Bronson Howard

“ But every loyal son of Virginia will follow her flag. It is our religion!
KERCHIVAL. My State is New York. If New York should go against the old flag, New York might go to the devil. That is my religion.
ELLINGHAM. So differently have we been taught what the word "patriotism" means!
KERCHIVAL. You and I are officers in the same regiment of the United States Regular Army, Robert; we were classmates at West Point, and we have fought side by side on the plains. You saved my scalp once; I'd have to wear a wig, now, if you hadn't. I say, old boy, are we to be enemies? ”

“ His crime and his disgrace are buried in a distant grave.
EDITH. And you have not forgiven him, even yet?
MRS. HAVERILL. Is there no atonement for poor Frank's sin—not even his death? Can you only bury the wrong and forget the good?
HAVERILL. The good?
MRS. HAVERILL. Your own words to the Government, as his commander!
HAVERILL. What do you mean?
MRS. HAVERILL. "The victory of Cedar Creek would have been impossible without the sacrifice of this young officer."
HAVERILL. My own words, yes—but—
EDITH. "His name must take its place, forever, in the roll of names which his countrymen honour." ”

“ BUCKTHORN. What the devil! [BARKET salutes quickly and starts up stage and out. BUCKTHORN moves up after him; stops at post. BARKET stops in road.
BARKET. So did ould Margery.
BUCKTHORN. March! [Angrily. BARKET salutes suddenly, and exits.] Heartsease! That young jackanapes! A mere fop; he'll never make a soldier. My girl in love with—bah! I don't believe it; she's too good a soldier, herself.
[Enter HAVERILL, on veranda.]
Ah, Haverill!
HAVERILL. General Buckthorn! Have you heard anything of General
Sheridan since I sent that despatch to him last evening? ”

“ It is only when the school goes on blindly without seeing a change in the popular taste that the occasional man I have spoken of comes on. When the work of the school is legitimately in line with the public taste, the merely eccentric dramatist is like Lord Dundreary's bird with a single feather that goes in a corner and flocks all by itself. He may be a strong enough man to attract attention to his individuality, and his plays may be really great in themselves, but his work has little influence on the development of the art. ”

“ GERTRUDE. I was doing nothing of the kind, sir!—let me finish, please. You Northern men are so slow to believe that our Southern heroes—Northern men and Southern heroes—you recognize the distinction I make—you won't believe that they will keep their promises. They have sworn to attack Fort Sumter this morning, and—they—will do it. This "American Flag" you talk of is no longer our flag: it is foreign to us!—It is the flag of an enemy! ”

“ GERTRUDE. You are to be mine again, Jack, mine! [Resting her cheek against the horse's head and patting it.] The Colonel has promised it to me.
KERCHIVAL. Ah! [With a start, as he reads the paper. GERTRUDE raises her head and looks at him.] This is General Sheridan's horse, on his way to Winchester, for the use of the General when he returns from Washington.
GERTRUDE. General Sheridan's horse? He is mine!
KERCHIVAL. I have no authority to detain him. He must go on.
GERTRUDE. I have hold of Jack's bridle, and you may order your men to take out their sabres and cut my hand off. ”

“ BARKET. Well!—yer honour, I'm a bachelor, meself; and I'm not familar with the jayography of the sex. We byes are in mortal terror for fear somebody might order us to go on an exploring expedition.
KERCHIVAL. Tell them to send the prisoner here, Barket, and hurry to
Buckton's Ford yourself, at once.
BARKET. As fast as me horse can carry me, sir, and it's a good one. [Exit.
KERCHIVAL. I'd rather deal with half the Confederate Army than with one woman, but I must question her. They captured her down by the Bend in Oak Run. [Taking out map; looks at it.] ”

“ HEARTSEASE. Lieutenant Bedloe, General, of my own troop, and one of our best officers. [HAVERILL steps to FRANK, looking into his face a moment.
HAVERILL. Pardon me! [Stepping down stage. FRANK moves up, stops and looks back at him. HAVERILL stands a moment in thought, covers his face with one hand, then draws up.] Colonel West! We have a most dangerous piece of work for a young officer— [FRANK starts joyfully.] —to lead a party of men, whom I have already selected. I cannot order an officer to undertake anything so nearly hopeless; he must be a volunteer. ”

“ Frankie isn't a baby any longer; he's a man, now, and he has to wear a man's clothes. [Holding up a little pair of trousers, with maternal pride.] He's rather young to be dressed like a man, but I want Frank to grow up as soon as possible. I long to have him old enough to understand me when I repeat to him the words in which General Haverill told the whole world how his father died! [Rising.] And yet, even in his official report to the Government, he only honoured him as Lieutenant Bedloe. He has never forgiven his son for the disgrace he brought upon his name. ”

“ FRANK. Long ago! Long ago! You know the wife of General Haverill?
GERTRUDE. I have no dearer friend in the world.
FRANK. She will give a message for me to the dearest friend I have in the world. My little wife! I must not waste even the moment we are waiting. Doctor! My note-book! [Trying to get it from his coat. The SURGEON takes it out. A torn and blood-stained lace handkerchief also falls out. GERTRUDE kneels at his side.] Ah! I—I—have a message from another— [Holding up handkerchief.] —from Captain Heartsease. [JENNY makes a quick start towards him.] ”

“ MRS. HAVERILL. Edith—my child! Frank loved us both.
EDITH. [Reading.] "Father's portrait of her, which she gave to me in
Charleston— [HAVERILL starts.] —helped me to be a better man."
HAVERILL. [Rising to his feet.] Constance!
EDITH. [Reading.] "It was taken from me in Richmond, and it is in the possession of Captain Edward Thornton."
HAVERILL. One moment! Stop! Let me think! [EDITH looks at him; retires up stage.] Thornton was a prisoner—and to Kerchival West. A despatch had been found upon him—he was searched! [He moves to her and takes both her hands in his own, bowing his head over them.] ”

“ To go to Paris to finish your education in dramatic art, and return to New York and make comments on what you see in the theatre, is not to be an American dramatic critic, nor does it tend in any way to found a school of American dramatic criticism. ”

“ As soon as possible after our surrender at Appomattox, I made my way to the Shenandoah Valley. Our home there is utterly deserted. I have hurried down to Washington in the hopes that I might learn something of you. There is no human being about the old homestead; it is like a haunted house—empty, and dark, and solitary. You do not even know where Gertrude is?
BUCKTHORN. We only know that Kerchival was not found among the dead of his own regiment at Cedar Creek, though he fell among them during the fight. The three girls searched the field for him, but he was not there. ”

“ MRS. HAVERILL. Of me!
HAVERILL. I have never been without it one hour, before, since we were married. He will recognize it as the one that I have carried through every campaign, in every scene of danger on the Plains; the one that has always been with me. ”

“ Have you a father living?
FRANK. My—father—is—is—he is—
HAVERILL. I understand you. A mother? Or—
KERCHIVAL. I have the address of Lieutenant Bedloe's friends, General.
HAVERILL. I will ask you to give it to me, if necessary. [Extends his hand.] Good-bye, my lad. [FRANK moves to him. HAVERILL grasps his hand, warmly.] Keep a brave heart and come back to us. [FRANK moves up stage. Exit STAFF OFFICER.
FRANK. He is my father still. [Exit.
HAVERILL. My dead boy's face! [Dropping his face into both hands.
HEARTSEASE. [Apart to KERCHIVAL.] He shall not go alone. ”

“ If my husband should learn what happened in my room to-night, he would kill that man. What encouragement could I have given him? Innocence is never on its guard—but, [Drawing up.] the last I remember before I fell unconscious, he was crouching before me like a whipped cur! [Starts as she looks out of the window.] There is Mr. Thornton now—Ah! [Angrily.] No,—I must control my own indignation. I must keep him and Colonel Haverill from meeting before we leave Charleston. Edward Thornton would shoot my husband down without remorse. But poor Frank! ”

“ CURTAIN. ACT III. SCENE. Same. It is now bright daylight, with sunshine flecking the foreground and bathing the distant valley and mountains. DISCOVERED. JENNY, on low stone post, looking left. As the curtain rises, she imitates Trumpet Signal No. 19 on her closed fists.
JENNY. What a magnificent line! [Looking.] Guides-posts! Every man and every horse is eager for the next command. There comes the flag! [Trumpet Signal without, No. 30.] To the standard! [As the signal begins.] The regiment is going to the front. Oh! I do wish I could go with it. I always do, the moment I hear the trumpets. ”

“ ELLINGHAM. [Laying his hand over his shoulder.] My dear old comrade, whatever else comes, our friendship shall be unbroken!
KERCHIVAL. Bob! [Looking up at him.] I only hope that we shall never meet in battle! ”

“ We Virginians would prevent a war if we could. But your people in the North do not believe that one is coming. You do not understand the determined frenzy of my fellow-Southerners. Look! [Pointing.] Do you see the lights of the city, over the water? The inhabitants of Charleston are gathering, even now, in the gray, morning twilight, to witness the long-promised bombardment of Fort Sumter. It is to be a gala day for them. They have talked and dreamed of nothing else for weeks. The preparations have become a part of their social life—of their amusement—their gayeties. ”

“ Up to the time I started in 1870, American plays had been written only sporadically here and there by men and women who never met each other, who had no personal acquaintance of any kind, no sympathies, no exchange of views; in fact, no means of building up such a body of thought in connection with their art as is necessary to form what is called a school. ”

“ After doing all the unnecessary and useless things I could think of, I rushed out of the room to tell your sister, Gertrude, and my own sister, Madeline, to go and take care of the lady. Within less than twenty minutes afterwards, I saw Mrs. Haverill sail into the drawing-room, a thing of beauty, and with the glow of perfect health on her cheek. It was an immense relief to me when I saw her. Up to that time I had a vague idea that I had committed a murder.
ELLINGHAM. Murder!
KERCHIVAL. M—m. A guilty conscience. Every man, of course, does exactly the wrong thing when a woman faints. ”

“ Pinero undoubtedly saw that the public was tired of the "tea-cup and saucer." Probably had he not thought so, he would have gone on in that school.
Undoubtedly more plays are written to order than are written on the mere impulse of authors, independently of popular demand. The "order" play simply represents the popular demand as understood by managers, and the meeting of that demand in each age produces the great mass of any nation's drama. So far from lowering the standard of dramatic writing, it is a necessary impulse in the development of any drama. ”

“ HAVERILL. [Exchanging salutes with the three officers. He turns to the STAFF OFFICER, giving him a paper and brief instructions in dumb show. The OFFICER goes out over the incline. Another STAFF OFFICER enters, salutes and hands him a paper, then stands up stage.] Ah! The men are ready. [Looking at the paper. Then to KERCHIVAL.] Colonel! I have a very important matter to arrange with you; there is not a moment to be lost. I will ask Captain Heartsease to remain. [FRANK salutes and starts up stage; HAVERILL looks at him, starting slightly; raises his hand to detain him.] ”

“ Every woman's heart, the world over, belongs not to any country or any flag, but to her husband—and her lover. Pray for the man you love, sister—it would be treason not to. [Passes her before him to left. Looks across to GERTRUDE.] Am I right? [GERTRUDE drops her head. MADELINE moves up veranda and out.] Is what I have said to Madeline true? ”

“ HAVERILL. Colonel West! We must make every possible sacrifice for the immediate exchange of Lieutenant Bedloe, if he is still living. It is due to him. Colonel Robert Ellingham is a prisoner in this camp; offer him his own exchange for young Bedloe.
KERCHIVAL. He will accept, of course. I will ride to the front with him myself, General, and show him through the lines.
HAVERILL. At once! [KERCHIVAL crosses front and exit on veranda.
HAVERILL crosses.] Can you follow the despatch, Captain? ”

“ JENNY takes attitude of holding bridle and trotting.] Rappity—plap—plap—plap, etc. [She imitates the motions of a soldier on horseback, stepping down to rock at side of post; thence to ground and about stage, with the various curvettings of a spirited horse. Chorus of soldiers without, with the band. The music becomes more and more distant. JENNY gradually stops as the music is dying away, and stands, listening. As it dies entirely away, she suddenly starts to an enthusiastic attitude.] Ah! If I were only a man! The enemy! ”

“ One often asks why a man, thus so serious and thorough in his approach toward life, should have been so transitorily mannered in his plays, and the reason may be in the very artisan character of his work. Mr. Howard delivered a lecture before the Shakespeare Society of Harvard University, at Sanders Theatre, in 1886 (later given, 1889, before the Nineteenth Century Club, in New York) , and he called it "The Autobiography of a Play." ”

“ To say that an American dramatist is to appear this year or in a thousand years who will make an epoch is simply ridiculous.
That Ibsen exercised and will exercise great influence on American dramatists there can be little doubt. His skill was no mere accident. He was the most finished development of the French school of the nineteenth century, as well as the most highly artificial individual dramatist of that school. I call it the strictly logical school of dramatic construction. I use the word 'artificial' in its more artistic sense, as opposed to the so-called natural school. ”

“ As to the policy of our theatre managers, I confess that they do follow each other; but it is simply because they think the leader they happen to be following has discovered a current of temporary popular taste. The authors have the same interest as the managers, and you will always find them watching the public taste in the same manner.
Occasionally an individual dramatist, and not always the best from a technical point of view, will develop such a strong personal bias as to write on subjects suggested by his own tastes, without any regard to the current of popular wishes. ”