BOY--The devil made that chart you boast about!
MAN--And locked it in my breast.
BOY--It has taken away your peace.
MAN--Peace! To hear that name on all men"s lips, to search and search and never know its habitation.
BOY--They say: He that pursueth, never shall overtake!
MAN--(_To himself._) Desires die, ideals are forgotten, love pa.s.ses away. The mantel of eternal snow envelops all men, what shall escape?
BOY--Youth!
MAN--Which knows not life.
BOY--Must one experience to know?... Do I not feel?
MAN--In all these days we have been together, what have you felt for me?
BOY--That you sowed wisely, but knew not how to garner. You speak of ideals lost--
MAN--I am not sure I ever had them.
BOY--Is it work or play, love or life, your ideal of yesterday?
MAN--Yesterday! Did it ever exist?
BOY--It died the night of its birth, and vanished in rose smoke, making incense to the G.o.ds who once reigned.
MAN--Who told you all this?
BOY--My lady--in the twilight.
MAN--Your lady?
BOY--She sent me to find the promised land. She will come when I am there. My heart is strong, and I can wait for her.
MAN--My heart was strong and pa.s.sionate; it pulses no longer like a man"s, but serves to beat out the unconsidered tickings of the ashen days.
BOY--Then sit with me, be a child, and laugh at the shadow. So faith may come again.
MAN--The day is breaking.
BOY--(_Whimsically._) Alas, the shadow"s gone, and you have not seen it! Look yonder at the little stream, it leaps like a white flame down the grey old rocks.
(_They peer over the cliff together._)
MAN--I smell the living earth.
BOY--I want to climb the mountain side. Who knows what treasures may be there?
MAN--(_Slowly._) I know the place--the place above.
BOY--Have you been there?
MAN--No.... I dreamed and thought to reach it once, but lost the way.
(_They climb together._)
BOY--Why do you laugh?
MAN--My blood has turned to flame. I feel it burning in my body.
BOY--The morning sun is in your veins. I know.... What do you see?
MAN--(_Whispering._) Your land of promise!
BOY--It is not so! My land of promise is more beautiful than anything one may imagine!
MAN--This is more beautiful.
BOY--I would know if this were it.
MAN--This is the land I say. Laugh with me and shout. The shadow of the devil has gone. I have found the place and myself.
BOY--Not so! The place is farther off, and higher. I am not content with this!
MAN--Come with me, youth, to the summit!
BOY--(_Eagerly._) I"ll climb with you.... I"ll climb ... to the summit!
(_CURTAIN_)
THE STRIKER
CAST
JOHN QUINN, _A mortorman on strike_.
MRS. QUINN, _His wife_.
MOLLY, _His daughter_.
BILL MARTIN, _A neighbor, also on strike_.
MRS. MARTIN, _His wife_.