SCENE: A fairly large room in DR. JONATHAN"s house in Foxon Falls, which has been converted into a laboratory. The house antedates the PINDAR mansion, having been built in the first decade of the nineteenth century, and though not large, has a certain distinction and charm. The room has a panelled wainscoting and a carved wooden mantel, middle left, painted white, like the doors. Into the fireplace is set a Franklin stove. The windows at the rear have small panes; the lower sashes are raised; the tops of the hollyhocks and foxgloves in the garden bed may be seen above the window sills, and the apple trees beyond. Under the windows is a long table, on which are chemical apparatus. A white enamelled sink is in the rear right corner. The walls are whitewashed, the wooden floor bare. A door, left, in the rear, leads into DR. JONATHAN"S office; another, middle right, into a little front hall.
TIME: A July morning, 1918.
MINNIE FARRELL, in the white costume worn by nurses and laboratory workers, is at the bench, pouring liquid into a test tube and holding its up to the light, when DR. JONATHAN enters from the right.
DR. JONATHAN. Has anyone been in, Minnie?
MINNIE (turning, with the test tube in her hand). Now, what a question to ask, Dr. Jonathan! Was there ever a morning or afternoon that somebody didn"t stray in here with their troubles? (Fiercely.) They don"t think a scientist has a real job,--they don"t understand, if you put this across--(she holds up the test tube)--you"ll save the lives of thousands of soldiers, and a few ordinary folks, too, I guess. But you won"t let me tell anyone.
DR. JONATHAN. It will be time enough to tell them when we do put it across.
MINNIE. But we"re going to,--that is, you"re going to.
DR. JONATHAN. You"re too modest, Minnie.
MINNIE. Me modest! But what makes me sore is that they don"t give you a chance to put this thing across. Dr. Senn"s a back number, and if they"re sick they come here and expect you to cure "em for nothing.
DR. JONATHAN. But they can"t complain if I don"t cure them.
MINNIE. And half the time they ain"t sick at all,--they only imagine it.
DR. JONATHAN. Well, that"s interesting too,--part of a doctor"s business. It"s pretty hard to tell in these days where the body ends and the soul begins.
MINNIE. It looks like you"re cutting out the minister, too. You"d ought to be getting his salary.
DR. JONATHAN. Then I"d have to do his job.
MINNIE. I get you--you"d be paid to give "em all the same brand of dope.
You wouldn"t be free.
DR. JONATHAN. To experiment.
MINNIE. You couldn"t be a scientist. Say, every time I meet the minister I want to cry, he says to himself, "She ran away from Jesus and went to the bad. What right has she got to be happy?" And Mrs. Pindar"s just the same. If you leave the straight and narrow path you can"t never get back--they keep pushing you off.
DR. JONATHAN (who has started to work at the bench). I"ve always had my doubts about your sins, Minnie.
MINNIE. Oh, I was a sinner, all right, they"ll never get that out of their craniums. But being a sinner isn"t a patch on being a scientist!
It"s nearly a year now since you took me in. The time"s flown! When I was in the Pindar Shops, and in the Wire Works at Newcastle I could always beat the other girls to the Main Street when the whistle blew, but now I"m sorry when night comes. I can"t hardly wait to get back here--honest to G.o.d! Say, Dr. Jonathan, I"ve found out one thing,--it"s being in the right place that keeps a man or a woman straight. If you"re in the wrong place, all the religion in the world won"t help you. If you"re doing work you like, that you"ve got an interest in, and that"s some use, you don"t need religion (she pauses). Why, that"s religion,--it ain"t preaching and praying and reciting creeds, it"s doing--it"s fun. There"s no reason why religion oughtn"t to be fun, is there?
DR. JONATHAN. None at all!
MINNIE. Now, if we could get everybody in the right job, we wouldn"t have any more wars, I guess.
DR. JONATHAN. The millennium always keeps a lap ahead--we never catch up with it.
MINNIE. Well, I don"t want to catch up with it. We wouldn"t have anything more to do. Say, it"s nearly eleven o"clock--would you believe it?--and I"ve been expecting Mr. Pindar to walk in here with the newspaper. I forgot he was in Washington.
DR. JONATHAN. He was expected home this morning.
MINNIE. What gets me is the way he hangs around here, too, like everybody else, and yet I"ve heard him call you a Socialist, and swear he hasn"t any use for Socialists.
DR. JONATHAN. Perhaps he"s trying to find out what a Socialist is.
n.o.body seems to know.
MINNIE. He don"t know, anyway. If it hadn"t been for you, his shops would have been closed down last winter.
DR. JONATHAN. It looks as if they"d be closed down now, anyway.
MINNIE (concerned, looking up). Is that so? Well, he won"t recognize the union--he doesn"t know what century he"s living in. But he"s human, all the same, and he"s good to the people he"s fond of, like my father,--and he sure loves George. He"s got George"s letters all wore out, reading them, to people. (A pause.) He don"t know where George is, does he, Dr.
Jonathan?
DR. JONATHAN. Somewhere in France.
MINNIE. We spotted Bert because he"s with the Marines, at that place where they put a crimp in the Huns the other day when they were going to walk into Paris.
DR. JONATHAN. Chateau-Thierry.
MINNIE. I"ll leave it to you. But say, Dr. Jonathan, things don"t look good to me,--I"m scared we won"t get enough of our boys over there before the deal"s closed up. I"ve got so I don"t want to look at a paper.
(A brief silence.)
I never told you George wrote me a couple of letters, did I?
DR. JONATHAN. No, I"m quite sure you didn"t.
MINNIE. I never told n.o.body. His father and mother would be wild if they knew it. I didn"t answer them--I just sent him two post cards with no writing on except the address--just pictures.
DR. JONATHAN. Pictures?
MINNIE. One of the Pindar Church and the Other of the Pindar Shops. I guess he"ll understand they were from me, all right. You see, when I ran away from the Pindar Shops and the Pindar Church--I always connect them together--I was stuck on George. That"s why I ran away.
DR. JONATHAN. I see.
MINNIE. Oh, I never let him know. I don"t know why I told you--I had to tell somebody,--and you won"t give me away.
DR. JONATHAN. You may count on me.
MINNIE. He didn"t care nothing about me, really. But you can"t help liking George. He"s human, all right! If he was boss of the Pindar Shops there wouldn"t be any strike.
(A knock at the door, right.)
I wonder who"s b.u.t.ting in now!
(She goes to the door and jerks it open.)
(A man"s voice, without.) Good morning, Miss Farrell. Is the doctor in?