Herman Heijermans

“ Clementine.
[Sobbing.] Come Marietje, be calm; get up.
Truus.
On his first voyage. And so brave; as he stood there, waving, when the ship— [Sobs loudly.]
Bos.
It can’t be helped, Truus. It is a visitation. There hasn’t been a storm like that in years. Think of Hengst with four children, and Jacob and Gerrit—And, although it’s no consolation, I will hand you your boy’s wages today, if you like. Both of you go home now and resign yourselves to the inevitable—take her with you—she seems——
Marietje.
[With trembling sobs.] I don’t want to go home. I want to die, die——
Clementine. ”

“ In Ora et Labora Heijermans is less rhetorical; rather, one suspects, for lack of a mouthpiece. His peasants bear their fate, if not in silence, with almost inarticulate resignation. They are too hungry to waste words. Moreover, there is no visible enemy to denounce, no Coat of Mail, no racial prejudice, no insatiate capitalism. Winter is the villain of the piece. This is indeed naturalism, in the literal sense; humanity devoured by Nature. Everything is frost-bound: the canal, the soil, the very cattle. The barges are idle. There is no work and no warmth. ”

“ Impossible to redress the balance by individual virtue or kindliness. The masters stand for the exploiting system; for capital, for insurance, for power, for law and order and possession. Their risks are less and their temptations greater. Even from the standpoint of abstract justice, a dishonest employer may fairly be set against a drunken labourer or a gaol-bird fisherman. The one is no less natural than the other. But Heijermans goes beyond all finicking considerations of this sort. He seeks to destroy and rebuild, not to repair or adjust. He avoids mere naturalism ”

“ There is no disputing the point, since truth and falsehood are absolute terms. Perhaps the secret is that Heijermans never tires of his own philosophy. He is content to see it firmly planted on the ground; he does not demand that it should walk the tight-rope or turn somersaults as an intellectual exercise. He has accepted a view of life which some call materialistic, and others positivist, or scientific, or humanitarian; but for him it is simply humane,—founded upon social justice and human need.
A philosophy, however, does not make a dramatist. ”

“ Old Cobus can only reflect, “We take the fishes, and God takes us.” That is perhaps the most dramatic thread of all,—the parallel of fate. The struggle for existence on land drives men to the fishing-boats and the [14] Dogger Bank. From the minnows to leviathan, there is no escape. “We take the fishes, and God takes us.” A gale of wind and rain whistles through the play, sweeping the decks of life, tossing men out into the unknown.
Let us turn to the social standpoint. The ship-owner, Bos, is frankly a villain. He knows “The Good Hope” is unseaworthy, but he allows her to sail. ”

“ Geert.
That’ll do. We don’t care for your stories, Meneer. You have become a rich man, and a tyrant. Good!—you are perhaps no worse than the rest, but don’t interfere with me in my own house. My father was a different sort. We may all become different, and perhaps my son may live to see the day when he will come, as I did, twelve years ago, crying to the office, to ask if there’s any news of his father and his two brothers! and not find their employer sitting by his warm fire and his strong box, drinking grog. ”

“ Jo.
[Laughing.] Tipsy herring, I would like to see that!
Bos.
[Laughing.] She doesn’t believe it, Kneir! We know better! Eh, what!
Kneir.
Ach—it’s no joking matter, Meneer, that miserable bad boy talks as if—as if—I had forgotten my husband—and my good Josef—and—and—but I have not. [Ends in low sobbing.]
Jo.
Come, foolish woman! please, Aunty dear!—Good-for-nothing Torment!
Bos.
Don’t cry, Kneir! Tears will not restore the dead to life——
Kneir.
No, Meneer—I know that, Meneer. Next month it will be twelve years since the Clementine went down. ”

“ In despair, Rose throws herself into the canal and is drowned. Rafael comes too late to save her. The God of the Jews has taken his revenge.
The play is perhaps a little naïve and crudely imagined, but it has all the essential characteristics of Heijermans’ later work; the intense humanitarian feeling, the burning rhetoric, the frankly partisan denunciation of society. Indeed, it could not be otherwise. In dealing with such a case of bigotry and racial intolerance, it is idle for a playwright to hold the scales with abstract justice. ”

“ In a more merciful mood it sends children running through the village to cry “’n Ball op! ’n Ball op!” as an overdue ship is signalled from the coastguard tower. And there an echo of the sea-ballad now and again; when raps are heard upon the door at the height of the storm, or a flapping curtain blows out the lamp, or a pallid face is seen at the window ....
In sheer force of theatrical construction “The Good Hope” is still more striking. There are great moments, finely conceived. The play is full of natural rather than violent coincidence. ”

“ The ship is well insured ....
It is implied, then, that shipowners are unscrupulous scoundrels, and fishermen their unhappy victims. Here is a bias which makes the actual tragedy no more impressive. Good ships, as well as bad, may perish in a storm. Nature is cruel enough without the help of man. The problem of the big fish and the little fish is one of size, not of morality. Even sharks may possibly rejoice in an amiable temperament. It can only be said that Heijermans has here chosen the right motive for his own particular type of drama. His sympathy is with the fishermen. ”

“ I have pity for you, for your mean existence, for your ghettos and your little false gods—for the true God is yet to come, the God of the new community; the commonwealth without gods, without baseness, without slaves! ”

“ Never a buoy, or a hatch, washed ashore. Nothing more, nothing. You can’t realize it at first, but after so many years one can’t recall their faces any more, and that’s a blessing. For hard it would be if one remembered. Now, I’ve told my story. Every sailor’s wife has something like this in her family, it’s not new. Truus is right: “The fish are dearly paid for.” Are you crying, Miss?
Clementine.
[Bursting out.] God! If any ships should go down tonight.
Kneirtje.
We are all in God’s hands, and God is great and good.
Jo.
[Springing up wildly.] Ships go down! Ships go down! The one howls. ”

“ Nature, in fact, proved too strong for naturalism. No formula could embrace all the individual playwrights of that stormy time. The most catholic of “schools” could not hold them.
Formulas, however, die hard; and it is still necessary to free Heijermans from the “naturalistic” label so conveniently attached in 1890 to works like Tolstoy’s “Power of Darkness,” Hauptmann’s Vor Sonnenaufgang and Zola’s “Therèse Raquin.” All that his plays have in common with theirs is a faithful observation of life, and more particularly of life among the common people. ”

“ Who walks with hands covered with salt sores,—without water to wash face or hands? Who sleep like beasts two in a bunk? Who leave wives and mothers behind to beg alms? Twelve head of us are presently going to sea—we get twenty-five per cent of the catch, you seventy-five. We do the work, you sit safely at home. Your ship is insured, and we—we can go to the bottom in case of accident—we are not worth insuring——
Kneir.
[Soothing.] Geert! Geert! Geert!
Bos.
That’s an entertaining lad! You should be a clown in a circus! Twenty-seven per cent isn’t enough for him——
Geert. ”

“ Ready, Cobus?
Cob.
If you’ll only be careful! Good night, all! [Both exit.]
Jo.
Jesus! Don’t sit around so solemn! Let’s talk, then we won’t think of anything.
Marietje.
Last night was stormy, too, and I had such a bad dream. It was so awful.
Clementine.
Foolish girl! Dreams are not real.
Marietje.
I can’t rightly say it was a dream. There was a rap on the window, once. I lay still. Again a rap, then I got up. Nothing to be seen. Nothing. Soon as I lay down there came another rap, so. [Raps on the table with her knuckles.] And then I saw Mees, his face was pale, pale as—God! Oh, God! ”

“ Barend has always feared death by drowning, and he makes his first and last voyage in a leaky trawler. His father sank in a wreck, and it is his mother, unable to maintain the household, who persuades him to go. She fears the disgrace of his refusal after the papers are signed, but he is dragged aboard by the harbour police. His brother Geert sets out proudly enough, singing the Marseillaise and preaching rebellion; but he sinks far away, impotent, unheard, and leaves his sweetheart to bear a fatherless child. ”

“ Jo.
No.
Geert.
Good, not another drop. Is there any tobacco?
Jo.
God!—I’m glad to see you cheerful again. Yes, there’s some tobacco left—in the jar.
Geert.
That’s good. Fine! Is that my old pipe?
Jo.
I saved it for you.
Geert.
Who did you flirt with, while I sat——
Jo.
[Merrily.] With Uncle Cobus!
Geert.
You women are all trash. [Fills his pipe; smokes.] Haven’t had the taste in my mouth for half a year. This isn’t tobacco; [Exhales.] tastes like hay—Bah! The gin stinks and the pipe stinks.
Jo.
Eat something first——
Geert. ”

“ Geert.
All Gammon! Begin again, Jelle. Why the devil! Let’s use the Dutch words we’ve got for it.
[Jelle begins again. Geert roars.]
“Arise men, brothers, all united!
Arise burgers, come join with us!
Your wrongs, your sorrows be avenged”—
[51]
Bos.
[Who has stood at the open window listening during the singing, yells angrily.] What’s going on here? [Scared hush over all.] Damn it! It’s high time you were all on board! [Goes off furious.]
Kneir.
[After a long pause.] Oh—Oh—how he scared me—he! he!
Jo.
What’s the matter with him?
Mees. ”

“ Ach, Miss, life on the sea is no tale. Nothing between yourself and eternity but the thickness of a one-inch plank. It’s hard on the men, and hard on the women. Yesterday I passed by the garden of the Burgomaster. They sat at table and ate cod from which the steam was rising, and the children sat with folded hands saying grace. ”

“ Yes, if it hadn’t been for Harlemmer oil I might not have been a widow. I could marry again!
Clementine.
How odd!
Jo.
You must hear her talk. Come, drink faster!
Saart.
I’m full to the brim! What are you staring at Kneir? That’s just the wind. Now, then, my man was a comical chap. Never was another like him. I’d bought him a knife in a leather sheath, paid a good price for it too, and when he’d come back in five weeks and I’d ask him: “Jacob, have you lost your knife?” he’d say, “I don’t know about my knife—you never gave me a knife.” ”

“ Kneir.
We poor people are surely cursed—rain—rain—the crops had to rot—they couldn’t be saved—and so we go into the winter—the cruel winter—Ach,—Ach,—Ach!
Jo.
There! You’re worrying again. Come, Mother, laugh. Am I ever sad? Geert may return at any moment. ”

“ She invades the study to enjoy a view of sunlight, clouds and sea. She finds the waves more musical than the wheezing of the church organ. If only the child were with her, her happiness would be complete. ”

“ On board I’m a sailor—I’m the skipper here. Such a topsy turvy! A ship owner layin’ down the law; don’t do this and don’t do that! Boring his nose through the window when you don’t sing to suit him.
Bos.
For my part, sing, but a sensible sailor expecting to marry ought to appreciate it when his employer is looking out for his good. Your father was a thorough good man. Did he ever threaten his employer? You young fellows have no respect for grey hairs.
Geert.
Respect for grey hairs? By thunder, yes! for grey hairs that have become grey in want and misery——
Bos. ”

“ For naturalism is like a prison courtyard; it offers only two ways of escape. One is the poet’s upward flight, the other the revolutionist’s battering-ram. Heijermans has chosen his own weapon, and used it well. ”

“ God takes us and we take the fish. On the fifth day He created the Sea, great whales and the moving creatures that abound therein, and said: “Be fruitful,” and He blessed them. That was evening and that was morning, that was the fifth day. And on the sixth day He created man and said also: “Be fruitful,” and blessed them. That was again evening and again morning, that was the sixth day. No, now, don’t laugh. You must think. When I was on the herring catch, or on the salting voyage, there were times when I didn’t dare use the cleaning knife. ”

“ The child is dead, but Life remains. Its body lies in unconsecrated ground, but the vows of love are renewed at the graveside. The Church can only crush its own slaves. All roads are open to the spirits of the free. The pastor can [12] only offer a hopeless “Farewell” as the two set out upon their way. But Rita calls after, “No,—no! You will come over to us.”
It matters nothing that this gospel of Life has often been preached. Heijermans has caught the spirit of it as well as the letter. ”

“ He works in vivid contrasts, without a shade of paradox. He figures the opposed forces of Reaction and Revolution in religion, in statecraft, in economics, in all human relationships, with a simplicity of mind which would draw a smile from the forever up-to-date “intellectual.” Reaction is a devilish superstition; Revolution a prophetic angel pointing the way to the promised land. ”

“ I’ll never eat salted codfish from your generosity! Our whole share is in “profit and loss.” When luck is with us we each make eight guilders a week, one guilder a day when we’re lucky. One guilder a day at sea, to prepare salt fish, cod with livers for the people in the cities—hahaha!—a guilder a day—when you’re lucky and don’t go to the bottom. You fellows know what you’re about when you engage us on shares.
[Old and young heads of fishermen appear at the window.]
A Voice.
Are you coming? [Bos is politely greeted.]
[57]
Geert. ”