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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (March 21, 1920)
THE: OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL,; PORTLAND, . SUNDAY MORNING, MARCH 21, 1920. A Dramatic Omlel Playlet piL f Woodruff xfommoto' PERSONS IN THE PLAX Hie Girl The Man Place A City Time The Present, (Copyright. fT20. Dr. G. W. Johnston) (The tcene is a tawdry, shabby sitting-room in an old- fashioned boarding-house. As the curtain rite a small, slim girl is vaguely teen rummaging in the table drawer. Vext she abstracts a banknote from a dress coat and a crumpled toad of them from a white dress waistcoat, both thrown carelessly over a chair. Throughout all this she is hurried and frightened and works with a breathless intensity. Finally she dislodges a cane, propped against the wall, and it falls to the floor with a bang. Panic stricken she darts hither and thither, seeking a way of 'escape, but there is none except through the doorway, "beyond which movement is audible. In her desperation the switches off the lamp and crouches behind the table. J. moment later the lights- flash on and a man is visible, standing beside the doorway. He wears dress trousers, a white shirt and has a white neck-scarf loosely knotted about his neck. He holds: a revolver. At the sight the girl gasps and cowers on the floor. Detecting her pres ence the man levels his revolver at her hiding place. i -cv c xr?7SNtJL3t?i-ea man The i ''Come out of that! or I'll fire!" M rAN Come out of that! Quick, or I'll fire. (The girl clam- bers ta her feet and stands behind the table, a picture of shame and terror. Stares at the girl in astonishment. Then lowers his pistol with a laugh.) Well, If it isn't a Skirt! (As the man approaches her the girl, watching her chance, dodges around the table in an effort to run past him and escape through the door. Qovers her with his pistol.) Halt! No monkey business! Up with your hands! (The girl lifts her hands awkwardly and only partially.) "Way up! That's the stuff! Now come here where I can get a good look at you! (The girl approaches him slowly and affrightedly. As he starts to search her with his left hand, still keeping her covered with the revolver in his right, she flinches and draws back.) Keep still! Safety first, you know. Got such a thing as a gun on you? OIRLi ( shiveringly ) No! Take yours away, please! It scares me! MAN (lowers his gun, steps back a pace or two and looks her over from head to heel. His eyes are cold and cruel. There is always on his lips a faint, satirical smile. He speaks with a suave sarcasm) Too bad! Never saw a gun before and It frightened her. Poor little thing. GIRL (swaying from fright and exhaustion) May I take my hands down now? They're tired. MAN I guess so. (He takes her chin in his hand and turns her face abruptly to the light.) I've seen you somewhere. Where? GIRL On the stairs, most likely. I live on the top floor. MAN You do? What's your name? GIRL (sinks into a chair beside the table. Faintly) It's Jessie Jessie Dean. MAN Jessie Dean? (With a shrug of his shoulders and a smile.) Well, T suppose that'll do as well as any other name. But how did you get in here, Jessie Dean? Tell me that! GIRL The door was unlocked. MAN (starts and searches his pockets hastily. Finding his door key therein he holds it up smilingly) You're right! I But look here, Jessie! What did you come here for? It's two o'clock in the morning. Rather late for a neighborly call, don't you think? GIRL (shoots a swift, stealthy glance at the man over her shoul der. Hfoistening her dry lips she mutters) I made a mis take going up to my room in the dark. I was tired dazed. MAN (seated lazily on the table edge he picks up one after an other mich small objects as He upon it and passes them through his hands, seeminp unconsciously to weigh, meas- ure and test them. He speaks with a sham seriousness) Dazed? Dazed? I guess that's what was the matter with tne when got home last night forgetting to lock my own door. But don't tell me you'd been boozing, Jessie! A nice girl like you! I wouldn't believe it! (He switches on the table lamp and tilts the shade so as to throw its " light full upon the girl. He looks her over cynically.) You come from the coimtry, don't you, Jessie? GIRL (nods her head wearily) Yes.; . MAN T .hough t so. Dazed! ""just a little country June bug, bumbling and buzzing' around and butting into the wrong places in the dtrk! You lookUke a June bug. Jessie plain brown all over; brown dress, brown hat,' brown- ' GIRL (swings about in her chair and facet him with quivering lips and trembling hands) Don't make fun of me! Don't! MAN (quickly and harshly) Then tell me the truth! You don't expect me to swallow that dope you're feeding me, do you? Come! GIRL, (distractedly) Oh, stop tormenting me! Let me go, won't you? Please! . MAN Not much. (He points to some odds and ends of papers which the girl in her hasty search of the table drawer had scattered on the floor.) You've been frisking my things, what were you after? SOIL (flames out defiantly) I wanted money! I had to have it had to! MAN But why did you pick me out? .Why did you come in here? That's what I want to know. GIRL Yours was the first door I found unlocked going upstairs. I was dazed, I tell you desperate! I'd been down at the river. I stood on the dock, I don't know how long! I don't know how long I stood there the black water the stars shining in it! (She shudders and covers her face with her r hands.) But I lost my nerve. I couldn't do It couldn't! MAN (in mock sympathy) You? Sure not! What would be the use? Take it from me, Jessie, so long as a girl is young and pretty 'there's nothing in this drowning business not a, thing! uiRL (passionately) There's not a thing in living not for me! I can't get work. I'm hungry! Do you know what it is to be hungry to have something burning Inside of you night and 'day gnawing, gnawing, gnawing at you like a dog? Do you know what it Is to have no place to go do you no place to go? MAN You 'said you lived upstairs. GIRL I lied. I couldn't pay my rent I was put out last night. (Her arms fall hopelessly upon the table and she buries her face in them.) Oh, if I could only go back go home! But I'm ashamed! I couldn't face them! A failure a good-for-nothing that's what I am! And now a thief! Oh, what a fool I was! Oh, if I'd never come away! MAN (a slight pause ensues. Then the man leans over the table and looks the girl straight in the eye; Just about at the end of your string, Jessie? Is that it? GIRL At the end of my string! (Then suddenly she breaks out with passionate fervor.) How lonesome I've been! How lonesome and miserable I've been In the dark with the lights- ights? GIRL (rises from her chair and stares into vacancy, as though fas cinated by the vision that con fronts her) I could see them from my window. I couldn't stay in bed with them spark ling over thereover the tops of the houses like diamonds! Many and many a night I've sat there fn the dark, looking at them the whole sky bright bright! MAN (cuts in swiftly, tensely) I get you! It's the white lights, you mean. And I know what you are thinking about, sitting there in your room what was fretting your heart out! Why were you up under the roof, in the dark, in the cold, nailed down to some old rickety chair? That's what you were thinking about! That's what was fret ting you! While other girls were right down in the lights, all dolled up, cabaret sup pers, fox-trotting, maybe GIRL No, no! Not that! It wasn't that! MAN Then it was something mighty like it. (He walks deliber ately around her, scrutinizing her from head to heel, ap praising her, like a slave-dealer.) And you, as good a looker as any of them! Hard luck! Hard luck! (His man nelr changes completely. His gaze softens. His tones be come hushed, soothing. His touch is gentle, reassuring, as he lays a hand on each of her shoulders and holds her off at arm's length, looking directly into er eyes.) Poor little June bug! You never had much fun, did you? Just blew in from the country and bumped your head against the city and then nearly fell into the river! It's a mean trick fhe city plays on girls like you! (He draws her closer To him. She flutters, trying to pull away. But his compelling eyes never for an instant lose touch with hers, and ,.is voice flows on, soft, cajoling.) Poor little kid! Wanted pretty clothes like other girls; wanted good times like other girls and couldn't get 'em. But never mind, girlie! The end of the world isn't due to-night! The white lights will burn just as bright to-morrow night as they do now brighter, maybe. Don't worry! Your chance will come. GIRL 4Iy chance? What do you mean? MAN There are plenty of. dresses in the shops, lots prettier than this one ever was. There are slippers, Just your size, with high heels and with silver buckles on them, and the cutest little hats, one for every day in the week. GIRL (wistfully, with trembling hands' and sparkling eyes) You mean? What do you mean? How when will my chance come? MAN (earnestly, gravely) Tell me, sister! What would you do to live easy and sleep soft? What would you do to get all you wanted to eat and drink : all the clothes you wanted to wear the real stuff; all you wanted, mind you, and then some? GIRL Ob! Don't ask me! MAN What would you do what wouldn't you do to be quit of the river to be quit of it for keeps? GIRL (shudders and covers her face with her hands) Tell mt how! Tell me what to do! MAN But would you do it? Think! GIRL Yes! Tell me! Anything! MAN (stretches out his right hand and holds it flat, lack upward. His speech grows quicker, crisper. He closes his eyes and turns his head aside, 81 though to concentrate his whole attention to the sense of feeling) Touch my hand with" your fingers! (The girl, surprised, curious, hesitates a moment, then does as she has been told.) No, no! That won't do! Lighter! Just the tips! S o! That's more like It! (He takes a piece of string from the table, ties a knot in it and holds it out to her.) Untie that knot! T'L (as she undoes the knot quickly ant dexter ously the man critically studies every move ment of her hands. She is eager, anxious for praise) There! It's untied! See! But what's all this about? I don't understand. MAN Wait! (He takes from his pocket a neck lace of showy pearls, fondles it daintily, end holds it up before the girTs- eyes J See that! . Fasten it around my neck! " GIRL Oh! Isn't it beautiful beautiful! (She steps behind him and clasps it about his ' neck.) MAN Now, listen! I want you to unclasp It. If . you can do it without my feeling it, without . , my knowing it I'll give It to you! GfRL (starts back, amazed) To met YouH give' that necklace to me? 1 Why? Why will you? , (O 1920, Intern tloaal Feature Berriet, lae. No one ever gave me anything like that. No one ever spoke to . me no one ever treated me as you do. MAN (pats her hand lightly, closes his eyes and turns his head to one side) Now! (The girl quickly and eagerly steps behind him and unfastens the necklace.) MAN (good-humoredly) Rotten, sis- j ter! Rotten! You almost jarred ' me off fny feet! ( The girl clasps i and unclasps the necklace once , more.) MAN Worse! GIRL I'll never be able to do it! Never! MAN Forget it! I caught onto your I hands the minute you held them up. And I know! If anybody does, I do! Once more! GIRL (when she has again unclasped ) the necklace she peeps anxiously about to ascertain if he has j noticed. He has not, but stands I motionless, his , eyes shut, his I head turned to one side, wait- 1 ing. The girl thereupon tiptoes around in front of him and n hold the string of pearls up be fore his eyes, proudly, with a gay little laugh) There! I've : done it! I always was quick with my fingers. They used to ; say at home MAN (in good-natured banter) Don't be too cocky, -girlie! You're in the kindergarten yet. You've got to learn how to unhook the goods so you can do it in the dark. You've got to learn to do it so fine that it won't even , rustle a cobweb. You've got to learn to pass 'em to me with a . hundred guys looking on, may be. Oh, it's a great game, sis ter! Beats jumping in the river all to death. But 111 have to work on you a month before I dare put you on the job. GIRL (she speaks thoughtfully, in a ! low tone) The Job? Where? MAN Why, the opera. Peacock Alley, cabarets everywhere every i where they've got "Welcome" on the doormat and the dames doll ' up and go. Re yawns and j stretches himself lazily.) Of all i the nuts in this crazy world they're the worst the dames! They'd tie a string of millstones around their necks if they cost as much as diamonds and , aie nappy trying to lug 'em about! (His manner changes abruptly. He takes the girl's hands in his.) Do you get me? GIRL (hesitatingly) Yes! I get you! MAN And you're wise to what the job is? (The girl nods her bowed head.) MAN (gently raises her chin so as to compel her to look at him) And are you game? GIRL (mutteringly) I used to think I used to belie ve--that stealing! (A slight pause. Then she grips the man by the arms and breaks out passionately.) But I can't go'back up stairs, and wait, and wait and starve! I want my chance! Give it to me! Yes; I'm game! " (The man gently takes the necklace from her hand, quietly steps behind her and clasps it about her neck. Softly, insidiously his arms steal around her. With a momentary tremor she closes her eyes and ' lays her head on his breast, awaiting the desired, the ex pected kiss. The man bends his head to give it, when, sud denly, the girl starts violently, pushes him away, and) stands, her body tense, listening.) GIRL What's that? MAN What? (Jerks his revolver from his pocket. But the terror, the awe in her voice freeze him. He stands rooted to the spot. His hand, clutching the pistol, hangs poised in midair. Finally he breaks out in fretful irritation.) What do you hear? Tell me! (A- slight pause ensues.) Can't you talk? What is it? GIRL (in a tense whisper) A drum! (Xow, at last, it is audible the beating of a bass drum distant, -dull, monotonous.) MAN (relieved)-r-A drum? What of It? GIRL (her eyes veer to th$ window. She is puzzled, a little frightened) I don't know! She starts to run Toward the window. The man tries-to detain her. She pulls away from his clutch.) I must know! (She reaches the window, and as she pulls the curtains aside dawn hot and breath less enters the room, stealing the color from it, dimming the lights and aging the face of the man.) MAN (brutally) Come back here! Don't you hear me? GIRL Ob, I see! It's the Salvation Army. They're marching 1 "But I can't go back upstairs and wait and starve! I want my chance! Give it to me I Yes, I'm game!" 4 1 i - Jiij 5 "V "The drum is calling us to III 'Hm i h ","u-te God-" V; , Great Brltala Bigbtt Beaerfcd. MAN (sulkily, bitterly) The guys! Can you beat it? Aren't they a scream, banging on that fool drum? GIRL (leaves the window and approaches him) But it isn't the drum alone! Listen! MAN I can't hear anything else nothing but that infernal drum! (He stop abruptly. He -breathes with painful ef fort. Into his eyes comes a look of terrified astonishment.) I don't know what's the matter with me! It deafens me! It's beating here-like a great heart! GIRL (stands gazing affrightedly about her) But there's some thing else something besides the drum! I can't malte out what where! I'm frightened! It's fn this room! It's in the air! MAN (his face is contorted, his tones are harsh) It's the drum, I tell you! It'll drive me crazy! (He strides to the win dow and shouts through it.) Shut up, out there! GIRL (trying to drag him back from the window) Don't. Don't! You don't know vhat you're saying! Listen! Can't you hear it nowt The whole air quivers with it! (She pauses. She ' crosses her hands on her breast and lifts her eyes rever ently.) It's like the flutter of many wings. It's like the rushing of great waters. It's like the thunder in the hills. MAN" (wheels suddenly and cowers as though a. thunderbolt had crashed down beside him. Aghast, he creeps across the, room, his head sunk between his shoulders, his hands up raised, if to fend off some stupendous force) I bear it! I hear it now! It's a mighty VOICE speaking In the drum! (Shuddering, he clutches at his breast.) 'It's got me got me here my heart, my soul that nothing else could touch! The VOICE is calling! It's speaking to me!, (As though palsied, he sinks into a chair, staring unseeingly before him his next words seem to flow uncon sciously from his lips in tones that are low pitched, almost chanting.) "The wages of sin is death. But if thou repent and turn from thy wicked ways, lo, thy sins, though they be scarlet, shall be purged, and thou shalt surely live." (As these words are snoken the alrl stands mute hfr limn A bent, her face hidden in her hands.) MAN (springs from his chair and stretches out his hands toward the window, through which is heard, faintly oui comtnuousiy. tne dull, monotonous -beating of the drum. His whole frame is shaking, his voice is impassioned)--Wha.V. You can't mean roe not me a dirty, low down thief, steal ingWrom women to squander what I steal on other women? No! I'm rot ten to the marrow of my bones! (He turns and seizes the girl roughly by the shoulder.) Sde this-girl as weak as water and I drag ging her down, as I have done a dozen others like her! No! You can't mean me! GntL You said my chance would' come. It tia! And yours! Listen! The drum! (She lifts tne nana, hanging inert at his side, and layi in it the money she has stolen from him and the jewels he has clasped about her neck. Then, like a shadow, she crosses the room to the doorway, draws the curtains covering it a little way apart, and, wheeling around to face him, cries excitedly.) The drum is call ing us to salvation to God! MAN (remains motionless, staring at the window, through which the first rays of the sun are now Reaming. Through his heedless lingers the nklace and the roll of money slip un regarded to the floor. The squares his shouU ders and throws back his head. His eyes flash as his vofce rings out) I come! (He turns and strides to the door, where the girl stands waiting. She draws the portieres farther apart, Together they step across the thres hold, and in silence the heavy folds close be hind them. As they do so the curtain falls, and for a moment or two after it has come to rest the drum continues to beat distant, muffled, mysterious.) t
