xt7q5717mm7q https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7q5717mm7q/data/mets.xml Schoonmaker, Edwin Davies, 1873-1940. 1913  books b92-260-31825363 English M. Kennerley, : New York : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Americans  / by Edwin Davies Schoonmaker. text Americans  / by Edwin Davies Schoonmaker. 1913 2002 true xt7q5717mm7q section xt7q5717mm7q 













THE AMERICANS

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THE AMERICANS




          By


  EDWIN DAVIES SCHOONMAKER



   NEW YORK
MITCHELL KENNERLEY
     1913

 









COPYRIGHT 1913 BY MITCHELL KCENNERLEY



PRESS OF J. J. LITTLE & IVES COMPANY, NEW YORK

 





















To MY FATHER AND MY BROTHER FRANK




















               5

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AUTHOR'S NOTE



  The drama here published is logically the third in
a series of racial dramas, as follows:

     i. The Saxons
     2. The Slavs
     3. The Americans
     4.  The flindoos

  Of this series The Saxons, dealing with man's strug-
gle for religious liberty, has already been published.
For reasons that need not be given, it has been thought
best to postpone The Slavs, which will present man's
battle for political liberty, and offer The Americans,
the theme of which is the industrial conflict that is
now raging. The Hindoos, a drama of spiritual un-
foldment, will come in its order.



7

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PERSONS OF THE DRAMA



J. DONALD EGERTON    Lumber king and mill-owner
AUGUSTUS JERGENS                      A partner
SAM WILLIAMS                Leader of the strikers
GENERAL CHADBOURNE       In command of the State
                             Militia
CAPTAIN HASKELL               Second in command
REV. EZRA HARDBROOKE      Bishop of the Diocese
JOHN W. BRADDOCK            Governor of the State
RALPH ARDSLEY       Editor of the Foreston Courier
CHIEF OF POLICE      Cooperating with the 'Militia
GEORGE EGERTON             Son of Donald Egerton
HARRY EGERTON             Son of Donald Egerton
HARVEY ANDERSON        Former cowvboy and Rough
                           Rider



BUCK BENTLEY
WES DICEY
JIM KING
ROME MASTERS
CAP SAUNDERS
BILL PATTEN
SILAS MAURY
WILLIE MAURY
MARY EGERTON
GLADYS EGERTON
SYLVIA ORR



         One of the IIilitia
         A walking delegate
         Supporter of Dicey
         Supporter of Dicey
             An old miner
 Striker, off in search of work
 Striker, off in search of work
        Son of Silas Maury
   Wife of Donald Egerton
Daughter of Donald Egerton
    Friend of MIrs. Egerton



A chauffeur, a butler, a doctor, a nurse, two maids,
  two detectives, two sentries, strikers, strike-breakers,
  militiamen, guests at the reception, etc.
                       9

 



















A land is not its timber but its people,
And not its Art, my father, but its men.
                      -HARRY EGERTON.





















                 10

 






     THE AMERICANS

                      ACT I

                    THE MINE

  Scene:  On the mountains in a timber region of
north-western America. In every direction, as far as
the eye can see, a wilderness of stumps with piles of
brush black with age and sinking from sheer rotten-
ness into the ground.  Here and there a dead pine
stands up high against the horizon. In the distance,
left, cleaving the range and extending on back under
an horizon of cold gray clouds, is seen the line of a
river of which this whole region is apparently the
watershed, for everywhere the land slopes toward it.
In the remote distance, beyond the river, innumerable
bare buttes, and beyond these a gray stretch of plains.
Down the mountains, left, six or seven miles away,
the river loops in and a portion of a town is seen upon
its banks. At this end of the town, upon a hill over-
looking the river, a large white mansion conspicuous
for the timber about it. At the farther end, a huge
red saw-mill occupies the centre of a vast field of yel-
low  lumber piles, the tall black stack of the mill
clearly outlined against the gray of the land beyond.
  Back, a hundred yards or so, a road, evidently con-
structed years ago when the logs were being taken out,
comes up on the flats from the direction of the town,
                         11

 


                  The Americans

turns sharply to the right and goes toward the ridge.
Beyond this road, just at the curve, standing out
among the stumps, an old stationary engine eaten up
with rust and an abandoned logging-wagon, the hind
part resting upon the ground, the two heavy wheels
lying upon it. Farther back a small cabin falling into
decay. Here and there patches of creeping vines and
rank grass cover the ground, hiding in some places to
a considerable depth the bases of the stumps. But to
the left, where it is evident a steep slope plunges down,
and also in the foreground, are open spaces with boul-
ders and, scattered about under a thin loam of rotted
needles and black cones, the outlines of a few flat
stones. In the immediate foreground, left, a huge
boulder, weighing possibly four or five tons, barely
hangs upon the slope, ready at any moment, one would
think, to slip and plunge down.
  Two men, Cap Saunders and Harvey Anderson, the
latter down left, the former to the right and farther
back, are sloz'ly coming forward. Each has a camp-
ing outfit, a roll of blankets, etc., upon his back, and
carries in his hands a plaster cast of what would seem
to be a cross-section of a log. It is about two feet in
diameter and three inches thick. As they come along
they try the casts on the various stumps and carefully
turn them about to see if they fit, then chip the stump
with a hatchet to indicate that it has been tried.
   Time: The evening of a day early in November in
the present time.
                          12

 



The AmeriCanbes



HARVEY ANDERSON.
  And say two dollars profit on each log.

CAP SAUNDERS.
  That's low enough.

HARVEY ANDERSON.
                Suppose a man could walk
  Over the mountains with a great big sack
  And pick two silver dollars from each stump.
  It's forty miles to w.here the trees begin,
  And on each side the river eight or ten.
  Think what he'd have.

CAP SAUNDERS.
  He's made work for them, Harvey.

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  Have millions, whouldn't he

CAP SAUNDERS.
                I suppose he would.
  But where would this land be There'd be no
      homes.
  And what are forests for but to cut down

HARVEY ANDERSON.
You wouldn't hear him say, 'Now, Harvey, you
Go in and get your sack full; I'll stay out';
                      13

 


The Americans



  Or, 'Now it's your turn, Cap.' Not on your life.
  He'd walk his legs off, but he'd have them all.
  Or what's more likely, he'd let others walk,
  And send his wagons out and get the sacks
  And have them brought in to him.

CAP SAUNDERS.
                 For myself
  I'd rather be out here though on the mountains
  Than live in his big mansion.

HARVEY ANDERSON.
                 So would I.
  But that don't mean I'd rather tramp the flats
  Picking up dollars for some other man.
  And I suppose the mill-boys feel the same.

CAP SAUNDERS.
  A fellow has to do the best he can.
  If he can stake himself, then off, I say,
  And pan for his own self. That's been my way.
  Sometimes I've struck pay dirt and sometimes not.
  And then I'd go and dig for a month or two
  For the other boys until I'd got my stake-

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  Here is another like the one back there;
  Goes half flay round as clean as anything;
  And the bark seems the same; but on this side-
                       14

 



                The Americans

CAP SAUNDERS.
    (Who has left his cast and is hurrying forward
      excitedly)
  Hold her a minute!

HARVEY ANDERSON.
                 No, it don't fit, Cap.
  The same old finger width it's always been.
  When the curve matches, then there's some damn
        knot;
  And when the knot's not there, it's something else.
  No, you can't stretch it. Now it's this side; see
  'Twas best the way I had it. There you are.
  Might as well mark her.

CAP SAU.NDERS.
                 It's a close miss, sure.
  It's like the one I found upon the ridge
  Week before last.
HARVEY ANDERSON.
                 The place where it don't match
  Is always on the side that you don't see
  Until your heart's jumped up.
    (Chips the stump)
                               That ends the day.
CAP SAUNDERS.
  I think I'll work a while.
    (Starts back)
                       I5

 


                The Americans

hIARVEY ANDERSON.
  The sun's gone down.

CAP SAUNDERS.
  I haven't heard the whistle of the mill.

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  Nor like to.

CA P SAUNDERS.
                Ah! I keep forgetting that.
  When a man's heard her blow for years and years
  He can't be always thinking that she's stopped.
  I wonder how the strike is getting on.

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  As everything gets on that's Egerton's.
  He'll cut them down as he's cut down the trees.
    (Sits upon a stump and looks off up the valley,
      then turns and watches the old man busy with
      his cast)

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  Your old bones must be tired, Cap.

CAP SAUNDERS.
  How so

 



The Americans



HARVEY ANDERSON.
  Howv long have you been hunting for this thing

CAP SAUNDERS.
  Before this search, you mean

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  Yes.

CAP SAUNDERS.
                Off and on,
  Thirty or forty years.

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  And won't give up

CAP SAUNDERS.
  Not till I'm dead.

HARVEY ANDERSON.
                You ought to have been an ox.
  You've got the wrong form, Cap. You think
        you'd be
  As patient if the prize was for yourself

CAP SAUNDERS.
  When one's been on a trail for years and years
  It ain't the game he cares for; it's the chase.
  And like as not when he's brought down the buck
                       17

 



                 The Americans

  He'll leave the carcass lying on the rocks,
  Taking a piece or two, then off again.
  As for what's done with it, I don't care that.
  But I would like to know where that tree stood.

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  And you think the boys down there should be the
        same,
  The boys that saw the dollars from the logs,
  Sacking the silver up, be satisfied
  To have him take the silver, leaving them
  The bark on either side

CAP SAUNDERS.
  I don't say that.


HARVEY ANDERSON.
  Give me the carcass when you find it, Cap,
  And you can have the chase. I'd like to know
  For one time in my life just howv it feels
  To have your pockets full and taste the towns.
  And I think the boys that saw the logs down there
  Are more like me, Cap, than they are like you.
    (Picks up his cast and comes forward)

CAP SAUNDERS..
  Egerton ain't a-holdin' them. They can go
  If they ain't satisfied.

 



                 The Amnericans

HARVEY ANDERSON.
                  Yes, they can go.
  They're like the red men, they can always go.
     (In an open space in the foreground he puts his
       things down upon the ground. lie goes right
       to a pile of brush, pulls out a black limb, and
       proceeds to break it across his knee, throwing
       the pieces in a little heap upon the ground)
  They've got a Mayor down there, I suppose.
  What if he said, 'If you don't like my wtay,
  If you ain't satisfied, there's the road off there'
  Or say the lad wsve've got in WVashington-
  What if he said, 'If you don't like my way,
  There's ships there in the harbor' Think wve'd
         leave 
  You've had your eyes, Cap, on the ground so long
  That you've forgotten there's such things as men.

    (The old man comes down to the stump which
      he and Anderson tried earlier in the scene. An-
      derson picks up his kindling and goes left and
      proceeds to start a fire. The night gathers
      quickly)

CAP SAUNDERS.
    (Trying the stump)
  Be careful, Harvey, or they'll see the flame
  And think it's found already.
                        '9

 



The Americans



HARVEY ANDERSON.
                 I don't care.
  'Twould serve them right.

CAP SAUNDERS.
  They're watching at this hour.

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  'Nowv we've got millions!' then say 'April Fool.'
  God, I don't blame them though; I'd do it too.
    (Picks up a blanket and, sticking pieces of brush
      in the ground, hangs it between the fire and the
      town)

CAP SAUNDERS.
  Aug. Jergens he'd be mighty mad, I tell you.

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  If I could put men out, you bet I would.
  And when I found the gold I'd make her fly.
  You wouldn't catch me quarrelling with a lot
  Of fellows for the bones, I tell you that.
  I'd take a rump or two, then say, 'Light in
  And fill your bellies'; or, 'Come on; I'm rich;
  Let's take a turn together.' And I'd buy
  A train or two and we'd all take a spin
  Around the world. I'd make their hair stand up.
  I'd show those eastern fellows once or twice.
    (Goes left and climbs up on the boulder and looks
      back over the waste)
                       20

 



                The Americans

CA.P SAUNDERS.
    (Co min forward)
  You'll have that rolling down if you don't mind.

HARVEY ANDERSON.
And that's one reason I'll be always broke,
  For I know how to spend, wvhile Egerton
  And Jergens and those fellows down there don't,
  In spite of their big houses. They know how
  To quarrel with men and squeeze their last dime
        out,
  But they don't know how to say, 'By God, come on;
  Let's have a drink together; we're all friends.'
    (The old man busies himself about the fire, pre-
      paring the evening mneal. Anderson sits down
      on the boulder and looks off up the valley.
      Wfhere the town was seen, lights begin to ap-
      pear)

HARVEY ANDERSON.
You'll wvake up some day, Cap, and look about
And Harvey will be gone.

CAP SAUNDERS.
                 You don't mean that!
 You ain't took no offence at What I said

 HARVEY ANDERSON.
 Mad as the Devil, Cap.
                       21

 



                The Americans

CAP SAUNDERS.
                 Don't you know, Harvey,
  About the rolling stone

HARVEY ANDERSON.
                 There's some stones, Cap,
  Would rather have the motion than the moss.

CAP SAUNDERS.
  You're sure a wild one, Harvey; that you are.
  You'd stir a muss up, that's what you would do.
    (Goes to the boulder and stands beside Anderson,
      and they both look off up the valley)

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  The mansion all lit up-what's going on
    (They are silent)
  It's a strange world, Cap, it's a funny world.
  You throw a piece of bread down; it draws ants,
  Red ants and black ants, little ants and big,
  And if you'll keep it up you'll have them here
  Building their hills about you; you know that.

CAP SAUNDERS.
    (Returning to the fire)
  It's wonderful how much some men can do.

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  Well, men are ants, and Egerton he's had bread.
  And he's kept throwing it down there in the valley,
                       22

 


The Americans



  First crumb bv crumb and later chunk by chunk,
  Until he's drawn them round him, thousands of
        them,
  And when they've come he's put them all to work.
  And to see them at it! I could spend my life
  Sitting upon the mountains on some rock
  That hangs above the town, watching them drudge.
  'Get me my logs out;' and they get his logs.
  'Now saw them; make me lumber;' and they do it,
  'Build me my railroad;' and they blast the rocks.
  'Now up with my big mansion on the hill,
  And carve me all my ants upon the wtalls,
  Some sawing logs, others with axes raised
  Hard at the big round boles, some half cut down;
  Make her look like a forest through and through.'
  And they've tugged at it till they've got it done.
  And all they've chopped and sawed and built is his,
  And he puts it in his pocket and sits down
  And they can't help themselves. They've got to
         eat,
  And Egerton he's the man that's-
    (Ile has risen and stands looking back through
      the darkness)

CAP SAUNDERS.
                  What do you say,
  Harvey, let's spend the night back in the cabin.
  It ain't the cold I mind, but from the air
  I wouldn't be surprised if it would snow.
                        23

 


                The Jmericans

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  By God, Cap!

CAP SAUNDERS.
  Eh

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  Looks like the boys had found it.

CAP SAUNDERS.
  You don't, don't say!
    (Goes to the boulder)

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  Off there, beyond the knob.
    (Bill Patten comes through the darkness, rear
      right. He looks about, then spies the men)

BILL PATTEN.
  You got some grub that you can spare, boys
    (Goes near the men and gets their line of vision)
                             That
  It's the moon rising.

CAP SAUNDERS.
  Ah, I'm glad, I'm glad!

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  Against the sky it looked like some far fire.
    (Gets down from the boulder)
                      24

 



                 The Amlericans

BILL PATTEN.
  You're of the force that's hunting' for the mine

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  That's 'hunting' for it, yes.

BILL PATTEN.
  You'll find it.

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  Why

BILL PATTEN.
  Egerton's luck.
    (Calls back)
  0 Silas!
    (To Anderson)
                 'Tain't no use
  A-fightin' that old wolf or 'spectin' God
  To put ills hand between J. D. and gold.
  He's got a devil that takes care of him.
    (Silas illaury and his son Willie, a boy of twelve
      or thirteen, enter rear)

BILL PATTEN.
  And the same devil blacks Aug. Jergens' boots.
  I'd like to get that man in some lone spot.
    (They sit dozwn. The worknmen seize food and
      eat ravenously)
                       25

 



                The Americans

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  Mill-hands
    (Patten nods)
  How's the strike

BILL PATTEN.
                 I ain't a man
  To show the white while there's a chance to win.

SILAS MAURY.
  They've got till sun-down to report for work.

BILL PATTEN.
  They'll feel like dogs, too, goin' in that gate,
  After the bluff they've made, lickin' his hand.
  Me for some other town. I'd rather starve.

SILAS MAURY.
  They're 'ranging to bring in a lot of scabs
  To-morrow, when the Governor will be there.

BILL PATTEN.
  Much as to say, 'Now knock 'em!' Son of a bitch!

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  The Governor'

CAP SAUNDERS.
  What's the trouble
                      26

 



                 The Amzericans

BILL PATTEN.
  Cakes and pies.

SILAS MAURY.
  It's Egerton's big reception.

HARVEY ANDERSON.
    (To Cap Saunders)
                 Explains the lights.
  They're getting things in shape.

SILAS A1IAURY.
  Yes.
    (He and Anderson walk a little way left and
      look back toward the mnansion)

BILL PATTEN.
                 When the boys
  First talked of strikin' when they made the cut
  I said, 'Don't do it. Egerton's a man-
  You'd better fight the Devil than fight him.
  He'll show no mercy on you if you cross him.'
  I guess they know by now that Bill was right.
  Sam   Williams  though  he  thinks  lie  knows.
        'Hang on.'
  All right, hang on; but you will see what comes.
  It's hell. I'd rather die out on some rock.

SILAS MAURY.
  There ain't no room for poor men in this world.
                       27

 


                The Americans

  I don't know what God ever made us for.
    (He and Anderson return to the fire)

BILL PATTEN.
  The man that's got no home's a lucky man.

SILAS MAURY.
  I said to Willie, 'I'm glad mother's dead.'
    (A pause)

WILLIE MAURY.
  Think she can see us, pa

SILAS MAURY.
  I don't think so.

BILL PATTEN.
  She's better off.

SILAS MAURY.
                 That's true. I hope she can't.
  She died a-thinkin' Willie would be rich
  Some day, if they ever found the mine.

BILL PATTEN.
    (Bitterly)
  Give 'em your apples and expect the core.

SILAS MAURY.
  It came so quick, though, Bill; he didn't think.
                      28

 



                The Americans

BILL PATTEN.
  If he had just kept still and called to Chris
  And had him help and roll the log aside
  And then at night let some of us men know,
  Wre could have slipped it out and hidden it,
  And gone to Egerton and said, 'See here,
  We've found the log that you've been lookin' for
  These years and haven't found it-'

CAP SAUNDERS.
  You don't mean

BILL PATTEN.
  'And if you'll do the square thing we'll cough up;
  If not, we'll go and find the mine ourselves.'

CAP SAUNDERS.
  You don't mean 'twas the boy that found the log!

SILAS MAURY.
  Willie here found it.

CAP SAUNDERS.
                 'Well, well, well! H-u-rrah!
  Hurrah, I say!
    (Throws his hat into the air. Harry Egerton
      comes through the darkness rear right)

CAP SAUNDERS.
                 If I could call the men,
  Call up the men, my son, who've spent their lives
                       29

 


                The Americans

  Tryin' to get a peep of that there trunk-
  You hear that, boys, you up there in the air

BILL PATTEN.
  He'd come to terms, all right, you bet your life.

HARRY EGERTON.
  Good evening, men. I'm turned around a bit,
  Or seem to be. Just where is Foreston

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  You see those lights down there
    (He walks back, left. Harry Egerton joins him,
      going across rear)

HARRY EGERTON.
  That's east

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  Correct.

HARRY EGERTON.
  And how far am I from it

HARVEY ANDERSON.
About six miles.

HARRY EGERTON.
  From Foreston, I mean
                      30

 



               The Aimericans

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  Six miles or more.

HARRY EGERTON.
  So far!
    (He walks back a little way, then stops and looks
      off up the valley. Harvey Anderson comes for-
      ward and begins to break some brush to replen-
      ish the fire)

CAP SAUNDERS.
  Who is it, Harvey

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  I don't know.

CAP SAUNDERS.
  And it had the sign cut in the bark, eh

SILAS MAURY.
  Yes.

WILLIE MAURY.
  Two X's and a spade.

CAP SAUNDERS.
                That's it, that's it!
  'Twvo X's and a spade, then dig nine feet.'
  There's two bits, son. How did it happen, dad
                      3'

 


                The Americans

SILAS MAURY.
  It came up into the mill with the other logs,
  Lookin' just like 'em, but Willie spied the sign-


WILLIE MAURY.
  Just as it was goin' into the saws.


SILAS MAURY.
  And shouted to Chris Knudson. Chris shut down;
  There was a crowd; and then Aug. Jergens come
  And had it hauled away.


CAP SAUNDERS.
                 If you and me
  Had been out here, son, when all these were trees
  And you'd a-spied that sign, I tell you what,
  I'd hung some nuggets round this little neck.


HARVEY ANDERSON.
  You'd better wait until the moon comes out.
  It's a rough road back there.


HARRY EGERTON.
  There is a road 


HARVEY ANDERSON.
  A logging road.
                       32

 



The Americans



HARRY EGERTON.
    (Corning forward, notices the casts upon the
      ground)
 You're searching for the mine


HARVEY ANDERSON.
  Cap and I here. These men are from the mill.


HARRY EGERTON.
    (WPith interest)
  From the mill down in Foreston, you mean


HARVEY ANDERSON.
  Leaving in search of work.


HARRY EGERTON.
                Are things so bad
  Down at the mill, my friends, that you must leave
  Are others leaving Have the men gone back
    (The mnen glare at him)


CAP SAUNDERS.
  They'll have to soon, they say; their grub's give out.


HARVEY ANDERSON.
  The Company has given them till to-morrow night
  To come to work or be shut out for good.
                       33

 


                The Americans

HARRY EGERTON.
  Have they brought in more men

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  They're arranging to.

HARRY EGERTON.
  I do not see, friends, what you hope to gain
  By leaving Foreston and wandering off
  In search of work. In the first place I know,
  As you perhaps do not, that Egerton
  Has given orders to the neighboring plants
  To take on no more men until this strike
  Is settled, till it's won. And, as you know,
  For forty miles around the mills are his,
  The camps are his. And where his power ends,
  Others begin that work in harmony
  With Egerton and Company. They are one,
  And have an understanding in some things
  Far more than you suspect.
    (Patten and Maulry rise and walk aside and
      whisper together)
                 And they all know
  Whatever be the outcome of this strike
  The effect of it will reach them all at last.
  If you men win, mill-workers everywhere
  Will take new heart and stand for better things.
  But if the Company wins, others will say-
  And with no little weight-'We cannot pay
                        34

 



               The A1mericans

The present scale of wages and compete
With Egerton and Company.' So it will go
Until the farthest mill in all this land
Puts in its hand and takes a ten per cent
Out of the wages of its workingmen.
And there's no power on earth that can prevent it.
  (Willie Maury rises and joins his father and
    Patten)
But even were this not true, wvere places open,
The same conditions would confront you there
As now confront you here. At any time
Those wnho employ you have you in their powver
And can reduce your wages when they choose,
Lay on you what conditions they see fit,
And you must either yield or be turned forth
To wander on again. I do not know
Whether you men have families or not,
But others have, and their cause is your ovn.
You cannot wander on for evermore,
Picking up here and there a chance day's wvork
And hoping that to-morrow things will change,
For changes do not come except through men.
  (The men return to the fire)
And so I do not see just what it is
You hope to gain by leaving Foreston.
You cannot spend your lives on highways, friends.
Where will you go Have you some place in mind
                      35

 



               The Americans

BILL PATTEN.
  It's none of your damn business where we go.
  We don't wear no man's collar.

SILAS MAURY.
  Bill is right.

BILL PATTEN.
  Nor Egerton's, nor no man's on this earth.

HARRY EGERTON.
  I beg your pardon, friends, I did not mean-

BILL PATTEN.
  We're twenty-one years old and we're free men.

HARRY EGERTON.
  I did not mean you had no right to go.
  You have.

BILL PATTEN.
  You bet we have.

SILAS MAURY.
                You can't get men
  And want to scare us back, that's what you want,
  Talkin' as how the mills will shut us out.

HARRY EGERTON.
  I have no wish to scare you back, my friend.
                      36

 



The Americans



BILL PATTEN.
  Then what's your proposition

HARRY EGERTON.
  I have none.



BILL PATTEN.
  Come up to shake hands,



eh, and say, Good-bye



HARRY EGERTON.
  I chanced upon you here.

BILL PATTEN.
  'Chanced' hell! We know.



SILAS MAURY.
  If it's my rent you're after, if
  I think you might at least let
  For what my boy did, findin'



it's that,
that much go
of the log.



HARRY EGERTON.
  Friends, you misunderstand me if you think
  That I am here to speak for any man,
  Or round you up, or lift one hand to stay
  Your coming or your going. You are free
  And can do what you please.

BILL PATTEN.
                You bet we can,
  For all your bayonets.
                      37

 



The AJmericans



HARRY EGERTON.
  Aly bayonets

BILl PATTEN.
  Yes.

SILAS MAURY.
  Think we don't know you, eh

HARRY EGERTON.
                 I do not know,
  I do not know what I can say to you.
  I understand just how you

SILAS MAURY.
    (Plucks him by the sleeve and points off up the
      valley)
                 There's your home,
  Off there in that big mansion on the hill.
  Go there and live your life; you're none of us.

HARRY EGERTON.
  My father is my father; I am I.
    (The men prepare to leave. Cap Saunders rises
      and begins to pack up the things)

HARRY EGERTON.
  We do not choose the gates through which we come
  Into this world, my friends. Nor you nor I
                      38

 



               The  Imericans

  Selected who should cradle us nor what home
  Should giv e us shelter. 'Tis what we do that
        counts,
  Not whence we come. Do not misjudge me, friends.
  Because I am a son of Egerton
  Deny me not the right to be a man.

SILAS MAURY.
You wear our sweat in your fine clothes all right.



HARRY EGERTON.
  I wear, my friend, what my own hands
  Where will you go

SILAS MAURY.
We'll go where we can find-



BILL PATTEN.
  Don't tell him, Si. Don't you see
        game
  Keeps askin' where we're goin'. Don'
  He's a spy of the Company.



have earned.



through his



t you see



HARRY EGERTON.
                Ah, you do not know
  Why I am here. God knows I did not come-

WILLIE MAURY.
  Thought we vouldn't know him.
                      39

 



               The Americans

SILAS MAURY.
  Poor men are fools.

WILLIE MAURY.
                He's been
  Doggin' our footsteps.

BILL PATTEN.
                You've been followin' us
  To find out where-

CAP SAUNDERS.
  Don't quarrel, men.

BILL PATTEN.
                It's a good thing
  Your old man crushed me till I pawned my gun,
  Or, God, I'd kill you. Do you understand

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  Hold on there, pard.

BILL PATTEN.
                So he could have the mills
  Blacklist us. Curse you! And curse all your kind!
  You've ground us down until we're dogs, damn you.

SILAS MAURY.
  Come sneakin' round to
                      40

 



                The Americans

HARRY EGERTON.
                 Friend, I did not come
  To spy on any man or seek you out
  Here on the mountains. For my hope has been

BILL PATTEN.
  We'll blow you up some day, you mark my word.

HARRY EGERTON.
  That never one of you would leave the ranks
  In your great struggle in the valley there,
  But that you would stand fast, and somehow win
  In spite of everything, starvation, death.
  And I have done all that I could to help you.
  But you, my friends, 0 you must understand,
  As there are some things that you cannot do,
  So there are things I cannot.

CAP SAUNDERS.
  Get the pot.
    (The boy picks up the coffee pot)

HARRY EGERTON.
  How I came here I do not kr.ow myself.
  Some Power has led me though I know not wvhy.
  I half remember that I could not sleep
  For voices round me in my father's hall,
  And rose and wandered forth, fleeing from some-
        thing
                       41

 



                The Americans

  That seemed to follow me across the waste,
  A sighing and a thundering of men.
  All day, it seems, I've wandered over the moun-
        tains
  And all last night. Then from afar I spied
  Your fire here and came to learn my way.

SILAS MAURY.
  Your way lies that way and our way lies this.
    (Patten, Maury, Cap Saunders and the boy go
      off through the darkness, right rear)

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  You must be hungry, pard.

HARRY EGERTON-.
                 No, thank you, no,
  Nothing to eat.

HARVEY ANDERSON.
                 'Tain't much, but what it is
  You're welcome to it.

HARRY EGERTO.N.
    (Calling after the men)
                 And you will go away
  And leave this great cause hanging in mid air

VOICE OF SILAS MAURY.
  Tend to your business and we'll tend to ours.
                       42

 



                The Americans

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  Don't mind them; they're damn fools.

HARRY EGERTON.
                 You understand
  What I have tried to say unto these men;
  You understand, I know.

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  I think I do.

HARRY EGERTON.
  And something tells me we shall meet again.

HARVEY ANDERSON.
  Who knows I'm tramping round, to-day one
        place,
  To-morrow another. I'm a rolling stone.
  I never have been one to keep the trails.
  Just knock about the States and watch the plains
  For something-I don't know-and yet 'twill come,
  And when she comes she'll shake her good and hard.
  I don't know what you're rolling in your mind,
  But, as you say, it's a great land we've got.
  I like to lie and feel her under my back
  And know she tumbles to the double seas
  Up to her hips in mile on mile of wheat.
  Beyond that moon are cities packed with men
  That overflow. The fields are filling up.
  They're climbing up the mountains of the West-
                       43

 



                The Americans

HARRY EGERTOIN.
    (Looking after the men)
  And going on beyond them.

HARVEY ANDERSON.
                 It's all right.
  They'll reach the coast off there or reach the ice,
  And then they'll have to turn or jump on off.
  And they won't jump off. It's too fine a land.
  Men throw away the hoofs but not the haunch.
  I sometimes see them in the dead of night
  Crawling like ants along her big broad back,
  With axe and pick and plow, building their hills
  And pushing on and on. It's a great land.
  And brea