The Project Gutenberg EBook of Two Mothers, by John Gneisenau Neihardt This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. Title: Two Mothers Author: John Gneisenau Neihardt Release Date: December 1, 2016 [EBook #53642] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWO MOTHERS *** Produced by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) TWO MOTHERS BY JOHN G. NEIHARDT THE SPLENDID WAYFARING THE SONG OF THREE FRIENDS THE SONG OF HUGH GLASS THE QUEST TWO MOTHERS BY JOHN G. NEIHARDT New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1921 All rights reserved Copyright, 1913 By POETRY: A MAGAZINE OF VERSE Copyright, 1915 By THE FORUM Copyright, 1921, By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY Set up and electrotyped. Published, January, 1921 TO ALICE AND MONA CONTENTS PAGE Eight Hundred Rubles 3 Agrippina 27 EIGHT HUNDRED RUBLES GIRL’S SONG Noble Kreider The heart’s an open inn, And from the four winds fare.... Vagrants blind with care, Waifs that limp with sin; Ghosts of what has been,... Wraiths of what may be:... But One shall bring the sacred gift And which ... is He? And with their wounds of care And with their scars of sin.... All these shall en-ter in To find a welcome there; And he who gives with prayer Shall be the richer host:... For surely unto him shall come The Holy Ghost. The last stanza same as second except in second “‘Tis he” at close of stanza take “he” on C for end. TWO MOTHERS EIGHT HUNDRED RUBLES The combined living room and kitchen of a peasant house. Before an open fire, where supper is in preparation, stoops a girl of about sixteen. It is evening and dusk is growing. Vines hang outside and the light of a rising moon comes through the window. Girl (Singing.) 3 The heart’s an open inn, And from the four winds fare Vagrants blind with care, Waifs that limp with sin; Ghosts of what has been, Wraiths of what may be: But one shall bring the sacred gift— And which is he? And with their wounds of care And with their scars of sin, All these shall enter in To find a welcome there; And he who gives with prayer Shall be the richer host; For surely unto him shall come The Holy Ghost. (Ceases singing and stares into the fire.) What if he’d vanish like a dream one keeps No more than starshine when the morning breaks! I’ll look again. (Arises, goes softly to the open window and looks out into the garden.) How peacefully he sleeps! The red rose shields him from the moon that makes The garden like a witch-tale whispered low. He came a stranger, yet he is not strange; For O, how often I have dreamed it so, Until a sudden, shivering gust of change Went over things, making the cow-sheds flare On fire with splendor while one might count three, And riding swiftly down the populous air, Prince-like he came for me. There were no banners when he really came, No clatter of brave steel chafing in the sheath, No trumpets blown to hoarseness with his fame. Silently trudging over the dusky heath, Clad in a weave of twilight, shod with dew, Weary he came and hungry to the door. The lifting latch made music, and I knew My prince was dream no more. (Sings low.) O weary heart and sore, O yearning eyes that blur, A hand that drips with myrrh Is knocking at the door! The waiting time is o’er, Be glad, look up and see How splendid is a dream come true— ‘Tis he! ‘Tis he! (During the latter part of the song, the back door opens and the father and mother enter, stooped beneath heavy packs.) Mother 4 5 6 What’s this, eh? Howling like a dog in heat, Snout to the moon! And not a bite to eat, And the pot scorching like the devil’s pit! Bestir yourself there, will you! Here you sit Tra-la-ing while the supper goes to rack, And your old father like to break his back, Tramping from market! Father Tut, tut! Girls must sing, And one burned supper is a little thing In seventy creeping years. Mother Ah, there it goes! My hunger makes no difference, I suppose! Tra-la, tut tut, and I can slave and slave Until my nose seems sniffing for a grave, I’m bent so—and it’s little that you care! Girl (Who has arisen from window and regards her mother as in a dream.) Hush, Mother dear, you’ll wake him! Mother Wake him? Where? Who sleeps that should not wake? Are you bewitched? Hush me again, and you’ll be soundly switched! As though I were a work brute to be dumb! I’ll talk my fill! Girl O Mother, he has come—— Mother (Her body straightening slightly from its habitual stoop) Eh? Who might come that I would care to know Since Ivan left?—He’s dead. Father Aye, years ago, And stubborn grieving is a foolish sin. Mother (With the old weary voice.) One’s head runs empty and the ghosts get in When one is old and stooped. 7 8 (Peevishly to the girl.) Bestir yourself! Lay plates and light the candles on the shelf. No corpse lies here that it should be so dark. (Girl, moving as in a trance, lights candles with a brand from the fireplace. Often she glances expectantly at the window. The place is fully illumined.) What ails the hussy? Father ‘Tis a crazy lark Sings in her head all day. Don’t be too rough. Come twenty winters, ‘twill be still enough, God knows! Mother (At the fireplace.) I heard no larks sing at her age. They put me in the field to earn a wage And be some use in the world. (To girl.) What! Dawdling yet? I’ll lark you in a way you won’t forget, Come forty winters! Speak! What do you mean? Girl (Still staring at the window and speaking dreamily as to herself.) Up from the valley creeps the loving green Until the loneliest hill-top is a bride. Mother The girl’s gone daft! Father ‘Tis vapors. Let her bide. She’s weaving bride-veils with a woof of the moon, And every wind’s a husband. All too soon She’ll stitch at grave-clothes in a stuff more stern. Girl (Arousing suddenly.) I’m sorry that I let the supper burn— ‘Tis all so sweet, I scarce know what I do— He came—— Mother Who came? 9 10 Girl A stranger that I knew; And he was weary, so I took him in And gave him supper, thinking ‘twere a sin That anyone should want and be denied. And while he ate, the place seemed glorified, As though it were the Saviour sitting there! It could not be the sunset bound his hair Briefly with golden haloes—made his eyes Such depths to gaze in with a dumb surprise While one blinked thrice!—Then suddenly it passed, And he was some old friend returned at last After long years. Mother A pretty tale, indeed! And so it was our supper went to feed A sneaking ne’er-do-well, a shiftless scamp! Girl O Mother, wasn’t Jesus Christ a tramp? Mother Hush, will you! hush! ‘Tis plain the Devil’s here! To think my only child should live to jeer At holy things! Father Come, don’t abuse the maid. They say He was a carpenter by trade, Yet no one ever saw the house He built. Mother So! Shield the minx! Make nothing of her guilt, And let the Devil get her—as he will! I’ll hold my tongue and work, and eat my fill From what the beggars leave, for all you care! Quick! Where’s this scoundrel? Girl ‘Sh! He’s sleeping there Out in the garden. (Shows a gold piece.) Mother, see, he paid So much more than he owed us, I’m afraid. We lose in taking, profit what we give. Mother 11 12 13 (Taking the coin.) What! Gold? A clever bargain, as I live! It’s five times what the fowls brought!—Not so bad! And yet—I’ll wager ‘tis not all he had— Eh? Girl No—eight hundred rubles in a sack! Mother Eight—hundred—rubles! Yet the times are slack, And coins don’t spawn like fishes, Goodness knows! I’ll warrant he’s some thief that comes and goes About the country with a ready smile And that soft speech that is the Devil’s guile, Nosing out hoards that reek with honest sweat! Ha, ha—there’s little here that he can get. (Goes to window softly, peers out, then closes the casement.) Eight—hundred—rubles— Girl Mother, had you heard How loving kindness spoke in every word, You could not doubt him. O, his eyes were mild, And there were heavens in them when he smiled! Mother Satan can outsmile God. Girl No, no, I’m sure He brought some gift of good that shall endure And be a blessing to us! Mother So indeed! Eight—hundred—rubles—with the power to breed Litters of copecks till one need not work! Eight hundred hundred backaches somehow lurk In that snug wallet. (To the father.) What’s the thing to do? Father 14 15 It would be pleasant with a pot of brew To talk until the windows glimmer pale. ‘Tis good to harken to a traveller’s tale Of things far off where almost no one goes. Mother As well to parley with a wind that blows Across fat fields, yet has no grain to share. Rubles are rubles, and a tale is air. I’ll have the rubles! Girl (Aghast.) Mother! Mother dear! What if ‘twere Ivan sleeping far from here, And some one else should do this sinful deed! Mother Had they not taken my son, I should not need Eight hundred rubles now! The world’s made wrong, And I’ll not live to vex it very long. Who work should take their wages where they can. It should have been my boy come back a man, With this same goodly hoard to bring us cheer. Now let some other mother peer and peer At her own window through a blurring pane, And see the world go out in salty rain, And start at every gust that shakes the door! What does a green girl know? You never bore A son that you should prate of wrong and right! I tell you, I have wakened in the night, Feeling his milk-teeth sharp upon my breast, And for one aching moment I was blest, Until I minded that ‘twas years ago These flattened paps went milkless—and I know! Girl O Mother! ‘twould be sin! Mother Sin! What is that— When all the world prowls like a hungry cat, Mousing the little that could make us glad? Father Don’t be forever grieving for the lad. ‘Twas hard, but there are troubles worse than death. Let’s eat and think it over. Mother 16 17