DOGTOWN COMMON PERCY MACKAYE UC-NRLF B 3 ALVMNVS BOOK FYND WORKS BY PERCY MACKAYE PLAYS THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS. A Comedy. JEANNE o Auc. A Tragedy. SAPPHO AND PHAON. A Tragedy. FENRIS, THE WOLF. A Tragedy. A GARLAND TO SYLVIA. A Dramatic Reverie. THE SCARECROW. A Tragedy of the Ludicrous. YANKEE FANTASIES. Five One-Act Plays. MATER. An American Study in Comedy. ANTI-MATRIMONY. A Satirical Comedy. TO-MORROW. A Play in Three Acts. A THOUSAND YEARS AGO. A Romance of the Orient. WASHINGTON. A Ballad Play. COMMUNITY CALIBAN. A Community Masque. DRAMAS SAINT Louis. A Civic Masque. SANCTUARY. A Bird Masque. THE NEW CITIZENSHIP. A Civic Ritual. THE EVERGREEN TREE. A Christmas Masque. THE ROLL CALL. A Masque of the Red Cross. THE WILL OF SONG (with Harry Barnhart). THE PILGRIM AND THE BOOK. A Dramatic Service. OPERAS SINBAD, THE SAILOR. A Fantasy. THE IMMIGRANTS. A Tragedy. THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS. A Comedy. RIP VAN WINKLE. A Legend. POEMS THE SISTINE EVE, AND OTHER POEMS. URIEL, AND OTHER POEMS. LINCOLN. A Centenary Ode. THE PRESENT HOUR. Poems of War and Peace. POEMS AND PLAYS. In Two Volumes. DOGTOWN COMMON. ESSAYS THE PLAYHOUSE AND THE PLAY. THE Civic THEATRE. A SUBSTITUTE FOR WAR. COMMUNITY DRAMA. An Interpretation. ALSO (As Editor") THE CANTERBURY TALES. A Modern Rendering into Prose. THE MODERN READER S CHAUCER (with Professor J. S. P. Tatlock). DOGTOWN COMMON v> THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO ! v DALLAS ATLANTA SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED LONDON BOMBAY CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. TORONTO DOGTOWN COMMON BY PERCY MACKAYE H3eto gorfe THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1921 All rights reserved PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY PERCY MACKAYE. Set up and printed. Published May, 1921. Press of J. J. Little & Ives Company New York, U. S. A, DOGTOWN COMMON 4S8902 Inland among the lonely cedar dells Of old Cape Ann, near Gloucester by the sea, Still live the dead in homes that used to be. All day in dreamy spells They tattle low with tongues of tinkling cattle bells, Or spirit tappings of some hollow tree, And there, all night all night, out of the dark They bark and bark. 2 DOGTOWJST COMMON No highroad winds by that deserted way ; But on a dingy map in the town hall At Gloucester, one may read upon the wall: "Old road from Sandy Bay Up through the woods to Squam the meeting house." Today That horse-road is a rabbit-track, so small The ghost of Sabbath pilgrim there would fail His ancient trail. Yet often a footloose pilgrim by that track Still climbs the cape through bog and tangled vine Up granite boulders, where by some green pine He pauses and looks back Toward the blue summer sea where gull-white schooners tack, And snuffs keen smells of berry-bush and brine On the warm wind, and harkens the noon-weary Chime of the veery. DOGTOWN COMMON From Pigeon Cove three miles back in the wood The boulders heap up in a wild moraine Gray ruined tabernacles of the rain And starry solitude: A Stonehenge of the storms that Druid glaciers hewed In supplication to the primal pain, While yet the world groaned in the mortal throes From which man rose. There lie the lonely commons of the dead The houseless homes of Dogtown. Still their souls Tenant the bleak doorstones and cellar holes Where once their quick loins bred Strong fisher men who fought with storms at the masthead, And women folk who took their bitter toll Of death, with only their old dogs to be A memory. DOGTOWN COMMON They took that bitter toll, and bitter thought Cankered their mateless hours. Dark phan tasies, Hatched of long-brooding winter silences, Stretched their starved spirits taut With mystic yearnings toward forbidden sins, which wrought Their ban from holy communion. One of these, Last of the witches, pinched with spirit-hunger, Was Tammy Younger. Long after Salem days she cherished the lore Old Cotton Mather cursed. She knew the clink Of sieve and shears, and how to brew dire drink Of foxberry leaves with gore Of new-stuck swine. Full many a godless grudge she bore To make in church a deacon gape or blink, While she at home would scratch his puppet with bristles Of prickly thistles. DOGTOWN COMMON And when she died, late in that stormy night While neighbor Hodgkins labored in his kitchen Matching the coffin boards to bury the witch in, And rubbed the walnut bright With beeswax, sudden it thundered, and the candlelight Guttered in dark, and "Wife, come here! It s twitchin ," He called. "I won t!" his goody shrieked, all clammy; "It s her it s Tammy!" So where the "Parting Path" splits at Whale s Jaw The berry-pickers pass her hearth and tell Old yarns of Tarn the Witch, and what befell Of weird ordeal and awe Young Judy Rhines, her niece, whose lips no wildrose haw Could match for redness, till they quivered pale As leaf-ash when John Wharf, the minister, First looked at her. II That was the night, long after sun had set, When Peter Bray and Stephen Lurvey started With seven girls to find where the path parted. Two miles from where they met, Dark Tucker, Poll and Nabby Morgan were game yet, Lyd Muzzy, Peg and Liz, too, were stout hearted, But Molly Millet heard a barking sound And turned bang-round. DOGTOWN COMMON "Here, Moll, come back! Your lantern s smokin out. The moon ain t ris yet. Whar you goin ?" "Home." "What for? What ails ye?" "Nothin don t." "Oh, come! No time to turn about Now; now we re nigh-most thar. Hark yonder." "Hush! Don t shout; You needn t shout." "She s scart," laughed Nabby. "No m, I ain t." "What of? That s jest the widders bitches, The Dogtown witches." "Witches!" screamed Moll, and out her lantern went. Peter haw-hawed his heartful; Peggy giggled. Moll slipped a foot: down in the dark she wriggled, Still bawling. Stephen lent His light to Lyddy: "Here, Lyd hold it!" Over he bent DOGTOWN COMMON And picked Moll up, all mud. "I never sniggled An eel as slick as you, Moll/ Moll drew tight. She tugged the light From Lyddy s hand. "I m goin home, you you! I m goin now, and I ll tell Master Wharf The Godless way you re goin ." "You re clean off, Moll. Whar we re goin to Is old Aunt Tammy s, to see Judy." "Judy who? Your Judy Rhines! I guess folks know what trough She feeds outen the slut!" "Stop thar!" rang Peter; "Wait till you meet er Afore ye stuff your mouth with that mistake." "I wouldn t meet no one that daresn t stand In the Lord s meetin house. I d cut my hand DOGTOWN COMMON Right off, ruther than shake A finger of her." "Molly Millet, for good sake," Cried Lyddy, "quit, and come. Pete says it s grand. She ll tell our fortunes." "Peter s sure! How sweet!" "Watch here!" growled Pete, "You knew first-off whar we was aimin for; And what s a spookin -party without spooks And gals and sparkin . As for Judy " "Zooks!" Snapped Peg, "Moll s fearful sore Jest cause we snickered." "She don t need to set no store By snickers, doos she? Jedgin , though, by er looks, She s goin back." "I be!" "Haw! Be ye so? Wall, go, then, go! "Go tattle! Take Steve s lantern for your moon 10 DOGTOWN COMMON And serenade your minister." "I will." And Molly went. Far sounding from Fox Hill Still rose the barking croon Of Dogtown. Stephen spat, and whistled a hymn tune; The girls drew close, like pigeons bill to bill In a seed-loft; but Peter, chewing wrath, Turned up the path. He swung their only lantern on its pole. "Come on!" he called. The lantern hardly lit A yard around him with a circling slit Of light like a hearth coal, But through the iron-peaked top a triple hole Gleamed with three goblin eyes, that winked a fit Of wabbly spangles when his pole went teeter. "Come on!" called Peter, And strode ahead. He was a brawny seaman, Was Peter Bray, and lusty in his pranks. DOGTOWN COMMON 11 He fed a wild-oats stallion in his shanks, And when he played the freeman With girls ashore, and looked at Steve, and said "Let be, man!" Stephen let be; for Pete had stormed it on "the Banks," And Steve knew well there was no longshore huffer Dared call Pete bluffer. So, like a covey of pullets when Sir Cock, High treading air, clucks in his gizzard, all The girls came tiptoe-scrambling to the call Of Peter full in flock With Stephen for their bantam. Over ridge, up rock, By pitch-dark woodland and dim pasture wall, They followed his goblin light and the far belling Toward Tammy s dwelling. Ill In Tammy s house the clock was twanging Nine. The clock-moon eyes stared: blindly on the gloom. One candle on the hearthstone lit the room. There, dim in candleshine And deep in yawning chimney-place, Tarn bent her spine On a low trundle-stool, to ply the loom Of rug-work on her lap. She bent more near. "Judy! Come here." 12 DOGTOWN COMMON 13 Judy stood leaning at the window-sill. An irised pane ghosted her portrait there: Guled round with rusty-golden of her hair Her shadow face was still. The dark tick- tacked; a cricket bored his elfin drill; A drowsy chimney-swallow waked somewhere; Outdoors grum barkings died away, and then Began again. "Judy! Come here!" "Oh, Aunt, why do they bark? I can t endure to hear em." "Come, I said, Come here! Quit mindin yonder on the dead. Lor knows they make us cark And care enough, let lone us hankerin to hark Their yelps." The tattered caul on Tammy s head Shook; her mouth wrinkled feebly in a fleer. "See now ; see here. " 14 DOGTOW.N COMMON Tain bowed the broken spindle of her face And clawed with brittle fingers in her lap. Like a lean winter elm, she was, whose sap Is shrunken beyond trace, Or like some cellar insect, pale in a dank place, That lurks beneath a musty cider-tap, And reaches long and trembling antenna To hear and see. "Feel now my rug: i is spoilt. This hank is tore Clean through the weave." "Likely a mouse has been And gnawed it." "Mouse! I ll give his tarnal sin Come-up-ance! Twice afore He s spoilt my work to spite me; but he ll pay his score. I ll stick a bramble in his puppet s skin Till he prays God to ease his itchin fur. Mouse? Minister ! " DOGTOWNCOMMON 15 "The minister! Why, Aunt Tarn, what cT ye mean?" "Hark, Judy Rhines! I ve told ye what a sort Folks called my Granny Luce: "Old Witch," fer short. I was come seventeen When Granny died. She lamed me all she d lamed and seen, And peck o trouble the church folks gave her for t, Till soon they called me witch, and druv away My work and pay "Yes, like as they ve done you now, cause o me, Ah 1 ceptin what we am by secret ways. Old Elder Coit was courtin -spruce them days. He kep me company, But quit when I was banned; and, all these years long, he Has set the min ster gin me when he prays. So now he s set John Wharf, the God-believin , To curse my weavin , 16 DOGTOWN COMMON "And now now " Tammy gulped; her thin voice snapped And crackled, moaning. Judy crooned : "There -there " And raised her up in her deep elbow-chair, And smoothed the shawl that wrapped Her shrivelled body. Tarn s weak head went nod; she napped. Her black shawl felt the sheen of Judy s hair. The cricket drilled in ores of black and gold And young and old. Low seated on the trundle, Judy stirred. She winced with her left arm. The arm was slung Loose in a band of cloth. Her right she hung Where the hearth-candle blurred Her eyes, that gazed unblinking. Nothing mortal heard The music of her thoughts. They had no tongue DOGTOWN COMMON 17 Even for herself as, will-less, her right hand Groped in the sand Beside the hearth and clutched a small charred stick. Slantwise her fingers held it, like a quill. Slowly it swirled in aimless orbits, till The sharp black point went crick On the gray stone. Wide-eyed, she stared on the flame-wick. Below, the charry pencil stirred was still Crept on once more; then idly as a mote On air it wrote. "Judy! What ails ye, Judy?" quavered Tarn. The will-less hand still wrote, the void eyes stared. "What s that? Where are ye, Judy?" Tammy flared Chin-forward. "Here I am, Here, aunt: What is it?" "Aye, what is i makin sham 18 DOGTOW.N COMMON Or figgurs?" "Figgurs?" Still her soul was snared In twilight, like a child that stumbles from day In some dark way Seeking a lost thing. "Figgurs?" Now her eyes Slow focussed on the hearthstone. "Head! Read off Yonder what s wrote." She read: " T is I, John Wharf." And then, still slower, twice : " T is I, John Wharf." "Ha, him! So, did I tell ye wise? T is him that persecutes us with his scoff. His mark! He s owned up now." Tarn chuckled, wild. But Judy smiled. Whenever Judy smiled, roses came out And sorry weather took another seeming. DOGT OWN COMMON 19 When Judy knew she smiled, that ruddy gleam ing Put utterly to rout Old cankerworms, and sudden buds began to pout. "That s funny, Aunt! I must have been adreaming," She smiled ; and smooched the writing with her foot Back in the soot. Yet in her smile a pallid yearning hid, And in her presence splendors far away Lingered in afterglow gray-rose, rose-gray. "Aye, sign his name, he did, In black! T was Satan s chalk he borrered." "God forbid, Aunt Tarn, that he" She stopped short in her say, For "Judy ! Judy ! Judy Rhines ! " it sang. The door went bang. IV Then sileince. Judy pulled the latch. , She peered And shrunk back. Through the doorway, hulk ing tall, Loomed Peter, like a bullock from a stall. The teeth in his red beard Laughed white; above his grin the goblin eye balls leered. "Halloa, thar!" "Peter Bray! you?" "Me, and all These little shiners in a net. Steve ketched em, And so we fetched em "Along to show ye. Come in, gals!" "Who s there?" 20 DOGTOWNCOMMON 21 Shrilled Tammy. "Jest it s Pete and Stephen, Aunt; They re bringin comp ny." "Comp ny! What they want This late o night?" "Don t scare Yerself, Aunt Tarn," piped Peter. "We dropt in ter share Some vittals with ye. Not stay long we shan t. Here s pie and bread and rum and barb ry jam." "Come in," said Tarn. "Come in. Set down," said Judy. In they came And groped amid the dusk for stool and settle. But Peter stood. His brawn was all in fettle, And Judy was a flame To sear flesh, till the tethered stallion in his frame Slavered his bit. He felt her beauty s nettle Sting in his loins, and with her passing look His being shook. 22 DOGTOWN COMMON She passed him, bringing newly lighted dips For the newcomers. Quick, he reached to aid, But she was quicker. Almost he had laid Hand on her finger-tips But they eluded, and the light shaft from her lips Was glanced to Stephen. "Steve, can t ye persuade Peter to sit? What ails the man, so moody?" "Ask that o Judy," Winked Stephen. (The girls giggled.) "He s come up To git his fortune told." "So have us all," Joined Peter; "Aunty Tarn will make a haul After she s took her sup rum here. Spook some coffee-grindin s in your cup, Heigh, Aunty, won t ye?" Peter plucked Tain s shawl. He slipped a shiny coin and, stooping near, Spoke in her ear: DOGTOWN COMMON 23 "Leave Judy read my hand ; you tend the rest." Tarn coughed, and bit the coin with a blunt tooth. A little coin, to tell a witch s truth Must take her chemic test To pass, for witch s spittle is the Alchahest Of lover s lead and silver. Couth is couth, And silver passes muster: Tammy s squint Gave Peter hint. He loitered toward the cupboard, lingering there. "Young folks," leered Tarn, "I m old, and I ain t able To stir me round like you be. Shove that table Snug up here next my chair, So you kin all set nigh so fashion. Judy, where Be them new coffee-grindin s?" "In the gable- Cupboard." "Then git em." Peter bulked before The cupboard door. 24: DOGTOW.N COMMON Til help ye." "No, ye needn t." "Yes, I need ! Your left arm s hurted." "Is it? Who s com- plainin ?" "What ails it?" "Askin you, that done the sprainin !" "Me done it! When?" She freed Her shoulder from his clutch. "Now, Peter, jest you heed: That s how you done it last time." "Pish! T ain t painin , Or else ye wouldn t laugh." "Oh, wouldn t I?" -"By Gorry, Judy, I m sorry!" "Then leave me pass!" She found a cannister And fetched it to the table. "Ah ! let see," Sniffed Tarn, and smelled inside: "Aye, here they be. Now don t you make us stir, Peter. Here ain t no room for more. You set with her Yonder. My Judy knows more tricks nor me DOGTOWN COMMON 25 In these concarns. "But, Aunt, I d ruther "Nay, Do what I say, "There ain t no room here." Tammy stretched a claw And pinched Nab Morgan by her slender wrist. "Here, birdie; hold these grindin s in your fist And feed em in your craw ; Now spit em in this cup." A shiver of cold awe Silenced the girlish gigglings. With a twist Tarn turned the cup, and squinted long inside. But Peter eyed Judy, and Judy Peter. Sidling slow, They sauntered toward the window-bench. She gave A twitchy laugh. "Well, Peter, you ll behave?" "Sure I ll behave ! Ye know How folks behave that s after what they want." "And so 26 DOGTOW^T COMMON You want your fortune told." "Not in my grave I don t. I want it now right on the spot, Not told but got I "You ve got it for me, Judy. Come, go shares, And open up the hatches. Let her bust! What good s a fortun stowed away for trust?" "And you call this behavin ? Where s Your hand? Set still." He reached it, scraggy with red hairs, Tattooed with purple anchors. Stifled lust Throbbed in his pulse, as Judy turned it, calm, To read the palm. The calloused hide was crinkled hard in seams Swarted with tarry grime and creosote From many a dry-dock d keel and whaling-boat Oar-pulled in ocean streams. "So, Judy! Kin you riddle thar what kind o dreams DOGTOWNCOMMON 27 Goes crazy in a man that s ben afloat Nine moons at sea, and never day nor night A gal in sight?" "You ain t afloat now, Peter." "No, I ain t; I m in deep water, Jude; I m overboard And drowndin , prayin mighty on the Lord To save!" "Don t gasp so faint; Your life-line s lookin strong." "Aye, Judy, you re the saint, You ve got t my life-line: you kin pull me shore ard If you jest keep aholt take me in tow Never leave go!" "Leave go yourself, Pete. Quit; you re hurtinV "Will ye, Oh, will ye, Judy dear?" "Oh, will I what?" "Give me the drink I m dyin for! If not, By God, I guess I ll kill ye, And you kin axe that drink whar Dogtown devils grill ye 28 DOGTOWtf COMMON In hell. Ah, God forgive the drowndin thought IVe sweared. See, Jude; see, here s a silver shillin ! Now be ye willin ?" His words came panting, whispered, but their tone Thundered in Judy s soul. Almost she cried Aloud, but strangers near constrained her pride. She sat as still as stone. Unhearing, the awe-struck girls harked-on to Tammy s drone Where close she held her cup, to peer inside And with the coffee-grounds prognosticate Their listened fate. "Will ye? I m waitin l" Thick he breathed and hard. Then flashed a blinding pain, and choking grips Crushed on her teeth the blood-flower of her lips. DOGTOWN COMMON 29 Her mind went reeling, scarred. "Will ye?" "I will." "Then come. The back-shed door ain t barred. Come quick." "Wait!" "Why?" One of the lighted dips She lifted in his face. "What for a light? There s moon tonight." "Look in the flame. Set still." "What for, the flame?" "Look in the flame." "What for?" His look went lost. Nearer she held it, till the eyes were crossed. "What for?" His breathing came Quicker, then slower slow. One arm went limp ; his frame Shuddered, then stiffened hard. His face was frost. Her eyes were litten coals of hate and shame. "Look in the flame." Who knows what messages Tomorrow gets From charnelled Yesterday? what quivering thread Conjoins the buried quick and buried dead? Who knows, when memory sets In dark, what lurid afterglows of old regrets Still linger ghostly where the light has sped? Or what blind seeds of destiny life sows In death who knows? DOGT OWN COMMON 31 Steve Lurvey spoke. "What s thar ye see inside The cup, Aunt Tarn?" The candle dips shone dim. Nab Morgan nudged ; Steve smiled ; she smiled at him. "I see a weddin bride And groom, a fishin schooner leavin at low tide A lightnin storm a drownded man s white limb A woman waitin home, with daylight darkin And drownd things barkinV "Come way, Steve; please come way!" "Hush ! Don t take on. Who larnt ye see sech-like things, Aunt?" "My Granny." "Your who?" "My Gran, Luce George: she sees em canny." "But she s ben dead-an -gone These years ago!" "And so she has. She s over yon, 32 DOQTOWN COMMON But she can stick her fingers through the cranny And rouse me up outen my dozin naps With er knuckle-raps." "Her raps?" "Aye, on the table: twice, and thrice, Until I axe her what she wants." "And could We axe, and would she answer?" "P raps she would, If you kin pay her price." Tarn squinted sharp at Steve. Age is not over nice With youth, when youth is in his craving mood Of curiosity. "Oh, we ll pay score," Said Steve, "and more!" "Then lay your hands and tetch the fingertips, Like so." Lyd, Poll and Lizzy touched; they tittered. The other four laid hands. The smooth grain glittered Dimly. "Blow out the dips." DOGTOWN COMMON 33 Steve blew them out. Their faces blurred in wan eclipse. Out of the dusk the chimney-swallow twittered And Judy s one flame burned : It did not falter On that strange altar Where Peter s image like an idol froze Before the silent neophite of hate Holding her vengeance rapt novitiate. Backward her shadow rose Over the walls and rafters, deep engulfing those Round the hush table. Half incorporate She seemed, and held her flame in Peter s stare Like one in prayer. Across the shadowed circle Tarn kept tab Over the sitters. From her elbow-chair She wrote with crooked finger on the air And becked toward shrinking Nab Weird signs, like willow patterns on a grave stone slab. 34 DOGTOWN COMMON "Gran knows my hand when I kin write it fair. She ll answer when she reads it, twice for Nay And thrice for Yea. "Gran holds her head atilted to one side Cause in her jowl she has a twitchin tic; So when she comes ye ll know it in the nick, For Gran herself will bide In one that s here. Aye, here she s comin now!" Tarn wried Her neck toward Nabby. Stephen s heart grew sick. Nab s head was tilted sideways, and her eye Jerked twitchingly. The others held their aching fingers taut Upon the table board. The board went tap. They hardly breathed. Twice more they heard it rap. "Yea, yea, ye re quick as thought, Gran Luce. Give ye good even ! " Steve s quick hearing caught DOGTOWN COMMON 35 The whisper-gasped "Good even" through the gap Of Nabby s twisting mouth. "Yea, now ye re come, T is welcome home, "And tell us, Gran, who have ye fetched to night? Is it the Murky Man with cock s feet him That flew, last time, out at the chimney rim And pulled ye clean from sight Along with *m?" One and one it rapped. "Nay, then, it might Be some one godlier mayhap and prim Would axe a blessing without horn nor hoof, On my poor roof?" The silence tingled. Low it knocked, then loud: Once, twice, thrice. Slow the shadow-door swung back. Against the night one stood there, all in black, 36 DOGT OWN COMMON Bare-headed. A faint cloud Of quivering moonshine wrapt his body like a shroud, And round his hair the risen moon s bright wrack Glowed like a halo. "God His holy Grace Dwell in this place!" The table tipped, stools banged, the settle tumbled. "Ha-ha!" screamed Tain, "ye re come, John Wharf o mine, To own your mark what Satan made ye sign With brimstone, when he humbled Your lyin tongue." The scared girls squealed to hide and stumbled. "I knocked, but no one answered. May the Vine Of His Salvation strangle in these and thee God s Enemy!" "Aye, aye, it has em strangled deef and dumb. Look at the gal." "Nab, Nabby dear!" cried Steve, DOG TOWN COMMON 37 "Tilt up your head." "Go forth, Apollyon! Leave This child." John touched the numb Body. Nab choked, and sobbed on Stephen s shoulder. "Come, Sweety, let s go ! " They went. "As old as Eve Thy sin is, woman ! " Clutched in trembling rout, The girls rushed out. John Wharf turned back to call. Before him knelt A young form by a bearded fetich cold. Her candle flared the mist of rusty gold That rimmed her face. He felt Her throbbing quiet and the quickened air, that smelt Of ripening grapes in arbor. Ages old That instant and that kneeling image seemed; Or else he dreamed. " T is I, John Wharf. What mortal sin is here Of witch s sorcery? W T hat are these signs?" 38 DOGTOWN COMMON" "And so ye re come, John Wharf. I m Judy Rhines." He looked at her, austere Yet hesitant, as if he tried to summon clear Something that beckoned from the pale con fines Of memory a bright shape far away, Gray-rose, rose-gray. "What spell is here that turns warm flesh to stone? Surely this dwelling is the Devil s lair! Who is this man? Why does he sit and stare So silent, all alone?" " T is Peter Bray. Ye re right. The Devil s got his own In Pete." She touched Pete s brow. The sullen glare Kindled. She touched his mouth: "Talk!"- At her word The dumb lips stirred DOGTOWN COMMON 39 And spluttered, like a rescued drowner stran gling. "Ha! Will ye, Jude? Come on. The back- shed door T ain t barred. Come quick! What for, a light? What for? " His body wrenched; the dangling Arm straightened up; he winked and winked; the dark went spangling With little lighted wicks, that gleamed before A man s stern face. What man? The min ister, Gazing with her, With her, his Judy Rhines, gazing at him. He lurched upon the floor, reaching to shut Their eyes away. "Who s thar? By God, you slut" He saw them growing dim. "Who s thar ye ve got, ye whorin strump?" He seemed to swim 40 DQGTQWN COMMON Towards her. "By crack, jest leave me bag your scut, I ll skin ye the rest often!" He spat foam. "Peter, go home." John eyed him. "Home!" He* winced; he swore; he went. His big shape darked the doorway ; he was gone. John yearned toward the young figure: "Judy" "John," She murmured. Her voice sent A stealing wonder, like strange wine of sacra ment Through his wrought spirit. Where her candle shone Sudden it fell, and Judy lay there, white In the moon s light. Tarn scuttled from her corner. "Lawks! she s fainted. DOGTOWN COMMON 41 It takes the likes o you to fetch bad luck On me and mine and run our house amuck!" "Witch, t is thyself hath tainted This wretched child, whose soul had otherwise been sainted By her young innocence. Look; she has struck Her arm; t is wounded." "Nay t was Peter done t By sprainin on t "With his sweetheartin last time he come here."- "Judy, look up ! Poor Judy, are you better?" Feebly she smiled. Her smile was a bright fetter To hold his spirit near To hers, for her salvation. "Judy, never fear; All this shall pass." Tarn scowled. "John Wharf, you let er Be! 7 kin tend what s mine by blood and bone. You tend your own!" 42 DOGTOWN COMMON "Mine own are where the sick have need of me. Where is her bed?" "In thar the gable room." John raised the drooping body. Through the gloom He bore it tenderly Where Tammy groped ahead and mumbled. Stooping, he Laid her on quilted softness dark as tomb. "And are you better now?" Her voice breathed deep: "Yes; now I ll sleep." He tiptoed back. Tarn grumbled to her rest. He listened : all the inner room was still. The hour twanged: the cricket answered shrill. His spirit was the guest Of presences that thronged the tumult of his breast, But quiet was his shadow on the sill And lingered there, till moonlight paled in dawn ; Then it was gone. VI Between late August and the equinox Hovers a dreamy season frail and fleet: Then slender-falling water is very sweet To hear among great rocks, Tinkling in golden tones the calling cat-bird mocks Beside a pool, where willows sway to meet, And, long ago, young Judy saw her face in That bright-dark basin. 43 44 DOG TOWN COMMON She saw her face, and laughed to see it there Lit by the scarlet flames of cardinal flowers. Up the inverted sky in tumbling showers Cool sunshine splashed her hair Bright copper in water-blueness. All of old despair And dreads of night had lost their eerie powers Where glad she passed along her morning trail To fill her pail With brook water, for Tarn to boil her tea. In dipped the pail: The current-poising trout Flicked off, but up she dipped a minnow out And spilled him. On her knee She groped amid the ferns to save him. Sud denly She felt her hand touched warm. She turned about. "Fishing ashore?" "Ah, Master Wharf, it s you!" "What shall I do DOGT OWN COMMON 45 "Now that I ve caught him?" On his open hand He held the minnow. "Please ! oh, leave him go." John slipped him back. They watched him dart below. "How helpless on strange land He is how strong in his true home! You understand?" Her eyes looked up. "Last night was strange, you know. This little fish hath preached a parable. Remember it well." He lifted the pail. "And are you going home, Judy? Or are you lost upon the way That leads where in the dark last night you lay?" "That s where I live, Sir." "Come, Sit down. That is not where you live. Long since, in Rome, St. Paul revealed where all of us who pray For life shall live. Dear child, we live in faith And not in death : 46 DO QTOWN COMMON "In faith and hope and love; these three in one Are God. In Him we live." "The dead can live I guess, Sir, without God. Least, I believe They can." "He sent his Son To tell us otherwise." "Whatever have we done For dead folks, then, to plague us?" "Devils give Those fears to plague you." "Nay, Sir, tain t all sham. You axe Aunt Tarn: "Her Granny Luce had lamed us more than tricks. T was her that helped me to turn Peter cold. Oh, Sir, don t tell Aunt Tammy that I told: T was her that burnt the ricks Of Neighbor Coit last year. She trimmed our candle-wicks And told Gran Luce to fire his new sheep-fold. Oh, Sir, I hate the awful things us do ; But, Sir, it s true!" DOGTOWN COMMON 4? "Nay, Satan is Delusion, he is lies, And Faith destroys Delusion. Put away Satan I" "How can I do it, what you say Make this world otherwise When so it is his world? Even you it won t surprise May be, when you remember yesterday: What time last evenin did ye guess you d come Up to my home?" "What hour? Let see: I think t was nine o clock For Molly Millet told me " "Only kerf And was there no thin else that made ye stir? Three three s is nine : her knock. Who was it called ye, when ye felt the spirit shock And answered plain : T is I, John Wharf? Ah, Sir, Forgive me!" "Yea, but I remember now: Judy, t was thou! 48 BOG TOWN COMMON "I stood alone beside my study door. Molly had gone, but yet I felt no sign To go. Just then the clock was telling Nine, And dimly there before My sight you rose from a low trundle on the floor. Your eyes were sad and pleaded unto mine. I spoke, and in a mist of rose-and-gray You paled away. "Then I went forth to Dogtown." John looked round At Judy, where they rested on a stone. His young, grave face grew old: it sought her own, Then stared upon the ground. The drip of falling water made a dreamy sound. 0h, Sir, John Wharf forgive me! If I d known, I d never so have sinned." "What sin was thine Also was mine; DOGT OWN COMMON 49 "And if it be that Satan s snare entwines Us both, then we must break it, both, together And seek in prayer a bond of holier tether. Judy Judy Rhines, What witchcraft weaves you round that Christ the Lord enshrines Its charnel in such wonder? Tell me whether I pray, or sin, that looking on your face 1 pray for grace!" "Nay, never pray towards me. Ye see this arm Last night was sprained, and now t is healed, I guess: Sir, you re a minister; leave me confess. T was Peter done the harm Ahankerin for more; but me, I worked the charm Or else he would a lusted for me less. Sir, the dead the livin dead they clutch My heart so much, 50 DOGTOWN COMMON "And make my days so eerie, and Aunt Tarn Has heavied my nights and days with hatin things So long, sometimes my spirit takes and flings All thinkin off, like flam, And jest goes livin , lovin , naked like I am, Feelin , and makin others feel, what brings Their love upon me. So what makes me glad Made Peter bad ; "But me, that made him so, ain t I the same In sinnin ? Ain t I, Sir?" John s life-blood surged Within him. "Child, the charnel must be purged Our hearts be cleansed. The blame Is Antichrist s, who taints our glory with his shame; But I God!" He stopped. His face was scourged By inward lightnings, which he smothered under To curb their thunder. DOGTOWN COMMON 51 "Why don t ye say the words?" "What words?" "The ones That s in your mouth." He gazed at her, con strained. "He who would cleanse must be himself un stained, But I am soiled! ( Her tones Her looks were his.) "Weren t them the words?" "What dark touchstones Were yours, to fathom what my mind con tained? How could you tell my thoughts, and speak them so?" "Sometimes I know "The words before folks speak. I hear them all Out loud, like some one told me how they ran." "Who told you these?" "I guess t was her dead Gran." "Let be! Let be! The scall Of Satan shends thee, child. His venom can bespawl 52 DOGTOWN COMMON God s cleanest shrine, and make of hallow d man An ulcered thing. Cast out this prying evil! T was he, the Devil, "Who gave thee power to read my secret thought, And drew last night my spirit to thee. Yea, I, too, am soiled. I, too, was led away By his dark hand, and brought To hell s abyss: T is so in secret we are caught And damned." "How can we scape him?" "We can pray, And Christ, who heareth all beyond the grave, May cleanse and save." John took her hand. "Pray with me, Judy child." In crinkled fern they sank on bended knee. Above them glimmered a green rowan tree Red flecked with berries wild ; DOGTOWN COMMON 53 A myrtle warbler flashed, the summer morning smiled ; Kingscandle burned pale tapers tremblingly, And falling water, falling smooth and slender, Made music tender. "Dear Christ, who rose unblemished from the dead To heal the sins of Thy forbidden fruit, Let not Thy secret Enemy pollute This child. Yea, shield her head From God the Father s wrath, or let it fall in stead On me, her minister. Our sins commute!" "Nay, when we re tryin to shed our sins, like now, Lord, tell us how!" Cried Judy; and she added, speaking shy: "0 Master Wharf, I don t know jest to pray 54 DOGTOWN COMMON To Him. I never lamed. I ruther you d say What s right, and then I d try To foller." John rose up. He raised her silently And looked long in her face. "Will you obey What s right?" "I ll try." "Then follow me. Come home," said he. John took the pail. Across the dappled brook He stepped a pensive shadow, silent, black. Behind him Judy watched the awkward back Bend forward like a rook Stooping from stone to stone; but where her yearning look Followed his form along the climbing track, She thought a shape so grand in power and awe She never saw. VII A little window with a wooden door Peeped from the back of Tammy s cabin. There Tarn lurked when neighbors passed, to catch them where They crossed the bridge before Her trap : Pop open she pulled it with a string, to explore Their teams, and make their oxen stand and stare With tongues lolled out, till they paid toll, poor lumpkins, In corn or pumpkins. 55 56 DOGTOWN COMMON And while the gossips tattled on, they said No basketful of pickerel, fresh from creek, Was safe to pass that spot, but Tarn would wreak Wrath on the owner s head Till he went empty-handed home in angry dread; And children crept by, lest she hear the squeak Of the old trestle-beam, and stick her cap Out at the trap And wag it till their little heads went noddy. So creaked the trestle now, as Judy passed With John. Wide flew the shutter. "Wall, at last! How long ll ye keep a body Wai tin ? Ye know I want my tea afore my toddy." Tam s face peered out. "Now, Judy Rhines, how da st Ye fetch that man along of ye? John Wharf, Jest you keep off DOG TOWN COMMON 57 My premises ! Come round the front door, gal." Slam shut the window. Judy followed John Around the lilac bush, where he set down The water-pail. "What shall We do, Sir?" Tarn leaned from the door. "You tattertal, Keep off, I tell ye. Leave my bucket yon And settle your own concarns with Solomon Grundy Was buried o Sund y!" Tarn coughed. She daubed her thumb, and sniffled snuff Out of her withered palm. John flashed a frown. "Thomazine Younger, you have wronged this town. Our folks have borne enough Of your clandestine heresies. Their evil scruff Corrupts our youth and soils our fair renown. The elders of my church have bade me warn, Lest you suborn 58 DOGTOWJST COMMON "The innocent to learn your " "Ho, your godly Elders! Tis Master Coit, Zorobbabel, Ye re meanin ? Now leave Harry come from heU And fetch his ca cass bod ly Away with him!" "Cease, woman! else it shall go hardly With you, if the Elders doom must needs compel Your peace. One child you shall not keep from Christ. It hath sufficed "For Judy here to serve your errant will Unwitting where it led. But now no more! Her eyes are opened to the light; the door Of that seductive ill Is closed ; and she shall never cross its darkling sill Again." "Not cross my sill won t Judy? Lor ! DOGTOWN COMMON 69 But you aire turnin Prophet Jeremiah ! Come; call him liar, "Judy, and git us riddance of his clatter." "Speak, Judy child : You promised to obey The right. Now, will you choose?" She mur mured "Yea," And stopped. She heard the patter Of chipmunks on dry leaves; they seemed to chase and scatter Her thoughts with little frisking tails in play. "Which Christ, or Tammy?" -"Bein like I am, I ll stick by Tarn, "I guess." John stared at her; but Tammy cackled Loud as a lean hen-mother ruffed with spite. "But you you promised to obey the right." "I did." The chipmunks crackled Loose shingles on the house roof. Judy s tongue was shackled To heavy weights upon her heart. Her sight 60 DOG TOWN COMMON Turned dim. "The right what we was talkin of Ain t it to love?" "It is._ "So, then, may be I didn t know. I guess I don t love Christ, but Tarn I do. Only if you d a-said not Him, but" "Who?" The quick-caught breath, the glow Of heart-flame on the cheek, where rose-lights come and go Tarn s old sight was too blear to catch their cue. She called "Come in, Jude!" Judy bent her head. "Goodbye," she said, And stooped to pick a gray flower at her feet. Above its clustered hearts her blurred eyes shone Fast winking, while she handed it to John. DOGTOWN COMMON 61 "It grows right here, and sweet To smell. They call it Life Everlasting. His heart beat Quick pain. He smelled faint fragrance. She was gone. "0 Christ!" he prayed, "0 flower of thirst and fasting Life Everlasting!" VIII To walk in summer quiet soothes the heart That strains to burst the leash-cord of its limbs: To walk alone, and chant aloud great hymns That make the deep pines start Their organ-ludes, where lingering orioles take part In lonely intervals: to climb the rims Of solitary rocks, and find release Of power is peace. 62 DOGTOWN COMMON 63 John walked in summer quiet. He walked to think His pent soul free of thoughts. He walked to fill The ache of thought with beauty. He lay still High on the shelving brink Of a huge boulder s roofbeam, where he heard the clink Of the quarryman s hammer call from Railcut Hill, Tapping to pulses of a spirit tabor Love songs of labor. He lay and saw upstaring at the sky Visions of Christ the Savior in white flame Walking with Judy. Down the blue they came And passed him quiet by, Conversing with each other low and tenderly. She held a small drab flower, and spoke a name 64 DOGTOWJN" COMMON "John," and she asked: "Why does it grow in hell So sweet to smell?" And following after them, in peaked hats, Black Elders strutted from a little church. One muttered: "Don t tread near them, lest they smirch Our gowns." And one said : "That s The child. They say she turns all pretty birds to bats About her dwelling. Tell John Wharf to search The place and see." And where their shapes went darking He heard them barking. He rose and stared around. Still, far below, He heard the barking sound. It died away. He bowed his head. Clutching he kissed the gray Flower in his hand. " T is so ! DOGTOWN COMMON 65 J T is so!" he whispered, "But Lord God, I did not know." Once more he strode on in the summer day, Where yellow butterflies, bright-wing d from bath, Fluttered his path. The footpath turned and plunged. He followed it Into a barren gulley, bleak as where Lost Christian strayed and met the Giant Despair. He watched a bittern flit On lumbering wings, to vanish in a swampy pit Of cedars. So he passed to balmier air Along the moor grass, where deep wheel ruts showed The old back road. Across ripe fields he passed, where golden rod And purple asters mixed in glowing tide. 66 DOGTOWN COMMON Dull-orange daisies stared at him, ox-eyed, And bursting milkweed pod Spirtled white filmy seeds. He watched them drift toward God Like his wild thoughts. Then quick he turned aside And, climbing, reached the top of Gravel Hill. There he stood still. Far off he saw the shores of Ipswich Bay And Newburyport gleam in the sea s blue fires: Sweet Newburyport, the town of lovely spires! There, on hush Sabbath day, In blue-bright Merrimac the Christ-clean spirits lay Their sins, home welcomed with baptismal choirs. How often he had helped that hallow d quest Their pastor s guest. "0 Faith and Hope and Love!" The preach er s words DOGTOWN COMMON 67 Came fresh and strange and wild with mystic scope. Under an elm he lay, on a green slope Where tawny-golden herds Dreamed-by like horned beasts of Revelation. Birds Dreamed in the noon. They waked toward night. "OHope," They sang, "0 Faith, and ever-brooding Dove Of Christ-0 Love!" IX Song is the soul. Deep in the primal slime A reptile loved and sang. The hyla s throat, Evolving seraph wings, still throbs remote Through million forms of time In Philomel s rapt song and Dante s soaring rhyme. John felt it throbbing now. He heard it float Up from the pasture earth, primeval, wild, Half man, half child: DOG TOWN COMMON 69 "Moon went into poplar tree, An star went into blood; "0 my sin is forgiben an my soul set f reef- So rich And soft and unctuous it rose, John started To find the singer. Deep and mellow-hearted Once more it tuned that pitch Of gladness. John drew nearer. Standing in a ditch Of blue clay, where a load of stones lay carted, He spied his black bird. "Ha! So that s you, Tie?" * "Yas r, Massa , me an I." "Meet, Lord, on de milk-white horse" Old Tie Blinked her bright eyes and laughed up in the sun. Sweat shined her black face, crinkled like a bun. Her workman s smock was wry, * An authentic character. See Note, at the end. 70 DOGTOWN COMMON And through green tattered breeches a great- muscled thigh Bulged, as she raised a stone to lay upon The new wall she was building building strong Of rock and song: "In de mornin w en I rise, Tell my Jesus howdy, 0! "Wash my hari in de mornin glory " Slaves Had pens hi Dogtown. After nightfall there "Old Ruth" would climb her creaking, outdoor stair Above the stern conclaves Of pious Puritans, among whose honored graves No crumbling slab betokens anywhere "Old Ruth" or "Tie," yet builded of her hand The stone walls stand. "Drop on, drop on de crown on my head" Ha-ha! Ari roily in my Jesus arm!" Dis gospel hymnin DOGTOWN COMMON 71 Dat sho done keep my drownded soul aswim- min , An make dis old crow-bar Light s a paddle to row me." "Tell me, Tie, why are You happy?" "Me? Cuz, Massa, mong de women Ise glad Ise man, an mong de man, glad sho Ise woman. So "Ise glad Ise bof togedder an saved." Tie spat And chuckled. "Ole Massa Coit done bough ten me Off de Port Royul ship. He tink, says e, Dat be strong nigger, dat Feller, an so he setted me to buildin at Dese stone wall. Long year while ago dat be." And once more from Tie s throat, primeval, sweet, The wild tune beat: 72 DOGTOWN COMMON "O my sin is forgiben an my soul set jree!" John s heart Throbbed with the tune; his voice leaped in her strain. They lifted it together again again. Tie took the alto part And John the tenor. Clear he heard his own voice start Echoes that fell from sunset like gold rain Where round him shone, through red of wild- rose hips, The Apocalypse. Rose hips and barberries, vermillion bright Mid green-pale leaves against the pale-green west: Rose hips and barberries, and Judy dresst In dim blue, bending slight Over the wall, and through a mist of coppery light Her round mouth singing. "Judy?" His hand presst DOGTOWN COMMON 73 His eyes. He faltered: "Judy, is it true? And this is you?" "I heerd you singin and I come to join Your hymn. Don t stop please!" His eye lids shut; He held that bright face fast. He longed to cut Her image on a coin Of gold, or clean new-minted copper, to purloin And hoard, untouched forever. "Judy, but How far you ve come from home! The sun will set Soon. If you ll let, "I ll see you back." ( Nay, coin could never grave The color of that smile, he thought; Ah, no! But in her hair ripe barberries only so For memory to save The bloom of her bright spirit! ) But the old black slave 74 DOGTOW^T COMMON Called: "Goodnight, Massa! Sun he layin low, An Moon she peepin ober de wall, so den Goodnight! Amen!" And Tie jogged off. Her kinked head, hoar d with white, Bobbed to her ploughhorse pace. Below the hill "Sin is forgiben" she was singing still, And far beyond their sight "My soul set free!" rose darkling as a dreain- bird s flight And feU in silence. "Judy ! T is God s will: You heard?" "What, John?" "Our sin for given. We In Christ are free." "You, John not me. I chose Tarn." "And your choice Was right. You followed love. Love is the Way DOGTOWN COMMON 75 Of Christ. Oh, I have followed it all day Ever since I heard your voice Saying It grows right here/ and gave me, to rejoice, His pathflower His Life Everlasting!" "Nay, Don t show it me now. Don t John, I m most afraid For what I said." "Afraid? And shall we be afraid of Love? You said, if I had said not Him but Who? I asked; and even while I asked, I knew Whom you were speaking of: Of me, not Christ! But that were sacrilege above All sacrilege, had it not been that you Saw Christ through me saw Love, who burns even now Here in my brow, 76 DOGTOWN COMMON "Here in my breast, even Him! For I have learned This day to know He will not be denied The dream he seeks. The Bridegroom seeks his bride, Nor can his quest be spurned By Satan s will. Not Tarn your spirit turned To first but me, and Christ through me hath cried To save you yea, by Love, and not by Hate, Who hath no mate, "By Love, who mateth in the Holy Ghost" "No, no! Don t leave me witch you too, John Wharf, Not you ! The rest s enough. God s sake, keep off Your hands! Don t leave Gran boast I fetched you in her snare." "Let dead souls do their most, They shall not blight our flower of life, nor dwarf DOGTOWN COMMON 77 The seed it bears." He kissed the small gray flower. She felt his power Quicken her soul with flame, where ruddy light Of sundown blent their mingled shadows. "John, John ! " " Ah, Judy dear ! "A shape caine on Against the coming night Flinging enormous shadow-limbs. "Ho, thar! Hold tight! A shillin a silver shillin , Jude! I ve won. Now maybe you re the slut I says, or ain t ye? By God, I ll paint ye "Red-scarlet in the meetin -house for this And you, ye thievin , God-believin cur! She s mine! I paid my shillin down for her, And now you re crimpin the kiss I bargained for." John blazed: "Enough! God s patience is Not always meek." "Ho, chuck your minister! Ye re jest a he-male snoopin after she, Like what I be, 78 DOGTOWN COMMON "And which on us is picked to be a winner God ain t the umpire." "Listen, Peter Bray " "Thanks, Jude! But th ain t no candleshine by day "Fer you ter freeze a sinner Dead stiff agin. So, Johnny Wharf, here goes a chinner Fer you!" And hot as hammer, where sparks spray The glaring blacksmith, Pete s sledge-fist de livered His blow. John quivered Limp in the ditch, face downward in blue clay. Bright on his chin-bone oozed a reddening clot. Pete kicked him sideways. "Last time what I shot A muskrat, so he lay Squirmin . And now, Jude dear, next time I call, you ll pay That little shinin silver shillin what I loaned ye. So long!" Judy sank upon The clay by John. Sabbath : How like an angel s voice the bell Trembles the rhythmic air an angel, blessing With peace the soul of passion, and caressing The heart where tumults dwell: Now peace for the living pilgrim, now his part ing knell Of death, it sounds. Man s days on earth are pressing Onward, and ever as they number Seven He turns toward heaven. 79 80 DOGTOWN COMMON Tom Stacy, parish clerk, has tied his nag Under the shed and reached the meeting house. The porch key grates. He steps in. A gray mouse Goes scurrying zigzag Across the vestry, while he fumbles for a rag To dust the pews and pulpit. A wild grouse Drums, as he opens a shutter, looking toward The still graveyard. He pulls bell. Now hoofs thud, wheels wkine on gravel: Far scattered worshippers unite their ways. Nicholas Kintvil reins his team of bays, Sweat-foamed from ten miles travel, To hail Si Chard, horseback. Their tongues unravel A week of news, till Dan Stone backs his chaise Against Si s cruppers. "Heigh, you thar, you mopes! Whar s y hitchin ropes? 7 DOGTOWN COMMON 81 "Shucks, Dan, you d oughtn t steer your rig like that. Thar s Nabby Morgan in Steve Lurvey s buggy. He steers right smart." "They re gigglin mighty huggy Looks like to me." "Tit s tat With them, I guess." "Here comes John Eal- ing s democrat Full up with more gals. This hot spell s too muggy To crowd a trap so tight. Look now, he ll spill it!" "Thar goes Moll Millet "Walkin her lone." "Jest hear Eliakim s mare Whinny! Last month she yeaned twin fillies." "Well, Alvin Lincoln, fetchin water lilies To trim church, I declare! You al ays did find plenty workin time to spare For pretty deeds. The way is whar the will is." 82 DOGTOWN COMMON "Hush! Here s the Stanwood ladies. When they stir, Sweet lavender "Seems growin round their feet. They ain t like others." So teams are hitched and blanketed from gall Of flies. Old folks in Sunday black, and small Children held fast by mothers Hands, saunter toward the meeting-house, where silence smothers The horseshed prattle; for in his carry-all Alone, bolt upright, leering looks adroit, Sits Zorab Coit. Beside the porch he tossed his reins to Stephen And waddled out stub-legged, thick of paunch, Pug as a woodchuck squatting up on haunch. Under his chin, shaved even, His white beard curled, round like a bib, and bald as shriven DO GT OWN COMMON 83 Monk was his skull. His nose stuck sharp, and staunch His neckbone topped his spine; but over his priggish Mouth, the bright piggish Eyes slitted slant through lids of puffy skin. Always they seemed to lurk for some surprise Angling, alert, yet unobtrusive eyes: There were no comings-in Nor goings-out but they detected secret sin At work. "Good day, Miss Nabby; you look wise This mornin ." "Me, Sir?" "Wa n t it you was driven Past me by Stephen?" "Oh, Mr. Lurvey; yes, Sir. He s gone now To hitch your team." Nab s face turned white, then rosy. "So he is! What s that he s fetchin back a posy? 84 DOGTOWN COMMON I s pose you don t know how He spent last Friday evenin ? My best corn- fed sow Died Friday evenin 7 ." "Oh, Sir!" "You don t s pose he Knows why she died?" "Who Mr. Lurvey? Oh, Sir, I m sure Oh, no, Sir." " Cause I saw lights go past, up Dogtown way, Fore nine o clock; and there was extry barkin ." "Aye, Sir, t was Steve and Nabby: they was sparkin " "Now, Moll, how da st you say " "I da st say more what s so ! T was Peter, too, and they Had Lyddy, Peg and Liz along, remarkin They d go see Judy Rhines." Steve loomed and glared. Moll stood, unscared. DOGTOWN COMMON 85 "Well, Stephen, ain t it so?" "Cool, now, young folks! Keepcool! This is the Lord s day. While thatbell Still rings, we ll stay here in the porch. Now tell: Is this one o your jokes, Steve Lurvey?" "What you mean, Sir?" "Tryin to coax Young girls to sell their souls?" "What, me?" "How well Do you know Judy Rhines?" "Leave me con fess, Nabby! Why, yes, "I know Jude Rhines, Sir. She s a witch." "A witch!" The porch buzzed like a bee cloud swarming. Young And old stuck heads together. Each loosed a tongue : "One night I heerd a scritch 86 DOGTOWN COMMON Outen her ell." "Her broom s all wore down to a switch." "I set a trap nigh Tarn s house found it sprung And nothin irit!" "They re both queer. What can ail em?" "They knowed, down Salem." "Ye ve made a bad charge, Steve. What can you bring Of proof she be a witch, as you aver?" "Hush, Nab, hush up! This silver button, Sir. She wears one arm in sling. Wall, Sir, last week, I shot a crow in the left wing With this same button, what was found in her Left arm!" "In Judy s arm?" "Yes, Sir, next day! The crow flew way, "But jes next mornin Peter called to see Judy" "Who Peter Bray?" "Yes, Sir. She said DOGTOWN COMMON 87 Sence day before, her left arm felt half dead And hurted so, that he Lanced in her with his knife and soon he fetched it free Yes, Sir, this button silver, look ! That red Is Judy s blood ye see thar. For the rest Axe Pete, you d best." The bell stopped ringing, and the iron hum Dwindled in quivering echoes on the air. The sudden hush struck all to silence there. Some stole inside, but some Waited for Zorab. "Whar s the minister? Not come? This sorcery is his concarn. Repair To y pews, my brethren. Steve and I will wait. John Wharf is late. ; Nab tugged at Stephen s sleeve. She eyed the Elder Whose face peered down the road. She whis pered quick: 88 DOGTOWN COMMON "Don t tell what we done, Friday night!" "Now, chick, Be I a fool?" He held her Hand, squeezing. "Nab?" But Zorab was a master welder Of broken question-marks. He clinched em, click, With one ear. "Stephen ain t too big a fool, Miss Nab. Keep cool." Nab flustered in. Poor Stephen crumpled under. "The weather pears like storm. It s fearful hot." " T is so, and hotter whar there s sin." "I thought I heerd a wa n t that thunder?" "Heat lightnin s buzzin round a bit. And whar, I wonder, IsMaster Wharf?" "He might a gone, like snot, DOGTOWN COMMON 89 To Tammy V "Oh! So he was thar, o Fri day?" "Yes, Sir." "That s tidy "For John. And thar he comes now. Bull o Bashan ! Who s that awalkin side of him not Judy Rhines?" "Yep, that s her!" "Not bringin here that goody To meetin ! All creation Won t stand that! Mebbe, though, he d let the Lord s damnation Strike her right here in church. I wonder would he? That man ye can t jest put your finger on. He s young yet John." A little sullen breeze was slowly stirring The smoke-bush near the porch. The sky was dun Above the belfry, where the nooning sun Glared round and brassy. Whirring 90 DOGT OWN COMMON . a Of grouse wings drumbled far; and from the maples, chirring Cicadas sang. There, timid as a nun With eyelids earthward, Judy came with her Pale minister. "Good morrow, Elder Coit." "Good mornin , Master Wharf." "Good day, Stephen." " Day, Sir." John passed on And Judy followed. Gabriel s clarion Could not have summoned faster To judgment than the voice of Zorab: "For a pastor That s late, you take your tune this mornin , John. And what might be your text?" "My text is Sin. Judy, go in." XI The musty gloom struck chill. Slow down the aisle Their black forms passed. He touched an empty pew And bowed. She slipt by, seated full in view Of eyes that yield no smile Where hers turn wistful. Gaunt he climbed the pulpit, while Zorab and Stephen took dim places. Through Green shutters slitting light flecked, and one square Of gold fell where .... ... 91 92 DOGTOWN COMMON A sash, half lifted, let in the hot day. Gowns rustled faint. A child, begun to itch, Squeaked, stifled. Through the hush a whis pered "Witch" Flew hissing. "Let us pray ! Our Father which art " The mired souls struggle in their clay For Power and Glory. The thin pipe blows for pitch. They sing: "Why do we mourn departing friends?" The first hymn ends. Now down the mat new boots cry creakle-creak. Tom Stacy tiptoes, poling the Lord s platter Along the aisle. The penny pieces patter Like droppings from the leak Of maple-sap in pan. Tom stops. In Judy s cheek The bright blood startles. "What can be the matter?" DOGTOWNCOMMON 93 Heads crane to spy. "She s dropt it in! Tarn s niece ! A shilling-piece!" Again the sudden pitch pipe, shrill and brittle, Sounds key: "What scenes of horror and of dread," They sing, "Await the sinner s dying bed!" They spare no jot or tittle Of wrath to mix the cauldron brew of Satan s spittle To scald their sinner. Judy thinks: "The dead The dead don t only bark for Tammy Younger To sat their hunger!" John Wharf rose up. He opens the Book for gloss And text. His eyes gleam out; his jaw goes set. Under his pallor burns a purpling fret Of blood in double boss 94 DOGTOWN COMMON High on the cheek-bone. Tongues buzz: "Scarlet see a cross I" "He that is without sin among you, let Him cast the first stone" "Aye, jest leave me cast it! Now watch er blast it!" Crash! the great Bible skirls in air, lopsiding Thud on the treadway. Peter s head sticks in The window. "Make that stone your text fer sin, Ye crimpin , Lord-abidin Preach-monger ! " Peter grabs the sash; he bursts the side in And clambers over tinkling glass. A din Of screaming turns the church aisle to a bull- pit. Pete storms the pulpit Brute-bellowing. The bull-roar lulls and quavers. The sudden tumult hushes sudden tense. DOGT OWN COMMON 95 Quiet thoughts are armored against turbulence. Before strong love, lust wavers. "Peter, the saving hand of Christ holds not a slaver s Whip, but a flower a gray flower. See!" Pete s sense Clouds. "So, by God, you ll try her tricks, is that it? Yon witch is at it "Agin! The Devil grab her. Thar she sits In meetin . Be you God-folks goin t allow A sluttin witch here?" Zorab Coit stands now In pew. His little slits Of eyes blaze large. "John Wharf, have you clean lost your wits, Or aire ye both blood-guilty o my dead sow? If not, then what in God s House doos this mean?" "Her soul is clean." 96 DOGTOWN COMMON "Thar s one jest way to clean a witch: that s hang er!" "Her soul is clean as mine. If ye doom her, Then first ye ll hang John Wharf, her minister." "The shillin minx! I d slang er Up high as mast ead." Peter roused new cries in clangor. John raised the Bible high. "The Book! Don t stir!" All eyed him. (Judy crept. None saw her thread The gloom. She fled.) "The Book saith: "Heaven and earth shall pass away But My words shall not pass." Hear them in awe: Love one another! That is all the law And prophets. Love is the Way Of Christ. This baited child hath chosen to obey His law, and will ye cast her forth?" A flaw DOGTOWN COMMON 9? Of pelt drops pattered the roof, and clang of thunder Startled their wonder: "The witch! Where s Judy Rhines?" "Haw- haw!" burst Peter, "Ye heerd that gong she answered. She s gone off By lightnin coach to hitch up fer John Wharf Housekeeping whar he ll meet er On Dogtown Common. Axe John if makin love ain t sweeter Nor makin sarmons!" Zorab hacked loud cough : "Tomorrer, Master John, we ll try your case. God send ye grace!" XII Judy fled home. The brassy noon turned night. Deep in the charnel sky the livid worms Of lightning writhed and flicked. They coiled in squirms Of crawling phosphor light Swarming the day s cadaver. In her panting flight She smelt the heavy sea-brine, hot with sperms Of balsam. Faintly came, far off, the roar Of throbbing shore. DOGTOWN COMMON 99 Judy sped on. The blackening woodpath swal lowed Her steps. Like frightened child, groping to bed In dark with candle out, voiceless she fled Her fears. Behind her followed Their voices singing "scenes of horror and of dread." The pent dark boomed it burst! She fell. She wallowed In rushing slime. She rose. Her clothing hung Soggy. It clung. Her pained side fluttered hot, but chilling shackles Cramped her faint limbs. The blinding roar still surged. It lulled. It lifted. Lonely rocks emerged Around her. Whirling grackles Rose screaking on the coppery clouds, and honking cackles Of wild geese drifted down. A fox cub verged 100 DOGTOWN COMMON Her trail, and blinked. His soaked brush draggled behind. Meekly he whined Where Judy patted him. But on again She fled. At last the peak of Tammy s gable Quickened her climbing. Hardly she was able To push the swollen door open. Then She drabbled in, dripping the boards. "Ha! Wondered when Ye d turn up home. Watch thar! Don t souse the table. Ye re soaked. Whar ben? Som ers to fetch us eatin ?" "No, Aunt: to meetin ." "Meetin ! Not Squam ways? Not to Zorab s diggin ? Not that John Wharf his preachin hole? Not him! Judy, speak up!" She nodded. "No! I ll vim! DOGTOWN COMMON 101 I wouldn t a-stuck a pig in That sty an you, my own born niece, now you go priggin Thar! Now I m done with ye! You kin go swim Your lone at Owl s Head, or down Kennebec, Aye, drownd your neck "Alone, fer all o me! Ye re drownded, half, A ready. Sarves ye right. Here, what y want With them rug rav lin s? Have em? No, ye can t, No! Hang em on that gaff Agin. And what had Min ster John jest leave me laugh! Had John ter preach?" "He spoke up for me, Aunt." "So you was his text!" "0 Aunt, he spoke for me! If it should be 102 DOGTOWN COMMON "That they would punish John Wharf, jest for sakes me, and mebbe reave away his living And ban him too." "Aha! That would be givin Tit for old tat. The cakes Would burn right-side for onct!" "The only way it takes To clean a witch, they said, is hang her." "Grievin Christ ans! Who said that? Old Zorobbabel ! I jest could tell "His tone o voice. Wall, leave em try it. Hang! They d need ter hang him, too, John Wharf, if he Spoke up fer you." "Oh, do ye think t would be? He said that, too!" A pang Of speechless love struck Judy white. "You leave him gang DOGTOWN COMMON 103 His own gait. Likes o him an you don t gee. If they could git you riddance, they d forgive John better believe! "And John himself ud axe grace. He d deal ruther Speak up fer you at fun ral than at meetin . Oh! don t I know em all the Lord s flock! Bleatin Lambs! Leaver a black sheep smother Chokin , they would, than rub their white washed wool gin t other." Tarn paused. In anger her tartness drove the sweet in ; But now she crooned: "Leave ?ne for them! How could ye, Judy, my Judy?" Tarn yearned with trembling fingers to caress The gleaming hair, but Judy silently Stole to the doorway. "I ve forgot," said she, "But thar I ll remember." "Yes? 104 DOG TOWN COMMON Remember what? whar?" "Over yonder." "Change your dress Tore ye go out. Ye re sopped." "The rowan tree. Til find it in the ferns." "Come back. It s drippy Yet." "Aye, t is slippy, "But I won t slip, and I ll be back afore Ye guess, mayhap like Granny." "What s them things Ye re sayin ? Talk loud." "How good a tree- toad sings After it s over!" "Ye ve tore Your skirt there s ravels danglin ." Tarn s eyes could not pore Where Judy looped the long rug ravellings And hid them. "Tell him, Aunt, the rowan tree, It s prayin ! He DOGTOWN COMMON 105 "Larned it to pray. How slippy t is!" "Here, Jude, Come back!" But she was gone from Tammy quite Gone from old Tarn. She crossed the foot bridge, light Of step, but solitude Weighed on her heart. She sobbed. The tree- toads trilled. She viewed The rowan tree the berries bleeding bright. She climbed. She slipped. Bark fell. She choked. It hung. The tree- toads sung. XIII "Tarn! Tammy Younger! Tarn! Where s Judy?" "Who Be you, darkin my doors ll?" "They d never have done, down There at the church, and now it s after sun down. Where s Judy?" "That ll do Fer axin , Master Wharf. Now you kin tell me you! Whar s Judy?" "Tain!" "Come, fore your weights all run down, Strike time, and tell." "/ don t know, Tarn. Did she? The rowan tree?" 106 DOGTOWN COMMON 107 "Aye, them s her words. Tell him it s prayinV she said, He lamed it to pray. To think I never guesst Her him was you!" "The rowan tree!" He presst His closed eyes. " They re so red - The berries! That s what I heard her sobbing, when I fled Those devils, to find her. Lord! dear God!" "Ye d best Call God. He likes when dead folks" "Don t! Don t say" John fled away. The footbridge creaked and swung. He felt the path Downward with slipping feet. Red dusk was still. Faintly a barking mocked the tree-toad s trill. 108 DOGTOWN COMMON a O, tell it not in Gath My love! my love!" The forest dripped with ghostly aftermath Of tempest. Ghostly called the whippoorwill. Dim cardinal flowers flecked the pool with blood. He heard the thud Of partridge wings. He stood in crinkled fern. On twilit branches rowan berries clung Red-pale, red-dark a drooping shadow hung. He knelt. He did not turn His eyes away, for round it now began to yearn A yellow-golden light. It built. It flung A budding whiteness forth as petals, first In April, burst Their gummy shards to let the crocus blow. It bloomed a bodied glory. Its glory threw Forth slender limbs and glimmering hair. It grew In beauty, till the glow DOGTOWN COMMON 109 Of Judy s eyes shone down, and Judy s voice called: "So Ye ve come, my love, my Lord ! Dear Christ t is you!" John rose. He cried aloud through quivering vines: "Dear love! Judy Rhines!" In old Cape Ann, near Gloucester by the sea, The summer pilgrim climbs the Dogtown track. By slender-falling water he rests his pack Under a glimmering tree. He smells faint fragrance there. He watches a wild bee Sipping a small gray flower. It stores its sack With honey dew for dark of thirst and fasting Life Everlasting. 110 DOG TOWN COMMON NOTE From a little volume, by Charles E. Mann, entitled "In the Heart of Cape Ann" (Glouces ter, Mass., the Procter Bros. Co.), the curious reader may learn many strange, half-forgotten facts concerning the old Puritan life of that region. Among its singular New England char acters, certain authentic and legendary figures have entered into the theme of this poem. P. M-K. Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. March, 1921. THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY OVERDUE. MAR 101933 LD 21-50m-l, 33 438902 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY