A comfortable man, with dividends, And the first salmon, and the first green peas.
A gentleman passes.
He does not even turn his head to look.
He's gone without a word.Here comes another, A different kind of craft on a taut bow-line,--Deacon Giles Firmin the apothecary, A pious and a ponderous citizen, Looking as rubicund and round and splendid As the great bottle in his own shop window!
DEACON FIRMIN passes.
And here's my host of the Three Mariners, My creditor and trusty taverner, My corporal in the Great Artillery!
He's not a man to pass me without speaking.
COLE looks away and passes.
Don't yaw so; keep your luff, old hypocrite!
Respectable, ah yes, respectable, You, with your seat in the new Meeting-house, Your cow-right on the Common! But who's this?
I did not know the Mary Ann was in!
And yet this is my old friend, Captain Goldsmith, As sure as I stand in the bilboes here.
Why, Ralph, my boy!
Enter RALPH GOLDSMITH.
GOLDSMITH.
Why, Simon, is it you?
Set in the bilboes?
KEMPTHORN.
Chock-a-block, you see, And without chafing-gear.
GOLDSMITH.
And what's it for?
KEMPTHORN.
Ask that starbowline with the boat-hook there, That handsome man.
MERRY (bowing).
For swearing.
KEMPTHORN.
In this town They put sea-captains in the stocks for swearing, And Quakers for not swearing.So look out.
GOLDSMITH.
I pray you set him free; he meant no harm;'T is an old habit he picked up afloat.
MERRY.
Well, as your time is out, you may come down, The law allows you now to go at large Like Elder Oliver's horse upon the Common.
KEMPTHORN.
Now, hearties, bear a hand! Let go and haul.
KEMPTHORN is set free, and comes forward, shaking GOLDSMITH'Shand.
KEMPTHORN.
Give me your hand, Ralph.Ah, how good it feels!
The hand of an old friend.
GOLDSMITH.
God bless you, Simon!
KEMPTHORN.
Now let us make a straight wake for the tavern Of the Three Mariners, Samuel Cole commander;Where we can take our ease, and see the shipping, And talk about old times.
GOLDSMITH.
First I must pay My duty to the Governor, and take him His letters and despatches.Come with me.
KEMPTHORN.
I'd rather not.I saw him yesterday.
GOLDSMITH.
Then wait for me at the Three Nuns and Comb.
KEMPTHORN.
I thank you.That's too near to the town pump.
I will go with you to the Governor's, And wait outside there, sailing off and on;If I am wanted, you can hoist a signal.
MERRY.
Shall I go with you and point out the way?
GOLDSMITH.
Oh no, I thank you.I am not a stranger Here in your crooked little town.
MERRY.
How now, sir?
Do you abuse our town? [Exit.
GOLDSMITH.
Oh, no offence.
KEMPTHORN.
Ralph, I am under bonds for a hundred pound.
GOLDSMITH.
Hard lines.What for?
KEMPTHORN.
To take some Quakers back I brought here from Barbadoes in the Swallow.
And how to do it I don't clearly see, For one of them is banished, and another Is sentenced to be hanged! What shall I do?
GOLDSMITH.
Just slip your hawser on some cloudy night;Sheer off, and pay it with the topsail, Simon!
[Exeunt.
SCENE II.-- Street in front of the prison.In the background a gateway and several flights of steps leading up terraces to the Governor's house.A pump on one side of the street.JOHNENDICOTT, MERRY, UPSALL, and others.A drum beats.
JOHN ENDICOTT.
Oh shame, shame, shame!
MERRY.
Yes, it would be a shame But for the damnable sin of Heresy!
JOHN ENDICOTT.
A woman scourged and dragged about our streets!
MERRY.
Well, Roxbury and Dorchester must take Their share of shame.She will he whipped in each!
Three towns, and Forty Stripes save one; that makes Thirteen in each.
JOHN ENDICOTT.
And are we Jews or Christians?
See where she comes, amid a gaping crowd!
And she a child.Oh, pitiful! pitiful!
There's blood upon her clothes, her hands, her feet!
Enter MARSHAL and a drummer.EDITH, stripped to the waist, followed by the hangman with a scourge, and a noisy crowd.
EDITH.
Here let me rest one moment.I am tired.
Will some one give me water?
MERRY.
At his peril.
UPSALL.
Alas! that I should live to see this day!
A WOMAN.
Did I forsake my father and my mother And come here to New England to see this?
EDITH.
I am athirst.Will no one give me water?
JOHN ENDICOTT (****** his way through the crowd with water).
In the Lord's name!
EDITH (drinking.
In his name I receive it!
Sweet as the water of Samaria's well This water tastes.I thank thee.Is it thou?
I was afraid thou hadst deserted me.
JOHN ENDICOTT.
Never will I desert thee, nor deny thee.
Be comforted.
MERRY.
O Master Endicott, Be careful what you say.
JOHN ENDICOTT.
Peace, idle babbler!
MERRY.
You'll rue these words!
JOHN ENDICOTT.
Art thou not better now?
EDITH.
They've struck me as with roses.
JOHN ENDICOTT.
Ah, these wounds!
These bloody garments!
EDITH.
It is granted me To seal my testimony with my blood.
JOHN ENDICOTT.
O blood-red seal of man's vindictive wrath!
O roses in the garden of the Lord!
I, of the household of Iscariot, I have betrayed in thee my Lord and Master.
WENLOCK CHRISTISON appears above, at the window of the prison, stretching out his hands through the bars.
CHRISTISON.
Be of good courage, O my child! my child!
Blessed art thou when men shall persecute thee!
Fear not their faces, saith the Lord, fear not, For I am with thee to deliver thee.
A CITIZEN.
Who is it crying from the prison yonder.
MERRY.
It is old Wenlock Christison.
CHRISTISON.
Remember Him who was scourged, and mocked, and crucified!
I see his messengers attending thee.
Be steadfast, oh, be steadfast to the end!
EDITH (with exultation).
I cannot reach thee with these arms, O father!
But closely in my soul do I embrace thee And hold thee.In thy dungeon and thy death I will be with thee, and will comfort theeMARSHAL.
Come, put an end to this.Let the drum beat.
The drum beats.Exeunt all but JOHN ENDICOTT, UPSALL, and MERRY.
CHRISTISON.
Dear child, farewell! Never shall I behold Thy face again with these bleared eyes of flesh;And never wast thou fairer, lovelier, dearer Than now, when scourged and bleeding, and insulted For the truth's sake.O pitiless, pitiless town!