The Hour Glass | Page 4

YOUNG MAN. Teigue, will you give us pennies if we teach you lessons? No, be goes to school for nothing on the mountains. Tell us what you learn on the mountains, Teigue?
WISE MAN. Be silent all. [He has been standing silent, looking away.] Stand still in your places, for there is something I would have you tell me.
[A moment's pause. They all stand round in their places. TEIGUE still stands at the door.]
WISE MAN. Is there any one amongst you who believes in God? In heaven? Or in purgatory? Or in hell?
ALL THE YOUNG MEN. No one; Master! No one!
WISE MAN. I knew you would all say that; but do not be afraid. I will not be angry. Tell me the truth. Do you not believe?
A YOUNG MAN. We once did, but you have taught us to know better.
WISE MAN. Oh! teaching, teaching does not go very deep! The heart remains unchanged under it all. You believe just as yon always did, and you are afraid to tell me.
A YOUNG MAN. No, no, master.
WISE MAN. If you tell me that you believe I shall be glad and not angry.
A YOUNG MAN. [To his neighbor.] He wants somebody to dispute with.
HIS NEIGHBOR. I knew that from the beginning.
A YOUNG MAN. That is not the subject for to-day; you were going to talk about the words the beggar wrote upon the walls of Babylon.
WISE MAN. If there is one amongst you that believes, he will be my best friend. Surely there is one amongst you. [They are all silent.] Surely what you learned at your mother's knees has not been so soon forgotten.
A YOUNG MAN. Master, till you came, no teacher in this land was able to get rid of foolishness and ignorance. But every one has listened to you, every one has learned the truth. You have had your last disputation.
ANOTHER. What a fool you made of that monk in the market-place! He had not a word to say.
WISE MAN. [Comes from his desk and stands among them in the middle of the room.] Pupils, dear friends, I have deceived you all this time. It was I myself who was ignorant. There is a God. There is a heaven. There is fire that passes, and there is fire that lasts for ever.
[TEIGUE, through all this, is sitting on a stool by the door, reckoning on his fingers what he will buy with his money.]
A YOUNG MAN [to another]. He will not be satisfied till we dispute with him. [To the WISE MAN.] Prove it, master. Have you seen them?
WISE MAN [in a low, solemn voice]. Just now, before you came in, some one came to the door, and when I looked up I saw an angel standing there.
A YOUNG MAN. You were in a dream. Anybody can see an angel in his dreams.
WISE MAN. Oh, my God! it was not a dream. I was awake, waking as I am now. I tell you I was awake as I am now.
A YOUNG MAN. Some dream when they are awake, but they are the crazy, and who would believe what they say? Forgive me, master, but that is what you taught me to say. That is what you said to the monk when he spoke of the visions of the saints and the martyrs.
ANOTHER YOUNG MAN. You see how well we remember your teaching.
WISE MAN. Out, out from my sight! I want some one with belief. I must find that grain the Angel spoke of before I die. I tell you I must find it, and you answer me with arguments. Out with you, or I will beat you with my stick! [The young men laugh.]
A YOUNG MAN. How well he plays at faith! He is like the monk when he had nothing more to say.
WISE MAN. Out, out, or I will lay this stick about your shoulders! Out with you, though you are a king's son!
[They begin to hurry out.]
A YOUNG MAN. Come, come; he wants us to find some one who will dispute with him. [All go out.]
WISE MAN [alone. He goes to the door at the side]. I will call my wife. She will believe; women always believe. [He opens the door and calls.] Bridget! Bridget! [BRIDGET comes in wearing her apron, her sleeves turned up from her floury arms.] Bridget, tell me the truth; do not say what you think will please me. Do you sometimes say your prayers?
BRIDGET. Prayers! No, you taught me to leave them off long ago. At first I was sorry, but I am glad now, for I am sleepy in the evenings.
WISE MAN. But do you not believe in God?
BRIDGET. Oh, a good wife only believes what her husband tells her!
WISE MAN. But sometimes when you are alone, when I am in the school