The neighbours

Gale, Zona

The neighbours

A play by
ZONA GALE

The

NEIGHBOURS

NEW YORK: B. W. HUEBSCH, INC

.

c

THE NEIGHBOURS

:: ZONA GALE ::

RA50S

New York B. W. HUEBSCH, INC. Mcmxxi

COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY
B. W. HUEBSCH

First printing as a separate volume
February, 1920

Second printing as a separate volume
January, 1921

P5

35/3
A3I4A/U.

PRINTED IN U. S. A*

THE NEIGHBOURS
BY ZONA GALE

THE NEIGHBOURS

may be performed under the following
conditions:

The royalty on THE NEIGHBOURS
is Ten Dollars for every perfor-
mance to which admissionis asked ;
or Five Dollars when there is no
admission.

RURAL ROYALTY

For rural communities the offer is
made to permit the play to be given
without royalty on condition that
some group or person plant in the
community a roadside fruit tree; or
else contribute in some definite way
to community consciousness and
and community development.

The royalty is payable to either the
publisher or the author.

PERSONS OF THE PLAY

GRANDMA INEZ

Mis' DIANTHA ABEL Mis' ELMIRA MORAN

EZRA WILLIAMS Mis' TROT

PETER Mis' CARRY ELLSWORTH

THE NEIGHBOURS

A kitchen. At the right an ironing-board, with
full clothes-basket on the -floor. At the back
an open door, an open window with blooming
plants on its outside sill, and a wide cupboard
with a figured calico curtain before it. At the
left an exit into a shed. A wooden bottomed
rocker with high back and calico cushion, some
wooden bottomed straight chairs, a table cov-
ered with a red cloth and ranged with four or
five lamps, and at the corner farthest from the
ironing-board, clothes-bars spread with a few
freshly-ironed pieces.

By the window, left back, sits GRANDMA who
does not leave her chair throughout the play
until its end. She is very old. She is in
bright-coloured calico, with ribbons on her
black cap. She is cutting and winding white
and black carpet rags, and a basket of the balls
is beside her on the floor.

Mis' DIANTHA ABEL is ironing at the board. She
has on a blue calico gown, a long gingham
5

6 WISCONSIN PLAYS

apron, spectacles, and a black hat trimmed with
faded flowers and a dilapidated ostrich feather.
She irons slowly, as anybody would iron, tests
her flat-iron, starts for the shed to renew it at
the stove out there.

GRANDMA

[Looking up.] Seems to me Inez is a terrible
long time gettin' that starch.

MIS' ABEL

I wish she'd hurry herself back. I ain't got
enough starch to do the collars.

GRANDMA

I'll cold-starch 'em for you, if you want.

MIS* ABEL

No, Grandma, you jest set still and take care
o' yourself. Don't you go botherin' about other
f oiks' s work.

GRANDMA

I'm terrible tired cutting up carpet rags.
[Mis' ABEL disappears in the shed. GRANDMA,
sorting her rags, talks on, raising her voice to
follow Mis' ABEL.] 'Tain't as though they was
goin' to be rugs. We got rag rugs all over the

THE NEIGHBOURS 7

house now. So has everybody else we know.
Everybody's floors is plastered with 'em. I been
cuttin' rags ever since I came an' doin' nothin'
. . . [Mis' ABEL returns with her fresh iron,
testing it as she comes] . . . but cuttin' rags.
Seems like I'd ought to be able to make somethin'
else with my fingers. Somethin' human. Where
you goin', Dianthy*?

I'm a-goin' to get this ironin' out of the way,
short off. That is, I am if Inez ever gets back
from Mis' Ellsworth's with that cup o' starch.

GRANDMA

What you got your hat on for4?

MIS' ABEL

So's if anybody runs in they won't set half
the day, henderin' me. They'll think I'm goin'
off.

GRANDMA

I know. The neighbours do hender terrible.
[A pause.] Sometimes, though, I think it must
be kind o' nice to have somethin' to be hendered
at.

8 WISCONSIN PLAYS

MIS' ABEL

[Ironing — but not fast.} I always say morn-
in's is wove and cut out for hard work. I don't
want Mis' Moran or somebody comin' in an' set-
tin' the whole forenoon. This ironin's got to be
got out of the way this mornin', no matter what
happens to who.

[Her iron sticks^ and she rubs it vigorously
on the carpet.

GRANDMA

[Who has dropped her work and is reaching
to pick dead leaves off the plants in the window.'}
I don't seem to have no go in me no more. I
don't know what's come over me. I ain't no
more interested in them carpet rags than I am
in the dipthery.

[EZRA WILLIAMS appears at the open win-
dow. He is large and -flushed and furi-
ous.

EZRA
Mis' Abel! Mis' Abel!

MIS' ABEL

[Looks at him, then turns and goes on ironing, ,]
Well, Ezra, as a family, we ain't deef.

THE NEIGHBOURS 9

EZRA

Is this you f oiks' s wood out here?

MIS' ABEL

[Over shoulder.] Wood?

EZRA

I want to know if you folks ordered any cord
wood?

MIS' ABEL

No. We didn't order no wood.

EZRA

Well, they've brought you some. Only
they've unpiled it in front of my door on the
piece that's new-seeded and that I've tended like
a baby.

MIS' ABEL

Ezra, you're that reasonable that I s'pose it's
reasonin' that keeps you so calm. That wood
never heard of us.

EZRA
You sure?

MIS' ABEL

Not as sure as you are about things. You
don't often find folks as sure as that. But —
sure.

10 WISCONSIN PLAYS

EZRA

Well, it's somebody's fool wood, an' I've got
to go an' find the fool that ordered it up — [He
strides off, still talking.] Whoever heard o'
anybody gettin' cord wood in, anyhow, in the
middle o' the summer?

[GRANDMA, who has stopped picking off
dead leaves and has listened attentively
during his stay, looks after him till he
disappears; then she turns.

GRANDMA

What did he say?

MIS' ABEL

Did he talk too soft for you, Grandma?

GRANDMA

He was so mad I couldn't keep my mind on
what he was saying.

MIS' ABEL

Oh, well, he was just talkin' to hear himself
talk. About some cord wood.

GRANDMA

It don't seem as if anybody could be so inter-
ested in cord wood.

THE NEIGHBOURS u

MIS' ABEL

They ain't no thin' in the world for Ezra but
just Ezra. Nothin' in the world for him but
just — him.

GRANDMA

[Looking off.} Don't you s'pose there is? It
don't seem like they's enough to anybody to oc-
cupy 'em the whole time.

[Up to the open door comes PETER. He is
tall, awkward, grave; long, uncovered
wrists, heavy, falling hands; but he has
an occasional wide, pleasant, shy smile.

PETER
[On the porch.] Good morning, Mis' Abel.

MIS' ABEL

Oh, good morning, Peter. I just happen to
be ironin' a flat-piece, so I don't have to put my
mind on it. I'm goin' to do the collars next
[pointedly], and they take thought. What's
wanted?

PETER

[Shuffling, turning his hat.] Any groceries
this morning, Mis' Abel?

12 WISCONSIN PLAYS

MIS' ABEL

Groceries?

PETER

[Nods and enters, ,] I've started takin5 orders
for Ferguson.

MIS' ABEL

Well, I'm glad to hear that. When do you
start?

PETER

To-day.

MIS' ABEL

Does many order to the door?

PETER

I dunno. I've just started. I'm just startin'.
Now.

MIS' ABEL

[Rubbing her iron on the carpet.] I ain't
doin' no orderin' to-day. We've got to eat up
what we've got. Unless you want to bring me
fif cents worth o' granulated sugar. You might
do that. Get up there and get me that basket
of odds an' ends on the top of the cupboard.
Seems to me I see a piece o' beeswax up there.

THE NEIGHBOURS 13

PETER

[Finishes writing down the order for sugar and
brings a chair from near GRANDMA'S chair. .] I
thought I'd just stop in an' see. You don't think
she — [he stumbles over the chair he is carrying}
— she wouldn't want anything this morning,
would she, Mis' Abel?

MIS' ABEL

Who's she*? Who you talking about?

PETER

Why, Inez.

MIS' ABEL

I thought it was Inez. Why didn't you say
so in the first place? I hate di-plomacy in man
or beast.

PETER

[ Who has not quite reached the cupboard with
the chair, sets it down and turns abruptly, .]
Well, then, I'll say it now. Mis' Abel ! Why
don't she treat me right?

MIS' ABEL

Treat you right? [PETER, his momentary
courage going, takes the chair on over to the cup-

14 WISCONSIN PLAYS

board, turns , nods mutely. ,] Why, I don't see
how she can. Near as I can make out, you never
open your head when you're with her.

PETER

[Climbing on chair.] It's funny about me,
Mis' Abel. [From the chair.] Honest, I dunno
what to do about me, sometimes.

MIS' ABEL
Well, stop thinkin' about you so much.

PETER

[Spreading out his hands.] I do try to. But
when I try to think how to stop myself thinking
about myself, there's myself thinkin' about me.

MIS' ABEL

Think about somethin' else, then! Get me
down that basket. You can stand and talk to
me all day. I don't see why you can't talk to her.

PETER

[Reaching for basket.} I could talk all right
enough. But my tongue won't. I could — but
my tongue, it won't. [Turns with the basket.}
Why, some girls I know I can jolly like the dick-

THE NEIGHBOURS 15

ens. But Inez — when she comes along, Mis'
Abel, I can't remember anything I know. [Has
down the basket and turns with it in his hands. ~\
History now — I know a real lot of history. And
about birds and things. I'd like to talk with her
about them. But last week, when I took her to
the picnic, I couldn't think out any of 'em to say
no more'n a hen.

[He makes a large gesture with the basket
at a perilous angle.

MIS' ABEL

[With a quick movement to catch the basket.}
Well, don't ask me to tell you how to court.
Men that don't know history from a coach-and-
four can court successful. [Hunting for bees-
wax in the basket.} But you can't expect Inez
to know whether she likes you or not if you sit
like a block. Say something — do something, so's
she'll know you're alive.

PETER

[Despondently, as he climbs down.] I know
it. I ain't much. An' what little I am don't
show through somehow. [He drags the chair
back to its place beside GRANDMA in Mis' ABEL'S
assenting silence. Sets the chair down with a

16 WISCONSIN PLAYS

bang.] Honest, Mis' Abel, I wouldn't care much

what happened to me.

[GRANDMA looks up at him, and drops a
ball of carpet rags. PETER picks it up
and it unrolls away from him toward the
door. GRANDMA suddenly laughs out, an
old woman's laugh, shrill, but not un-
kindly.

PETER
[Miserably.] I guess I am a joke.

GRANDMA

Joke nothin'. You're a human. You're a
human an' you don't know it. I see a-many in
my day.

MIS' ABEL

[Waxing her iron.] Well, a body needn't be
a fool if they are human. My goodness, if Inez
don't get here with that starch —

[INEZ comes up on the porch. She is slight,
and very girlish. She wears a straight,
dull reddish gown. She is hatless and ex-
cited.

INEZ

[With marked and slightly ironical sweetness
to PETER, who is almost at the door.] So sorry

THE NEIGHBOURS 17

to have missed you, Peter. Good-bye, then.
Mother ! Guess !

MIS' ABEL
[Ironing.] Guess what? I'm too busy.

INEZ

Well, but listen. It's important. It's aw-
ful-
Mis' ABEL

[Pausing^ iron in hand, and looking over her
shoulder.'} Well, out with it. What is it*?
What you making such a fuss about it for?

INEZ

It's Mis' Ellsworth's sister. She's died out
West. And they're sending her little boy out
here to Mis' Ellsworth.

MIS' ABEL

[Setting down her iron.} My land a living!
Carry Ellsworth with a boy on top of everything
else!

INEZ

I know it. She just heard last night. And
she's home trying to think what to do.

i8 WISCONSIN PLAYS

MIS* ABEL

When's he going to get here?

X

INEZ

To-night. To-night on the 7 158.

MIS' ABEL

[Pushing her hair back and taking her hat with
it.} Ain't that just the end of everything?

INEZ
And her with nobody to do a thing for her.

PETER

[Who has dropped the ball again at sight of
INEZ, has been making more and more of a tan-
gle of the carpet rags ever since she entered.}
They couldn't anybody do anything, could they?

INEZ

Well, of course they could ! There'll be things
for everybody to do that knows her.

[PETER comes toward her, his tangle of car-
pet rags following him. He and INEZ
talk apart, he awkward and mostly mute,
she evidently mocking him as they try to
disentangle the rags.

THE NEIGHBOURS 19

MIS' ABEL

[Has walked over toward GRANDMA and
stands, one arm akimbo. ,] Did you understand,
Grandma, Carry Ellsworth's sister's boy is com-
ing to live with her.

[ With disapproving emphasis.

GRANDMA

Boy*? A little boy?

MIS' ABEL

Yes, sir. To-night. Comin' to-night on the

7:58.

GRANDMA

[Placidly.] Ain't that nice?

MIS' ABEL

Nice? And her all alone in the world?

GRANDMA

Yes. Him comin' and her all alone. She
won't be alone no more. I wish't I was younger
and could do for one.

MIS' ABEL

My land, I should think you've had enough to
do for. I guess you never had no peace till you

20 WISCONSIN PLAYS

come into our family that you didn't begin by
belongin' to.

GRANDMA

[Bursting out.} Peace! That's it. Now
I've got peace. Peace an' carpet rags.

[When they are not looking she gives a big
white ball of carpet rags a vicious throw
through the shed door.

MIS' ABEL

[Harking back.} Nice. You think it's nice.
Why, Carry Ellsworth won't know what to
do with a boy no more than nothing in this
world. I dunno what she is goin' to do to dress
him.

INEZ

[Turning with the properly wound ball.}
We'll have to think of somebody that'll have some
cast-off clothes.

MIS' ABEL

[Impatiently.} Boy's duds makes awful good
weather strips. Before we got the upstairs plas-
tered I use' to wish I'd had a boy or two. It's
goin' to be an awful nuisance, doin' for him.

THE NEIGHBOURS 21

There's some of your pa's clothes she might use.
I dunno's it'll need clothes first pop, though. But
they's everything to think of —

[PETER starts forward, his face bright with
what he means to try to say.

PETER

Oh, Inez. . . . That is, oh, Mis' Abel. I'm a
boy. I mean I was a boy. I mean I've got some
trousers — and a coat — and another coat. Shall I
get 'em1?

MIS' ABEL

What do you mean — something to cut over?
Well, get 'em, of course. What you standing
there for? Get 'em and bring 'em here. Inez,
you run over an' ask Mis' Trot to come in for a
minute. Mind you say a minute -, or she'll set the
whole forenoon.

PETER

[At the door.] Are you comin' now, Inez? I
— I go that way too.

INEZ

[Airily.'] Oh, don't you wait for me, Peter.
I've got some things to see to.

[Exit PETER, looking at her dumbly.

22 WISCONSIN PLAYS

INEZ

Mother, hasn't Peter got any lungs?

MIS' ABEL
Lungs?

INEZ

Or maybe it's brains. He looks nice enough —
he looks real nice. But he acts as if he didn't
have good sense when it comes to talkin'.

MIS' ABEL

Your pa was the same way.

INEZ
[Indignant. ] Father?

MIS' ABEL

Certainly. After we was married, whenever
he begun actin' like he knew it all, an' like I
wasn't no thin' but the fly-leaf o' things, I used
to remember how perfectly simple he did use' to
act when I first knew him — when he was first
makin' up. An' many's the time I've just laughed
to myself, and gone and done like he told me to,
sheer through rememberin' how simple and scairt
and green he did use to act.

THE NEIGHBOURS 23

INEZ

[Softly.] Father? Father!

MIS' ABEL

Him. Now run for Mis' Trot and don't be
lettin' me let my spare room pillow shams dry.

I guess I'll carry this one in here out o' the
dirt.

[Exit with sham.

GRANDMA

Daniel was like that too. He done things reg-
ular greenhorn. I remember the day we was en-
gaged, he almost made such a botch of it I didn't
know what he meant. He busts out and says,

II Will you?" an' I thought he meant would I go
to the huskin' bee and I said, "Yes." When I
see my mistake — well, I let it go at that. I see
what hard work he was makin' of it.

INEZ

That was old uncle Daniel, wasn't it? I re-
member him. He was awful old.

GRANDMA

Well, but I bet he was consider'ble more up to
snuff than your young popinjays is now!

24 WISCONSIN PLAYS

INEZ

[Hastily.] Oh, yes. Oh, I know- [She
retreats to the door and is met on the threshold
by Mis' ELMIRA MORAN.] Oh, good morning,
Mis' Moran. Come in. Mother' 11 be back in a
minute. Sit down.

[Exit.

MIS' MORAN

[Stout, sixty, gets about with difficulty. She
has a scarf wound many times about her head, but
no shawl. Unwinds scarf deliberately and sinks
in rocker as she speaks.] I dunno as I can. My
leg is so bad I can hardly hobble. And my left
shoulder don't get no better. Nor my head — it
don't act right. I dunno but my time is come and
my grave is diggin' around the next comer. I
feel that way. I told Jake so.

[Enter Mis' ABEL.

MIS' ABEL

Good mornin', Mis' Moran. Ain't it just per-
fectly dreadful about —

MIS' MORAN

Dreadful ! I dunno what I am goin' to do if
it keeps up. I was just say in', I said so to Jake

THE NEIGHBOURS 25

only this mornin'. I says, "Jake," I says, "I'm
gettin' so that I'm su'prised whenever I wake up
alive. Whenever I do it," I says, "it's like every
blessed mornin' of my life was a genu-ine resur-
rection for me. I feel it."

What you talkin' about*?

MIS' MORAN

If that ain't just like Jake's treatment of me.
Right while I was talkin' to him, Jake asked me if
I'd remembered to set the pancakes. Said he
didn't hear me do it.

MIS' ABEL
Well, but land, land — what's that got to do —

MIS' MORAN

I'd been goin' to tell him about my back, but
I hadn't the heart. I just laid and cried. Mis'
Abel, my back's been behavin' so queer, I can
hardly move it. Why, the last few days —

[Positively.} Just you put your finger on the

26 WISCONSIN PLAYS

place, Elmiry Moran, till I tell you the news.
Carry Ellsworth's got a baby.

MIS' MORAN

[Sits bolt upright suddenly and with ease.] A
what?

MIS' ABEL

Yes, sir. It ain't here yet. It's due to-night.

MIS' MORAN

[Rises, steps toward Mis' ABEL easily and
eagerly.] What under the sun do you mean,
Dianthy Abel? Carry Ellsworth's goin' to have
a baby . . .

MIS' ABEL

To-night. On the 7 : j8. Her sister's that died
out West. At least the boy's alive and they're
sending him to her.

MIS' MORAN

[Limps slowly back to her chair.] You'd
ought not to give me them turns, Dianthy. The
doctor says I mustn't forget for a single minute
the condition I'm in. How old is he*?

MIS' ABEL
Well, let me see. . . .

THE NEIGHBOURS 27

[INEZ appears in doorway with Mis' TROT.
Mis' TROT is little and "wiry" and active
and alert. She comes in with a collar in
one hand and a brooch in the other.

INEZ

Here's Mis' Trot, Mother.

MIS' TROT

Well, did you ever hear anything like it, ever?
Carry Ellsworth, of all the folks under the canopy,

MIS' ABEL
That's just exactly what I said.

INEZ

[Going to table where lamps are ranged and
beginning to clean them.} How much does she
get a month now?

MIS' TROT

[At the mirror over the shelf, putting on her
collar, speaks with the brooch between her lips.']
Why, she only gets her eight dollars a month pen-
sion from her husband's leg.

28 WISCONSIN PLAYS

MIS' ABEL

And then of course whatever she earns substi-
tutin' clerkin', when clerks are sick.

MIS' MORAN

But barrin' Christmas week I don't believe that
amounts to shucks for pay.

MIS' TROT

[Drawing up as a matter of course to help INEZ
with the lamp chimneys.] It struck me all of a
heap. An' we'd just found a buffalo bug in the
parlour carpet. Yes, sir. A buffalo bug. In my
parlour. I tried to step on it — but you know how
they are. No corpse to 'em whatever. I couldn't
tell whether I hit it or not — and they always run
like horses. I've come right off an' left him there,
if he is there. I wouldn't of done such a thing,
but, thinks I, what's Carry Ellsworth goin' to do ?
How old's this child4?

MIS' ABEL

That's what we was figurin' when you come in.
Now, Lucretia Ellsworth was married the year
we moved out of the Kane house — no, that was
Elmira, wasn't it? I guess Lucretia wasn't mar-
ried till the next year. We was livin' in the
Mitchell house.

THE NEIGHBOURS 29

MIS' MORAN

I thought you lived in the Mitchell house be-
fore you lived in the Kane4? Wasn't you livin'
in the Mitchell house when our barn burned*?

MIS' TROT

N — o. [That "peculiar, long-drawn "no" with
a sound of d in the n.] You wasn't. Why — [to
Mis' MORAN] — your barn never burned till the
winter I was livin' alone. I remember wakin' up
alone in the house and seein' the glare.

MIS' ABEL

I know we was livin' in the Mitchell house when
Lucretia was married because I remember runnin'
acrost home for more spoons durin' the ceremony.
I know I missed my cry altogether, 'count o' not
gettin' back till the congratulations. I'd hid my
spoons in the spare room closet and I come over
after 'em, all hurried and rattled an' dressed up
and I could not remember where I'd put them.
Let's see that was six — seven — eight —

MIS' MORAN

Oh, that wasn't more'n seven years ago this
summer. Because we bought out the Sparks
grocery most eight years ago, an' I remember

30 WISCONSIN PLAYS

sellin' Hackett Ellsworth the five pounds o'
rice.

MIS' TROT

Why, Mis' Moran — it was all of eight years
ago. You forget how Time flies. I'd 'a' said
nine, to be on the safe side.

MIS' ABEL

Yes, it must 'a' been eight years ago. I know
it was the year Inez had her first ready-made suit.
Yes, Carry's boy must be about six-seven years
old. It don't seem possible.

INEZ

Carry? I thought you said Lucretia's wed-
ding?

MIS' ABEL

Well, Carry was married right after. She
hadn't meant to be so soon. But her father didn't
want to put up the parlour stove so long's the girls
wasn't goin' to be home, so she was married in
the fall to save the bother of a stove weddin'.

MIS' MORAN

Six-seven years old. Land, land. Just the
hard age to take care of, when they begin to be
smart. What is she goin' to do?

THE NEIGHBOURS 31

MIS' ABEL

Just his mere victuals is an item.

MIS' TROT

[Sighing.} Yes, sir. Another mouth is an-
other mouth excep' when it's a boy's mouth.
Then it's a regular bureau drawer.

MIS' MORAN

This is goin' to be an awful pull for the poor
thing. She wouldn't take money, though, I don't
suppose, even if anybody had any to offer
her?

INEZ

Oh — not money !

MIS' TROT

No — the last way to help anybody is to give 'em
money.

MIS' MORAN

Well, of course Carry'll look to us all to advise
her some.

MIS' TROT

Oh, I dunno but advice is next worse than
money.

32 WISCONSIN PLAYS

MIS' ABEL

Well, it's goin' to be a terrible lot of trouble,
whatever way you look at it. I should say the
thing she needs is a job. But while she's gettin'
it she'd ought to have some clothes and some extry
bedding and I dunno what all. And you know
what that means — attemptin' to get together truck
like that.

MIS' TROT

I could 'a' done a little somethin' to-day if it
hadn't been for that buffalo bug. But as it is I
mustn't stay a minute longer. That animal' 11 be
up into my lace curtains. How you goin' to go
at gettin' the stuff together?

MIS' ABEL

[Ironing hard.} Well, I do hate to load it onto
her in tied-up bundles at the back door. I dunno
but we'd ought to go to the trouble of a pound
party or somethin' like that.

MIS' TROT

[Looking up with changing expression.} That
would be kind of nice — wouldn't it?

MIS' ABEL

Carry didn't have much of any wedding pres-
ents. And she never had a baby. I dunno as

THE NEIGHBOURS 33

I ever set foot in her house to any real occasion
excep' a funeral. [Turns with her iron in her
hand.] S'posin' we was to give her a kind of
a shower?

MIS' MORAN
A what? A shower?

MIS' TROT
Like they have for babies?

INEZ

Oh, no. I know what Mother means. Like
they have for brides.

MIS' ABEL

[Sets down her iron, turns and leans against
the ironing-board. Puts pillow sham on chair-
back. ~\ I mean a shower — whether for bride,
babe, or just anybody. It would be a lot of back-
aching work, but we could make it real nice for
her.

GRANDMA

[Who has worked on, without looking up, un-
til Mis' ABEL has said "shower" Then she has
listened.} So you could. Go on and do it.
Seems to me you could make it so sort of sociable

34 WISCONSIN PLAYS

and friendly it wouldn't seem a bit nasty, like
charity does.

MIS' TROT

[Looking away, with expression growing more
rapt.} Be kind of nice if you could have it the
night the child gets here. But that's to-night.
Of course you couldn't do that.

MIS' MORAN

Well, of course, I can't do a thing on account
o' my back. But I should think if you could
scrape the things together to-day so's to take 'em
with you when you go, you could have it to-night
all right.

MIS' TROT

[Sitting upright — not suddenly, but still with
her rapt manner, leaning forward with her hands
across her knees.} An' be there with 'em when
she comes back from the depot with the boy!

MIS' MORAN

And you could have all the things she needs
piled in the middle of the front room floor and you
be in there with the door shut when she got there
— [edging forward on her chair} — clothes and
groceries an' I dunno but some toys —

THE NEIGHBOURS 35

MIS' ABEL

Be an awful job, managin'. How'd we let
ourselves into the house*?

MIS' TROT

[Really kindling.'] Easiest thing in the world.
I could go in an' set with her awhile before she
starts for the 7 158. I could take her in a cup o'
jell, or somethin'. And then I could tell her Pd
set there on the porch so's to have a look at him
when she got back.

And then you could let us all in. That's the
ticket! My land, look at me near settin' on my
spare room pillow sham.

MIS' TROT

[Laying down last lamp chimney and going to
the door to shake the cloth. Speaks over shoul-
der, shaking cloth.} Well, you do that and you
can count on me to be over there when you come.
You won't have much trouble gettin' the stuff.
[Giving the cloth to INEZ and turning toward the
door.} I've got to get back to that buffalo bug
now, or it'll be layin' eggs in every pattern in the
carpet.

36 WISCONSIN PLAYS

[INEZ carries lamps to their high shelf, puts
away cloths.

MIS' ABEL

You come back here.

MIS' TROT
[Looks at her in surprise.] But —

MIS' ABEL

You can't be going home, not with all there'll
be to see to.

MIS' TROT
I just can't do it. That buffalo bug —

MIS' ABEL

You forget that buffalo bug, Mis' Trot, an'
tell us what to have for refreshments. Strawber-
ries'? Or a little canned fruit and loaf -cake?

MIS' TROT

[Returning.] Why, of course we've got to
feed 'em. I never thought o' that. Canned Jruft.
I'd just as soon anybody 'd set me down to oat-
meal as canned fruit — when it's a party. Straw-
berries— well. . . . No, for the land's sakes, if
we're going to do it, let's us do it. Let's us have
ice-cream or nothin'.

THE NEIGHBOURS 37

MIS' MORAN

Be nice for the little boy, too.

MIS' ABEL
But, my land, it costs so to buy it —

MIS' TROT

Buy it? Who said anything about buying it4?
I'll freeze it. I can make it cheaper'n anybody in
this town.

MIS' ABEL

Well, of course you can. That's what we'll
do. You freeze it.

MIS' TROT

[Excitedly.] I can make it for fourteen cents
a quart and freeze it myself, puttinr in our own
cow and chickens. Yes, I'll do it — buffalo bug
or no buffalo bug. A gallon'll be enough. We
can all chip in —

[Stamping up on the porch comes EZRA
WILLIAMS. He is still more exasperated,
and he comes in without greeting and with
his hat on his head.

EZRA

Well, I been to both you folks's houses, huntin'
you up. An' I been down town lookin' for the

38 WISCONSIN PLAYS

men. Which one o' you ordered wood? Who-
ever it was can send your men folks straight out
here and unpile it from in front of my door, a
stick at a time.

MIS' ABEL
I've told him we didn't order no wood.

MIS' MORAN

Well, we didn't. We been cuttin' wood from
the wood lot for years.

MIS' TROT

We don't burn none. We burn soft coal—
what we have left over after we've sprinkled the
house with it thorough, an' our clothes an' our
hands an' our necks.

EZRA

[Stands puzzled but still warlike.] Well, it's
somebody's fool wood. It must belong some-
wheres in the block. Just ask your men folks
when they come home this noon. I bet you one
of 'em —

MIS' ABEL

Let's tell him. Wait a minute, Ezra. We
want —

THE NEIGHBOURS 39

EZRA

I can't wait. I've got my hands so full they
sag.

INEZ

Oh, Mr. Williams ! I know whose wood that
is. It must be Mis' Ellsworth's. I heard her
wonderin' this morning why it hadn't come.

EZRA

Well, of all the snide swindles! I've got too
much to do to unpile no cord of wood for no
woman, widow or worse. . . .

[He is at the threshold when Mis' ABEL
stops him.

MIS' ABEL

[Clapping her hands and following him.']
Ezra ! Ezra Williams. Stop goin' on and listen
hard. Carry Ellsworth's sister's boy is comin' on
to her to-night to support.

EZRA

[At the door.] Support4? Well, I can't help
that. I'm doin' some supportin' myself — work-
ing my wings off at it. And when it comes to an
extry job for no thin'. . . .

40 WISCONSIN PLAYS

MIS' ABEL

Yes, but Carry Ellsworth ain't you. Here's a
boy plumpin' down on her to feed and clothe and
lug up to man's estate.

EZRA

Well, ain't that just like a woman! Always
gettin' herself come down onto by a lot o' dis-
tant relatives to support.

MIS' ABEL

Well, it is goin' to make trouble for everybody,
but we thought we'd ought to —

MIS' MORAN

We thought it'd be real nice to do for her
friendly, at a party-
Mis' TROT

And have 'em have refreshments — ice-cream
and cake. And have everybody bring things.

MIS' ABEL

Wait till I tell him. And all be there when
she gets back from the depot — all waiting, in her
house, to s'prise her. Couldn't you get hold of
some men and see what they could get together 9
Us ladies'll see to some clothes but —

THE NEIGHBOURS 41

MIS' MORAN

You scrape up some money, Ezra. Or some
groceries — canned stuff, or like that —

MIS' TROT

And have 'em all sent to one place, hadn't we
better?

MIS' ABEL

Have 'em all sent here. Then some of the men
can come and tote 'em over when we see her go
off to meet the 7 158.

EZRA

[Who has stood shaking his head, edging
away.} Yah — pa'cel o' women. Ain't that just
like 'em? Do you think I ain't got anything else
to do*? Ain't enough o' you women to tend to
the society end of this town and its relations?
No — don't you expect no time out of me. I
might send over some little thing — but I ain't a
minute to spare to-day, I tell you.

[He is out the door with the last words.

GRANDMA

[Who has been looking up at him with fixed
attention.} Well, now, would you think any-

42 WISCONSIN PLAYS

body would be that much interested in cord-
wood?

MIS' ABEL
No, sir, you wouldn't.

MIS' MORAN

Well, ain't that just awful for him not to do
one thing*?

MIS' TROT

Him with nothin' but cord wood on his hands,
mind you — and me with a buffalo bug !

MIS' ABEL

As near as I can see we've got to put this thing
through ourselves. You take up-street, Mis'
Trot, and Mis' Moran, you take down-street —
and I'll take the business part. Everybody's al-
ways after them, so I think you really squirm more
askin' though you do get it so easy. Inez, you
might be lookin' up some of your old picture books
for the boy, or somethin' to amuse him. Come
on, ladies. .

MIS' TROT, MIS' ABEL, MIS' MORAN

[All talking together as they go out^ Mis'
MORAN having forgotten her limp.] Who'll I
get to bake the cakes'? Well, I'd get some good

THE NEIGHBOURS 43

cake makers, for mercy's sakes, and there's only
about six in town. I know where I'm going for
a cake. I'm goin' straight for Mis' Ezra Wil-
liams.

[Exeunt all three.

INEZ
I'll iron off a flat piece or two first.

[She goes to the shed to change the iron.

GRANDMA

[Peering out of the windows, through the
plants.] Dum 'em. They've gone off to do
things. And I'm so old, so fool old. [She
smites her hands together.} Oh, God. Can't
you make us hurry? Can't you make us hurry?
Get us to the time when we won't have to dry up
like a pippin before we're ready to be took off?
Our heads an' our hearts an' our legs an* our
backs — oh, make 'em last busy, busy, right up to
the time the hearse backs up to the door !

INEZ

[Returns, picks up a piece from the basket,
looks over at her.} What's the matter,
Grandma?

44 WISCONSIN PLAYS

GRANDMA

Eh, nothin'. Only, I'm folks. That's all. I
mean I was folks — me that was folks and now
ain't.

[INEZ looks at her, puzzled, and stands rub-
bing the iron on a newspaper when PETER
re-appears in the doorway, the sugar un-
der his arm, and in his hand a paper.

PETER

Mis' Abel! I forgot to ask you just what
things you need for that little boy— Oh, you
here, Inez'? I thought you was out. I thought —
Here's your mother's sugar.

INEZ

[Cooling her iron and not looking at him.}
I'm sorry Mother isn't in. She'll be back in a
few minutes. Won't you come back then?

PETER

Inez! I've got lots of conversation in me.
[INEZ searches his face swiftly. Goes on
with ironing.

PETER

[With determination.} I mean I don't say
half the things I could say.

THE NEIGHBOURS 45

INEZ

[ With a moment of understanding and sympa-
thy, she leans on the board and looks at him.}
What about, Peter?

PETER

About — about — oh, things. I think of so many
things, Inez, when I'm alone, that I'd like to tell
you.

INEZ

[Still the same.] Why don't you tell me,
Peter? What are they about?

PETER

Well, woods things, and about water rats — and
gophers — and — and — birds' nests !

INEZ

[Still understanding, still patient.] Well, I
like these things, too, you know, Peter. Tell me
some now.

PETER

[Looking wild.} Well. . . . Birds' nests.
They's — they's quite a few birds' nests in the
trees this spring. . . .

46 WISCONSIN PLAYS

INEZ

[Bursts into sudden uncontrollable laughter.]
In the trees ! Oh, come now, Peter ! Not birds'
nests in the trees! Oh. . . . Peter! You
mustn't tell me things like that!

PETER

[Struggling desperately.] Well, orioles now.
Orioles. ... I saw an oriole by Thatcher's barn.
It's note was all wavy —

INEZ

[Grave again.} I know it. I've heard 'em.
I love 'em.

PETER

And I thought — what was it I thought when I
heard him call. . . .

INEZ

What . . . Peter 2

[Sets down her iron and, an elbow in her
lhand, the other hand over her mouth, she
watches him quizzically and somewhat
wistfully.

PETER

[Simply.} It was something I liked to think.
And I know I thought how you'd like it too.

THE NEIGHBOURS 47

Most folks don't hear 'em call. Lots of folks
don't hear lots of things. But you do. And I
do. Ain't that kind of nice — like them things
was for you and me. . . . [tie catches at a cor-
ner of her apron, lifts it, and drops it, discon-
certed.} Mebbe you dunno what I mean.

INEZ

Oh, Peter, Peter, Peter! [Laughs with her
eyes shut.} Oh, Peter!

PETER

[Turns away, looks up in another part of the
room.} I know it. I don't know why it is I
can't talk to you, Inez. I think of things I want
to say to you, but when I'm with you I don't seem
able to think 'em over again. There's history,
now. I was readin' some history last night.
There was so many things I wanted to tell you in
it. I — I know you'd of thought so, too !

INEZ

Really. You think I would. Well, then,
here I am. Try me !

PETER

I can't. I didn't plan it out this way — and
you laughing.

48 WISCONSIN PLAYS

INEZ

Oh, tell me — do. Was it about robbers — and
princesses — and castles, Peter ? Was it about
knights and swords and roses —

PETER

Oh, it was better things. One was about Peter
the Great, you know. Him. He was a — my, he
was just a dandy!

INEZ

[Now really at the end of her patience.'} Was
that what you wished to tell me'?

PETER
[ Miserably. ] No. But —

INEZ

Because if it was, I'm not in the least interested
in Peter the Great! Not-in-the-least ! [She
marches across the floor to the shed door to renew
her iron, and on the threshold she turns, overcome
again by the sorry figure he has cut.] Peter, oh,
Peter. . . .

[Laughs with her eyes shut, and goes into the
shed. PETER sits where she has left him,
and drops his head in his hands.

THE NEIGHBOURS 49

GRANDMA

[Suddenly wheels in her chair. \ Young man!
[PETER lifts his head.} Do you call that
courtin"? [PETER makes a helpless gesture.}
Because if I couldn't court no better than that I'd
go and batch it and be done with it. You court
like a stick of wood.

PETER
[ With a hopeless gesture. ] What'll I do ?

GRANDMA

Do*? Do what most everybody in the world
has to do before they can fit their skins and skulls.
Quit thinkin' about yourself. Dunce !

PETER

Well, but I— I—

[INEZ comes back -with the iron. GRANDMA
subsides. PETER rises miserably.

PETER

I guess I'll have to be going.

INEZ
Oh, must you? Well, good-bye, Peter.

50 WISCONSIN PLAYS

PETER

I s'pose it's all done there is to do about the
little chap — the one that's coming?

INEZ

Why, of course it isn't. Who did you think
did it all"?

PETER

Do — do you think I could be any use to 'em?
[INEZ amazes him by dropping her flat-iron
with a clatter on the ironing-stand and
bursting into sobs.

PETER

Inez! What is it?

[He leaps to her, for the first time uncon-
scious of himself, and puts his arms about
her. For just a moment she leans to him,
then springs free and speaks angrily.

INEZ

It's nothing. It's nothing, I tell you. Go
'way, Peter. Please go 'way.

PETER

[Stands still for a moment, then flings up his
head and speaks in wonder.] Inez! Inez! Do
you care because I'm a fool?

THE NEIGHBOURS 51

INEZ

Go 'way, Peter. Please go 'way.

PETER •

Well, I will go — now. But by the great horn
spoon, Inez, I'll come back!

[He rushes out. INEZ runs to GRANDMA,
sinks beside her, buries her face in her
gown.

INEZ

Grandma, grandma. Why can't he be like
other folks? Why can't he be like other folks?

GRANDMA

[With great tenderness.} Hush . . . dearie.
Hardly anybody ever is. Hardly ^ybody is.

[Moment's pause.

[The door opens, and Mis' ABEL enters side-
wise, her arms piled with old clothes.
She is calling to somebody over her shoul-
der.

MIS' ABEL

Well, supposin' they are too big? Send 'em
along — send 'em along. I've cut over more of
'em than I ever made new ones. [Closes the
door behind her by pushing against it. ] My land,

52 WISCONSIN PLAYS

that's been a tug. Folks has kept a-givin' me
things an' I've kep' sayin' I'd take 'em right
along. [Dropping things on the floor and keep-
ing them together.} I know 'em. If folks had
waited to send the stuff by somebody they'd 'a*
took to lookin' it over again an' got to snippin'
off the buttons and mebbe decide they was too
good to give away at all. You needn't tell me.
Folks is folks.

GRANDMA

[Patting INEZ'S arms — INEZ has risen, and
stands surreptitiously drying her eyes.} That's
it — that's it. Folks is folks, no matter how dif-
ferent— or similar. They can't fool us. Folks
is folks.

INEZ

[Turns and sees the garments which her mother
is vaguely sorting.} Oh, mother, how fine.
Isn't that a pile ? How fine !

[Examines the garments and after a moment
goes to the shed with her flatiron.

MIS' ABEL

They's everything here. Enough to clothe
Carry Ellsworth's nephew till he's black in the
face. [Enter Mis' TROT, breathless.

THE NEIGHBOURS 53

MIS' TROT

I've solicited the rest of the stuff for the ice
cream and I've got four cakes promised. [Seeing
the things on the floor.} What a lot of splendid
truck !

MIS' ABEL
Well, I'm most dead luggin' it.

[She is stooping^ turning over the things.

MIS' TROT

[Looking toward the door.} And ain't the air
nice in the forenoon1? It seems like breathin'
somethin' else. Comin' along by the wood yard,
somethin' — I dunno whether it was the smell of
the cedar shingles or the way the fence looked so
nice and shady — but — [little laugh} — I ain't
never felt so much like when I was a girl since
I was born one. If it hadn't been for the
thoughts of that buffalo bug in the house, I de-
clare I would most of enjoyed myself.

MIS' ABEL

[In falsetto.} Did you? Why, I was just
thinkin' that out in Main Street — that it seemed
somethin7 like quite a while ago. I thought it
was the smell of the sage where somebody was
fryin' pork, but mebbe it wasn't.

54 WISCONSIN PLAYS

[Enter Mis' MORAN. She is walking nearly
erect and is hurrying somewhat.

MIS' MORAN

It's all right. I just see Carry Ellsworth goin'
into the post office, and I turned in on purpose.
I told her somebody' d come over to-night and set
while she went to the station, and be there when
she comes back. She seemed to like the idee. Is
this stuff all here?

MIS' ABEL

Yes, and more to come. Don't you think we'd
best all be setting in there in the dark when she
gets there with him, and all of us yell "Shower,"
shan't we? Just like they do?

MIS' TROT

[Down on the floor beside the things. ] Poor
little soul — it's him I'm a-thinkin' of. His
mother dead and his home broke up and him
dragged away from what folks he knows. Look
here! Well, of course we're glad to have any of
these things. [Holds up a very ragged garment.}
How's this for a contribution? Nobody could
patch that without they had a piece of cloth the
size of the American flag — and not a button on it.

THE NEIGHBOURS 55

I'll bet you Mis5 Hemenway give this — didn't she
now*?

MIS' ABEL

[Looking closely.} Yes, sir, she did. If
you'd packed as many missionary barrels as I have
you'd 'a' known it was Mis' Hemenway's without
lookin'. Mis' Hemenway is a splendid cake-
maker, but she is near-sighted about gifts she
gives the poor.

MIS' TROT

[Goes on sorting.'] I got to thinkin', supposin'
it had been my Jeddie, if I'd been took, and him
trapsed off to a strange state, and all. Ain't it
real pitiful — well, now, would you think any-
body'd give away a thing as good as that is?

[She holds up a garment, and Mis' MORAN,
who has been shaking her head over the
other one, takes it from her.

MIS' MORAN

No, I would not. Why, it looks like new
from the store. They ain't a thread broke in it.
And the buttons on. Who give this, Mis' Abel?

MIS' ABEL

[ Who is piling up some things from the lot on
the table.} I was wondering what he'd be like?

56 WISCONSIN PLAYS

Nice little thing, I guess maybe — Carry's so nice.
. . . [Looks at the garment.} Oh, that's Mis'
Fitch — couldn't you tell? Her that always
sends a thirteen-egg angels' food to the church
suppers when a loaf o' pound cake would go down
just as easy.

MIS' TROT

And her husband on thirty dollars a month.
My good land, ain't folks the funniest things?
[They all shake heads and compress lips, and
Mis' TROT goes "T-t-t-t-t."

GRANDMA

Ah — ain't you got used to that about folks yet,
Mis' Trot? I want to know — I want to know.
It don't hurt folks none to be funny, does it?

INEZ

[Who is entering from the shed.} Grandma,
look. Here was one of your balls of carpet
rags rolled way out there. Would you think it
could?

GRANDMA

[Peering at it.} That's the very one I been
lookin' for. I want it for the head.

THE NEIGHBOURS 57

INEZ

The head of what. Grandma*?

GRANDMA

Never you mind. I got my own occupations.
You ain't the only busy folks in the world, if you
do act so cocky about it. I need something to do
for as well as you.

INEZ

[Who has been looking out the window.]
Mother, Mis' Ellsworth is coming.

MIS' ABEL
Mis' Ellsworth!

[The women scurry around but they are too
late. Mis' ELLSWORTH enters. She is a
slight, pretty woman in a light blue ging-
ham gown and wide straw hat. She is
much agitated^ and sinks in a chair by the
door. She has a letter and a little parcel
in her hand.

MIS' ABEL

[ With the other two women, trying to hide the
piles of garments.} Why, Carry Ellsworth!
You did give me a start. I'm — we've — we* re-
don' t this look like carpet rags, though?

58 WISCONSIN PLAYS

MIS' ELLSWORTH

[Hardly hears.] Oh, ladies. I've just got a
letter — I've had another letter. 'Seems my little
boy ain't comin' at all.

ALL [save GRANDMA]
Not comin'?

MIS' ELLSWORTH

[Slowly.] No. A sister of his pa's decided
last minute she'd take him in. She's got five of
her own, but she writes she dunno's one more' 11
make any difference.

MIS' ABEL

[Sitting limply back in the clothes.} Well,
ain't that just the end of everything!

MIS' MORAN

Well, Carry — you can't help it, but be glad the
little fellow ain't had all the way to come alone.

MIS' TROT

An' I ain't a doubt in the world he's got a bet-
ter home than you could give him — anybody that
can afford to have five children is rich enough to
have six.

THE NEIGHBOURS 59

MIS* ABEL

And it was going to be awful hard on you to
have him to do for.

MIS' ELLSWORTH

I know, I know. But it's goin' to be awful
hard for me not to have him to do for. Last
night — when I begun to plan — it come over me
like it never done before what I'd missed in not
bein' left with one. I was goin' to make him a
bed on the lounge — I'd got it planned what clothes
I could spare- for the bed, and what I could make
more of. I never got meals for a child — and I'd
begun thinkin' what he could eat and what little
things I could fix up for him. I was plannin' to
keep chickens and to fix a sandpile in the backyard
and a swing under the maple out in front — and I
was thinkin' about his school and who'd be his
teacher and what desk he'd have. I just see this
little cap in the post-office store and I bought it
for him. [ Unwraps a cap from a little package. ~\
I thought the feather5 d look kind o' cute, stickin'
up in front. And now here comes this — and it's
all for nothin' — it's all for nothin'.

60 WISCONSIN PLAYS

MIS* ABEL

But, Mis' Ellsworth, it would be hard for you.
It would now !

MIS' ELLSWORTH

I'd like that kind o' hard.

MIS' TROT
And s'pose you'd of took down sick?

MIS' ELLSWORTH

Better body sick than heart sick.

MIS' MORAN

And s'pose you'd of died, Mis' Ellsworth?

MIS' ELLSWORTH

I'd of lived first now, anyway. And now I
ain't. I never knew it — but I ain't.

MIS' ABEL

Oh, but Mis' Ellsworth. You've got your
health and your gettin' along economical to
brood over as it is.

MIS' ELLSWORTH

This would of kept me from broodin'.

[INEZ goes softly, and mutely slips her arm
about Mis' ELLSWORTH.

THE NEIGHBOURS 61

MIS' ABEL

[Openly breaks down and wipes her eyes on
the garment she is holding.} Oh, ladies!
What's the use4? We all know. I ain't had but
one, but I know.

MIS' TROT

Yes. I've got seven an' sometimes I'm drove
most to death with 'em — but I know.

MIS' MORAN
Well, I never had none — but I know.

GRANDMA

Eh, mine's dead — all dead. But I know.

INEZ
Oh, Mis' Ellsworth. An' I know, too.

[In a moment at the door appears PETER,
his arms ludicrously full of clothes and
parcels.

PETER

Look, Inez, look-a-here. See all I got a holt
of — for the little chap.

[He sees their mood and pauses, crestfallen.

62 WISCONSIN PLAYS

INEZ

[Goes to him swiftly.} Peter! What a lot
you got. Dear Peter.

[The door is pushed open by EZRA WIL-
LIAMS. He has a small, closely wrapped
bundle under an arm, and he is carrying a
little chair.

EZRA

[Handing bundle to Mis' ABEL.] There's a
few little things my wife just sent over. This
here little chair — I made it myself for our little
boy before he was hardly out o' long dresses. I
done the whole thing — pegged it myself, so's he
could throw it around and it wouldn't get broke.
He — he never grew up enough to use it ... it's
been settin' around my workroom — kind of in the
way. It ought to be doin' somebody some good,

MIS' ABEL
That's certainly good of you, Ezra.

EZRA

Say, you'd ought to see Mis' Ellsworth's wood,
piled by her back door neat as a kitten's foot.
She ain't to home — [Sees for the first time that
Mis' ELLSWORTH is there, over near GRANDMA.]
Good souls! Have I let the cat out of the bag*?

THE NEIGHBOURS 63

MIS' ABEL

No, Ezra — no, no. I was tryin' to tell you.
He ain't comin'. The little boy ain't comin' after
all.

EZRA

He ain't comin' ?

MIS' ELLSWORTH

[Coming forward.] No, Ezra. They ain't
goin' to give him to me. Somebody else has took
him.

EZRA

Well, ain't that a shame. [Bristling. 1
Who's got him ? Want I should get him for you ^

MIS' ELLSWORTH

[Shaking her head.] No — you can't, Ezra.
But you don't know — you'll never know how I
feel about what you've done a' ready — you and
the ladies and Peter and Grandma. . . . Would
— you mind if we looked at the little clothes?

EZRA

No — why, look at 'em. They ain't much, I
guess, for now-a-days. But his ma says she'd like
you to have 'em. They was real good cloth in
the beginnin'.

64 WISCONSIN PLAYS

MIS* ELLSWORTH

[Fingering the garments, turns quickly to the
women.] Ain't that what it is to have neigh-
bours^ Ain't it, though4? Look at the bother
you've been to. ... An' now I won't need 'em.

MIS' ABEL

Don't you think a thing about us. We was
glad to do it. I was feelin' cross as a wolf with
all I had to do when Inez come in with the news.
[She is taking off her hat as she speaks.] And
now I feel — I feel like folks. An' Mis' Moran's
leg and her back and Mis' Trot's buffalo bug — I
guess they feel just the same about it.

GRANDMA

And me. So do I. I was just hatin' the sight
o' my carpet rags. But look at what I stodged
up for the little chap.

[She holds up an absurd black doll with a
white head.

MIS' ELLSWORTH

Oh, Grandma!

GRANDMA

Don't you thank me. I liked doin' it. It was
somethin' for somebody. It was real human to
do.

THE NEIGHBOURS 65

MIS' ABEL

Well, we might as well pick 'em up.

INEZ

[Turning to PETER, who stands apart. \ Peter,
how dear of you to get all these things for
him.

[Mis' ABEL unwraps them, and they draw
about her to look, all save PETER, who is
standing a little apart. INEZ turns to
him.

PETER

I didn't get 'em all for him. I got 'em part
for you.

INEZ

Well — it was dear of you anyway. What —
what's that in your pocket, Peter ?

PETER

[Brings shyly from his pocket a little clown on
a stick.} I saw it in the store. I didn't know
but what he might like it. If he ain't a-comin'
we might as well throw it away.

INEZ

No ! Give it to me.

66 WISCONSIN PLAYS

PETER

[Still holding toy and looking down at itJ\
Why, it's nothin' but a clown. Like me, I
guess. . . .

INEZ

Well, I want it all the same. . . . Oh, Peter,
Peter, what a dear you are when you forget your-
self!

[He looks at her breathlessly, then suddenly
takes her in his arms . . . and as he does
so, fosses the clown-on~a-stick into the lit-
tle vacant chair.

PETER

Inez — Inez! Do you mean that? Oh, Inez,
I tell you I'm forgettin' now. I'll never remem-
ber any more. [He kisses her.
[As they stand so, Mis' ABEL turns and sees
them. The others follow her look.
GRANDMA, too, and they all turn and look
at each other, silent and smiling. And
then GRANDMA rises, and comes slowly
down to them — bent and peering and
kindly, and holding by one arm the doll
she has made. As she passes the little
vacant chair, near which INEZ and PETER

THE NEIGHBOURS 67

stand, she drops the doll over the chair's
back in order to take their hands. She
stands between and a little back of them,
facing the audience. She looks up at
them and tries to speak to each in turn,
and gives it up with a little helpless ges-
ture and a smile and a hand patting the
shoulder of each. They are all gathered
near the two, the little garments EZRA
has brought still in the women's hands and
Mis' ELLSWORTH still holding the cap
with the feather.

MIS' ABEL

[Wiping her eyes swiftly.] Strikes me the
little chap is accountable for a whole heap he
never even heard of.

GRANDMA

Eh — most folks always is.

ONE -ACT PLAYS OF DISTINCTION

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Including: The Feast of the Holy Innocents

by S. Marshall Ilsley
On the Pier by Laura Sherry
The Shadow by H. M Jones
We Live Again by Thornton Gilman
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EVERYBODY'S HUSBAND by GILBERT CANNAN

75 centi.
CRIMINALS by GEORGE' MIDDLETON

60 cents.

THE PIONEERS by JAMES OPPENHEIM
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