JACKSON BOYD From a photograph by Cammack THE UNVEILING A POETIC DRAMA IN FIVE ACTS BY JACKSON BOYD G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS NEW YORK LONDON Cbe Itnichetbocltet ptees 1915 Copyright, 1915 BY G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS (The right to produce on the stage is reserved) TTbc Iftnfcfterbocfjcr ipress, IRcw 13orft DRAMATIS PERSONAE Ormazd, the God of Light Ahriman, the God of Darkness Francis Hardy, ) ^^^p^? *'« Victor Waring, ) University Dr. Andrews "j {Afterwards Presi- Teachers dent of the U.S.),\ in Dr. Romaine, same Prof. Hawtry, J Jasper Stilwell SuPT. Wellesly Brooks, Davis, Young Hardy, Young Brooks, Penrose, ) Ramsden, >■ Rowlands, ) Fool, leader of Skulls Victor, a boy Jones, a litigant Boyce, a soldier Conger, a clerical Conyers, Higgins, Students in same Trustees in same Mitchell, a workingman Brinkmever, an agitator The Ghost of Hardy Students Strikers Workingmen Skulls, a college society whose initiates dress as clowns Elizabeth Selwyn,] Seniors Doris Denham, {^iSZ Miss Waring, J gUy Mrs. Waring, nee Denham Mrs. Hardy, nee Selwyn Artemis, Grecian Goddess im- personated by Miss Selwyn Athene, Grecian Goddess im- personated by Miss Denham Miss Brooks Victoria, a girl Mrs. Pollock, I Politi- Mrs. VAN Schuster, J cians Annette, a servant Women Factory Workers Students, Co-eds Women Politicians THE PLACE The United States of America THE TIME Act I. To-day. Act II. The same. Act III. Twenty years in the future. Act IV. Twenty-three years in the future. Act V. To-day. 343514 THE COSTUMES As this drama gives a picture of a dream world, the dress of the characters should be as striking, picturesque, and beautiful as is possible, patterned after the costumes of the past in respect to silken hose, mantles, and feathered hats for the men, and properly harmonious costumes for the women, but offering, also, suggestions of the possible dress of the future. The Fool and the Skulls are in motley. The dress of Ormazd is white, while that of Ahriman is red; and, as the play develops, the one becomes more and more brilliant while the other becomes more and more dingy. As there is a gradual evolu- tion of the followers of Ormazd, and a gradual degeneration of the followers of Ahriman, the costtunes of the characters should show this change. The college professors, trustees, and university authorities are dressed in caps and gowns to indi- cate their respective positions. [v ARGUMENT That life is a dream has been a fiction of the poets since the beginning ; that a dream can express life is the plot of this drama. Francis Hardy and Victor Waring, two philo- sophical students of Blair University, obtain the statues of the Gods Ormazd and Ahriman, and, after the ceremony of the unveiling, which is the conclusion of the song before the curtain goes up, Hardy dreams that, in a discussion with Waring, they call upon the statues to come to life, and tell them what Truth is, and solve for them the prob- lems of existence, Love, Ambition, Religion; and, as it is a dream, the miracle happens. The action of the drama consists in the unfolding of the lives of its characters under the patronage of the Gods. Nature is unveiled, life revealed, and reality made to stand out above appearances; yet it is all a dream. [ vii ACT I [il ACT I {While the curtain is down, students sing). Play, play, play the work we take ! Care, care, care away! A jolly fake is what will make The dullest night a day! Joke, joke, joke on Prof, and Frat. Work, work, work delay! 'Tis this and that and other chat Until the dawn of day ! Night, night, night 'tis you above Day, day, day that's bright ! Our Uf e we prove with songs of love ! Good night ! Good night ! Good night I Scene I : The scene is a reception room in a Greek letter fraternity house. Beginning at entrances, one on each side of the stage, and reaching far out on the stage, are dull green hangings, meeting similar hangings on each side of the stage, extending up to entrance three, and ending (3l THE UNVEILING in similar hangings at the back. About the room are athletic trophies, banners, and other evidence of college life. In the center of the stage is a table arranged as if a feast had just taken place. Hardy is discovered returning from up stage, after bidding the departing guests good night. Waring is sitting on the right of the table. Both are dressed in picturesque costumes, Waring affecting light, Hardy dark colors. As the curtain goes up, the hangings on the sides of the room part and disclose the undraped statues of Ormazd of white marble on the right, and Ahriman of red marble on the left. The lights on the stage are not natural, and brighten to the accompaniment of dreamlike music. HARDY Why enter on discussion now of all The theories of life? WARING That was the program. HARDY I'd rather make a night of it in feast And song! WARING That you have done! HARDY Do not reproach me! [4] THE UNVEILING WARING But then, on this occasion were we not To settle, once for all, just what Truth is. And publish, by unveiling these great statues, Its oneness to the world? [Weird music] HARDY You must remember We differ much in our philosophy ! You base the Truth on dreams, imagination, Tradition, hope, and what love wants ! WARING Why not Allow the hidden force in life its share? The under-current [Weird music] HARDY No! We hope alike, But differ in philosophy ! WARING Quite true! You take the facts, I intuition! You Affect the physical, materialism HARDY What is there else to take? [5l THE UNVEILING WARING Had we the faith Of them of old, the secrets of the world Would be revealed! Were we to clasp our hands, [Weird music] Shut out the world, and look within ourselves, Then should we see what Nature is ! The All Would be revealed! [Music climax] HARDY Are we so in accord With things to-day? WARING We are! The world of old Drank deep of this occult philosophy ; But we deny ourselves all truth and power Save what we demonstrate ! [Music romantic] HARDY You do beguile me I I feel as if some hidden force were ours. Which, when disclosed to us, will open Nature — Will be a new developed sense! Our quest? WARING Rather, the culmination of our years Of study. You one type of man, and I Another. You, individualistic, I Religious. You believe in might and force, [6] THE UNVEILING The subtle ways of doing things — the art, The tricks, the schemes, the wiles and subterfuges. You are the principle of opposition, And I of peace ! HARDY In Nature, everywhere, I see two things, two lives, and only two ! Free will gives us the choice ! WARING And Nature lives Through their eternal war! But every power That Man has e'er invoked through hope of gain. Or feared through faith, since consciousness began, Still lives; and, if approached in proper form. Will duly serve him! Not by some magic cult; [Weird music] It is because the growth of Nature finds In us the long-sought end of evolution; Its perfect form ! As lip to lip makes love, So hand to hand completes the unity That opens Nature! [Weird music swells out] HARDY You entrance me ! Ah ! Were I to touch your hand, I feel the veil Would lift, and we should stand aface to face With things! Let us experiment! [Weird music increases] [7] THE UNVEILING WARING The course Of Nature shows a time must come on Earth When things will know themselves, and all that was, And is, and shall be, will appear one thing, Nature aface with self! HARDY But how explain Our being so diverse, we see alike? WARING The pow'r that makes it, not the hindrance! HARDY I see! WARING 'Tis by our union that we know ! The pow'r exists within ourselves, and not In Nature ! Chance might have discovered it ! [Weird music] HARDY Oft have I wondered how in some far age The Race would know what Nature is I I did Not dream it would occur in me! WARING Nor I In me ! 'Tis in the union of our type ! [Weird music continues] [8] Ah! THE UNVEILING HARDY So simple? WARING Yes; as when the first ape-man Descended from the tree ! HARDY Or joined a sound On to a thing ! WARING Or clothed his back With skins! HARDY Or took some step in human progress, No matter what ! WARING We, representing all The Race in type, now make it one in end And aim ! Let us invoke the hidden life As symboled in these silent statues ! [They clasp hands. Weird music swells out] Hear, O spirit of Divinity, ensouled Within these forms of marble, hear our cries For knowledge, light! Reveal what Nature is; [9] THE UNVEILING Make us aware of what we are ; tell us From whence we came, and whither go — The Why And Wherefore of existence, speak, O Gods! And for this favor we do pledge a life Of service to thy calling ! [Weird music is terrifying. The statues stand living Gods] HARDY [Cowers and screams] Ah! Ah! Ah! WARING Behold! A miracle! A miracle! [The statues step down and approach Hardy and Waring] ORMAZD Mortals, your prayers have met with favor! Lo, Prepare to meet your chosen destiny ! [Ahriman raises his arms and all is dark. Weird music continues with rushing wind and mysterious sounds] Scene II: The curtains at the hack part and dis- close Washington, D. C, in the distance. To the left in front of the Capitol is a crowd of miniature men dressed in black; to the right a similar crowd in light. As the characters speak on the stage the figures move accordingly. [10] THE UNVEILING ORMAZD Mortals, the common lot of Man now see, And seeing choose, your freedom being this: To turn the trend of energy to Good Or Bad, a power so sHght that naked eye Cannot detect the increment deciding, Yet not unfair; for, in the eyes of All, The thing that weighs is principle, not deeds ! AHRIMAN Mortals, choose well, choose sure, remembering That which you gain you have, can clasp ! Do not Forsake yourselves for greater things! Hold firm To common sense, accept naught but the real — The toys of touch, of taste, of smell and eye! For self -development, and not self-sacrifice Should be your choice! So speaks the world of science, Philosophy ! All Art is likewise motived ; And all successful living ! So be wise ! WARING [To Hardy] It is quite simple after all? HARDY No! No! ORMAZD Spread out before you is the world in all Its glory ! There behold yourselves in vision ! [II] THE UNVEILING When near the Capitol designing men, Appearing undesigning, take your hand In welcome overdone ; while there, beyond, Are other men open and innocent ! The first are of the world, suspecting, bold, Audacious, cunning, cruel, and successful, — These fear, mistrust, avoid! The other men Are uninviting when looked at with the eye Of sense alone ! Let not appearances Trick you ! For Nature, seen by partial glances, A struggle for existence seems; when looked At with the eye of Hope, the Mind of Faith, It is a triumph of the Good, the True, The Beautiful! Like sunshine, which produces The life of Nature silently, the victories Of Good form not the annals of the day. Are met with unconcealed indignity Instead; and yet the mockers are out jested, For, when all's weighed, the busy work of life Is froth upon the river of existence ! I cannot promise you a sure success. But that escape from failure which ensues. In spite of all, if you do not elect The proper path in Hfe ! And, if you choose Aright, there is no failure; for, amidst The haps of Chance, 'tis purposed that success And failure lie in what we are, and not In what we do ! So, if you choose aright, You win, no matter what becomes of you! [12] THE UNVEILING But, if your choice is ill, however great Success you gain, you meet with failure! So, Howe'er misjudged, I conjure you, admire. Love, imitate, and choose the Light! — And Think! AHRIMAN Nay, hear me first! The Dark are strong, and brave, Adventurous; beloved alike by men And women! Theirs a life of fullness; while, As all admit, the others never venture far Enough aside the path to know just what Things are ! The world up till to-day has lived In dreams ! You know that which you are is due To Nature! Life's a contract which explains Itself the way it has been carried out; And no amount of Revelation, good or bad, Should ever blind your eyes to what you see ! And what you find, should be your guide in life; For Nature is the only true expression Of what things are ! Let Nature be your guide In principle; you its complete director In all ! The partnership thus formed will bring You everything, if you attend to business! ORMAZD Be sure your view comprises all of Nature — The hidden soul of Man ; the depths of Space ; The scope of Time! Trace Nature in Mankind, [I3l THE UNVEILING ^ -i Religion, Love, in Selfishness! See Good Evolve from Evil ! Find the widest Plan Employing force, and thus developing Another Plan, which in its turn, discovers The Purpose of the whole which shows to us That human hopes are glimpses at the Cause Of things which- will some day be seen, unclouded. In all His wholeness! Search throughout the world. But stop not till you reach this higher goal ! Choose! Match your nature in the picture! Choose ! AHRIMAN Your first impression may not be the best! Appearances may be deceptive ! Choose ! HARDY [Pointing to dark figures] I do not like the air, the somber looks Of these mistrustful men! Why friendship there, Instead of being giv'n, is bought with favor! [Pointing to light figures] The others, like a cloud adrift, are fine; But ineffectual! I choose the first! [Weird music In miniature he is lost in the crowd of dark men] 1 14 ] THE UNVEILING WARING And I the second; for despite their innocence, Their lives are sure, unworldly wise, but pure Of purpose ! The butts of sacrifice or not, Their life is life to me ! [Weird music In miniature he goes to the group of light men. The light and dark figures mingle in conflict. Out of the light group the figure of Dr, Andrews goes towards the Capitol. Weird music reaches a climax. Ahriman lifts his arms and the scene disappears in darkness and the curtains close. Lights come on faintly] ORMAZD Your choices made, You now must part forever ! HARDY We pledged ourselves To study Nature in its hidden forms! WARING To join Together what we are in one supreme Endeavor, thus to understand the heart Of things! You Gods have battled always, now [15] THE UNVEILING Why can you not become as one of us, And through the night and day of living write For us in fact what Nature is? Since Time Began stood you aloof! Come, join our life, Our studies, struggles, not as Gods, but men; Show us the worth of what you are ! Defend Your names 'gainst being deaf to endless prayers, Unfriendly to mankind except a few ! Clear up the maze of legend and tradition, Of Scripture, myth; and let us have the Truth; That statement of the facts which will outlive All Time! HARDY And teach us how to cope with Nature ; To use the elements the one true way ! Rid us of fear ; the dread of pain ; and tell Us what we may expect within the room That knows no exit ! Give us peace of mind ; Drive out old Want ; grant us a standing-place Upon the Earth that will not give ! AHRIMAN Ha! Ha! They would become as Gods ! ORMAZD That will occur ! So much to them! Nothing to us! [I6] THE UNVEILING AHRIMAN I hoped Another age would pass ere Man would seek The light, prefer to serve in darkness, blind By choice ! But this is once surprise awaits me ! ORMAZD How best can we assist these seeking mortals? Attend them in their daily life, stand by. Instruct, inspire wherein their teachers fail; And see them carry out their choice in life — In love, in lore, in labor in the world; And that their prayers may be fulfilled, help them Be rid of trammels, customs, ruts AHRIMAN [Not desiring it] And make Them free in living! ORMAZD Not only them but all The world they come in contact with shall profit. HARDY [To Waring] What shall we first attain? We would know all! AHRIMAN Mortals, with this first vision of the world Denied to other beings, you, perhaps, [17 1 THE UNVEILING Now think there is some magic way to knowledge ! As mortals you began, so must you end ! ORMAZD Before we enter on our quest of Truth, There is one hostage, we require! Nay, two! But one in purpose ! Mental honesty. And moral courage ! Fair to know the Truth, And brave to speak it! AHRIMAN [Sorrowfully] This is the coming Man! BOTH [Weird music] We pledge ourselves to this high calling ! ORMAZD 'Tiswell! AHRIMAN [Doubtfully] Perhaps ! ORMAZD Let's show these seeking mortals, Since first adventurous atoms married. We Gods have always been in opposition So planets might exist for Life and Mind; That evolution might become a fact, The acme of creation other than [I8] THE UNVEILING A possibility ! Let us explain To them and to their little world of thought The meaning of the words that now obscure Their view of Nature, making them prefer An empty dream to actual life ! AHRIMAN [Fearfully] Thus take Another step in living? ORMAZD Yes ! Unveil [Weird music] The face of Nature, teach them how to see Reality! [There is a tremendous burst of music ^ full of joy, yet weirdness, and the lights shine about them as a kind of transfiguration. When the music stops t Ahriman lifts his arms and there is sudden darkness] Scene III. All the hangings fold, showing in front on each side of the stage loggias leading into college buildings, but arranged as open recitation rooms. A curtain presenting a college campus scene is dropped between entrances two and three. Lights appear in the loggia at the left where Dr. Hawtry is I191 THE UNVEILING assembling a class. Ormazd, Ahriman, Hardy ^ Waring, and others are discovered. Students stroll across the stage. Lights dreamlike. Music weird but romantic. HARDY Your statement is too trite. Why we could read As much in any scientific book ! We want to know the Truth ! [Ormazd lifts his arms and there is an added light] WARING Just what things are! HAWTRY Young gentlemen, don't speak so loud, I pray! The most explosive thing in all the world Is knowledge! Shh! [Music full of fear. Lights waver. He goes back in the loggia and listens at a door] ORMAZD No wonder that Mankind Is ignorant! [Ormazd lifts his arms and there is an added light. Music weird] [20] THE UNVEILING AHRIMAN The wonder is, I think, So lucrative is Error, that Mankind Knows anything! HAWTRY I seem elated, free! My whole life through, I've had one bare to couch My thought in unsuspected words ; to speak The Truth so Orthodoxy, lying await, Could not uptrip me. Now, I'm free! Free! Free! How poor is language made to hide the Truth, When used to speak it ! Ah I Time was I feared I should express too much, but now alas! My soul trained in hypocrisy is dumb ! [Gives way to feelings] HARDY [To Ahriman] We hold you to your promise ! HAWTRY WARING Let me go ! [To Ormazd] We ask your help ! Show us the way ! If one [21] THE UNVEILING Cannot vouchsafe the Truth, why we demand Another. [Ormazd lifts his arms and there is an increase of light and the music takes on a more joyous tone. Dr. An- drews enters from the loggia with several students. The Fool, fol- lowed by the Skulls, enters from the left first entrance] HARDY [To Ormazd] If he does not succeed, then we Exact of you to lift the veil of Nature ! FOOL [As if only partly aroused] What? WARING [Paying no attention to Fool] What use are Gods if not to make the scheme Of things as simple as that two plus two Are four! FOOL Desist! What would you do? WARING Explain The secrets of the Universe ! l22] THE UNVEILING FOOL Ha! Ha! They are unknowable! WARING [To Ormazd] Your promise, Sire! ORMAZD [Motioning Hawtry away and Andrews to the chair] Attend! Proceed! ANDREWS The first to understand Is Man, — likewise the last! Each study adds A light to all, while any one pursued Too closely ends in darkness. The general view Makes whole illuminate the part. The time Will come on Earth when all will be revealed By each and each by all in unity! Man differs from the animal. The brute Opposes Nature; Man controls it. Man Creates his own environment ; his brother Is made by it through struggle and resistance; Accommodates himself to things ; becomes Extinct if he meet failure once! But Man, The end and aim of Nature here on Earth, Becomes another Nature using Nature To build a world to suit his God-like self, [23l THE UNVEILING And Nature-like, opposes joy with woe In spite of all that he can do ! 'Tis sad For in this one experiment in life, Evil, as a by-product of the Good, Slips in; and then the first misfortune grows! Man's predilection for what he creates — His hobbies, institutions and beliefs — Becomes a second Nature, makes him miss The pith of living ; for it abrogates All else, resulting in a world of parasites, Who supersede what Nature has attained By crowding on to youth a knowledge-bag To last for Hf e ! You might as well try eat Enough by twenty-one that in the years To come you could forego all further food ! Once let these doctors fill the bag, your brain, Then afterward you see the whole of life With artificial head, and not the one That Nature makes for all her other creatures ! Know then that Man is youthful in self-guidance. Should not exult so sure of having found The way ! When he was certain once before, A way proclaimed as God's, 'twas then he failed Outright, attested by the Age of Faith, The night in which the treasures of the Race Were lost ; for then it was Mankind preferred The vision of a saint to all the Art, And thought of Greece, the law of Rome — the kind Of life we strive to realize to-day! [24] THE UNVEILING Let us beware! Who knows? Our glory yet May end in shame ; Nature cannot be thwarted ; But Man can go astray, and illustrate The tragedy of living! FOOL 'Tis heresy Upon its face ! [Music discordant. Lights waver. Skulls crowd about him] HARDY Let him conclude ! ORMAZD Peace! Peace! HARDY Be more explicit ! Speak in language all Can understand! [Ormazd raises his arms and there is more light. Ahriman steps hack that his egging on of the Fool may not be seen] Of things! WARING We wish to know the heart [25 1 THE UNVEILING FOOL He does not speak for me! SKULLS Nor us ! FOOL He robs us of all hope ! HARDY Gives you the Truth Instead ! A fair exchange ! FOOL 'Twould be if true ; But Truth with you means lies to us ! SKULLS Aye ! Aye ! [Ahriman tries to agitate the Fool, but to keep the others from seeing him. Music is weird] HARDY The Truth is axiomatic FOOL No! No! SKULLS No! I26] THE UNVEILING HARDY And proves itself if properly expressed ! ORMAZD Peace ! Peace ! How can the Truth hurt anyone ? [Music beautiful. Lights bright but unnatural] ANDREWS If you attend you shall be satisfied ! Science knows nothing of the Beautiful; As little of artistic form. It seeks Utility and Truth. It bases all Upon reality. You see the star Whirl in the endless deep so far away, — A Solar System seems a point ! You watch The planets and the asteroids revolve About the central Sun! The satellites In mimic flight forever try to clasp The mother planet as, disdainfully. She says: "Make of yourself a world!" This pageant Is Nature in its forms colossal, grand! The atoms in this piece of chalk act so; Are whirling points, poised firmly as fixed sohds; Yet could the eye in some mysterious way Discern their mechanism, it too would be A Solar System infinitely small ! (271 THE UNVEILING All Nature is one thing, one plan, one type! I hold a Universe within my hand! Now, if the atom is the primal fount Whence flows all energy; we must reform Our concept of the scheme of things to match The facts. All matter seemingly attracts; But it is only in appearance. The Law Of Gravitation is a formula That shows how matter is distributed Through Space. 'Tis similar to angles, points, And lines, which are related by a law That never varies, yet are uncontrolled By any force. The power that moves all matter Is centered in the atoms, not the mass ; And they, instead of acting from afar, Are centers of contending energies. Which hold them in their places, in their forms, Until the process Nature is producing Attains its end! The final clash of worlds, Which terminates each system, forces out The atom from the center to the rim. Thence it is falling to the central Sun; Not like the rays of light straight to the point So swift that Time can scarcely note, or Space Accommodate ; but as the boomerang A trillion years in spiral flight ; Thus giving Nature all the time it needs To wind up life from atom on to Man, The spiral growing less until occurs [28] THE UNVEILING Again the one supreme catastrophe That ends all in atomic mist ; and then Begins another system, Phoenix-like, Out of the ashes of the old, the same Occurring o'er and o'er and everywhere Throughout the depths of Space immeasurable, Through distant aeons only seen in vision; Or through a science yet to come ! HARDY 'Tis grand! FOOL More like sheer nonsense ! SKULLS Aye ! Aye ! Aye I FOOL But what Of Newton's law, the wonder of the world? [Skulls approve the question . A hriman eggs them on] ANDREWS The Ptolemaic system once again, A backward reading of the facts of Nature! The atom ring flies to the central Sun, [291 THE UNVEILING Not by attraction, but by spiral flight, With coping forces balanced as a sail. Taking a trillion years to reach its port ! Because the bodies of the Universe Sustain exact relations does not prove That energy binds them together, no more Than energy keeps them apart. In fact The force we see in comet darting past The Earth is force repellent, not attractive ! It stands to reason that the orbs of space Would have some way to keep themselves from harm; Repellent force is this defensive war! The proper motion of the stars is fixed By radiant energy. Each one pursues Its destined course in Space, taking the line Of least resistance as its general law. And never interfering with a neighbor. Throughout Space infinite, unending Time ! Nature is mathematical ; that is all ! [Music discordant. Lights darken] FOOL 1 call a halt! HARDY Why thought is free in all The lower sciences ! [30] THE UNVEILING FOOL Yes; but what I fear Is that it be extended to the whole Of life! SKULLS Aye ! Aye ! HARDY You should not judge a man Until you've heard him! WARING Give Truth a chance ! FOOL Enough ! ANDREWS [To Fool] A biased judgment makes a man condemn The thing he should uphold, and praise the thing He shotdd condemn; thus he becomes his own Worst enemy, a mental suicide! [To the Students] Resolve the Universe into its parts : We find two forces — radiant that throws All matter out ; its opposite that brings It back! They run throughout the Universe! [31] THE UNVEILING Nature's a repetition of itself! One force repeats the body, while the other Alters it. All that each one accomplishes Is to repeat itself, the one within The other ; the double repetition makes All movement, and all fixity as well: For when the forces equalize, the form Becomes a moving balance as is seen By all in things diverse and unallied As Solar Systems, Life, Society; And yet each form is held alike ! We find The One is mother to the Many ! Kinship In law and substance. Time and Space, produce The same results throughout the Universe ! Things vary with the process of the form. We note a stone forever is a stone. The outside energy repeats itself, But cannot change the inner repetition! Not so the plastic forms of higher life! They vary as the form develops upward ; Are pelted into shape by outside forces ; And when they reach Humanity, control The outside and the inner forces, make Them follow lines of pure economy; And thus attain perfection! FOOL Absurd as Chance ! 'Tis false! [32] THE UNVEILING SKULLS 'Tis more than false ! HARDY It seems To me to be the Truth ! If there be aught But matter and its forms, I've studied Nature To no purpose ! WARING But you have only heard The physical! Each mind surveys the world And from its ken pronounces on the whole ! Let us attend another chair. My views May find expression, for I hold the Truth Cannot be bounded by the physical ! [A recitation hell rings. Lights go out in the loggia. Dr, Andrews goes in. Music weird, hut heautiful. Stu- dents come down the steps prepara- tory to leaving] AHRIMAN *Tis so the smug would teach its lesson! Ha! I know a better way and would observe it! Stay! Bolt this class for one of mine ! Ha! Ha! [The center of the stage hecomes light. Students of hoth sexes cross and re- cross. The class lingers about Ahri- 3 [33] THE UNVEILING man and Ormazd. Waring and Fool remain, hut Hardy goes up stage] MISS SELWYN [At the back of stage] *Tis good to meet you, Mr. Hardy! HARDY Thanks! For once the wish and fact are found together! [They stand and talk, forming a picture. Ahriman and Waring stand apart. The class is farther down the stage to the left. Ahriman puts his arm on Waring' s shoulder, andy as a kind of object lesson ^ points to Miss Selwyn and Hardy. The students are spectators. The music is weird and dreamlike. Lightsfaint] AHRIMAN Mayhap this lesson is outside the course ! We must take lessons as they come. You see Her look ; and note the sweetness of her voice So uncalled for! If words were worth so much, And she were held to only ten, forsooth, She would not make more of them! This is [34] THE UNVEILING WARING Love? AHRIMAN Ha! Ha! Woman! In woman! ORMAZD Nay, Nature! AHRIMAN Best expressed WARING But, why not say love? AHRIMAN [To Waring in a low tone] Say love? She loves him not ! I saw her eyes on you ; And in a glance, they told me it was you She loves! [MiLsic full of sweetness J but weird] WARING If so — I cannot think — you say She loves me! Me? It can't be so! My heart Is leaping from my breast ! But something bids Me question what you say ! Forgive me, Sire, I do not understand, explain, explain! I 35 1 THE UNVEILING AHRIMAN [Whispers to Waring] You are the atom trembling to embrace Before you sacrifice yourself in yielding ! 'Tis all there is of human liberty! WARING If SO, I'll see the drama to the end! AHRIMAN And so will I ! [Waring goes to Hardy and Miss Selwyn, meeting Miss Denham. Ahriman comes down stage meeting Ormazd] ORMAZD Let us provide a scene To please the eye, the lesson then will be The better! AHRIMAN If not better, bitter! Ha! [Weird music] Now, Fool, you listen, for who knows for sure What teaching you may have to do in life ! FOOL I'd rather be self-taught than your disciple ! [Ahriman lifts his arms and all is dark. [36] THE UNVEILING Weird music. In the distance is heard a college yell, ghostlike] STUDENTS Blair! Blair! Blair! Where! Where! Where! There! There! There! On the top and on the stair ! Men of Blair ! Going up everywhere! Everywhere! Hurrah ! Hurrah ! Hurrah ! Blair! Blair! Blair! Scene IV: The front of the stage remains the same, but the curtain at the hack rises, and shows a sorority house backed by a curtain which when lighted represents a night scene. Around the house is a balcony, with a stairway leading to a similar balcony on the second story. A s the center of the stage lightens, Miss Selwyn seats herself on a rustic bench. Hardy at her side. Down the stage to the right are Waring and Miss Denham sitting on another rustic bench reading a book. Dr. Hawtry, Ormazd, Ahriman, Fool, Skulls, and students are spectators. There is some light about each couple, and as the characters speak, it increases. The lights and music dreamlike. WARING [Lowering his book] There is no poetry to-day ! [37 1 THE UNVEILING MISS DENHAM The words Of early Man alone are such, and such His Hfe! WARING I think that poetry requires A view of Nature quite outgrown! MISS DENHAM And yet, Sometimes, I dream that could we only throw Aside the thousand things which go to make Up life, yet form no part of it — the prose Of living little actions, all that Art Neglects in its supreme expression — life Would be poetic! WARING If you'd unveil the face Of Beauty, Life would be a poem! MISS DENHAM [Dreamily] Ah! Yes! [Light appears about Ahriman, Or- mazd, and the students. Music dreamlike. Ormazd and Ahriman use the couples as object lessons] [38 1 THE UNVEILING AHRIMAN [Pointing at Waring] Poor fool! Could he but see beneath her words, He would find love rebelling in her heart, Because denied a hearing, save as stolen! No one except Divinity can read Love's ruses, lovers being quite oblivious Of them! ORMAZD [To class Music modulates into discord] If love were not a mystery, The sexes could not meet except to blush How Nature treated them! But love to-day Becomes a thousand things save what is love — All beautiful, all sweet, all good, all pure; So never understood until, Hke Death, Too late; and then the comedy, to all But victims, is a tragedy! FOOL Nay ! Nay ! Love is the song of living sung by Youth ! It is the only story Man will read ! It is as sacred as the breath of life! AHRIMAN Peace! After seeing all of life, then speak. For Truth is rudeness to the ignorant ! l39l THE UNVEILING [Ormazd raises his arms, and there is additional light about Miss Selwyn and Hardy. Everything is dream- like. Music discordant] ORMAZD Love is the primal binding force of Nature! I will explain the scene for you. Observe, In passing her a flow'r, he gently lets His vagrant fingers press an airy kiss Upon her unsuspecting hand — that's love! His eyes, two guilty consciences, express The truth his lips dissemble, that is love! 'Tis so that love entwines the halves of life Making them one ! The sweetest thing in all The world of sweets ! All beautiful when looked At with the eyes of j^outh [warningly] yet sacrificing, The individual to social purpose! Is There aught that's beautiful in feeding kine? In flowers licking up the watered soil? The last is marriage of the elements Accomplished by the kissing of the Sun! The other is the ravishment of plant By animal, in which the lover truly eats The loved ! These ugly facts are Nature's way Of joining its divided halves, which toil To work out stately Evolution's purpose From atom on to Man, Religion being The ultimate uniting Pow'r which joins [40] THE UNVEILING The static and dynamic elements Of nations, not in peace to-day, instead, In anarch war. For Nature will unite Its parts in loving peace if possible: If not, then anyway by force, or fraud; So that the great and greater may be born In this uniting of the sundered parts That were divided, so a wider touch With Nature might take place ; so that the stream Of Life might fit its bed, and upward flow Until it reach a perfect unity ! The Law of Repetition is the Law Of Nature, Life, of Mind, Society! Some day Mankind will see the key of love Unlock the Universe! FOOL All nonsense, all! AHRIMAN It takes a fool to teach a fool ! ORMAZD Let us Attend their prayer one further step ! Observe ! [Ahriman lifts his arms and it is dark about the class, but light appears about Miss Selwyn and Hardy. It is not so light about Miss Denham THE UNVEILING and Waring. The students are spectators to the scene] MISS SELWYN Why argue further now? I don't believe In love ! HARDY I will convince you with a story ! Recall some mighty deed, heroic, grand ; And trace it to its source, — what find you? — Love! Some poem sublime, revealing hidden beauty; Some work of Art transcending in its scope The loftiest flight of genius when inspired ! Some hardship, sacrifice, down to the depths Of human woe; whence spring these all? — From Love! MISS SELWYN I'd rather have less greatness and more service! If I could love a man, it would be one Who could divine that moment in my life At which I needed him the most ; not one Ambitious to be great and tax me for it ! One standing by to shield me from all hurts ; To satisfy my undisclosed wish ; Some Httle thing, a flow'r on my desk ; A book I loved, with leaves uncut to tempt me ; The tickets for a play when least expected ; [42] THE UNVEILING His going at the cloying moment when Another sight of him would mean revulsion! Ah, such a man, at least, would be most rare! HARDY And such a woman be entrancing ! MISS SELWYN Ha! Ha! Ha! HARDY Let US be serious ! MISS SELWYN Then, I'll cease To talk of love! HARDY Me, please! [Rising, piqued. Weird music] Well, as you will! Excuse [Preparing to go] MISS SELWYN With pleasure, sir! [They stand forming a picture, and act as if quarreling. Lights brighten about the class. Weird music] l43l THE UNVEILING FOOL [To Ahriman] I hate to see This tiff! You are to blame, is my beHef ! Of all the "cases" in the class, this one I liked the best ! It did not merit failure ! But now AHRIMAN Be not alarmed! Remember, Fool, The sweetest love is bitter sugar-coated; The falsest, true! You read love backwards, Fool, The way that Nature teaches us to read Its book, beginning at the end, and then Unravel what is written best we can! Love is a load put on by taking off! A fire that burns when being quenched! A heat Produced by cold — Antinomy itself! [The Fool stands dumfounded. Stage lightens about Waring and Miss Denham. Music full of pain. Stu- dents again act as spectators. Miss Selwyn and Hardy are pictures to all. Light dreamlike] MISS DENHAM [Looking at the other couple] A lover's quarrel ! [441 THE UNVEILING WARING Do you think she loves — MISS DENHAM Loves him? Yes! Why not? He is rich, re- spected, Handsome; while she is poor, ambitious; loves The little things of life; hates work; enjoys Pure idleness; cares nothing for her neighbor — Excuse my frankness — what I say is said In confidence ! Elizabeth and I Are friends — You know the girls dislike her much ! She is so popular WARING You are unjust! MISS DENHAM Yes! Yes! I did not mean the half I said! You will forget it will you not, my friend? Elizabeth is one of those sweet girls Who suffer much from being beautiful! To eyes that understand the privilege Accorded Beauty as a natural right Her robberies are not, in fact, true thefts, But Beauty's tribute levied lawfully! I knew you were her friend, I did not think WARING That I— love her! [45 1 THE UNVEILING MISS DENHAM [Pained at his confession] No! No! WARING Thanks for the doubt ! [The couples join each other and con- verse. Light shines about Ahriman, Ormazdy Fool, and others] FOOL As fine a story as experience Affords ! They part but only to re-pair ! Why don't you laugh? Is not such luck enough To make Gods laugh? AHRIMAN Love's funny when it's true I Is this not true? FOOL AHRIMAN As love, yes ! FOOL Is it true? AHRIMAN Love's never fair in its exchange ! Its gold Is counterfeit, or dross ! Justice and love [46] THE UNVEILING Are never linked! It is a world apart In Nature where men prize hypocrisy Above real virtue! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! [Lifts his arms, and all is dark . Lights appear in the loggia at the right. Dr. Andrews assembles class in soci- ology. The room is full of students. Ahriman and Ormazd act as guests. Music weird, hut grand] ANDREWS In honor of our visitors, to-day, We shall discuss the greater truths of life Instead of elementary work. AHRIMAN [Bowing You honor us! HARDY We wish to know just what you think undarked By symbol, allegory, faith! Your thought As you yourself think it ! WARING Inform us what Your pondering on Life's problems has revealed ! Express yourself regardless of the School, The Church, the State, the Press, the world at large — The plain unbiased Truth is what we want ! [47 1 THE UNVEILING FOOL No ! I protest ! Demand things spiritual Shall be discussed as in the past! SKULLS Aye! Aye! HARDY [To Fool] You have no part in this I What vice in Nature Gives you the censorship of thought? AHRIMAN He took It for the good of Man ! FOOL The Truth! The Truth! WARING Wherein The good? More like the bad ! AHRIMAN No! But for Fools And Knaves a certain goodness would become So fixed that all achievement would be barred ! The Fool breaks down the barrier blindly; while The Knave, more like a trapped brute, is free At any cost ! Luther, good man, God knows, Was helped to freedom by his love y-clept Sensual desire; while England's King, the loved [48] THE UNVEILING Defender of the Faith, bought Liberty With Vice! FOOL I am the measure of the world; Fit me, you meet success! 'Tis I who fight The brainless wars ! 'Tis I who pay to see The Moon re-hung; to have the stars foretell My life and make me drunk on words! I do The world's work for nothing but a living ! You would decry the fool? Who is the Fool? You ask. No one inquired in Shakespeare's day; They had a player whom the rabble howled To see; and when the drama dragged, the Fool Came on! 'Tis so to-day in everything! WARING Why argue, Fool? Let Nature be unveiled! FOOL His thought but darkens Nature, not unveils it! WARING Which shows enlightenment conclusively Through yotir objection ! FOOL [Pointing to Dr. Andrews] If he does not comply With his position, I object; that's all! [Lights dream-like. Music beautiful] 4 [49I THE UNVEILING ANDREWS This is the Truth: The mind of Man, however small Or undeveloped, catches some faint glimpse Of what the highest mind beholds completely! So in theology, a classic once, The first edition of the Truth, we read The story of the Father, and believe it; Yet Science, with the added light of years. Knows that it overlooks the use of Evil, And puts a rival in the field with God, Thus mooting questions that cannot be solved Upon this premise ! FOOL Outspoken heresy! HARDY How solve the problem. Fool ? FOOL Do not propound it! HARDY Give him no thought! ORMAZD Proceed s HARDY And if the Fool Does not keep quiet, we will put him out! [50] THE UNVEILING FOOL You can't ! I'm like the Earth on which we stand; Humanity and I are one! [Skulls concur. Ormazd raises his arms and there is more light. Music profound] ANDREWS Divinity Has been defined as Spirit imminent In Nature, yet not Nature! Invoked as Mind — A state of nervous tissue in the brain Produced by endless pelting of the forces Surrounding it, stored in evolving forms! While others say there is an Absolute, A perfect Self from whence all things proceed I A moment's notice of these theories Will show that imperfection from Perfection Cannot come, hence Perfection is the end, And not the means ! FOOL Hear all ! I will not stand This heresy! ORMAZD You battle for the Old Against the New ! What you prize most to-day, He teaches; yet because it is not couched [511 THE UNVEILING In mental forms long dead, you cannot see The Truth! HARDY Do you know what he means? No! No! FOOL Yes! Yes! [Skulls concur] ORMAZD Let not the pious arrogate Perfection to themselves ! They are Melitus ; [Pointing to Andrews. Music troubled] He, Socrates ; and as Melitus thought He did the world a service, so think they! The time has come when Socrates must try Melitus ! Speak, for you are free ! FOOL No! No! I will not stand for heresy ! [Music discordant. Lights waver] HARDY Do you Know what he means? Answer! FOOL That's why I now Object ! I am indignant ! Why should I Stand mute and see the Faith I love with all [52] THE UNVEILING My heart explained away when I can stop It with a word? HARDY Fool, you misjudge your power! FOOL Well, you shall see. I represent the world! [Ormazd raises his arms and there is added light] ORMAZD Peace! Peace! The Truth has no respect for Error! Proceed! ANDREWS We are a part of all somehow Self-conscious — HARDY See! The Fool intimidates him! [Ormazd raises his arms and the Fool is thrown back] ANDREWS I take the Jewish myth instead of Grecian Because you know it best. Mankind, as Nature, Is everywhere the same, goes through the same Development! The clan, the gens, the tribe Are everywhere! The Roman priest was right; l53l THE UNVEILING He saw his God in every God he found ! And some day we shall see the heart of Man Is one; and true Religion is the same No matter what it worships, where or when! We cannot see the plainest facts that speak To us ! The breast that we would lay our heads Upon is Man's not God's ! Not that Mankind Should be a God to worship as of old But that through it, we realize our prayers, Our hopes, our aspirations — all that God Is to us ! Could Mankind but know that ere The planet dies the Human Race will act As one in its brave fight for Life with Earth's Inhospitable crust; then it, perhaps, Would see the folly of outlived beliefs. And hopes, the mental rubbish of the ages! Know this: The only way that Life could reach Perfection was through Death ! Each body hands Life down, adding its increment of growth! If Death did not exist, then being would Not rise above the Inorganic World, The ages through the wide-world o'er! Some Hand Did guide our soul from protoplasmic form Up to the birth of Reason; now, think you, That in the ending darkness, you will be Deserted? Such a crazdd fate is fathered By Supersititon, not Enlightenment! [54 1 THE UNVEILING For Science teaches perfect trust in Nature, And not a fact, if rightly understood Doubts it ! Life is the transient interval Of conscious being which all Nattire strives To gain, so it may have a Mind to see, A Heart to feel ; so that which Nature took A trillion years to make with its crude means Might be accomplished in an hour! 'Tis proved The Universe is nothing but a Plan Arranged so life like ours, will some day come To all attendant planets of the stars! God has been so besmirched by those who use His name the word when on our lips makes us Misunderstood ! The Truth cannot be masked In worn-out forms much longer, for Mankind With its fine sense of Justice will demand A reckoning; and then inaugurate A form of Life, based on Mankind and Nature, With only that inherent need of struggle Essential to existence and Perfection ! FOOL Oh! Oh! 'Tis blasphemy! 'Tis blasphemy! He is not teaching what our creed has taught us From childhood up! Besides, if you applaud, Why, I denounce ! This heresy must stop I ANDREWS [To Ormazd] Expel him from the room! [55] THE UNVEILING FOOL [To Andrews] You triumph now, But wait! I'll rouse the Founders, have them charge You with rank heresy, blasphemy ! And throw You out of your position to the gutter Where you belong ! Wait ! Wait ! [Exeunt Fool and Skulls] AHRIMAN The Fool is worse Than Knave! [Ormazd lifts his arms. The lights brighten; deep music] ANDREWS The heart of Man has found expression In forms that he could understand, as seen In allegory, symbol, type, until The cult obscured the Truth by being taken For it! The thing to be explained as fact, Our double nature, baffles us, because Our social nature raises up black monsters To scare our individuality Into submission; while, if we explain. Through sacrifice, our social nature, then Our individuality blinds us By making Selfishness the God of all! [56] THE UNVEILING Between the two, we are bewildered so Our life becomes a double mystery ! [Weird music and lights grow dim. Enter Fool and Skulls greatly aug- mented. They surround Ormazd, Ahriman, Andrews and crowd them off the stage] FOOL I cry hold! Hold! SKULLS Down with the blasphemers I FOOL Let's crowd them off the Earth! Out with them! SKULLS Off, off the Earth [Exeunt off right in a struggling mnss. Lights go out. Music weird and discordant. Light appears on the center of the stage, the couples are sitting apart as before] They go! HARDY To please a man you must divine His hopes! It is true flattery! [57 1 THE UNVEILING MISS DENHAM You do Not flatter now? HARDY Forgive me, will you not? I see no cause to judge you harshly, rather Believe that what you say is true ! MISS DENHAM My friend, It takes a woman*s mind to understand A woman! HARDY [As if repeating] She loves me — MISS DENHAM Undoubtedly ! HARDY Have you a test? MISS DENHAM [Cunningly] As sure as chemist e*er Devised ! Let us invent some simple plan For me to be with Waring ; you with her ! Don't talk of love; but dwell on riches, blood, [58] THE UNVEILING Ambition, everything the world holds dear ! No woman cares for sentiment ! It succeeds In books! Be practical with her! [A recitation hell rings and Hardy rises] HARDY [Clasping hands] I will! Success! MISS DENHAM Success ! HARDY I must away! [Exit left] MISS DENHAM [Coming down looking at the other couple] Where is the wrong in what I do? There's none! His good would justify my part ! His heart's Desire, left to himself, would never be Appeased! Besides, in throwing her to him, I win ! My strategy meets its reward ; And in addition saves a worthy man From failure, for with her his life would be No less! There's joy in so determining things! [Exit left. Light brightens about Waring and [59] THE UNVEILING Miss Selwyn. Ahriman enters. Another recitation hell sounds and Waring rises. Weird music] WARING There is the bell! I must resume the lecture! MISS SELWYN At ten to-night ! Romance at any age Is— WARING Sweet! MISS SELWYN I am your debtor for the word! WARING Oh, do not speak of debtor when I owe The night to you ! MISS SELWYN I make myself afraid ! To-night at ten! WARING I will remember ! [Exit right] MISS SELWYN Now, I sympathize with them who wish to go [60] THE UNVEILING Both ways, and travel quite a while adown The tempting path they know they will not take Just for the sweetness of it ! Ah ! Ah ! [Expresses feelings] No woman can deny Love's every plea No matter what she thinks of him ! [Exit right. Ahriman gloats. Stage darkens. Weird music. Light ap- pears in the loggia on right. Fool greets Hardy and Waring as they enter from the stage] FOOL We've fixed It up! It's all right now ! Where have you been? I think these strangers cause this heresy. Ah, here they are ! [Enter Ahriman and Ormazd from tip stage] HARDY That's what the world now thinks ! ORMAZD The task of teaching is to utter thought So that it speak the Truth in its three forms: Fact, symbol, allegory — all in one; So that each mind, however undeveloped, May see the Truth; so that the Perfect Mind [61 1 THE UNVEILING When it arrives can reconstruct the past From out the dust of thought of Savage, Saint, Savant! FOOL We do not want such novelty! Give us the old beliefs ! They satisfy ! HARDY You make yourself a censorship of thought And yet confess to knowing least about The matter in dispute ! FOOL Whate'er I do The world is with me for some cause or other ! ORMAZD [To Ahriman] Peace ! Peace ! Let us redeem our promise ! ANDREWS [Profound music; lights bright] The truth that we must sacrifice ourselves Is seen in many forms, but none so clear As in the instinct of the martyr's choice ! He saves the Race through sacrifice of self ! This truth is clouded in the Fall of Man ! The time was when the tribe was everything; The Individual was yet unborn; [62] THE UNVEILING Our life today a dream as yet undreamed ! Controlled and actuated by Religion, The Tribe subdued the rest of life ; and made Itself supreme, the Lord of all creation ! A triumph that surpasses all that Man Has yet achieved! To kill the dreaded Python In that first day, to conquer Calydonian boar. And fierce Numean lion in a fight With naked hands were feats that haughty Man To-day dare not think of! But with the Tribe To motive Man, it was accomplished! The heroes of that day were Gods ! And Gods Are we who sacrifice ourselves to reach This higher living, the Everlasting Life 1 They fought with naked hands; with naked Truth We conquer I They subdued the physical ; We battle with the mental-moral monster ! They conquered Space; but we will conquer Time, And realize the end and aim of living ! This wondrous life to them who passed it down Was christened Paradise, the Golden Age ! One day a chief cried out: "This thing is mine!" And Selfishness was born with all its vast Creati veness ! Religion fell — not Man — From its supreme position to a place In which it rivaled Selfishness and Love, Giving Himianity three motives 'stead of one, Thus making possible our life to-day; And in the end the re-attaining all [63] THE UNVEILING This Paradise, and more, through sacrifice Of Selfishness, and, if need be, of Love! This perfect Truth all men must know, and then Be free! 'Tis symboled in the world's religions! What means Prometheus among the Greeks; Osiris on the Nile; and Zoroaster Throughout the East; while in America Quetzalcoatl fulfills the selfsame type? No matter where or when we look upon The Race, we find the same development. 'Tis History in a word and Science too! Saint Paul has told the story in the Christos In whom we live and move and have our being; As did Isaiah in God's Suffering Servant ! But it was pictured best of all in One Portraying life in allegoric symbol. Redeeming Man again to Paradise By bringing to the world God's Kingdom, not Through some mysterious atonement. But in a Life that shows through sacrifice The way to Peace, to Truth, Perfection! FOOL Oh, that mine ears should hear this sacrilege! And after all I've said and done! [CanH speak] I'll be Avenged! [Wildly] Avenged! HARDY How, Fool? [64] THE UNVEILING FOOL A charge before The Faculty, the Founders, and the Church ! [Weeps] ANDREWS [Paying no attention to Fool] Religion is the binding force of Life; Higher than Love as Love is King of Self; Not theologic cant, but native power, Beginning with the primal force of matter, And ending in Religion, that dynamic Which will in time make all the world one People; And every Man ambitious to produce What Nature is attempting in its blind And wasteful way, the Perfect Man in each Of us! FOOL Materialism in our faces ! ORMAZD [Music sublime. Lights bright] Nay! The Truth, the deepest Truth in Nature, hear! ANDREWS God is Religion ! He acts in many ways. But always building to the Perfect Life, By means circuitous to Man; to God » 165) THE UNVEILING The only way! Because for every push There is a pull, the Perfect Life is found Between opposing energies, and not Within a world of Peace, of Light, and Joy; But one of Struggle, Darkness, and Despair! For so the Great are grown, and all that God Stands for in every version of the Truth Vouchsafed to Man ! FOOL [Music painful. Lights diminish] To think that this should come From this great School ! [Fool rises up wildly and cries] When nothing else will do, Mob-law is right ! Come, men, let's organize, And cast them forth ! [Exeunt off right] [Music weird and terrific. There is a great noise off right as if a gigantic mob is gathering. Lights lower] ORMAZD [Going to entrance right] Enough ! The lesson's o'er ! [He waves with his arm and the noise subsides and suddenly it darkens. Exit right] AHRIMAN I'll not go yet! I heard a promise made That I will see fulfilled! This much I share [66] THE UNVEILING With Man, I love to see a lover ! Ha ! Ha! Ha! [He lifts his arms and all is dark. Weird music. Music changes to that of passion. The scene on the full stage is night. The stars show through the curtain at the back. Lights appear in an upper room of the so- rority house. Waring, dressed as a romantic lover, runs out on the stage] WARING O, Night, how kind you are to help Me in my quest ! As dear to Love as light Is to the mind! For Love cannot express Itself with magic touch except it have The wand of Darkness ope its lips! [Sees Miss Selwyn coming] The Gods Fulfil their promise ! Ah ! [Miss Selwyn comes down to him hurriedly. Weird music] MISS SELWYN [Very much agitated] I am so frightened ! This is my first adventure of the kind! WARING Be not afraid! [Ahriman appears down front and [67] THE UNVEILING watches the scene. Waring stands mute, stunned at his seeming success] MISS SELWYN [Not daring to trust herself] I must go in ! [Pause] *Tis sweet Of you to gratify my foolish wish ! WARING [Losing his timidity] And sweet of you to call it sweet ! Oh, speak The word again! MISS SELWYN [Repressing him. He turns downcast] No ! Leave me now ! [He starts] No ! Do Not go ! [He stands with his hack to her] You have not touched my — hand; or said — Good-night! [She wished to say: ''You have not touched my lips or said you love me!''] WARING [Puts arms about her. She yields] I cannot see your lips; and yet I feel your breath upon my cheek! MISS SELWYN [Fearing to trust herself further] Good-night ! [Sighs] [68] THE UNVEILING WARING [Passionately] Oh, lips were made for purpose other than Mere sighs ! [Kisses her madly; she yields for a moment. Music full of passion. Lights dream-like] MISS SELWYN [Trying to release herself] I never will forgive you! [Music full of pain] WARING Wait Until I ask you! [Kisses her still more madly] MISS SELWYN [Angrily] Again, and I shall scream! [Struggles] WARING If you but knew how much I love you, dear! MISS SELWYN [Freeing herself] How can I ever speak to you again ! [69] THE UNVEILING WARING The language of your lips, and not your words, Has told the secret of your heart! Good-night! Forgive me, Sweet ! Ah ! Ah ! [Expresses feelings. Runs out. Weird music. Miss Selwyn hastily runs up the steps of the sorority house. A light appears in a window and Miss Denham is seen as a picture. Miss Selwyn turns as if speaking to the departing Waring, off left] MISS SELWYN You call this love? I'd rather be subjected to a ball And chain than bound in such a fashion! Ah! [Expresses feeling] The basest slave that ever groaned could run Away ! One taste of love is all I want ! 'Tis well to know just what it is ! But give Me any bond save love! Oh! Oh! The chains, The hooks ! It grapples you and binds, and binds ! If any difference I make in men, May I be smothered with his kisses, crushed In his embrace, and be effaced completely; For that is love! Ah! Ah! [Expresses feelings ascending the steps. Light goes out in Miss Denham' s window. Ahriman looks intently after Miss Selwyn. [70] THE UNVEILING As she is about to go into house, she turns, wavering for a moment, and looks off left, her face softening. Ahriman seems to be fascinating her. The expression of her face changes and, thoroughly conquering herself ^ she goes into the house. Exit Ahri- man. Weird music stops] CURTAIN 17I1 ACT II [731 ACT II The setting is the same as at the end of Act I, There is a meeting of the Faculty of Blair University in the loggia at the left, President Romaine presiding. Members of the faculty, trustees, professors, Ormazd, Ahriman, Hardy, Waring discovered. It is in re- gard to the heresy trial of Dr. Andrews. Music weird. Lights dream-like. ROMAINE It came to us today that there had been A grievous indiscretion in free speech Within our portals, sacred to the Creed, This fault we would investigate. Good Sirs: We foster freedom, but as everyone Should know, it is the word, and not the fact We prize! Each day we live makes liberty The more impossible in college life. 'Tis an advertisement, which, to make good, Would extirpate at once, and totally. The fruitful dogmas that our Founders cherish 1 Charges will be preferred, and trial held. And then the faulty one will be dismissed I [751 THE UNVEILING HAWTRY You said one, did I hear aright? ROMAINE You did! ANDREWS Please name the one accused. ROMAINE Why should you ask? ANDREWS I thought that I, perhaps, might be the one To whom you now allude. ROMAINE You are! ANDREWS I wish To see the charge preferred, have ample time To make defense. ROMAINE The charge is this, deny It if you can: You have misled our youth; Profaned Religion, and the mysteries; Denied Man's immortality! What's worse. You do not teach approved Idealism — [76] THE UNVEILING Our bread, our meat, our drink, the capital Of every college in the votive world; Sacred and yet profane, Pagan, yet Christian, Because it steals the pious words of Faith, So we can safely sport as puppy wolves In this lamb's clothing! Joy to us, and hurt To none ; because its language means one thing To Faith another to Philosophy; And if turned wrong-side out might even speak The naked Truth when thus reversed ! To teach IdeaHsm is all the liberty We should allow the world to-day in teaching 1 We must wrap up the Truth in Mysticism Or else the blinded herd will cease to need Our help ; be self-sufficing ever after ! But, Sir, instead, you teach Materialism, And thus explain the Universe to all; Would leave no fattening mystery for us To live upon; would make the world of thought So common man can see the aim of Life, And so disdain our teaching; thus destroy The crowded mart of Pedantry ; and end By making us all lose our sinecures! While in Theology, our other staple, You flay the inspiration of the Scriptures, Or else interpret them not with the torch Of dim tradition, but instead the arc Of Higher Criticism, ungodly science. With all its damning implications ! [771 THE UNVEILING Of this you are accused and more ! 'Tis said That you blasphemed, grew eloquent in fierce, Audacious indignation at the world's Lifetime of hampering you ! 'Tis said you spoke Regardless of the teaching of the ages; Struck down in lofty ire the sacred things That we esteem most dear! And why? Because, While yet beholden to these things, you deem Them evil! One cannot recite the charge And not become indignant ! ANDREWS I deny The accusation, and demand to know At once the one who does accuse me ! Speak ! ROMAINE Come hither, Fool! [As Fool enters music discordant] ANDREWS He does not know enough To guide himself, then how can he guide others? FOOL The lawyer, when he has no case, maligns The witnesses. I know when I am hurt. And that is all of knowledge! I can name Your fault. I have it written word for word. Just as you spoke it ! Now, escape, blasphemer ! [78] THE UNVEILING ROMAINE Silence! ANDREWS Professor Hawtry, will you act As my attorney? I will fight this case So that the world will know how it's deceived By you who farm its hopes and fears; and reap Rich harvest, 'stead of husks, and chaff and straw, The kind of husbandry you give the world ! You perpetrate the greatest wrong the Race Has ever imdergone, the marketing Of Error for the Truth ! You are on trial, Not I ! The world is ready for the Truth, And I will speak it! FOOL Well, do so, blasphemer, What will you gain? *' Where ignorance is bliss Tisfolly tobe wise!" ANDREWS Not so! Where ignorance Is bliss there Folly is an honored guest, And Vice dares claim respect; while Virtue shares With Truth contempt ! Within this mazy world Great giants stalk where puny pigmies dwell ! But if Enlightenment should flood the scene. This ostrich-headed herd would feel outraged; Because the parasites who use it teach l79l THE UNVEILING That Truth is Error, dreams are life; Good, Bad! It battles knowledge as an ill, when Truth Alone can bring sweet peace to all Mankind! The bliss of ignorance is drunkenness, A mental opiate, more cursed than any, Which poor and weak are blackmailed into taking. Thereby securing only scant relief, And not the everlasting peace of science! ROMAINE Enough! Enough! Hear all! The trial will be To-morrow, here the place, and anyone Who makes this known unto the world will be Expelled this presence for contempt ! [Music painful. Exeunt in a body. Lights go out in loggia. Ormazd and Ahriman down stage. Weird music; lights low] To laugh were sad! AHRIMAN Ha! Ha! ORMAZD Why do you jest? AHRIMAN Ha! Ha! Is Evil not a jest of Fate? What else? He used his liberty as some use wine! [80] THE UNVEILING He might have spoken his progressive thought A thousand times with full impunity; But Chance brought in the Fool, an element Which Nature makes provision for in all Its ventures, but which Man discounts! And so He fell, like Adam, in his first offense! Ha ! Ha ! Some have embraced the damned sweet thing A million times, and yet as saints have died! 'Tis Chance! ORMAZD A better word would be blind Fate! AHRIMAN Nay! Nay! To laugh were sad! 'Tis life! Ha! Ha! [Lifts his arms and all is dark. Weird music. Exeunt left. Lights ap' pear in the sorority house at the back. Miss Selwyn is discovered. Annette appears at her ring. They are visible through the wide windows on the left] MISS SELWYN Annette, if Mr. Waring calls again, do not Admit him. Do you hear? <^ [8il THE UNVEILING ANNETTE He pleads so, Miss, Not words but with his eyes ! And when I say You're not at home, he turns away downcast. Dejected, like a mourner with his dead! MISS SELWYN This is sufficient ! Not another word! I will not see him, do you hear? ANNETTE Him have I turned away a hundred times ! MISS SELWYN No difference! Turn him away again! ANNETTE Should any man love me, As he loves you, I'd die for him! You — MISS SELWYN Not Another word! [Rises angrily. Music full of de- spondency. Annette goes out. There is confusion in the hallway, and Waring enters, lovelorn, followed by Annette] [82] THE UNVEILING ANNETTE I could not help it, Miss! MISS SELWYN Go! Do you hear! [Exit Annette right] All forms, all etiquette You rudely put aside without one thought ! You break in as your savage forebear did When he be-clubbed his bride into submission And carried her away ! [Music full of pain. Lights waver] WARING If you but knew How my heart suffers you could not refuse To listen to my plea I I cannot understand The way you act ! Who could? One moment I Imagine your regard is hate, the next I think it love ! And so I dream ! How could You let me kiss you, if you did not love me ? You do! But when I think the way you hide Yotu-self, deny me one small word, and not a line, When I pour out my heart in volumes — You are unkind! You cannot be untrue! 'Tis all because you do not see how much I love you ! I would give my life for you ! Is there some hidden cause, I know not what, To make you doubt, deny, mistrust my love? Oh, never, never was a woman loved [83] THE UNVEILING As I love you ! Could you but test my love With some great deed that would vouchsafe to me Some hope! — Why will you not redeem the pledge Your kisses made ? Answer ! Oh, I could plead Forever, then not speak my boundless love For you! MISS SELWYN [Calmly] As a fact in psychology, Perhaps, I should enjoy, immensely, Sir, Your acting; but no woman who deserves The name, desires the proffer of a love She can't reciprocate ! This is my answer ! WARING [Music full of pathos] No I It is not ! Why are you pale ? What say Your guilty eyes, truth speakers of the heart ? Oh, you are killing Love, I know not why ! For there is murder in your voice ! You seek To cast Love out your heart! (It can't be done!) And so entomb him in the smallest space, Effacing every clue to his past whereabouts ! But hear the truth : A time will come in spite Of all that you can do when his small cry Will rise above your pride — (If that it is) Your vain ambition — (If that it is) yourself — (If that it is) for Love and Self sometimes [84] THE UNVEILING Do battle in a woman's heart, unseen, When Duty is forgotten; then the death Of Love — this burial in your heart — will be Wept for with never ending tears; and Life Will be a cripple dragging hours and days Which would have flown with wings of Love I MISS SELWYN Enough ! Why mouth words? My decision has been made! WARING [Music deep pathos. Lights low] I care not for myself, but you alone ! Think of your life devoid of love — turn not Away, but hear my plea! No sweet home coming, No long-looked-f or return of one you love ! And no delight in seeing in another Yourself! Live life again, complete, entire, All but self-consciousness ! You forfeit this I Trace in some infant form — so wonderful — Your likeness in the solid glass of flesh, Thus making self immortal here on Earth I A boon bestowed on lovers when the Race Began! Can you replace with anything Pure motherhood? I could not love you then I To me you are the greatest of your sex ; And as the flower which attains perfection Appears a finished thing of beauty, only I85] THE UNVEILING For Beauty's sake, so you do hesitate Before you yield allegiance to the cry Of Love and Life! Of all the boons that should Be handed down to gladden coming men Rare beauty is the first, and ever was; Because rare beauty is the type all Nature Endeavors to attain! MISS SELWYN You reason well; But there is this objection: Sir: I do Not love you! WARING [Music hopeless despondency] Not — ^love — ^me ! [Shrinks back] MISS SELWYN I do admire You much; appreciate you fully, but love — There is no such a thing ! It is the dream Of silly girls, and moonstruck boys; that's all! I place you in a higher class than these. My friend, my quondam comrade, and some day When 3^ou forget this ill-timed declaration, Let us be friends again! Till then adieu! [86] THE UNVEILING Oh! Oh! WARING [Music full of horror] [He sees at last the kind of woman she is, and runs out, screaming his feelings. She stands deeply morti- fied to know that she has been dis- covered. Lights go out. Exit left. Ormazd and Ahriman appear down stage. Lights are dim. Music weird] AHRIMAN The unfit man! ORMAZD 'Tis she who misses life ! His loss is gain ! He suffers through no fault Of his; is victim of the Chance that Life Encoimters to be Life! I honor him! AHRIMAN The treasure of his heart, he blindly lays In her unworthy hands ! Because his love Is pure, he fancies she is worthy of it ! Never did cause so small produce so great Effect, poor devil suffer more for nothing ! We gave him Truth in this with emphasis ! I87] THE UNVEILING ORMAZD *Tis thus that Nature keeps the racial type From too great variation at expense Of individuality ! Mankind Is not the arbiter of Destiny! This is an error born of Hope, and housed, Like plants, away from Nature's better light. Which, while severe, is Evil to be Good! AHRIMAN A joke the Gods play on Mankind! Ha! Ha! [Ahriman lifts his arms and all is dark. Weird music. Lights appear in the loggia at the left. It is the trial of Dr. Andrews before the Trustees of the University. Ahriman, Ormazd, Waring, and Hardy enter from stage. Weird music] ROMAINE Prosecutor, proceed to state the case. STILWELL Misleading youth and heresy! ROMAINE Call forth The witness ! [Prosecutor looks for Fool, not seeing Mm, motions Hardy to take the [88] THE UNVEILING witness chair, and points to other witnesses] STILWELL Let us hear these men. Be sworn ! [All are sworn by Prosecutor inaudihly] HARDY [Addressing the Court] Your Honor, may it please the Court assembled: I listened to the lecture, and can say- It wasn't disregardful of the Creed; 'Twas what we daily hear in every chair, Especially hypotheses of matter And force. ROMAINE We care not what our chemists say! *Tis not expected that the Saintly Founders Would comprehend what Science teaches. Pro- ceed! HARDY So far as I could see there was no thought Expressed that would not have obtained at once The speaker honor any place to-day! Had it been written in a book, it would, No doubt, have made its author great, a Darwin Of Sociology! [Hardy steps down] [89] THE UNVEILING ROMAINE Bring forth another witness. [Stilwell motions Waring to the witness chair] WARING So far as I can judge I see no place For criticism. The Theory of Things That has possessed the entire lower fields Of learning was advanced into the higher ! ROMAINE It all confirms the charge ! WARING But how about Its truth? ROMAINE Proceed ! To re-commit the crime Is no defense! [Waring throws up his hands in dis- gust and steps down. To Ormazd] Will you not testify? ORMAZD [Taking witness chair] I am a stranger visiting your halls, So I am loath to testify against This man. If what he taught were proven true, Would that sufi&ce? [90] THE UNVEILING ROMAINE The question is, What did He teach? Whether 'tis true or not is nothing! Did he mis-teach the Creed; its truth is not In question! ORMAZD Then, I offer this: The Truth Cannot be settled by a vote of men ! It is and always was by facts determined; And no amount of Faith can banish it ! It is the mind's best effort in its count Of things; Nature in picture from experience! It fosters no regard for former visions ! 'Twould be as fair to ask the lifeless eyes Of ancient men to see for us to-day, As that their brains, long dead, — and no less dead, Because embalmed in books — should do our think- ing; Their breasts our feeling: for the world will learn Some day that God, despite all institutions, Could never have a favorite! And while. Good Sirs, you sit in judgment on this man, Learn this, there's one thing that cannot be hurt By freedom of discussion, that is the Truth! All else will pass into oblivion! [Ortnazd steps down. Weird music. Trustees talk among themselves] [91 1 THE UNVEILING PENROSE What we believe is Truth! All else is schism! ROMAINE [To Ahriman] Will you not testify? AHRIMAN [Weird music. Takes chair] I heard him lecture. In my opinion Truth is what you think It is; and that is Good that you think Good! The Church should make the mind, not mind the Church! Tradition, fitting things to suit the soul Of weak Himianity, should cover all Uncertainty, and then, this bane of life Will be no more ! The grave is languageless ! You can't remonstrate there, however wronged; And should your ticket to the other world Discharge you in the station, all is well ! In this the thought and thing are one! In fact. The after life is what you think it is ; For thought is life that can be made to order ! But Death is Death no matter what you think! What Error this enables you to sell To Man! He serves you through his purchased dream; And you can live, if you are wise enough [92] THE UNVEILING Not to be duped in duping him ! Alas ! 'Tis hard to see the way to live when dust Is thrown into the air as well as eyes; Because the clouds of Error do not fall In fruitful rain, but blighting ashes ! So That he who lives by leading men astray Quite often falls into the pit he leads Them to — a friendly caution from experience ! So you are right, Good Sirs, since Truth cannot Be known take that belief which pays you best And foist it on to all ! [Steps down. Weird music] RAMSDEN Some things he says Are true! PENROSE And all is practical! ROWLANDS The Creed! Stand by ROMAINE Bring in the prosecuting witness I [Weird music. The Fool enters and takes the chair] FOOL I heard the lecture, and straightway began To fall ! It undermined my moral nature, [93l THE UNVEILING So that I drifted into sin and vice ! I reasoned thus: If what he says is true, Then what I fear does not exist. The fence Of fear being down, I departed on The road to Ruin ! Ah! I drank! I stole Without one qualm of conscience, — think of that ! I swore and mocked, remembered words of sin; And still Remorse did not o'er-take me ! But When I forgot, as time went on, just what He taught, my early training did assert Itself ! Once more I locked myself within Its doors as Vice secure as if no sin Existed ! Sirs, if what he taught were true, I would run wild, be free, restrained by nothing, But subject to the Devil and his demons! To save myself and all immortal souls, I ask you stop his mouth from further speech ! [Steps down] PENROSE Quite clear! ROWLANDS This man should be condemned at once ! RAMSDEN No! Let's consider his defense! [They talk among themselves. Weird music] l94] THE UNVEILING ROMAINE We'Uhear The argument ! HAWTRY Am I not privileged? ROMAINE You are ! Proceed ! [Weird music. Ormazd lifts arms and there is added light] HAWTRY The question is, What is the Truth? It is that correspondence which exists Between the mind and Nature ! Time recks not With what men think but throws it all aside That cannot stand the test of correspondence ! Error may be enthroned since time began, And fall within a day ! The vice in thinking Consists in not considering facts; and not In wilful misconstruing them. The mind, If led by facts to-day, will always end By finding Truth! The man [looks at Fool] who must be checked By superstition is degenerate! Morality, not satisfied with Good, But seeks reward, or fears an after Hell, Belies the name! Think you that everything [951 THE UNVEILING That lives fulfills its nature yet Mankind Cannot be trusted? This is true sacrilege, And in the future will be counted such ! Mankind is self-sufficing as the rest Of Nature, only through the art of speech, And writing, it has always clung to thought Outlived by centuries, which yet usurps The place of mind, denies the Race its right Of seeing Nature whole, and living life Dictated by experience ! Besides, If the accused is guilty of the charge He is confronted with, the world of life Is guilty too, for Nature teaches freedom ! We learn to walk by falling, not with crutches ! What Man has dreaded most has always been His need ! His curse was a disguised boon ! He feared the danger in his pressing want. And yet it made him ! Most often has he been A truant when attending Nature's school; Ever preferring peace at any price To that adventuring with Fate, he calls Temptation, thus denying to himself All chance of growth so that he may escape All danger, and thereby maintain his status! His fear of liberty has kept him out Of Paradise much more than knowledge lost It to him! Truth competes with Error strangely ! [96] THE UNVEILING Ten wasteful errors feed on smiling dupes, While useful Truth stands hungry unemployed; And such grotesque absurdities inhabit Truth's house to-day that they out-do with ease The most romantic story ever told In lacking all similitude to fact ; And only for the blind of Ignorance, Our early training, they would kill the Race With laughter ! Humor yet will save Mankind, But not to-day? O blatant Policy, Bold Ignorance, and craven Toleration, It is to you, this shame belongs ! Good Sirs, Why not accept your opportunity, Exterminate these mental-moral monsters, Which now defy the world, as you attempt The physical plagues of men ! Disease may kill ; But Error is a thousand times more hurtful. For it destroys, not body but the mind! The Truth will pay when it replaces Error — Putting the case upon its lowest plane — And take the waiting world in its employ! Think of the unborn millions yet to be Before our planet falls into the Sun ! Through pity let them have the Truth, not live Our wondrous life, confronted by your gift, Imaginary terrors everywhere, Besides the basic conflict bom of things, The agony that cannot be avoided, 7 [97 1 THE UNVEILING The thousand hurts that come to us in spite Of all that Hope and Love can do! To know What life is, thus to realize the gist Of living, find out where Mankind belongs In Nature, feel how close akin we are To all, relieves our universal life Of your sad fear of Death, which puts a pall Upon all being, making life a Hell Escaped by heeding nothing but blind Faith, Ignoble Greed, and empty Folly! Sirs, We are entitled to the Truth to-day! I seek to justify the charge against My colleague; for, if he trangressed the bounds Of Dogma, 'twas a fault in our small world, Which will become a favor in the world At large ; for Truth like sunshine freely lights The Race, while Error is a cloud that costs Its dupes a never ending stream of gold For blinding them! I'm done! [Steps aside] FOOL And so am I ! ROMAINE [To Hawiry] This, Sir, in my belief is no defense! [To the Court] And you must not consider facts outside The issues of the case ! The world may think [98I THE UNVEILING A thousand things; that should not trouble us! We do not care! The question is quite simple, Shall we excuse this open heresy? [The trustees begin to deliberate. Weird music] ORMAZD [To Ahriman] What think you of the verdict? AHRIMAN I always feel Certain in what I guess when anything Is left to bigotry! RAMSDEN [To Romaine] The verdict, Sir, Is guilty! ROMAINE Tis well ! Offender, what have you To say why sentence be with-held? ANDREWS Nothing! If what has been expressed does not touch you. No word that I could speak in my defense Would answer; so proceed! The world will judge, If not to-day, then in the Future, which of us Is guilty! [991 THE UNVEILING ROMAINE The sentence is that you resign Your chair! [He becomes confused at the dignity of Dr. Andrews y the manifest insecurity of the trustees. Weird music. It grows dark] But then we give you three months' time In which to find another; — and in addition, Commend you to the world ! HAWTRY Why not acquit? ROMAINE [Somewhat re-assured] At times it helps the cause of Orthodoxy To seem severe with lofty heretics! We have to hold some one responsible For skepticism, thus gratify the faithful; Enrich ourselves in glory ! 'Twill not hurt Your friend; and does the Founders so much good! Remember, not a word of this must be Imparted to the outside world ! [Music weird, bordering on the ridicu- lous. Lights go out and all leave except Ormazd and Ahriman] AHRIMAN Ha! Ha! [ 100 ] THE UNVEILING ORMAZD Mankind is subject more to pity than To laughter! AHRIMAN Yes ! It would not do for Yahwe To have too much compassion, for he might Allay life's ills, and, like indulgent parents Thus ruin Man by placing him above That vital School — the hurts of Ignorance, The Vice of Circumstance, the painful Truth ! [Ahriman lifts arms and all is dark. Weird music. Lights appear in the sorority house at the hack showing a girl's room beautifully furnished. Miss Selwyn takes an ivory Cupid from the mantel] MISS SELWYN Cupid, let's have it out once and for all ! Your entire kind henceforward, I taboo ! Oh, don't smile back at me, you rogue, I mean So far as love pertains; no more for us! I'll use you as of old, sweet Boy, Ha! Ha! We have some memories ! — Ah, memories. We cannot banish, if we would, [kisses figure] sweet Cupid! Iioi] TKR UNVEILING They are a part of what we are, [lowers image] a warning Of what may come, if we — Ah ! Ah ! [Expressing her feelings. She dashes the figure to pieces] Ah! Ah! [Enter Annette. Music full of guile] Mr. Hardy! ANNETTE [Enter Hardy] [Exit Annette] MISS SELWYN Why the honor of this call? HARDY I came of age to-day, and publish broad The great event by private proclamation! Here is the evidence ! [Gives her some tax receipts] MISS SELWYN A tax receipt 1 [Pause] I see ! Out of the class of imbeciles Including women, children, and insane ! HARDY Ha ! Ha ! Your servant still ! [Bows mock heroic] [ 102] THE UNVEILING MISS SELWYN They are as crisp As new-made money ! HARDY [Smiling at his success] Yes; and cost a lot Of old ! Four figures on a tax receipt Mean ten or more of property. MISS SELWYN You thus Reveal the vice of men. Women care naught For wealth ! HARDY Not even yachts? MISS SELWYN [Eagerly] Why, have you one? HARDY [Laughing] I have ! It fell to me to-day ! MISS SELWYN [Playfully] Perhaps, sometime We may go sailing — [ 103] THE UNVEILING HARDY [Seriously] Yesl MISS SELWYN Forgive me, Sir, An editorial" we"! HARDY No! No! I hold You to your promise ! MISS SELWYN [Mock jestingly] Pause ! You must forget The implications — HARDY I do not forget I MISS SELWYN [Mock serious] On this the day of your majority? HARDY [Joyously] I recognize my liability! [ 104] THE UNVEILING MISS SELWYN [Apparently serious] And I my indiscretion! Pardon me! Will you not? HARDY No! I hold you to your promise, Likewise the implication ! MISS SELWYN [Apparently jesting] Be it so! You will not call a scribe to put it down In writing, will you, Sir? HARDY [Seriously, but feigning humor] Indeed, My Lady, If so it please you! MISS SELWYN [Mock serious] Sir, I think the jest Has gone too far ! HARDY [Himself] Must I, a modem man, One up to date, submissively comply With dull conventionality, whether 1 105 ] THE UNVEILING Or no ? If I see fit to offer you My hand, I need not proffer you my heart As well, in this eugenic age! Suffice You know of all the world, I find in you My choice, the comrade of my life in all That wealth can buy, ambition realize, Or power attain ! MISS SELWYN I like the picture! HARDY Your answer is? Then MISS SELWYN Yes! Yes! HARDY A sweet, wise woman ! A pledge of hands is all I ask to bind Our troth so simply made; but then I leave The triumph of the wedding day to you ! MISS SELWYN Wise man! And may you ever be as wise Surrendering to me what rightfully Belongs to woman! [io6] THE UNVEILING HARDY [Enter Annette] As you will ! But, come, Let us go celebrate ! ANNETTE Miss Denham! HARDY Ha! MISS SELWYN Shall we tell her? HARDY I leave it all to you ! [Exit Annette. Enter Miss Denham. Weird music] MISS DENHAM [ Understanding everything] Do I intrude? MISS SELWYN Not in the least 1 HARDY No! No! [107I THE UNVEILING MISS DENHAM [Pretending to discover] I fear I came — perhaps — Elizabeth — [To Hardy] Congratulations ! [She takes his hand] My dear! MISS SELWYN Not for the public yet! [Kisses Miss Denham] MISS DENHAM I am so happy — for — you! Oh, you are The luckiest man in all the world to win This jewel of a woman! HARDY Thanks! I prize Her far above the rarest jewel in the world, My active capital in Life's adventure! MISS SELWYN Oh, spare me, friends ! Remember, I am mortal ! MISS DENHAM But only praised in lofty appellations ! Ha! Ha! [io8] THE UNVEILING MISS SELWYN Excuse us, Doris, will you not? [Preparing to go] HARDY We must away! [Preparing to go] MISS DENHAM Joy go with you! BOTH [In doorway] Thanks! Thanks! [Exeunt] MISS DENHAM [Coming out on the balcony] The moving world is for the one who thinks; So in this age 'tis folly to entrust One's Fortune to the instincts of one's sex, Which makes one do, by indirection, things The women of the future will accomplish Without the coquetry of maidenly Reserve, which even now is understood. As if it said : I want what I pretend To shim! So one must live by thinking, shrewdly, [ 109 J THE UNVEILING Else meet with failure, doing adroitly The things success requires ! [Weird music. Exit right. Enter left Ahriman and Ormazd] AHRIMAN An opportunist! Another triumph of the pow'r of thought, For her! But what of him? His Fate is Man's In general! Ha! Ha! ORMAZD Nature protects The individual through mind, the species Through feeling, so there is a conflict, check! The way to live and be successful is To live by thought, not that Man should oppose The Race, but serve it in the highest way! AHRIMAN The irony of things! But what of her? ORMAZD Being a woman, she attempts with heart And mind to live by thought the feelings Nature Gave her! AHRIMAN We promised him — [no] THE UNVEILING ORMAZD No ! Not success, But only that avoidance of sure failure Which Evil brings! AHRIMAN Ha! Ha! Some more of Fate's Poor jesting! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! ORMAZD Mankind Has no conception that between the Race And individual lies the end which Life Strives for ! This is the reason why the Race Does not succeed in rearing up a worid That's stationary; the individual one That moves! AHRIMAN I think that Nature cheats them both ! ORMAZD Is Man not Nature in another form — Another Nature built in miniature; And yet containing all there is of Nature? AHRIMAN No ! You would better say the mockery of Nature ! For Man, fool Man, will not be satisfied With simple Truth; but, like the spoiled child [III] THE UNVEILING Must have his dream, regardless of its truth, And willing tribute pays to be deceived ! While in the case of love, he dupes himself 1 You can tell him what Nature is forever, And he will always take a dream instead ! ORMAZD I*m not so sure of that ! AHRIMAN That's what I fear! [Weird music. Exeunt Ormazd and Ahriman left. Enter Miss Denham and Waring right] WARING That's what she said ! MISS DENHAM This makes the thousandth time You've told me of her cruelty to you ! WARING Forgive me, will you not ? MISS DENHAM You weep for what Is best ! Some day when you are free, yourself Again, recovered fully from your folly, You will bless God, He saved you from yourself! [112] THE UNVEILING WARING With your assistance, my good friend! MISS DENHAM I do Confess my part, confess — [confused] — that is — WARING You mean That as her confidant, you plead for me? MISS DENHAM [Composed] No, rather as your friend, I took your part ! WARING [Deeply moved] My friend, how can I ever compensate You for your kindness? MISS DENHAM [With feigned emotion] Friendship keeps no books ! I will explain ! No man can know the pain With which a woman looks upon the worid ! She is so circtunscribed by sex ; so schooled ; When favored by inheritance is poor; But when deserted by this worid of Chance, Standing alone amidst th' tmcertainty » [113I THE UNVEILING Of life, that fools seem fitted to o'ercome, The wonder is, she does not kill herself In her despair of finding justice in the world! My friend, believe me when I say my loss Of self, in helping you, was selfish, not The kindly action you now credit it ! WARING I was a boor to thrust my pain upon Another when that other suffered more Than I myself! MISS DENHAM [The same] Forbear, my friend, forbear! WARING It must be grand to have a woman's heart ! MISS DENHAM [With real feeling] It is sublime to be a man ! To breast The world ! To make your way ! To choose your life! To say : This will I do ! This throw aside ! A conqueror, a god! Poor woman sits At home, awaits what comes, denied the right Even to speak her likes ! What good in life Is served by this injustice, cruelty ? [H4] THE UNVEILING Chir hearts are broken, ambitions thwarted, The world pays no attention to our cries ! More piire hypocrisy is given women Than all the worid beside ! If in defense, We use adroit dissimulation, then The sex is false ! What can we do ? The worid Is made by man for man, e'en Nature seems Against woman! WARING [Admiringly] You sorrow for your sex! I know that one, with heart so tender, must Pay tribute to the world in woe beyond The lot of others ! I see a light shine through Your words that shows a sadness all your own; And no amount of sympathy for woman Will ever reach the pain that you deplore ! And so I ask to be your friend, to share With you the pain that preys unseen, and robs You of the joy of living! MISS DENHAM [Almost weeping] That matters not ! WARING But then it does! [1151 THE UNVEILING MISS DENHAM [Giving way] The burdens of the heart Cannot be born by others ! This is Fate ! WARING A seeming truth, my friend ! The blow of Death Is somehow softened when another heart Is leveled with our own in sympathy ! The speechless, clasping hands are wings To lift us up into a world above ourselves Enabling us to cast upon the Race Our sorrow! Count me as one who offered help, A brother, friend [takes her hand] to be to you more than A friend — be — well — [pauses] Let time decide — [pause] My friend. The thing the world must next secure for all Is opportunity to realize Just what we are ! All else in life is futile, Is nothing in comparison ! MISS DENHAM Poor woman Will then receive the things the world denies And Nature has prevented her achieving Throughout the ages! [1161 THE UNVEILING WARING Friend, count me as one To favor this great cause till Justice crowns Itself in crowning woman, this as some Repa)mient of the good that I owe you ! MISS DENHAM [Determining to make it personal] No debt, instead, a joy ! WARING 'Tis I to judge! The obligation shall be paid in full With interest, principal, and good-will! MISS DENHAM [Breaking down] Meanwhile, Poor woman sobs out her heart against the wall! [Covers her eyes. Weird music. Lights waver] WARING Not while the Mother lives in man ! I ask To share your pain by asking you to share My life! I bring to you a heart of purity, Not virgin in its love, but chastened so Its door is open to the world that misses, As it has missed, the chief desire in life; ["71 THE UNVEILING Yet finds within the common loss a boon To solace it with what, in God's wide plan, Will bring as much of Good into the world: For Reason tells us that the sum of joy In life is parceled equally to all ; And they who find it wild in love are not The better paid than they who cultivate It in the flow'r of human kindness ! [He looks front as if in a partial trance] MISS DENHAM Ah! To triumph — [Catches herself and acts her triumph] WARING [Still entranced] — is the aim that lies before Us now ! MISS DENHAM I am so — [Catches herself and acts her happiness] WARING [Still entranced] — willing to entrust It all to God! [ii8] THE UNVEILING MISS DENHAM [Controlling herself] This answers your philosophy! [He puts his arm about her protectingly. She rests her head on his shoulder and sobs for joy. Weird music. Exeunt left. Enter Ahriman and Ormazd right] I pity woman ORMAZD AHRIMAN Ha, then it is catching, For that's his int'rest in her! ORMAZD Too true! He prayed To know the Truth, and we have shown it him ! AHRIMAN The Future seen in these first steps, let us Ttim to the end, as men thumb leaves, and skip The tedious hours of reading, so may we As Gods, escape the drag of living, pass In one brief hour good twenty years ! ORMAZD Nay ! Rather let us view their Future lives In vision ! [Ii9l THE UNVEILING AHRIMAN What shall we honor first ? [Weird music] ORMAZD The double wedding where their lot is chosen ! [Ahriman lifts arm and all is dark. There is a rumbling as if something is moving, not unlike that of wings, with weird dreamlike music. Light gradually comes on and the Gods can he seen as spectators. Bright lights appear in the sorority house. Sub- dued music, which changes to wedding march. Suddenly the double wed- ding of Miss Selwyn and Hardy and Miss Denham and Waring is pre- sented as a living picture. All the college is present. After a moment darkness ensues instantaneously] [There is a muffled sound as if flitting of wings amidst dreamlike music. Suddenly there is silence and a faint light appears on the stage. Weird music] ORMAZD Ten years have flown! Let's see the fruit of folly! [Weird music. The stage is lighted with a totally different kind of light. [ 120 ] THE UNVEILING There are some changes to show the flight of time. Off to the left the Fool is sitting on the top of a foun- tain, very drunk, fishing, and as the lights come on^ he sings] FOOL And here I sit from day to day ! Oh, sing hi ho! Oh, sing hi ho! And fish my precious life away! Oh, sing hi ho! Oh, sing hi ho! The world it laughs at me a bit ! Oh, sing hi ho! Oh, sing hi ho! But it can't see that I am it ! Oh, sing hi ho! Oh, sing hi ho! [Looks at his shadow in the fountain] Ah, now I see who holds me here! Oh, sing hi ho! Oh, sing hi ho! It is this fellow whom I fear ! Oh, sing hi ho! Oh, sing hi ho! [Rises and wabbles from drunkenness] But watch me lay him on the shelf ! Oh, sing hi ho! Oh, sing hi ho! [Strikes at his shadow and falls into thefountain] 11211 THE UNVEILING Too late ! Too late ! It is myself ! Oh, sing hi ho! Oh, sing hi ho! [Weird music. Darkness. There is heard again a seeming flitting of wings. Music becomes dreamlike and full of love. A faint light comes on the stage] ORMAZD Another decade flown, let's look again And see what Time has brought! [A light appears in the loggia at the right. It is changed to show the flight of twenty years. Miss Waring^ the daughter of Waring, and other young girls appear. In the loggia on the left young Hardy, the son of Hardy, is seen as a living picture. All the young persons are dressed as in the fourth Act of the play. Music very beautiful] MISS WARING [Sings] Life was a day I passed in play! It had no end or aim; For it did seem to be a dream The day before love came ! [ 122] THE UNVEILING No wider hope was in its scope, The Future shown the same; But Nature spoke and I awoke The day on which love came! Then every hour was full of power Beyond all words to name! And after this all life was bliss. The day on which love came! [Lights disappear at the end of the music and the Gods are seen in a faint light which gradually increases] AHRIMAN The time has now Arrived to show these mortals what it was They chose, and how presumptuous they were then In thinking that they could determine Fate ! ORMAZD To show you that the world has reached the stage At which the Good will be successful, let Us enter in the life of Man once more And I will prove it you ! AHRIMAN [Weird music] It can't be true! It is a dream ! The Good succeed because [123] THE UNVEILING It is the Good is Fortune's joke; Love's dream; Hope's irony ! That day will never come ! ORMAZD [Grand music] The dream of Poet, Prophet, Saint is here ! I hail the triumph of the Truth, the reign Of Right, Art, Justice, and Humanity! [Effulgent light. Sublime music] CURTAIN [124] ACT III ("51 ACT III The setting in the center of the stage is a cross- section of a National Convention of one of the great political parties of the United States, showing the floor of the house with a gallery extending around it. In the back of the gallery are two large windows through which can be seen the storm outside. The Chairman of the Convention is on a raised platform at the back beautifully ornamented with flags, bunting, and pictures. The floor of the house is full of dele- gates, a number of them being women. The gallery is crowded with men, women, and children. The delegates are going about, and there is much confu- sion. To the left, in front, is a small room, made of gauze, which, when unlighted, shows as a solid wall. To the right, in front, is a similar room. On the right, in the first box are seated Ormazd and Ahriman. On the left, are seated Mrs. Waring and Mrs. Hardy dressed as they appear in the last Act in the characters of Athene and Artemis, Grecian Goddesses. A brass band is playing when the curtain goes up. After a few moments the center of the stage darkens [127) THE UNVEILING and music stops. Light shines for an instant about Mrs. Waring and Mrs. Hardy; then about Ormazd and Ahriman. ORMAZD [Seeing the smile on Ahriman' s face] Are you amused at this ? AHRIMAN I rather think The Evil One himself would be ! Mankind Can brag about its reason in affairs Of State, but one brief moment here belies Its claim. Instead of reason, feeling reigns Supreme directed by the sense of spoils ! ORMAZD In politics the Good divide on nothing, And thus bestow their birthright on the Bad, Who use a great discretion in their thought, Submerging issues in the cause, depending. Wolf-like in scrambling for a share. Winning a victory in spite of Justice ! The Good, like loving dames, entrust to God The special work that they are fitted for! AHRIMAN Don't be so pessimistic at a jest ! [128] THE UNVEILING ORMAZD [Continuing his thought] God helps the ones who think ; and if the Good Do not secure economy of power Through reason, then the Bad, instinctively, Do prosper through the Law of Least Resistance, Thus wasting more than what is saved, as one Is to a score, accomplishing the ends Of Nature blindly! AHRIMAN This is the vice in things And will be till Mankind, unlikely, seeks The higher life through sacrifice of self With motives greater than self-interest — Never ! [Weird music. Box darkens. Light appears in the room at the left, now occupied by Hardy and his followers consisting of many men and few women. The room is almost dark] HARDY I tell you, men, the hour has come to make My nomination sure, a certainty ! Before you know it some dark horse will spring Into the field and win ! MRS. POLLOCK Impossible ! I 129] THE UNVEILING HARDY Just what occurs in politics too often ! WINGFIELD Waring cannot o'ercome the opposition! He is a goody-goody, which precludes Success! And what dark horse could now be named? HARDY Dr. Andrews! WINGFIELD No ! No ! No scientist [Storm is heard faintly] Need ever hope to meet the popular Demand, though ruler of a State and famous ! Fear not; for Dr. Andrews can't stampede This great Convention as he could some club Of scientists! [Storm increases] HARDY I'm not so sure of that! [Weird music] MRS. VAN SCHUSTER The danger is in Waring's oratory I [ 130 1 THE UNVEILING WINGFIELD If we stand pat for Hardy, who can break Our deadlock? HIGGINS That's the question, gentlemen. No man can be defeated when ahead; And we are gaining slowly all the time! HARDY [Storm is heard distinctly] Get busy! Do you hear? Remember I am out A million dollars! Men, get busy! [Exeunt delegates. Enter Fool. Weird music] FOOL Had I A himdred plunks I know a delegate I can control ! HARDY [Disgusted and irritated] I'd like to see the man A dnmken lout like you could handle! [Storm increases] 11311 THE UNVEILING FOOL [Amazed] Eh? A drunken lout? Perhaps, when it's too late You'll see! HARDY [Storm breaks] Take that and go ! [Throws him money] FOOL [Weird music] [Fool picks money off the floor, snarling like a dog. The storm rages] I'll take your money, And your insult, not being man enough To reject the one, or to resent the other ! However, this is not the end ! Remember ! [Goes out amidst the roar of the storm and weird music. Lights appear in the room at the right. Weird music. It is occupied by Waring and his supporters, about evenly divided as to sex] CONYERS Go in, expose the bribery, stampede The delegates! [ 132] THE UNVEILING WARING 'Tis easy said! SHIRAS Deadlocks Cannot be broken save by some sensation ! WARING How spring it ? SHIRAS Why, leap to a chair, cry treason, While wildly brandishing the bribe aloft ! I will propose a motion to expel Suspected delegates ! This will create A storm! WARING Agreed ! [Exeunt delegates at back. The Fool breaks into the room at the side just as the delegates are going out. They don't want him to know what they are going to do] You understand? SHIRAS [In doorway] We do! [Exit] [ 133 1 THE UNVEILING FOOL Oh, stratagems! I'm with you though! Count me! I'm low — A deadbeat, drunken wastrel, I! But never yet so low that I would take Hush money for an insult ! No ! WARING [Looking intently at Fool] 'Tis years Since we were students ! FOOL Yes; colleagues together — WARING Discussing sin, theology — FOOL Theology ? WARING Why, yes! Don't you remember how disturbed You were about your soul? Afraid to hear Of Evil, let alone be guilty of it ! FOOL [Remembering] Yes! 'Twas years ago ! [134] THE UNVEILING WARING Then your theology- Has not protected you? FOOL It has! At first, I thought I would be good continuously; But that's impossible; so I dismissed The matter by resolving to die good — The beauty of theology above Philosophy ! WARING No matter how you live? FOOL There is much mercy in theology ! If well paid, 'tis more jealous of belief Than morals ! Hence, no man surpasses me In Orthodoxy now — But in the name Of Satan, why discuss theology — WARING [Preparing to leave] How can I argue politics with you? [Exit] [ 135 1 THE UNVEILING FOOL [After Waring] Hardy and I are out ! I wish to do Him dirt, await my opportunity ! SHIRAS [In doorway] That you shall have ! A man! FOOL And I will meet it like [Exeunt. Lights go out. Weird music. Lights appear in the Con- vention. The storm can he heard faintly. Confusion gradually in- creases] CHAIRMAN [Rapping] Let us have order, Gentlemen, order ! CONYERS Mr. Chairman ! CHAIRMAN [Rapping] Order! I recognize The delegate! Order! You have the floor! [136] THE UNVEILING CONYERS [Leaping to a chair wildly] I have been offered money as a bribe ! [Weird music. Great confusion. Storm breaks out] WARING [On a chair in a lull] By whom? MRS. POLLOCK Speak out ! MRS. VAN SCHUSTER Expose the villain now! CHAIRMAN [Rapping. Storm increases] Order! Let him proceed! We must have order! [Rapping] CONYERS [Earnestly] See ! I show you ! What do you think of that ? [Shows bills. Weird discordant music. Storm increases. Lightning flashes. The room darkens. Clouds come in at the windows. Confusion] CHAIRMAN [Rapping continuously] But name the briber ! [1371 THE UNVEILING DELEGATES [Wildly] Yes ; name him ! Expose him ! Order! CHAIRMAN [Rapping continuously] [Confusion somewhat abates] CONYERS [Impressively] I am the last falsely to charge Some one ! This envelope was given me By one of Hardy's henchmen! [There is a great roar of disapproval. Weird music. The storm becomes violent. Clouds come in at the windows] CHAIRMAN [Rapping continuously] Order! HARDY I Denounce this as a trick to ruin me ! [Applause and groans. Music dis- cordant. Lightning [ 138 ] THE UNVEILING CHAIRMAN [Rapping] Order! HARDY What man of sense would think of such An idiotic way of bribing men ? FOOL [Jumping to a chair] You would ! [Sensation. Discordant music. Storm intense. It flashes lightning, and clouds come in at the windows mak- ing the room almost dark. Great confusion] CHAIRMAN [Rapping continuously] Men, order, order! * HARDY [Angrily] I demand That fooFs arrest! [There is a solitary rumble of thunder] FOOL Which fool, yourself or me? [Discordant music. Uproar. Storm increases. Lightning] I 139] THE UNVEILING CHAIRMAN Men, order, order, order, order, Mem [Rapping continuously] HARDY Mr. Chairman, I rise to ask a question Of privilege! [Confusion abates. Silent lightning] CHAIRMAN [Rapping] Proceed ! Proceed ! MRS. POLLOCK Hear him ! HARDY [Full of pathos] O, gentlemen, hear me! Have not my years Of service to the party merited A better fate? DELEGATES Aye ! Aye ! [Confusion] CHAIRMAN Let him proceed! [ 140] THE UNVEILING HARDY [Silent lightning] Language cannot express the force with which I now deny that I had anything To do with any bribe! The charge was made [Roar of dissent] To ruin me ! So I demand a trial Before my peers ! If not acquitted then I shall go, never to return again ! Let them produce the evidence! DELEGATES Aye ! Aye ! [Discordant music. Storm breaks. Lightning. Clouds penetrate the room] CHAIRMAN [Rapping continuously] Men, order, order, order, order. Men! CONYERS [Impressively] A stranger came to me and said: "Take this And vote for Hardy; it is yours; besides Another package of the same amount!" Dazed-like, not knowing what to do, I took The parcel, and before I realized What had occurred, the briber had departed! [1411 THE UNVEILING I opened up the envelope. You see, It has a thousand dollars in it ! Look ! [Great confusion. Weird music. Storm increases] HIGGINS [Leaping to a chair ^ amidst the confusion] Alia! [Extreme confusion. Storm terrific. Lightning flashes. Clouds come into the room, seem to he feeling for Hardy] WINGFIELD [Amidst confusion] Outrageous ! HOFFMEYER You should name the man ! DELEGATES Aye! Aye! No! No! [Music discordant and weird. Storm increases. Great confusion. Light- ning runs around the room, and in the light, the clouds, having found Hardy, settle down upon him] [142] THE UNVEILING CHAIRMAN [Rapping continuously] Speak out ! Give us the facts ! SHIRAS I move you we refer the matter ! [A roar of approval. Weird music. Stage darkens] CHAIRMAN [Rapping] Do I hear a second ? DELEGATES Aye ! Aye ! Aye ! CHAIRMAN [Rapping] In favor of the motion answer, Aye? DELEGATES Aye! Aye! [Greatly in the majority] CHAIRMAN While those opposed may answer, No ! DELEGATES No! No! Will those [143I THE UNVEILING CHAIRMAN I now declare the motion carried ! [Tremendous demonstration , discord- ant music, the lights are obscured by the penetrating clouds. The light- ning runs about the room making phantoms of the clouds, ending in weird darkness and silence. Lights appear in Hardy's room. Weird sad music. The room is almost dark] HARDY [Rain begins to fall] A miracle can't nominate me now ! WINGFIELD Don*t be downcast! There's nothing gained in that! HIGGINS The fight has just begun ! Be brave and steadfast ! HOFFMEYER The women have deserted us I HIGGINS [ 144 1 Good riddance ! THE UNVEILING HARDY Men, if we lose, I hope that Waring's not Successful! . . . And after all I've suffered! Ah! [Rain pours. Throws himself on a table in convulsive grief. Weird music. Lights go out. Followers stand in silence. Lights appear in Waring's room. Lights are bright, and while the music is weirdy it is not painful] WARING In beating Hardy, have I not defeated Myself? SHIRAS Do not give up just yet! WARING Why not? If circumstances point to some one else, Why not join forces with that one, for next To having won is that your cause succeeds ! CONYERS So then *tis settled ! WARING Yes ; let us go in ! [Lights go out in Hardy's room. Weird music. Lights appear in the Convene [ 145 1 THE UNVEILING tion. Storm can be heard in the distance. Chairman is rapping for order] FOOL Mr. Chairman and gentlemen : The time Has come when this Convention nominate A candidate, the peer of any man In all the world to be the President Of these United States ! [Great confusion. Weird music very loud. The storm increases and lightning flashes over the Convention. The Chairman raps for order, hut the Fool stands firmly to be heard] HIGGINS Let's throw him out ! HOFFMEYER He is a fool! WINGFIELD Let's put him out! No! No! AUDIENCE No! No! [146] THE UNVEILING CHAIRMAN [Rapping] Let us have order, delegates ! [While the Fool is speaking, the storm recedes and the room becomes light. The music takes on a tone 0} gladness] Order! FOOL The Good Book says, else you become As little children — well, you know the passage — God's Kingdom is not yours, exemplifying The power in things the world disdains ; and so Of men ! I come to name the Man of Men ; I come to name a man abreast the age In every way, a scholar, a gentleman. Successful, tried, esteemed! A man the world Has honored, and a man who honors all The world ! The first great scientist announced As candidate for office, and the first To be elected, Dr. Andrews ! [Terrific applause. Weird music hut full of gladness. Sunshine appears among the clouds, and every one seems happy. The storm is heard away in the distance. The Fool directs the confusion as if it were music of a new kind] I name him for the Presidency [147] THE UNVEILING Of these United States, a patriot, And yet a cosmopolitan ! The first Man ever qualified to fill the office ! [Still greater applause. Extraordinary demonstration. Weird music hut full of happiness. The confusion is a part of the music and when it stops all is dark. Light appears in Waring' s room. He is surrounded by his followers. Weird music, but full of sweetness] CONYERS Don't be dejected, for another day- May bring success; besides, at heart the cause Has won ; for we have named the candidate ! SHIRAS And he whom we defeat is shelved forever ! We're sure of that! WARING The one commodity That can't be parceled out in life is honor ! I've schooled myself to take what comes because The individual cannot decide His fortune, justice being done to-day But on an average! So, I'm satisfied! [148] THE UNVEILING MRS. POLLOCK Such rare philosophy is only found Among the world's supremely great! WARING It is Not choice but opportunity that counts, Let it be good or bad, it is the same ! *Tis true that we can move from place to place; Can go and come ; seem free ; dodge in and out Amongst the good and evil; but no man Can make events as he would have them ! Why, The wisest fail where fools sometimes succeed; Because what's like prefers its kind always, Failure occurring through superior worth ! The best of life is not within ourselves But in that greater self including all, We name Humanity! 'Tis this, the struggle That's prompted by Religion, which impels The Race, and furnishes us a living cause That satisfies when Death, the tardy host, Invites us to his house ! I did my best ! SHIRAS We all are downcast at your failure I MRS. POLLOCK No man Could be more worthy than you are! I 149 1 THE UNVEILING WARING Thanks! Thanks! No matter, for in failure I foresee Success for all I've sought in life! What hope Could promise more ? The individual Is only part, and should be satisfied To see the whole succeed ; in finding joy In its success, excelling infinitely All selfish glory ! For 'tis I who win, If in the victory that which my life Stands for is gained; and what has happened now Is this ! Let us rejoice in that which makes Us victors in the triumph of the Good ! [Leaves the room with some of his followers] SHIRAS He thus submerges self and so becomes Not only great, but more, sublime ! The type Of man the trend of things will yet produce In all of us when Nature has a chance ! [Leaves the room with rest of delegates. Darkness follows. Light appears in Hardy's room. Weird music. The storm can he heard outside with rain] HARDY [Deep emotion] I felt it from the first ! No tongue can tell My utter woe! Oh, men, men, — men, you said [150] THE UNVEILING That I would win ! Not one, but all ! all ! all ! And at what cost ? The world will never know ! [Men draw back. Weird music. Lights darken. The rain begins to fall gently, but distinctly] Don't leave because of my reproach ! Give me The bitter joy of blaming others, will You not? Oh, I have paid you quite enough To curse you, had I it done before I paid! But now you stand impatient to be gone, Not courteous to my anguish ! Go ! Avaunt ! What care you now? I am a mariner Washed overboard at sea ! One man less — God ! There will be plenty people left, think you! And yet but yesterday I seemed to grasp The Presidency of these United States ! Oh, as the aviator in the clouds Seems first of men, then falls a senseless thing Down to the Earth, am I! No, worse! He does Not live to see the thing he is ; to hear The heartless words of jest ! — A precipice So high, who would have thought the other side So steep? No gentle fall, but one long plunge To the bottom of the depths — oblivion! The utter sense of nothingness now comes! How can I live? How? How? [Falls on the table in convulsive sobs. The rain pours and his followers 1 151] THE UNVEILING slip out noiseless as shadows. Faint weird music] HARDY [ Uncovering his eyes] Alone? Alone! Oh, at the closing of my pain-racked eyes You steal away! What shall I call you? What? You have no honor, only use; and, when once used Despised for being of no further use? Friends? Friends ! No ! Devils ! Devils ! Devils ! For, devoid Of human sympathy, you pick and gnaw The skeleton of my ambition bare. Then slink away ! Ah ! Ah ! [Screams terrifically, and throws him- self face downward. Weird music. The room darkens. Light shines about the Gods] ORMAZD He has the Truth! AHRIMAN The Purpose in the Universe displays Itself so poorly, in order that it grow And be subUme in Man, it must encounter A trillion different shocks to hammer it To recognition! 11521 THE UNVEILING ORMAZD But do not forget The second Purpose, Man, unconsciously, Improves upon crude Nature, while supreme Perfection will not be attained until The third and last attempt. Society, Controls the other two completely, then The end and aim of all will be accomplished! Not Evil, but a studied opposition Will then supply the impetus to action ! AHRIMAN Many amusing things will happen ere That day! ORMAZD The most amusing of them all, Your occupation, will be gone! Ha! Ha! [Ahriman catches himself as if shot through with pain. Weird music. It grows dark about the Gods] [The Convention hall becomes lighted. The band is playing a national air. Sunshine bursts through the windows. Men and women are going about joyously. Ormazd and A hriman are down front, Ormazd detains Ahri- man from departing. Dr. Andrews appears before the audience. There 11531 THE UNVEILING is prolonged applause set to music. It rises gradually until it bursts in a tremendous wave, men growing wild with excitement; then it sub- sides with now and then a rise in the rhythm until it is little more than a murmur. During Dr. Andrews* speech the applause is part of the music, rising and falling at timeSy then reaching a climax and subsiding at the conclusion in a flood of light] DR. ANDREWS My Fellow-citizens: I do not thank You for the honor you confer on me, However great, not that! I do not thank You for the happiness you bring to me, However sweet, not that ! But tongue cannot Express in words my sense of gratitude To you for making me the instrument Through which the Good at last shall have its day ! For placing me where I can use the Truth To combat Error with ; at last apply What we have learned to human living; thus To make the house of Hope a home for all; To smooth the road of Circumstance, the way Of Opportunity, so that his knock May daily be, not once for life ! This boon, The dream the world has ever had, will now [154] THE UNVEILING Come true; for when Religion motives all, The business of the world will be set free From selfishness; Hkewise the thought; then men Will see that nothing else but Truth can give Them peace; will cease to reverence the Past, Will live to-day, the conscious hour — this life — The acme of existence for the Earth ; And realize the Purpose of the Universe — The Everlasting Life of prophecy, For which all Nature is a preparation. And which, attained, encompasses the Past, The Present, and the Future in its moment — The Riddle of the Universe be solved At last, so all can fully understand ! But let us not forget that every hurt The Race has suffered in the past is still A woimd, because unfeeling men secure A livelihood by keeping it unhealed! To-day the whole of life, called civilized, Is spent in paying tribute to our fears. Protecting hopes, defending dreams which make Us slaves to men who work us through our hearts- Men, like the serpent who repay devotion With treachery, perverting all of life By putting Evil in the place of Good, Adroitly making Night appear as Day, And boldly teaching Ignorance instead Of Knowledge, persecuting Truth to death. Making Life's purpose in the scheme of things [ 155 1 THE UNVEILING A^ much unlike that which it is as dream And fact, a mockery from first to last ! The common man has no conception what Life is ! He is a host to feed this world Of ruling parasites. That which he gets To what he will some day receive on Earth May justly be compared with Hell and Heaven ! But from this hour our fight will be against This curse of superstition, as disease Which robs the Race of mental-moral health; Deprives us of a knowledge what we are, Making existence farcical in aim, Instead of all there is summed in ourselves ! I thank you for this opportunity To speak this fact to fifty million ears ! No matter how bejeweled words may be; Or flowered; or how sweet, how beautiful The music that they hover in ; the dress That shows them off — 'tis all one with the world; Only that voice is listened to which Fortune Throws to the top, no matter how or where ! The day will come when Man will fight for heat, For air ! It is a preparation for This struggle that we now begin ! Think you That we will then let Greed and Creed divide us? No! Every Race will be akin, the world One nation, and controlled by thought and knowl- edge. And motived by that Power which alone [156] THE UNVEILING Can bind the Race together in one State — Religion — not the misdirected force Which now disturbs Humanity, instead, That Power seen throughout all Nature, which Binds things together, makes the Universe One thing ! Know this : No matter how expressed. There is but one Religion in the world — We see it blindly occupy the lives Of men; sometimes as fearful superstition; Sometimes, fanaticism ! It may appear A blind philosophy which shows the world To be a prison of the soul ; no end Or aim within itself; our life a hope, Or dread; that's all! No actual living here. But all hereafter, bargained for with tears And groans in endless servitude of mind And body — Hell on Earth, if Heaven hereafter ! This Failure fills the office of Religion To-day, accomplishing its ends by all The hardships Nature uses to evolve The heart and mind, the cruelty in life That made man think there was a Devil, Hell ! But when Religion is directed rightly, 'Twill realize the life destined for all; 'Twill be the last, the best, a scientific Expression of the Deity ! Religion, then, Will be the bolt of Jove turned to the use Of Man in sending messages of love ; The poison wild in Nature medicining pain ; [1571 THE UNVEILING Disease a dark device to further health ; The plan of Nature made cooperate Through scientific knowledge as a guide, The instrument this godlessness produced By Infinite Design! To know this truth Is unavoidable in the flow of years ; For Nature educates through cruelty; Its only mercy pain; its favor Chance; Its privilege the Struggle for Existence; Yet out of it all the tender heart of Man Has grown which feels around the world with Life Since Life awoke, thus brothering Man with all ! When standing out beneath the Stars that show The glory of the Universe, 'tis grand To understand this pageant is but Man Unorganized; that not a hope in us But has its origin in distant Suns; That nothing in our lives exists except It come from Nature; know that we fulfill The end and aim of All, by living All Within ourselves! And when, at night, you lie Awake, surprised that you exist, escaped The cold of Space, the heat of Suns that once Possessed the Earth, the accidents of Time, The dire effects of Chance in ceaseless Change, And all the ills of Life, oh, what a joy To know that Death is Living, in disguise, A grand device to make Life reach perfection. So it will be aware, not be the dull [158] THE UNVEILING Existence of the stone that lives and lives, Yet never lives ; attain the whole of Life In passing it to others, thus, at last Possess the Everlasting Life ! This knowledge Transcends the hope of Immortality, And brings a peace that nothing can destroy! It demonstrates that Everlasting Life Is quality, and not duration; state, And not existence ; years are foreign to it ! It is the consciousness of Unity With Nature blotting out both Time and Space In realizing everything in Self And Self in everything, for you, for all ! Henceforth, the greater life will occupy Our time ! Instead of seeking honor, fame, Power, the work of life will be to help Our kind ! To make the whole Race glad in living There is a pleasure in a growing flower; What, in a growing soul! There was a joy In bringing Nature to our rule; but what Delight when all Humanity can go Its way in joy, a ship at sea unmindful The storm opposing circumstances ! Man's A world within the factors of a world. The true creation which the Universe Has sacrificed all else to make self-conscious; And, making, makes itself; for what would be The panoply of night, the light of day, [1591 THE UNVEILING If Man did not interpret them to be Himself in essence, Nature in a Part; So that the Whole may reach perfection, Man! This conscious world creates Society, Another world, it too within our breasts. And minds, ending the process in the Life Immortal here on Earth, in which the chief Delight will be in knowing all there was, And is and will be in the future years ! We front the world to-day, the first to reach Enlightenment; that social consciousness Which makes Mankind one Being, like in all Its parts; so that a hurt to one is hurt To all! The joy of one, the joy of all! For this accept my thanks, my gratitude! [A brilliant light shines about Dr. Andrews, when the music stops, Ormazd is transfigured with light. Ahriman' s face indicates his extreme torture. The Fool bows his head in contrition. The audience on the stage gives expression of its extreme joy by rising and extending its arms upward in thanks] CURTAIN [160I ACT IV [ i6i ACT IV The setting is that of a park, with fountains; walks running off left. At the extreme upper left, is a beautiful cottage, made of gauze, invisible when not lighted. At the upper right, is a part of a manu- factory, running. It is a beautiful and artistic building. At the lower right front, is a building showing Waring' s law office. At the left, is a similar building showing the Fool's law office. The Fool is discovered talking to some of his friends. Weird music. The lights are not natural. As Mrs. Hardy enters, the men in the Fool's office depart. MRS. HARDY Is this a lawyer's office ? FOOL Yes; madam! MRS. HARDY I wish to know just what it takes to get A divorce. FOOL Fifty dollars! [163I THE UNVEILING MRS. HARDY You do not Quite understand. FOOL * Perhaps I don't! MRS. HARDY What must I prove? FOOL Oh, well, that's different! MRS. HARDY Give me A case to go by FOOL Well, the cause I think Most frequently resorted to to-day Is cruel and inhuman treatment, mental Or physical: He constantly provokes you; Goes days and days without a word of love; All kindness is requited with contempt; Affection met with scorn; impossible As it may seem, but there is not a moment In which he does not make you feel he hates you ! Why, death itself would be preferred ! Your health Is giving way through this inhuman treatment ; You cannot stand it longer; sighs, then tears — You understand, don't you? [164] THE UNVEILING MRS. HARDY Quite SO ! FOOL For physical inhuman treatment, well, Take this— MRS. HARDY What you have giv'n is quite enough ! Your fee ? FOOL Say, fifty dollars! MRS. HARDY [Giving him money] Thanks! FOOL Thanks! Thanks! Good day! MRS. HARDY [Exit] FOOL Good day 1 I could have stretched it to A hundred just the same! Huh! Huh! Well, well. I always was a fool ! And always will be one ! [Enter Jones on crutches, seemingly very much crippled] [1651 THE UNVEILING JONES Good morning, any news? FOOL [Goes to safe and gets two large rolls of bills] We won our case ! Here is five thousand dollars ! JONES [Taking money and straightening up] Thanks! FOOL I keep A like amount! JONES [Improving in his injury] This ends it all, does it? No after daps? FOOL None ! Money is the end And aim of all law suits ! JONES [Takes crutches and throws them down, stands erect, perfectly sound, then [i66] THE UNVEILING starts for the door counting his money] Jack Cade to-day Would be a lawyer instead of hanging them ! [Stops outside] FOOL [Furiously] Ingratitude! Oh, were I Shakespeare now To name the sum of thy iniquity ! [Fool takes the crutches, and draws aside a screen which displays a pile of invalid chairs, crutches, and canes. The Fool lays the crutches on the pile and whistles a funny air. When he puts the screen hack, Jones slips behind it thinking the Fool does not see him] FOOL [Holding up money] Descant about the blinded dupes of love, Fanatics of religion, yet, when looked At with the eye of reason, money-men Are dupes beyond them all! [Looks to see if Jones is listening] From mom till night. Not "dewy eve" — there is no beauty there — From night till mom ; for all its slaves serve night And day, the money-makers ply their game [1671 THE UNVEILING Contemptible ! Stakes won or lost no difference, The moil goes on ! And yet they call it sanity ! [Looks back at Jones] Unthoughtful as decapitated worms Which battle with their hinder parts, convinced They fight for life, and fight accordingly — Man, money-mad ! For he is part of all, And in the end the havoc that he causes Comes on himself! Unlike the worm, he lives To keep himself from living ! Money ! Money ! The man who does not enter in the strife Is measured by its standards, and condemned As wanting! Devil never met success More devilish, men engage in wrong more fruitful ! [Looks back at Jones, who is very uneasy] To every drunkard comes a day when drink Will not appease the appetite that it Creates; and once in all Life's years an hour May come when money's lust will overleap Its bounds so much its crazed devotees Will see the hell its exercise creates. And Life's great possibilities will steal Upon them like a child into a miser's arms ! [Jones tiptoes out with crutches, crest- fallen. Fool waves farewell] Money! It is the chain with which I'm bound! [Acts as if he is about to destroy the money] [i68] THE UNVEILING In breaking it my flesh must act as anvil ! [Pauses] Henceforth, you are a means and not an end! I go that far! [Puts money in his pocket] If others help me not, Then I am lost ! [Securely fastens money in his pocket] Of all the vices men Acquire — I speak advisedly with no excuse To offer — none surpass the money-game! It partnerships with every other vice; And ends by banking with the virtues ! Huh ! [Looks about, feels that the money is safe. Darkness, weird music. Light appears in Waring's room. He is discovered talking to Mrs. Hardy. After a moment the Fool appears outside and listens to the conversation] WARING Your story is affecting, but is it best To separate? MRS. HARDY I scarcely know. WARING [169] Consider I THE UNVEILING MRS. HARDY I came to you, I know not why ! I felt That you would tell me what was best to do In my extremity ! WARING I'm glad you came! [The Fool is seen to approach the out- side door and listen to the conversa- tion, presumably to see whether or not Mrs. Hardy follows his instruc- tions. The effect of what is said can be seen on his face] Divorce should never be invoked until All other methods have been fully tried, And then, like surgery, a last resort ! MRS. HARDY My life has been so disappointing ! What else can we expect when life depends On others ? Truly speaking, woman has No life, distinctive, which the world would call Her own! WARING I fear you are too pessimistic ! To live is joy! To breathe the air! To know That Death is but unconscious Life ! What more Could mortal ask? To see the Sun o'ertake [ 170 ] THE UNVEILING The Dawn ! The flowers bloom ! The children play ! To hear the sounds of Nature, music yet Unspoiled by Art ! To feel throughout your soul The working of that Pow'r which makes us know That we are only Nature superfined! If there was nothing else, this is enough Of happiness to make life worth the living ! We know mind is the memory of all Of Life from its beginning up to Man, Each being adding its acquirement, Nature Awakening in each of us what all Have suffered in the School of Life since Time Began; while feeling lives and moves throughout The Universe ! This is the end of Nature ! To know it is a joy that counteracts All ills! Let's bury our frustrated hopes In knowledge, which to know is Life Eternal ! MRS. HARDY You are quite philosophic ! But when pain Is shooting through your heart the whole day long The blooming of the flowers adds to it ! The common man wants not the naked truth, But confirmation in his errors; so It is an added pain to set him right ! WARING If you discover a supposed jewel, You do not keep it, but cast it away ! [ 171 ] THE UNVEILING Pain only shows wrong-living ! Most of the hurts Of this distressed world can be avoided ! No matter what the hour, there's always time For better living ! And no life can be More sad than one inspired by Self alone ! Deride rude Duty as you will, 'tis Love Disguised; and Pain is but a cry for help; While Conscience is a cruel friend who dares To whisper us the Truth ! And loss of Hope Is sometimes loss of Self, which makes us seek Our kind, and cast ourselves upon the Race, And thus acquire the greater Life, which lifts Us up, and ever after, we are happy ! MRS. HARDY I said that we, perhaps, would meet sometime. And then be friends ! I little thought that Life Would bring me to this day; but I have found, When Love is gone, the light of life is dim ! It was true friendship that I sought, a sense To find the way in my benighted world ! And this you've given me, my one true friend! [Bows head in tears. Darkness in the room. Light shines for a moment about the Fool who is deeply affected. Exit off left. Darkness. Lights appear in the park and Ahriman in a dirty and ragged dress [ 172 1 THE UNVEILING enters from the upper left. The Fool follows unobserved. Weird music] AHRIMAN [Coming down the stage limping] It is a fool Philosophy which thinks To know the right compels the doing of it ! Why, that would make me moral ! Preposterous, Isn't it? Men go the wrong way when they know The right always! I could enumerate A thousand motives stronger far than Justice ! Out pessimistic thought ! Remember how The Punjab Indian preferred to carry His barrow on his head to trundling it; And did so when un watched; because for him To fall and catch himself — what walking is — Suited his status better than the art That Nature could not make — the wheel — till it Invented Man! Men carry barrows on Their heads in thinking now, and stones within Their breasts, thus giving me my occupation ! [Enter Victor, a boy, walking down from left with a book in his hand. The lights brighten and the music is sweeter, but still weird. The Fool listens] Good-moming, Son, know you I represent The New Society of Race Advancement! I ferret out the worthy, see they are [173] THE UNVEILING Provided for. So you love books ! Your taste [Takes book] Henceforth, shall be looked after! VICTOR Sir, you know Our motto is : Whate'er you have, sell half Of it and buy books ! They contain the laws Of living — Nay, much more, the Race's mind ! To live you must possess them as your life! Nature did much for Man ! She could not give Him knowledge, for it changes as the mind Develops, so Society makes good The fault, inventing books to perfect life ! AHRIMAN [Dumfounded] Your being young, perhaps, you would prefer To go away to school, seek knowledge. Art, Society, the life of youth within Some University renowned for sport — VICTOR The seeker after knowledge needs no teacher When adolescence is well passed, except Himself! The world's great thinkers point the way, Are great because of method more than merit ! [Ahriman throws up his hands in fail- ure. Enter from upper left Vic- " [ 174 1 THE UNVEILING toriGt a beautiful young girl plainly dressed. The Fool still listens] AHRIMAN [To Victoria] May I engage your interest in the world Of fashion? It has a thousand things of Art That you should have ! It is a tragedy That beauty such as yours should go unprized And want advertisement in jewels, gowns — VICTORIA Real beauty is within, is mental, not Outside adornment ! AHRIMAN A doctrine preached By plainness, quite unfitting you! [Victoria looks at him in amazement, then joins Victor and they go off right. Enter Mitchell, a common man, from left upper entrance] Perhaps, Good Sir: I can gain your support. I have A scheme to make tmtold wealth 1 MITCHELL Wealth? I ask. Should anyone desire wealth now ? The Race Has entered on its higher life, and things [1751 THE UNVEILING Are prized to-day not on the savage plane, But of Humanity, intelligence ! The modern cannibal, the living off Instead of on, the common man no more Exists! You must be of the days long gone; Or else a remnant of the underworld ! [Mitchell walks off right as if insulted] AHRIMAN My occupation ! Oh, my occupation ! [Weird music. Limps off right. The Fool follows him dumfounded. Enter Boyce and Conger from the manufactory] BOYCE [Dressed as a soldier] They are distinguished visitors to have The President show them about! CONGER [Dressed as a clerical] The dress Of one is such that you would think him not Distinguished for advancement ! [176] THE UNVEILING BOYCE Well, perhaps, Not so ! But what one lacks the other makes up ! [Enter Fool from the manufactory looking for some one] Here is another stranger, let us ask Him if he knows the visitors. Good Sir, Which way? FOOL How pertinent your question is; And yet who asks it? Ah! Which way? My way? It is the whole world's way ; and yet the world And I have reached the time when we must part ! CONGER What mean you, Sir? FOOL You asked, Who are the strangers, The visitors, and, why the President Wotdd deign to occupy his time with them? They are not men, but Gods! One represents The Light of Life, the other, Darkness; I, The World, have found them out! Ten thousand things I never understood now stand out clear To me; and all because at last I've reached [177I THE UNVEILING The one true point of view; attained the vision That sees the One in Many, Many in One ! CONGER Your dress betrays you, Sir! Oh, treacherous dress ! , FOOL Not only that, but it is quite enough — For there is dress, and dress, and yet a dress, Covering the whole of life, which will not off No matter how your soul may struggle, you Be cramped beside the which my garb, bemocked. Is loosed gown; because that dress enchains The spirit as a body made of clay Would dwarf the growing soul ! BOYCE We sympathize With you! FOOL [As if coming to himself] I know what I will do ! Farewell ! [Exit right] CONGER Indeed, we live a wondrous life ! [178] THE UNVEILING BOYCE A world The Gods see fit to visit — CONGER The President Be proud to show! BOYCE It is no boast ! But, come, We too must seek the Gods ! Who knows ? That 's where The Fool has gone! CONGER He said he was the world! [Exeunt right. Weird music, but grand. The manufactory lightens and the machinery begins to run. Men and women are moving about dressed in beautiful costumes. There suddenly bursts forth a full orchestra to the sound of the machinery. Enter President Andrews dressed in a mag- nificent costume showing Ahriman about. They are followed by the Fool] ANDREWS The mechanism does the work, the rest Is play ! There is no labor, only oversight To see that all runs smoothly I [179I THE UNVEILING AHRIMAN Your output Pays you? ANDREWS Each one performs his share; that's all! Life's necessaries once produced with us Are never wasted, but preserved. The rest Of time is used in living! AHRIMAN This was a dream Laughed at where I came from ! ANDREWS 'Twas so with us For many years, but realized to-day In actuality! Perhaps, as you A stranger are, you'd Hke to hear this hour A teaching from a visitor abreast The age in culture and philosophy? AHRIMAN Like common Man, I'd rather be amused! However, I will stay a while! ANDREWS I'm sure You'll be repaid! [i8o] THE UNVEILING AHRIMAN [Temptingly] How comes it that a man Of yoiir position would degrade himself By mingling with the general herd? ANDREWS Nonsense ! Position counts for nothing, worth is what We prize ! The stranger ! [Weird music, but beautiful. Ormazd enters from right] AHRIMAN As I expected! Well, I see my fate ! [Limps to one side. Ormazd is greeted by A ndrews. Men and women enter. The manufactory stops. Grand mu- sic. Fool down stage on one side lis- tens; Ahriman on the other dejected] ANDREWS Brethren, we have with us To-day a man who understands our life In its entirety, him I present To you, Ormazd, by name, my brethren! SUPERINTENDENT WELLESLY Greeting, Sire! [They all acknowledge the introduction] [I8i] THE UNVEILING ORMAZD Brethren, the world has seen the birth, the reign, The full subjection of self-interest through The natural evolution of Religion From tribal cult up to Humanity! Not Superstition which usurped its place, With which you bartered for salvation, Instead that Pow'r we see throughout all Nature, Uniting in its grasp the Universe, Resulting in its final form to-day, The Socialization of Humanity! Religion binds Mankind into a whole, And when directed by the Social Sense, Which is all-wise, a wrong to one is seen By all! Instead of Law to rule the Race, We have morality and science ! Instead Of force to rule the individual, We have enlightened Conscience! Man holds Within himself the Race and Self, the one A mentor to the other ! It seems strange To you, and yet there was a time when Man Preferred to hurt his fellow rather than Himself ! 'Tis sad to think of Savagery, A prey to cold and want ; and yet 'tis worse To ponder on the Civilized, depraved From lack of thought and feeling for the Race, Which, when invoked, subdue the panic fear As light unterrifies the darkness ! Earth Has ever brought a surplus wealth to Man ; [182] THE UNVEILING But in the moil that constituted life For many thousand years more wealth was wasted Than saved ! The struggle made us strong, the way That God creates all things ! Do all we can No time will ever come when struggle will Be over; but the time has passed when we Should fight each other ! Wrong is not innate ; 'Tis undirected force due Ignorance ! AUDIENCE [Applauds with music and they flock about Ormazd] WELLESLY The hour for recreation is at hand. [There is exquisite music and the men and women dance off left. Andrews and Ormazd go off right talking. Ahriman sits to one side and accosts Mitchell. Fool listens] AHRIMAN Good Sir, do you suppose if I were you That I would suffer anyone to boss me? MITCHELL Why not? AHRIMAN Because I would be free! [183] THE UNVEILING MITCHELL For what? AHRIMAN To come and go — to be an individual ! MITCHELL I am that now! AHRIMAN But he controls you fully! [Points after Andrews] Why not be free? Direct your own exertions? Say, this is mine! Say, I do this! You, that! With your intelligence, why, you could own The Earth! MITCHELL What would I do with it ? AHRIMAN Enjoy it ! MITCHELL I do that now ! AHRIMAN Then you could be supreme! MITCHELL Perhaps, some other one could better lead? AHRIMAN Alas ! You have no wants ! [184] THE UNVEILING MITCHELL Indeed, I have, But not the physical ! I want to see The Beautiful ; to hear the Sweet ! To know The Truth ! My soul is all afire to live The higher Life ! The only worth is mental ! The only honor moral ! Not what you have But what you are; not what you do, but what You're fit to do, is gain! Worth is within! There was a time men weighed achievement only, But now 'tis possibility that gains Us glory ! We have a sense like Love which sees The what we are without a demonstration ! [Exit right looking at the dumfounded Ahriman] AHRIMAN [Sadly] I must be gone ! At first 'twas preached, there is No Hell, no Devil, now all Evil is Restricted to a fight with Nature ! I must BeoflEI [Exit left. Sighing so loud it is ridiculous. Enter Andrews and Ormazd. Women and men form again as an audience. The Fool is deeply interested. Grand music] [185] THE UNVEILING ANDREWS It was as I predicted! Yes; At first a few rebelled, but soon 'twas seen That Life could be controlled ; for men had long Ceased being brutes : so they began the life Of socialization which we now enjoy ! You're from the East ? ORMAZD My habitation is The world ! I am a true cosmopolite ! ANDREWS The same with us ! The measures that engage Us now are battles with the elements ! One people spread the Earth, for all are human! The more we see, the more we know how hard 'Twill be to keep our footing on the Earth As it grows old and older ! 'Tis our hope That we may fully realize to-day The possibilities of Nature seen Far in the depths of Space on starry nights : Each star a Sun surrounded by its group Of planets, each a home of life like ours ; And while we know the Earth is but a mote, Yet Nature peopled it with forms, ourselves, To comprehend the Whole; and finally The depths of Consciousness will parallel The depths of Space, and then the Universe Will be conceived! [i86] THE UNVEILING ORMAZD [Speaks as a man] And Death will lose its gloom When Nature is no more a mystery; Because we are a part of All, and All Is actualized in us ! Idealists Are right only they put effects for causes! The world makes mind, not mind the world ! The diff'rence Between what is, and what they think is Truth, Is to mistake the picture for the object; To treasure shadows, savage-like, and not Reality; for Nature is no more Dependent on the mind than fact on fancy ! The mind is stored experience with Nature In living bodies since in single cells, Beginning in the primal deep, thence on, 'Tis handed down in repetition till What Nature is, is mirrored in a form. Repeated there, is organized ; becomes Another Nature; yet is only Nature Accomplishing its possibilities, Revealing All within a part, ourselves ! The idea and the object are one thing. Identical in essence; but it takes A billion years to make the one, a moment The other; yet the likeness is revealed; For each is repetition of one thing, The mother energy ? I do not count 11871 THE UNVEILING The atom-frame in which the energies Build up the mind as idea, for Matter We know by being; but all else is energy In Protean forms ! So that it follows knowledge Is recognition ! To know, then, is to be ! The finished thing, ourselves, seeing ourselves In elements ! So what occurs at death Is a resolving of the parts as in the first ! We have attained the breast on which to lay Our heads, Humanity ! When Nature ends This cycle in its grand catastrophe, We know another Nature will arise, Another Race will then appear, and on, And on forever and forever ! [Beautiful music swells out, and the men and women go into the manu- factory. Ormazd and Andrews ex- eunt right, the Fool following them, and Ahriman limping after him. Music changes to that of love. The lights are beautiful. Enter young Hardy and young Brooks as roman- tic lovers] YOUNG HARDY When first she took possession of my eyes There was a space of blank existence, as When some great thing usurps the mind completely ! 'Twas followed by an added life my soul [188] THE UNVEILING Caught up while 'twas away ! I never knew What joy was ! Ah ! Nor ecstasy ! My heart Was full so that no matter what engaged me It called me back to its wild joy ! I looked On life with wider view of Hope, Ambition! No flower went unseen; and every beauty Of night and day obtained my homage! Oh, I seemed to live some former life, remembered As in a dream, and so became a part Of Nature ! This was how love came to me ! YOUNG BROOKS Your confidence shall be respected ! YOUNG HARDY I feel She is my complement, my other self To make complete existence in our union ! I do not breath the common air but some Intoxicating sweet that flies throughout My soul ! I never told her of my love In words; 'twas given in that grant of eyes That spake before all language was invented. Imparting more than all the words e'er spoken ! YOUNG BROOKS There is much sadness in your father's life; It looks as if 'twould blemish yours! [189I THE UNVEILING YOUNG HARDY Each life Is lived, affected by the life next to it But little more than those remote ! The chance That made his sad has made mine happy ! [Sweet music. They walk off left talking. Music still full of love. Enter Miss Brooks and Miss Waring dressed ideally] MISS BROOKS Recite again the meeting of the lovers! MISS WARING Your interest makes me afraid to trust Your ears again, my tongue to word this wonder, For being too familiar with the story, You may discover its true source ! MISS BROOKS I know The farthest fancy has a soul of fact, But Friendship only sees that which the heart Intends, no matter what it says or looks ! [Takes out a manuscript, hut makes no pretense of reading, afid soon it can be seen that she is telling her own story. Beautiful music and the lights shine bright] [190 ] THE UNVEILING MISS WARING In Friendship's bonds I read: To that far Self, Which some day I shall be, I speak my heart To-day so it may have these words to help It realize the God-like life of Love ! If mind alone were trusted, I foresee No single heart can hold enough of love To picture love ! If every hour should speak Its joy in all the years to come, not then Would Love be known ! Despite my best endeavor The joy of that first meeting will surpass All effort of crude language to express ! As Wisdom's heart may be discovered through A window of a word, my poor attempt Mayhap will show in failure what love is; For Love, like Wisdom, sees the whole in part! And so, my Future Self, Love came to me Another consciousness, as you, dim years Ago, found me, and grew and grew until There were two things. Self and the wondrous world ! There yet are two, but now He is the world! At first, there flashed defiance in my soul, Which lasted for a seeming age, in fact, An instant, then surrender heart and mind, My inmost being; yet I stood as calm As when a child looks at the Moon and wonders! It was allegiance to, not Him, but Life 1 The purpose of my being was awakened 1 191] THE UNVEILING Within my heart ! It blossomed, grew, became Supreme ! The blushes in my cheeks betrayed To Him the secret Love misnames to others But understands itself in secret hope No matter how it may be covered up ! To say that I was happy would not speak My joy ! It was a kind of life, unknown To man, and known to lovers only when They answer love with love! I never knew Till then why Beauty wasted in the world. What music meant, why skies are blue, the stars So bright, the air so sweet, the day so grand, What meant the cool of water to the lips, Why life is one long unsubdued joy ! They are no longer mystery ! They are The added life of Love ! I saw 'twas love. Not life, because I knew it through my heart ! One soul at last stood out revealed, unveiled. The what he was ; and I myself was shorn Of all the world puts on my sex; but then The eyes that saw looked on with that far view. Completely missing self in seeing Love ! And Doubt dared not outstretch his robbing arms. For every hope was counted as fruition; All aspirations were fulfilled; for once Judgment was given with the same degree Of justice as in hoped-for Heav'n ; for Love, Like Mercy, makes men Gods ! Speechless he stood [ 192 ] THE UNVEILING And looked at me; for language knows no use When souls meet so; and yet I realized As from some former life, a hidden source; That he to me was all there was of Life; And while we stood, but for a moment thus, It seemed that he and I had lived from all Eternity, presaging when we part ! It is sublime to know that from the first Of Time there is another half of Life Somewhere destined to make complete your half; But it transcends all words to tell the joy When in the round of years, he comes to claim His own, you wait to yield allegiance! [Miss Waring pauses, as in a trance. Miss Brooks glances lefty and sees Young Hardy enter] MISS BROOKS 'Tis beautiful ! Most beautiful, my friend. [She withdraws silently to the right as if not to disturb her friend] YOUNG HARDY [Running to Miss Waring\ So far have I disdained the use of words In loving you, Sweetheart! [Kisses her] When that first burst Of love is gone there comes a time when love '3 [ 193 ] THE UNVEILING Is so secure that it invites the use Of language in its purpose ! MISS WARING I have heard It said that love no longer speaks in words But utters Life in deeds above all dreams ! YOUNG HARDY I come to translate into facts, my dear, The dream that we have lived, and realize Our union in a home ! This ring I give Is symbol of eternity ! Our life That has been and our life that is to come, Not in some far away and mystic world, But here on Earth in lives that were, and lives That are to be ! [As he puts the ring on her finger , there is exquisite music, and when they look away, there appears in the distance a beautiful home, and they go towards it. Lights cease to shine about them.] [Weird music. The stage darkens. Ahriman and Ormazd enter from the right. The Fool follows them at a distance unobserved. Ahriman seems very much downcast] [ 194 ] THE UNVEILING AHRIMAN I see small hope for me! ORMAZD And I see less! Hark you, henceforth, when men Look at the distant stars, or wonder what Existence is, they, then, will know that all That Nature is, is nothing but themselves In elements, containing everything In essence on one hand, in history The other ! We have shown Man what he is, Unveiled Nature as we said we would! AHRIMAN But can he read the Whole within its parts? Or see the part, himself, within the Whole? That is the question which confronts the world, And on its answer my existence hangs ! ORMAZD The Universe is for itself, but Man, Its favorite, is privileged to know The Whole by having it in him recorded As mind, and heart, and soul, Life, Love, Religion ! Self-consciousness, when truly understood. Is simply Nature organized, the whole Repeated in its units, that is all ! From Nebula to Nebula might be Accomplished, yet Mankind not be evolved; I 195 ] THE UNVEILING For Nature does not always do its best, That boon resulting when fortuitous Conditions favor it ! AHRIMAN Injustice makes [Pointing to himself] Perfection possible in Nature ! ORMAZD No! All Nature is arranged by super-purpose And is so constituted that Perfection Becomes the child of sacrifice; hence Nature Cannot create its greatest, best, Mankind, Except by making everything pay tribute; Evolving Man at the expense of all : For everything that ever was, since first The Solar System was begun, existed And stands to-day that Man might live, and have The whole of Nature centered in himself; So that he might extend his Art to all Of Nature when endowed with that true use Of force which makes atonement for The juggernaut of life, by realizing The end, Immortal Life here on the Earth! It is as if the Race had given all Its power to one man, a King, and bade Him exercise it for the common good, [196] THE UNVEILING And he would then be sovereign of the Race So that impartial justice would be done To all — a failure we have seen with men ! But in the case of Nature it will be Successful, for Humanity was born To be the guide of Nature, to actualize Its purpose, turning all its wasting energies Into the channels of economy; So all the sacrifice will be repaid By lifting everything up to the plane Of faultless living until the cycle ends ! AHRIMAN [Sadly. To himself. Weird music] *Twas said: God's Kingdom is within your midst. But with the world that day awry it looked A travesty of Truth ! Now with Mankind Enlightened — Ah ! — I will be laughed out of Existence! Ah! What can I do? [To Ormazd] But will Man see the Truth? ORMAZD Just as a tear portrays The hydrostatics of an ocean, so The individual contains all Nature, Not in a figure, but in fact and truth ! The two great forces of the world unite In making him a God, controlling Nature, [ 197 1 THE UNVEILING Directing all its powers to one end, A supplementing force by reason, Art, And bringing out of Chaos order; ending The plan of evolution in a life That fabled Heaven is a vision of ! Immortal Life, the Infinite, is Life; For all that ever was, or will be, finds Expression in the life of Man to-day When fully lived! 'Tis you who made him take A promise for this great reality ! Then all the questions that now vex the Race Will meet solution, for Humanity Will be a God directing Nature, Man Will understand the Scheme of Things entire, And be in record and quintessence, true Facsimile of All ! AHRIMAN You pain me much! You mean to say that all the dreams of Man Come true in fact, here on this Earth, instead Of Heav'n? That evolution has an end A Life Eternal, that you realize It in an instant by comprising All; And Time and Space are nothing ? ORMAZD You perceive, At least in part, the trend of things to-day ! [198] THE UNVEILING AHRIMAN But will Mankind see this unveiling now, Or force another cycle to ensue, Another Age of Darkness follow this? And Ignorance be deified again, As in the Age of Faith when Great Rome fell, Before enlightenment compels Mankind To see the meaning of the allegories Which constitute the world's philosophy? ORMAZD [Fool comes forward] Let's ask the Fool, if he knows what the world Is coming to, for after all, you know, His verdict is the one the Truth must gain ! [During the following speech the Fool is transformed into a rational man. The music, while weird, is beautiful. The lights shine brightly but un- naturally] F(X)L Instead of Nature taking all its atoms, Developing all equally, producing The highest form for all, it lets them take Their turn. It makes a process of the whole; Creates, within a Part, Itself; no matter The cost, the time required; and after aeons This replica is brought up to Mankind, [199I THE UNVEILING Which lives by force, and fraud, and fear, and favor Another aeon, who knows, perhaps another; Then follow aeons of improvement till The Individual, the Mind of Nature, Is born ! It seems that Nature sacrificed All else that individuality might be, But this is only true apparently ! What Nature could not do directly, Man Accomplishes for all through sacrifice, Real atonement, by directing all The force and energy to consummate The Plan of Things making the System find In Man what it would be, had God omnipotent Produced it by direct fiat at first ! ORMAZD [Triumphantly] He answers every question ! What think you ? AHRIMAN [Cunningly] We'll put his knowledge to a moral test ! [A dog comes out] Let's see which one can kick this brute the hardest ! FOOL [Intelligently] We ought to put into the life below Mankind as much of light as possible ! [Fondles dog] 'Tis sad to live and not to live by knowing ; [ 200 ] THE UNVEILING 'Tis sadder still to live and not to live One's self; subserve some petted line of life Or else oppose it, and have all the pain And struggle with no issue of success To look to in the future; be a brute, A failure first and last ! A train without A track ; a ship adrift at sea ! And have No chance of ever being set aright, Nature's By-product which shows us what we escaped By Fortune in the night of evolution! Good Sir, if such a fate does not arouse The feelings of Mankind, and make them give Their sympathy to all below them, then We have not reached enlightenment to-day But linger in the darkness which depicts The world a Hell now taught to be a life Beyond the grave ! ORMAZD [To Ahriman, who stands amazed] What think you now? AHRIMAN Ah! Ah! [Expressing feelings] This is the miracle, a Fool to think! ORMAZD We have redeemed our promise to Mankind! [201] THE UNVEILING AHRIMAN Humanity will never understand Its situation in the world ! One form Of Truth obstructs the other ! Enlightenment Is practically impossible ! ORMAZD Not so ! FOOL The two great allegories that confused The Race for centuries — the Fall of Man, And Man's Redemption through the Christ — are pictures Of what the Individual must suffer To reach the Everlasting Life on Earth ! Each one of us is Adam; each is Christ! At first we live in union with the Race, Then comes rebellion, ending in our fall ; And thus it is that Wrong is born ; that Fraud Is practiced as a Virtue, deemed essential; Oppression justified! Man's world becomes A world, usurping everything, that shames The world of Nature in its cruelty ! The Individual begins the struggle That typifies the conflict which the Race Has suffered in its mythic history ! One day there is developed in his heart The Power of Religion, which subdues [ 202 ] THE UNVEILING All else; he's crucified; is Christ! Atones The Fall; attains the Everlasting Life! Is one with God; and in his moment lives Eternal Life, true immortality! It is impossible for any Thing To live forever; but the Whole of Time And Space can be repeated in a moment ! Man's Immortality is realized This way on Earth through Klnowledge; for the Mind Is Nature's register of Life's career! The Body and the Universe are One In essence; we, comprising all there is. Are thus identical with Nature ! Besides, Each one of us Hves o'er the Race again ! 'Tis symboled in a thousand mysteries ! We picture it in myths and allegories ; In Gospels, Revelations, Scriptures, Truth! It is the theme, disgmsed, in all that Man Has writ of God ! The key that will unlock The history of the Race; the golden warp That runs through Life on which the web of Truth May be discovered in the finished cloth. Enabling man to reach divine perfection On Earth, the Purpose of the Universe, What else could Nature mean? ORMAZD What think you now? [203] THE UNVEILING AHRIMAN Think! Think! Ah! Ah! I only feel! Ah! Ah!— But yet I say that Man will bitterly Deny this Truth, will strew the stage of life With dead before he sees himself expressed In what he thinks is sacred history ! The very men who would be favored most Are they who will be guilty of the murder, The drama being nothing but your theme In action; so I say no day will come In which the Old Good will not crucify The New and glory in the persecution ! — ORMAZD Your main support is gone ! Where is the Fool ? AHRIMAN [Giving up the Fool\ My chief disciples are not sinners low. But masters in high places, this remember ! The sinner is the butt, the host, the scapegoat ! The men who do my work live honored lives ! I nlake them think they're serving God, or Man; And in a way they are, for Evil is The natural way to Good; but you wotdd have The Mind direct the world, eliminate All conflict from the Scheme of Things ! No ! No ! The Earth will never see the Good succeed Because 'tis Good; reward and punishment [204] THE UNVEILING Will top the morals of the world forever ! My reasoning has assured me, let come the worst ! ORMAZD But see! The Fool has been transformed! He leaves You as a Thing beneath his notice! Ha! FOOL Henceforth, with Nature's new directing pow'r. Mankind, the Earth will be reclaimed for all. And made entirely ours; then will ensue The Solar System's exploration; then The Universe at large ; and in the end The Whole will be as simple as the Part — For all that Nature does is to repeat ! AHRIMAN [Wildly rushing off the stage] The Fool is gone! My only hope's the Knave! Ah! Ah! [Weird music , darkness. The center of the stage is almost in complete darkness. Hardy is discovered being borne on an ambulance which is let down. A spot light shows his face, while about him, phantom-likey are doctors, nurses, men. Music weird and full of pain] [205] THE UNVEILING HARDY [Trying to lift his head] Why are you here? So many of you? To note the anguish on my face? To mark My pain? And if my cries your theories prove, It makes you happy ! Vultures of sad facts ! You talk among yourselves, stone-hearted men, Secretly glad it is not you ! Come, Sirs, Why not give me some purchased hope? Why not? If only lies ! For with your airs, I do Believe you could bluff Death himself through us Confiding mortals ! [Enter Ahriman. Weird music] AHRIMAN Ah, I see it now ! This culprit's pain revives my life ! The time Was when I seemed supreme, how great the change ! For then I thought myself as necessary As Life! But Time escaped, and with the dawn Of Reason Error fled, and Fear, and now I cling on to existence through the vice That's represented in this sinner! HARDY [To phantom shapes. Weird music] Speak ! Why are you silent? Come, what excuse that you [206] THE UNVEILING Give me no hope? [Phantoms turn] Do not desert me now ! Where is your science? Where the skill you killed A thousand men to learn ? You need another To make complete your study? Ah, what solace The fact for me to know that my demise Brings up the normal average of those Who die of my specific pain! Ah! Ah! [He laughs] Why do you laugh, you phantom monsters — ^Ah I Oh, that depressing pain ! That blow of Death I I'd rather have a dog to lick my hand Than all your boasted science, ignorance Misnamed! I will not die! I will to live! To reign! To rule! But when the pain increases I know it needs must be myself alone ! I have no friends, no hope, ah, I am nothing! AHRIMAN [Weird music] I would that I could help him live, but how? I have no sympathy for him, instead, Am happy in his ruin, so joy in tempting Mankind astray! Still, if he die, what then? What will become of me? I must arrange Some plan through which Mankind may live again This life; go back and struggle up once more [207] THE UNVEILING Through darkness and despair, so I may live And thrive ! I have it ! [Exit off right showing signs of happi- ness] HARDY I am accursed. I see It now ! The City light — the world beyond — O, God, I had youth then ! My life was yet To live! The great, great moment when you know Your life is all before you ! 'Tis behind Me now! I started down the open way— I see it now — as thoughtless as a fool ; And yet I made my choice ! The life of sin Was peopled with the ones I then admired; Those active men and idle women, bluffing At Fortune to disprove their way of living ! I followed step on step until I walked The plank of Failure — to amuse my friends ! Dropped in the deep oblivion — the sea Of Shame! Ah! What I suffered must have robbed Hell of its pain ! To know that you are blind Is nothing to the death of Hope ! Oh ! God ! To have Ambition pressed out of your life ! To feel, to know that you have been condemned, Not suited to the sphere you longed to fill — No fault of yours, but only that of Nature — You could not join yourself on to the life [208] THE UNVEILING That you desired! Perhaps, an age too soon, Or one a thousand years too late ! All Chance ! Ah, Life is in the heart and when it falters, Your body is a falling weight that seeks Submersion in the Earth to hide itself ! — But for the moment, I forgot my pain; Your standing there! You will not let me die? I will begin it all again; select Anew my lot in life, this time to act With judgment ! We experiment in living, Try in our dreams our work-a-day ambitions! I did not have a chance ! It was too easy ! Onbounding youth should pause as if Death cried : Hold! Hold! — I mutter to myself! Regret Of age is balanced by the faith of youth I God's scales can not be tampered with ! Unlike Mankind's makeshift God's justice is not errant; Weighs true our hearts, and thus, when we are old,— Gathered from Life's unnumbered instances — We know that God is all; that in the Plan Of things all Evil comes to nothing ! Ah ! [Enter Ahriman and Ormazd and the phantoms vanish. Weird music. Stage lightens somewhat] AHRIMAN He craves another chance! His cries touched me! 14 [ 209 ] THE UNVEILING ORMAZD Were we to grant it, would he live life better ? AHRIMAN Undoubtedly, else progress is a myth! ORMAZD When you begin to moralize I doubt! AHRIMAN Your grace is gain! Because you demonstrate Your own philosophy ! ORMAZD [Pondering] It lies with us To let him live again ! AHRIMAN My thumb is up ! ORMAZD His prayer is one that all Mankind should make ! [Weird music. The Gods stand as statues as in Act I] HARDY O, Gods, who came to me when I was young, Come now and make me young again; grant me My youth once more ! O, let me have another try [210] THE UNVEILING At living, have another chance at life ! 'Twas not my fault that Failure overtook My effort but the Chance that lives in Nature ! Life's not a struggle for existence, fame. Power, advancement, place on equal terms ! No ! No ! The element of Chance decides ! Will you not hearken to my cry ? Put Death Away; and give me youth again — It comes, That terror of the soul ! Death ! Death ! Death ! Death! [Weird music. An image of himself appears, ghostlike] Take me away from it, myself! Ah! Ah! [The form vanishes. The Gods appear again as living men and approach] O, hear, great Gods, come banish now this wolf Of pain that gnaws my heart away ! ORMAZD I yield! Thy prayer has met with favor, and to prove That Life develops with the ages, you Shall live once more; begin as at the first. And show Mankind, if life were lived again, That in each generation there is progress ! [Ormazd stands in front of Hardy and waves his arms over him. Weird music and gradually the light in- creases] THE UNVEILING AHRIMAN No matter what becomes of me! I thought, If I could tempt him to experiment [points to Ormazd] (God's vice), I'd get another lease of life At Man's expense! ORMAZD Your hoped request is granted, For dreams are many, life is one ! AHRIMAN Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! ORMAZD And you will see, while Life runs all Awry in Nature, that with Man it's principled Aright, and wins the goal by infinite Experiment! 'Tis done! [Ormazd stands aside and there is a burst of joyous music. Hardy is lying asleep, a young man as in the Act I] CURTAIN [212] ACTV 213 ACTV Scene I: The setting is the same as in Act 7, except the statues of the Gods are draped in pink and lavender hunting, the college colors. The music while weird has a note of gladness in it. The lights are unnatural. Hardy and Waring are discovered seated at the table. DAVIS [Outside knocking] Open the door ! Who ever saw the like ! [Knocking] WARING [Leaping to his feet] I do believe I've been asleep! Ha! Ha! HARDY [Apparently awakening and horrified. Weird music] Thank God ! A terrifying dream was torturing me. It seemed prophetic of my future life! WARING I am not superstitious ! Do not fear ! [Students outside knock violently] [215] THE UNVEILING HARDY [Opening the door] [Enter Davis, Brooks^ and students] Come in! WARING Welcome! But why knock down the door? DAVIS [Looking at them intently] You've been asleep ! BROOKS While on the watch ! Suppose The strikers had got in; broke down the statues, Our holiday would be denied, and all Our preparations spoiled through your neglect ! [Waring and Hardy do not understand, are mystified] DAVIS Show them the program ! Prexy will surpass Himself! The Skulls are out in force, will fire A cannon for the death of ev'ry ill Humanity is rid of through th' event We celebrate ! 'Tis something really great ! BROOKS And every one is licensed to disport Himself in truly oriental fashion ! [216] THE UNVEILING WARING [Weird music] What changed the plans ? BROOKS The strike! HARDY [Dumfounded] When did it happen] BROOKS Last night ! Did you not hear the disaffection ? The strike set things ablaze, the Skulls and all ! A meeting followed, resolutions, speeches — And all that rot ! Of course, a holiday Became inevitable ! What, at first, Concerned but one fraternity was soon Extended to the college, thence the town ! DAVIS As if to dare the strikers' interference. Why, we paraded streets and alleys all Night long ! BROOKS For we resent the statement made. If we unveil the statues of these Gods Bad luck will happen us ! Dull Ignorance I 217) THE UNVEILING May guard the Temple, but stark Superstition Cannot control the School! DAVIS The plan is this: Your speeches will precede extended ones From all the faculty, co-eds, and Skulls; So interspersed with songs to make us all Forget the grind of School! We've waived the rules. Thrown wide the doors of Freedom and invite The Eastern world to enter in the Western, The Past, To-Day, will thus observe the Future Through magnifying circumstances! WARING Good! BROOKS The first thing is the grand review; the next — We have no time to spare — you play the parts Of Ahriman and Ormazd — see ! We bring You gowns and crowns! Make haste! For here they are ! [Hardy dons the dress of Ahriman, Waring that of Ormazd. The college band begins to play. There is a touch of weirdness in the music. A great body of students march in headed by Dr. Romaine. The stu- dents are about equally divided as to [218] THE UNVEILING sex. The costumes are beautiful and picturesque. The rear of the procession is brought up by the Skulls led by the Fool. Miss Den- ham is dressed as the Grecian Goddess Artemis, Miss Selwyn as Athene. During the marching the students sing. Lights are beautiful but unnatural] STUDENTS All hail the union of The East and West, And let us mark the day With joy and rest ! Let down the bans and bars Of Faith and Hope, And find the Truth within The wider scope! Oh, sing the glad new song Of Freedom's day. And hail the end of Wrong For aye, and aye ! The world at last is one With peace on Earth ; No more the cry of Pain, But Joy and Mirth! [219I THE UNVEILING All hail the happy day, The fruit of years ! The birth of Right and Peace, The Death of Tears! All hail the wondrous work! All hail the way ! All hail the end of strife ! All hail to-day ! ROMAINE My Friends: The first to speak on this occasion Is one beloved by all ! STUDENTS Hawtry ! Hawtry ! HAWTRY Comrades : I little dreamed when we acquired These statues, now to be unveiled, th' event Would be so solemnized ! But then the world Moves on to upward heights ! While I may take Somewhat of this occasion to myself to-day, I must bestow an equal honor on my colleague Dr. Andrews! [Applause] Because from him we gained The learning which enables us to show The world that we are oriented, free, Seen in the rite that we now celebrate! Some day we hope to hail him President [ 220 ] THE UNVEILING Of these United States! [Applause] The scholar then Will come into his own, and thought and things Will be in that relation which the Truth Demands; and Life no more be marred by Ignor- ance! [Applause] STUDENTS Andrews ! Andrews ! ROMAINE He needs no introduction ! [Applause] ANDREWS My Friends : There is no rite in our great life That carries with it more profound concern, Is greater, than the marriage of true hearts! [Ap- plause by Skulls] It is because it symbolizes Nature ! A tmion found throughout the Universe, And yet unrecognized ! As love began In strife, passed on to courtship, then to Art; So of this higher marriage, but until To-day imseen I The death of Socrates, Think you, subserved no purpose than to stop His mouth ? Instead of that it brought the thought Of Greece into one system which led Man A score of centuries throughout the world, A fruitful marriage, was it not ? Most fniitful ! [221 1 THE UNVEILING Then Rome with men and arms o'erran the world, A marriage in its way, which we attain, Or will attain by Reason in the Future ! Sex runs throughout all Nature ; seen in plants, In elemental id, in animals — Not only that, for Life is also sexed As plants and animals with appetite To marry them ! Again the sex device Appears in tribes, confederations, states, In peoples, civilizations — all Mankind! Everywhere we find uniting forces Marry the sexual halves which were divided So that all forms might have a wider touch With Nature in the Struggle for Existence ! The severing of all these forms is caused By radiant force which when it reaches us Is mind that differentiates by Choice And not by Chance thus ending in Perfection ! The highest form of building force, Religion, Unites the static and dynamic halves Of Man so racial progress intervenes. At first, as now, by storm of force, crude War, The Devil's game, in which the Human Race Becomes its own worst enemy, unlike All other life, killing itself in blindness. Being avenger and avenged, and battling Until both sides succumb in death united! Religion thus perverted, as Love in lust, Consolidates the sundered halves of Man [ 222 ] THE UNVEILING In holocausts of blood, not through the light Of guiding Science, Life's true protective boon, Through which Religion will prompt Man to Peace, And not destruction, be Divinity's Supreme and full expression, not the Devil's What it becomes in War ! Evil is Good Directed ill ; while Good is Truth in action ! So when Religion is controlled by Science Humanity will make the Earth one nation With nothing to oppose it but the push And pull innate in Nature ! How different these Uni tings seem, and yet are one in essence ! In war 'tis loved and lover o'er again ! If nation be not guided then, the one As savage clubs its mate into submission; Thus Nature blindly strives from low to high ! Religion in uniting nations now Is madding force to motive frantic war, And not a greater love as when controlled By Truth! Think you that war to-day would not Be murder if some blind Divinity did not Approve it ? The world has never thought Religion Could breed a vice ! It could not see so deep ! As love is blind so is this greater love; But not content with being blind itself, It gouges out the eyes of all the world. Proclaims as perfect things belying it In part and whole, a fault we see in Pagan, Not in ourselves! If we could look at him, [223 1 THE UNVEILING As he at us, then we would see ourselves In him ! Blind eyes can only see through eyes Of others ! Grant Religion can become Perverted, then we see the Deity Makes no exception, but entrusts all Nature To us ; lets us work out perfection best We can; uniting peoples now by Reason, If possible, if not, by Fraud and Force, Putting Mankind upon a plane with Matter, The lowest form of combination ! We know This greater Love will some day bind the Race As one, in joy so great, in life so grand That lovers' bliss to it will be compared As starlight to the Sun, and cease to be The theme of books, the lilt of song, the bread Of Life, the breath of Art ; will stay at home With Self where it belongs by Nature ; for Religion then will flood the world with peace. Be giv'n the throne of Selfishness and Love ! The proper life of all, that perfect day. Will be Humanity! For one brief hour, we live; But in that time, we compass all of Nature, Eternity, are Infinite, at one With God! We meet to-day to solemnize A union, not the lower kind, nor yet The higher, but a union of the East And West, prefigured in these Gods, not Gods [224] THE UNVEILING As such, but what they symbolize! We do Not speak beyond the present scope of thought And well within the common trend of things, When we assert the eyes of men were made To see the world entirely ! If our minds Were free to think, the strife of union then Would be averted ! Thought is one ! The time Will come when thinking men will see the Truth Expressed in every stage of life the world Has seen from Savage dream up to Savant No matter how obscured and dark it be By figurative expression! FOOL Stop ! Hear me ! As I am licensed by the World to speak My mind (for anything can be expressed In jest), I want to tell you what this means: We all are wrong in what we think, and all Are right depending on the reader ! Now, My occupation is to try amuse The world to satisfaction, yet you'd do Away with my vocation ! ROMAINE Why, it does Not matter! [General laughter] IS [ 225 ] THE UNVEILING FOOL Let us see ! Were I to go Then who will feed the gaping crowd with nothing ? [Romaine waves the Fool away. Weird music] ROMAINE Let's to the marriage of the East and West ! The first to speak — STUDENTS Ormazd! Ormazd! Ormazd! WARING [In the character of Ormazd. Weird music] I am the light of day ! The mind in Nature ! The Heaven of the glorified ! I am The seed of Good! My name has many forms; And yet I am the same the wide world o'er ! At some place in the distant past, long years Before Mankind had grown to its full stature, Aspiring souls discovered me, and called Me Good, and as the world passed on from place To place, at last, a people was encountered Which could not speak my name, but called it God! And as it out its hope in Good, it prospered; [226] THE UNVEILING In time it covered all the world ! But that Is in the Future! ROMAINE The next to speak, Ahriman ! HARDY [In character of Ahriman. Weird music] Quite early in the life of Man, one day, A certain fellow, whom I will not name, Discovered Evil but misnamed it Devil; And so y-clept I came down through the ages! Near any one in this conceited day Could make a world without me, yet all Good Is in my debt ! I am the prop that Good Leans on ! The anvil of events I The sting To guide aright the errant ones I The shade Which blended with the light depicts the world! God runs through all ! I am the pain to point Where God is not ! This much in my defense ! My half the world makes no profession, show; Sincerest love is silent service ! The same Is true devotion! While scant homage comes To me, I serve the world by opposition ! ROMAINE The next, Athene with the Voice of Power Will speak! [227] THE UNVEILING MISS SELWYN [As Athene. Weird music] As Goddess of the Greeks, the world I pictured so that ages yet to come Could not outdo ! I brought philosophy Into the world; made Greece produce a life That's unsurpassed in glory e'en to-day — At what expense need not engage us now ! I taught great Alexander how to war, Spread Pagan life through Time and Space! Be- sides The world of Art would be unknown, likewise The function of right-living, but for me. Both now unjustly claimed by others ! I disdain All sentiment, achieve results, like Nature, Reckoning not the cost ! The superman Has been my aim ! In Alcibiades He lived, in Caesar and Napoleon ! He lives to-day in all who seek supremacy Of self, the busy brute who herds Mankind As sheep, and demonstrates what he can do When he usurps the pow'r that wastes itself In Nature and Society ! The cry That yet will set the world aright, is back To Greece, to Art, to thought, to life at any cost So that the strongest man may be supreme ! ROMAINE Artemis speak her message to the world ! r ooft 1 THE UNVEILING MISS DENHAM [As Artemis. Weird music] With the achievements counted, it wotdd seem That nothing else was left for me to do, Such Fate was not decreed; besides. Life's war Will justify some scheming for the Good! Howe'er, I will not prove that now; instead Will show the inmost secrets of my heart, And you can judge the pain it costs me when Love makes me close its door to ambush Love! Man's strife with Nature is continuous ! I am his faithful visitant in all His battles with concealed ills to-day As in the past ! 'Twas I who taught him how To spear the mastodon, and to discover The microscopic germ, an enemy More difficult to kill ! But greatest yet The Art to fight himself, to rid his heart Of instincts which he has outgrown entirely Impeding his development in stature To that high self which joins to other selves To make the highest self. Humanity ! This is the world-wide field of work for all — Self-subjugation through self-sacrifice! The symbols of Religion parable This fact behind the veil of allegory, Making the Individual a hero, Or God, who sacrifices self for all ! The Purpose of the world is such that Man, [229] THE UNVEILING The fruit of endless suffering, yet must lay His life upon the altar, and become With Christos one, one with Humanity Before the resurrection of the Life Religion gave to Man when in the Tribe Can come again, the Golden age of unity; And he redeem the Race from Selfishness; Complete the Process making it accomplish What Nature aimed at in the first design ! [Weird music. A bomb explodes out- side, followed by darkness. A cur- tain is dropped between entrance two and three, and the hangings in front are raised] Scene II: On the right is a loggia of a college building, on the left a part of a sorority house. The rest of the stage is dark. Lights appear in a room in the sorority house and Miss Denham and Hardy are discovered as in Act I. HARDY You've given me the secrets of your sex. And I'll betray you mine ! We thus support Each other in our plans enabling each To win, for Love like War discounts all means, O'er-leaps all principle to victory, Being a world apart from right and justice! You've told me from your woman's heart what flag [ 230 ] THE UNVEILING To raise, what folly preach, position take To force surrender unconditional ! For Love like War succeeds when disaffection Makes hopes and soldiers undecided in the face Of Opposition. You've traitored me success ! I'll tell you in the secret code the way To capture him, for Love like War, a great Tactician is and forces victories Through subterfuges, and not the open way; So listen to a general, not a saint ! [Laughs] Observe the world in action, not in speech; For words are traitors all the time, you'll learn, While actions when disguised the most speak true! Love's brother is Compassion, so when Love Comes not when called invoke his substitute ! The end's not love, but marriage; and when made One marriage is as happy as another No matter how 'tis made; life teaches this! For Love is Nature's trick enthralling us In living meshes, then deserting us ! Love is a poor companion when Want knocks Upon the door ! It is not sweet when mixed With htmger for the things that Love can't buy ! So call his willing brother to your aid By that dissimulation which your sex Is famous for, making yourself as dear And near to him through Sympathy as Love ! So then with voice, and eye and gesttire tie [231 ] I THE UNVEILING Feigned sorrows to his heart ; and when its strings Are full, he will not know its pain from Love ! MISS DENHAM I thank you very much, my best of friends ! HARDY And I thank you, my friend! Meantime, with Pride And Power harnassed to Love's car, I'll bid Her journey to the City of Ambition ! MISS DENHAM Remember not one word of Love and she will go ! [Weird music. Darkness. Lights appear in the loggia on the right. Dr. Andrews is lecturing to the students, Ahriman, and Ormazd. The characters are all as in Act I] ANDREWS Be not deceived! No matter what a Book May say God is, what follows after Death, Remember Nature cannot be gainsaid! It is the best and only sure expression Of what God is, and Man's relationship To Him ; and if undimmed by thought that men Exploit for pay; or hopes men entertain Through folly, it will speak its heart to all ! [232] THE UNVEILING FOOL *Tis blasphemy! WARING Silence ! Or out you go ! HARDY The world has listened to the Fool too long! WARING The Knave too much ! STUDENTS Then out they go ! [Weird music. The students rush the Fool and Ahriman off the stage. Darkness follows. There is a second explosion] Scene III : The curtain is raised between entrance two and three and the hangings as in Act I are lowered. When the lights come on, the first scene is taken up as if there had been no intermission except the noise of the bomb. The Skulls begin to yell outside. Enter the students with the strikers as prisoners. SKULLS [Outside] Eat 'em up ! Eat *em up ! Men of Blair! Men of Blair! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hturrahl Blair! Blair! Blair! [233I THE UNVEILING ROMAINE What does this mean ? BRINKMEYER [Leader of strikers] Why, we demand our rights! ROMAINE What rights? Speak out your grievance! BRINKMEYER Some one has said The bunting of the statues is not made By Union Labor! STRIKERS 'Tisso! FOOL A petty thing On which to base a strike ! BRINKMEYER Let me explain ! ROMAINE Pray, who are you? BRINKMEYER I am an agitator! FOOL His business ! [234I THE UNVEILING ROMAINE What! Do you make trouble? BRINKMEYER Yes; The world owes me a Uving, same as you ! FOOL You have no cause to strike, see, can't you read? This bunting has the union label on it! [Shows label] BRINKMEYER Let me tell you what Karl Marx says — DAVIS Karl Marx? FOOL The God of SociaHsts! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! BRINKMEYER Nay! Nay! He is the laborer's friend! Hear him! ROMAINE Proceed ! FOOL Be brief! HARDY And to the point ! [235] THE UNVEILING ROMAINE Proceed ! BRINKMEYER Men enter in relations, definite, And indispensable, thereby promoting Production for the general good. Unconsciously and independently; Relations corresponding to the growth Of natural production of the Race, Making material wealth substrate, base All superstructures of Mankind. Political, judicial, religious, ethic To correspond to certain forms of mind. The consciousness of Man does not determine Environment, instead environment Determines mind, all institutions, laws. At certain stages of development The forces of production fight its forms, And revolution follows. With a change Of economic base, the world is changed ! Such transformations come, not through the mind, But economic circumstances! DAVIS Does any one Know what he's saying? Speak! FOOL It's in my eye! [236I THE UNVEILING HAWTRY In simple language what he says is this : The bread and butter question settles all. The quality of human thought is made By human want! Instead of all that's good And great determining what life is, 'tis hunger That fixes what the world desires ! Again, Mankind has taken causes for effects ! *Tis not the stomach that controls but Mind ! FOOL Dutchy, you put the finger round the ring! HAWTRY It is not Class but Social Consciousness That should control Mankind; not conflict; but Cooperation is true Socialism ! Religion, and not Selfishness and Greed, Should motive it; then Justice as a flower Will fill the world with sweet perfume of joy. The way Humanity must use all Nature To reach the goal of Life Eternal here On Earth ! No cause can rise above its motive ! When men deny to Superstition the soul Of Good that makes it thrive to-day, Religion, And let Religion work its natural function On Earth instead of being supernatural ; Then Man will be directed by the Truth, Be motived by an energy suflBcient [237] THE UNVEILING To actualize the dream of Socialists; And Man will cease to be a child of Nature, Its only kindness careless cruelty, Accomplishing through pain the aim of Life, Which with intelligence can be attained Through joy, avoiding all the horrible In Nature, and become a child of God, The object of the whole creation ! ROMAINE That day The flow'rs of Life, the Good, the Beautiful, The True, will be the coin of Earth to buy Our livelihood and not the pots of Egypt ! I see no cause for disaffection ! BRINKMEYER We demand Our rights ! STRIKER See ! We get them ! This bunting's made By Union Labor; so 'tis you betrayed us! Let's cast him forth ! MEN Aye! Aye! [Men and students led hy Skulls rush Brinkmeyer off the stage. Weird music. The Fool stands at the entrance grimacing] [238] THE UNVEILING HAWTRY This is the vice of labor — to entrust Its leadership to agitators, instead Of men who have the cause at heart; and know When justice is presented fully now, 'Twill of itself win victory and peace; But using either force or fraud success Costs more than failure ! FOOL [Looking off] Up with him! Ha! Ha! [A third bomb explodes, weird music and darkness. A curtain between entrance two and three, descends; and the hangings rise disclosing a loggia of a college building on the right and a sorority house on the left] Scene IV: It is night and the stars can be seen. Weird dreamlike music. Waring enters as in Act I a romantic lover. He throws a small shot up at the window in the sorority house, and when it strikes the window a light appears, and when a second shot strikes the window Miss Selwyn opens the casement and looks out. WARING 'Tis I ! The stars of night bid lovers forth ! A call that Youth can't disobey ! So come ! [239] THE UNVEILING The words you spoke in spirit said that you Would let the wings of Fancy lead you forth, So now why not adventure while the stars Are marching to the dome? for ere you know The Dawn will drive Romance away, and make The world full of prosaic eyes ! Come ! Come ! MISS SELWYN You tempt me much against my will to try To brook Fate in compelling us to act Or not to act without deceiving us In thinking that we wish that which we do. And will is free after the action as It was before, no matter if in our regret, We prove it isn't ! You remember. Sir, I am a woman, easily diverted, Never directed! I admire your ruse. Which, being woman I cannot but see ! I should not listen, let alone appear To yield to your calamitous desire ! To tell you truly all, your only hope Lies in a curious conflict which exists Between my selves, impelling me to yield Or not to yield, both being victors ! Ah ! WARING You're kind and good! Forgive me will you not? I cannot speak my heart ! I seem to be The habitation of another self, [240] THE UNVEILING Which, in possessing me, has driven out Myself ! And what I say I would not say, And what I wish to speak dies on my lips ! This other self cries Life and Love ! It bids Me worship you ! It sees in you perfection ! All Nature superfined ! Nay, more than this ! — You are to me the end and aim of being ! MISS SELWYN Your language is so weird, you frighten me ! WARING Be not afraid! You are a flower, blown To look upon, and not to touch ! A soul Transcending all of womankind ! Unlike A queen, more like a goddess wonderful, Receiving love in worship from the world! MISS SELWYN 'Tis sweet to hear the music of your voice ! It touches delitescent chords within My heart I did not know existed ! Ah ! [Expresses feelings] *Tis sweet to be thus tempted! Oh, I bid You speak! WARING Come ! Will you not ? Near every child Seeks for the Beautiful, would pluck the Moon i6 [ 241 ] THE UNVEILING As if it were a flower petaled fair Against the broad black leaves of Night with stars On them as scattered fire-flies sleeping ! Oh ! It is innate in us to worship queens At any cost ! Aspire where Reason sees No hope! There is no bound to Love's desire — So blame me not ! You are beyond compare In all that men name when sublimity Demands expression ! Come ! Come ! Come ! Come ! MISS SELWYN [ Yielding. Weird music] Yes ! Yes ! But if I trust myself to you, Pray what assurance can I have that you The fabled lover will not be, e'en now, And carry me away! WARING My word! I pledge [She disappears at window] My honor, and I swear by Life and Love To bide your will ! [Light appears below] Delight divine enshrines me I Love! Love! Love! Love! [She opens the door and he madly takes her in his arms and kisses her savagely. She yields for a moment then repels him. Weird music] [242] IHE UNVEILING MISS SELWYN You vowed I should be safe, And yet you crush me to that deatli delightful, Which lovers crave, becoming one with some One else — [He attempts to re-embrace her] No! No! One such embrace doth quite SufiBce ! If this be Love, and Love it is, I've had enough to satisfy my heart For aye, and aye ! Were there another world, And it were fabled that by killing self 'Twould all be yours, what would you gain? A world, but suffer Death! 'Tis so of Love! I thank you for this touch of Love — Ah ! Ah ! — [Remembering the sweetness of the kisses] And some day when it is forgotten, come To me [cruelly] we will be friends, and live the life That now must be denied! [Goes in. Weird music] WARING [Wildly, understanding the kind of woman she is at last] You murder Level 0,God! Ah! Ah! [Rushes away like a mad man] I 243] THE UNVEILING MISS SELWYN [At the window above. Douhtingly. ' Weird music] Love is not all of Life ! [Darkness. The stage lightens slightly in front. Ahriman and Ormazd are seen as in Act I. Weird music] AHRIMAN No matter what Mankind experiences, It teaches little to the coming race ! Each life is like a dream that comes and goes Forgotten soon as past ! Love's admonitions, If possible, are truly more absurd ! Instead of heeding them, the surest dupe Of Love is its most frequent victim ! ORMAZD Nay! Because the world learns slowly, you would have It not at all, make progress all a myth ! To him who gets the general view of things Improvement stands out fully, 'tis the Truth ! To specialists, [Pointing to Ahriman] 'tis different! Ha! Ha! [Exeunt off right. Weird music. Light appears in the loggia. It is a meeting of the Trustees of Blair University trying Dr. Andrews for [244I THE UNVEILING heresy. The Fool and Ahriman are witnesses] ROMAINE [To Ahriman and Fool] 'Twill never do to advertise what we Oppose ! *Tis safer far to flatter it ! Belief will multiply a hundredfold Gardened in toleration, while, if periled In open fight, 'twould be exterminated! We learn as we go on ! [To Andrews] And while we do Not sanction your progressive thought as spoken, We are too honest. Sir, to blame you for it ! Instead we dignify you with a title — [Attempts to put emblem of a degree on him] FOOL No! No! AHRIMAN [To Fool] The silken bonds of place restrict More than the chains of prison, for they bind The mind from all expression ! ORMAZD FOOL I'd rather see him suffer! [245] True! Quite true! THE UNVEILING AHRIMAN Suffer? Ha! The sorrow of not thinking far exceeds The hopeless pain of lack of recognition; For Genius is so much a part of all Humanity 'tis satisfied to know That future men will honor it though it Be dead a thousand years! Do not protest! But let them load him down with honors; chains That bind the heart and soul ! ROMAINE [To Andrews] Good Sir, instead Of punishment, we now confer on you The high degree of — ANDREWS Hold ! First let me speak ! Gentlemen : I decline your gift ! I prize My freedom far above your fictive honors, And tender you my resignation instead! AHRIMAN [To Fool] Cry blasphemy! The world! [246] ORMAZD This man will some day rule THE UNVEILING AHRIMAN That's what I fear ! [ To Fool] This is no place For us ! [Exeunt right. Weird music] ROMAINE [To Andrews] Stay ! This will never do ! Hark you, [To Trustees] To have it said that such a man resigned Would ruin us ! Give us a moment, Sir ! [Consults with the Trustees. Weird music] ORMAZD [To Andrews] A wise commander does not scrutinize Too closely all conditions of surrender, Sufficeth it, his cause succeeds ! ROMAINE Good Sir: You keep your chair upon your own conditions; For all we ask for is efficiency; Believe what e'er you will on any subject! ANDREWS [Consulting Ormazd] A moment. Sirs! [247I THE UNVEILING ROMAINE [To Trustees] No college can dictate What teachers think to-day ! ANDREWS I will forget The past ; retain my chair in perfect freedom ! Aye! Aye! TRUSTEES ORMAZD The world evolves ! [Another bomb explodes. Weird music and darkness] Scene V: The curtain rises and shows the stage as at the end of the third scene, which goes on as if there had been no intermission except the expulsion of the strikers. The students on the outside, led by the Fool and Skulls, march in singing, and everything goes on as a part of the original program of the unveiling. STUDENTS We come, we go, as years go by But Alma Mater stays; Both old and young exult in her And ever sing her praise! [248] THE UNVEILING The world gives us a thousand things; We're scattered far apart; But Ahna Mater, our true love Reigns always in our heart! So when this life is slow and dull, And every day is long; Our troubles fly, if we but sing Her merits in our song ! Dear Alma Mater, warp of life That's woven in Time's loom, Receive our loves, our lives, our all Until the day of Doom ! [Applause and great demonstration] ANDREWS My Friends: At last we've reached the day in life In which the Race is looked at as a whole, And Man its child ! The Solar System is A process, which, beginning with the atom. Unorganized, dispersed, in space, develops That world within a world which is our life ! We understand just what things are to-day Because the primal world repeats itself In us, age in and out, until it mirrors The whole; while we in repetition make The Race, the master process of the world ! Let us not war about our words through lack [249I THE UNVEILING Of thought. The mechanistic theory- Does not preclude the spiritual, — no more Than does Idealism, the Real ! Both forms Of thought express the self-same facts in Nature, Looked at from different points of view! To-day When we unveil these statues, showing all The world-wide trend of thought, we do not pledge Ourselves to any view that will preclude The Truth no matter how it be expressed; Because we only wish to show that now At last, we know what Nature is in fact; And purpose that henceforth, we will direct Its efforts ! Every stage of mind has spoken But now the facts will be allowed to speak; And what was said in symbol through a veil Will be expressed in scientific language; And what was magnified in allegory Will be expressed in simple facts ; and God Will speak to Man through Knowledge, not through Faith! The dreams will go, but in their place the Truth Will stand, a wider view, a higher Life ! The hoped-for joys of Heav'n will yet be found On Earth, the Everlasting Life of prophecy ! FOOL We've had enough of this ! 'Tis like a prize Convention where each man admires himself As seen in others, and, does not perceive [ 250 ] THE UNVEILING He's talking to a mirror ! Let's unveil The statues now, or else devise a drama Worthy our Alma Mater! ROMAINE KUMAlJNli Pause! You must Forget the purpose of this great occasion ! FOOL What signifies occasion? Nothing, Sire! Nothing ! The minister announced a sermon, A thousand feelings and ideas took The opportunity of exercise, Excluding sermon, minister, and Church ! The same is true of everything extant ! D'you think, most Reverend Sir, we care at all For this Unveiling ? Each fellow has a pair Of eyes he's looking for ! Of course, you Profs. Are thinking of your vanities, the Gods And Goddesses, well, I can guess their thought, They being in the image of Mankind, But greater, add brag to what they think! For me. Let's stop this talk, get down to business — May I suggest — STUDENTS Go on! I 251) THE UNVEILING FOOL How would a marriage Between Artemis and Ahriman strike you? Likewise between Ormazd and Athene? [Weird music. Great applause and demonstration. The procession forms as in the ceremony at the end of Act II\ STUDENTS ROMAINE As we are here to celebrate the Gods I see no impropriety in this ! HARDY [Struggling with himself] No ! — I — protest ! — WARING And I protest! FOOL And I Insist ! Would you prevent a view of Life ? HARDY I've had enough! [252] Hurrah ! THE UNVEILING FOOL Let's put it to a vote ! ShaU we? STUDENTS Aye! Aye! FOOL There is no turning back ! HARDY It cannot be ! Let us unveil the statues ! FOOL This is a part of it ! Proceed ! HARDY [Screams wildly. Weird music] No! No! FOOL [Lights as in picture marriage] Let everyone take part! [He arranges them] Form two and two We'll have a wedding kings and queens cannot Surpass! [Weird music turns to a wedding march. Dr. Romaine comes down and joins the hands of Hardy and Miss Selwyn, Waring and Miss Denham] [2531 THE UNVEILING ROMAINE [To Hardy] Do you espouse this woman as Your wedded wife? HARDY [Screaming horribly] Ah! Ah! [Falls to the floor. Darkness. Weird music swells out and there seems a flitting of time] Scene VI: When the lights come on, the stage is as it was in Act /, showing the empty pedestals of the Gods. Waring is seated at the table asleep. The Gods appear. HARDY [Lying on the floor] Ah! Ah! [// is dark about Hardy and Waring. Ahriman and Ormazd glide towards their pedestals. Weird music. As the stage lightens the Gods seem to hesitate what to do. Hardy is struggling on the floor] No! No! It cannot be ! My former life ! No ! No ! [He struggles to his feet, but seems not to realize the situation. It is still [254] THE UNVEILING dark about Waring and Hardy. A s Hardy comes to himself, Ahriman and Ormazd take their places on the pedestals as marble statues. Lights come on naturally. Waring and Hardy are dressed in modern citi- zen's clothing. Weird music stops. Waring lifts his head as if from a pleasant sleep. When Hardy fully awakes, and sees how it all is he bursts out laughing at first rather hysterically, then joyously] Ha ! Ha ! 'Tis all a dream ! Ha ! Ha ! [Waring looks up surprised. Hardy's laugh turns to one of extreme joy] 'Tis all A dream! Ha! Ha! [Outside, the students can be heard departing as in Act I before the curtain rises. Hardy in the center of the stage as if realizing it all] A dream! CURTAIN [255 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY BERKELEY THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW ■Ronks not returned on time are subject to a fine of 50c per volume a^'er the third day overdue, increasing fn