War Brides: A Play in One Act | Page 4

[Still in the doorway, looking out.]
War brides!
Minna: [Pertly.]
You're a war bride yourself, Hedwig.
Hedwig: [Turns quickly, locates Minna, almost springs at her.]
Don't you dare to call me a war bride! My ring is gold. See. [_Seizes
Minna's hand, and then throws it from her._] Not iron, like yours.
Minna:
[Boldly taunting.]
They even call you the first war bride.
Hedwig: [Furious, towering over her, her hand on her shoulder.]
Say why, why?
Minna: [Weakening.]
Because you were the first one to be married when the war broke out.
Hedwig: [Both hands on her shoulders.]
Because the Government commanded? Because they bribed me with

the promise of a widow's pension? Tell the truth.
Minna: [Faintly.]
No. Let me go.
Hedwig:
So! And how long had Franz and I been engaged? Now say.
Minna: [Beginning to be frightened.]
Two years.
Hedwig: [Flinging her off.]
Of course. Everybody knows it. Every village this side the river knew
we were to be married this summer. We've dreamed and worked for
nothing else all these months. It had nothing to do with the war--our
love, our marriage. So, you see, I am no war bride. [Walks scornfully
away.] Not like you, anyway.
[They all stare at her.]
Hoffman: [Stepping forward indignantly.]
I don't know why you should have this contempt for our war brides,
and speak like that.
Hedwig: [_Sits down, half turned away. She shrugs her shoulders, and
her lips curl in a little smile._]
Hoffman:
They are coming to the rescue of their country. Saving it; else it will
perish.
Hedwig: [Bitterly.]

Ha!
Hoffman: [Waxing warmer.]
They are the saviors of the future.
Hedwig: [Sadly.]
The future!
Mother: [Softly, laying her hand on Hedwig's shoulder.]
Hedwig, be more respectful. Herr Hoffman is a lieutenant.
Hoffman:
When we are gone,--the best of us,--what will the country do if it has
no children?
Hedwig:
Why didn't you think of that before--before you started this wicked
war?
Hoffman:
I tell you it is a glory to be a war bride. There!
Hedwig: [With a shrug.]
A breeding-machine! [They all draw back.] Why not call it what it is?
Speak the naked truth for once.
Hoffman:
You'll take that back to-morrow, when your sister stands up in the
church with me.
Hedwig: [Starting up.]

Amelia? Marry you? No! Amelia, is this true?
Amelia: [Hesitating, troubled, and uncertain.]
They tell me I must--for the fatherland.
Hedwig:
Marry this man, whom you scarcely know, whom surely you cannot
love! Why, you make a mock of marriage! It isn't that they have
tempted you with the widow's pension? It is so tiny; it's next to nothing.
Surely you wouldn't yield to that?
Amelia: [Frightened.]
I did want to go as a nurse, but the priests and the generals--they say we
must marry--to--for the fatherland, Hedwig.
Hoffman: [To Hedwig.]
I command you to be silent!
Hedwig:
Not when my sister's happiness is at stake. If you come back, she will
have to live with you the rest of her life.
Hoffman:
That isn't the question now. We are going away--the best of us--to be
shot, most likely. Don't you suppose we want to send some part of
ourselves into the future, since we can't live ourselves? There, that's
straight; and right, too.
Hedwig: [Nodding slowly.]
What I said--to breed a soldier for the empire; to restock the land.
[Fiercely.] And for what? For food for the next generation's cannon. Oh,
it is an insult to our womanhood! You violate all that makes marriage

sacred! [Agitated, she walks about the room.] Are we women never to
get up out of the dust? You never asked us if we wanted this war, yet
you ask us to gather in the crops, cut the wood, keep the world going,
drudge and slave, and wait, and agonize, lose our all, and go on bearing
more men--and more--to be shot down! If we breed the men for you,
why don't you let us say what is to become of them? Do we want them
shot--the very breath of our life?
Hoffman:
It is for the fatherland.
Hedwig:
You use us, and use us--dolls, beasts of burden, and you expect us to
bear it forever dumbly; but I won't! I shall cry out till I die. And now
you say it almost out loud, "Go and breed for the empire." War brides!
Pah! [_Minna gasps, beginning to be terrified. Hoffman rages. Mother
gazes with anxious concern. Amelia turns pale._]
Hoffman:
I never would dream of speaking of Amelia like that. She is the
sweetest girl I have seen for many a day.
Hedwig:
What will happen to Amelia? Have you thought of that? No; I warrant
you haven't. Well, look. A few kisses and sweet words, the excitement
of the ceremony, the cheers of the crowd, some