Representative Plays by American Dramatists: 1856-1911: In Mizzoura | Page 9

don't I?
LIZBETH. Well, I didn't mean nothin', Kate.
KATE. And I do my share of the housework. [_Goes to window. As
her voice trembles,_ MRS. VERNON signals silence to LIZBETH.
MRS. VERNON. Of course you do, dear. Lizbeth, you oughtn't to be
so thoughtless in what you say.
Enter DAVE _with beer._
DAVE. Here you are, Mrs. Vernon.
MRS. VERNON. Thank you, Dave--ask that old man in there if he'll
have a glass.

DAVE. Yes'm. [_Exit to shop._
MRS. VERNON. We'll clear the place right up, Kate--don't feel bad
about it.
KATE. You needn't, mother--if Mr. Travers calls, we can go walking.
[_Goes to door._
MRS. VERNON. No, Kate, and I say it only fur your sake--I wouldn't
have the people of Bowling Green see you trapsing the streets at night
with a man you ain't knowed but a month, fur nothin'.
Enter JOE VERNON. JOE _is a six-footer, with full beard. He wears a
leather apron and has his sleeves rolled up._
JOE. Dave says, ma, that--
MRS. VERNON. Yes, here it is. [_Hands glass of beer._] Nearly dead,
Joe?
JOE. [_Smiling._] Oh, no--but I kin stand this.
KATE. Is there any objection to our spending the evening at Mrs.
Woods?
MRS. VERNON. Now, what's the attraction there?
KATE. She has a piano.
MRS. VERNON. Yes, with two teeth broke out of it. Why don't you
ever play on the melodeon? [_Pointing to it._
JOE. Yes, after Jim givin' it to you.
MRS. VERNON. [_Clearing up the ironing._] I wouldn't treat a dog the
way you treat Jim Radburn, Kate.
KATE silent at doorway.

JOE. [_At the wash-basin on the bench at back wall._] Ma, where's the
soap?
MRS. VERNON. I must a-left it in the dish-pan.
JOE _gets it and begins washing in tin basin._
JOE. [_Calling through sputter._] Dave!
DAVE. [_Off._] Yes, sir.
JOE. [_At door of shop._] Might as well shut up.
DAVE. All right.
BOLLINGER. [_Outside to the left._] Good-evening, Katie.
KATE. Good-evening, Colonel.
BOLLINGER. Rain seems to let up. Where's pa? [_Appears window._
JOE. [_Looking up from the basin._] Hello, Tom.
BOLLINGER. Evening, Joe--Mrs. Vernon--Hello, Lizbeth.
LIZBETH. [_Again in the rocker._] Hello, Colonel.
BOLLINGER. Jis' through?
JOE. Been puttin' in a little overtime.
BOLLINGER. Reckon you'll have another job.
JOE. How's that?
BOLLINGER. Louisiana stage bust a tire on the near fore-wheel
to-night.
JOE. That's so? Look out--jus' a minute. [BOLLINGER _steps aside;_

JOE _throws water out of the window._] There, ma--don't say I lost it
now. [_Throws soap back into dish-pan._] How'd she come to do that?
BOLLINGER. Too big a load, I guess--then the rain's cut up the road
so, and she were stuck in a rut, an' all of 'em pryin' at her with
fence-rails.
JOE. Somethin' had to come.
BOLLINGER. Ye-ep.
MRS. VERNON. [_Sits at table and fans._] Won't you come in?
BOLLINGER. No, thank you. Too hot. Down to Louisiana on
business--sweat clean through two paper collars. This'n's getting mealy.
[_He wipes his neck._
JOE. 'J-ever see such weather. [Punches LIZBETH _to get out of
rocker; sits in her place._ LIZBETH _goes to the melodeon stool._
BOLLINGER. Not since I was born. I hope the blamed rain's over. All
passenger trains holdin' down to eight mile an hour 'tween St. Charles
and Jonesburg on the Wabash on 'count of the wash-outs.
JOE. Why don't they ballast that air track?
BOLLINGER. Too stingy, I reckon. Say, Joe, if you git through the
convention, and they send you up to Jeff City, you'll have to jump on
the corporations.
JOE. Well, how do things look for the convention?
BOLLINGER. Well, down Louisiana way looks about six and half a
dozen. You wouldn't have any trouble at all, if we could get Radburn
out o' the race.
JOE. Well, I ain't got no right to ask him to do that.
KATE. [_From the doorway._] Do you mean, Colonel, that Mr.

Radburn's following will be a serious opposition to father's
nomination?
BOLLINGER. Well, it looks that way, Kate.
KATE. Is there a chance of Mr. Radburn's getting the nomination?
BOLLINGER. Yes, I should say it was a stand-off atween him an' the
Guv'nor, but I'm a-rootin' for your pa.
MRS. VERNON. Well, I can't see what right Jim Radburn has got to be
as strong with the Democracy as Joe Vernon. [_Crosses to dish-pan._
JOE. You can't say nothin' against Jim, ma.
MRS. VERNON. I ain't. I'm just askin'.
BOLLINGER. Well, you see Jim's bein' sheriff four terms, an' never
shootin' anybody--
MRS. VERNON. Why, he's shot fifty!
BOLLINGER. Well, I meant never killin' nobody, has naturally
endeared him to the peaceable element in the community. Jim has
always said, and stuck to it, that a sheriff who couldn't wing a prisoner
without killin' him, was a nuisance--and you take his record, and go
clean through