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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75977 ***
Transcriber’s Note: Words and phrases in italics are surrounded by
_underscores_; those in blackletter font are surrounded by ~tildes~.
THE DUQUESNE
CHRISTMAS MYSTERY
THE DUQUESNE
CHRISTMAS MYSTERY
AS WRITTEN BY
THOMAS WOOD STEVENS
TO BE ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF
DUQUESNE PENNSYLVANIA
XXIII DECEMBER
MCMXVI
[Illustration: colophon]
WITH DECORATIONS BY
HARRY LAWRENCE GAGE
Copyright 1916
By Thomas Wood Stevens
All rights reserved
[Illustration: decorative banner]
BEFORE US _is a steep hillside, crossed midway by a paved road. Up
the center of the hill are stairways of stone, with wide landings; at
the top, blocking out the stars, is a dark building with crenellated
turrets. Beside the roadway is a windowless hut--a mere blind
wall--and at each side of this wall the stairways ascend. Below is
a playing field, and beyond this, further down, a river, with great
mills beside it, where even at Christmastide the loud forges are
flaming._
_From the high turrets a sound as of many trumpets floats down. Then
a light breaks on the level above the roof of the hut, and one sees
dimly three figures, grave, majestic, imperative--the Prophets Hosea,
Micah, and Isaiah._
ISAIAH
List ye, as it is written, so spake I
Isaiah: For the Lord Himself shall send
Ye forth a sign; a virgin shall conceive,
And bear a son, and ye shall call his name
Immanuel.... And to thy light shall come
Gentiles, and kings unto the brightness of
Thy risen star.
MICAH
List ye, as it is written, so spake I,
Micah, prophet of God’s will:
Thou, Bethlehem, though thou be little among
The thousands of Judah, out of thee shall come
Him who shall rule in Israel, whose path
Hath from of old been destined, everlasting.
HOSEA
List ye, as it is written, so spake I,
Hosea: When Israel was a child
I loved him well, and for his sake I called
My son out of dark Egypt.
ISAIAH
So spake we, prophets of the wandering years,
Lifting our hearts in hope to beat with God.
List ye, for He hath wrought our visions out,
And He hath sent His Son to feed His flock
Like to a shepherd. He hath gathered home
The lambs unto His bosom. Praise His name.
_The three Prophets disappear.
Below, on the hillside, three
Eastern Kings are seen approaching._
JASPAR
Stay, brothers and princes. The star is lost.
BALTHASAR
Now for twelve nights it hath burned clear.
MELCHOIR
And floated on before to guide our steps.
Here is some evil thing that it should fade.
BALTHASAR
Some evil near. Stay we our course. The star
That westward we have trailed from Araby
And your bright orient kingdoms, will not fail
Until the prophecies we read of old
Be new fulfilled. But peril to the Child
Might dim its fire.
JASPAR
Yea, in the ancient scrolls
Are dangers written deep. The star-flame blows
Back at the heavy tread of mailed feet.
_Below, on the stairway, Herod
appears, and comes slowly up
followed by guards and counsellors._
MELCHOIR
What gleam of helmets yonder, and of gold?
BALTHASAR
Some lord is this, whose rule is not as ours.
JASPAR
Hail, Prince, and peace, and light unto thy path!
HEROD
What stranger kings are these who come unknown,
Unbidden, to my realm?
BALTHASAR
From out the East
We come, Melchoir, and Jaspar, King of Taurus,
And he who speaks you here, Balthasar
Prince of Araby. We are come to seek
A Child new-born whose mystic star we found
As prophets had foretold from long ago,
A Child born to be King of the Jews. We come
With gifts to greet and worship Him. Say thou
Where is this Child?
HEROD
King of the Jews, ye say.
I know Him not.
JASPAR
Who art thou, good my lord?
HEROD
Forgive mine evil courtesy, sir princes,
But I am troubled.... Herod is my name, a king
In this lean land of Judah. Speak you fair,
And say again--this star--these prophecies?
JASPAR
The star hath led us westward, wondering on;
The prophecies name Bethlehem, a town
Little in Judah, whence shall come a King
To rule in Israel, anoint of God.
HEROD
I knew it not. I have no child.... But when
First saw ye this new star?
BALTHASAR
Twelve nights ago.
’Tis like the Child was born that night.
HEROD
Yea, very like, and have ye told me all?
BALTHASAR
All that hath been revealed. We wait
Here with our gifts. The star may burn again.
HEROD
My greetings, Princes. Freedoms of my realm
Be yours. But this I pray you, when you find
The Child indeed, bring me straight word of it.
For I would worship also.
JASPAR
Peace be thine.
_Herod goes down the stair, and
pauses at the central landing,
his spearmen and counsellors
about him._
HEROD
Dreams and seditions! When these kings return,
These dark intruding Magi, with their babe,
Bring them before me. They adventure far
But I will send them on a longer quest.
A COUNSELLOR
Whither wilt send them, Tetrarch?
HEROD
Unto death.
For all their dreams are treason ’gainst my house.
COUNSELLOR
And if they do not find the child?
HEROD
Still--death.
For they have mocked me, searching.
COUNSELLOR
And the child?
HEROD
Hear ye my sentence: if they find this child,
He dies. And if they find him not, but slip
Out of my hands unrecompensed, then all
Men children of this young child’s year, shall die,
That he escape not.
COUNSELLOR
These be bloody words.
HEROD
I have my prophets too. Wouldst flout their law
And mine? Set on.
_Herod and his people move
slowly down the stairways
into darkness. In radiance
above the center appears the
Messenger Gabriel._
GABRIEL
The watchers of the skies, God’s messengers,
Keep ward upon this land to-night. The tyrant
Speaketh true: the olden words shall fall
Like blades of harvest on the innocents
And Rachael weep, and weep uncomforted.
So it is written. But the child they seek
Dies not, but waits his agony, serene
Amid the singing of the morning stars.
_The Gloria in Excelsis is heard
afar off. At the left, on the hillside,
a faint light glows upon
a group of watching shepherds.
As the light brightens, they hear
the heavenly voices, see the angel,
and, struck with awe, fall
upon their knees._
GABRIEL
~Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of
great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day, in the city of David,
a Saviour which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find
the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a
manger.~
_The shepherds gather wondering,
as the heavenly messenger
disappears and the chorus
echoes into silence._
FIRST SHEPHERD
Saw ye, my brothers?
SECOND SHEPHERD
Yea truly, and marveled.
THIRD SHEPHERD
And lo, our people come now from the hills
With wonder upon them.
SECOND SHEPHERD
Let the sheep graze alone. The Lord his hand
Is over us and all our flocks to-night.
FIRST SHEPHERD
This we have seen is in God’s will. And men
Hearing of us this strange new word, will come
From far to kneel adoring,--all such men
As we who toil and watch. Not unto captains
Of wrath, high lords, and governors of cities
Did he speak, but unto simple folk he came
And cried his tidings of great joy. To us
God’s messenger doth pledge a Saviour Christ,
And they who toil and watch, shall know of it.
_He turns toward the windowless
wall at the center._
~Let us go now unto Bethlehem and see the thing
which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made
known unto us.~
_Again the trumpets sound, and a mighty music of voices aspires as
the thronging messengers of heaven appear along the central causeway.
Before them, above the windowless wall, a star swings magically into
flame. The Shepherds and the Eastern Kings move toward the star,
enwrapt and silent._
_Now the wall seems suddenly to vanish. In its place, filled with
a golden radiance, is the manger, and Mary the Mother holding the
Child._
_The Shepherds kneel in adoration; and the Kings lay at her feet
their gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh._
_Up from below come slowly the men and women of the nations who dwell
in the city, they too kneeling till the stairways are dark with
them; and all the while the music swells with a great gladness._
_The vision fades, and the people turn singing to the darkness below,
where the forges are clanging._
_And now the Tree on the playing field breaks into light, and down
the stone stairways patter the feet of many children, trooping with
song to dance around its glistening spire._
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75977 ***
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