H. A. Overstreet

“ Just that. It’s a grand plan, sir! Keeps the world young. You try it.
PIERROT
Try it? What do you mean? I’m not the sun.
MAN
Ah, but you can be—and starlight and moonlight! How long was it—now tell me—since the thought came to you in the morning—I’ll bring her—I’ll bring her a vi’let? ”

“ Always the same glary light starin’ y’ in the eye—borin’ into your brain—so’s y’ couldn’t shut it out from y’; so’s y’ couldn’t get away from it; so’s y’ couldn’t watch the shadders come stealin’ along, the sun a-settin’ and the twinklin’ stars a-comin’ out—and so’s y’ couldn’t stretch yourself out and sleep—and so’s y’ couldn’t all of a sudden wake and hear the birds chirpin’ and a new day come! Ah, it’s that, sir—it’s the comin’ of the new day that makes life the grand thing it is—the comin’ of the new day every day!
PIERROT (wonderingly)
The coming of the new day every day? ”

“ I tell you when things are like that, something’s got to be done. An artist can’t live that way. Ordinary men can. All they want of their wives is to be cushions—soft—so’s they can go to sleep. Artists are different. They want the sky and all the quivering stars in the sky. When they marry (he makes a grimace) —it’s good-bye to the stars!
MAN (looking at him quizzically)
Did you ever think, sir, why the night was made—with them stars you talk of?
PIERROT
Why was the night made?
MAN
Or why there’s settin’ o’ the sun and risin’ o’ the sun? ”

“ Father can make such beautiful songs. We must not stand in his way, Kittikins—we love him so.
[21] (She goes to the shelf and gets down a sheet of paper, the ink horn and a quill pen—takes them to the table, sits and writes.)
PIERRETTE
We’ll just write this: “Mother Merle—will—take—Kittikins.—She—loves—her.—Good-bye—Sweetheart.” We’ll leave it here.
(She folds it and lays it on the table. She half goes once more to the crib; but she controls herself. Then, as she goes to the door, she half turns, looks at Pierrot’s chair, and sings softly) —
Love comes in, a-tip-toe, laughing ”

“ PIERRETTE (controlling her voice and with her back half turned to him as she goes to the other room)
[13] Oh no, dear; I’ve had lots of tea this afternoon. I’m not hungry. Besides, I’m late with the cleaning up. I’ll be gone only a minute.
(She goes out quickly. Pierrot makes to rise and follow her; then, with a hopeless wave of the hand, sinks back into the chair. He drinks his tea moodily. There is a voice outside) —
“Tins to mend! Tins to mend!”
(A knock at the door and the Tins-to-mend man enters.)
MAN (taking off his cap, half humorously, half apologetically)
Any tins to mend, sir? ”

“ It’s only for a short time—in the beginning—that every day’s a new day. After that it’s just always the same—always the same—and no risin’ o’ the sun in the mornin’—no chirp of birds—and no singin’ in the heart. ”

“ You see—pots and kettles is curious things. Y’ can’t just let ’em set there and be. They rust. That’s what they do. Y’ got t’ keep shinin’ ’em—keep polishin’ ’em up. And they like it, sir—oh, they do! They kinda get a hold on life. And when they hang in your kitchen all bright and happy like, they just seem to sing away like birds. Now you’re a singer, sir—why don’t you make a song about that?
PIERROT ”

“ The texts alone would be of great interest and value, but the author, Barrett H. Clark, has so connected each period by means of inter-chapters that his comments taken as a whole constitute a veritable history of dramatic criticism, in which each text bears out his statements.
Nowhere else is so important a body of doctrine on the subject of the drama to be obtained. It cannot fail to appeal to anyone who is interested in the theater, and will be indispensable to students. ”

“ His anthology will be invaluable to all students of the principles of playmaking; and it ought to be welcomed by all those whose curiosity has been aroused by the frequent references of our latter-day theorists of the theater to their predecessors Aristotle and Horace, Castelvetro and Scaliger, Sidney and Jonson, d’Aubignac and Boileau, Lessing and Schlegel, Goethe and Coleridge.”
Wm. Lyon Phelps, of Yale University, writes: “Mr. Clark’s book, ‘European Theories of the Drama,’ is an exceedingly valuable work and ought to be widely useful.” ”

“ This play is fully protected by the copyright law, all requirements of which have been complied with. No performance, either professional or amateur, may be given without the written permission of the author or his representative, who may be addressed in care of the publishers, Stewart & Kidd Company, Cincinnati, Ohio.
HEARTS TO MEND
The Scene is the living room, dining room and kitchen—all in one—of Pierrot and Pierrette. ”

“ Fantasy in free verse, one act. Thirty minutes. Outdoors. Two women, one man. Present.
These plays, as well as SHORT PLAYS, have been presented by clubs and schools in Boston, New York, Buffalo, Detroit, Cleveland, New Orleans, San Francisco, etc., and by the Portmanteau Theatre, the Chicago Art Institute Theatre, the Denver Little Art Theatre, at Carmel-by-the-Sea in California, etc. ”