The Americans

We're all right!
We're all right, Mr. Egerton!

Harry Egerton.

But never mind.
We will begin a new age in this land.

Harvey Anderson.

Up with your hats, pards! God's on the mountains!

(Tosses his hat into the air. The workmen, in an almost religious ecstasy, go out left, crowding around Harry Egerton and Harvey Anderson. Dicey, King and Masters remain behind, whispering together, then follow the crowd. The militiamen, most of them silent with amazement at the scene they have witnessed, gradually disappear into the mill-yard)

First Militiaman.

I'm for young Egerton if it comes to that.

Second Militiaman.

Most of us boys are sons of workingmen.

Third Militiaman.

I never thought of that.

Fourth Militiaman.

Buck's about right, too, kids.
We came here to see the square thing done,
Not to be half-sole to the old man's boot.

First Militiaman.

Let's set Buck free.

Second Militiaman.

What do you say, kids?

(They go into the mill-yard, talking earnestly)

Second Sentry.

Dan!

(The First Sentry joins him and they whisper together)

First Sentry.

(Starts with the other for the gate)

I've nothing against Buck.

Second Sentry.

Haskell's too fast.

(They enter the mill-yard)

ACT III

THE MANSION

Scene: The great reception hall in the Egerton mansion. One sees at a glance that this is the original of the shadow hall shown in the Dream-Vision in the First Act. The carved mountain lion crouches upon the newel-post, and upon the walls the figures of men at work among the pines are identical with those of the Vision. But here, seen under a natural light, the grotesque grandeur of it all stands out in clear relief. Forward, left and right, just where the great arch separating the main hall comes down, groups of little pines in tubs lend a freshness to the scene.

A brilliant company is gathered. Everywhere, from gestures and lifted eyes, it is evident that the mansion, especially the strange scene upon the walls, is the chief topic of talk among the guests. Centre right, about the piano, a number of young people are watching a couple that is out upon the floor, apparently practising a new step. Near the pines, forward left, General Chadbourne turns from the butler, with whom he has been speaking, to shake hands with some ladies. Later, Ralph Ardsley appears just inside the door, forward right, and holds up a glass of wine. Two or three men notice him and nudge their companions, and one after another saunter past Ardsley into the side room.

Time: The same afternoon about five o'clock.

Ralph Ardsley.

Get me the eye of Chadbourne.

First Man.

General!

(Out on the floor the couple that is waltzing jostles an elderly lady)

Lady in Black.

Why can't they wait until——

Elderly Lady.

Now run away.
You've got all night for this tomfoolery.

Mrs. Egerton.

George!

(The young people gradually drift out into the conservatory)

Chadbourne.

(Rejoining the Butler)

For it's something that concerns the strike.

Butler.

Yes, sir.

Chadbourne.

And it's important.

Butler.

Yes, sir.

Second Man.

General!

Chadbourne.

And I'll be right out——

(Sees the lifted hand)

I'll be right in here.

(Joins the Second Man, and the two, with Ardsley, disappear into the side room)

Young Matron.

Why do you men keep going out that way?

Third Man.

(With a wink)

The Governor wants to see us.

(They go into the room, forward right)

Lady With Conspicuous Coiffure.

(Entering forward left with Pale Lady)

Indeed it would;
To just have all the money that you want.

Pale Lady.

And her new necklace, did you notice it?

Lady with Conspicuous Coiffure.

Her mother's plain enough.

Pale Lady.

There she goes now.

(They pass rear and mingle with the throng)

First Man.

(Appearing forward right with a glass of wine)

You ladies, I presume, are temperance workers.

('The punch! The punch!' is whispered about, and the people begin to pass out centre and forward right)

Fat Lady.

I mean to just taste everything there is.

(Goes out)

Lady in Black.

Isn't it just too grand for anything!

Pale Lady.

At night, though, I should think 'twould scare a body
With all those horrid things upon the walls.

(They go out. A moment later Mrs. Egerton comes in and looks about as though she were seeking some one)

Mrs. Egerton.

(To her daughter, who passes toward the conservatory)

Please don't keep showing it, Gladys.

Gladys Egerton.

Marjorie!

(She enters the conservatory)

Mrs. Egerton.

(Beckons to some one in the room forward left. The Butler appears)

Has no word come?

Butler.

Jack says that Mr. George inquired
And they've seen nothing of him.

(He goes back into the room, forward left. Mrs. Egerton lingers a while, then returns to the room, forward right. Here, a moment later Ralph Ardsley appears)

Ralph Ardsley.

(Calls to a group of four men back near the stairs)

Laggards! laggards!

(Bishop Hardbrooke and a fellow-townsman, each with a man who is evidently a stranger, come slowly forward)

Bishop Hardbrooke.

Isn't there aspiration in all this,

(Indicating the house)

A reaching out toward God, and a love, too,
Of all that God hath made?

Fellow-Townsman.

The river there.

Ralph Ardsley.

The walls will be here when the wine is gone.

First Stranger.

But public sentiment.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

Vox populi.

Fellow-Townsman.

People don't stop to think of what he's done.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

Exactly. When an axe falls on one's toes,
The service that it's been, that's out of mind.
And yet you throw the bruise, the moment's pain,
In one side, and in the other a cleared land
With homes and fields——

Second Stranger.

That's true.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

And populous towns.
The balance will be struck up yonder, brother.

Ralph Ardsley.

Show me one man that's in the public eye
Because he stands for something, towers above them,
That hasn't had them yelping at his heels.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

You know the Editor of the Courier?

(The Strangers shake hands with Ardsley)

Second Stranger.

You didn't come back.

Ralph Ardsley.

I've troubles of my own.

(Walks back in the hall)

Second Stranger.

We were together in the Legislature.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

(Stopping near the door, forward right, as if for a final word)

Speaking of Egerton, some years ago
I saw that statue in the New York harbor,
The sea mists blown about it, now the head
And now an outflash of tremendous bronze
About the waist. 'Is that the thing,' said I,
'They talk so much about?' Next day 'twas clear.

First Stranger.

Looked very different.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

It's the same with men.

(They go out)

Second Stranger.

You going in?

Ralph Ardsley.

I've got to find a man.

(The stranger goes out)

(Ardsley calls toward the room, forward left)

What's the news from the mill, Charles?

Butler.

(Appears at the door)

I haven't heard, sir.
You reckon they'll go back, sir?

Ralph Ardsley.

Sure. Where's Gladys?

(The Butler walks back toward the conservatory)

Just tell her I asked about her.

Butler.

Yes, sir.

Ralph Ardsley.

Thank you.

(He goes into the room, forward right. The Butler returns to the opposite room. All the people have now withdrawn with the exception of Mrs. Orr, who has come in, centre right, and who lingers about as though she were listening to the upper part of the walls. Later, Mrs. Egerton re-enters, forward right, and glances back into the room from which she has come, to satisfy herself that her guests are occupied. Seeing her, Mrs. Orr comes forward, shaking her head)

Mrs. Egerton.

No?

Mrs. Orr.

No.

Mrs. Egerton.

Nothing at all?

Mrs. Orr.

Nothing at all.

Mrs. Egerton.

I never have been sure myself. Sometimes
I've thought I heard it.

Mrs. Orr.

I can understand
How one could easily imagine it.

Mrs. Egerton.

If you could be here when the house is still,
Alone——

Mrs. Orr.

In certain moods, perhaps I should.
For certainly the trees seem most alive.
I never would have thought it possible
To make a forest live and life go on
In wood as it does here. 'Tis wonderful.

(Mrs. Egerton glances across into the room, forward right, from which comes a sound of merriment)

Mrs. Orr.

The very squirrels upon the limbs—see there,
The young one with the pine cone in its mouth.
And the faint far-awayness of the wood.

Mrs. Egerton.

(Confidentially)

Sylvia——

Mrs. Orr.

Just now as the couple passed
Practising, I overheard the girl,
'It almost seems the real pines are here
Dropping their needles on us while we dance.
As Lillian says, you feel them in your hair.'
Now, to my way of thinking, it would be
Far easier to hear the pine trees sigh
Than feel the needles.

Mrs. Egerton.

It was not the pines.

Mrs. Orr.

You said a sighing.

(Mrs. Egerton says something to her)

Why, Mary Egerton!
How horrible!

Mrs. Egerton.

It worries me at times.

Mrs. Orr.

You do not mean it! And the house just built!
You foolish dear.

Mrs. Egerton.

I know.

Mrs. Orr.

(Aside)

How horrible!

Mrs. Egerton.

Harry has always been a strange, strange boy;
So different from the rest. What is it you hear?

Mrs. Orr.

Why, nothing, nothing at all. My dear, this is
Really ridiculous. If it were old
And there were cobwebs here and musty walls
And rumors had come down of some old crime
But with the timber, every stick of it
Fresh from the forest, you might almost say
Picked from your very garden, a pure bloom,
Fashioned and shaped by your own husband's hand:
How any one could fancy such a thing
Is past my comprehension.

(A medley of voices is heard, forward right)

Mrs. Egerton.

Here they come.

A Voice.

Cover his eyes, some of you.

Mrs. Egerton.

Let's not be seen.

(She starts back for the door, centre right)

Mrs. Orr.

But we can't talk in there.

Mrs. Egerton.

I'll slip away.

(They go out centre right. Amid laughter and a confusion of voices Ralph Ardsley and a fellow-townsman enter forward right leading Governor Braddock, whose eyes are blindfolded. Following these come Donald Egerton, General Chadbourne, Bishop Hardbrooke, members of the Governor's staff in uniform, and other guests)

Governor Braddock.

You'll pay for this, gentlemen, you'll pay for this.

Ralph Ardsley.

Further, Great Master?

(Egerton points back toward the centre of the hall. Himself and the group about him remain more in the foreground)

Egerton.

That will do.

(They remove the handkerchief from the Governor's eyes)

Governor Braddock.

Hi yi!

Ralph Ardsley.

You see you wake in Paradise.

First Guest.

Didn't expect it?

(Laughter)

Bishop Hardbrooke.

Your incorruptible administration.

First Staff Member.

You mean to tell us that you planned all this?

Egerton.

No, I conceived it, Weston; it's alive
As I hope to show you. But more of that anon.

(Calls back to the Governor)

Does it meet your expectations?

Staff Members.

(Who have gone rear)

Splendid! Splendid!

Fellow-Townsman.

And in the second story he's got his mill.

Second Staff Member.

(To Egerton)

You don't have strikes up there?

Governor Braddock.

Well, Egerton,
This is the grandest thing I ever saw.

Egerton.

I made my mind up, Braddock, years ago
That when I'd sawed my fortune out of lumber
I'd build a mansion where a man could see
Just how I'd done it, starting with the raw,
The standing timber, every phase of it;
A sort of record of these busy times:
For they won't last forever, these great days.

General Chadbourne.

We never see the giants till they're gone.

Bishop Hardbrooke.

The day will come when we'll appreciate them.

Ralph Ardsley.

Three cheers for one of them.

Guests.

Hurrah! Hurrah!

Egerton.

(Goes back a little, the group following him, and points right rear)

Back there you see the swamper clearing brush,
Man's first assault upon primeval forests.
And then the feller with his broader stroke
Hewing a way for apple trees and cities,
And incidentally moving on himself.
And here you see my teams. And, by the way,
They talk of how the horse has followed man
In his march across the ages, but the tree
That sheltered the lost saurian, think of that!

Governor Braddock.

You must have been a tree in some past life;
You seem to love them so and understand them.

Egerton.

There's nothing in this world so beautiful
As a pine forest, gentlemen, just at dawn;
The infant breathing of a million needles.
It's like our organ, Bishop, those soft tones.

(Comes forward)

Bishop Hardbrooke.

He ought to have lived in old cathedral days.

Egerton.

And here the rising rollways; then the drive,
The river man.

(Points across left)

Governor Braddock.

Come out to get a view,
A broader view.

Third Staff Member.

You had men pose for this?

Egerton.

I'm following the tree.

Fourth Staff Member.

That fellow's face.

Egerton.

These 'broader views' don't interest me much.

Governor Braddock.

And you think this idea's capable of extension?

Egerton.

How do you mean?

General Chadbourne.

(Returning from a word with the Butler, to Ardsley who comes to meet him)

I don't see what's the matter.

Governor Braddock.

A while ago you said——

Ralph Ardsley.

O it's all right.

Governor Braddock.

You were the first Captain of Industry
In all America to build a house.
That has a meaning in it.

Egerton.

That's what I said;
That has the least relation to the land.

Ralph Ardsley.

This snow you'll see will bring them to their senses.

Governor Braddock.

Suppose you'd made your fortune out of copper?

First Staff Member.

Yes, we all build our houses out of timber.

Second Staff Member.

Or cotton?

Guests.

Ha, ha, ha!

Ralph Ardsley.

Or oil?

Several.

Yes.

Ralph Ardsley.

How would you spiritualize the oil business?

Egerton.

Ardsley here wants to quote me in his paper.

General Chadbourne.

The Lumber King upon the late decision.

Egerton.

It's Art, not rebates, that I'm speaking of.
Couldn't I show my derricks on the walls?
And back there red-skins striking fire from flint?
Then our forefathers with their tallow-dips
Watching the easy drills slip up and down?
The tanks here—Ah, you laugh, you dilettanti.
I'll tell you gentlemen what the trouble is:
You're frightened by our natural resources,
And you despise the life of your own land,
The crude, tremendous life we're living here.
The force is too much for you. You want polish.
O I can prove it to you.

Ralph Ardsley.

Now you'll get it.

Egerton.

Yes, Braddock, there's that Capitol Commission.
I'd be ashamed.

Governor Braddock.

I knew 'twould come.

Egerton.

And we
Breathing the electric air of this great West,
As rich in life as timber, herds and hops,
Wheat fields and mines, and all these things to be
Raised and translated by the brains of men.
Think of a State dotted with lumber camps
And buzzing day and night with saws and saws,
And as far as the North Pole from old world customs,
Wearing a capitol with Grecian columns
With an old Roman Justice on her comb!
You'd scorn to come here in a gaberdine
Made by some dago in the days of Pompey.
And yet you dress the State up in these things.
No independence.

Ralph Ardsley.

Governor?

First Staff Member.

Call the troops!

Egerton.

I'd rather cut the timber of this land
And coin its spirit in a thing like this
Than be a Roman Cæsar.

Ralph Ardsley.

About This Book

ACT III

THE MANSION