HILLMAN (going up to ASHER). How"s your son, Mr. Pindar?
RENCH. We"re real anxious about the Captain.
FERSEN (nodding). The boys think a whole lot of him, Mr. Pindar.
ASHER. He"s better, thank you. The medicine Dr. Pindar has given him
RENCH. Didn"t I say so? When I heard how he was when he got back, I said to Fred Hillman here,--if anybody can cure him, it"s Dr. Jonathan, right here in Foxon Falls!
(A pause.)
I"m sorry this here difference came up just now, Mr. Pindar, when the Captain come home. We was a little mite harsh--but we was strung up, I guess, from the long shifts. If we"d known your son was comin"--
ASHER. You wouldn"t have struck?
RENCH. We"d have agreed to put it off. When a young man like that is near dying for his country why--anything can wait. But what we"re asking is only right.
ASHER. Well, right or not right, I sent for you to say, so far as I"m concerned, the strike"s over.
RENCH. You"ll--you"ll recognize the union?
ASHER. I grant--( he catches himself)--I consent to your demands.
(After a moment of stupefaction, their faces light up, and they approach him.)
RENCH. We appreciate it, Mr. Pindar. This"ll make a lot of families happy tonight.
FERSEN. It will that.
HILLMAN. Maybe you won"t believe me, Mr. Pindar, but it was hard to see the shops closed down--as hard on us as it was on you. We take pride in them, too. I guess you won"t regret it.
ASHER (waving them away). I hope not. I ought to tell you that you may thank my son for this--my son and Dr. Pindar.
RENCH. We appreciate it,--just the same.
(ASHER makes a gesture as thought to dismiss the subject, as well as the committee. They hesitate, and are about to leave when GEORGE, followed by DR. JONATHAN, comes in, lower right. His entrance is quite dramatic. He walks with the help of a stick, slowly, but his bearing is soldierly, authoritative, impressive. He halts when he perceives the committee.)
HILLMAN (going up to GEORGE). How are you, Captain?
FERSEN. Good to have you home once more.
RENCH (going up to GEORGE). Good to see you, Captain, on a day like this. As Larz Fersen said when we were going to strike, "It"s a fine day for it." Well, this is a better day--you home and well, and the strike off.
GEORGE (glancing from one to the other, and then at ASHER). What do you mean?
RENCH. Why, Mr. Pindar--your father here"s just made everybody happy.
He"s recognized the union, and we"re going back to work. We"ll turn out machines to make shrapnel enough to kill every Hun in France,--get square with "em for what they done to you.
(They all watch GEORGE, absorbed in the effect this announcement has on him. An expression of happiness grows in his eyes. After a moment he goes up to ASHER.)
GEORGE. Dad, why did you do this?
ASHER. I"ll tell you, George. When you came home this afternoon I realized something I hadn"t realized before. I saw that the tide was against me, that I was like that old English king who set his throne on the sands and thought he could stay the waters. If--if anything had happened to you, I couldn"t have fought on, but now that you"re here with me again, now that you"ve risked your life and almost lost it for this--this new order in which you believe, why, it"s enough for me--I can surrender with honour. I"m tired, I need a rest. I"d have gone down fighting, but I guess you"ve saved me. I"ve been true to my convictions,--you, who belong to the new generation, must be true to yours. And as I told you once, all I care about this business is to hand it over to you.
GEORGE. You"ll help me!
ASHER. This seems to be Jonathan"s speciality,--science. But I never give my word half heartedly, my boy, and I"ll back you to my last dollar. Be prepared for disappointments,--but if you accomplish something, I"ll be glad. And if you fail, George,--any failure for a man"s convictions is a grand failure.
GEORGE. Well, it means life to me, dad. I owe it to you.
ASHER (turning toward DR. JONATHAN). No, you owe it to him,--to science.
(He puts one hand on GEORGE"S shoulder, and the other, with an abrupt movement, on DR. JONATHAN"S.)
And if science will do as much for democracy, then--
GEORGE. Then, you"re from Missouri. Good old dad!
ASHER (huskily, trying, to carry it off, and almost overcome by emotion at the reconciliation). I"m from Missouri, my boy.
DR. JONATHAN. Then you"re a true scientist, Asher, for science, too, waits to be shown.
(ASHER goes out, lower right. Dr. JONATHAN, evidently in support and sympathy, goes with him. GEORGE and the committee look after them, and then GEORGE sits down, and smiles at the men.)
GEORGE. And we"ve got to be scientists, too. Are you fellows willing to take your share in the experiment?
HILLMAN. What experiment"s that, Captain?
GEORGE. Now that you"ve got your union, what"s the good of it?
RENCH (after a pause). Why, I thought we"d made that pretty clear, Captain. We"ve got something to fall back on in case the employers don"t live up to their agreements. I"m not speaking of you--
GEORGE. In other words, you"ve got a weapon.
RENCH. Well, you might call it that.
GEORGE. But weapons imply warfare,--don"t they?
RENCH. We wouldn"t fight with you.
GEORGE. Yes, you would,--if our interests conflicted. When I was in the trenches I kept thinking of the quotation Lincoln used, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." We"re going to try to perpetuate that house, just as he did.
HILLMAN. Lincoln had common sense.
GEORGE. Another name for intelligence. And what we"ve got to decide is whether the old house will do--for democracy--industrial democracy? Can we sh.o.r.e up the timbers--or shall we have to begin to build a new house?
RENCH (glancing at HILLMAN). The old one sure enough looks rotten to me.
I"ve said that all along.