to ft. S 954 IC-NRLF (A 9 LO 00 GIFT OF :,; ^ <- . DePo r " } e s t Ro cle c ape ERICAN HISTORICAL PLAYS No. 1 ^^^^. in u ! Mm<~,m tH mim~m~*^^^*m~^^~~mm~m^^~mmm~ Polly of Pogue s Run a \0ne Act Play of the Civil r ar by William 0. Bates. \w York FRANK SHAY Publisher Polly of Pogue s Run A Play in One Act By William O. Bates. However marr d, of more than twice her years, And bruised and bronzed, she lifted up her eyes And loved him with that love which was her doom. "Lancelot and Elaine. NEW YORK FRANK. SHAY, Publisher POLLY OF POGUE S RUN was first presented by THE LITTLE THEATRE SOCIETY OF INDIANA at the Masonic Temple, Indianapolis, on December 7th, 1916, with the following cast: Governor Morton Arthur J. Beriault Polly Trowbridge Clarice Solomons Aunt Abby Trowbridge Mrs. Carl Lieber Judge Wheelan Clarence Kinney Berry Sulgrove Carl Goe Col. John Coburn St. Clair Jones Sergeant Marcus Aurelius Whips Howard B. Hill Private Drom . . . . Oliver Fuller COPYRIGHT 1917, BY FRANK SHAY - r The amateur and professional stage rights on this play are reserved by the author. Application to produce this play should be made to the author, care of the publisher. Polly of Pogue s Run The scene shows the private office of Governor Morton in the Indiana State House, an austere business-like room, with a large table desk at the rear center on which are law books, writing materials and a call-bell, a swivel chair behind it. The wide curtained entrance is at the rear left. On the rear wall are a map of Indiana and a por trait of President Lincoln. There are cases holding law books at the right and massive chairs right and left of the desk. The time is late afternoon on May 20, 1863. ******** Enter Secretary SULGROVE and Judge WHEELAN. SULGROVE has a handful of documents and letters which he arranges and annotates on MORTON S desk as he talks. He is a short, stout man of middle age, with a smooth, red face and an expression of whimsical discontent and suspicion. The Judge is elderly, a broadclothed exponent of suave deprecation. SULGROVE. Take a chair, Judge. Governor ll be in soon just out trying to find jail-room for a few more Democratic statesmen. WHEELAN. [Seated.] Yes, that s why I want to see him. SULGROVE. Hope you re not on his index expurgatorius ? WHEELAN. Tut, tut, Berry! Only some young friends of mine over-enthusiastic, you understand maybe a little over-stimulated. SULGROVE. Yes, there ought to be a law to keep this copper-dis tilled stuff out of copperheads. WHEELAN. There you go again! Law! You invent your law to suit the occasion just like Governor Morton. Look at today s events! Deplorable, deplorable ! A mass-meeting of the Democrats of the State is called to protest against this wicked war. Ten or twelve thousand peaceable citizens from all over Indiana assemble to make solemn and righteous remonstrance and to listen to addresses by men of character and renown. SULGROVE. [In irony.] Hear, hear! WHEELAN. [Rising and continuing oratorically.] What happens? Vallandingham is arrested the moment he enters the State. Seymour and Pendleton are intimidated into silence. Troops are posted all over the city and [pointing] see that cannon out there trained on the speakers stand! Senator Hendricks is grossly insulted when he tries to speak and the meeting is broken up by a riotous mob. Law, law, law! What "law" justifies such ruthless proceedings? M203810 4 AMERICAN HISTORICAL PLAYS SULGROVE. The law of necessity, Judge. About half of your "peaceable and righteous" Knights of the Golden Circle came here with big navy revolvers under their coat-tails to seize the Government stores, liberate the Rebel prisoners and start your Northwestern Confederacy with Indiana as the nest egg. WHEELAN. "Knights of the Golden Circle" forsooth ! You remind me of the "knight" who charged the windmills. [Resumes his chair.] SULGROVE. And your Northwestern Confederacy reminds me of the kingdom Sancho Panza started in to govern when it had no existence. WHEELAN. If it ever should exist, let us hope its governors do not carry the money around in their breeches pockets and spend it at their own sweet wills. SULGROVE. If your Butternut legislators had done their duty Morton wouldn t have had to send them home and borrow money on his own credit to run the State. WHEELAN. "The State I am the State," said Louis Fourteenth. And so said Caesar, so Cromwell, and so have said all usurpers ! SULGROVE. Shucks, they were none of them ace-high to Morton in the game of getting things done! [Coming down stage, transformed by his enthusiasm.] Which one of them ever organized, equipped and sent into the field fourteen thousand men in four days, as he did? He has over sixty thousand Indiana troops at the front this minute and every man of them looks to him for everything he needs, from an overcoat to smoking tobacco. What other "usurper" ever visited the battlefield to close the dying eyes of his soldiers and then rushed home to feed, warm and comfort their fatherless children? Judge, you do make me so d d sick ! Governor MORTON has entered in time to hear the conclusion of this panegyric. He is forty years old, of massive frame, with a face the pallor of which is accented by flashing dark eyes. It expresses con trolled power and potential ferocity. His voice is strong, full and deep. His movements are alert and rapid, his presence radiating* energy, decision and what the phrenologists call "high destructiveness/ He is rather carelessly dressed in broadcloth with a black string tie. He is in high good humor. MORTON. [In pseudo-reproof.] Berry, Berry, Berry! SULGROVE. [Retreating, disgusted at being caught.] Oh, hell! MORTON. [Shaking hands with WHEELAN.] Glad to see you, Judge. What s on your mind? WHEELAN. Nothing much, only Col. Coburn s men have arrested some young friends of mine for wearing pins they didn t like. MORTON. [Pushing back the lapel of WHEELAN S coat and disclos ing a butternut pin on his waistcoat.] Such a popular decoration, too ! POLLY OF TOQUE S RUN 5 WHEELAN. [Confused.] Didn t know I had that thing on. My daughter must have put it there this morning. MORTON. Sit down, until I see what s on my desk ! [He seats himself behind his desk and takes up, with SULGROVE at his elbow, the papers laid out for his inspection.] These commissions ready? [ SUL GROVE nods and MORTON rapidly affixes his signature.] Tell General Hascall he can send part of his troops back to Camp Carrington for the night, but [He concludes the order sotto voce.] [Reading the caption of a document.} "Expenditures needed to pay the Indiana Legion and raise new regiments." Give it to Coburn ! I ll find the money somehow. Indiana dollars never yet failed to back up Indiana soldiers, and, please God, they never shall. [Takes up another docu ment.} "Respectful complaint from the Confederate prisoners at Camp Morton." Don t like their coffee, eh? [Reading.} "A wild goose could take a grain of coffee in its bill, swim down the Mississippi from St. Paul and make a better beverage all the way to the Gulf than we get." Write this smart fellow that the only coffee a good many fam ilies of Indiana soldiers get is what they make out of parched rye and corn ! But send Col. Owen a note, with this complaint, to say I want these men well fed. Who s been here to see me? SULGROVE. Good many visitors, mostly from out of town. MORTON. Anybody on business ? SULGROVE. No unless it was a girl who came in just after the crowd broke down the fence. She was very much excited, but wouldn t give me her name or tell me what she wanted. MORTON. Can you get these commissions off right away? SULGROVE. Pronto-pronto ! [He gathers up the documents and rushes out.} MORTON. Now, Judge, about your young rascals, do you mean to tell me Col. Coburn s men arrested them solely for wearing butter nut pins? WHEELAN. [Embarrassed,} Well, you see, Governor the fact is I was not present personally the affair happened in a drinking place. MORTON. Oh, I see! Were they cheering for Jeff Davis? WHEELAN. [Warmly.} Certainly not, Governor. These boys are as loyal as you or I, but they are Peace Democrats and maybe they did get a little noisy. MORTON. All right. Give me their names and I ll look into it. WHEELAN. [Handing MORTON a paper.} Col. Coburn had them locked up at your post-office bastile. MORTON. [Dropping his air of friendly familiarity and speaking with stern directness.] Judge Wheelan, I am not disposed to deal 6 AMERICAN HISTORICAL PLAYS harshly with hot-headed boys. But I want to warn you that when the responsible heads of your party lend support to such treasonable secret societies as the Knights of the Golden Circle, and make speeches giving aid and comfort to the Rebels, I shall hold them accountable as enemies of the Union. WHEELAN. [Rising in excited dissent.] But, Governor Morton, I deny in toto that any responsible Democratic leaders have been guilty of treasonable speeches. As for the "Knights of the Golden Circle," I tell you now, as I have before, / know of no such body. MORTON. You are quite sure of that, Judge? WHEELAN. Absolutely! If there were any such organization no one would insult me by asking me to belong to it, but I could not help knowing that it existed. [Sits down again.] MORTON. Very well, then. [Taps call bell; SULGROVE comes to door.] Berry, bring me the stenographic report of that speech made before a castle of the Knights of the Golden Circle here in Indianapolis last night. [ SULGROVE brings document. WHEELAN shows alarm.] The speaker, after denouncing "this infernal abolition war," goes on to pledge his brother Knights to see to it that "not another man, not another dollar, shall be used for such a wicked, inhuman, unholy purpose." WHEELAN. But, Governor, I never MORTON. Wait, Judge hear what he says about me! I am the "modern Caligula who sends his willing satraps, with hoof of fire and sword of flame, to scourge the land, while the Angel of Death spreads his wings on the blast." WHEELAN. [Gasping.] My dear old friend, you can t think I MORTON. Listen to this ! "Confusion and disorder darken the sky; the very earth is laden with the sorrows of our people. But, brethren of the Inner Court, at this supreme moment, on the eve of the day when, with God s help, we shall break the galling chains by which our beloved State is held in thrall by this remorseless tyrant, let us swear that, whatever fate tomorrow s rising sun shall usher in for each of us, though it shines upon rivers running red and thick with blood, its setting shall see Indiana free and her despot dead as Caesar died." [Judge WHEELAN, who has listened to the reading with growing manifestations of panic and collapse, now rises feebly to his feet and stretches out his hands in mute appeal for mercy to MORTON, who regards him with stony implacability. He then raises his arms above his head as if to shelter it from the Governor s wrath and totters out of the room. MORTON taps call-bell; SULGROVE appears at the door.] MORTON. Have the Judge watched ! Anybody out there ? POLLY OF POGUE S RUN 7 SULGROVE. Col. Coburn to report, with some prisoners. One of them is the girl who called this afternoon. MORTON. Send Coburn in ! [ SULGROVE disappears and a moment later Col. JOHN COBURN en ters. He is the ideal citizen-soldier and wears the uniform of his rank. ] COBURN. {Saluting.} Governor! MORTON. Well, Colonel, "all quiet along the Potomac?" COBURN. Practically. Still some loud talk, but our visitors are hurrying to get out of town. MORTON. Many arrests? COBURN. Twenty-seven. MORTON. [Handing COBURN the WHEELAN memorandum.} Keep these young blades overnight and let them go in the morning. COBURN. We had to give the crowd a lesson at the Union Depot. There was a lot of firing from the car windows so we stopped them with a gun on the track, and sent a policeman and two or three soldiers through the cars to take away their firearms. MORTON. Any resistance? COBURN. Not from the men. They couldn t have been worse scared if we d had the whole United States army and a battery of field pieces ready to blow them into Pogue s Run. We got nearly a wagon- load of revolvers and knives besides a lot they threw into Pogue s Run. MORTON. So good of them to use Pogue s Run for that instead of making it "run red and thick with blood !" COBURN. Some of the women were very abusive when they had to surrender the weapons the men had given them to hide. We found seven on one woman, and another, from Wayne County, who says she knows you personally, refused to give up those she had to anybody but you. I didn t like to use violence MORTON. No, violence would have been quite out of place at "the Battle of Pogue s Run." COBURN. So I brought her along especially as I had to arrest her niece a vixen of a girl who tried to stir up the men to resist us. Be tween the scare we gave them and her tongue-lashing, they were a pretty sheepish lot when the train finally got away. MORTON. Both these women here? COBURN. Yes, Governor. MORTON. Bring them in! [Col. COBURN salutes and goes out and a moment later SULGROVE re-enters and goes to MORTON.] SULGROVE. [Low.] Look out for that girl ! [MORTON registers impatience. Coburn re-enters in advance 8 AMERICAN HISTORICAL PLAYS of Sergt. WHIPS, marching before AUNT ABBY TROWBRIDGE and PRIVATE DROM bringing POLLY. Soldiers very precise in their move ments and salute the Governor simultaneously after taking positions. POLLY and DROM cross to right; AUNT ABBY and WHIPS left. AUNT ABBY is a tall, middle-aged slab of a woman, dressed in homely country fashion Paisley shawl, gingham sun-bonnet, hoop-skirt of the period, etc. She carries an old-fashioned carpet-bag of distinctly audible pattern. POLLY is a handsome girl of about seventeen, in neat, semi- Quaker dress. She regards MORTON with biasing wrath and defiance. The two soldiers are in uniform and carry rifles with fixed bayonets.] AUNT ABBY. [Setting down her carpet-bag.] Well, Perry Morton, I guessed y d be changed some, but I wouldn t hardly a-knowed ye. [Starting to shake hands.] How s all? [She is restrained by WHIPS upon whom she turns in reproof.] See here, Marcus Aurelius Whips, I m quainted with Perry Morton and all his folks long before you re bawn. An I knowed your tribe, too, as wuthless a lot as ever I see. WHIPS. [With an exaggerated military salute to MORTON.] Ma dam, madam, restrain yourself ! You are in the presence of the Gov ernor of Indiana. AUNT ABBY. Don t "madam" me, you mis abl whippersnapper ! Your daddy ust to drive oxen for my John an him too blamed slow to keep up with em. WHIPS. [Again saluting MORTON.] My father is a good Union man, Mrs. Abigail Trowbridge, and he never worked a day for your husband after he found out he was a Butternut. COBURN. Silence, Sergeant Whips! AUNT ABBY. No, an what s more, he never done a good day s work for nobody. MORTON. Aunt Abby, I m sorry to see you brought here like this. AUNT ABBY. Don t you worry none about that, Perry! They couldn t-a fetched us if we hadn t-a wanted to come. Land sakes alive, I ve knowed this Marcus Aurelius feller [Indicating WHIPS] ever sence he was knee-high to a grasshopper. He s no soldier. WHIPS. [Starting forward indignantly.] When the Stars and Stripes was fired on at Fort Sumter MORTON. Never mind about the Stars and Stripes now, Sergeant! How did you come to be mixed up with these dangerous conspirators, Aunt Abby? AUNT ABBY. "Dangerous" nothin ! After all their drillin an ca- vortin round at night, an comin up here loaded down with big pistols an butcher-knives, they re like a flock o sheep jist brave enough to git the dogs started after em an sich dogs! [This last with a con temptuous glare at WHIPS which he resents in kind.] The minute your POLLY OF POGUE S RUN 9 fellers held up the train them Butternuts come a-runnin to ast Aunt Abby to keep their weepins till the trouble blowed over. I low I got most of the Wayne County hardware cept what they throwed into the crick Pogue s Run I heered em call it. I ve brought em here to you. They re liabler to shoot theirselves than any of you Lincplnites. [She proceeds to unload from her carpet-bag and various portions of her dress a variety of antiquated revolvers, "pepper-boxes , horse- pistols and knives, heaping them upon MORTON S desk.] That s Harve Piper s hoss-pistol, the old fool! This ne b longed to Si Smullen s granddaddy hain t been shot off sence the year One. [Pulling a huge butcher-knife from the back of her neck.] This thing s been a-stickin me long nough. [Shamefacedly removing one or two others from her stockings.] Don t you-all look, now ! An , goodness sakes alive, here s my butcher-knife! I thought John had more sense. [She hastily claps it back into her bag.] You uster be fond of my gooseberry pie an lye hominy, Perry. [Depositing the remains of her lunch beside the Pile of weapons.] Here s some I had left over from dinner little mite squshed exploringly.] I guess that s all [turning to POLLY], less Polly got up by these shootin -irons, but you re welcome to it. [Feeling of herself some of em? MORTON. Polly, did you bring any weapons ? POLLY. Only this ! [She snatches a pistol from her bosom and levels it at MORTON S head.] COBURN. Stop her ! DROM. Oh, you will, will you you blamed little Butternut ! Leggo that pistol, or I ll twist your arm off. [Both soldiers spring at POLLY and, after a violent struggle, disarm her, placing her pistol with the others on MORTON S desk.] AUNT ABBY. Oh, Polly Trowbridge, I m ashamed of you to try to shoot Perry Morton, an him raised right in our county! MORTON. Let her go, and leave the room, all of you [ POLLY starts as if to go] except Polly! COBURN. But, Governor MORTON. Do as I say! [Exeunt COBURN, SULGROVE, AUNT ABBY, WHIPS and DROM.] MORTON. [Coming to POLLY.] Won t you sit down, Polly? POLLY. No. MORTON. I wish you to. POLLY. [Facing MORTON defiantly] I don t care to. MORTON. Sit down! POLLY. [Fiercely] / will not! [Without abating her glare of resistance and hatred, after a moment or two she slowh sinks into a chair, as if yielding to irresistible compulsion.] 10 AMERICAN HISTORICAL PLAYS MORTON. So you came to kill me? POLLY. Yes, I have sworn to. MORTON. Why ? POLLY. Because you are a tyrant and an enemy to your State. MORTON. If I am a tyrant, it is because I love my State. POLLY. [Scornfully] You love your State you who have defied law, legislature and courts to bring ruin and chaos upon your State ; you who have forced Indiana to join hands with the Yankee Abolition ists to coerce the sovereign States of the South, and rob them of their rights and property; you who want a "Union" of white women with black husbands ; you who send out your soldiers and secret agents to draft men into a cruel war against their brothers, and throw them into jail or shoot them down when they resist; you who made my father stand up beside the pump at Centerville and swear to support the Government he despises and hates oh, yes, you love your State ! MORTON. Was your father in the band that charged through the streets there shouting for Jeff Davis? POLLY. Yes, he was, and I glory in his doing it. MORTON. Too bad they didn t stand by the pump before they stood by Jeff Davis ! POLLY. It s too bad my father ever stood by you. MORTON. Oh, now I remember you, Polly ! You used to sit on my knee when I stopped at your father s house while I was making speeches through the county. You were about five years old then. POLLY. Yes, and you were a Democrat then; you hadn t yet turned traitor to the party that gave you birth and fame. MORTON. Maybe I have changed. But so have you, Polly, though you haven t lost your good looks. You used to be rather fond of me ten or twelve years ago. But now you want to kill me I think you said you want to kill me, didn t you, Polly? POLLY. [Faintly] Yes, I do. MORTON. I think you re mistaken about that, Polly. I don t believe the little girl who once put her arms around my neck could kill me, even though I am a tyrant, and a traitor, and all the other wicked things some people say. POLLY. [With desperation] Yes / could! MORTON. [Handing back her pistol] Well, then, here s your chance ! POLLY. [Taking the weapon and slowly rising] Don t tempt me! MORTON. [Pointing] You wear a butternut pin. POLLY OF POGUE S RUN 11 POLLY. [Raising the weapon as if to fire.} You remind me of my duty. MORTON. The only pins you used to wear were big brass ones that scratched my wrists. [She lowers the weapon.] But we didn t have any brave Knights of the Golden Circle then to send girls to kill tyrants. POLLY. [Desperately pointing the pistol anew.] Oh, I must / must! MORTON. [After a pause] Well? POLLY. [Throwing down the weapon, sinking back into her chair and covering her face with her hands.] I could have done it when I first came here. MORTON. Perhaps you could do it now, if you were quite sure I am the tyrant you thought me. I know I am not loved no man in power can be but I do wish you young people of Indiana to under stand. Because you will be here long after I am gone. POLLY. But I do understand. You want to coerce the South and set the niggers free. MORTON. Yes, I do want to coerce the South, because the South is trying to destroy the Union. And I am willing to set the blacks free because their owners have made that the only way out. But in the old days your father and I stood together for letting slavery alone, if only its backers would not force it upon the new States. Because your father and most other Democrats forsook that position, I had to quit the party. So they were the renegades, not I. POLLY. But now you want nigger equality. MORTON. They are human beings, Polly, and it is everlastingly wrong for one man to hold another as his slave. But I don t think you are in any danger of choosing a black husband, and it would make me very sad if you should. POLLY. [Sobbing.] I don t see why. You ought to hate me. I tried to kill you. MORTON. [Coming behind POLLY S chair and caressing her bowed head.] Please, Polly, don t cry about that! It wasn t the little girl I used to know who tried to kill me, but the new Charlotte Corday of the Knights of the Golden Circle now, wasn t it? POLLY. [Still sobbing.] Y e s. MORTON. And these bloodthirsty warriors were going to set up a government of their own, just as soon as you had belled the cat wasn t that the plan, Polly? [She nods her head in halting assent.] And it all depended upon the aim of one little Wayne County girl? 12 AMERICAN HISTORICAL PLAYS POLLY. [Rising. ] Oh, no, I wasn t the only one ten of us took the oath! MORTON. So I am still in danger from the other nine? POLLY. Yes, they will surely kill you ; they swore to do it. They all know you by sight and a bullet or a knife will reach you wherever you are. No power on earth can save you. MORTON. [Indicating the weapons on his desk.] Maybe it s just as well Aunt Abby did bring me these. [Pause.] But, Polly? POLLY. [Faintly.] What? MORTON. I ve just thought of a way to head them off. POLLY. How ? MORTON. Tell me their names and I won t be at home when they call! POLLY. [Looking up, startled.] No, no, no, I mustn t betray their secrets; they d kill me if I did! MORTON. I hadn t thought of that. It would be just like them. POLLY. [Reciting in an awe-stricken voice."] "Should I ever divulge, or cause to be divulged, any secrets, signs or pass-words of the consecrated Temple, I must meet with the fearful and just penalty of the traitor, which is death, death, DEATH!" MORTON. But, you see, Polly, I already know most of the secrets and all of the signs and pass-words of "the consecrated Temple." Try me, now! [Illustrating.] When I meet anybody I suspect of being "consecrated" I place the heel of my right foot in the hollow of the left, with my right hand under my left arm, my left hand under my right arm, the four fingers of my left hand over my right arm so. You do the same. [She does.] Then I advance my right foot and you advance yours ; we clasp our right hands together and place our left hands on our right breasts. Then I say "Nu." Go on, Polly! POLLY. [Mechanically.] "Oh." MORTON. "Lac" that s it "Calhoun" spelled backward. Then I say "S." POLLY. "L." MORTON. "Give me liberty." POLLY. "Or give me death." MORTON. With a preference for liberty, of course. Then we give one more handshake and we are properly introduced. But if one of us is in distress he places his left hand on his right breast and raises his right hand and arm to full height once like this. Or, if it s at night, he calls out, "oak-oun," three times "oak-oun, oak-oun, oak-oun." POLLY OF POGUE S RUN 13 POLLY. [In wonder.] You must have visited one of our "castles." MORTON. No, but I could. Let s see! [He knocks on his desk three times with mock solemnity.] Your turn, Polly. POLLY. "Who cometh? Who cometh? Who cometh?" MORTON. [In a sepulchral voice.] "A Man. We found him in the hands of the Sons of Despotism, bound in chains and well-nigh crushed to death beneath the iron heel of the Oppressor." [In his natural voice.] I m the "Oppressor," am I not, Polly? [She nods assent, compelled to smile in spite of herself.] "We have brought him hither and would fain clothe him in the white robes of Virtue and place his feet in the straight and narrow path which leads to Truth and Wisdom." POLLY. Oh, you know everything! MORTON. Except the names of the other nine who have sworn to kill me. And you are going to tell me who they are. POLLY. Please don t ask me! You d have them all dragged off to a dungeon and loaded down with chains. MORTON. No, indeed, Polly! This is the open season for tyrants and I need all my dungeons and chains for people who actually try to kill me as you have. POLLY. [Crushed.] I know I deserve it. MORTON. But you are not sorry now you didn t do it, are you? POLLY. Oh, no, no, no! It makes me shudder to think how near it I came. MORTON. Still, you d be willing to have one of the other nine do it? POLLY. That would be terrible, terrible! MORTON. If you really think so, tell me who they are! POLLY. [Crosses the stage in agonised indecision.] Oh, I must either be false to them or to you ! MORTON. Yes! Which shall it be? POLLY. [Snatching a paper from her bosom and giving it to him.] Their names are there. [She sinks back into her chair and hides her face in her hands.] MORTON. [Glancing over the paper.] Quite a lot of my good friends here, I see. But I m glad you are the only woman among them. POLLY. [Faintly.] You will let me see my mother before I am taken out to be hanged? MORTON. [With deep feeling.] Polly, Polly, Polly, you poor little innocent, do you think I could let harm come to one hair of 14 AMERICAN HISTORICAL PLAYS your dear head? You have done me a very great service saved my life, it may be and I am going to protect you to the uttermost. Not one word of what you have told me shall ever be known. It is fine to be to jail, instead of lettin ye go home. a dictator when fine things are to be dictated. [POLLY falls upon her knees and, taking his hand, tries to kiss it.] No, you mustn t do that, Polly. It isn t good for you or me either. [He gently lifts her to her feet.} POLLY. [Dazed.] I feel so strange! The world seems all made over so much bigger and more beautiful ! Is that President Lincoln s picture up there ? MORTON. Yes, Polly. POLLY. Such a kind, noble face! And I thought him oh! MORTON. It would make him glad to hear you say that. POLLY. Nobody could do wrong with him watching. MORTON. That s why I like to have him there. POLLY. [Suddenly.] Oh, I don t know how to tell you I am so ashamed you will think me a wicked girl ! MORTON. Why, Polly? POLLY. Don t send me away! I can t live if you do. MORTON. But, Polly POLLY. Let me be your clerk, your messenger, your spy anything so I may stay ! MORTON. Impossible, Polly ! My secretary uses too many bad words and it might affect his health if he were shut off suddenly. POLLY. Don t don t laugh at me! My heart is breaking. MORTON. People say I have no heart, but they don t know how it hurts me sometimes to say no. POLLY. Then you will let me stay only just to be near you to see you sometimes, even if you never speak to me? I will be good, not make any trouble go where you send me endure any hardship face any danger just so it is for you! MORTON. My child, you don t realize how the world would judge you and condemn me. POLLY. I don t care. MORTON. Your father was my friend, and I once had two daughters of my own. POLLY. Let me be your daughter! MORTON. If you were, I m afraid I should have to punish you, Polly. POLLY. Punish me, then only don t send me away! POLLY OF POGUE S RUN 15 MORTON. You will think of this differently in days to come. Sometime you will tell the children gathered about your knee the story of how you went to kill the tyrant and then changed your mind. POLLY. Please, please don t torture me! I shall never change I can not. Leave me at least that hope ! MORTON. [Curtly.] You must go now at once! I have work to do. POLLY. [In desperation.] I, too, have something I must do. But if I am never to see you any more, you will not refuse me one last request? MORTON. Anything possible, Polly. What is it? POLLY. [With arms outstretched.] Kiss me just once! MORTON. [Tempted to do so.] God! [Catching himself.] No, Polly! [Pointing to Lincoln s picture.] You see he s watching. [Polly slowly reseats herself and hides her face, ashamed. Morton strides to entrance and, looking off, calls sharply:] Aunt Abby! [Enter quickly AUNT ABBY.] MORTON. Aunt Abby, I want you to take Polly home. She has had too much excitement today, but she is going to be very sorry about it all. POLLY. [Springing to her feet.] No, I shall never be sorry! AUNT ABBY. Polly Trowbridge, I m bleeged to say you re behavin like a plumb fool. Nobody d blame Perry Morton if he sent ye MORTON. Never mind about that ! But tell her father for me that I am sending Polly back to him as I hope in like case he would have sent one of my daughters back to me. AUNT ABBY. Laws yes, Perry! I member em both, Mary Elizabeth an Sarah Lilias. MORTON. Now, Aunt Abby, you can t get home tonight, so I m going to give you and Polly an escort to the hotel where you ll be my guests. AUNT ABBY. [Starts for exit.} I m bleeged to ye, Perry, but I can find my way around without havin that pizen Marcus Aurelius Whips feller taggin long. MORTON. [Smiling.] Always the same old Aunt Abby 1 My secre tary will take you. AUNT ABBY. [Shaking hands in parting.] Well, Perry, it s like old times to see ye agin, an if Indiany has to have an Ab lish n gov nor, I m mighty glad you re it. MORTON. [Extending his hand.] Goodbye, Polly! 16 AMERICAN HISTORICAL PLAYS POLLY. [In oblivious exaltation.] Will you give me back my pistol? MORTON. Why, yes, of course I had forgotten it! [About to hand it to her, he looks at her sharply, then slowly withdraws the weapon.] After all, Polly, I think I ll keep this as a remembrance. But out on my little place at Centerville there s the best riding horse in all Wayne County. I m going to have Black Tom sent over to you in exchange for this, and when you ride him I want you to be glad he once belonged to the man on whose knee you sat when you were a very little girl. AUNT ABBY. [Gasping.] Oh, Polly Trowbridge an him sired by Hambletonian Prince, out of the best Mambrino mare in Kentucky, an gentle as a kitten ! Ain t you the lucky girl ! POLLY. [Low to MORTON.] You will not even let me die! [Low.] No, I am still the tyrant, Polly. [He goes to his desk, rings his bell and lays down POLLY S pistol. SULGROVE appears at the entrance.] Berry, these ladies are my guests. Take them over to the Bates House and see them to their train in the morning. [ SULGROVE salutes and exits.] AUNT ABBY. [Goes to the door and, seeing POLLY standing as in a daze, calls impatiently:] Polly! [She then goes out. POLLY slowly approaches the door, where she turns and looks long and fixedly at MORTON who has plunged into work on his papers as though dismissing the matter as a closed incident Then, softly and sadly, she drops the curtains behind her.] CURTAIN The Little Theatre Some Notes and Suggestions for Those Interested in the Little Theatre with an Exhaustive Bibliography of Short Plays. By FRANK SHAY This book, originally intended as a bibliography oi short plays grew in the making. Certain explana tory notes grew into chapters. Other chapters were added to give the work completeness. The chap ters are: Your Little Theatre, Financing the Little Theatre, Subscriptions, Play Selection, Producing, Cast and Scenery, Costumes and Make-up. Paper covers, fifty cents. Postage five cents. Washington Square Book Shop 17 West Eighth Street New York Manufactured by GAYLORD BROS. Inc. Syracuse, N. Y. Stockton, Calif. M3Q3810 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY