Representative Plays by American Dramatists: 1856-1911: In Mizzoura | Page 8

_sits on rocker and fans herself with frayed-out palm
leaf._
MRS. VERNON. Lor'--to think o' this weather in June. It's jis' terrible.
Enter KATE. _She is neatly gowned and is of a superior clay._
KATE. Mother--
MRS. VERNON. Well, Kate?
KATE. Must we have this awful odour again to-night?
MRS. VERNON. Got to have somethin', Kate, to drive off the skeeters.
[Enter LIZBETH.] I ain't slep' none for two nights.
KATE. They might be kept out some other way. [_She sits in chair._
MRS. VERNON. [_Taking the fresh iron and resuming work._] I
ruined my best pillar-slips an' nearly smothered myself with coal oil
last night. I'll try my own way now. It's all very well fur you, Kate,
whose got the only muskeeter bar in the family--
LIZBETH. [_In the rocker._] Yes, and won't let your sister sleep with
you--
KATE. I'll gladly give you the mosquito bar, Lizbeth, but two
grown-up people can't sleep in a narrow single bed.
LIZBETH. I hope you don't s'pose I'd take it.

KATE. I gave you one to make the window frames.
MRS. VERNON. Well, kin the poor girl help that, Kate? Didn't the
dogs jump through 'em? [_She indicates the ragged netting on the
frame._
KATE. Why do you have the dogs about?
MRS. VERNON. Well, when you've lived as long as I have in Pike
County, you'll know you got to have dogs if you leave your winders
open. There--I've ironed another pearl button in two--yes, an' it's pulled
a piece right out o' one o' yer pa's bosoms. That's 'cause I'm so tired, I
can't see. Lizbeth, where's them prescriptions?
LIZBETH. In the yeast-powder box.
MRS. VERNON. Well, get one for me. [LIZBETH _gets box from
over the stove._] I can't go on with this ironin' without some beer.
LIZBETH. Who'll go for it?
MRS. VERNON. Ask Dave--
LIZBETH. [_At door. Calls._] Dave!
DAVE. [_Off._] Yes, Lizbeth.
LIZBETH. Ma wants you to--
MRS. VERNON. Now, don't yawp it out to the whole neighbourhood,
Lizbeth--tell Dave to come here.
LIZBETH. [_In a lower tone._] Come here!
MRS. VERNON. Give me the prescription. [LIZBETH _arranges the
linen in the basket. Enter_ DAVE.] Dave, the ironin' an' the heat an'
everything jes' about floored me--won't you go to the drug-store with
this prescription, an' get me a quart bottle of St. Louis beer?

DAVE. [_Taking the prescription._] Certainly.
MRS. VERNON. I can't send the girls after dark.
DAVE. Oh, that's all right. [_Exits to street._
MRS. VERNON. [_Ironing again._] If your pa ever does get into the
Legislature, I hope he'll defeat this blamed local auction business. It's
all well enough for those Salvation women who ain't got a thing to do
but pound tambourines, but if they had the washin', and ironin', an'
cookin' to do for a fambly of six--an' three dogs--they'd need something
to keep body an' soul together.
KATE. [_Going to street door._] How much longer shall you iron
to-night?
MRS. VERNON. Why? Do you want the room?
KATE. Oh, no--but--
LIZBETH. Is Travers coming to-night, Kate? [_Sits in rocker._
KATE. I don't know who may come.
MRS. VERNON. What difference does it make who does come?
KATE. None, except that the room is filled with smoke and--is hot.
MRS. VERNON. Well, to my mind, Travers may as well get himself
used to places that are hot and filled with smoke--fur if he ain't one of
Old Nick's own ones, I never see any--
KATE. Mother!! Mr. Travers is a gentleman!
MRS. VERNON. How do you know? Four years to a female seminary
don't make you a better judge of gentlemen than us who stay to home
here. Your pa's a gentleman if he is a wheelwright--so is Jim Radburn--
LIZBETH. And Dave--

MRS. VERNON. Yes, and Dave--
KATE. But none of them is like Mr. Travers.
MRS. VERNON. No, thank God they ain't. Travers, Kate--[_Pause_]
Travers--[_Pause_] and, mind you, I've seen men before you was
born--Travers is as much like a gambler as any I ever saw.
KATE. [_Coming down._] Look here, mother--I've heard you say you
had to run away from home with father because your people didn't like
him--but that didn't make him any worse, did it?
MRS. VERNON. Well, it didn't make him any better, Kate, and I've
regretted it from the bottom of my heart a hundred times--I want you to
understand--[_Looks uneasily at door._] I've told it to him often
enough--[_Lowering voice._] And if he was here I'd tell him again
now--that I could ha' married a doctor.
LIZBETH. You're not calculatin' to run away with Travers, are you,
Kate?
KATE. You know I'm not, Lizbeth--but I think you and mother might
be a little more considerate in what you say. I try to make the place tidy
and nice for your evenings with Dave,