A Rose o' Plymouth-town; a romantic comedy in four acts

Front matter

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A Rose d Plymouth -Town

A Rose o'

Act I Stolen Fruit

ACT I

Scene:— THE KITCHEN OF CAPTAIN STAN- DISH S HOUSE. A rude, early-colonial inferior, with a great fireplace at L. At Rj a flight of stairs goes up to the garret chambers. Door Ri to inner rooms. At C the entrance door. Latticed windows LC and Lj. A cupboard with dishes and household utensils beneath the stairs at R. A great settle before the fireplace. A rude table at R. A heavy old chair or two, and some stools about the room.

When the curtain rises the lattices are swung wide and the door C is open, giving a view of Plymouth harbor and the Manomet headlands, dim and gray in the early dawn. As the act goes on, the gray light changes to rosy dawn-light, which brightens to sunlight at the entrance of Rose de la Noye.

Before the curtain rises there is distinctly heard a murmur of men's voices, a sharp, military-sounding order or two, the clash of armor, and the retreating of heavy, marching feet.

At rise of curtain, Barbara Standish, a comely young matron, is looking out at the door C. To her enter Rj Miriam Chillingsley, a slender young Puritan maid, dressed hastily, as if newly risen, and with a nightcap tied under her chin.

Miriam — Mistress Standish! [runs down stairs^ Oh, Mistress Standish!

Barbara— Why, child, what called you from your bed so early?

Enter Ri Aunt Resolute Story , a plump old gentlewoman, in a short bed-gown, worn over an elaborately quilted petticoat, and a frilled nightcap.

Aunt Resolute — Called her from bed? 'Tis enough to call any poor body from their last bed of all — this growling o' men, and clash o' breast-plates, and trampling as of Bashan bulls — and the sun not over the seaedge ! Truly, one should have nerves of bow-string, ere one come to so nerve-racking a corner ! What's toward ? Sits on settle

Miriam — Ay, what is it hath happened? I heard men speak, and Rose — she hath run away and left me — she's nowhere in the room.

Barbara — 'Tis no cause for fear. The Captain was summoned in haste, and as we were already well roused up, our wild Rose was loath to creep back to bed on so fair a morning. She hath run to the spring —

Aunt Resolute — The Captain summoned? What is amiss? Who hath done wrong?

Barbara — Nay, whence begins all the wrong in our little colony in these days ? She begins to set the room to rights, straightening chairs, wiping and arranging dishes in cupboard, etc,

Miriam — 'Tis again those lusty men of Master Weston's — they who are staying with us till they plant their settlement at Wessagusett?

Barbara — Ay, another brawl in the quarters of Master Weston's men, and the Captain called forth in haste to cool their hot bloods.

Miriam — Those wicked firebrands! I heard John Margeson say they were naught but the off-scourings of London's streets and prisons.

Aunt Resolute — John Margeson! Ay, a worthy citizen he of our new, merry commonwealth of Plymouth ! A merry commonwealth, good lack ! A block-house, psalms a plenty, and now and then a bear !

Barbara — Nay, sure, dear Aunt, our little Plymouth, far though it be, is a sweet and quiet spot.

Aunt Resolute — Quiet? Quiet? Good lack, so is the grave quiet ! An you be so fain to be quiet, why not go further than Plymouth, to the one place quieter than Plymouth? Points upward

Barbara — Pray you. Aunt, an you hold our poor Plymouth so in contempt, why came you hither from your gay London town ?

Aunt Resolute — When a female hath lived to overripe years, she cometh to know all the gay thrills that even gay London town can give her. I came to your little Plymouth in the hope that I might find in the wilderness one last new sensation; and for a new sensation I would go to — Rises excitedly, points downward

Barbara — (warningly^ Aunt!

Aunt Resolute — Lord, why shouldn't I say the word ? One hears it oft enough in your endless Plymouth sermons. Sits

Miriam — And hast thou found thy new sensation. Mistress Story?

Aunt Resolute — What sensation hath your Plymouth to oiFer, unless sensation grow in a cornfield? I go out; I hear the men talk of how the corn is growing in the fields. I come in ; I hear the women talk of how the corn is boiling in their kettles. Oh, rich sensations has this, your Plymouth.

Miriam — Nay, Aunt Resolute.

Aunt Resolute — Oh, a paradise is Plymouth to you, little Miriam, since it doth nest that rare bird, John Margeson.

Miriam — Nay, Mistress Story, to speak so of an excellent —

Aunt Resolute — Excellent? Ay, that's the plague of it, that so excellent a man should be so sad a weakling. The like of him to speak ill of Weston's men ! Knaves Weston's men may be, but, God wot, they have blood in them, ay, red blood, with a jump to it ! Your excellent Margeson — verily, I think his blood is green !

Miriam — O, Mistress Standish, she would rate Master Weston's knaves above John Margeson — those rogues of Wessagusett men !

Barbara — Nay, nay, dear lass, there may be good men in Master Weston's company.

Miriam — You may speak forbearingly of them. Mistress Standish. And yet you are waiting here now, I know, in very fear lest they do harm unto the Captain, your husband.

Barbara — Nay, I have no fear for Captain Standish, my husband, though the whole three score of Weston's buHies were pitted against him.

Aunt Resolute — Ay, my nephew, the Captain, hath his faults, but he's no John Margeson to be frightened by the bleat of a ewe — no, nor by the horns of a ram, neither ! Goes up to door C

Miriam — (in tears^ I scarce wake when I'm chidden!

Barbara — Nay, but we meant not to chide you, dear. (Rose is heard laughing outside) Hark ! Yonder comes our Rose to sweeten our humor. Dry thine eyes.

Miriam — Yea, 'tis Rose indeed, [runs to door C) And with her comes —

Aunt Resolute — Your John Margeson, mistress. The ewes must lie safe in fold since he's abroad.

Miriam — Ay, 'tis John.

Aunt Resolute — Thou art scarce apparelled for a levee. Thy nightcap —

Miriam — (snatching off cap) Good lack, I had forgot! (runs up stairs) But you — you also — look but at your cap!

Exit Miriam Rj.

Aunt Resolute — Nay, when a female hath lived to my years, it matters little if she go abroad nightcapped — or bide at home wi' nightcap and naught else! Rest you fair, niece Barbara, rest you fair !

Exit Aunt Resolute Ri.

Barbara — Come your ways in. Rose! Truly, you bring the sweet o' the morning with you !

Enter C Rose de la Noye, a little, curly-haired lass of seventeen, dressed after the Puritan fashion, but herself without a trace of the Puritan in face or bearing. She carries a red rose in her hand, and comes running in, laughing.

Behind her come Philippe de la Noye, a dark, sturdy Huguenot lad of eighteen, and fohn Margeson, a young man in his early twenties, heavy and rather sullen-faced. The two lads carry between them a bucket of water.

Rose — Good greeting to you. Mistress Barbara. I go forth unattended; I return — regard! {^points to the lads who have paused in doorway^ Set down the bucket yonder, good servants, and I will prepare the breakfast. Come, Mistress Standish, what will you? A boiled capon, a roasted neat's tongue, a pasty of venison, an olave pie, a roasted swan — or a ravishing porridge of beans.? Ah, I know ere I ask. *Twill be the divine, the ecstatic bean porridge! With it I have lived, and with it I shall die — and of it I shall die, if I bide out my life in this lost corner of the world ! Why stand you twain idle there ? Pray you now, John Margeson, fill me the kettle, and you. Brother Philippe, mend me the fire.

John — Suffer me do it. fohn and Philippe mend fire, fill kettle, etc.

Rose — Now do you go in, mistress, and leave me, for to cook bean porridge doth require a skill, a delicacy, the fine hand — you Englishwomen have not the art!

Barbara — But little shrew, may I not cook in mine own kitchen ?

Rose — What have you, the mistress of this castle, to do with cooking ? Also, you are no cook ! Go in and put on a cambric kerchief, and so be beautiful to our eyes.

Barbara — Hush, hush ! You giddy-tongued flatterer!

Rose — You call me ill names, and I will no longer adorn your house with my presence. Go, leave me to work! Morbleu, will you —

Philippe — Rose ! Rose ! Crosses to her

Rose — Ay, see how she will drive me to swear ! And my immortal soul, alas, my immortal soul ! Co ! Par le sambleu —

Barbara — [covering her ears with her hands\ I'm gone! I'm gone!

Esxit Barbara Ri.

Rose — Sa, sa, p'tit, Philippe! The naughty word was so near the lip, 'twas better to let it forth than swallow it to spoil my porridge. Also you do not understand the French tongue, eh, John Margeson?

John — Nay, mistress.

Rose — A pity! 'Tis a noble tongue, an extraordinary tongue, a tongue with possibilities ! [lays cloth on table R, with Philippe's help^ And now since you two have been drawers of water, be also my hewers of wood. You will fetch it me, will you not, Philippe, honey?

Philippe — Ay, surely, sister. I'll fetch an armful of wood for you, and John shall bring one for sweetheart Miriam.

John — Whose sweetheart?

Philippe — Why, yours.

John — Who saith so?

Philippe — All the town.

John — Believe not all the town says. Starts to door C

Re-enter Miriam Rj.

Miriam — Good morrow to you all. Good morrow, John. Comes down stairs

John — (indifferently^ Good morrow, good morrow, Miriam. Is it wood you bid me fetch. Rose?

Rose — Ay.

Miriam — John, a moment. John, cannot you — I had — I wished —

John — Time presses, Miriam. What is it you would say?

Miriam— Sure, I've near forgot. You spoke so sharp, you put it from my mind.

John — Perhaps you will recall it ere we meet again.

Miriam — (eagerly^ When shall that be?

John — I know not. I must sail this morning for Nauset with the Captain.

Miriam — To Nauset? So far a journey, John?

John — Why, what matters it?

Miriam — What matters it!

John — Yea, I know not how I have deserved so large a place in your thoughts that it should matter, [to Rose) God be wi' you !

Exit jfo/in C .

Miriam — John! Leans against door-frame, back to room

Rose — Pig that he is! Why dost thou not kill him, Philippe ?

Philippe — What quarrel have I with friend John?

Rose — Oh, you men, you men ! You will uphold each other in all knavery !

Philippe — But Rose, if John doth not love Miriam —

Rose — But Philippe, if Miriam loves John !

Philippe — Yet still 'tis no crime though he —

Rose — No crime? No crime? 'Tis a hanging crime if a lad with red blood in him doth meet love in a sweet maid's eyes and not look loving back — when it is summer-time, when — Ay, but what can a lad such as thou know of these matters ?

Philippe — (indignantly^ Eh? Miriam sobs aloud

Rose — My poor Miriam ! Listen, Philippe, 'tis you must be vastly gentle to her.

Philippe — [huffily) Nay, I know naught of such matters.

Rose — She is as my own sister, I say. Be you as her own brother, and kind to her as a brother.

Philippe — Methinks, Rose, the kindness here must come from you.

Rose — How kinder than I am always to her?

Philippe — By being more unkind to John Margeson. [goes to door C; speaks hesitatingly to Miriam) May I pass hence, mistress ?

lo A ROSE O' PLYMOUTH-TOWN act

Miriam — Oh! (moves from door-way^ Forgive me !

Philippe — Mayhap you'd not be loath to walk forth a pace or two? 'Tis a fair morning. Belike you'll feel freer out o' doors. There's the fresh breeze and sweet smelling things.

Miriam — [indifferently^ Yea, I'll come.

Exeunt Philippe and Miriam C.

Rose — By being unkind to John Margeson ! What mean he ? Why, can he dare — Oh, oh ! Find me two men, and I'll find you a fool and a half! Nay, I wrong men ; I'll find you two fools ! Slight my Miriam that loves him for —

Re-enter yolin C, witl? armful of wood

Now to see ! (without looking round^ Oh, are you come, dear ?

John — Dear! L,ets wood fall to floor

Rose — 'Tis you? Methought it was my brother Philippe. Oh, pardon me that I — that I —

John — What is it I have to pardon that you called me by a name so pleasant to hear?

Rose — I thought it might be that you would take amiss —

John — [ardently^ How could I take it amiss?

Rose — Then you're not angry ?

John — Angry !

Rose — (laughing) Then pray you, pick up my wood for me, good John. Sets table with plates, cups, a loaf etc.

1ST A ROSE O' PLYMOUTH-TOWN ii

John — Ay, Rose. Places wood by hearth

Rose — John. Methinks the name comes sweetly to my lips.

John — Rose! Can you feel that? My name?

Rose — There was a time I had an attachment, an honest tenderness for one that bore the name of John. Some ways you do recall him to me.

John — [jealously') A lover, was it?

Rose — You might call it so, if to love truly make a lover. Brown eyes he had, dear eyes, and he would lick my hand so tenderly —

John — Lick? A lover? What do you talk of. Rose?

Rose — Why, of my well-beloved dog, English John, we called him. He's dead now two years, poor sweetheart !

John — A cur dog !

Rose — Nay, there be dogs that none may call cur, as there be men one may call naught else ! Oh, oh ! You're angry in earnest now !

John — Do you think it kindly, mistress, to play thus with a friendly heart?

Rose — Do you think it manly, John Margeson, to play with a loving heart?

John — I know not what you mean.

Rose — You will not know. It is of Miriam we speak. And you do know. Speak truly.

John — Do you hold it Christian charity to condemn a man for that the gossips have mauled him with their idle tongues? It is naught but gossip, I tell you. I have never spoken what may be construed love to any maid in the colony or plighted faith to any.

Rose — And since you have not sealed a formal betrothal, you do hold yourself free ? May one not speak without words, and stand bound thereby? Do you hold yourself free, I say ?

JoHN-^Would you judge otherwise?

Rose — Nay, I'll take instruction in this case from you.

John — Will you take instruction from me in aught else, beside, sweet Rose?

Rose — Perchance 'tis in me to give you some excellent instruction myself, sir.

John — And I may come hither to receive it, then ?

Rose — Surely, I have no right to shut the door on Captain Standish's friends.

John — I thank you.

Rose — In the end you will not thank me, more than the lad thanks the rod.

John — I'll lay the warning to heart, be sure!

Exit "John C, laughing.

Rose — You will? [runs to door) I warned him fairly! So he will come seeking me and leave my Miriam to weep? Oh, I'll punish you — I'll punish you roundly! Hey, John Margeson, I'll lead you such a dance! You'll achefor't!

An armful of green corn flies through window L, and after it enter headlong Garrett Foster, a well-favored young dare-devil of twenty, coatless and bareheaded.

Rose — Oh!

Garrett — Hide me ! Hide me quick !

Rose — You've been stealing corn !

Garrett — Most evidently! And also, if they take me, I'll be flogged. Where can I hide ?

Rose — I'm not helping you! I vv^on't help you, I say!

Garrett — [catching her by the wrist^ Mistress, did you ever see a man flogged?

Rose — No, nor want to see one.

Garrett — Then you'd best hide me quick. 'Tis hardly prettier to see than to feel. Dashes to door Ri

Rose — No, no! Mistress Standish is w^ithin! Stop there !

Garrett — (hiding by cupboard, in angle of stairs^ They're coming. Don't tell !

Rose — But I — but I —

Garrett — Don't tell, I say!

Re-enter fohn C, hastily.

John — Rose ! Rose ! Have you seen —

Rose — O John ! I'm so frightened ! A man jumped in at our v^indow^ but now^, and — and —

John — ^Which way did he run? Beggarly thief! The Captain will flay him alive for this.

Rose — Flay! Oh! He — he jumped in at the window, and — and he ran out again by the door I Did you not see ? Run, run, John ! Stop him ! That way, I pray you, run !

John — The thief! You do well to wish him caught!

Exit John C, running.

Rose — Run, run, good John ! That way ! Yea, but I wish you may catch him !

Garrett — (coming forward^ I am your very slave for this, mistress — Mistress Rose. (Kose stands back to, at window y ignoring his presence) I offered you my humble thanks, mistress. I am in your debt. I pray you believe — (strikes his jist on table) Zounds, mistress, are you dumb ?

Rose — (turning) Are you deaf? Did you not hear me swear but now you were halfway to the shore ? Verily, you cannot be in two places at once, nor will I be forsworn.

Garrett — Oh, but there's been ample time for me to have dodged that thick-skull, made a circuit through Dr. Fuller's dooryard, and returned hither again.

Rose — And pray, who bade you return ?

Garrett — If I waited to be bidden, I had often stood on the wrong side of men's doors.

Rose — You stand far on the wrong side of our door now. Pack hence!

Garrett — (sits by table) Wherefore.?

Rose — Lest along with our corn you carry away our kettle to cook it in, and our spoons and trenchers to eat it withal.

Garrett — Nay, so I have the corn, I can shift with my fingers.

Rose — Are you so hungry, then? Truly, you have not the air of it.

Garrett — I'll not claim I'm starving. But if you had kept life alive these weary weeks on salt ship's beef and biscuits swarming with —

Rose — Come! These are not pretty stories. And so the corn waved —

Garrett — Ay, the corn beckoned with fair green fingers and said — Taste an I be not sweet !

Rose — And the corn whispered not — I am thy neighbor's corn.?

Garrett — You know the wise saw.f*

Rose — Nay.

Garrett — As to stolen fruit and its sweetness?

Rose — Stolen fruit —

Garrett — And truly the biscuits swarmed with —

Rose — Hush, hush! (cuts slice from loaf^ Eat of this, and forget the biscuits. 'Tis of my cooking, so you must find it good.

Garrett — Nay, I have no will to beg food of you.

Rose — Tut, tut! You that have such proud stomachs deserve to have empty stomachs. There ! (breaks a piece from slice of bread, nibbles at it) I'll bid you eat with me. Will that salve your honor ?

Garrett — I thank you, mistress, (takes bread and eats) And on mine honor, had I had such inviting to my lively biscuits, I had found them ambrosia.

Rose — Dear, dear! The civil thief! Curtsies

Garrett — And the uncivil hostess to cry thief!

Rose — But you are no guest of my choosing.

Garrett — Faith, I'd not be here, though, were it not for you. 'Twas right kind of you to aid me.

Rose — Aid you ? Nay, flatter not yourself. I wished to see good John Margeson run with his long legs. He's stoutening fast; 'tis excellent that he run. And what a stitch he will have in his side, poor John !

Garrett — [laying hand on the knife in his belt) An he laid hands on me, he had had something sharper than that in his side.

Rose — Verily, we are a great fire-eater — now that John hath run round the corner !

Garrett — (rising) 'Sdeath! Do you think that I —

Rose — Turn all your anger to the bread, I pray you. Another slice?

Garrett — Ay.

Rose — You are one of Weston's men, I take it ? Their ways and manners are known to us, you see.

Garrett — I'm bound to plant at Wessagusett, yes.

Rose — And what do you think to do there?

Garrett — Grow tobacco.

Rose — What!

Garrett — Why not? They grow it in Virginia.

Rose — But this is not Virginia !

Garrett — 'Tis all in America. What diiFerence?

Rose — You'll find a difference when winter comes. You'll not roam about without your doublet then.

Garrett — Faith, but I think I will. For I have no doublet.

Rose — Now who was it was so crack-brained as to send the like of you to settle for yourself in a new country ?

Garrett — My kinsfolk sent me. What would you ? A younger son, with no inheritance ! My uncle, Garrett Foster, he for whom I am named, he supplied me with bare necessaries, and bade me never come trouble him again. And I gambled away the bare necessaries when we put in at Plymouth in Devonshire. And here I am, bare indeed!

Rose — Tut, tut 1 And you are to plant a colony ! Will you eat another slice of bread ?

Garrett — Nay, I could not eat another mouthful, not even of ambrosia. 'Twas good bread, though.

Rose — Surely! Did I not say I made it? I can cook better, spin faster, and dance longer than any maid in New Plymouth.

Garrett — Dance? You are no kin to the Puritan captain, I'll wager I

Rose — Captain Standish is no Puritan, and he hath danced in his day. But true enough, I am no kin to him. I am only gracious to Hve in his house because I love Mistress Standish and their cousin Miriam. 'Tis a sad colony, this, Garrett Foster. There's not much here to love.

Garrett — But you —

Rose — Oh, I came hither to keep the house for my brother Philippe, but they said for that I was not old and wrinkled, I was not sober enough to rule a household, and I must bide under another's household rule.

Garrett — Methinks I'd trust you over a house, now, to-day !

Rose — Oh, your obliged servant, sir! But I'd not trust you in the cornfield that lay beside my house.

Garrett — I would you did not taunt me with that.

Rose — Have you not deserved it?

Garrett — No ! On my soul, no ! What grows out of doors, is't not for any man ?

Rose — Not when another hath had sore trouble to make it grow. Why, corn is as gold in this bleak new world of ours.

Garrett — I'll grant you're right, and 'twas a rascally prank. But for one prank, do I lose the right of a gentleman ? Tries to take her hand

Rose — When you come into our cottage by its door, like a gentleman, I'll think of treating you as one.

Garrett — Why, nothing easier ! [steps out at door C, comes in again) There now, I claim my privilege. A salute, as you would give it to a gentleman !

Rose — [dodging) You do not play fair!

Garrett — {chasing her) And you do not pay fair!

Rose — You were best not tarry to take the stakes. Captain Standish may come.

Garrett — Hang your Captain Standish ! Do you think I fear him?

Rose — {at door C) It's well you do not, sir. He's coming up the path now.

Garrett — {^running to window) The devil!

Rose — His enemies think him so. Nay, you cannot go by the window. He'll see you.

Garrett — {running to door) The door —

Rose — {barring his way) Oh, no! How happy you do not fear him ! Now what will you tell him about that corn?

Garrett — Devil take the corn ! If he see me 'twill all come out !

Miriam — {without) Rose! Rose!

Garrett — Curse it ! Flings corn on settle, drops down between end of settle and fireplace, where the high back of the settle screens him from the sight of those in the room

Re-enter Miriam C, followed by Standish, a well set-up, soldierly man of thirty-eight, in the military dress of the period, with a long cloak over his arm.

Miriam — You have set all in order? Forgive my lingering, Rose. I had not guessed it so late.

Standish — Good morrow, Major Rose! Rose takes the cloak fro?n Standish , and flings it over corner of settle^ hiding the corn.

Re-enter Barbara Ri.

Barbara — You are returned, Miles ? Good welcome !

Standish — Ay, sweetheart, returned, and none the worse except in temper, and breakfast will set that right.

Barbara — And our kind Rose hath prepared for us already. Sit at once. Starts to fireplace. Standish and Miriam sit at table.

Rose — (intercepting Barbara^ Nay, you sit too. Mistress Standish.

Barbara — But little Rose, you are not to serve us always. Suffer me to —

RosEt — ^There, there! Will you spoil good porridge by ill serving ? Sit you down ! Captain, command her be seated, else I'll throw the porridge fair in the fire.

Barbara — A wilful wench must have her way ! Sits at table.

Re-enter Ri Aunt Resolute, conventionally dressed.

Aunt Resolute — Be the wars over, nephew? You're welcome back ! Sits at table

Garrett — (to Rose) 'Tis vengeance hot here!

Rose — (at fireplace') If we may believe the preachers, there be hotter corners yet for men who steal their neighbors' corn.

Barbara — Rose! Rose crosses and sits at table. Standish says grace in dumb-show. Rose rises , fetches kettle fromjire and serves porridge,

Barbara — So the matter for which they called you forth still disturbs you. Miles?

Standish — Not the matter, but that I might not lay my hands on the workers of the matter. When I came to the quarters of those rogues of Wessagusett men, all was at sleepy peace — fair white lambs that they be ! Garrett puts out his arm, secures a stool, and settles himself more comfortably in his hiding place, observed only by Aunt Resolute.

Barbara — So it is with all their mischief!

Standish — Well, my time will come later. The first man of them I take self-convicted of breaking the colony laws — I'll make an example of him !

Rose — And what would you do to him. Captain ?

Standish — It depends on what the man had done, lass. Now, for instance, if I come on one of the corn thieves who are wasting our fields, I'll have him stripped and flogged through the settlement.

Rose — Do you mean that in earnest, Captain? In earnest ?

Standish — In sore earnest. The laws of the colony are not made for a laughing-stock.

Aunt Resolute — Nay, 'tis a cruel, harsh punishment. Whipped ? For a paltry ear or so of corn ? Mean and cruel, say I !

Standish — Not cruel, when 'tis deserved. A paltryear of corn ? Every ear of corn closes death's open door in our black winters. 'Tis better one stole gold of us than corn. John Margeson says —

Aunt Resolute — John Margeson !

Standish — Ay, he hath eyes, and his eyes saw a thief in our cornfield but an hour agone. He gave chase, but the man out-ran him. Now if I had that man —

The people at table talk in dumb-show

Garrett — (to Rose, as she crosses tojire) Rose!