wholesome dispraiser, heavy-handed -judge, open-handed helper of us all, I offer a play of my plays for -every night of the week, because you like them, and because you have -taught me my trade._ - - AUGUSTA GREGORY - - _Abbey Theatre, - May 1, 1909._ - - - - -CONTENTS - - PAGE - - SPREADING THE NEWS 1 - - HYACINTH HALVEY 29 - - THE RISING OF THE MOON 75 - - THE JACKDAW 93 - - THE WORKHOUSE WARD 137 - - THE TRAVELLING MAN 155 - - THE GAOL GATE 173 - - MUSIC FOR THE SONGS IN THE PLAYS 189 - - NOTES, &C. 196 - - - - -SPREADING THE NEWS - -PERSONS - - _Bartley Fallon._ - _Mrs. Fallon._ - _Jack Smith._ - _Shawn Early._ - _Tim Casey._ - _James Ryan._ - _Mrs. Tarpey._ - _Mrs. Tully._ - _A Policeman_ (JO MULDOON). - _A Removable Magistrate._ - -SPREADING THE NEWS - - _Scene: The outskirts of a Fair. An Apple Stall, Mrs. Tarpey - sitting at it. Magistrate and Policeman enter._ - - -_Magistrate_: So that is the Fair Green. Cattle and sheep and mud. No -system. What a repulsive sight! - -_Policeman_: That is so, indeed. - -_Magistrate_: I suppose there is a good deal of disorder in this -place? - -_Policeman_: There is. - -_Magistrate_: Common assault? - -_Policeman_: It's common enough. - -_Magistrate_: Agrarian crime, no doubt? - -_Policeman_: That is so. - -_Magistrate_: Boycotting? Maiming of cattle? Firing into houses? - -_Policeman_: There was one time, and there might be again. - -_Magistrate_: That is bad. Does it go any farther than that? - -_Policeman_: Far enough, indeed. - -_Magistrate:_ Homicide, then! This district has been shamefully -neglected! I will change all that. When I was in the Andaman Islands, -my system never failed. Yes, yes, I will change all that. What has -that woman on her stall? - -_Policeman:_ Apples mostly--and sweets. - -_Magistrate:_ Just see if there are any unlicensed goods -underneath--spirits or the like. We had evasions of the salt tax in the -Andaman Islands. - -_Policeman:_ (_Sniffing cautiously and upsetting a heap of apples._) I -see no spirits here--or salt. - -_Magistrate:_ (_To Mrs. Tarpey._) Do you know this town well, my good -woman? - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ (_Holding out some apples._) A penny the half-dozen, -your honour. - -_Policeman:_ (_Shouting._) The gentleman is asking do you know the -town! He's the new magistrate! - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ (_Rising and ducking._) Do I know the town? I do, to be -sure. - -_Magistrate:_ (_Shouting._) What is its chief business? - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ Business, is it? What business would the people here -have but to be minding one another's business? - -_Magistrate:_ I mean what trade have they? - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ Not a trade. No trade at all but to be talking. - -_Magistrate:_ I shall learn nothing here. - - (_James Ryan comes in, pipe in mouth. Seeing Magistrate he - retreats quickly, taking pipe from mouth._) - -_Magistrate:_ The smoke from that man's pipe had a greenish look; he -may be growing unlicensed tobacco at home. I wish I had brought my -telescope to this district. Come to the post-office, I will telegraph -for it. I found it very useful in the Andaman Islands. - - (_Magistrate and Policeman go out left._) - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ Bad luck to Jo Muldoon, knocking my apples this way and -that way. (_Begins arranging them._) Showing off he was to the new -magistrate. - - (_Enter Bartley Fallon and Mrs. Fallon._) - -_Bartley:_ Indeed it's a poor country and a scarce country to be -living in. But I'm thinking if I went to America it's long ago the day -I'd be dead! - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ So you might, indeed. - - (_She puts her basket on a barrel and begins putting parcels in - it, taking them from under her cloak._) - -_Bartley:_ And it's a great expense for a poor man to be buried in -America. - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ Never fear, Bartley Fallon, but I'll give you a good -burying the day you'll die. - -_Bartley:_ Maybe it's yourself will be buried in the graveyard of -Cloonmara before me, Mary Fallon, and I myself that will be dying -unbeknownst some night, and no one a-near me. And the cat itself may be -gone straying through the country, and the mice squealing over the -quilt. - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ Leave off talking of dying. It might be twenty years -you'll be living yet. - -_Bartley:_ (_With a deep sigh._) I'm thinking if I'll be living at the -end of twenty years, it's a very old man I'll be then! - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ (_Turns and sees them._) Good morrow, Bartley Fallon; -good morrow, Mrs. Fallon. Well, Bartley, you'll find no cause for -complaining to-day; they are all saying it was a good fair. - -_Bartley:_ (_Raising his voice._) It was not a good fair, Mrs. Tarpey. -It was a scattered sort of a fair. If we didn't expect more, we got -less. That's the way with me always; whatever I have to sell goes down -and whatever I have to buy goes up. If there's ever any misfortune -coming to this world, it's on myself it pitches, like a flock of crows -on seed potatoes. - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ Leave off talking of misfortunes, and listen to Jack -Smith that is coming the way, and he singing. - - (_Voice of Jack Smith heard singing:_) - - I thought, my first love, - There'd be but one house between you and me, - And I thought I would find - Yourself coaxing my child on your knee. - Over the tide - I would leap with the leap of a swan, - Till I came to the side - Of the wife of the Red-haired man! - - (_Jack Smith comes in; he is a red-haired man, and is carrying - a hayfork._) - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ That should be a good song if I had my hearing. - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ (_Shouting._) It's "The Red-haired Man's Wife." - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ I know it well. That's the song that has a skin on it! - - (_She turns her back to them and goes on arranging her - apples._) - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ Where's herself, Jack Smith? - -_Jack Smith:_ She was delayed with her washing; bleaching the clothes -on the hedge she is, and she daren't leave them, with all the tinkers -that do be passing to the fair. It isn't to the fair I came myself, -but up to the Five Acre Meadow I'm going, where I have a contract for -the hay. We'll get a share of it into tramps to-day. (_He lays down -hayfork and lights his pipe._) - -_Bartley:_ You will not get it into tramps to-day. The rain will be -down on it by evening, and on myself too. It's seldom I ever started -on a journey but the rain would come down on me before I'd find any -place of shelter. - -_Jack Smith:_ If it didn't itself, Bartley, it is my belief you would -carry a leaky pail on your head in place of a hat, the way you'd not -be without some cause of complaining. - - (_A voice heard, "Go on, now, go on out o' that. Go on I - say."_) - -_Jack Smith:_ Look at that young mare of Pat Ryan's that is backing -into Shaughnessy's bullocks with the dint of the crowd! Don't be -daunted, Pat, I'll give you a hand with her. - - (_He goes out, leaving his hayfork._) - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ It's time for ourselves to be going home. I have all I -bought put in the basket. Look at there, Jack Smith's hayfork he left -after him! He'll be wanting it. (_Calls._) Jack Smith! Jack -Smith!--He's gone through the crowd--hurry after him, Bartley, he'll be -wanting it. - -_Bartley:_ I'll do that. This is no safe place to be leaving it. (_He -takes up fork awkwardly and upsets the basket._) Look at that now! If -there is any basket in the fair upset, it must be our own basket! (_He -goes out to right._) - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ Get out of that! It is your own fault, it is. Talk of -misfortunes and misfortunes will come. Glory be! Look at my new -egg-cups rolling in every part--and my two pound of sugar with the -paper broke---- - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ (_Turning from stall._) God help us, Mrs. Fallon, what -happened to your basket? - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ It's himself that knocked it down, bad manners to him. -(_Putting things up._) My grand sugar that's destroyed, and he'll not -drink his tea without it. I had best go back to the shop for more, -much good may it do him! - - (_Enter Tim Casey._) - -_Tim Casey:_ Where is Bartley Fallon, Mrs. Fallon? I want a word with -him before he'll leave the fair. I was afraid he might have gone home -by this, for he's a temperate man. - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ I wish he did go home! It'd be best for me if he went -home straight from the fair green, or if he never came with me at all! -Where is he, is it? He's gone up the road (_jerks elbow_) following -Jack Smith with a hayfork. - - (_She goes out to left._) - -_Tim Casey:_ Following Jack Smith with a hayfork! Did ever any one -hear the like of that. (_Shouts._) Did you hear that news, Mrs. -Tarpey? - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ I heard no news at all. - -_Tim Casey:_ Some dispute I suppose it was that rose between Jack -Smith and Bartley Fallon, and it seems Jack made off, and Bartley is -following him with a hayfork! - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ Is he now? Well, that was quick work! It's not ten -minutes since the two of them were here, Bartley going home and Jack -going to the Five Acre Meadow; and I had my apples to settle up, that -Jo Muldoon of the police had scattered, and when I looked round again -Jack Smith was gone, and Bartley Fallon was gone, and Mrs. Fallon's -basket upset, and all in it strewed upon the ground--the tea here--the -two pound of sugar there--the egg-cups there--Look, now, what a great -hardship the deafness puts upon me, that I didn't hear the -commencement of the fight! Wait till I tell James Ryan that I see -below; he is a neighbour of Bartley's, it would be a pity if he -wouldn't hear the news! - - (_She goes out. Enter Shawn Early and Mrs. Tully._) - -_Tim Casey:_ Listen, Shawn Early! Listen, Mrs. Tully, to the news! -Jack Smith and Bartley Fallon had a falling out, and Jack knocked Mrs. -Fallon's basket into the road, and Bartley made an attack on him with -a hayfork, and away with Jack, and Bartley after him. Look at the -sugar here yet on the road! - -_Shawn Early:_ Do you tell me so? Well, that's a queer thing, and -Bartley Fallon so quiet a man! - -_Mrs. Tully:_ I wouldn't wonder at all. I would never think well of a -man that would have that sort of a mouldering look. It's likely he has -overtaken Jack by this. - - (_Enter James Ryan and Mrs. Tarpey._) - -_James Ryan:_ That is great news Mrs. Tarpey was telling me! I suppose -that's what brought the police and the magistrate up this way. I was -wondering to see them in it a while ago. - -_Shawn Early:_ The police after them? Bartley Fallon must have injured -Jack so. They wouldn't meddle in a fight that was only for show! - -_Mrs. Tully:_ Why wouldn't he injure him? There was many a man killed -with no more of a weapon than a hayfork. - -_James Ryan:_ Wait till I run north as far as Kelly's bar to spread -the news! (_He goes out._) - -_Tim Casey:_ I'll go tell Jack Smith's first cousin that is standing -there south of the church after selling his lambs. (_Goes out._) - -_Mrs. Tully:_ I'll go telling a few of the neighbours I see beyond to -the west. (_Goes out._) - -_Shawn Early:_ I'll give word of it beyond at the east of the green. - - (_Is going out when Mrs. Tarpey seizes hold of him._) - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ Stop a minute, Shawn Early, and tell me did you see red -Jack Smith's wife, Kitty Keary, in any place? - -_Shawn Early:_ I did. At her own house she was, drying clothes on the -hedge as I passed. - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ What did you say she was doing? - -_Shawn Early:_ (_Breaking away._) Laying out a sheet on the hedge. -(_He goes._) - -_Mrs. Tarpey_: Laying out a sheet for the dead! The Lord have mercy -on us! Jack Smith dead, and his wife laying out a sheet for his -burying! (_Calls out._) Why didn't you tell me that before, Shawn -Early? Isn't the deafness the great hardship? Half the world might be -dead without me knowing of it or getting word of it at all! (_She sits -down and rocks herself._) O my poor Jack Smith! To be going to his -work so nice and so hearty, and to be left stretched on the ground in -the full light of the day! - - (_Enter Tim Casey._) - -_Tim Casey:_ What is it, Mrs. Tarpey? What happened since? - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ O my poor Jack Smith! - -_Tim Casey:_ Did Bartley overtake him? - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ O the poor man! - -_Tim Casey:_ Is it killed he is? - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ Stretched in the Five Acre Meadow! - -_Tim Casey:_ The Lord have mercy on us! Is that a fact? - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ Without the rites of the Church or a ha'porth! - -_Tim Casey:_ Who was telling you? - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ And the wife laying out a sheet for his corpse. (_Sits -up and wipes her eyes._) I suppose they'll wake him the same as -another? - - (_Enter Mrs. Tully, Shawn Early, and James Ryan._) - -_Mrs. Tully:_ There is great talk about this work in every quarter of -the fair. - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ Ochone! cold and dead. And myself maybe the last he was -speaking to! - -_James Ryan:_ The Lord save us! Is it dead he is? - -_Tim Casey:_ Dead surely, and the wife getting provision for the wake. - -_Shawn Early:_ Well, now, hadn't Bartley Fallon great venom in him? - -_Mrs. Tully:_ You may be sure he had some cause. Why would he have -made an end of him if he had not? (_To Mrs. Tarpey, raising her -voice._) What was it rose the dispute at all, Mrs. Tarpey? - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ Not a one of me knows. The last I saw of them, Jack -Smith was standing there, and Bartley Fallon was standing there, quiet -and easy, and he listening to "The Red-haired Man's Wife." - -_Mrs. Tully:_ Do you hear that, Tim Casey? Do you hear that, Shawn -Early and James Ryan? Bartley Fallon was here this morning listening -to red Jack Smith's wife, Kitty Keary that was! Listening to her and -whispering with her! It was she started the fight so! - -_Shawn Early:_ She must have followed him from her own house. It is -likely some person roused him. - -_Tim Casey:_ I never knew, before, Bartley Fallon was great with Jack -Smith's wife. - -_Mrs. Tully:_ How would you know it? Sure it's not in the streets they -would be calling it. If Mrs. Fallon didn't know of it, and if I that -have the next house to them didn't know of it, and if Jack Smith -himself didn't know of it, it is not likely you would know of it, Tim -Casey. - -_Shawn Early:_ Let Bartley Fallon take charge of her from this out so, -and let him provide for her. It is little pity she will get from any -person in this parish. - -_Tim Casey:_ How can he take charge of her? Sure he has a wife of his -own. Sure you don't think he'd turn souper and marry her in a -Protestant church? - -_James Ryan:_ It would be easy for him to marry her if he brought her -to America. - -_Shawn Early:_ With or without Kitty Keary, believe me it is for -America he's making at this minute. I saw the new magistrate and Jo -Muldoon of the police going into the post-office as I came up--there -was hurry on them--you may be sure it was to telegraph they went, the -way he'll be stopped in the docks at Queenstown! - -_Mrs. Tully:_ It's likely Kitty Keary is gone with him, and not -minding a sheet or a wake at all. The poor man, to be deserted by his -own wife, and the breath hardly gone out yet from his body that is -lying bloody in the field! - - (_Enter Mrs. Fallon._) - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ What is it the whole of the town is talking about? And -what is it you yourselves are talking about? Is it about my man -Bartley Fallon you are talking? Is it lies about him you are telling, -saying that he went killing Jack Smith? My grief that ever he came -into this place at all! - -_James Ryan:_ Be easy now, Mrs. Fallon. Sure there is no one at all in -the whole fair but is sorry for you! - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ Sorry for me, is it? Why would any one be sorry for me? -Let you be sorry for yourselves, and that there may be shame on you -for ever and at the day of judgment, for the words you are saying and -the lies you are telling to take away the character of my poor man, -and to take the good name off of him, and to drive him to destruction! -That is what you are doing! - -_Shawn Early:_ Take comfort now, Mrs. Fallon. The police are not so -smart as they think. Sure he might give them the slip yet, the same as -Lynchehaun. - -_Mrs. Tully:_ If they do get him, and if they do put a rope around his -neck, there is no one can say he does not deserve it! - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ Is that what you are saying, Bridget Tully, and is that -what you think? I tell you it's too much talk you have, making -yourself out to be such a great one, and to be running down every -respectable person! A rope, is it? It isn't much of a rope was needed -to tie up your own furniture the day you came into Martin Tully's -house, and you never bringing as much as a blanket, or a penny, or a -suit of clothes with you and I myself bringing seventy pounds and two -feather beds. And now you are stiffer than a woman would have a -hundred pounds! It is too much talk the whole of you have. A rope is -it? I tell you the whole of this town is full of liars and schemers -that would hang you up for half a glass of whiskey. (_Turning to go._) -People they are you wouldn't believe as much as daylight from without -you'd get up to have a look at it yourself. Killing Jack Smith indeed! -Where are you at all, Bartley, till I bring you out of this? My nice -quiet little man! My decent comrade! He that is as kind and as -harmless as an innocent beast of the field! He'll be doing no harm at -all if he'll shed the blood of some of you after this day's work! That -much would be no harm at all. (_Calls out._) Bartley! Bartley Fallon! -Where are you? (_Going out._) Did any one see Bartley Fallon? - - (_All turn to look after her._) - -_James Ryan:_ It is hard for her to believe any such a thing, God help -her! - - (_Enter Bartley Fallon from right, carrying hayfork._) - -_Bartley:_ It is what I often said to myself, if there is ever any -misfortune coming to this world it is on myself it is sure to come! - - (_All turn round and face him._) - -_Bartley:_ To be going about with this fork and to find no one to take -it, and no place to leave it down, and I wanting to be gone out of -this--Is that you, Shawn Early? (_Holds out fork._) It's well I met -you. You have no call to be leaving the fair for a while the way I -have, and how can I go till I'm rid of this fork? Will you take it and -keep it until such time as Jack Smith---- - -_Shawn Early:_ (_Backing._) I will not take it, Bartley Fallon, I'm -very thankful to you! - -_Bartley:_ (_Turning to apple stall._) Look at it now, Mrs. Tarpey, it -was here I got it; let me thrust it in under the stall. It will lie -there safe enough, and no one will take notice of it until such time -as Jack Smith---- - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ Take your fork out of that! Is it to put trouble on me -and to destroy me you want? Putting it there for the police to be -rooting it out maybe. (_Thrusts him back._) - -_Bartley:_ That is a very unneighbourly thing for you to do, Mrs. -Tarpey. Hadn't I enough care on me with that fork before this, running -up and down with it like the swinging of a clock, and afeard to lay it -down in any place! I wish I never touched it or meddled with it at -all! - -_James Ryan:_ It is a pity, indeed, you ever did. - -_Bartley:_ Will you yourself take it, James Ryan? You were always a -neighbourly man. - -_James Ryan:_ (_Backing._) There is many a thing I would do for you, -Bartley Fallon, but I won't do that! - -_Shawn Early:_ I tell you there is no man will give you any help or -any encouragement for this day's work. If it was something agrarian -now---- - -_Bartley:_ If no one at all will take it, maybe it's best to give it -up to the police. - -_Tim Casey:_ There'd be a welcome for it with them surely! -(_Laughter._) - -_Mrs. Tully:_ And it is to the police Kitty Keary herself will be -brought. - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ (_Rocking to and fro._) I wonder now who will take the -expense of the wake for poor Jack Smith? - -_Bartley:_ The wake for Jack Smith! - -_Tim Casey:_ Why wouldn't he get a wake as well as another? Would you -begrudge him that much? - -_Bartley:_ Red Jack Smith dead! Who was telling you? - -_Shawn Early:_ The whole town knows of it by this. - -_Bartley:_ Do they say what way did he die? - -_James Ryan:_ You don't know that yourself, I suppose, Bartley Fallon? -You don't know he was followed and that he was laid dead with the stab -of a hayfork? - -_Bartley:_ The stab of a hayfork! - -_Shawn Early:_ You don't know, I suppose, that the body was found in -the Five Acre Meadow? - -_Bartley:_ The Five Acre Meadow! - -_Tim Casey:_ It is likely you don't know that the police are after the -man that did it? - -_Bartley:_ The man that did it! - -_Mrs. Tully:_ You don't know, maybe, that he was made away with for -the sake of Kitty Keary, his wife? - -_Bartley:_ Kitty Keary, his wife! - - (_Sits down bewildered._) - -_Mrs. Tully:_ And what have you to say now, Bartley Fallon? - -_Bartley:_ (_Crossing himself._) I to bring that fork here, and to -find that news before me! It is much if I can ever stir from this -place at all, or reach as far as the road! - -_Tim Casey:_ Look, boys, at the new magistrate, and Jo Muldoon along -with him! It's best for us to quit this. - -_Shawn Early:_ That is so. It is best not to be mixed in this business -at all. - -_James Ryan:_ Bad as he is, I wouldn't like to be an informer against -any man. - - (_All hurry away except Mrs. Tarpey, who remains behind her - stall. Enter magistrate and policeman._) - -_Magistrate:_ I knew the district was in a bad state, but I did not -expect to be confronted with a murder at the first fair I came to. - -_Policeman:_ I am sure you did not, indeed. - -_Magistrate:_ It was well I had not gone home. I caught a few words -here and there that roused my suspicions. - -_Policeman:_ So they would, too. - -_Magistrate:_ You heard the same story from everyone you asked? - -_Policeman:_ The same story--or if it was not altogether the same, -anyway it was no less than the first story. - -_Magistrate:_ What is that man doing? He is sitting alone with a -hayfork. He has a guilty look. The murder was done with a hayfork! - -_Policeman:_ (_In a whisper._) That's the very man they say did the -act; Bartley Fallon himself! - -_Magistrate:_ He must have found escape difficult--he is trying to -brazen it out. A convict in the Andaman Islands tried the same game, -but he could not escape my system! Stand aside--Don't go far--have the -handcuffs ready. (_He walks up to Bartley, folds his arms, and stands -before him._) Here, my man, do you know anything of John Smith? - -_Bartley:_ Of John Smith! Who is he, now? - -_Policeman:_ Jack Smith, sir--Red Jack Smith! - -_Magistrate:_ (_Coming a step nearer and tapping him on the -shoulder._) Where is Jack Smith? - -_Bartley:_ (_With a deep sigh, and shaking his head slowly._) Where is -he, indeed? - -_Magistrate:_ What have you to tell? - -_Bartley:_ It is where he was this morning, standing in this spot, -singing his share of songs--no, but lighting his pipe--scraping a match -on the sole of his shoe---- - -_Magistrate:_ I ask you, for the third time, where is he? - -_Bartley:_ I wouldn't like to say that. It is a great mystery, and it -is hard to say of any man, did he earn hatred or love. - -_Magistrate:_ Tell me all you know. - -_Bartley:_ All that I know--Well, there are the three estates; there is -Limbo, and there is Purgatory, and there is---- - -_Magistrate:_ Nonsense! This is trifling! Get to the point. - -_Bartley:_ Maybe you don't hold with the clergy so? That is the -teaching of the clergy. Maybe you hold with the old people. It is what -they do be saying, that the shadow goes wandering, and the soul is -tired, and the body is taking a rest--The shadow! (_Starts up._) I was -nearly sure I saw Jack Smith not ten minutes ago at the corner of the -forge, and I lost him again--Was it his ghost I saw, do you think? - -_Magistrate:_ (_To policeman._) Conscience-struck! He will confess all -now! - -_Bartley:_ His ghost to come before me! It is likely it was on account -of the fork! I to have it and he to have no way to defend himself the -time he met with his death! - -_Magistrate:_ (_To policeman._) I must note down his words. (_Takes -out notebook._) (_To Bartley:_) I warn you that your words are being -noted. - -_Bartley:_ If I had ha' run faster in the beginning, this terror would -not be on me at the latter end! Maybe he will cast it up against me at -the day of judgment--I wouldn't wonder at all at that. - -_Magistrate:_ (_Writing._) At the day of judgment---- - -_Bartley:_ It was soon for his ghost to appear to me--is it coming -after me always by day it will be, and stripping the clothes off in -the night time?--I wouldn't wonder at all at that, being as I am an -unfortunate man! - -_Magistrate:_ (_Sternly._) Tell me this truly. What was the motive of -this crime? - -_Bartley:_ The motive, is it? - -_Magistrate:_ Yes; the motive; the cause. - -_Bartley:_ I'd sooner not say that. - -_Magistrate:_ You had better tell me truly. Was it money? - -_Bartley:_ Not at all! What did poor Jack Smith ever have in his -pockets unless it might be his hands that would be in them? - -_Magistrate:_ Any dispute about land? - -_Bartley:_ (_Indignantly._) Not at all! He never was a grabber or -grabbed from any one! - -_Magistrate:_ You will find it better for you if you tell me at once. - -_Bartley:_ I tell you I wouldn't for the whole world wish to say what -it was--it is a thing I would not like to be talking about. - -_Magistrate:_ There is no use in hiding it. It will be discovered in -the end. - -_Bartley:_ Well, I suppose it will, seeing that mostly everybody knows -it before. Whisper here now. I will tell no lie; where would be the -use? (_Puts his hand to his mouth, and Magistrate stoops._) Don't be -putting the blame on the parish, for such a thing was never done in -the parish before--it was done for the sake of Kitty Keary, Jack -Smith's wife. - -_Magistrate:_ (_To policeman._) Put on the handcuffs. We have been -saved some trouble. I knew he would confess if taken in the right way. - - (_Policeman puts on handcuffs_.) - -_Bartley:_ Handcuffs now! Glory be! I always said, if there was ever -any misfortune coming to this place it was on myself it would fall. I -to be in handcuffs! There's no wonder at all in that. - - (_Enter Mrs. Fallon, followed by the rest. She is looking back - at them as she speaks._) - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ Telling lies the whole of the people of this town are; -telling lies, telling lies as fast as a dog will trot! Speaking -against my poor respectable man! Saying he made an end of Jack Smith! -My decent comrade! There is no better man and no kinder man in the -whole of the five parishes! It's little annoyance he ever gave to any -one! (_Turns and sees him._) What in the earthly world do I see before -me? Bartley Fallon in charge of the police! Handcuffs on him! O -Bartley, what did you do at all at all? - -_Bartley:_ O Mary, there has a great misfortune come upon me! It is -what I always said, that if there is ever any misfortune---- - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ What did he do at all, or is it bewitched I am? - -_Magistrate:_ This man has been arrested on a charge of murder. - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ Whose charge is that? Don't believe them! They are all -liars in this place! Give me back my man! - -_Magistrate_. It is natural you should take his part, but you have no -cause of complaint against your neighbours. He has been arrested for -the murder of John Smith, on his own confession. - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ The saints of heaven protect us! And what did he want -killing Jack Smith? - -_Magistrate:_ It is best you should know all. He did it on account of -a love affair with the murdered man's wife. - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ (_Sitting down._) With Jack Smith's wife! With Kitty -Keary!--Ochone, the traitor! - -_The Crowd:_ A great shame, indeed. He is a traitor, indeed. - -_Mrs. Tully:_ To America he was bringing her, Mrs. Fallon. - -_Bartley:_ What are you saying, Mary? I tell you---- - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ Don't say a word! I won't listen to any word you'll -say! (_Stops her ears._) O, isn't he the treacherous villain? Ohone go -deo! - -_Bartley:_ Be quiet till I speak! Listen to what I say! - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ Sitting beside me on the ass car coming to the town, so -quiet and so respectable, and treachery like that in his heart! - -_Bartley:_ Is it your wits you have lost or is it I myself that have -lost my wits? - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ And it's hard I earned you, slaving, slaving--and you -grumbling, and sighing, and coughing, and discontented, and the priest -wore out anointing you, with all the times you threatened to die! - -_Bartley:_ Let you be quiet till I tell you! - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ You to bring such a disgrace into the parish. A thing -that was never heard of before! - -_Bartley:_ Will you shut your mouth and hear me speaking? - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ And if it was for any sort of a fine handsome woman, -but for a little fistful of a woman like Kitty Keary, that's not four -feet high hardly, and not three teeth in her head unless she got new -ones! May God reward you, Bartley Fallon, for the black treachery in -your heart and the wickedness in your mind, and the red blood of poor -Jack Smith that is wet upon your hand! (_Voice of Jack Smith heard -singing._) - - The sea shall be dry, - The earth under mourning and ban! - Then loud shall he cry - For the wife of the red-haired man! - -_Bartley:_ It's Jack Smith's voice--I never knew a ghost to sing -before----. It is after myself and the fork he is coming! (_Goes back. -Enter Jack Smith._) Let one of you give him the fork and I will be -clear of him now and for eternity! - -_Mrs. Tarpey:_ The Lord have mercy on us! Red Jack Smith! The man that -was going to be waked! - -_James Ryan:_ Is it back from the grave you are come? - -_Shawn Early:_ Is it alive you are, or is it dead you are? - -_Tim Casey:_ Is it yourself at all that's in it? - -_Mrs. Tully:_ Is it letting on you were to be dead? - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ Dead or alive, let you stop Kitty Keary, your wife, -from bringing my man away with her to America! - -_Jack Smith:_ It is what I think, the wits are gone astray on the -whole of you. What would my wife want bringing Bartley Fallon to -America? - -_Mrs. Fallon:_ To leave yourself, and to get quit of you she wants, -Jack Smith, and to bring him away from myself. That's what the two of -them had settled together. - -_Jack Smith:_ I'll break the head of any man that says that! Who is it -says it? (_To Tim Casey:_) Was it you said it? (_To Shawn Early:_) Was -it you? - -_All together:_ (_Backing and shaking their heads._) It wasn't I said -it! - -_Jack Smith:_ Tell me the name of any man that said it! - -_All together:_ (_Pointing to Bartley._) It was _him_ that said it! - -_Jack Smith:_ Let me at him till I break his head! - - (_Bartley backs in terror. Neighbours hold Jack Smith back._) - -_Jack Smith:_ (_Trying to free himself._) Let me at him! Isn't he the -pleasant sort of a scarecrow for any woman to be crossing the ocean -with! It's back from the docks of New York he'd be turned (_trying to -rush at him again_), with a lie in his mouth and treachery in his -heart, and another man's wife by his side, and he passing her off as -his own! Let me at him can't you. - - (_Makes another rush, but is held back._) - -_Magistrate:_ (_Pointing to Jack Smith._) Policeman, put the handcuffs -on this man. I see it all now. A case of false impersonation, a -conspiracy to defeat the ends of justice. There was a case in the -Andaman Islands, a murderer of the Mopsa tribe, a religious -enthusiast---- - -_Policeman:_ So he might be, too. - -_Magistrate:_ We must take both these men to the scene of the murder. -We must confront them with the body of the real Jack Smith. - -_Jack Smith:_ I'll break the head of any man that will find my dead -body! - -_Magistrate:_ I'll call more help from the barracks. (_Blows -Policeman's whistle._) - -_Bartley:_ It is what I am thinking, if myself and Jack Smith are put -together in the one cell for the night, the handcuffs will be taken -off him, and his hands will be free, and murder will be done that time -surely! - -_Magistrate:_ Come on! (_They turn to the right._) - - - - -HYACINTH HALVEY - - -PERSONS - - _Hyacinth Halvey._ - _James Quirke, a butcher._ - _Fardy Farrell, a telegraph boy._ - _Sergeant Carden._ - _Mrs. Delane, Postmistress at Cloon._ - _Miss Joyce, the Priest's House-keeper._ - - -HYACINTH HALVEY - - - _Scene: Outside the Post Office at the little town of Cloon. - Mrs. Delane at Post Office door. Mr. Quirke sitting on a chair - at butcher's door. A dead sheep hanging beside it, and a thrush - in a cage above. Fardy Farrell playing on a mouth organ. Train - whistle heard._ - -_Mrs. Delane:_ There is the four o'clock train, Mr. Quirke. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Is it now, Mrs. Delane, and I not long after rising? It -makes a man drowsy to be doing the half of his work in the night time. -Going about the country, looking for little stags of sheep, striving -to knock a few shillings together. That contract for the soldiers -gives me a great deal to attend to. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I suppose so. It's hard enough on myself to be down -ready for the mail car in the morning, sorting letters in the half -dark. It's often I haven't time to look who are the letters from--or -the cards. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ It would be a pity you not to know any little news might -be knocking about. If you did not have information of what is going -on who should have it? Was it you, ma'am, was telling me that the new -Sub-Sanitary Inspector would be arriving to-day? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ To-day it is he is coming, and it's likely he was in -that train. There was a card about him to Sergeant Carden this -morning. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ A young chap from Carrow they were saying he was. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ So he is, one Hyacinth Halvey; and indeed if all that -is said of him is true, or if a quarter of it is true, he will be a -credit to this town. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Is that so? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Testimonials he has by the score. To Father Gregan they -were sent. Registered they were coming and going. Would you believe me -telling you that they weighed up to three pounds? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ There must be great bulk in them indeed. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ It is no wonder he to get the job. He must have a great -character so many persons to write for him as what there did. - -_Fardy:_ It would be a great thing to have a character like that. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Indeed I am thinking it will be long before you will -get the like of it, Fardy Farrell. - -_Fardy:_ If I had the like of that of a character it is not here -carrying messages I would be. It's in Noonan's Hotel I would be, -driving cars. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Here is the priest's housekeeper coming. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ So she is; and there is the Sergeant a little while -after her. - - (_Enter Miss Joyce._) - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Good-evening to you, Miss Joyce. What way is his -Reverence to-day? Did he get any ease from the cough? - -_Miss Joyce:_ He did not indeed, Mrs. Delane. He has it sticking to -him yet. Smothering he is in the night time. The most thing he comes -short in is the voice. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I am sorry, now, to hear that. He should mind himself -well. - -_Miss Joyce:_ It's easy to say let him mind himself. What do you say -to him going to the meeting to-night? (_Sergeant comes in._) It's for -his Reverence's _Freeman_ I am come, Mrs. Delane. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Here it is ready. I was just throwing an eye on it to -see was there any news. Good-evening, Sergeant. - -_Sergeant:_ (_Holding up a placard._) I brought this notice, Mrs. -Delane, the announcement of the meeting to be held to-night in the -Courthouse. You might put it up here convenient to the window. I hope -you are coming to it yourself? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I will come, and welcome. I would do more than that for -you, Sergeant. - -_Sergeant:_ And you, Mr. Quirke. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I'll come, to be sure. I forget what's this the meeting -is about. - -_Sergeant:_ The Department of Agriculture is sending round a lecturer -in furtherance of the moral development of the rural classes. -(_Reads._) "A lecture will be given this evening in Cloon Courthouse, -illustrated by magic lantern slides--" Those will not be in it; I am -informed they were all broken in the first journey, the railway -company taking them to be eggs. The subject of the lecture is "The -Building of Character." - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Very nice, indeed. I knew a girl lost her character, -and she washed her feet in a blessed well after, and it dried up on -the minute. - -_Sergeant:_ The arrangements have all been left to me, the Archdeacon -being away. He knows I have a good intellect for things of the sort. -But the loss of those slides puts a man out. The thing people will not -see it is not likely it is the thing they will believe. I saw what -they call tableaux--standing pictures, you know--one time in Dundrum---- - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Miss Joyce was saying Father Gregan is supporting you. - -_Sergeant:_ I am accepting his assistance. No bigotry about me when -there is a question of the welfare of any fellow-creatures. Orange and -green will stand together to-night. I myself and the station-master -on the one side; your parish priest in the chair. - -_Miss Joyce:_ If his Reverence would mind me he would not quit the -house to-night. He is no more fit to go speak at a meeting than -(_pointing to the one hanging outside Quirke's door_) that sheep. - -_Sergeant:_ I am willing to take the responsibility. He will have no -speaking to do at all, unless it might be to bid them give the -lecturer a hearing. The loss of those slides now is a great annoyance -to me--and no time for anything. The lecturer will be coming by the -next train. - -_Miss Joyce:_ Who is this coming up the street, Mrs. Delane? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I wouldn't doubt it to be the new Sub-Sanitary -Inspector. Was I telling you of the weight of the testimonials he got, -Miss Joyce? - -_Miss Joyce:_ Sure I heard the curate reading them to his Reverence. -He must be a wonder for principles. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Indeed it is what I was saying to myself, he must be a -very saintly young man. - - (_Enter Hyacinth Halvey. He carries a small bag and a large - brown paper parcel. He stops and nods bashfully._) - -_Hyacinth:_ Good-evening to you. I was bid to come to the post -office---- - -_Sergeant:_ I suppose you are Hyacinth Halvey? I had a letter about -you from the Resident Magistrate. - -_Hyacinth:_ I heard he was writing. It was my mother got a friend he -deals with to ask him. - -_Sergeant:_ He gives you a very high character. - -_Hyacinth:_ It is very kind of him indeed, and he not knowing me at -all. But indeed all the neighbours were very friendly. Anything any -one could do to help me they did it. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I'll engage it is the testimonals you have in your -parcel? I know the wrapping paper, but they grew in bulk since I -handled them. - -_Hyacinth:_ Indeed I was getting them to the last. There was not one -refused me. It is what my mother was saying, a good character is no -burden. - -_Fardy:_ I would believe that indeed. - -_Sergeant:_ Let us have a look at the testimonials. - - (_Hyacinth Halvey opens parcel, and a large number of envelopes - fall out._) - -_Sergeant:_ (_Opening and reading one by one_). "He possesses the fire -of the Gael, the strength of the Norman, the vigour of the Dane, the -stolidity of the Saxon"---- - -_Hyacinth:_ It was the Chairman of the Poor Law Guardians wrote that. - -_Sergeant:_ "A magnificent example to old and young"---- - -_Hyacinth:_ That was the Secretary of the DeWet Hurling Club---- - -_Sergeant:_ "A shining example of the value conferred by an eminently -careful and high class education"---- - -_Hyacinth:_ That was the National Schoolmaster. - -_Sergeant:_ "Devoted to the highest ideals of his Mother-land to such -an extent as is compatible with a hitherto non-parliamentary -career"---- - -_Hyacinth:_ That was the Member for Carrow. - -_Sergeant:_ "A splendid exponent of the purity of the race"---- - -_Hyacinth:_ The Editor of the _Carrow Champion_. - -_Sergeant:_ "Admirably adapted for the efficient discharge of all -possible duties that may in future be laid upon him"---- - -_Hyacinth:_ The new Station-master. - -_Sergeant:_ "A champion of every cause that can legitimately benefit -his fellow-creatures"---- Why, look here, my man, you are the very one -to come to our assistance to-night. - -_Hyacinth:_ I would be glad to do that. What way can I do it? - -_Sergeant:_ You are a newcomer--your example would carry weight--you -must stand up as a living proof of the beneficial effect of a high -character, moral fibre, temperance--there is something about it here I -am sure--(_Looks._) I am sure I saw "unparalleled temperance" in some -place---- - -_Hyacinth:_ It was my mother's cousin wrote that--I am no drinker, but -I haven't the pledge taken---- - -_Sergeant:_ You might take it for the purpose. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ (_Eagerly._) Here is an anti-treating button. I was made -a present of it by one of my customers--I'll give it to you (_sticks it -in Hyacinth's coat_) and welcome. - -_Sergeant:_ That is it. You can wear the button on the platform--or a -bit of blue ribbon--hundreds will follow your example--I know the boys -from the Workhouse will---- - -_Hyacinth:_ I am in no way wishful to be an example---- - -_Sergeant:_ I will read extracts from the testimonials. "There he is," -I will say, "an example of one in early life who by his own unaided -efforts and his high character has obtained a profitable -situation"--(_Slaps his side._) I know what I'll do. I'll engage a few -corner-boys from Noonan's bar, just as they are, greasy and sodden, to -stand in a group--there will be the contrast--The sight will deter -others from a similar fate--That's the way to do a tableau--I knew I -could turn out a success. - -_Hyacinth:_ I wouldn't like to be a contrast--- - -_Sergeant:_ (_Puts testimonials in his pocket._) I will go now and -engage those lads--sixpence each, and well worth it--Nothing like an -example for the rural classes. - - (_Goes off, Hyacinth feebly trying to detain him._) - -_Mrs. Delane:_ A very nice man indeed. A little high up in himself, -may be. I'm not one that blames the police. Sure they have their own -bread to earn like every other one. And indeed it is often they will -let a thing pass. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ (_Gloomily._) Sometimes they will, and more times they -will not. - -_Miss Joyce:_ And where will you be finding a lodging, Mr. Halvey? - -_Hyacinth:_ I was going to ask that myself, ma'am. I don't know the -town. - -_Miss Joyce:_ I know of a good lodging, but it is only a very good man -would be taken into it. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Sure there could be no objection there to Mr. Halvey. -There is no appearance on him but what is good, and the Sergeant after -taking him up the way he is doing. - -_Miss Joyce:_ You will be near to the Sergeant in the lodging I speak -of. The house is convenient to the barracks. - -_Hyacinth:_ (_Doubtfully._) To the barracks? - -_Miss Joyce:_ Alongside of it and the barrack yard behind. And that's -not all. It is opposite to the priest's house. - -_Hyacinth:_ Opposite, is it? - -_Miss Joyce:_ A very respectable place, indeed, and a very clean room -you will get. I know it well. The curate can see into it from his -window. - -_Hyacinth:_ Can he now? - -_Fardy:_ There was a good many, I am thinking, went into that lodging -and left it after. - -_Miss Joyce:_ (_Sharply._) It is a lodging you will never be let into -or let stop in, Fardy. If they did go they were a good riddance. - -_Fardy:_ John Hart, the plumber, left it---- - -_Miss Joyce:_ If he did it was because he dared not pass the police -coming in, as he used, with a rabbit he was after snaring in his hand. - -_Fardy:_ The schoolmaster himself left it. - -_Miss Joyce:_ He needn't have left it if he hadn't taken to -card-playing. What way could you say your prayers, and shadows -shuffling and dealing before you on the blind? - -_Hyacinth:_ I think maybe I'd best look around a bit before I'll -settle in a lodging---- - -_Miss Joyce:_ Not at all. _You_ won't be wanting to pull down the -blind. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ It is not likely _you_ will be snaring rabbits. - -_Miss Joyce:_ Or bringing in a bottle and taking an odd glass the way -James Kelly did. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Or writing threatening notices, and the police taking a -view of you from the rear. - -_Miss Joyce:_ Or going to roadside dances, or running after -good-for-nothing young girls---- - -_Hyacinth:_ I give you my word I'm not so harmless as you think. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Would you be putting a lie on these, Mr. Halvey? -(_Touching testimonials._) I know well the way you will be spending -the evenings, writing letters to your relations---- - -_Miss Joyce:_ Learning O'Growney's exercises---- - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Sticking post cards in an album for the convent bazaar. - -_Miss Joyce:_ Reading the _Catholic Young Man_---- - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Playing the melodies on a melodeon---- - -_Miss Joyce:_ Looking at the pictures in the _Lives of the Saints_. -I'll hurry on and engage the room for you. - -_Hyacinth:_ Wait. Wait a minute---- - -_Miss Joyce:_ No trouble at all. I told you it was just opposite. -(_Goes._) - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I suppose I must go upstairs and ready myself for the -meeting. If it wasn't for the contract I have for the soldiers' -barracks and the Sergeant's good word, I wouldn't go anear it. (_Goes -into shop._) - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I should be making myself ready too. I must be in good -time to see you being made an example of, Mr. Halvey. It is I myself -was the first to say it; you will be a credit to the town. (_Goes._) - -_Hyacinth:_ (_In a tone of agony._) I wish I had never seen Cloon. - -_Fardy:_ What is on you? - -_Hyacinth:_ I wish I had never left Carrow. I wish I had been drowned -the first day I thought of it, and I'd be better off. - -_Fardy:_ What is it ails you? - -_Hyacinth:_ I wouldn't for the best pound ever I had be in this place -to-day. - -_Fardy:_ I don't know what you are talking about. - -_Hyacinth:_ To have left Carrow, if it was a poor place, where I had -my comrades, and an odd spree, and a game of cards--and a coursing -match coming on, and I promised a new greyhound from the city of -Cork. I'll die in this place, the way I am. I'll be too much closed -in. - -_Fardy:_ Sure it mightn't be as bad as what you think. - -_Hyacinth:_ Will you tell me, I ask you, what way can I undo it? - -_Fardy:_ What is it you are wanting to undo? - -_Hyacinth:_ Will you tell me what way can I get rid of my character? - -_Fardy:_ To get rid of it, is it? - -_Hyacinth:_ That is what I said. Aren't you after hearing the great -character they are after putting on me? - -_Fardy:_ That is a good thing to have. - -_Hyacinth:_ It is not. It's the worst in the world. If I hadn't it, I -wouldn't be like a prize mangold at a show with every person praising -me. - -_Fardy:_ If I had it, I wouldn't be like a head in a barrel, with -every person making hits at me. - -_Hyacinth:_ If I hadn't it, I wouldn't be shoved into a room with all -the clergy watching me and the police in the back yard. - -_Fardy:_ If I had it, I wouldn't be but a message-carrier now, and a -clapper scaring birds in the summer time. - -_Hyacinth:_ If I hadn't it, I wouldn't be wearing this button and -brought up for an example at the meeting. - -_Fardy:_ (_Whistles._) Maybe you're not, so, what those papers make -you out to be? - -_Hyacinth:_ How would I be what they make me out to be? Was there ever -any person of that sort since the world was a world, unless it might -be Saint Antony of Padua looking down from the chapel wall? If it is -like that I was, isn't it in Mount Melleray I would be, or with the -Friars at Esker? Why would I be living in the world at all, or doing -the world's work? - -_Fardy:_ (_Taking up parcel._) Who would think, now, there would be so -much lies in a small place like Carrow? - -_Hyacinth:_ It was my mother's cousin did it. He said I was not reared -for labouring--he gave me a new suit and bid me never to come back -again. I daren't go back to face him--the neighbours knew my mother had -a long family--bad luck to them the day they gave me these. (_Tears -letters and scatters them._) I'm done with testimonials. They won't be -here to bear witness against me. - -_Fardy:_ The Sergeant thought them to be great. Sure he has the -samples of them in his pocket. There's not one in the town but will -know before morning that you are the next thing to an earthly saint. - -_Hyacinth:_ (_Stamping._) I'll stop their mouths. I'll show them I can -be a terror for badness. I'll do some injury. I'll commit some crime. -The first thing I'll do I'll go and get drunk. If I never did it -before I'll do it now. I'll get drunk--then I'll make an assault--I tell -you I'd think as little of taking a life as of blowing out a candle. - -_Fardy:_ If you get drunk you are done for. Sure that will be held up -after as an excuse for any breaking of the law. - -_Hyacinth:_ I will break the law. Drunk or sober I'll break it. I'll -do something that will have no excuse. What would you say is the worst -crime that any man can do? - -_Fardy:_ I don't know. I heard the Sergeant saying one time it was to -obstruct the police in the discharge of their duty---- - -_Hyacinth:_ That won't do. It's a patriot I would be then, worse than -before, with my picture in the weeklies. It's a red crime I must -commit that will make all respectable people quit minding me. What can -I do? Search your mind now. - -_Fardy:_ It's what I heard the old people saying there could be no -worse crime than to steal a sheep---- - -_Hyacinth:_ I'll steal a sheep--or a cow--or a horse--if that will leave -me the way I was before. - -_Fardy:_ It's maybe in gaol it will leave you. - -_Hyacinth:_ I don't care--I'll confess--I'll tell why I did it--I give -you my word I would as soon be picking oakum or breaking stones as to -be perched in the daylight the same as that bird, and all the town -chirruping to me or bidding me chirrup---- - -_Fardy:_ There is reason in that, now. - -_Hyacinth:_ Help me, will you? - -_Fardy:_ Well, if it is to steal a sheep you want, you haven't far to -go. - -_Hyacinth:_ (_Looking round wildly._) Where is it? I see no sheep. - -_Fardy:_ Look around you. - -_Hyacinth:_ I see no living thing but that thrush---- - -_Fardy:_ Did I say it was living? What is that hanging on Quirke's -rack? - -_Hyacinth:_ It's (_fingers it_) a sheep, sure enough---- - -_Fardy:_ Well, what ails you that you can't bring it away? - -_Hyacinth:_ It's a dead one---- - -_Fardy:_ What matter if it is? - -_Hyacinth:_ If it was living I could drive it before me---- - -_Fardy:_ You could. Is it to your own lodging you would drive it? Sure -everyone would take it to be a pet you brought from Carrow. - -_Hyacinth:_ I suppose they might. - -_Fardy:_ Miss Joyce sending in for news of it and it bleating behind -the bed. - -_Hyacinth:_ (_Distracted_). Stop! stop! - -_Mrs. Delane:_ (_From upper window._) Fardy! Are you there, Fardy -Farrell? - -_Fardy:_ I am, ma'am. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ (_From window._) Look and tell me is that the telegraph -I hear ticking? - -_Fardy:_ (_Looking in at door._) It is, ma'am. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Then botheration to it, and I not dressed or undressed. -Wouldn't you say, now, it's to annoy me it is calling me down. I'm -coming! I'm coming! (_Disappears._) - -_Fardy:_ Hurry on, now! hurry! She'll be coming out on you. If you are -going to do it, do it, and if you are not, let it alone. - -_Hyacinth:_ I'll do it! I'll do it! - -_Fardy:_ (_Lifting the sheep on his back._) I'll give you a hand with -it. - -_Hyacinth:_ (_Goes a step or two and turns round._) You told me no -place where I could hide it. - -_Fardy:_ You needn't go far. There is the church beyond at the side of -the Square. Go round to the ditch behind the wall--there's nettles in -it. - -_Hyacinth:_ That'll do. - -_Fardy:_ She's coming out--run! run! - -Hyacinth: (_Runs a step or two._) It's slipping! - -_Fardy:_ Hoist it up! I'll give it a hoist! (_Halvey runs out._) - -_Mrs. Delane:_ (_Calling out._) What are you doing Fardy Farrell? Is -it idling you are? - -_Fardy:_ Waiting I am, ma'am, for the message---- - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Never mind the message yet. Who said it was ready? -(_Going to door._) Go ask for the loan of--no, but ask news of--Here, -now go bring that bag of Mr. Halvey's to the lodging Miss Joyce has -taken---- - -_Fardy:_ I will, ma'am. (_Takes bag and goes out._) - -_Mrs. Delane:_ (_Coming out with a telegram in her hand._) Nobody -here? (_Looks round and calls cautiously._) Mr. Quirke! Mr. Quirke! -James Quirke! - -_Mr. Quirke:_ (_Looking out of his upper window with soap-suddy -face_). What is it, Mrs. Delane? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ (_Beckoning._) Come down here till I tell you. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I cannot do that. I'm not fully shaved. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ You'd come if you knew the news I have. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Tell it to me now. I'm not so supple as I was. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Whisper now, have you an enemy in any place? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ It's likely I may have. A man in business---- - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I was thinking you had one. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Why would you think that at this time more than any -other time? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ If you could know what is in this envelope you would -know that, James Quirke. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Is that so? And what, now, is there in it? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Who do you think now is it addressed to? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ How would I know that, and I not seeing it? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ That is true. Well, it is a message from Dublin Castle -to the Sergeant of Police! - -_Mr. Quirke:_ To Sergeant Carden, is it? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ It is. And it concerns yourself. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Myself, is it? What accusation can they be bringing -against me? I'm a peaceable man. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Wait till you hear. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Maybe they think I was in that moonlighting case---- - -_Mrs. Delane:_ That is not it---- - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I was not in it--I was but in the neighbouring -field--cutting up a dead cow, that those never had a hand in---- - -_Mrs. Delane:_ You're out of it---- - -_Mr. Quirke:_ They had their faces blackened. There is no man can say -I recognized them. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ That's not what they're saying---- - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I'll swear I did not hear their voices or know them if I -did hear them. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I tell you it has nothing to do with that. It might be -better for you if it had. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ What is it, so? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ It is an order to the Sergeant bidding him immediately -to seize all suspicious meat in your house. There is an officer coming -down. There are complaints from the Shannon Fort Barracks. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I'll engage it was that pork. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ What ailed it for them to find fault? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ People are so hard to please nowadays, and I recommended -them to salt it. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ They had a right to have minded your advice. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ There was nothing on that pig at all but that it went -mad on poor O'Grady that owned it. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ So I heard, and went killing all before it. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Sure it's only in the brain madness can be. I heard the -doctor saying that. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ He should know. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I give you my word I cut the head off it. I went to the -loss of it, throwing it to the eels in the river. If they had salted -the meat, as I advised them, what harm would it have done to any -person on earth? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I hope no harm will come on poor Mrs. Quirke and the -family. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Maybe it wasn't that but some other thing---- - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Here is Fardy. I must send the message to the Sergeant. -Well, Mr. Quirke, I'm glad I had the time to give you a warning. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I'm obliged to you, indeed. You were always very -neighbourly, Mrs. Delane. Don't be too quick now sending the message. -There is just one article I would like to put away out of the house -before the Sergeant will come. (_Enter Fardy._) - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Here now, Fardy--that's not the way you're going to the -barracks. Anyone would think you were scaring birds yet. Put on your -uniform. (_Fardy goes into office._) You have this message to bring -to the Sergeant of Police. Get your cap now, it's under the counter. -(_Fardy reappears, and she gives him telegram._) - -_Fardy:_ I'll bring it to the station. It's there he was going. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ You will not, but to the barracks. It can wait for him -there. - - (_Fardy goes off. Mr. Quirke has appeared at door._) - -_Mr. Quirke:_ It was indeed a very neighbourly act, Mrs. Delane, and -I'm obliged to you. There is just _one_ article to put out of the way. -The Sergeant may look about him then and welcome. It's well I cleared -the premises on yesterday. A consignment to Birmingham I sent. The -Lord be praised isn't England a terrible country with all it consumes? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Indeed you always treat the neighbours very decent, Mr. -Quirke, not asking them to buy from you. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Just one article. (_Turns to rack._) That sheep I -brought in last night. It was for a charity indeed I bought it from -the widow woman at Kiltartan Cross. Where would the poor make a profit -out of their dead meat without me? Where now is it? Well, now, I could -have swore that that sheep was hanging there on the rack when I went -in---- - -_Mrs. Delane:_ You must have put it in some other place. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ (_Going in and searching and coming out._) I did not; -there is no other place for me to put it. Is it gone blind I am, or is -it not in it, it is? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ It's not there now anyway. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Didn't you take notice of it there yourself this -morning? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I have it in my mind that I did; but it's not there -now. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ There was no one here could bring it away? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Is it me myself you suspect of taking it, James Quirke? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Where is it at all? It is certain it was not of itself -it walked away. It was dead, and very dead, the time I bought it. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I have a pleasant neighbour indeed that accuses me that -I took his sheep. I wonder, indeed, you to say a thing like that! I to -steal your sheep or your rack or anything that belongs to you or to -your trade! Thank you, James Quirke. I am much obliged to you indeed. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Ah, be quiet, woman; be quiet---- - -_Mrs. Delane:_ And let me tell you, James Quirke, that I would sooner -starve and see everyone belonging to me starve than to eat the size -of a thimble of any joint that ever was on your rack or that ever will -be on it, whatever the soldiers may eat that have no other thing to -get, or the English that devour all sorts, or the poor ravenous people -that's down by the sea! (_She turns to go into shop._) - -_Mr. Quirke:_ (_Stopping her._) Don't be talking foolishness, woman. -Who said you took my meat? Give heed to me now. There must some other -message have come. The Sergeant must have got some other message. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ (_Sulkily._) If there is any way for a message to come -that is quicker than to come by the wires, tell me what it is and I'll -be obliged to you. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ The Sergeant was up here making an excuse he was -sticking up that notice. What was he doing here, I ask you? - -Mrs. Delane: How would I know what brought him? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ It is what he did; he made as if to go away--he turned -back again and I shaving--he brought away the sheep--he will have it for -evidence against me---- - -_Mrs. Delane:_ (_Interested._) That might be so. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I would sooner it to have been any other beast nearly -ever I had upon the rack. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Is that so? - -Mr. Quirke: I bade the Widow Early to kill it a fortnight ago--but she -would not, she was that covetous! - -_Mrs. Delane:_ What was on it? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ How would I know what was on it? Whatever was on it, it -was the will of God put it upon it--wasted it was, and shivering and -refusing its share. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ The poor thing. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Gone all to nothing--wore away like a flock of thread. It -did not weigh as much as a lamb of two months. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ It is likely the Inspector will bring it to Dublin? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ The ribs of it streaky with the dint of patent -medicines---- - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I wonder is it to the Petty Sessions you'll be brought -or is it to the Assizes? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I'll speak up to them. I'll make my defence. What can -the Army expect at fippence a pound? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ It is likely there will be no bail allowed? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Would they be wanting me to give them good quality meat -out of my own pocket? Is it to encourage them to fight the poor -Indians and Africans they would have me? It's the Anti-Enlisting -Societies should pay the fine for me. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ It's not a fine will be put on you, I'm afraid. It's -five years in gaol you will be apt to be getting. Well, I'll try and -be a good neighbour to poor Mrs. Quirke. - - (_Mr. Quirke, who has been stamping up and down, sits down and - weeps. Halvey comes in and stands on one side._) - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Hadn't I heart-scalding enough before, striving to rear -five weak children? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I suppose they will be sent to the Industrial Schools? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ My poor wife---- - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I'm afraid the workhouse---- - -_Mr. Quirke:_ And she out in an ass-car at this minute helping me to -follow my trade. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I hope they will not arrest her along with you. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I'll give myself up to justice. I'll plead guilty! I'll -be recommended to mercy! - -_Mrs. Delane:_ It might be best for you. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Who would think so great a misfortune could come upon a -family through the bringing away of one sheep! - -_Hyacinth:_ (_Coming forward._) Let you make yourself easy. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Easy! It's easy to say let you make yourself easy. - -_Hyacinth:_ I can tell you where it is. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Where what is? - -_Hyacinth:_ The sheep you are fretting after. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ What do you know about it? - -_Hyacinth:_ I know everything about it. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I suppose the Sergeant told you? - -_Hyacinth:_ He told me nothing. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I suppose the whole town knows it, so? - -_Hyacinth:_ No one knows it, as yet. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ And the Sergeant didn't see it? - -_Hyacinth:_ No one saw it or brought it away but myself. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Where did you put it at all? - -_Hyacinth:_ In the ditch behind the church wall. In among the nettles -it is. Look at the way they have me stung. (_Holds out hands._) - -_Mr. Quirke:_ In the ditch! The best hiding place in the town. - -_Hyacinth:_ I never thought it would bring such great trouble upon -you. You can't say anyway I did not tell you. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ You yourself that brought it away and that hid it! I -suppose it was coming in the train you got information about the -message to the police. - -_Hyacinth:_ What now do you say to me? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Say! I say I am as glad to hear what you said as if it -was the Lord telling me I'd be in heaven this minute. - -_Hyacinth:_ What are you going to do to me? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Do, is it? (_Grasps his hand._) Any earthly thing you -would wish me to do, I will do it. - -_Hyacinth:_ I suppose you will tell---- - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Tell! It's I that will tell when all is quiet. It is I -will give you the good name through the town! - -_Hyacinth:_ I don't well understand. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ (_Embracing him._) The man that preserved me! - -_Hyacinth:_ That preserved you? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ That kept me from ruin! - -_Hyacinth:_ From ruin? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ That saved me from disgrace! - -_Hyacinth:_ (_To Mrs. Delane._) What is he saying at all? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ From the Inspector! - -_Hyacinth:_ What is he talking about? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ From the magistrates! - -_Hyacinth:_ He is making some mistake. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ From the Winter Assizes! - -_Hyacinth:_ Is he out of his wits? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Five years in gaol! - -_Hyacinth:_ Hasn't he the queer talk? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ The loss of the contract! - -_Hyacinth:_ Are my own wits gone astray? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ What way can I repay you? - -_Hyacinth:_ (_Shouting._) I tell you I took the sheep---- - -_Mr. Quirke:_ You did, God reward you! - -_Hyacinth:_ I stole away with it---- - -_Mr. Quirke:_ The blessing of the poor on you! - -_Hyacinth:_ I put it out of sight---- - -_Mr. Quirke:_ The blessing of my five children---- - -_Hyacinth:_ I may as well say nothing---- - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Let you be quiet now, Quirke. Here's the Sergeant -coming to search the shop---- - - (_Sergeant comes in: Quirke leaves go of Halvey, who arranges - his hat, etc._) - -_Sergeant:_ The Department to blazes! - -_Mrs. Delane:_ What is it putting you out? - -_Sergeant:_ To go to the train to meet the lecturer, and there to get -a message through the guard that he was unavoidably detained in the -South, holding an inquest on the remains of a drake. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ The lecturer, is it? - -_Sergeant:_ To be sure. What else would I be talking of? The lecturer -has failed me, and where am I to go looking for a person that I would -think fitting to take his place? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ And that's all? And you didn't get any message but the -one? - -_Sergeant:_ Is that all? I am surprised at you, Mrs. Delane. Isn't it -enough to upset a man, within three quarters of an hour of the time of -the meeting? Where, I would ask you, am I to find a man that has -education enough and wit enough and character enough to put up -speaking on the platform on the minute? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ (_Jumps up._) It is I myself will tell you that. - -_Sergeant:_ You! - -_Mr. Quirke:_ (_Slapping Halvey on the back._) Look at here, Sergeant. -There is not one word was said in all those papers about this young -man before you but it is true. And there could be no good thing said -of him that would be too good for him. - -_Sergeant:_ It might not be a bad idea. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Whatever the paper said about him, Sergeant, I can say -more again. It has come to my knowledge--by chance--that since he came -to this town that young man has saved a whole family from destruction. - -_Sergeant:_ That is much to his credit--helping the rural classes---- - -_Mr. Quirke:_ A family and a long family, big and little, like sods of -turf--and they depending on a--on one that might be on his way to dark -trouble at this minute if it was not for his assistance. Believe me, -he is the most sensible man, and the wittiest, and the kindest, and -the best helper of the poor that ever stood before you in this square. -Is not that so, Mrs. Delane? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ It is true indeed. Where he gets his wisdom and his wit -and his information from I don't know, unless it might be that he is -gifted from above. - -_Sergeant:_ Well, Mrs. Delane, I think we have settled that question. -Mr. Halvey, you will be the speaker at the meeting. The lecturer sent -these notes--you can lengthen them into a speech. You can call to the -people of Cloon to stand out, to begin the building of their -character. I saw a lecturer do it one time at Dundrum. "Come up here," -he said, "Dare to be a Daniel," he said---- - -_Hyacinth:_ I can't--I won't---- - -_Sergeant:_ (_Looking at papers and thrusting them into his hand._) -You will find it quite easy. I will conduct you to the platform--these -papers before you and a glass of water--That's settled. (_Turns to -go._) Follow me on to the Courthouse in half an hour--I must go to the -barracks first--I heard there was a telegram--(_Calls back as he goes._) -Don't be late, Mrs. Delane. Mind, Quirke, you promised to come. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Well, it's time for me to make an end of settling -myself--and indeed, Mr. Quirke, you'd best do the same. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ (_Rubbing his cheek._) I suppose so. I had best keep on -good terms with him for the present. (_Turns._) Well, now, I had a -great escape this day. - - (_Both go in as Fardy reappears whistling._) - -_Hyacinth:_ (_Sitting down._) I don't know in the world what has come -upon the world that the half of the people of it should be cracked! - -_Fardy:_ Weren't you found out yet? - -_Hyacinth:_ Found out, is it? I don't know what you mean by being -found out. - -_Fardy:_ Didn't he miss the sheep? - -_Hyacinth:_ He did, and I told him it was I took it--and what happened -I declare to goodness I don't know--Will you look at these? (_Holds out -notes._) - -_Fardy:_ Papers! Are they more testimonials? - -_Hyacinth:_ They are what is worse. (_Gives a hoarse laugh._) Will you -come and see me on the platform--these in my hand--and I speaking--giving -out advice. (_Fardy whistles._) Why didn't you tell me, the time you -advised me to steal a sheep, that in this town it would qualify a man -to go preaching, and the priest in the chair looking on. - -_Fardy:_ The time I took a few apples that had fallen off a stall, -they did not ask me to hold a meeting. They welted me well. - -_Hyacinth:_ (_Looking round._) I would take apples if I could see -them. I wish I had broke my neck before I left Carrow and I'd be -better off! I wish I had got six months the time I was caught setting -snares--I wish I had robbed a church. - -_Fardy:_ Would a Protestant church do? - -_Hyacinth:_ I suppose it wouldn't be so great a sin. - -_Fardy:_ It's likely the Sergeant would think worse of it--Anyway, if -you want to rob one, it's the Protestant church is the handiest. - -_Hyacinth:_ (_Getting up._) Show me what way to do it? - -_Fardy:_ (_Pointing._) I was going around it a few minutes ago, to see -might there be e'er a dog scenting the sheep, and I noticed the window -being out. - -_Hyacinth:_ Out, out and out? - -_Fardy:_ It was, where they are putting coloured glass in it for the -distiller---- - -_Hyacinth:_ What good does that do me? - -_Fardy:_ Every good. You could go in by that window if you had some -person to give you a hoist. Whatever riches there is to get in it -then, you'll get them. - -_Hyacinth:_ I don't want riches. I'll give you all I will find if you -will come and hoist me. - -_Fardy:_ Here is Miss Joyce coming to bring you to your lodging. Sure -I brought your bag to it, the time you were away with the sheep---- - -_Hyacinth:_ Run! Run! - - (_They go off. Enter Miss Joyce._) - -_Miss Joyce:_ Are you here, Mrs. Delane? Where, can you tell me, is -Mr. Halvey? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ (_Coming out dressed._) It's likely he is gone on to -the Courthouse. Did you hear he is to be in the chair and to make an -address to the meeting? - -_Miss Joyce:_ He is getting on fast. His Reverence says he will be a -good help in the parish. Who would think, now, there would be such a -godly young man in a little place like Carrow! - - (_Enter Sergeant in a hurry, with telegram._) - -_Sergeant:_ What time did this telegram arrive, Mrs. Delane? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I couldn't be rightly sure, Sergeant. But sure it's -marked on it, unless the clock I have is gone wrong. - -_Sergeant:_ It is marked on it. And I have the time I got it marked on -my own watch. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Well, now, I wonder none of the police would have -followed you with it from the barracks--and they with so little to -do---- - -_Sergeant:_ (_Looking in at Quirke's shop._) Well, I am sorry to do -what I have to do, but duty is duty. - - (_He ransacks shop. Mrs. Delane looks on. Mr. Quirke puts his - head out of window._) - -_Mr. Quirke:_ What is that going on inside? (_No answer._) Is there -any one inside, I ask? (_No answer._) It must be that dog of -Tannian's--wait till I get at him. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ It is Sergeant Carden, Mr. Quirke. He would seem to be -looking for something---- - - (_Mr. Quirke appears in shop. Sergeant comes out, makes another - dive, taking up sacks, etc._) - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I'm greatly afraid I am just out of meat, Sergeant--and -I'm sorry now to disoblige you, and you not being in the habit of -dealing with me---- - -_Sergeant:_ I should think not, indeed. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Looking for a tender little bit of lamb, I suppose you -are, for Mrs. Carden and the youngsters? - -_Sergeant:_ I am not. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ If I had it now, I'd be proud to offer it to you, and -make no charge. I'll be killing a good kid to-morrow. Mrs. Carden -might fancy a bit of it---- - -_Sergeant:_ I have had orders to search your establishment for -unwholesome meat, and I am come here to do it. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ (_Sitting down with a smile._) Is that so? Well, isn't -it a wonder the schemers does be in the world. - -_Sergeant:_ It is not the first time there have been complaints. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I suppose not. Well, it is on their own head it will -fall at the last! - -_Sergeant:_ I have found nothing so far. _Mr. Quirke:_ I suppose not, -indeed. What is there you could find, and it not in it? - -_Sergeant:_ Have you no meat at all upon the premises? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I have, indeed, a nice barrel of bacon. - -_Sergeant:_ What way did it die? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ It would be hard for me to say that. American it is. How -would I know what way they do be killing the pigs out there? -Machinery, I suppose, they have--steam hammers---- - -_Sergeant:_ Is there nothing else here at all? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ I give you my word, there is no meat living or dead in -this place, but yourself and myself and that bird above in the cage. - -_Sergeant:_ Well, I must tell the Inspector I could find nothing. But -mind yourself for the future. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Thank you, Sergeant. I will do that. (_Enter Fardy. He -stops short._) - -_Sergeant:_ It was you delayed that message to me, I suppose? You'd -best mend your ways or I'll have something to say to you. (_Seizes and -shakes him._) - -_Fardy:_ That's the way everyone does be faulting me. (_Whimpers._) - - (_The Sergeant gives him another shake. A half-crown falls out - of his pocket._) - -_Miss Joyce:_ (_Picking it up._) A half-a-crown! Where, now, did you -get that much, Fardy? - -_Fardy:_ Where did I get it, is it! - -_Miss Joyce:_ I'll engage it was in no honest way you got it. - -_Fardy:_ I picked it up in the street---- - -_Miss Joyce:_ If you did, why didn't you bring it to the Sergeant or -to his Reverence? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ And some poor person, may be, being at the loss of it. - -_Miss Joyce:_ I'd best bring it to his Reverence. Come with me, Fardy, -till he will question you about it. - -_Fardy:_ It was not altogether in the street I found it---- - -_Miss Joyce:_ There, now! I knew you got it in no good way! Tell me, -now. - -_Fardy:_ It was playing pitch and toss I won it---- - -_Miss Joyce:_ And who would play for half-crowns with the like of you, -Fardy Farrell? Who was it, now? - -_Fardy:_ It was--a stranger---- - -_Miss Joyce:_ Do you hear that? A stranger! Did you see e'er a -stranger in this town, Mrs. Delane, or Sergeant Carden, or Mr. Quirke? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Not a one. - -_Sergeant:_ There was no stranger here. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ There could not be one here without me knowing it. - -_Fardy:_ I tell you there was. - -_Miss Joyce:_ Come on, then, and tell who was he to his Reverence. - -_Sergeant:_ (_Taking other arm._) Or to the bench. - -_Fardy:_ I did get it, I tell you, from a stranger. - -_Sergeant:_ Where is he, so? - -_Fardy:_ He's in some place--not far away. - -_Sergeant:_ Bring me to him. - -_Fardy:_ He'll be coming here. - -_Sergeant:_ Tell me the truth and it will be better for you. - -_Fardy:_ (_Weeping._) Let me go and I will. - -_Sergeant:_ (_Letting go._) Now--who did you get it from? - -_Fardy:_ From that young chap came to-day, Mr. Halvey. - -_All:_ Mr. Halvey! - -_Mr. Quirke:_ (_Indignantly._) What are you saying, you young ruffian -you? Hyacinth Halvey to be playing pitch and toss with the like of -you! - -_Fardy:_ I didn't say that. - -_Miss Joyce:_ You did say it. You said it now. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Hyacinth Halvey! The best man that ever came into this -town! - -_Miss Joyce:_ Well, what lies he has! - -_Mr. Quirke:_ It's my belief the half-crown is a bad one. May be it's -to pass it off it was given to him. There were tinkers in the town at -the time of the fair. Give it here to me. (_Bites it._) No, indeed, -it's sound enough. Here, Sergeant, it's best for you take it. - - (_Gives it to Sergeant, who examines it._) - -_Sergeant:_ Can it be? Can it be what I think it to be? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ What is it? What do you take it to be? - -_Sergeant:_ It is, it is. I know it. I know this half-crown---- - -_Mr. Quirke:_ That is a queer thing, now. - -_Sergeant:_ I know it well. I have been handling it in the church for -the last twelvemonth---- - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Is that so? - -_Sergeant:_ It is the nest-egg half-crown we hand round in the -collection plate every Sunday morning. I know it by the dint on the -Queen's temples and the crooked scratch under her nose. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ (_Examining it._) So there is, too. - -_Sergeant:_ This is a bad business. It has been stolen from the -church. - -_All:_ O! O! O! - -_Sergeant:_ (_Seizing Fardy._) You have robbed the church! - -_Fardy:_ (_Terrified._) I tell you I never did! - -_Sergeant:_ I have the proof of it. - -_Fardy:_ Say what you like! I never put a foot in it! - -_Sergeant:_ How did you get this, so? - -_Miss Joyce:_ I suppose from the stranger? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ I suppose it was Hyacinth Halvey gave it to you, now? - -_Fardy:_ It was so. - -_Sergeant:_ I suppose it was he robbed the church? - -_Fardy:_ (_Sobs._) You will not believe me if I say it. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ O! the young vagabond! Let me get at him! - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Here he is himself now! - - (_Hyacinth comes in. Fardy releases himself and creeps behind him._) - -_Mrs. Delane:_ It is time you to come, Mr. Halvey, and shut the mouth -of this young schemer. - -_Miss Joyce:_ I would like you to hear what he says of you, Mr. -Halvey. Pitch and toss, he says. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Robbery, he says. - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Robbery of a church. - -_Sergeant:_ He has had a bad name long enough. Let him go to a -reformatory now. - -_Fardy:_ (_Clinging to Hyacinth._) Save me, save me! I'm a poor boy -trying to knock out a way of living; I'll be destroyed if I go to a -reformatory. (_Kneels and clings to Hyacinth's knees._) - -_Hyacinth:_ I'll save you easy enough. - -_Fardy:_ Don't let me be gaoled! - -_Hyacinth:_ I am going to tell them. - -_Fardy:_ I'm a poor orphan---- - -_Hyacinth:_ Will you let me speak? - -_Fardy:_ I'll get no more chance in the world---- - -_Hyacinth:_ Sure I'm trying to free you---- - -_Fardy:_ It will be tasked to me always. - -_Hyacinth:_ Be quiet, can't you. - -_Fardy:_ Don't you desert me! - -_Hyacinth:_ Will you be silent? - -_Fardy:_ Take it on yourself. - -_Hyacinth:_ I will if you'll let me. - -_Fardy:_ Tell them you did it. - -_Hyacinth:_ I am going to do that. - -_Fardy:_ Tell them it was you got in at the window. - -_Hyacinth:_ I will! I will! - -_Fardy:_ Say it was you robbed the box. - -_Hyacinth:_ I'll say it! I'll say it! - -_Fardy:_ It being open! - -_Hyacinth:_ Let me tell, let me tell. - -_Fardy:_ Of all that was in it. - -_Hyacinth:_ I'll tell them that. - -_Fardy:_ And gave it to me. - -_Hyacinth:_ (_Putting hand on his mouth and dragging him up._) Will -you stop and let me speak? - -_Sergeant:_ We can't be wasting time. Give him here to me. - -_Hyacinth:_ I can't do that. He must be let alone. - -_Sergeant:_ (_Seizing him._) He'll be let alone in the lock-up. - -_Hyacinth:_ He must not be brought there. - -_Sergeant:_ I'll let no man get him off. - -_Hyacinth:_ I will get him off. - -_Sergeant:_ You will not! - -_Hyacinth:_ I will. - -_Sergeant:_ Do you think to buy him off? - -_Hyacinth:_ I will buy him off with my own confession. - -_Sergeant:_ And what will that be? - -_Hyacinth:_ It was I robbed the church. - -_Sergeant:_ That is likely indeed! - -_Hyacinth:_ Let him go, and take me. I tell you I did it. - -_Sergeant:_ It would take witnesses to prove that. - -_Hyacinth:_ (_Pointing to Fardy._) He will be witness. - -_Fardy:_ O! Mr. Halvey, I would not wish to do that. Get me off and I -will say nothing. - -_Hyacinth:_ Sure you must. You will be put on oath in the court. - -_Fardy:_ I will not! I will not! All the world knows I don't -understand the nature of an oath! - -_Mr. Quirke:_ (_Coming forward._) Is it blind ye all are? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ What are you talking about? - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Is it fools ye all are? - -_Miss Joyce:_ Speak for yourself. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Is it idiots ye all are? - -_Sergeant:_ Mind who you're talking to. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ (_Seizing Hyacinth's hands._) Can't you see? Can't you -hear? Where are your wits? Was ever such a thing seen in this town? - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Say out what you have to say. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ A walking saint he is! - -_Mrs. Delane:_ Maybe so. - -_Mr. Quirke:_ The preserver of the poor! Talk of the holy martyrs! -They are nothing at all to what he is! Will you look at him! To save -that poor boy he is going! To take the blame on himself he is going! -To say he himself did the robbery he is going! Before the magistrate -he is going! To gaol he is going! Taking the blame on his own head! -Putting the sin on his own shoulders! Letting on to have done a -robbery! Telling a lie--that it may be forgiven him--to his own injury! -Doing all that I tell you to save the character of a miserable slack -lad, that rose in poverty. - - (_Murmur of admiration from all._) - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Now, what do you say? - -_Sergeant:_ (_Pressing his hand._) Mr. Halvey, you have given us all a -lesson. To please you, I will make no information against the boy. -(_Shakes him and helps him up._) I will put back the half-crown in the -poor-box next Sunday. (_To Fardy._) What have you to say to your -benefactor? - -_Fardy:_ I'm obliged to you, Mr. Halvey. You behaved very decent to -me, very decent indeed. I'll never let a word be said against you if I -live to be a hundred years. - -_Sergeant:_ (_Wiping eyes with a blue handkerchief._) I will tell it -at the meeting. It will be a great encouragement to them to build up -their character. I'll tell it to the priest and he taking the chair---- - -_Hyacinth:_ O stop, will you---- - -_Mr. Quirke:_ The chair. It's in the chair he himself should be. It's -in a chair we will put him now. It's to chair him through the streets -we will. Sure he'll be an example and a blessing to the whole of the -town. (_Seizes Halvey and seats him in chair._) Now, Sergeant, give a -hand. Here, Fardy. - - (_They all lift the chair with Halvey in it, wildly protesting._) - -_Mr. Quirke:_ Come along now to the Courthouse. Three cheers for -Hyacinth Halvey! Hip! hip! hoora! - - (_Cheers heard in the distance as the curtain drops._) - - - - -THE RISING OF THE MOON - - -PERSONS - - _Sergeant._ - _Policeman X._ - _Policeman B._ - _A Ragged Man._ - - -THE RISING OF THE MOON - - - _Scene: Side of a quay in a seaport town. Some posts and - chains. A large barrel. Enter three policemen. Moonlight._ - - - (_Sergeant, who is older than the others, crosses the stage to - right and looks down steps. The others put down a pastepot and - unroll a bundle of placards._) - -_Policeman B:_ I think this would be a good place to put up a notice. -(_He points to barrel._) - -_Policeman X:_ Better ask him. (_Calls to Sergt._) Will this be a good -place for a placard? - - (_No answer._) - -_Policeman B:_ Will we put up a notice here on the barrel? (_No -answer._) - -_Sergeant:_ There's a flight of steps here that leads to the water. -This is a place that should be minded well. If he got down here, his -friends might have a boat to meet him; they might send it in here from -outside. - -_Policeman B:_ Would the barrel be a good place to put a notice up? - -_Sergeant:_ It might; you can put it there. - - (_They paste the notice up._) - -_Sergeant:_ (_Reading it._) Dark hair--dark eyes, smooth face, height -five feet five--there's not much to take hold of in that--It's a pity I -had no chance of seeing him before he broke out of gaol. They say he's -a wonder, that it's he makes all the plans for the whole organization. -There isn't another man in Ireland would have broken gaol the way he -did. He must have some friends among the gaolers. - -_Policeman B:_ A hundred pounds is little enough for the Government to -offer for him. You may be sure any man in the force that takes him -will get promotion. - -_Sergeant:_ I'll mind this place myself. I wouldn't wonder at all if -he came this way. He might come slipping along there (_points to side -of quay_), and his friends might be waiting for him there (_points -down steps_), and once he got away it's little chance we'd have of -finding him; it's maybe under a load of kelp he'd be in a fishing -boat, and not one to help a married man that wants it to the reward. - -_Policeman X:_ And if we get him itself, nothing but abuse on our -heads for it from the people, and maybe from our own relations. - -_Sergeant:_ Well, we have to do our duty in the force. Haven't we the -whole country depending on us to keep law and order? It's those that -are down would be up and those that are up would be down, if it -wasn't for us. Well, hurry on, you have plenty of other places to -placard yet, and come back here then to me. You can take the lantern. -Don't be too long now. It's very lonesome here with nothing but the -moon. - -_Policeman B:_ It's a pity we can't stop with you. The Government -should have brought more police into the town, with _him_ in gaol, and -at assize time too. Well, good luck to your watch. - - (_They go out._) - -_Sergeant:_ (_Walks up and down once or twice and looks at placard._) -A hundred pounds and promotion sure. There must be a great deal of -spending in a hundred pounds. It's a pity some honest man not to be -the better of that. - - (_A ragged man appears at left and tries to slip past. Sergeant - suddenly turns._) - -_Sergeant:_ Where are you going? - -_Man:_ I'm a poor ballad-singer, your honour. I thought to sell some -of these (_holds out bundle of ballads_) to the sailors. (_He goes -on._) - -_Sergeant:_ Stop! Didn't I tell you to stop? You can't go on there. - -_Man:_ Oh, very well. It's a hard thing to be poor. All the world's -against the poor! - -_Sergeant:_ Who are you? - -_Man:_ You'd be as wise as myself if I told you, but I don't mind. I'm -one Jimmy Walsh, a ballad-singer. - -_Sergeant:_ Jimmy Walsh? I don't know that name. - -_Man:_ Ah, sure, they know it well enough in Ennis. Were you ever in -Ennis, sergeant? - -_Sergeant:_ What brought you here? - -_Man:_ Sure, it's to the assizes I came, thinking I might make a few -shillings here or there. It's in the one train with the judges I came. - -_Sergeant:_ Well, if you came so far, you may as well go farther, for -you'll walk out of this. - -_Man:_ I will, I will; I'll just go on where I was going. (_Goes -towards steps._) - -_Sergeant:_ Come back from those steps; no one has leave to pass down -them to-night. - -_Man:_ I'll just sit on the top of the steps till I see will some -sailor buy a ballad off me that would give me my supper. They do be -late going back to the ship. It's often I saw them in Cork carried -down the quay in a hand-cart. - -_Sergeant:_ Move on, I tell you. I won't have any one lingering about -the quay to-night. - -_Man:_ Well, I'll go. It's the poor have the hard life! Maybe yourself -might like one, sergeant. Here's a good sheet now. (_Turns one over._) -"Content and a pipe"--that's not much. "The Peeler and the goat"--you -wouldn't like that. "Johnny Hart"--that's a lovely song. - -_Sergeant:_ Move on. - -_Man:_ Ah, wait till you hear it. (_Sings:_) - - There was a rich farmer's daughter lived near the town of Ross; - She courted a Highland soldier, his name was Johnny Hart; - Says the mother to her daughter, "I'll go distracted mad - If you marry that Highland soldier dressed up in Highland plaid." - -_Sergeant:_ Stop that noise. - - (_Man wraps up his ballads and shuffles towards the steps_) - -_Sergeant:_ Where are you going? - -_Man:_ Sure you told me to be going, and I am going. - -_Sergeant:_ Don't be a fool. I didn't tell you to go that way; I told -you to go back to the town. - -_Man:_ Back to the town, is it? - -_Sergeant:_ (_Taking him by the shoulder and shoving him before him._) -Here, I'll show you the way. Be off with you. What are you stopping -for? - -_Man:_ (_Who has been keeping his eye on the notice, points to it._) I -think I know what you're waiting for, sergeant. - -_Sergeant:_ What's that to you? - -_Man:_ And I know well the man you're waiting for--I know him well--I'll -be going. - - (_He shuffles on._) - -_Sergeant:_ You know him? Come back here. What sort is he? - -_Man:_ Come back is it, sergeant? Do you want to have me killed? - -_Sergeant:_ Why do you say that? - -_Man:_ Never mind. I'm going. I wouldn't be in your shoes if the -reward was ten times as much. (_Goes on off stage to left_). Not if it -was ten times as much. - -_Sergeant:_ (_Rushing after him._) Come back here, come back. (_Drags -him back._) What sort is he? Where did you see him? - -_Man:_ I saw him in my own place, in the County Clare. I tell you you -wouldn't like to be looking at him. You'd be afraid to be in the one -place with him. There isn't a weapon he doesn't know the use of, and -as to strength, his muscles are as hard as that board (_slaps -barrel_). - -_Sergeant:_ Is he as bad as that? - -_Man:_ He is then. - -_Sergeant:_ Do you tell me so? - -_Man:_ There was a poor man in our place, a sergeant from -Ballyvaughan.--It was with a lump of stone he did it. - -_Sergeant:_ I never heard of that. - -_Man:_ And you wouldn't, sergeant. It's not everything that happens -gets into the papers. And there was a policeman in plain clothes, -too.... It is in Limerick he was.... It was after the time of the -attack on the police barrack at Kilmallock.... Moonlight ... just -like this ... waterside.... Nothing was known for certain. - -_Sergeant:_ Do you say so? It's a terrible county to belong to. - -_Man:_ That's so, indeed! You might be standing there, looking out -that way, thinking you saw him coming up this side of the quay -(_points_), and he might be coming up this other side (_points_), and -he'd be on you before you knew where you were. - -_Sergeant:_ It's a whole troop of police they ought to put here to -stop a man like that. - -_Man:_ But if you'd like me to stop with you, I could be looking down -this side. I could be sitting up here on this barrel. - -_Sergeant:_ And you know him well, too? - -_Man:_ I'd know him a mile off, sergeant. - -_Sergeant:_ But you wouldn't want to share the reward? - -_Man:_ Is it a poor man like me, that has to be going the roads and -singing in fairs, to have the name on him that he took a reward? But -you don't want me. I'll be safer in the town. - -_Sergeant:_ Well, you can stop. - -_Man:_ (_Getting up on barrel._) All right, sergeant. I wonder, now, -you're not tired out, sergeant, walking up and down the way you are. - -_Sergeant:_ If I'm tired I'm used to it. - -_Man:_ You might have hard work before you to-night yet. Take it easy -while you can. There's plenty of room up here on the barrel, and you -see farther when you're higher up. - -_Sergeant:_ Maybe so. (_Gets up beside him on barrel, facing right. -They sit back to back, looking different ways._) You made me feel a -bit queer with the way you talked. - -_Man:_ Give me a match, sergeant (_he gives it and man lights pipe_); -take a draw yourself? It'll quiet you. Wait now till I give you a -light, but you needn't turn round. Don't take your eye off the quay -for the life of you. - -_Sergeant:_ Never fear, I won't. (_Lights pipe. They both smoke._) -Indeed it's a hard thing to be in the force, out at night and no -thanks for it, for all the danger we're in. And it's little we get but -abuse from the people, and no choice but to obey our orders, and never -asked when a man is sent into danger, if you are a married man with a -family. - -_Man:_ (_Sings_)-- - - As through the hills I walked to view the hills and shamrock plain, - I stood awhile where nature smiles to view the rocks and streams, - On a matron fair I fixed my eyes beneath a fertile vale, - As she sang her song it was on the wrong of poor old Granuaile. - -_Sergeant:_ Stop that; that's no song to be singing in these times. - -_Man:_ Ah, sergeant, I was only singing to keep my heart up. It sinks -when I think of him. To think of us two sitting here, and he creeping -up the quay, maybe, to get to us. - -_Sergeant:_ Are you keeping a good lookout? - -_Man:_ I am; and for no reward too. Amn't I the foolish man? But when -I saw a man in trouble, I never could help trying to get him out of -it. What's that? Did something hit me? - - (_Rubs his heart._) - -_Sergeant:_ (_Patting him on the shoulder._) You will get your reward -in heaven. - -_Man:_ I know that, I know that, sergeant, but life is precious. - -_Sergeant:_ Well, you can sing if it gives you more courage. - -_Man:_ (_Sings_)-- - - Her head was bare, her hands and feet with iron bands were bound, - Her pensive strain and plaintive wail mingles with the evening gale, - And the song she sang with mournful air, I am old Granuaile. - Her lips so sweet that monarchs kissed.... - -_Sergeant:_ That's not it.... "Her gown she wore was stained with -gore." ... That's it--you missed that. - -_Man:_ You're right, sergeant, so it is; I missed it. (_Repeats -line._) But to think of a man like you knowing a song like that. - -_Sergeant:_ There's many a thing a man might know and might not have -any wish for. - -_Man:_ Now, I daresay, sergeant, in your youth, you used to be sitting -up on a wall, the way you are sitting up on this barrel now, and the -other lads beside you, and you singing "Granuaile"?... - -_Sergeant:_ I did then. - -_Man:_ And the "Shan Bhean Bhocht"?... - -_Sergeant:_ I did then. - -_Man:_ And the "Green on the Cape?" - -_Sergeant:_ That was one of them. - -_Man:_ And maybe the man you are watching for to-night used to be -sitting on the wall, when he was young, and singing those same -songs.... It's a queer world.... - -_Sergeant:_ Whisht!... I think I see something coming.... It's only a -dog. - -_Man:_ And isn't it a queer world?... Maybe it's one of the boys you -used to be singing with that time you will be arresting to-day or -to-morrow, and sending into the dock.... - -_Sergeant:_ That's true indeed. - -_Man:_ And maybe one night, after you had been singing, if the other -boys had told you some plan they had, some plan to free the country, -you might have joined with them ... and maybe it is you might be in -trouble now. - -_Sergeant:_ Well, who knows but I might? I had a great spirit in those -days. - -_Man:_ It's a queer world, sergeant, and it's little any mother knows -when she sees her child creeping on the floor what might happen to it -before it has gone through its life, or who will be who in the end. - -_Sergeant:_ That's a queer thought now, and a true thought. Wait now -till I think it out.... If it wasn't for the sense I have, and for my -wife and family, and for me joining the force the time I did, it might -be myself now would be after breaking gaol and hiding in the dark, and -it might be him that's hiding in the dark and that got out of gaol -would be sitting up where I am on this barrel.... And it might be -myself would be creeping up trying to make my escape from himself, and -it might be himself would be keeping the law, and myself would be -breaking it, and myself would be trying maybe to put a bullet in his -head, or to take up a lump of a stone the way you said he did ... no, -that myself did.... Oh! (_Gasps. After a pause._) What's that? -(_Grasps man's arm._) - -_Man:_ (_Jumps off barrel and listens, looking out over water._) It's -nothing, sergeant. - -_Sergeant:_ I thought it might be a boat. I had a notion there might -be friends of his coming about the quays with a boat. - -_Man:_ Sergeant, I am thinking it was with the people you were, and -not with the law you were, when you were a young man. - -_Sergeant:_ Well, if I was foolish then, that time's gone. - -_Man:_ Maybe, sergeant, it comes into your head sometimes, in spite of -your belt and your tunic, that it might have been as well for you to -have followed Granuaile. - -_Sergeant:_ It's no business of yours what I think. - -_Man:_ Maybe, sergeant, you'll be on the side of the country yet. - -_Sergeant:_ (_Gets off barrel._) Don't talk to me like that. I have my -duties and I know them. (_Looks round._) That was a boat; I hear the -oars. - - (_Goes to the steps and looks down._) - -_Man:_ (_Sings_)-- - - O, then, tell me, Shawn O'Farrell, - Where the gathering is to be. - In the old spot by the river - Right well known to you and me! - -_Sergeant:_ Stop that! Stop that, I tell you! - -_Man:_ (_Sings louder_)-- - - One word more, for signal token, - Whistle up the marching tune, - With your pike upon your shoulder, - At the Rising of the Moon. - -_Sergeant:_ If you don't stop that, I'll arrest you. - - (_A whistle from below answers, repeating the air._) - -_Sergeant:_ That's a signal. (_Stands between him and steps._) You -must not pass this way.... Step farther back.... Who are you? You are -no ballad-singer. - -_Man:_ You needn't ask who I am; that placard will tell you. (_Points -to placard._) - -_Sergeant:_ You are the man I am looking for. - -_Man:_ (_Takes off hat and wig. Sergeant seizes them._) I am. There's -a hundred pounds on my head. There is a friend of mine below in a -boat. He knows a safe place to bring me to. - -_Sergeant:_ (_Looking still at hat and wig._) It's a pity! It's a -pity. You deceived me. You deceived me well. - -_Man:_ I am a friend of Granuaile. There is a hundred pounds on my -head. - -_Sergeant:_ It's a pity, it's a pity! - -_Man:_ Will you let me pass, or must I make you let me? - -_Sergeant:_ I am in the force. I will not let you pass. - -_Man:_ I thought to do it with my tongue. (Puts hand in breast.) What -is that? - - (_Voice of Policeman X outside:_) Here, this is where we left him. - -_Sergeant:_ It's my comrades coming. - -_Man:_ You won't betray me ... the friend of Granuaile. (_Slips behind -barrel._) - - (_Voice of Policeman B:_) That was the last of the placards. - -_Policeman X:_ (_As they come in._) If he makes his escape it won't be -unknown he'll make it. - - (_Sergeant puts hat and wig behind his back._) - -_Policeman B:_ Did any one come this way? - -_Sergeant:_ (_After a pause._) No one. - -_Policeman B:_ No one at all? - -_Sergeant:_ No one at all. - -_Policeman B:_ We had no orders to go back to the station; we can stop -along with you. - -_Sergeant:_ I don't want you. There is nothing for you to do here. - -_Policeman B:_ You bade us to come back here and keep watch with you. - -_Sergeant:_ I'd sooner be alone. Would any man come this way and you -making all that talk? It is better the place to be quiet. - -_Policeman B:_ Well, we'll leave you the lantern anyhow. (_Hands it to -him._) - -_Sergeant:_ I don't want it. Bring it with you. - -_Policeman B:_ You might want it. There are clouds coming up and you -have the darkness of the night before you yet. I'll leave it over here -on the barrel. (_Goes to barrel._) - -_Sergeant:_ Bring it with you I tell you. No more talk. - -_Policeman B:_ Well, I thought it might be a comfort to you. I often -think when I have it in my hand and can be flashing it about into -every dark corner (_doing so_) that it's the same as being beside the -fire at home, and the bits of bogwood blazing up now and again. - - (_Flashes it about, now on the barrel, now on Sergeant._) - -_Sergeant:_ (_Furious._) Be off the two of you, yourselves and your -lantern! - - (_They go out. Man comes from behind barrel. He and Sergeant - stand looking at one another._) - -_Sergeant:_ What are you waiting for? - -_Man:_ For my hat, of course, and my wig. You wouldn't wish me to get -my death of cold? - - (_Sergeant gives them._) - -_Man:_ (_Going towards steps._) Well, good-night, comrade, and thank -you. You did me a good turn to-night, and I'm obliged to you. Maybe -I'll be able to do as much for you when the small rise up and the big -fall down ... when we all change places at the Rising (_waves his hand -and disappears_) of the Moon. - -_Sergeant:_ (_Turning his back to audience and reading placard._) A -hundred pounds reward! A hundred pounds! (_Turns towards audience._) I -wonder, now, am I as great a fool as I think I am? - - -_Curtain._ - - - - -THE JACKDAW - - -PERSONS - - JOSEPH NESTOR _An Army Pensioner._ - MICHAEL COONEY _A Farmer._ - MRS. BRODERICK _A Small Shopkeeper._ - TOMMY NALLY _A Pauper._ - SIBBY FAHY _An Orange Seller._ - TIMOTHY WARD _A Process Server._ - - -THE JACKDAW - - - _Scene: Interior of a small general shop at Cloon. Mrs. - Broderick sitting down. Tommy Nally sitting eating an orange - Sibby has given him. Sibby, with basket on her arm, is looking - out of door._ - - -_Sibby:_ The people are gathering to the door of the Court. The -Magistrates will be coming there before long. Here is Timothy Ward -coming up the street. - -_Timothy Ward:_ (_Coming to door._) Did you get that summons I left -here for you ere yesterday, Mrs. Broderick? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ I believe it's there in under the canister. (_Takes -it out._) It had my mind tossed looking at it there before me. I know -well what is in it if I made no fist of reading it itself. It's no -wonder with all I had to go through if the reading and writing got -scattered on me. - -_Ward:_ You know it is on this day you have to appear in the Court? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ It isn't easy to forget that, though indeed it is -hard for me to be keeping anything in my head these times, but maybe -remembering to-morrow the thing I was saying to-day. - -_Ward:_ Up to one o'clock the magistrates will be able to attend to -you, ma'am, before they will go out eating their meal. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Haven't I the mean, begrudging creditors now that -would put me into the Court? Sure it's a terrible thing to go in it -and to be bound to speak nothing but the truth. When people would meet -with you after, they would remember your face in the Court. What way -would they be certain was it in or outside of the dock? - -_Ward:_ It is not in the dock you will be put this time. And there -will be no bodily harm done to you, but to seize your furniture and -your goods. It's best for me to be going there myself and not to be -wasting my time. (_Goes out._) - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Many a one taking my goods on credit and I seeing -their face no more. But nothing would satisfy the people of this -district. Sure the great God Himself when He came down couldn't please -everybody. - -_Sibby:_ I am thinking you were talking of some friend, ma'am, might -be apt to be coming to your aid. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Well able he is to do it if the Lord would but put -it in his mind. Isn't it a strange thing the goods of this world to -shut up the heart of a brother from his own, the same as Esau and -Jacob, and he having a good farm of land in the County Limerick. It is -what I heard that in that place the grass does be as thick as grease. - -_Sibby:_ I suppose, ma'am, you wrote giving him an account of your -case? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Sure, Mr. Nestor, the dear man, has his fingers wore -away writing for me, and I telling him all he had or had not to say. -At Christmas I wrote, and at Little Christmas, and at St. Brigit's -Day, and on the Feast of St. Patrick, and after that again such time -as I had news of the summons being about to be served. And you may ask -Mrs. Delane at the Post Office am I telling any lie saying I got no -word or answer at all.... It's long since I saw him, but it is the way -he used to be, his eyes on kippeens and some way suspicious in his -heart; a dark weighty tempered man. - -_Sibby:_ A person to be crabbed and he young, it is not likely he will -grow kind at the latter end. - -_Tommy Nally:_ That is no less than true now. There are crabbed people -and suspicious people to be met with in every place. It is much that I -got a pass from the Workhouse this day, the Master making sure when I -asked it that I had in my pocket the means of getting drink. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ It would maybe be best to go join you in the -Workhouse, Tommy Nally, when I am out of this, than to go walking the -world from end to end. - -_Tommy Nally:_ Ah, don't be saying that, ma'am; sure you couldn't be -happy within those walls if you had the whole world. Clean outside, -but very hard within. No rank but all mixed together, the good, the -middling and the bad, the well reared and the rough. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Sure I'm not asking to go in it. You could never be -as stiff in any place as in any sort of little cabin of your own. - -_Tommy Nally:_ The tea boiled in a boiler, you should close your eyes -drinking it, and ne'er a bit of sugar hardly in it at all. And our -curses on them that boil the eggs too hard! What use is an egg that is -hard to any person on earth? And as to the dinner, what way would a -tasty person eat it not having a knife or a fork? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ That I may live to be in no one's way, but to have -some little corner of my own! - -_Tommy Nally:_ And to come to your end in it, ma'am! If you were the -Lady Mayor herself you'd be brought out to the deadhouse if it was ten -o'clock at night, and not a wash unless it was just a Scotch lick, and -nobody to wake you at all! - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ I will not go in it! I would sooner make any shift -and die by the side of the wall. Sure heaven is the best place, heaven -and this world we're in now! - -_Sibby:_ Don't be giving up now, ma'am. Here is Mr. Nestor coming, -and if any one will give you an advice he is the one will do it. Why -wouldn't he, he being, as he is, an educated man, and such a great one -to be reading books. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ So he is too, and keeps it in his mind after. It's a -wonder to me a man that does be reading to keep any memory at all. - -_Nally:_ It's easy for him to carry things light, and his pension paid -regular at springtime and harvest. - - (_Nestor comes in reading "Tit-Bits."_) - -_Nestor:_ There was a servant girl in Austria cut off her finger -slicing cabbage.... - -_All:_ The poor thing! - -_Nestor:_ And her master stuck it on again with glue. That now was a -very foolish thing to do. What use would a finger be stuck with glue -that might melt off at any time, and she to be stirring the pot? - -_Sibby:_ That is true indeed. - -_Nestor:_ Now, if I myself had been there, it is what I would have -advised.... - -_Sibby:_ That's what I was saying, Mr. Nestor. It is you are the grand -adviser. What now will you say to poor Mrs. Broderick that has a -summons out against her this day for up to ten pounds? - -_Nestor:_ It is what I am often saying, it is a very foolish thing to -be getting into debt. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Sure what way could I help it? It's a very done-up -town to be striving to make a living in. - -_Nestor:_ It would be a right thing to be showing a good example. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ They would want that indeed. There are more die with -debts on them in this place than die free from debt. - -_Nestor:_ Many a poor soul has had to suffer from the weight of the -debts on him, finding no rest or peace after death. - -_Sibby:_ The Magistrates are gone into the Courthouse, Mrs. Broderick. -Why now wouldn't you go up to the bank and ask would the manager -advance you a loan? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ It is likely he would not do it. But maybe it's as -good for me go as to be sitting here waiting for the end. - - (_Puts on hat and shawl._) - -_Nestor:_ I now will take charge of the shop for you, Mrs. Broderick. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ It's little call there'll be to it. The time a -person is sunk that's the time the custom will go from her. (_She goes -out._) - -_Nally:_ I'll be taking a ramble into the Court to see what are the -lads doing. (_Goes out._) - -_Sibby:_ (_Following them._) I might chance some customers there -myself. - - (_Goes out calling--oranges, good oranges._) - -_Nestor:_ (_Taking a paper from his pocket, sitting down, and -beginning to read._) "Romantic elopement in high life. A young lady at -Aberdeen, Missouri, U.S.A., having been left by her father an immense -fortune...." - - (_Stops to wipe his spectacles, puts them on again and looks - for place, which he has lost. Cooney puts his head in at door - and draws it out again._) - -_Nestor:_ Come in, come in! - -_Cooney:_ (_Coming in cautiously and looking round._) Whose house now -might this be? - -_Nestor:_ To the Widow Broderick it belongs. She is out in the town -presently. - -_Cooney:_ I saw her name up over the door. - -_Nestor:_ On business of her own she is gone. It is I am minding the -place for her. - -_Cooney:_ So I see. I suppose now you have good cause to be minding -it? - -_Nestor:_ It would be a pity any of her goods to go to loss. - -_Cooney:_ I suppose so. Is it to auction them you will or to sell them -in bulk? - -_Nestor:_ Not at all. I can sell you any article you will require. - -_Cooney:_ It would be no profit to herself now, I suppose, if you did? - -_Nestor:_ What do you mean saying that? Do you think I would defraud -her from her due in anything I would sell for her at all? - -_Cooney:_ You are not the bailiff so? - -_Nestor:_ Not at all. I wonder any person to take me for a bailiff! - -_Cooney:_ You are maybe one of the creditors? - -_Nestor:_ I am not. I am not a man to have a debt upon me to any -person on earth. - -_Cooney:_ I wonder what it is you are at so, if you have no claim on -the goods. Is it any harm now to ask what's this your name is? - -_Nestor:_ One Joseph Nestor I am, there are few in the district but -know me. Indeed they all have a great opinion of me. Travelled I did -in the army, and attended school and I young, and slept in the one bed -with two boys that were learning Greek. - -_Cooney:_ What way now can I be rightly sure that you are Joseph -Nestor? - -_Nestor:_ (_Pulling out envelope._) There is my pension docket. You -will maybe believe that. - -_Cooney:_ (_Examining it._) I suppose you may be him so. I saw your -name often before this. - -_Nestor:_ Did you now? I suppose it may have travelled a good -distance. - -_Cooney:_ It travelled as far as myself anyway at the bottom of -letters that were written asking relief for the owner of this house. - -_Nestor:_ I suppose you are her brother so, Michael Cooney? - -_Cooney:_ If I am, there are some questions that I want to put and to -get answers to before my mind will be satisfied. Tell me this now. Is -it a fact Mary Broderick to be living at all? - -_Nestor:_ What would make you think her not to be living and she -sending letters to you through the post? - -_Cooney:_ I was saying to myself with myself, there was maybe some -other one personating her and asking me to send relief for their own -ends. - -_Nestor:_ I am in no want of any relief. That is a queer thing to say -and a very queer thing. There are many worse off than myself, the Lord -be praised! - -_Cooney:_ Don't be so quick now starting up to take offence. It is -hard to believe the half the things you hear or that will be told to -you. - -_Nestor:_ That may be so indeed; unless it is things that would be -printed on the papers. But I would think you might trust one of your -own blood. - -_Cooney:_ I might or I might not. I had it in my mind this long time -to come hither and to look around for myself. There are seven -generations of the Cooneys trusted nobody living or dead. - -_Nestor:_ Indeed I was reading in some history of one Ulysses that -came back from a journey and sent no word before him but slipped in -unknown to all but the house dog to see was his wife minding the -place, or was she, as she was, scattering his means. - -_Cooney:_ So she would be too. If Mary Broderick is in need of relief -I will relieve her, but if she is not, I will bring away what I -brought with me to its own place again. - -_Nestor:_ Sure here is the summons. You can read that, and if you will -look out the door you can see by the stir the Magistrates are sitting -in the Court. It is a great welcome she will have before you, and the -relief coming at the very nick of time. - -_Cooney:_ It is too good a welcome she will give me I am thinking. It -is what I am in dread of now, if she thinks I brought her the money so -soft and so easy, she will never be leaving me alone, but dragging all -I have out of me by little and little. - -_Nestor:_ Maybe you might let her have but the lend of it. - -_Cooney:_ Where's the use of calling it a lend when I may be sure I -never will see it again? It might be as well for me to earn the value -of a charity. - -_Nestor:_ You might do that and not repent of it. - -_Cooney:_ It is likely I'll be annoyed with her to the end of my -lifetime if she knows I have as much as that to part with. It might be -she would be following me to Limerick. - -_Nestor:_ Wait now a minute till I will give you an advice. - -_Cooney:_ It is likely my own advice is the best. Look over your own -shoulder and do the thing you think right. How can any other person -know the reasons I have in my mind? - -_Nestor:_ I will know what is in your mind if you will tell it to me. - -_Cooney:_ It would suit me best, she to get the money and not to know -at the present time where did it come from. The next time she will -write wanting help from me, I will task her with it and ask her to -give me an account. - -_Nestor:_ That now would take a great deal of strategy.... Wait now -till I think.... I have it in my mind I was reading in a penny novel -... no but on the "Gael" ... about a boy of Kilbecanty that saved his -old sweetheart from being evicted. - -_Cooney:_ I never heard my sister had any old sweetheart. - -_Nestor:_ It was playing Twenty-five he did it. Played with the -husband he did, letting him win up to fifty pounds. - -_Cooney:_ Mary Broderick was no cardplayer. And if she was itself she -would know me. And it's not fifty pounds I am going to leave with her, -or twenty pounds, or a penny more than is needful to free her from the -summons to-day. - -_Nestor:_ (_Excited._) I will make up a plan! I am sure I will think -of a good one. It is given in to me there is no person so good at -making up a plan as myself on this side of the world, not on this side -of the world! I will manage all. Leave here what you have for her -before she will come in. I will give it to her in some secret way. - -_Cooney:_ I don't know. I will not give it to you before I will get a -receipt for it ... and I'll not leave the town till I'll see did she -get it straight and fair. Into the Court I'll go to see her paying it. - - (_Sits down and writes out receipt._) - -_Nestor:_ I was reading on "Home Chat" about a woman put a note for -five pounds into her son's prayer book and he going a voyage. And when -he came back and was in the church with her it fell out, he never -having turned a leaf of the book at all. - -_Cooney:_ Let you sign this and you may put it in the prayer book so -long as she will get it safe. (_Nestor signs. Cooney looks -suspiciously at signature and compares it with a letter and then gives -notes._) - -_Nestor:_ (_Signing._) Joseph Nestor. - -_Cooney:_ Let me see now is it the same handwriting I used to be -getting on the letters. It is. I have the notes here. - -_Nestor:_ Wait now till I see is there a prayer book.... (_Looks on -shelf_). Treacle, castor oil, marmalade.... I see no books at all. - -_Cooney:_ Hurry on now, she will be coming in and finding me. - -_Nestor:_ Here is what will do as well.... "Old Moore's Almanac." I -will put it here between the leaves. I will ask her the prophecy for -the month. You can come back here after she finding it. - -_Cooney:_ Amn't I after telling you I wouldn't wish her to have sight -of me here at all? What are you at now, I wonder, saying that. I will -take my own way to know does she pay the money. It is not my intention -to be made a fool of. - - (_Goes out._) - -_Nestor:_ You will be satisfied and well satisfied. Let me see now -where are the predictions for the month. (_Reads._) "The angry -appearance of Scorpio and the position of the pale Venus and Jupiter -presage much danger for England. The heretofore obsequious Orangemen -will refuse to respond to the tocsin of landlordism. The scales are -beginning to fall from their eyes." - - (_Mrs. Broderick comes in without his noticing her. She gives a - groan. He drops book and stuffs notes into his pocket._) - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Here I am back again and no addition to me since I -went. - -_Nestor:_ You gave me a start coming in so noiseless. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ It is time for me go to the Court, and I give you my -word I'd be better pleased going to my burying at the Seven Churches. -A nice slab I have there waiting for me, though the man that put it -over me I never saw him at all, and he a far off cousin of my own. - -_Nestor:_ Who knows now, Mrs. Broderick, but things might turn out -better than you think. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ What way could they turn out better between this and -one o'clock? - -_Nestor:_ (_Scratching his head._) I suppose now you wouldn't care to -play a game of Twenty-five? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ I am surprised at you, Mr. Nestor, asking me to go -cardplaying on such a day and at such an hour as this. - -_Nestor:_ I wonder might some person come in and give an order for ten -pounds' worth of the stock? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Much good it would do me. Sure I have the most of it -on credit. - -_Nestor:_ Well, there is no knowing. Some well-to-do person now -passing the street might have seen you and taken a liking to you and -be willing to make an advance or a loan. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Ah, who would be taking a liking to me as they might -to a young girl in her bloom. - -_Nestor:_ Oh, it's a sort of thing might happen. Sure age didn't catch -on to you yet; you are clean and fresh and sound. What's this I was -reading in "Answers." (_Looks at it._) "Romantic elopement...." - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ I know of no one would be thinking of me for a wife -... unless it might be yourself, Mr. Nestor.... - -_Nestor:_ (_Jumping up and speaking fast and running finger up and -down paper._) "Performance of Dick Whittington." ... There now, there -is a story that I read in my reading, it was called Whittington and -the Cat. It was the cat led to his fortune. There might some person -take a fancy to your cat.... - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Ah, let you have done now. I have no cat this good -while. I banished it on the head of it threatening the jackdaw. - -_Nestor:_ The jackdaw? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ (_Fetches cage from inner room._) Sure I reared it -since the time it fell down the chimney and I going into my bed. It is -often you should have seen it, in or out of its cage. Hero his name -is. Come out now, Hero. - - (_Opens cage._) - -_Nestor:_ (_Slapping his side._) That is it ... that's the very thing. -Listen to me now, Mrs. Broderick, there are some might give a good -price for that bird. (_Sitting down to the work._) It chances now -there is a friend of mine in South Africa. A mine owner he is ... very -rich ... but it is down in the mine he has to live by reason of the -Kaffirs ... it is hard to keep a watch upon them in the half dark, -they being black. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ I suppose.... - -_Nestor:_ He does be lonesome now and again, and he is longing for a -bird to put him in mind of old Ireland ... but he is in dread it would -die in the darkness ... and it came to his mind that it is a custom -with jackdaws to be living in chimneys, and that if any birds would -bear the confinement it is they that should do it. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ And is it to buy jackdaws he is going? - -_Nestor:_ Isn't that what I am coming to. (_He pulls out notes._) Here -now is ten pounds I have to lay out for him. Take them now and good -luck go with them, and give me the bird. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Notes is it? Is it waking or dreaming I am and I -standing up on the floor? - -_Nestor:_ Good notes and ten of them. Look at them! National Bank they -are.... Count them now, according to your fingers, and see did I tell -any lie. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ (_Counting._) They are in it sure enough ... so long -as they are good ones and I not made a hare of before the magistrates. - -_Nestor:_ Go out now to the Court and show them to Timothy Ward, and -see does he say are they good. Pay them over then, and its likely you -will be let off the costs. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ (_Taking shawl._) I will go, I will go. Well, you -are a great man and a kind man, Joseph Nestor, and that you may live a -thousand years for this good deed. - -_Nestor:_ Look here now, ma'am, I wouldn't wish you to be mentioning -my name in this business or saying I had any hand in it at all. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ I will not so long as it's not pleasing to you. -Well, it is yourself took a great load off me this day! (_She goes -out._) - -_Nestor:_ (_Calling after her._) I might as well be putting the -jackdaw back into the cage to be ready for the journey. (_Comes into -shop._) I hope now he will be well treated by the sailors and he -travelling over the sea.... Where is he now.... (_Chirrups._) Here -now, come here to me, what's this your name is.... Nero! Nero! (_Makes -pounces behind counter._) Ah, bad manners to you, is it under the -counter you are gone! - - (_Lies flat on the floor chirruping and calling, Nero! Nero! - Nally comes in and watches him curiously._) - -_Nally:_ Is it catching blackbeetles you are, Mr. Nestor? Where are -they and I will give you a hand.... - -_Nestor:_ (_Getting up annoyed._) It's that bird I was striving to -catch a hold of for to put him back in the cage. - -_Tommy Nally:_ (_Making a pounce._) There he is now. (_Puts bird in -cage._) Wait now till I'll fasten the gate. - -_Nestor:_ Just putting everything straight and handy for the widow -woman I am before she will come back from the settlement she is making -in the Court. - -_Nally:_ What way will she be able to do that? - -_Nestor:_ I gave her advice. A thought I had, something that came from -my reading. (_Taps paper._) Education and reading and going in the -army through the kingdoms of the world; that is what fits a man now to -be giving out advice. - -_Tommy:_ Indeed, it's good for them to have you, all the poor ignorant -people of this town. - -_Cooney:_ (_Coming in hurriedly and knocking against Nally as he goes -out._) What, now, would you say to be the best nesting place in this -town. Nests of jackdaws I should say. - -_Nestor:_ There is the old mill should be a good place. To the west of -the station it is. Chimneys there are in it. Middling high they are. -Wait now till I'll tell you of the great plan I made up.... - -_Cooney:_ What are you asking for those rakes in the corner? It's no -matter, I'll take one on credit, or maybe it is only the lend of it -I'll take. ... I'll be coming back immediately. (_He goes out with -rake._) - -_Sibby:_ (_Coming in excitedly._) If you went bird-catching, Mr. -Nestor, tell me what way would you go doing it? - -_Nestor:_ It is not long since I was reading some account of that ... -lads that made a trade of it ... nets they had and they used to be -spreading them in the swamps where the plover do be feeding.... - -_Sibby:_ Ah, sure where's the use of a plover! - -_Nestor:_ And snares they had for putting along the drains where the -snipe do be picking up worms.... But if I myself saw any person going -after things of the sort, it is what I would advise them to stick to -the net. - -_Sibby:_ What now is the price of that net in the corner? - -_Nestor:_ (_Taking it down._) It is but a little bag that is, suitable -for carrying small articles; it would become your oranges well. -Twopence I believe, Sibby, is what I should charge you for that. - -_Sibby:_ (_Taking money out of handkerchief._) Give it to me so! Here -I'll get the start of you, Timothy Ward, anyway. - - (_She takes it and goes out, almost overturning Timothy Ward, - who is rushing in._) - -_Nestor:_ Well, Timothy, did you see the Widow Broderick in the Court? - -_Ward:_ I did see her. It is in it she is, now, looking as content as -in the coffin, and she paying her debt. - -_Nestor:_ Did she give you any account of herself? - -_Ward:_ She did to be sure, and to the whole Court; but look here now, -I have no time to be talking. I have to be back there when the -magistrates will have their lunch taken. Now you being so clever a -man, Mr. Nestor, what would you say is the surest way to go catching -birds? - -_Nestor:_ It is a strange thing now, I was asked the same question not -three minutes ago. I was just searching my mind. It seems to me I have -read in some place it is a very good way to go calling to them with -calls; made for the purpose they are. You have but to sit under a tree -or whatever place they may perch and to whistle ... suppose now it -might be for a curlew.... (_Whistles._) - -_Timothy Ward:_ Are there any of those calls in the shop? - -_Nestor:_ I would not say there are any made for the purpose, but -there might be something might answer you all the same. Let me see -now.... (_Gets down a box of musical toys and turns them over._) - -_Ward:_ Is there anything now has a sound like the croaky screech of a -jackdaw? - -_Nestor:_ Here now is what we used to be calling a corncrake.... -(_Turns it_.) Corncrake, corncrake ... but it seems to me now that to -give it but the one creak, this way ... it is much like what you would -hear in the chimney at the time of the making of the nests. - -_Ward:_ Give it here to me! - - (_Puts a penny on counter and runs out._) - -_Tommy Nally:_ (_Coming in shaking with excitement._) For the love of -God, Mr. Nestor, will you give me that live-trap on credit! - -_Nestor:_ A trap? Sure there is no temptation for rats to be settling -themselves in the Workhouse. - -_Nally:_ Or a snare itself ... or any sort of a thing that would make -the makings of a crib. - -_Nestor:_ What would you want, I wonder, going out fowling with a -crib? - -_Nally:_ Why wouldn't I want it? Why wouldn't I have leave to catch a -bird the same as every other one? - -_Nestor:_ And what would the likes of you be wanting with a bird? - -_Nally:_ What would I want with it, is it? Why wouldn't I be getting -my own ten pounds? - -_Nestor:_ Heaven help your poor head this day! - -_Nally:_ Why wouldn't I get it the same as Mrs. Broderick got it? - -_Nestor:_ Well, listen to me now. You will not get it. - -_Nally:_ Sure that man is buying them will have no objection they to -come from one more than another. - -_Nestor:_ Don't be arguing now. It is a queer thing for you, Tommy -Nally, to be arguing with a man like myself. - -_Nally:_ Think now all the good it would do me ten pound to be put in -my hand! It is not you should be begrudging it to me, Mr. Nestor. Sure -it would be a relief upon the rates. - -_Nestor:_ I tell you you will not get ten pound or any pound at all. -Can't you give attention to what I say? - -_Nally:_ If I had but the price of the trap you wouldn't refuse it to -me. Well, isn't there great hardship upon a man to be bet up and to -have no credit in the town at all. - -_Nestor:_ (_Exasperated, and giving him the cage._) Look here now, I -have a right to turn you out into the street. But, as you are silly -like and with no great share of wits, I will make you a present of -this bird till you try what will you get for it, and till you see will -you get as much as will cover its diet for one day only. Go out now -looking for customers and maybe you will believe what I say. - -_Nally:_ (_Seizing it._) That you may be doing the same thing this -day fifty years! My fortune's made now! (_Goes out with cage._) - -_Nestor:_ (_Sitting down._) My joy go with you, but I'm bothered with -the whole of you. Everyone expecting me to do their business and to -manage their affairs. That is the drawback of being an educated man! - - (_Takes up paper to read._) - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ (_Coming in._) I declare I'm as comforted as Job -coming free into the house from the Court! - -_Nestor:_ Well, indeed, ma'am, I am well satisfied to be able to do -what I did for you, and for my friend from Africa as well, giving him -so fine and so handsome a bird. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Sure Finn himself that chewed his thumb had not your -wisdom, or King Solomon that kept order over his kingdom and his own -seven hundred wives. There is neither of them could be put beside you -for settling the business of any person at all. - - (_Sibby comes in holding up her netted bag._) - -_Nestor:_ What is it you have there, Sibby? - -_Sibby:_ Look at them here, look at them here.... I wasn't long -getting them. Warm they are yet; they will take no injury. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ What are they at all? - -_Sibby:_ It is eggs they are ... look at them. Jackdaws' eggs. - -_Nestor:_ (_Suspiciously._) And what call have you now to be bringing -in jackdaws' eggs? - -_Sibby:_ Is it ten pound apiece I will get for them do you think, or -is it but ten pound I will get for the whole of them? - -_Nestor:_ Is it drink, or is it tea, or is it some change that is come -upon the world that is fitting the people of this place for the asylum -in Ballinasloe? - -_Sibby:_ I know of a good clocking hen. I will put the eggs under -her.... I will rear them when they'll be hatched out. - -_Nestor:_ I suppose now, Mrs. Broderick, you went belling the case -through the town? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ I did not, but to the Magistrates upon the bench -that I told it out of respect to, and I never mentioned your name in -it at all. - -_Sibby:_ Tell me now, Mrs. Broderick, who have I to apply to? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ What is it you are wanting to apply about? - -_Sibby:_ Will you tell me where is the man that is after buying your -jackdaw? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ (_Looking at Nestor._) What's that? Where is he, is -it? - -_Nestor:_ (_Making signs of silence._) How would you know where he is? -It is not in a broken little town of this sort such a man would be -stopping, and he having his business finished. - -_Sibby:_ Sure he will have to be coming back here for the bird. I will -stop till I'll see him drawing near. - -_Nestor:_ It is more likely he will get it consigned to the shipping -agent. Mind what I say now, it is best not be speaking of him at all. - - (_Timothy Ward comes in triumphantly, croaking his toy. He has - a bird in his hand._) - -_Ward:_ I chanced on a starling. It was not with this I tempted him, -but a little chap that had him in a crib. Would you say now, Mr. -Nestor, would that do as well as a jackdaw? Look now, it's as handsome -every bit as the other. And anyway it is likely they will both die -before they will reach to their journey's end. - -_Nestor:_ (_Lifting up his hands._) Of all the foolishness that ever -came upon the world! - -_Ward:_ Hurry on now, Mrs. Broderick, tell me where will I bring it to -the buyer you were speaking of. He is fluttering that hard it is much -if I can keep him in my hand. Is it at Noonan's Royal Hotel he is or -is it at Mack's? - -_Nestor:_ (_Shaking his head threateningly._) How can you tell that -and you not knowing it yourself? - -_Ward:_ Sure you have a right to know what way did he go, and he after -going out of this. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ (_Her eyes apprehensively on Nestor._) Ah, sure, my -mind was tattered on me. I couldn't know did he go east or west. -Standing here in this place I was, like a ghost that got a knock upon -its head. - -_Ward:_ If he is coming back for the bird it is here he will be -coming, and if it is to be sent after him it is likely you will have -his address. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ So I should, too, I suppose. Where now did I put it? -(_She looks to Nestor for orders, but cannot understand his signs, and -turns out pocket._) That's my specs ... that's the key of the box ... -that's a bit of root liquorice.... Where now at all could I have left -down that address? - -_Ward:_ There has no train left since he was here. Sure what does it -matter so long as he did not go out of this. I'll bring this bird to -the railway. Tell me what sort was he till I'll know him. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ (_Still looking at Nestor._) Well, he was middling -tall ... not very gross ... about the figure now of Mr. Nestor. - -_Ward:_ What aged man was he? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ I suppose up to sixty years. About the one age, -you'd say, with Mr. Nestor. - -_Ward:_ Give me some better account now; it is hardly I would make him -out by that. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ A grey beard he has hanging down ... and a bald -poll, and grey hair like a fringe around it ... just for all the world -like Mr. Nestor! - -_Nestor:_ (_Jumping up._) There is nothing so disagreeable in the -whole world as a woman that has too much talk. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Well, let me alone. Where's the use of them all -picking at me to say where did I get the money when I am under orders -not to tell it? - -_Ward:_ Under orders? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ I am, and strong orders. - -_Ward:_ Whose orders are those? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ What's that to you, I ask you? - -_Ward:_ Isn't it a pity now a woman to be so unneighbourly and she -after getting profit for herself? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Look now, Mr. Nestor, the way they are going on at -me, and you saying no word for me at all. - -_Ward:_ How would he say any word when he hasn't it to say? The only -word could be said by any one is that you are a mean grasping person, -gathering what you can for your own profit and keeping yourself so -close and so compact. It is back to the Court I am going, and it's no -good friend I'll be to you from this out, Mrs. Broderick! - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Amn't I telling you I was bidden not to tell? - -_Sibby:_ You were. And is it likely it was you yourself bid yourself -and gave you that advice, Mrs. Broderick? It is what I think the bird -was never bought at all. It is in some other way she got the money. -Maybe in a way she does not like to be talking of. Light weights, -light fingers! Let us go away so and leave her, herself and her money -and her orders! (_Timothy Ward goes out, but Sibby stops at door._) -And much good may they do her. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Listen to that, Mr. Nestor! Will you be listening to -that, when one word from yourself would clear my character! I leave it -now between you and the hearers. Why would I be questioned this way -and that way, the same as if I was on the green table before the -judges? You have my heart broke between you. It's best for me to heat -the kettle and wet a drop of tea. - - (_Goes to inner room._) - -_Sibby:_ Tell us the truth now, Mr. Nestor, if you know anything at -all about it. - -_Nestor:_ I know everything about it. It was to myself the notes were -handed in the first place. I am willing to take my oath to you on -that. It was a stranger, I said, came in. - -_Sibby:_ I wish I could see him and know him if I did see him. - -_Nestor:_ It is likely you would know a man of that sort if you did -see him, Sibby Fahy. It is likely you never saw a man yet that owns -riches would buy up the half of this town. - -_Sibby:_ It is not always them that has the most that makes the most -show. But it is likely he will have a good dark suit anyway, and -shining boots, and a gold chain hanging over his chest. - -_Nestor:_ (_Sarcastically._) He will, and gold rings and pins the same -as the King of France or of Spain. - - (_Enter Cooney, hatless, streaked with soot and lime, - speechless but triumphant. He holds up a nest with nestlings._) - -_Nestor:_ What has happened you, Mr. Cooney, at all? - -_Cooney:_ Look now, what I have got! - -_Nestor:_ A nest, is it? - -_Cooney:_ Three young ones in it! - -_Nestor:_ (_Faintly._) Is it what you are going to say they are -jackdaws! - -_Cooney:_ I followed your directions.... - -_Nestor:_ How do you make that out? - -_Caoney:_ You said the mill chimneys were full of them.... - -_Nestor:_ What has that to do with it? - -_Cooney:_ I left my rake after me broken in the loft ... my hat went -away in the millrace ... I tore my coat on the stones ... there has -mortar got into my eye.... - -_Nestor:_ The Lord bless and save us! - -_Cooney:_ But there is no man can say I did not bring back the birds, -sound and living and in good health. Look now, the open mouths of -them! (_All gather round_.) Three of them safe and living.... I lost -one climbing the wall. ... Where now is the man is going to buy them? - -_Sibby:_ (_Pointing at Nestor._) It is he that can tell you that. - -_Cooney:_ Make no delay bringing me to him. I'm in dread they might -die on me first. - -_Nestor:_ You should know well that no one is buying them. - -_Sibby:_ No one! Sure it was you yourself told us that there was! - -_Nestor:_ If I did itself there is no such a man. - -_Sibby:_ It's not above two minutes he was telling of the rings and -the pins he wore. - -_Nestor:_ He never was in it at all. - -_Cooney:_ What plan is he making up now to defraud me and to rob me? - -_Sibby:_ Question him yourself, and you will see what will he say. - -_Cooney:_ How can I ask questions of a man that is telling lies? - -_Nestor:_ I am telling no lies. I am well able to answer you and to -tell you the truth. - -_Cooney:_ Tell me where is the man that will give me cash for these -birds, the same as he gave it to the woman of this house? - -_Sibby:_ That's it, that is it. Let him tell it out now. - -_Cooney:_ Will you have me ask it as often as the hairs of my head? If -I get vexed I will make you answer me. - -_Nestor:_ It seems to me to have set fire to a rick, but I am well -able to quench it after. There is no man in South Africa, or that came -from South Africa, or that ever owned a mine there at all. Where is -the man bought the bird, are you asking? There he is standing among us -on this floor. (_Points to Cooney._) That is himself, the very man! - -_Cooney:_ (_Advancing a step._) What is that you are saying? - -_Nestor:_ I say that no one came in here but yourself. - -_Cooney:_ Did he say or not say there was a rich man came in? - -_Sibby:_ He did, surely. - -_Nestor:_ To make up a plan.... - -_Cooney:_ I know well you have made up a plan. - -_Nestor:_ To give it unknownst.... - -_Cooney:_ It is to keep it unknownst you are wanting! - -_Nestor:_ The way she would not suspect.... - -_Cooney:_ It is I myself suspect and have cause to suspect! Give me -back my own ten pounds and I'll be satisfied. - -_Nestor:_ What way can I give it back? - -_Cooney:_ The same way as you took it, in the palm of your hand. - -_Nestor:_ Sure it is paid away and spent.... - -_Cooney:_ If it is you'll repay it! I know as well as if I was inside -you you are striving to make me your prey! But I'll sober you! It is -into the Court I will drag you, and as far as the gaol! - -_Nestor:_ I tell you I gave it to the widow woman.... - - (_Mrs. Broderick comes in._) - -_Cooney:_ Let her say now did you. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ What is it at all? What is happening? Joseph Nestor -threatened by a tinker or a tramp! - -_Nestor:_ I would think better of his behaviour if he was a tinker or -a tramp. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ He has drink taken so. Isn't drink the terrible -tempter, a man to see flames and punishment upon the one side and -drink upon the other, and to turn his face towards the drink! - -_Cooney:_ Will you stop your chat, Mary Broderick, till I will drag -the truth out of this traitor? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Who is that calling me by my name? Och! Is it -Michael Cooney is in it? Michael Cooney, my brother! O Michael, what -will they think of you coming into the town and much like a rag on a -stick would be scaring in the wheatfield through the day? - -_Cooney:_ (_Pointing at Nestor._) It was going up in the mill I -destroyed myself, following the directions of that ruffian! - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ And what call has a man that has drink taken to go -climbing up a loft in a mill? A crooked mind you had always, and -that's a sort of person drink doesn't suit. - -_Cooney:_ I tell you I didn't take a glass over a counter this ten -year. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ You would do well to go learn behaviour from Mr. -Nestor. - -_Cooney:_ The man that has me plundered and robbed! Tell me this now, -if you can tell it. Did you find any pound notes in "Old Moore's -Almanac"? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ I did not to be sure, or in any other place. - -_Nestor:_ She came in at the door and I striving to put them into the -book. - -_Cooney:_ Look are they in it now, and I will say he is not tricky, -but honest. - -_Nestor:_ You needn't be looking.... - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ (_Turning over the leaves._) Ne'er a thing at all in -it but the things that will or will not happen, and the days of the -changes of the moon. - -_Cooney:_ (_Seizing and shaking it._) Look at that now! (_To -Nestor._) Will you believe me now telling you that you are a rogue? - -_Nestor:_ Will you listen to me, ma'am.... - -_Cooney:_ No, but listen to myself. I brought the money to you. - -_Nestor:_ If he did he wouldn't trust you with it, ma'am. - -_Cooney:_ I intended it for your relief. - -_Nestor:_ In dread he was you would go follow him to Limerick. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ It is not likely I would be following the like of -him to Limerick, a man that left me to the charity of strangers from -Africa! - -_Cooney:_ I gave the money to him.... - -_Nestor:_ And I gave it to yourself paying for the jackdaw. Are you -satisfied now, Mary Broderick? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Satisfied, is it? It would be a queer thing indeed I -to be satisfied. My brother to be spending money on birds, and his -sister with a summons on her head. Michael Cooney to be passing -himself off as a mine-owner, and I myself being the way I am! - -_Cooney:_ What would I want doing that? I tell you I ask no birds, -black, blue or white! - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ I wonder at you now saying that, and you with that -clutch on your arm! (_Cooney indignantly flings away nest._) -Searching out jackdaws and his sister without the price of a needle -in the house! I tell you, Michael Cooney, it is yourself will be -wandering after your burying, naked and perishing, through winds and -through frosts, in satisfaction for the way you went wasting your -money and your means on such vanities, and she that was reared on the -one floor with you going knocking at the Workhouse door! What good -will jackdaws be to you that time? - -_Cooney:_ It is what I would wish to know, what scheme are the whole -of you at? It is long till I will trust any one but my own eyes again -in the whole of the living world. - - (_She wipes her eyes indignantly. Tommy Nally rushes in the - bird and cage still in his hands._) - -_Nally:_ Where is the bird buyer? It is here he is said to be. It is -well for me get here the first. It is the whole of the town will be -here within half an hour; they have put a great scatter on themselves -hunting and searching in every place, but I am the first! - -_Nestor:_ What is it you are talking about? - -_Nally:_ Not a house in the whole street but is deserted. It is much -if the Magistrates themselves didn't quit the bench for the pursuit, -the way Tim Ward quitted the place he had a right to be! - -_Nestor:_ It is some curse in the air, or some scourge? - -_Nally:_ Birds they are getting by the score! Old and young! Where is -the bird-buyer? Who is it now will give me my price? - - (_He holds up the cage._) - -_Cooney:_ There is surely some root for all this. There must be some -buyer after all. It's to keep him to themselves they are wanting. -(_Goes to door._) But I'll get my own profit in spite of them. - - (_He goes outside door, looking up and down the street._) - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Look at what Tommy Nally has. That's my bird. - -_Nally:_ It is not, it's my own! - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ That is my cage! - -_Nally:_ It is not, it is mine! - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Wouldn't I know my own cage and my own bird? Don't -be telling lies that way! - -_Nally:_ It is no lie I am telling. The bird and the cage were made a -present to me. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Who would make a present to you of the things that -belong to myself? - -_Nally:_ It was Mr. Nestor gave them to me. - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Do you hear what he says, Joseph Nestor? What call -have you to be giving a present of my bird? - -_Nestor:_ And wasn't I after buying it from you? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ If you were it was not for yourself you bought it, -but for the poor man in South Africa you bought it, and you defrauding -him now, giving it away to a man has no claim to it at all. Well, now, -isn't it hard for any man to find a person he can trust? - -_Nestor:_ Didn't you hear me saying I bought it for no person at all? - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Give it up now, Tommy Nally, or I'll have you in -gaol on the head of it. - -_Nally:_ Oh, you wouldn't do such a thing, ma'am, I am sure! - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Indeed and I will, and have you on the treadmill for -a thief. - -_Nally:_ Oh, oh, oh, look now, Mr. Nestor, the way you have made me a -thief and to be lodged in the gaol! - -_Nestor:_ I wish to God you were lodged in it, and we would have less -annoyance in this place! - -_Nally:_ Oh, that is a terrible thing for you to be saying! Sure the -poorhouse itself is better than the gaol! The nuns preparing you for -heaven and the Mass every morning of your life.... - -_Nestor:_ If you go on with your talk and your arguments it's to gaol -you will surely go. - -_Nally:_ Milk of a Wednesday and a Friday, the potatoes steamed very -good.... It's the skins of the potatoes they were telling me you do -have to be eating in the gaol. It is what I am thinking, Mr. Nestor, -that bird will lie heavy on you at the last! - -_Nestor:_ (_Seizing cage and letting the bird out of the door._) Bad -cess and a bad end to it, and that I may never see it or hear of it -again! - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ Look what he is after doing! Get it back for me! -Give it here into my hands I say! Why wouldn't I sell it secondly to -the buyer and he to be coming to the door? It is in my own pocket I -will keep the price of it that time! - -_Nally:_ It would have been as good you to have left it with me as to -be sending itself and the worth of it up into the skies! - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ (_Taking Nestor's arm._) Get it back for me I tell -you! There it is above in the ash tree, and it flapping its wings on a -bough! - -_Nestor:_ Give me the cage, if that will content you, and I will -strive to entice it to come in. - -_Cooney:_ (_Coming in._) Everyone running this way and that way. It is -for birds they are looking sure enough. Why now would they go through -such hardship if there was not a demand in some place? - -_Nestor:_ (_Pushing him away._) Let me go now before that bird will -quit the branch where it is. - -_Cooney:_ (_Seizing hold of him._) Is it striving to catch a bird for -yourself you are now? - -_Nestor:_ Let me pass if you please. I have nothing to say to you at -all. - -_Cooney:_ Laying down to me they were worth nothing! I knew well you -had made up some plan! The grand adviser is it! It is to yourself you -gave good advice that time! - -_Nestor:_ Let me out I tell you before that uproar you are making will -drive it from its perch on the tree. - -_Cooney:_ Is it to rob me of my own money you did and to be keeping me -out of the money I earned along with it! - - (_Threatens Nestor with "Moore's Almanac," which he has picked up._) - -_Sibby:_ Take care would there be murder done in this place! - - (_She seizes Nestor, Mrs. Broderick seizes Cooney. Tommy Nally - wrings his hands._) - -_Nestor:_ Tommy Nally, will you kindly go and call for the police. - -_Cooney:_ Is it into a den of wild beasts I am come that must go -calling out for the police? - -_Nestor:_ A very unmannerly person indeed! - -_Cooney:_ Everyone thinking to take advantage of me and to make their -own trap for my ruin. - -_Nestor:_ I don't know what cause has he at all to have taken any -umbrage against me. - -_Cooney:_ You that had your eye on my notes from the first like a goat -in a cabbage garden! - -_Nestor:_ Coming with a gift in the one hand and holding a dagger in -the other! - -_Cooney:_ If you say that again I will break your collar bone! - -_Nestor:_ O, but you are the terrible wicked man! - -_Cooney:_ I'll squeeze satisfaction out of you if I had to hang for -it! I will be well satisfied if I'll kill you! - - (_Flings "Moore's Almanac" at him._) - -_Nestor:_ (_Throwing his bundle of newspapers._) Oh, good jewel! - -_Ward:_ (_Coming in hastily._) Whist the whole of you, I tell you! The -Magistrates are coming to the door! (_Comes in and shuts it after -him._) - -_Mrs. Broderick:_ The Lord be between us and harm! What made them go -quit the Court? - -_Ward:_ The whole of the witnesses and of the prosecution made off -bird-catching. The Magistrates sent to invite the great mine-owner to -go lunch at Noonan's with themselves. - -_Cooney:_ Horses of their own to stick him with they have. I wouldn't -doubt them at all. - -_Ward:_ He could not be found in any place. They are informed he was -never seen leaving this house. They are coming to make an -investigation. - -_Nestor:_ Don't be anyway uneasy. I will explain the whole case. - -_Ward:_ The police along with them.... - -_Cooney:_ Is the whole of this district turned into a trap? - -_Ward:_ It is what they are thinking, that the stranger was made away -with for his gold! - -_Cooney:_ And if he was, as sure as you are living, it was done by -that blackguard there! - - (_Points at Nestor._) - -_Ward:_ If he is not found they will arrest all they see upon the -premises.... - -_Cooney:_ It is best for me to quit this. - - (_Goes to door._) - -_Ward:_ Here they are at the door. Sergeant Carden along with them. -Hide yourself, Mr. Nestor, if you've anyway to do it at all. - - (_Sounds of feet and talking and knock at the door. Cooney - hides under counter. Nestor lies down on top of bench, spreads - his newspaper over him. Mrs. Broderick goes behind counter._) - -_Nestor:_ (_Raising paper from his face and looking out._) Tommy -Nally, I will give you five shillings if you will draw "Tit-Bits" over -my feet. - - -_Curtain_ - - - - -THE WORKHOUSE WARD - - -PERSONS - - _Mike McInerney_ } PAUPERS - _Michael Miskell_ } - _Mrs. Donohoe_, A COUNTRYWOMAN - - -THE WORKHOUSE WARD - - - _Scene: A ward in Cloon Workhouse. The two old men in their - beds._ - - -_Michael Miskell:_ Isn't it a hard case, Mike McInerney, myself and -yourself to be left here in the bed, and it the feast day of Saint -Colman, and the rest of the ward attending on the Mass. - -_Mike McInerney:_ Is it sitting up by the hearth you are wishful to -be, Michael Miskell, with cold in the shoulders and with speckled -shins? Let you rise up so, and you well able to do it, not like myself -that has pains the same as tin-tacks within in my inside. - -_Michael Miskell:_ If you have pains within in your inside there is no -one can see it or know of it the way they can see my own knees that -are swelled up with the rheumatism, and my hands that are twisted in -ridges the same as an old cabbage stalk. It is easy to be talking -about soreness and about pains, and they maybe not to be in it at all. - -_Mike McInerney:_ To open me and to analyse me you would know what -sort of a pain and a soreness I have in my heart and in my chest. But -I'm not one like yourself to be cursing and praying and tormenting the -time the nuns are at hand, thinking to get a bigger share than myself -of the nourishment and of the milk. - -_Michael Miskell:_ That's the way you do be picking at me and faulting -me. I had a share and a good share in my early time, and it's well you -know that, and the both of us reared in Skehanagh. - -_Mike McInerney:_ You may say that, indeed, we are both of us reared -in Skehanagh. Little wonder you to have good nourishment the time we -were both rising, and you bringing away my rabbits out of the snare. - -_Michael Miskell:_ And you didn't bring away my own eels, I suppose, I -was after spearing in the Turlough? Selling them to the nuns in the -convent you did, and letting on they to be your own. For you were -always a cheater and a schemer, grabbing every earthly thing for your -own profit. - -_Mike McInerney:_ And you were no grabber yourself, I suppose, till -your land and all you had grabbed wore away from you! - -_Michael Miskell:_ If I lost it itself, it was through the crosses I -met with and I going through the world. I never was a rambler and a -card-player like yourself, Mike McInerney, that ran through all and -lavished it unknown to your mother! - -_Mike McInerney:_ Lavished it, is it? And if I did was it you yourself -led me to lavish it or some other one? It is on my own floor I would -be to-day and in the face of my family, but for the misfortune I had -to be put with a bad next door neighbour that was yourself. What way -did my means go from me is it? Spending on fencing, spending on walls, -making up gates, putting up doors, that would keep your hens and your -ducks from coming in through starvation on my floor, and every four -footed beast you had from preying and trespassing on my oats and my -mangolds and my little lock of hay! - -_Michael Miskell:_ O to listen to you! And I striving to please you -and to be kind to you and to close my ears to the abuse you would be -calling and letting out of your mouth. To trespass on your crops is -it? It's little temptation there was for my poor beasts to ask to -cross the mering. My God Almighty! What had you but a little corner of -a field! - -_Mike McInerney:_ And what do you say to my garden that your two pigs -had destroyed on me the year of the big tree being knocked, and they -making gaps in the wall. - -_Michael Miskell:_ Ah, there does be a great deal of gaps knocked in a -twelvemonth. Why wouldn't they be knocked by the thunder, the same as -the tree, or some storm that came up from the west? - -_Mike McInerney:_ It was the west wind, I suppose, that devoured my -green cabbage? And that rooted up my Champion potatoes? And that ate -the gooseberries themselves from off the bush? - -_Michael Miskell:_ What are you saying? The two quietest pigs ever I -had, no way wicked and well ringed. They were not ten minutes in it. -It would be hard for them eat strawberries in that time, let alone -gooseberries that's full of thorns. - -_Mike McInerney:_ They were not quiet, but very ravenous pigs you had -that time, as active as a fox they were, killing my young ducks. Once -they had blood tasted you couldn't stop them. - -_Michael Miskell:_ And what happened myself the fair day of -Esserkelly, the time I was passing your door? Two brazened dogs that -rushed out and took a piece of me. I never was the better of it or of -the start I got, but wasting from then till now! - -_Mike McInerney:_ Thinking you were a wild beast they did, that had -made his escape out of the travelling show, with the red eyes of you -and the ugly face of you, and the two crooked legs of you that -wouldn't hardly stop a pig in a gap. Sure any dog that had any life -in it at all would be roused and stirred seeing the like of you going -the road! - -_Michael Miskell:_ I did well taking out a summons against you that -time. It is a great wonder you not to have been bound over through -your lifetime, but the laws of England is queer. - -_Mike McInerney:_ What ailed me that I did not summons yourself after -you stealing away the clutch of eggs I had in the barrel, and I away -in Ardrahan searching out a clocking hen. - -_Michael Miskell:_ To steal your eggs is it? Is that what you are -saying now? (_Holds up his hands._) The Lord is in heaven, and Peter -and the saints, and yourself that was in Ardrahan that day put a hand -on them as soon as myself! Isn't it a bad story for me to be wearing -out my days beside you the same as a spancelled goat. Chained I am and -tethered I am to a man that is ramsacking his mind for lies! - -_Mike McInerney:_ If it is a bad story for you, Michael Miskell, it is -a worse story again for myself. A Miskell to be next and near me -through the whole of the four quarters of the year. I never heard -there to be any great name on the Miskells as there was on my own race -and name. - -_Michael Miskell:_ You didn't, is it? Well, you could hear it if you -had but ears to hear it. Go across to Lisheen Crannagh and down to -the sea and to Newtown Lynch and the mills of Duras and you'll find a -Miskell, and as far as Dublin! - -_Mike McInerney:_ What signifies Crannagh and the mills of Duras? Look -at all my own generations that are buried at the Seven Churches. And -how many generations of the Miskells are buried in it? Answer me that! - -_Michael Miskell:_ I tell you but for the wheat that was to be sowed -there would be more side cars and more common cars at my father's -funeral (_God rest his soul!_) than at any funeral ever left your own -door. And as to my mother, she was a Cuffe from Claregalway, and it's -she had the purer blood! - -_Mike McInerney:_ And what do you say to the banshee? Isn't she apt to -have knowledge of the ancient race? Was ever she heard to screech or -to cry for the Miskells? Or for the Cuffes from Claregalway? She was -not, but for the six families, the Hyneses, the Foxes, the Faheys, the -Dooleys, the McInerneys. It is of the nature of the McInerneys she is -I am thinking, crying them the same as a king's children. - -_Michael Miskell:_ It is a pity the banshee not to be crying for -yourself at this minute, and giving you a warning to quit your lies -and your chat and your arguing and your contrary ways; for there is no -one under the rising sun could stand you. I tell you you are not -behaving as in the presence of the Lord! - -_Mike McInerney:_ Is it wishful for my death you are? Let it come and -meet me now and welcome so long as it will part me from yourself! And -I say, and I would kiss the book on it, I to have one request only to -be granted, and I leaving it in my will, it is what I would request, -nine furrows of the field, nine ridges of the hills, nine waves of the -ocean to be put between your grave and my own grave the time we will -be laid in the ground! - -_Michael Miskell:_ Amen to that! Nine ridges, is it? No, but let the -whole ridge of the world separate us till the Day of Judgment! I would -not be laid anear you at the Seven Churches, I to get Ireland without -a divide! - -_Mike McInerney:_ And after that again! I'd sooner than ten pound in -my hand, I to know that my shadow and my ghost will not be knocking -about with your shadow and your ghost, and the both of us waiting our -time. I'd sooner be delayed in Purgatory! Now, have you anything to -say? - -_Michael Miskell:_ I have everything to say, if I had but the time to -say it! - -_Mike McInerney:_ (_Sitting up._) Let me up out of this till I'll -choke you! - -_Michael Miskell:_ You scolding pauper you! - -_Mike McInerney:_ (_Shaking his fist at him._) Wait a while! - -_Michael Miskell:_ (_Shaking his fist._) Wait a while yourself! - - (_Mrs. Donohoe comes in with a parcel. She is a countrywoman - with a frilled cap and a shawl. She stands still a minute. The - two old men lie down and compose themselves._) - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ They bade me come up here by the stair. I never was in -this place at all. I don't know am I right. Which now of the two of ye -is Mike McInerney? - -_Mike McInerney:_ Who is it is calling me by my name? - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ Sure amn't I your sister, Honor McInerney that was, -that is now Honor Donohoe. - -_Mike McInerney:_ So you are, I believe. I didn't know you till you -pushed anear me. It is time indeed for you to come see me, and I in -this place five year or more. Thinking me to be no credit to you, I -suppose, among that tribe of the Donohoes. I wonder they to give you -leave to come ask am I living yet or dead? - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ Ah, sure, I buried the whole string of them. Himself -was the last to go. (_Wipes her eyes._) The Lord be praised he got a -fine natural death. Sure we must go through our crosses. And he got a -lovely funeral; it would delight you to hear the priest reading the -Mass. My poor John Donohoe! A nice clean man, you couldn't but be fond -of him. Very severe on the tobacco he was, but he wouldn't touch the -drink. - -_Mike McInerney:_ And is it in Curranroe you are living yet? - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ It is so. He left all to myself. But it is a lonesome -thing the head of a house to have died! - -_Mike McInerney:_ I hope that he has left you a nice way of living? - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ Fair enough, fair enough. A wide lovely house I have; -a few acres of grass land ... the grass does be very sweet that grows -among the stones. And as to the sea, there is something from it every -day of the year, a handful of periwinkles to make kitchen, or cockles -maybe. There is many a thing in the sea is not decent, but cockles is -fit to put before the Lord! - -_Mike McInerney:_ You have all that! And you without ere a man in the -house? - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ It is what I am thinking, yourself might come and keep -me company. It is no credit to me a brother of my own to be in this -place at all. - -_Mike McInerney:_ I'll go with you! Let me out of this! It is the name -of the McInerneys will be rising on every side! - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ I don't know. I was ignorant of you being kept to the -bed. - -_Mike McInerney:_ I am not kept to it, but maybe an odd time when -there is a colic rises up within me. My stomach always gets better the -time there is a change in the moon. I'd like well to draw anear you. -My heavy blessing on you, Honor Donohoe, for the hand you have held -out to me this day. - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ Sure you could be keeping the fire in, and stirring -the pot with the bit of Indian meal for the hens, and milking the goat -and taking the tacklings off the donkey at the door; and maybe putting -out the cabbage plants in their time. For when the old man died the -garden died. - -_Mike McInerney:_ I could to be sure, and be cutting the potatoes for -seed. What luck could there be in a place and a man not to be in it? -Is that now a suit of clothes you have brought with you? - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ It is so, the way you will be tasty coming in among -the neighbours at Curranroe. - -_Mike McInerney:_ My joy you are! It is well you earned me! Let me up -out of this! (He sits up and spreads out the clothes and tries on -coat.) That now is a good frieze coat ... and a hat in the fashion ... -(_He puts on hat._) - -_Michael Miskell:_ (_Alarmed._) And is it going out of this you are, -Mike McInerney? - -_Mike McInerney:_ Don't you hear I am going? To Curranroe I am going. -Going I am to a place where I will get every good thing! - -_Michael Miskell:_ And is it to leave me here after you you will? - -_Mike McInerney:_ (_In a rising chant._) Every good thing! The goat -and the kid are there, the sheep and the lamb are there, the cow does -be running and she coming to be milked! Ploughing and seed sowing, -blossom at Christmas time, the cuckoo speaking through the dark days -of the year! Ah, what are you talking about? Wheat high in hedges, no -talk about the rent! Salmon in the rivers as plenty as turf! Spending -and getting and nothing scarce! Sport and pleasure, and music on the -strings! Age will go from me and I will be young again. Geese and -turkeys for the hundreds and drink for the whole world! - -_Michael Miskell:_ Ah, Mike, is it truth you are saying, you to go -from me and to leave me with rude people and with townspeople, and -with people of every parish in the union, and they having no respect -for me or no wish for me at all! - -_Mike McInerney:_ Whist now and I'll leave you ... my pipe (_hands it -over_); and I'll engage it is Honor Donohoe won't refuse to be sending -you a few ounces of tobacco an odd time, and neighbours coming to the -fair in November or in the month of May. - -_Michael Miskell:_ Ah, what signifies tobacco? All that I am craving -is the talk. There to be no one at all to say out to whatever thought -might be rising in my innate mind! To be lying here and no conversible -person in it would be the abomination of misery! - -_Mike McInerney:_ Look now, Honor.... It is what I often heard said, -two to be better than one.... Sure if you had an old trouser was full -of holes ... or a skirt ... wouldn't you put another in under it that -might be as tattered as itself, and the two of them together would -make some sort of a decent show? - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ Ah, what are you saying? There is no holes in that -suit I brought you now, but as sound it is as the day I spun it for -himself. - -_Mike McInerney:_ It is what I am thinking, Honor ... I do be weak an -odd time ... any load I would carry, it preys upon my side ... and -this man does be weak an odd time with the swelling in his knees ... -but the two of us together it's not likely it is at the one time we -would fail. Bring the both of us with you, Honor, and the height of -the castle of luck on you, and the both of us together will make one -good hardy man! - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ I'd like my job! Is it queer in the head you are grown -asking me to bring in a stranger off the road? - -_Michael Miskell:_ I am not, ma'am, but an old neighbour I am. If I -had forecasted this asking I would have asked it myself. Michael -Miskell I am, that was in the next house to you in Skehanagh! - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ For pity's sake! Michael Miskell is it? That's worse -again. Yourself and Mike that never left fighting and scolding and -attacking one another! Sparring at one another like two young pups you -were, and threatening one another after like two grown dogs! - -_Mike McInerney:_ All the quarrelling was ever in the place it was -myself did it. Sure his anger rises fast and goes away like the wind. -Bring him out with myself now, Honor Donohoe, and God bless you. - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ Well, then, I will not bring him out, and I will not -bring yourself out, and you not to learn better sense. Are you making -yourself ready to come? - -_Mike McInerney:_ I am thinking, maybe ... it is a mean thing for a -man that is shivering into seventy years to go changing from place to -place. - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ Well, take your luck or leave it. All I asked was to -save you from the hurt and the harm of the year. - -_Mike McInerney:_ Bring the both of us with you or I will not stir out -of this. - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ Give me back my fine suit so (_begins gathering up the -clothes_), till I'll go look for a man of my own! - -_Mike McInerney:_ Let you go so, as you are so unnatural and so -disobliging, and look for some man of your own, God help him! For I -will not go with you at all! - -_Mrs. Donohoe:_ It is too much time I lost with you, and dark night -waiting to overtake me on the road. Let the two of you stop together, -and the back of my hand to you. It is I will leave you there the same -as God left the Jews! - - (_She goes out. The old men lie down and are silent for a moment._) - -_Michael Miskell:_ Maybe the house is not so wide as what she says. - -_Mike McInerney:_ Why wouldn't it be wide? - -_Michael Miskell:_ Ah, there does be a good deal of middling poor -houses down by the sea. - -_Mike McInerney:_ What would you know about wide houses? Whatever sort -of a house you had yourself it was too wide for the provision you had -into it. - -_Michael Miskell:_ Whatever provision I had in my house it was -wholesome provision and natural provision. Herself and her -periwinkles! Periwinkles is a hungry sort of food. - -_Mike McInerney:_ Stop your impudence and your chat or it will be the -worse for you. I'd bear with my own father and mother as long as any -man would, but if they'd vex me I would give them the length of a rope -as soon as another! - -_Michael Miskell:_ I would never ask at all to go eating periwinkles. - -_Mike McInerney:_ (_Sitting up._) Have you anyone to fight me? - -_Michael Miskell:_ (_Whimpering._) I have not, only the Lord! - -_Mike McInerney:_ Let you leave putting insults on me so, and death -picking at you! - -_Michael Miskell:_ Sure I am saying nothing at all to displease you. -It is why I wouldn't go eating periwinkles, I'm in dread I might -swallow the pin. - -_Mike McInerney:_ Who in the world wide is asking you to eat them? -You're as tricky as a fish in the full tide! - -_Michael Miskell:_ Tricky is it! Oh, my curse and the curse of the -four and twenty men upon you! - -_Mike McInerney:_ That the worm may chew you from skin to marrow bone! -(_Seizes his pillow._) - -_Michael Miskell:_ (_Seizing his own pillow._) I'll leave my death on -you, you scheming vagabone! - -_Mike McInerney:_ By cripes! I'll pull out your pin feathers! -(_Throwing pillow._) - -_Michael Miskell:_ (_Throwing pillow._) You tyrant! You big bully you! - -_Mike McInerney:_ (_Throwing pillow and seizing mug._) Take this so, -you stobbing ruffian you! - - (_They throw all within their reach at one another, mugs, - prayer books, pipes, etc._) - - -_Curtain_ - - - - -THE TRAVELLING MAN - - -PERSONS - - _A Mother._ - _A Child._ - _A Travelling Man._ - - -THE TRAVELLING MAN - -A MIRACLE PLAY - - - _Scene: A cottage kitchen. A woman setting out a bowl and jug - and board on the table for bread-making._ - -_Child:_ What is it you are going to make, mother? - -_Mother:_ I am going to make a grand cake with white flour. Seeds I -will put in it. Maybe I'll make a little cake for yourself too. You -can be baking it in the little pot while the big one will be baking in -the big pot. - -_Child:_ It is a pity daddy to be away at the fair on a Samhain night. - -_Mother:_ I must make my feast all the same, for Samhain night is more -to me than to any other one. It was on this night seven years I first -came into this house. - -_Child:_ You will be taking down those plates from the dresser so, -those plates with flowers on them, and be putting them on the table. - -_Mother:_ I will. I will set out the house to-day, and bring down the -best delf, and put whatever thing is best on the table, because of the -great thing that happened me seven years ago. - -_Child:_ What great thing was that? - -_Mother:_ I was after being driven out of the house where I was a -serving girl.... - -_Child:_ Where was that house? Tell me about it. - -_Mother:_ (_Sitting down and pointing southward._) It is over there I -was living, in a farmer's house up on Slieve Echtge, near to Slieve na -n-Or, the Golden Mountain. - -_Child:_ The Golden Mountain! That must be a grand place. - -_Mother:_ Not very grand indeed, but bare and cold enough at that time -of the year. Anyway, I was driven out a Samhain day like this, because -of some things that were said against me. - -_Child:_ What did you do then? - -_Mother:_ What had I to do but to go walking the bare bog road through -the rough hills where there was no shelter to find, and the sharp wind -going through me, and the red mud heavy on my shoes. I came to -Kilbecanty.... - -_Child:_ I know Kilbecanty. That is where the woman in the shop gave -me sweets out of a bottle. - -_Mother:_ So she might now, but that night her door was shut and all -the doors were shut; and I saw through the windows the boys and the -girls sitting round the hearth and playing their games, and I had no -courage to ask for shelter. In dread I was they might think some -shameful thing of me, and I going the road alone in the night-time. - -_Child:_ Did you come here after that? - -_Mother:_ I went on down the hill in the darkness, and with the dint -of my trouble and the length of the road my strength failed me, and I -had like to fall. So I did fall at the last, meeting with a heap of -broken stones by the roadside. - -_Child:_ I hurt my knee one time I fell on the stones. - -_Mother:_ It was then the great thing happened. I saw a stranger -coming towards me, a very tall man, the best I ever saw, bright and -shining that you could see him through the darkness; and I knew him to -be no common man. - -_Child:_ Who was he? - -_Mother:_ It is what I thought, that he was the King of the World. - -_Child:_ Had he a crown like a King? - -_Mother:_ If he had, it was made of the twigs of a bare blackthorn; -but in his hand he had a green branch, that never grew on a tree of -this world. He took me by the hand, and he led me over the -stepping-stones outside to this door, and he bade me to go in and I -would find good shelter. I was kneeling down to thank him, but he -raised me up and he said, "I will come to see you some other time. -And do not shut up your heart in the things I give you," he said, "but -have a welcome before me." - -_Child:_ Did he go away then? - -_Mother:_ I saw him no more after that, but I did as he bade me. (_She -stands up and goes to the door._) I came in like this, and your father -was sitting there by the hearth, a lonely man that was after losing -his wife. He was alone and I was alone, and we married one another; -and I never wanted since for shelter or safety. And a good wife I made -him, and a good housekeeper. - -_Child:_ Will the King come again to the house? - -_Mother:_ I have his word for it he will come, but he did not come -yet; it is often your father and myself looked out the door of a -Samhain night, thinking to see him. - -_Child:_ I hope he won't come in the night time, and I asleep. - -_Mother:_ It is of him I do be thinking every year, and I setting out -the house, and making a cake for the supper. - -_Child:_ What will he do when he comes in? - -_Mother:_ He will sit over there in the chair, and maybe he will taste -a bit of the cake. I will call in all the neighbours; I will tell them -he is here. They will not be keeping it in their mind against me then -that I brought nothing, coming to the house. They will know I am -before any of them, the time they know who it is has come to visit me. -They will all kneel down and ask for his blessing. But the best -blessing will be on the house he came to of himself. - -_Child:_ And are you going to make the cake now? - -_Mother:_ I must make it now indeed, or I will be late with it. I am -late as it is; I was expecting one of the neighbours to bring me white -flour from the town. I'll wait no longer, I'll go borrow it in some -place. There will be a wedding in the stonecutter's house Thursday, -it's likely there will be flour in the house. - -_Child:_ Let me go along with you. - -_Mother:_ It is best for you to stop here. Be a good child now, and -don't be meddling with the things on the table. Sit down there by the -hearth and break up those little sticks I am after bringing in. Make a -little heap of them now before me, and we will make a good fire to -bake the cake. See now how many will you break. Don't go out the door -while I'm away, I would be in dread of you going near the river and it -in flood. Behave yourself well now. Be counting the sticks as you -break them. - - (_She goes out._) - -_Child:_ (_Sitting down and breaking sticks across his knee._) One--and -two--O I can break this one into a great many, one, two, three, -four.--This one is wet--I don't like a wet one--five, six--that is a great -heap.--Let me try that great big one.--That is too hard.--I don't think -mother could break that one.--Daddy could break it. - - (_Half-door is opened and a travelling man comes in. He wears a - ragged white flannel shirt, and mud-stained trousers. He is - bareheaded and barefooted, and carries a little branch in his - hand._) - -_Travelling Man:_ (_Stooping over the child and taking the stick._) -Give it here to me and hold this. - - (_He puts the branch in the child's hand while he takes the - stick and breaks it._) - -_Child:_ That is a good branch, apples on it and flowers. The tree at -the mill has apples yet, but all the flowers are gone. Where did you -get this branch? - -_Travelling Man:_ I got it in a garden a long way off. - -_Child:_ Where is the garden? Where do you come from? - -_Travelling Man:_ (_Pointing southward._) I have come from beyond -those hills. - -_Child:_ Is it from the Golden Mountain you are come? From Slieve na -n-Or? - -_Travelling Man:_ That is where I come from surely, from the Golden -Mountain. I would like to sit down and rest for a while. - -_Child:_ Sit down here beside me. We must not go near the table or -touch anything, or mother will be angry. Mother is going to make a -beautiful cake, a cake that will be fit for a King that might be -coming in to our supper. - -_Travelling Man:_ I will sit here with you on the floor. - - (_Sits down._) - -_Child:_ Tell me now about the Golden Mountain. - -_Travelling Man:_ There is a garden in it, and there is a tree in the -garden that has fruit and flowers at the one time. - -_Child:_ Like this branch? - -_Travelling Man:_ Just like that little branch. - -_Child:_ What other things are in the garden? - -_Travelling Man:_ There are birds of all colours that sing at every -hour, the way the people will come to their prayers. And there is a -high wall about the garden. - -_Child:_ What way can the people get through the wall? - -_Travelling Man:_ There are four gates in the wall: a gate of gold, -and a gate of silver, and a gate of crystal, and a gate of white -brass. - -_Child:_ (_Taking up the sticks._) I will make a garden. I will make a -wall with these sticks. - -_Travelling Man:_ This big stick will make the first wall. - - (_They build a square wall with sticks._) - -_Child:_ (_Taking up branch._) I will put this in the middle. This is -the tree. I will get something to make it stand up. (_Gets up and -looks at dresser._) I can't reach it, get up and give me that shining -jug. - - (_Travelling Man gets up and gives him the jug._) - -_Travelling Man:_ Here it is for you. - -_Child:_ (_Puts it within the walls and sets the branch in it._) Tell -me something else that is in the garden? - -_Travelling Man:_ There are four wells of water in it, that are as -clear as glass. - -_Child:_ Get me down those cups, those flowery cups, we will put them -for wells. (_He hands them down._) Now I will make the gates, give me -those plates for gates, not those ugly ones, those nice ones at the -top. - - (_He takes them down and they put them on the four sides for - gates. The Child gets up and looks at it._) - -_Travelling Man:_ There now, it is finished. - -_Child:_ Is it as good as the other garden? How can we go to the -Golden Mountain to see the other garden? - -_Travelling Man:_ We can ride to it. - -_Child:_ But we have no horse. - -_Travelling Man:_ This form will be our horse. (_He draws a form out -of the corner, and sits down astride on it, putting the child before -him._) Now, off we go! (_Sings, the child repeating the refrain_)-- - - Come ride and ride to the garden, - Come ride and ride with a will: - For the flower comes with the fruit there - Beyond a hill and a hill. - - _Refrain_ - - Come ride and ride to the garden, - Come ride like the March wind; - There's barley there, and water there, - And stabling to your mind. - -_Travelling Man:_ How did you like that ride, little horseman? - -_Child:_ Go on again! I want another ride! - -_Travelling Man_ (_sings_)-- - - The Archangels stand in a row there - And all the garden bless, - The Archangel Axel, Victor the angel - Work at the cider press. - - _Refrain_ - - Come ride and ride to the garden, &c. - -_Child:_ We will soon be at the Golden Mountain now. Ride again. Sing -another song. - -_Travelling Man_ (_sings_)-- - - - O scent of the broken apples! - O shuffling of holy shoes! - Beyond a hill and a hill there - In the land that no one knows. - - _Refrain_ - - Come ride and ride to the garden, &c. - - -_Child:_ Now another ride. - -_Travelling Man:_ This will be the last. It will be a good ride. - - (_The mother comes in. She stares for a second, then throws - down her basket and snatches up the child._) - -_Mother:_ Did ever anyone see the like of that! A common beggar, a -travelling man off the roads, to be holding the child! To be leaving -his ragged arms about him as if he was of his own sort! Get out of -that, whoever you are, and quit this house or I'll call to some that -will make you quit it. - -_Child:_ Do not send him out! He is not a bad man; he is a good man; -he was playing horses with me. He has grand songs. - -_Mother:_ Let him get away out of this now, himself and his share of -songs. Look at the way he has your bib destroyed that I was after -washing in the morning! - -_Child:_ He was holding me on the horse. We were riding, I might have -fallen. He held me. - -_Mother:_ I give you my word you are done now with riding horses. Let -him go on his road. I have no time to be cleaning the place after the -like of him. - -_Child:_ He is tired. Let him stop here till evening. - -_Travelling Man:_ Let me rest here for a while, I have been travelling -a long way. - -_Mother:_ Where did you come from to-day? - -_Travelling Man:_ I came over Slieve Echtge from Slieve na n-Or. I had -no house to stop in. I walked the long bog road, the wind was going -through me, there was no shelter to be got, the red mud of the road -was heavy on my feet. I got no welcome in the villages, and so I came -on to this place, to the rising of the river at Ballylee. - -_Mother:_ It is best for you to go on to the town. It is not far for -you to go. We will maybe have company coming in here. - - (_She pours out flour into a bowl and begins mixing._) - -_Travelling Man:_ Will you give me a bit of that dough to bring with -me? I have gone a long time fasting. - -_Mother:_ It is not often in the year I make bread like this. There -are a few cold potatoes on the dresser, are they not good enough for -you? There is many a one would be glad to get them. - -_Travelling Man:_ Whatever you will give me, I will take it. - -_Mother:_ (_Going to the dresser for the potatoes and looking at the -shelves._) What in the earthly world has happened all the delf? Where -are the jugs gone and the plates? They were all in it when I went out -a while ago. - -_Child:_ (_Hanging his head._) We were making a garden with them. We -were making that garden there in the corner. - -_Mother:_ Is that what you were doing after I bidding you to sit still -and to keep yourself quiet? It is to tie you in the chair I will -another time! My grand jugs! (_She picks them up and wipes them._) My -plates that I bought the first time I ever went marketing into Gort. -The best in the shop they were. (_One slips from her hand and -breaks._) Look at that now, look what you are after doing. - - (_She gives a slap at the child._) - -_Travelling Man:_ Do not blame the child. It was I myself took them -down from the dresser. - -_Mother:_ (_Turning on him._) It was you took them! What business had -you doing that? It's the last time a tramp or a tinker or a rogue of -the roads will have a chance of laying his hand on anything in this -house. It is jailed you should be! What did you want touching the -dresser at all? Is it looking you were for what you could bring away? - -_Travelling Man:_ (_Taking the child's hands._) I would not refuse -these hands that were held out for them. If it was for the four winds -of the world he had asked, I would have put their bridles into these -innocent hands. - -_Mother:_ (_Taking up the jug and throwing the branch on the floor._) -Get out of this! Get out of this I tell you! There is no shelter here -for the like of you! Look at that mud on the floor! You are not fit to -come into the house of any decent respectable person! - - (_The room begins to darken._) - -_Travelling Man:_ Indeed, I am more used to the roads than to the -shelter of houses. It is often I have spent the night on the bare -hills. - -_Mother:_ No wonder in that! (_She begins to sweep floor._) Go out of -this now to whatever company you are best used to, whatever they are. -The worst of people it is likely they are, thieves and drunkards and -shameless women. - -_Travelling Man:_ Maybe so. Drunkards and thieves and shameless women, -stones that have fallen, that are trodden under foot, bodies that are -spoiled with sores, bodies that are worn with fasting, minds that are -broken with much sinning, the poor, the mad, the bad.... - -_Mother:_ Get out with you! Go back to your friends, I say! - -_Travelling Man:_ I will go. I will go back to the high road that is -walked by the bare feet of the poor, by the innocent bare feet of -children. I will go back to the rocks and the wind, to the cries of -the trees in the storm! (_He goes out._) - -_Child:_ He has forgotten his branch! - - (_Takes it and follows him._) - -_Mother:_ (_Still sweeping._) My good plates from the dresser, and -dirty red mud on the floor, and the sticks all scattered in every -place. (_Stoops to pick them up._) Where is the child gone? (_Goes to -door._) I don't see him--he couldn't have gone to the river--it is -getting dark--the bank is slippy. Come back! Come back! Where are you? -(_Child runs in._) - -_Mother:_ O where were you? I was in dread it was to the river you -were gone, or into the river. - -_Child:_ I went after him. He is gone over the river. - -_Mother:_ He couldn't do that. He couldn't go through the flood. - -_Child:_ He did go over it. He was as if walking on the water. There -was a light before his feet. - -_Mother:_ That could not be so. What put that thought in your mind? - -_Child:_ I called to him to come back for the branch, and he turned -where he was in the river, and he bade me to bring it back, and to -show it to yourself. - -_Mother:_ (_Taking the branch._) There are fruit and flowers on it. It -is a branch that is not of any earthly tree. (_Falls on her knees._) -He is gone, he is gone, and I never knew him! He was that stranger -that gave me all! He is the King of the World! - - - - -THE GAOL GATE - - -PERSONS - - _Mary Cahel_ AN OLD WOMAN - _Mary Cushin_ HER DAUGHTER-IN-LAW - _The Gatekeeper_ - - -THE GAOL GATE - - - _Scene: Outside the gate of Galway Gaol. Two countrywomen, one - in a long dark cloak, the other with a shawl over her head, - have just come in. It is just before dawn._ - - -_Mary Cahel:_ I am thinking we are come to our journey's end, and that -this should be the gate of the gaol. - -_Mary Cushin:_ It is certain it could be no other place. There was -surely never in the world such a terrible great height of a wall. - -_Mary Cahel:_ He that was used to the mountain to be closed up inside -of that! What call had he to go moonlighting or to bring himself into -danger at all? - -_Mary Cushin:_ It is no wonder a man to grow faint-hearted and he shut -away from the light. I never would wonder at all at anything he might -be driven to say. - -_Mary Cahel:_ There were good men were gaoled before him never gave in -to anyone at all. It is what I am thinking, Mary, he might not have -done what they say. - -_Mary Cushin:_ Sure you heard what the neighbours were calling the -time their own boys were brought away. "It is Denis Cahel," they were -saying, "that informed against them in the gaol." - -_Mary Cahel:_ There is nothing that is bad or is wicked but a woman -will put it out of her mouth, and she seeing them that belong to her -brought away from her sight and her home. - -_Mary Cushin:_ Terry Fury's mother was saying it, and Pat Ruane's -mother and his wife. They came out calling it after me, "It was Denis -swore against them in the gaol!" The sergeant was boasting, they were -telling me, the day he came searching Daire-caol, it was he himself -got his confession with drink he had brought him in the gaol. - -_Mary Cahel:_ They might have done that, the ruffians, and the boy -have no blame on him at all. Why should it be cast up against him, and -his wits being out of him with drink? - -_Mary Cushin:_ If he did give their names up itself, there was maybe -no wrong in it at all. Sure it's known to all the village it was Terry -that fired the shot. - -_Mary Cahel:_ Stop your mouth now and don't be talking. You haven't -any sense worth while. Let the sergeant do his own business with no -help from the neighbours at all. - -_Mary Cushin:_ It was Pat Ruane that tempted them on account of some -vengeance of his own. Every creature knows my poor Denis never handled -a gun in his life. - -_Mary Cahel:_ (_Taking from under her cloak a long blue envelope._) I -wish we could know what is in the letter they are after sending us -through the post. Isn't it a great pity for the two of us to be -without learning at all? - -_Mary Cushin:_ There are some of the neighbours have learning, and you -bade me not bring it anear them. It would maybe have told us what way -he is or what time he will be quitting the gaol. - -_Mary Cahel:_ There is wonder on me, Mary Cushin, that you would not -be content with what I say. It might be they put down in the letter -that Denis informed on the rest. - -_Mary Cushin:_ I suppose it is all we have to do so, to stop here for -the opening of the door. It's a terrible long road from Slieve Echtge -we were travelling the whole of the night. - -_Mary Cahel:_ There was no other thing for us to do but to come and to -give him a warning. What way would he be facing the neighbours, and he -to come back to Daire-caol? - -_Mary Cushin:_ It is likely they will let him go free, Mary, before -many days will be out. What call have they to be keeping him? It is -certain they promised him his life. - -_Mary Cahel:_ If they promised him his life, Mary Cushin, he must live -it in some other place. Let him never see Daire-caol again, or Daroda -or Druimdarod. - -_Mary Cushin:_ O, Mary, what place will we bring him to, and we driven -from the place that we know? What person that is sent among strangers -can have one day's comfort on earth? - -_Mary Cahel:_ It is only among strangers, I am thinking, he could be -hiding his story at all. It is best for him to go to America, where -the people are as thick as grass. - -_Mary Cushin:_ What way could he go to America and he having no means -in his hand? There's himself and myself to make the voyage and the -little one-een at home. - -_Mary Cahel:_ I would sooner to sell the holding than to ask for the -price paid for blood. There'll be money enough for the two of you to -settle your debts and to go. - -_Mary Cushin:_ And what would yourself be doing and we to go over the -sea? It is not among the neighbours you would wish to be ending your -days. - -_Mary Cahel:_ I am thinking there is no one would know me in the -workhouse at Oughterard. I wonder could I go in there, and I not to -give them my name? - -_Mary Cushin:_ Ah, don't be talking foolishness. What way could I -bring the child? Sure he's hardly out of the cradle; he'd be lost out -there in the States. - -_Mary Cahel:_ I could bring him into the workhouse, I to give him some -other name. You could send for him when you'd be settled or have some -place of your own. - -_Mary Cushin:_ It is very cold at the dawn. It is time for them open -the door. I wish I had brought a potato or a bit of a cake or of -bread. - -_Mary Cahel:_ I'm in dread of it being opened and not knowing what -will we hear. The night that Denis was taken he had a great cold and a -cough. - -_Mary Cushin:_ I think I hear some person coming. There's a sound like -the rattling of keys. God and His Mother protect us! I'm in dread of -being found here at all! - - (_The gate is opened, and the Gatekeeper is seen with a lantern - in his hand._) - -_Gatekeeper:_ What are you doing here, women? It's no place to be -spending the night time. - -_Mary Cahel:_ It is to speak with my son I am asking, that is gaoled -these eight weeks and a day. - -_Gatekeeper:_ If you have no order to visit him it's as good for you -go away home. - -_Mary Cahel:_ I got this letter ere yesterday. It might be it is -giving me leave. - -_Gatekeeper:_ If that's so he should be under the doctor, or in the -hospital ward. - -_Mary Cahel:_ It's no wonder if he's down with the hardship, for he -had a great cough and a cold. - -_Gatekeeper:_ Give me here the letter to read it. Sure it never was -opened at all. - -_Mary Cahel:_ Myself and this woman have no learning. We were loth to -trust any other one. - -_Gatekeeper:_ It was posted in Galway the twentieth, and this is the -last of the month. - -_Mary Cahel:_ We never thought to call at the post office. It was -chance brought it to us in the end. - -_Gatekeeper:_ (_Having read letter._) You poor unfortunate women, -don't you know Denis Cahel is dead? You'd a right to come this time -yesterday if you wished any last word at all. - -_Mary Cahel:_ (_Kneeling down._) God and His Mother protect us and -have mercy on Denis's soul! - -_Mary Cushin:_ What is the man after saying? Sure it cannot be Denis -is dead? - -_Gatekeeper:_ Dead since the dawn of yesterday, and another man now in -his cell. I'll go see who has charge of his clothing if you're wanting -to bring it away. - - (_He goes in. The dawn has begun to break._) - -_Mary Cahel:_ There is lasting kindness in Heaven when no kindness is -found upon earth. There will surely be mercy found for him, and not -the hard judgment of men! But my boy that was best in the world, that -never rose a hair of my head, to have died with his name under -blemish, and left a great shame on his child! Better for him have -killed the whole world than to give any witness at all! Have you no -word to say, Mary Cushin? Am I left here to keen him alone? - -_Mary Cushin:_ (_Who has sunk on to the step before the door, rocking -herself and keening._) Oh, Denis, my heart is broken you to have died -with the hard word upon you! My grief you to be alone now that spent -so many nights in company! - -What way will I be going back through Gort and through Kilbecanty? The -people will not be coming out keening you, they will say no prayer for -the rest of your soul! - -What way will I be the Sunday and I going up the hill to the Mass? -Every woman with her own comrade, and Mary Cushin to be walking her -lone! - -What way will I be the Monday and the neighbours turning their heads -from the house? The turf Denis cut lying on the bog, and no -well-wisher to bring it to the hearth! - -What way will I be in the night time, and none but the dog calling -after you? Two women to be mixing a cake, and not a man in the house -to break it! - -What way will I sow the field, and no man to drive the furrow? The -sheaf to be scattered before springtime that was brought together at -the harvest! - -I would not begrudge you, Denis, and you leaving praises after you. -The neighbours keening along with me would be better to me than an -estate. - -But my grief your name to be blackened in the time of the blackening -of the rushes! Your name never to rise up again in the growing time of -the year! (_She ceases keening and turns towards the old woman._) But -tell me, Mary, do you think would they give us the body of Denis? I -would lay him out with myself only; I would hire some man to dig the -grave. - - (_The Gatekeeper opens the gate and hands out some clothes._) - -_Gatekeeper:_ There now is all he brought in with him; the flannels -and the shirt and the shoes. It is little they are worth altogether; -those mountainy boys do be poor. - -_Mary Cushin:_ They had a right to give him time to ready himself the -day they brought him to the magistrates. He to be wearing his Sunday -coat, they would see he was a decent boy. Tell me where will they bury -him, the way I can follow after him through the street? There is no -other one to show respect to him but Mary Cahel, his mother, and -myself. - -_Gatekeeper:_ That is not to be done. He is buried since yesterday in -the field that is belonging to the gaol. - -_Mary Cushin:_ It is a great hardship that to have been done, and not -one of his own there to follow after him at all. - -_Gatekeeper:_ Those that break the law must be made an example of. Why -would they be laid out like a well behaved man? A long rope and a -short burying, that is the order for a man that is hanged. - -_Mary Cushin:_ A man that was hanged! O Denis, was it they that made -an end of you and not the great God at all? His curse and my own curse -upon them that did not let you die on the pillow! The curse of God be -fulfilled that was on them before they were born! My curse upon them -that brought harm on you, and on Terry Fury that fired the shot! - -_Mary Cahel:_ (_Standing up._) And the other boys, did they hang them -along with him, Terry Fury and Pat Ruane that were brought from -Daire-caol? - -_Gatekeeper:_ They did not, but set them free twelve hours ago. It is -likely you may have passed them in the night time. - -_Mary Cushin:_ Set free is it, and Denis made an end of? What justice -is there in the world at all? - -_Gatekeeper:_ He was taken near the house. They knew his footmark. -There was no witness given against the rest worth while. - -_Mary Cahel:_ Then the sergeant was lying and the people were lying -when they said Denis Cahel had informed in the gaol? - -_Gatekeeper:_ I have no time to be stopping here talking. The judge -got no evidence and the law set them free. - - (_He goes in and shuts gate after him._) - -_Mary Cahel:_ (_Holding out her hands._) Are there any people in the -streets at all till I call on them to come hither? Did they ever hear -in Galway such a thing to be done, a man to die for his neighbour? - -Tell it out in the streets for the people to hear, Denis Cahel from -Slieve Echtge is dead. It was Denis Cahel from Daire-caol that died in -the place of his neighbour! - -It is he was young and comely and strong, the best reaper and the best -hurler. It was not a little thing for him to die, and he protecting -his neighbour! - -Gather up, Mary Cushin, the clothes for your child; they'll be wanted -by this one and that one. The boys crossing the sea in the springtime -will be craving a thread for a memory. - -One word to the judge and Denis was free, they offered him all sorts -of riches. They brought him drink in the gaol, and gold, to swear -away the life of his neighbour! - -Pat Ruane was no good friend to him at all, but a foolish, wild -companion; it was Terry Fury knocked a gap in the wall and sent in the -calves to our meadow. - -Denis would not speak, he shut his mouth, he would never be an -informer. It is no lie he would have said at all giving witness -against Terry Fury. - -I will go through Gort and Kilbecanty and Druimdarod and Daroda; I -will call to the people and the singers at the fairs to make a great -praise for Denis! - -The child he left in the house that is shook, it is great will be his -boast in his father! All Ireland will have a welcome before him, and -all the people in Boston. - -I to stoop on a stick through half a hundred years, I will never be -tired with praising! Come hither, Mary Cushin, till we'll shout it -through the roads, Denis Cahel died for his neighbour! - - (_She goes off to the left, Mary Cushin following her._) - - -_Curtain_ - - - - -MUSIC FOR THE SONGS IN THE PLAYS - - -[Illustration: Music sheet for THE RED-HAIRED MAN'S WIFE - - THE RED-HAIRED MAN'S WIFE - - _Spreading the News._ - - I thought, my first love, there'd be but one house between you and me, - And I thought I would find yourself coaxing my child on your knee. - Over the tide I would leap with the leap of a swan, - Till I came to the side of the wife of the red-haired man.] - - -[Illustration: Music sheet for GRANUAILE - - GRANUAILE - - _The Rising of the Moon._ - - As through the hills I walked to view the bills and sham-rock plain, - I stood a while where nature smiles to view the rocks and streams. - On a ma-tron fair I fixed my eyes beneath a fer-tile vale, - As she sang her song--it was on the wrong of poor old Gran-u-aile. - - Her head was bare, her hands and feet with iron bands were bound, - Her pensive strain and plaintive wail mingles with the evening gale, - And the song she sang with mournful air, I am old Granuaile, - Her lips so sweet that monarchs kissed--] - - -[Illustration: Music sheet for JOHNNY HART - -JOHNNY HART - - _The Rising of the Moon._ - - There was a rich far-mer's daugh-ter lived near the town of Ross; - She courted a High-land soldier, His name was John-ny Hart; - Says the mother to her daughter, "I'll go distracted mad - If you mar-ry that Highland soldier dressed up to his High-land plaid."] - - -[Illustration: Music sheet for THE RISING OF THE MOON - - THE RISING OF THE MOON - - O, then, tell me, Shawn O' Far-rell, where the gath'ring is to be. - In the old spot by the river, Right well known to you and me. - One word more, for signal token whistle up the march-ing tune, - With your pike up - on your shoulder at the rising of the moon.] - - -[Illustration: Music sheet for GAOL GATE - - GAOL GATE - - Caions. - - _Tempo, ad lib._ - - What way will I be the Sun-day - And I going up the hill to the Mass; - Ev'ry woman with her own comrade - And Mary Cush-in to be walk-ing her lone. - - {_Spoken_.} - What way drive the furrow? - {_Sings_.} - The sheaf to be scat-tered before spring-time that was - brought together at the harvest! - - {_Spoken_.} - I would not--an estate. - {_Sings_.} - But my grief your name to be blackened in - the time of the black'ning of the rushes - Your ... name never to rise up again - In the growing time ... of ... the year.] - - - - -NOTES AND CASTS - -SPREADING THE NEWS - -The idea of this play first came to me as a tragedy. I kept seeing as -in a picture people sitting by the roadside, and a girl passing to the -market, gay and fearless. And then I saw her passing by the same place -at evening, her head hanging, the heads of others turned from her, -because of some sudden story that had risen out of a chance word, and -had snatched away her good name. - -But comedy and not tragedy was wanted at our theatre to put beside the -high poetic work, _The King's Threshold_, _The Shadowy Waters_, _On -Baile's Strand_, _The Well of the Saints_; and I let laughter have its -way with the little play. I was delayed in beginning it for a while, -because I could only think of Bartley Fallon as dull-witted or silly -or ignorant, and the handcuffs seemed too harsh a punishment. But one -day by the sea at Duras a melancholy man who was telling me of the -crosses he had gone through at home said--"But I'm thinking if I went -to America, its long ago to-day I'd be dead. And its a great expense -for a poor man to be buried in America." Bartley was born at that -moment, and, far from harshness, I felt I was providing him with a -happy old age in giving him the lasting glory of that great and -crowning day of misfortune. - -It has been acted very often by other companies as well as our own, -and the Boers have done me the honour of translating and pirating it. - - -HYACINTH HALVEY - -I was pointed out one evening a well-brushed, well-dressed man in the -stalls, and was told gossip about him, perhaps not all true, which -made me wonder if that appearance and behaviour as of extreme -respectability might not now and again be felt a burden. - -After a while he translated himself in my mind into Hyacinth; and as -one must set one's original a little way off to get a translation -rather than a tracing, he found himself in Cloon, where, as in other -parts of our country, "character" is built up or destroyed by a -password or an emotion, rather than by experience and deliberation. - -The idea was more of a universal one than I knew at the first, and I -have had but uneasy appreciation from some apparently blameless -friends. - - -THE RISING OF THE MOON - -When I was a child and came with my elders to Galway for their salmon -fishing in the river that rushes past the gaol, I used to look with -awe at the window where men were hung, and the dark, closed gate. I -used to wonder if ever a prisoner might by some means climb the high, -buttressed wall and slip away in the darkness by the canal to the -quays and find friends to hide him under a load of kelp in a fishing -boat, as happens to my ballad-singing man. The play was considered -offensive to some extreme Nationalists before it was acted, because it -showed the police in too favourable a light, and a Unionist paper -attacked it after it was acted because the policeman was represented -"as a coward and a traitor"; but after the Belfast police strike that -same paper praised its "insight into Irish character." After all these -ups and downs it passes unchallenged on both sides of the Irish Sea. - - -THE JACKDAW - -The first play I wrote was called "Twenty-five." It was played by our -company in Dublin and London, and was adapted and translated into -Irish and played in America. It was about "A boy of Kilbecanty that -saved his old sweetheart from being evicted. It was playing -Twenty-five he did it; played with the husband he did, letting him win -up to L50." - -It was rather sentimental and weak in construction, and for a long -time it was an overflowing storehouse of examples of "the faults of my -dramatic method." I have at last laid its ghost in "The Jackdaw," and -I have not been accused of sentimentality since the appearance of -this. - -THE WORKHOUSE WARD - -I heard of an old man in the workhouse who had been disabled many -years before by, I think, a knife thrown at him by his wife in some -passionate quarrel. - -One day I heard the wife had been brought in there, poor and sick. I -wondered how they would meet, and if the old quarrel was still alive, -or if they who knew the worst of each other would be better pleased -with one another's company than with that of strangers. - -I wrote a scenario of the play, Dr. Douglas Hyde, getting in plot what -he gave back in dialogue, for at that time we thought a dramatic -movement in Irish would be helpful to our own as well as to the Gaelic -League. Later I tried to rearrange it for our own theatre, and for -three players only, but in doing this I found it necessary to write -entirely new dialogue, the two old men in the original play obviously -talking at an audience in the wards, which is no longer there. - -I sometimes think the two scolding paupers are a symbol of ourselves -in Ireland--[Gaelic script and words]--"it is better to be quarrelling -than to be lonesome." The Rajputs, that great fighting race, when they -were told they had been brought under the Pax Britannica and must give -up war, gave themselves to opium in its place, but Connacht has not -yet planted its poppy gardens. - - -THE TRAVELLING MAN - -An old woman living in a cabin by a bog road on Slieve Echtge told me -the legend on which this play is founded, and which I have already -published in "Poets and Dreamers." - -"There was a poor girl walking the road one night with no place to -stop, and the Saviour met her on the road, and He said--'Go up to the -house you see a light in; there's a woman dead there, and they'll let -you in.' So she went, and she found the woman laid out, and the -husband and other people; but she worked harder than they all, and she -stopped in the house after; and after two quarters the man married -her. And one day she was sitting outside the door, picking over a bag -of wheat, and the Saviour came again, with the appearance of a poor -man, and He asked her for a few grains of the wheat. And she -said--'Wouldn't potatoes be good enough for you?' And she called to the -girl within to bring out a few potatoes. But He took nine grains of -the wheat in His hand and went away; and there wasn't a grain of wheat -left in the bag, but all gone. So she ran after Him then to ask Him to -forgive her; and she overtook Him on the road, and she asked -forgiveness. And He said--'Don't you remember the time you had no house -to go to, and I met you on the road, and sent you to a house where -you'd live in plenty? And now you wouldn't give Me a few grains of -wheat.' And she said--'But why didn't you give me a heart that would -like to divide it?' That is how she came round on Him. And He -said--'From this out, whenever you have plenty in your hands, divide it -freely for My sake.'" - -And an old woman who sold sweets in a little shop in Galway, and whose -son became a great Dominican preacher, used to say--"Refuse not any, -for one may be the Christ." - -I owe the Rider's Song, and some of the rest, to W. B. Yeats. - - -THE GAOL GATE - -I was told a story some one had heard, of a man who had gone to -welcome his brother coming out of gaol, and heard he had died there -before the gates had been opened for him. - -I was going to Galway, and at the Gort station I met two cloaked and -shawled countrywomen from the slopes of Slieve Echtge, who were -obliged to go and see some law official in Galway because of some -money left them by a kinsman in Australia. They had never been in a -train or to any place farther than a few miles from their own village, -and they felt astray and terrified "like blind beasts in a bog" they -said, and I took care of them through the day. - -An agent was fired at on the road from Athenry, and some men were -taken up on suspicion. One of them was a young carpenter from my old -home, and in a little time a rumour was put about that he had informed -against the others in Galway gaol. When the prisoners were taken -across the bridge to the courthouse he was hooted by the crowd. But at -the trial it was found that he had not informed, that no evidence had -been given at all; and bonfires were lighted for him as he went home. - -These three incidents coming within a few months wove themselves into -this little play, and within three days it had written itself, or been -written. I like it better than any in the volume, and I have never -changed a word of it. - - -FIRST PRODUCTIONS OF THE PLAYS - -SPREADING THE NEWS was produced for the first time at the opening of -the Abbey Theatre, on Tuesday, 27th December, 1904, with the following -cast: - - _Bartley Fallon_ W. G. FAY - _Mrs. Fallon_ SARA ALGOOD - _Mrs. Tully_ EMMA VERNON - _Mrs. Tarpey_ MAIRE NI GHARBHAIGH - _Shawn Early_ J. H. DUNNE - _Tim Casey_ GEORGE ROBERTS - _James Ryan_ ARTHUR SINCLAIR - _Jack Smith_ P. MACSUIBHLAIGH - _A Policeman_ R. S. NASH - _A Removable Magistrate_ F. J. FAY - - -HYACINTH HALVEY was first produced at the Abbey Theatre on 19th -February, 1906, with the following cast: - - _Hyacinth Halvey_ F. J. FAY - _James Quirke, a butcher_ W. G. FAY - _Fardy Farrell, a telegraph boy_ ARTHUR SINCLAIR - _Sergeant Carden_ WALTER MAGEE - _Mrs. Delane, Postmistress at Cloon_ SARA ALLGOOD - _Miss Joyce, the Priest's House-keeper_ BRIGIT O'DEMPSEY - - -THE GAOL GATE was first produced at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on 20th -October, 1906, with the following cast: - - _Mary Cahel_ SARA ALLGOOD - _Mary Cushin_ MAIRE O'NEILL - _The Gate Keeper_ F. J. FAY - - -THE JACKDAW was first produced at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on 23rd -February, 1907, with the following cast: - - _Joseph Nestor_ F. J. FAY - _Michael Cooney_ W. G. FAY - _Mrs. Broderick_ SARA ALLGOOD - _Tommy Nally_ ARTHUR SINCLAIR - _Sibby Fahy_ BRIGIT O'DEMPSEY - _Timothy Ward_ J. M. KERRIGAN - - -THE RISING OF THE MOON was first produced at the Abbey Theatre, -Dublin, on 9th March, 1907, with the following cast: - - _Sergeant_ ARTHUR SINCLAIR - _Policeman X._ J. A. O'ROURKE - _Policeman B._ J. M. KERRIGAN - _Ballad Singer_ W. G. FAY - - -WORKHOUSE WARD was first produced at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on -20th April, 1908, with the following cast: - - _Mike M'Inerney_ ARTHUR SINCLAIR - _Michael Miskell_ FRED O'DONOVAN - _Mrs. Donohue_ MARIE O'NEILL - - - - -_A Selection from the Catalogue of_ - -G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS - -Complete Catalogues sent on application - - The Golden Apple - - A Kiltartan Play for Children - - By - Lady Gregory - - Author of "Seven Short Plays" - "Our Irish Theatre" - "Irish Folk-History Plays," etc. - - _8vo Eight full-page Illustrations in color_ - _$1.25 net._ - - -This play deals with the adventures of the King of Ireland's son, who -goes in search of the Golden Apple of Healing. The scenes are laid in -the Witch's Garden, the Giant's House, the Wood of Wonders, and the -King of Ireland's Room. It is both humorous and lyrical, and should -please children and their elders, alike. The colored illustrations -have the same old faery-tale air as the play itself. - - - Irish Folk-History Plays - - By - - LADY GREGORY - - _First Series. The Tragedies_ - - GRANIA KINCORA DERVORGILLA - - _Second Series. The Tragic Comedies_ - - THE CANAVANS THE WHITE COCKADE THE DELIVERER - - _2 vols. Each, $1.5O net. By mail, $1.65_ - -Lady Gregory has preferred going for her material to the traditional -folk-history rather than to the authorized printed versions, and she -has been able, in so doing, to make her plays more living. One of -these, Kincora, telling of Brian Boru, who reigned in the year 1000, -evoked such keen local interest that an old farmer travelled from the -neighborhood of Kincora to see it acted in Dublin. - -The story of Grania, on which Lady Gregory has founded one of these -plays, was taken entirely from tradition. Grania was a beautiful young -woman and was to have been married to Finn, the great leader of the -Fenians; but before the marriage, she went away from the bridegroom -with his handsome young kinsman, Diarmuid. After many years, when -Diarmuid had died (and Finn had a hand in his death), she went back to -Finn and became his queen. - -Another of Lady Gregory's plays, The Canavans dealt with the stormy -times of Queen Elizabeth, whose memory is a horror in Ireland second -only to that of Cromwell. - -The White Cockade is founded on a tradition of King James having -escaped from Ireland after the battle of the Boyne in a wine barrel. - -The choice of folk history rather than written history gives a -freshness of treatment and elasticity of material which made the late -J. M. Synge say that "Lady Gregory's method had brought back the -possibility of writing historic plays." - -All these plays, except Grania, which has not yet been staged, have -been very successfully performed in Ireland. They are written in the -dialect of Kiltartan, which had already become familiar to readers of -Lady Gregory's books. - - - New Comedies - - By - - LADY GREGORY - - The Bogie Men--The Full Moon--Coats - Damer's Gold--McDonough's Wife - - _8vo, With Portrait in Photogravure. $1.50 net. By mail, $1.65_ - -The plays have been acted with great success by the Abbey Company, and -have been highly extolled by appreciative audiences and an -enthusiastic press. They are distinguished by a humor of unchallenged -originality. - -One of the plays in the collection, "Coats," depends for its plot upon -the rivalry of two editors, each of whom has written an obituary -notice of the other. The dialogue is full of crisp humor. "McDonough's -Wife," another drama that appears in the volume, is based on a legend, -and explains how a whole town rendered honor against its will. "The -Bogie Men" has as its underlying situation an amusing misunderstanding -of two chimney-sweeps. The wit and absurdity of the dialogue are in -Lady Gregory's best vein. "Damer's Gold" contains the story of a miser -beset by his gold-hungry relations. Their hopes and plans are upset by -one they had believed to be of the simple of the world, but who -confounds the Wisdom of the Wise. "The Full Moon" presents a little -comedy enacted on an Irish railway station. It is characterized by -humor of an original and delightful character and repartee that is -distinctly clever. - - - Irish Plays - - By - LADY GREGORY - -Lady Gregory's name has become a household word in America and her -works should occupy an exclusive niche in every library. Mr. George -Bernard Shaw, in a recently published interview, said Lady Gregory "is -the greatest living Irishwoman.... Even in the plays of Lady Gregory, -penetrated as they are by that intense love of Ireland which is -unintelligible to the many drunken blackguards with Irish names who -make their nationality an excuse for their vices and their -worthlessness, there is no flattery of the Irish; she writes about the -Irish as Moliere wrote about the French, having a talent curiously -like Moliere." - -"The witchery of Yeats, the vivid imagination of Synge, the amusing -literalism mixed with the pronounced romance of their imitators, have -their place and have been given their praise without stint. But none -of these can compete with Lady Gregory for the quality of -universality. The best beauty in Lady Gregory's art is its -spontaneity. It is never forced.... She has read and dreamed and -studied, and slept and wakened and worked, and the great ideas that -have come to her have been nourished and trained till they have grown -to be of great stature."--_Chicago Tribune._ - - G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS - NEW YORK LONDON - - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Seven Short Plays, by Lady Gregory - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SEVEN SHORT PLAYS *** - -***** This file should be named 41653.txt or 41653.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/1/6/5/41653/ - -Produced by Joseph R. Hauser, Turgut Dincer and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. 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