War Brides: A Play in One Act | Page 4

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 days of living together,--I won't call it marriage, for Franz and I are the ones who know what real marriage is, and how sacred it is,--then what? Before you know it, an order to march. Amelia left to wait for her child. No husband to wait with her, to watch over her. Think of her anxiety, if she learns to love you! What kind of child will it be? Look at me. What kind of child would I have, do you think? I can hardly breathe for thinking of my Franz, waiting, never knowing from minute to minute. From the way I feel, I should think my child would be born mad, I'm that wild with worrying. And then for Amelia to go through the agony alone! No husband to help her through the terrible hour. What solace can the state give then? And after that, if you don't come back, who is going to earn the bread for her child? Struggle and struggle to feed herself and her child; and the fine-sounding name you trick us with--war bride! Humph! that will all be forgotten then. Only one thing can make it worth while, and do you know what that is? Love. We'll struggle through fire and water for that; but without it--[Gesture.]
Hoffman: [Drawing Amelia to him.]
Don't listen to her, Amelia.
Amelia: [Pushing Hoffman violently from her, runs from the room.]
No, no, I can't marry you! I won't! I won't!
[She shuts the door in his face.]
Hedwig: [Triumphantly.]
She will never be your war bride, Hans Hoffman!
Hoffman: [Suddenly, angrily.]
By thunder! I've made a discovery. You're the woman! You're the woman!
Hedwig:
What woman?
Hoffman:
Yesterday there were twenty war brides. The day before there were nearly thirty. To-day there were only ten. There are rumors--[Excitedly.] I'll report you. They'll find you guilty. I myself can prove it.
Hedwig:
Well?
Hoffman:
I heard them say at the barracks that some one was talking the women out of marrying. They