Essay #3 (Topic is below)

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Assignment:

  • 4-6 pages.
  • Incorporates at least 3 of our unit’s readings
  • MLA format. 12-point font, Times New Roman.

For this assignment, write an essay which answers the question, “Has the single story of women changed since pre-suffrage (Stanton’s time)? Why or why not?” Explore the traditional roles of women that are present in our unit’s texts, and make an argument for how/if women’s roles have changed and if/how women’s rights have now been granted. Use our AT LEAST 3 of our course readings as the foundation for your evidence, but you may also bring in current events to bolster your discussion of modern events.

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Scanned with CamScanner Scanned with CamScanner Scanned with CamScanner Scanned with CamScanner Scanned with CamScanner Woman Suffrage Timeline (1840-1920) 1840 Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton are barred from attending the World Anti-Slavery Convention held in London. This prompts them to hold a Women's Convention in the US. 1848 Seneca Falls, New York is the location for the first Women's Rights Convention. Elizabeth Cady Stanton writes "The Declaration of Sentiments" creating the agenda of women's activism for decades to come. 1849 The first state constitution in California extends property rights to women. 1850 Worcester, Massachusetts, is the site of the first National Women's Rights Convention. Frederick Douglass, Paulina Wright Davis, Abby Kelley Foster, William Lloyd Garrison, Lucy Stone and Sojourner Truth are in attendance. A strong alliance is formed with the Abolitionist Movement. 1851 Worcester, Massachusetts is the site of the second National Women's Rights Convention. Participants included Horace Mann, New York Tribune columnist Elizabeth Oaks Smith, and Reverend Harry Ward Beecher, one of the nation's most popular preachers. At a women's rights convention in Akron, Ohio, Sojourner Truth, a former slave, delivers her now memorable speech, "Ain't I a woman?" 1852 The issue of women's property rights is presented to the Vermont Senate by Clara Howard Nichols. This is a major issue for the Suffragists. "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe, is published and quickly becomes a bestseller. 1853 Women delegates, Antoinette Brown and Susan B. Anthony, are not allowed to speak at The World's Temperance Convention held in New York City. 1861-1865 During the Civil War, efforts for the suffrage movement come to a halt. Women put their energies toward the war effort. 1866 Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony form the American Equal Rights Association, an organization dedicated to the goal of suffrage for all regardless of gender or race. 1868 Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Parker Pillsbury publish the first edition of ​The Revolution​. This periodical carries the motto “Men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less!” Caroline Seymour Severance establishes the New England Woman’s Club. The “Mother of Clubs” sparked the club movement which became popular by the late nineteenth century. In Vineland, New Jersey, 172 women cast ballots in a separate box during the presidential election. Senator S.C. Pomeroy of Kansas introduces the federal woman’s suffrage amendment in Congress. Many early suffrage supporters, including Susan B. Anthony, remained single because in the mid-1800s, married women could not own property in their own rights and could not make legal contracts on their own behalf. The Fourteenth Amendment is ratified. "Citizens" and "voters" are defined exclusively as male. 1869 The American Equal Rights Association is wrecked by disagreements over the Fourteenth Amendment and the question of whether to support the proposed Fifteenth Amendment which would enfranchise Black American males while avoiding the question of woman suffrage entirely. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony found the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), a more radical institution, to achieve the vote through a Constitutional amendment as well as push for other woman’s rights issues. NWSA was based in New York Lucy Stone, Henry Blackwell, Julia Ward Howe and other more conservative activists form the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) to work for woman suffrage through amending individual state constitutions. AWSA was based in Boston. Wyoming territory is organized with a woman suffrage provision. 1870 The Fifteenth Amendment gave black men the right to vote. NWSA refused to work for its ratification and instead the members advocate for a Sixteenth Amendment that would dictate universal suffrage. Frederick Douglass broke with Stanton and Anthony over the position of NWSA. The ​Woman’s Journal​ is founded and edited by Mary Livermore, Lucy Stone, and Henry Blackwell. 1871 Victoria Woodhull addresses the House Judiciary Committee, arguing women’s rights to vote under the fourteenth amendment. The Anti-Suffrage Party is founded. 1872 Susan B. Anthony casts her ballot for Ulysses S. Grant in the presidential election and is arrested and brought to trial in Rochester, New York. Fifteen other women are arrested for illegally voting. Sojourner Truth appears at a polling booth in Battle Creek, Michigan, demanding a ballot to vote; she is turned away. Abigail Scott Duniway convinces Oregon lawmakers to pass laws granting a married woman’s rights such as starting and operating her own business, controlling the money she earns, and the right to protect her property if her husband leaves. 1874 The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is founded by Annie Wittenmyer. With Frances Willard at its head (1876), the WCTU became an important proponent in the fight for woman suffrage. As a result, one of the strongest opponents to women's enfranchisement was the liquor lobby, which feared women might use their vote to prohibit the sale of liquor. 1876 Susan B. Anthony and Matilda Joslyn Gage disrupt the official Centennial program at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, presenting a “Declaration of Rights for Women” to the Vice President. 1878 A Woman Suffrage Amendment is proposed in the U.S. Congress. When the 19th Amendment passes forty-one years later, it is worded exactly the same as this 1878 Amendment. 1887 The first vote on woman suffrage is taken in the Senate and is defeated. 1888 The National Council of Women in the United States is established to promote the advancement of women in society. 1890 NWSA and AWSA merge and the National American Woman Suffrage Association is formed. Stanton is the first president. The Movement focuses efforts on securing suffrage at the state level. Wyoming is admitted to the Union with a state constitution granting woman suffrage. The American Federation of Labor declares support for woman suffrage. The South Dakota campaign for woman suffrage loses. 1890-1925 The Progressive Era begins. Women from all classes and backgrounds enter public life. Women's roles expand and result in an increasing politicization of women. Consequently the issue of woman suffrage becomes part of mainstream politics. 1892 Olympia Brown founds the Federal Suffrage Association to campaign for woman’s suffrage. 1893 Colorado adopts woman suffrage. 1894 600,000 signatures are presented to the New York State Constitutional Convention in a failed effort to bring a woman suffrage amendment to the voters. 1895 Elizabeth Cady Stanton publishes ​The Woman’s Bible. ​After its publication, NAWSA moves to distance itself from Stanton because many conservative suffragists considered her to be too radical and, thus, potentially damaging to the suffrage campaign. 1896 Mary Church Terrell, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and Frances E.W. Harper among others found the the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs. Utah joins the Union with full suffrage for women. Idaho adopts woman suffrage. 1903 Mary Dreier, Rheta Childe Dorr, Leonora O'Reilly, and others form the Women's Trade Union League of New York, an organization of middle- and working-class women dedicated to unionization for working women and to woman suffrage. 1910 Washington State adopts woman suffrage. The Women’s Political Union organizes the first suffrage parade in New York City. 1911 The National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage (NAOWS) is organized. Led by Mrs. Arthur Dodge, its members included wealthy, influential women, some Catholic clergymen, distillers and brewers, urban political machines, Southern congressmen, and corporate capitalists. The elaborate California suffrage campaign succeeds by a small margin. 1912 Woman Suffrage is supported for the first time at the national level by a major political party -- Theodore Roosevelt's Bull Moose Party. Twenty thousand suffrage supporters join a New York City suffrage parade. Oregon, Kansas, and Arizona adopt woman suffrage. 1913 In 1913, suffragists organized a parade down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC. The parade was the first major suffrage spectacle organized by the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). The two women then organized the Congressional Union, later known at the National Women’s Party (1916). They borrowed strategies from the radical Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in England. 1914 Nevada and Montana adopt woman suffrage. The National Federation of Women’s Clubs, which had over two million women members throughout the U.S., formally endorses the suffrage campaign. 1915 Mabel Vernon and Sara Bard Field are involved in a transcontinental tour which gathers over a half-million signatures on petitions to Congress. Forty thousand march in a NYC suffrage parade. Many women are dressed in white and carry placards with the names of the states they represent. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts continue to reject woman suffrage. 1916 Jeannette Rankin of Montana is the first woman elected to the House of Representatives. Woodrow Wilson states that the Democratic Party platform will support suffrage. 1917 New York women gain suffrage. Arkansas women are allowed to vote in primary elections. National Woman’s Party picketers appear in front of the White House holding two banners, “Mr. President, What Will You Do For Woman Suffrage?” and “How Long Must Women Wait for Liberty?” Jeannette Rankin of Montana, the first woman elected to Congress, is formally seated in the U.S. House of Representatives. Alice Paul, leader of the National Woman’s Party, was put in solitary confinement in the mental ward of the prison as a way to “break” her will and to undermine her credibility with the public. In June, arrests of the National Woman’s party picketers begin on charges of obstructing sidewalk traffic. Subsequent picketers are sentenced to up to six months in jail. In November, the government unconditionally releases the picketers in response to public outcry and an inability to stop National Woman’s Party picketers’ hunger strike. 1918 Representative Rankin opens debate on a suffrage amendment in the House. The amendment passes. The amendment fails to win the required two thirds majority in the Senate. Michigan, South Dakota, and Oklahoma adopt woman suffrage. President Woodrow Wilson states his support for a federal woman suffrage amendment. President Wilson addresses the Senate about adopting woman suffrage at the end of World War I. 1919 The Senate finally passes the Nineteenth Amendment and the ratification process begins. August 26, 1920 Three quarters of the state legislatures ratify the Nineteenth Amendment. American Women win full voting rights. Susan Glaspell's Trifles with anchors for the primary symbols and images Cindy Pollaro SCENE. The kitchen in the now abandoned farmhouse of John Wright, a gloomy kitchen, and left without having been put in order--unwashed pans under the sink, a loaf of bread outside the bread-box, a dish-towel on the table--other signs of incompleted work. At the rear the outer door opens and the Sheriff comes in followed by the County Attorney and Hale. The Sheriff and Hale are in middle life, the County Attorney is a young man; all are much bundled up and go at once to the stove. They are followed by the two women--the Sheriff's wife first; she is a slight wiry woman, a thin nervous face. Mrs. Hale is larger and would ordinarily be called more comfortable looking, but she is disturbed now and looks fearfully about as she enters. The women have come in slowly, and stand close together near the door. COUNTY ATTORNEY [Rubbing his hands.] This feels good. Come up to the fire, ladies. MRS. PETERS [After taking a step forward.] I'm not--cold. SHERIFF [Unbuttoning his overcoat and stepping away from the stove as if to mark the beginning of official business.] Now, Mr. Hale, before we move things about, you explain to Mr. Henderson just what you saw when you came here yesterday morning. COUNTY ATTORNEY By the way, has anything been moved? Are things just as you left them yesterday? SHERIFF [Looking about.] It's just the same. When it dropped below zero last night I thought I'd better send Frank out this morning to make a fire for us--no use getting pneumonia with a big case on, but I told him not to touch anything except the stove--and you know Frank. COUNTY ATTORNEY Somebody should have been left here yesterday. SHERIFF Oh--yesterday. When I had to send Frank to Morris Center for that man who went crazy--I want you to know I had my hands full yesterday. I knew you could get back from Omaha by today and as long as I went over everything here myself-COUNTY ATTORNEY Well, Mr. Hale, tell just what happened when you came here yesterday morning. HALE Harry and I had started to town with a load of potatoes. We came along the road from my place and as I got here I said, "I'm going to see if I can't get John Wright to go in with me on a party telephone." I spoke to Wright about it once before and he put me off, saying folks talked too much anyway, and all he asked was peace and quiet--I guess you know about how much he talked himself, but I thought maybe if I went to the house and talked about it before his wife, though I said to Harry that I didn't know as what his wife wanted made much difference to JohnCOUNTY ATTORNEY Let's talk about that later, Mr. Hale. I do want to talk about that, but tell now just what happened when you got to the house. HALE I didn't hear or see anything; I knocked at the door, and still it was all quiet inside. I knew they must be up, it was past eight o'clock. So I knocked again, and I thought I heard somebody say, "Come in." I wasn't sure, I'm not sure yet, but I opened the door--this door [indicating the door by which the two women are still standing] and there in that rocker--[pointing to it] sat Mrs. Wright. [They all look at the rocker. COUNTY ATTORNEY What--was she doing? HALE She was rockin' back and forth. She had her apron in her hand and was kind of--pleating it. COUNTY ATTORNEY And how did she--look? HALE Well, she looked queer. COUNTY ATTORNEY How do you mean--queer? HALE Well, as if she didn't know what she was going to do next. And kind of done up. COUNTY ATTORNEY How did she seem to feel about your coming? HALE Why, I don't think she minded--one way or other. She didn't pay much attention. I said, "How do, Mrs. Wright, it's cold, ain't it?" And she said, "Is it?"--and went on kind of pleating at her apron. Well, I was surprised; she didn't ask me to come up to the stove, or to set down, but just sat there, not even looking at me, so I said, "I want to see John." And then she--laughed, I guess you would call it a laugh. I thought of Harry and the team outside, so I said a little sharp: "Can't I see John?" "No," she says, kind o' dull like. "Ain't he home?" says I. "Yes," says she, "he's home." "Then why can't I see him?" I asked her, out of patience. "'Cause he's dead," says she. "Dead?" says I. She just nodded her head, not getting a bit excited, but rockin' back and forth. "Why--where is he?" says I, not knowing what to say. She just pointed upstairs--like that [himself pointing to the room above]. I got up, with the idea of going up there. I walked from there to here--then I says, "Why, what did he die of?" "He died of a rope round his neck," says she, and just went on pleatin' at her apron. Well, I went out and called Harry. I thought I might-need help. We went upstairs and there he was lyin'-COUNTY ATTORNEY I think I'd rather have you go into that upstairs, where you can point it all out. Just go on now with the rest of the story. HALE Well, my first thought was to get that rope off. It looked . . . [Stops, his face twitches] . . . but Harry, he went up to him, and he said, "No, he's dead all right, and we'd better not touch anything." So we went back downstairs. She was still sitting that same way. "Has anybody been notified?" I asked. "No," says she, unconcerned. "Who did this, Mrs. Wright?" said Harry. He said it business-like--and she stopped pleatin' of her apron. "I don't know," she says. "You don't know?" says Harry. "No," says she. "Weren't you sleepin' in the bed with him?" says Harry. "Yes," says she, "but I was on the inside." "Somebody slipped a rope round his neck and strangled him and you didn't wake up?" says Harry. "I didn't wake up," she said after him. We must 'a looked as if we didn't see how that could be, for after a minute she said, "I sleep sound." Harry was going to ask her more questions but I said maybe we ought to let her tell her story first to the coroner, or the sheriff, so Harry went fast as he could to Rivers' place, where there's a telephone. COUNTY ATTORNEY And what did Mrs. Wright do when she knew that you had gone for the coroner? HALE She moved from that chair to this one over here [Pointing to a small chair in the corner] and just sat there with her hands held together and looking down. I got a feeling that I ought to make some conversation, so I said I had come in to see if John wanted to put in a telephone, and at that she started to laugh, and then she stopped and looked at me--scared. [The County Attorney, who has had his note book out, makes a note.] I dunno, maybe it wasn't scared. I wouldn't like to say it was. Soon Harry got back, and then Dr. Lloyd came, and you, Mr. Peters, and so I guess that's all I know that you don't. COUNTY ATTORNEY [Looking around.] I guess we'll go upstairs first--and then out to the barn and around there. [To the Sheriff.] You're convinced that there was nothing important here-nothing that would point to any motive. SHERIFF Nothing here but kitchen things. [The County Attorney, after again looking around the kitchen, opens the door of a cupboard closet. He gets up on a chair and looks on a shelf. Pulls his hand away, sticky. COUNTY ATTORNEY Here's a nice mess. [The women draw nearer. PETERS [To the other woman.] Oh, her fruit; it did freeze. [To the Lawyer.] She worried about that when it turned so cold. She said the fire'd go out and her jars would break. SHERIFF Well, can you beat the women! Held for murder and worryin' about her preserves. COUNTY ATTORNEY I guess before we're through she may have something more serious than preserves to worry about. HALE Well, women are used to worrying over trifles. [The two women move a little closer together. COUNTY ATTORNEY [With the gallantry of a young politician.] And yet, for all their worries, what would we do without the ladies? [The women do not unbend. He goes to the sink, takes a dipperful of water from the pail and pouring it into a basin, washes his hands. Starts to wipe them on the roller-towel, turns it for a cleaner place.] Dirty towels! [Kicks his foot against the pans under the sink.] Not much of a housekeeper, would you say, ladies? MRS. HALE [Stiffly.] There's a great deal of work to be done on a farm. COUNTY ATTORNEY To be sure. And yet [With a little bow to her] I know there are some Dickson county farmhouses which do not have such roller towels. [He gives it a pull to expose its full length again. MRS. HALE Those towels get dirty awful quick. Men's hands aren't always as clean as they might be. COUNTY ATTORNEY Ah, loyal to your sex, I see. But you and Mrs. Wright were neighbors. I suppose you were friends, too. MRS. HALE [Shaking her head.] I've not seen much of her of late years. I've not been in this house--it's more than a year. COUNTY ATTORNEY And why was that? You didn't like her? MRS. HALE I liked her all well enough. Farmers' wives have their hands full, Mr. Henderson. And then-COUNTY ATTORNEY Yes--? MRS. HALE [Looking about.] It never seemed a very cheerful place. COUNTY ATTORNEY No--it's not cheerful. I shouldn't say she had the homemaking instinct. MRS. HALE Well, I don't know as Wright had, either. COUNTY ATTORNEY You mean that they didn't get on very well? MRS. HALE No, I don't mean anything. But I don't think a place'd be any cheerfuller for John Wright's being in it. COUNTY ATTORNEY I'd like to talk more of that a little later. I want to get the lay of things upstairs now. [He goes to the left, where three steps lead to a stair door. SHERIFF I Suppose anything Mrs. Peters does'll be all right. She was to take in some clothes for her, you know, and a few little things. We left in such a hurry yesterday. COUNTY ATTORNEY Yes, but I would like to see what you take, Mrs. Peters, and keep an eye out for anything that might be of use to us. MRS. PETERS Yes, Mr. Henderson. [The women listen to the men's steps on the stairs, then look about the kitchen. MRS. HALE I'd hate to have men coming into my kitchen, snooping around and criticising. [She arranges the pans under sink which the Lawyer had shoved out of place. MRS. PETERS Of course it's no more than their duty. MRS. HALE Duty's all right, but I guess that deputy sheriff that came out to make the fire might have got a little of this on. [Gives the roller towel a pull.] Wish I'd thought of that sooner. Seems mean to talk about her for not having things slicked up when she had to come away in such a hurry. MRS. PETERS [Who has gone to a small table in the left rear corner of the room, and lifted one end of a towel that covers a pan.] She had bread set. [Stands still. MRS. HALE [Eyes fixed on a loaf of bread beside the breadbox, which is on a low shelf at the other side of the room. Moves slowly toward it.] She was going to put this in there. [Picks up loaf, then abruptly drops it. In a manner of returning to familiar things.] It's a shame about her fruit. I wonder if it's all gone. [Gets up on the chair and looks.] I think there's some here that's all right, Mrs. Peters. Yes--here; [Holding it toward the window] this is cherries, too. [Looking again.] I declare I believe that's the only one. [Gets down, bottle in her hand. Goes to the sink and wipes it off on the outside.] She'll feel awful bad after all her hard work in the hot weather. I remember the afternoon I put up my cherries last summer. [She puts the bottle on the big kitchen table, center of the room. With a sigh, is about to sit down in the rocking-chair. Before she is seated realizes what chair it is; with a slow look at it, steps back. The chair which she has touched rocks back and forth. MRS. PETERS Well, I must get those things from the front room closet. [She goes to the door at the right, but after looking into the other room, steps back.] You coming with me, Mrs. Hale? You could help me carry them. [They go in the other room; reappear, Mrs. Peters carrying a dress and skirt, Mrs. Hale following with a pair of shoes. MRS. PETERS My, it's cold in there. [She puts the clothes on the big table, and hurries to the stove. MRS. HALE [Examining the skirt.] Wright was close. I think maybe that's why she kept so much to herself. She didn't even belong to the Ladies Aid. I suppose she felt she couldn't do her part, and then you don't enjoy things when you feel shabby. She used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls singing in the choir. But that--oh, that was thirty years ago. This all you was to take in? MRS. PETERS She said she wanted an apron. Funny thing to want, for there isn't much to get you dirty in jail, goodness knows. But I suppose just to make her feel more natural. She said they was in the top drawer in this cupboard. Yes, here. And then her little shawl that always hung behind the door. [Opens stair door and looks.] Yes, here it is. [Quickly shuts door leading upstairs. MRS. HALE [Abruptly moving toward her.] Mrs. Peters? MRS. PETERS Yes, Mrs. Hale? MRS. HALE Do you think she did it? MRS. PETERS [In a frightened voice.] Oh, I don't know. MRS. HALE Well, I don't think she did. Asking for an apron and her little shawl. Worrying about her fruit. MRS. PETERS [Starts to speak, glances up, where footsteps are heard in the room above. In a low voice.] Mr. Peters says it looks bad for her. Mr. Henderson is awful sarcastic in a speech and he'll make fun of her sayin' she didn't wake up. MRS. HALE Well, I guess John Wright didn't wake when they was slipping that rope under his neck. MRS. PETERS No, it's strange. It must have been done awful crafty and still. They say it was such a--funny way to kill a man, rigging it all up like that. MRS. HALE That's just what Mr. Hale said. There was a gun in the house. He says that's what he can't understand. MRS. PETERS Mr. Henderson said coming out that what was needed for the case was a motive; something to show anger, or--sudden feeling. MRS. HALE [Who is standing by the table.] Well, I don't see any signs of anger around here. [She puts her hand on the dish towel which lies on the table, stands looking down at table, one half of which is clean, the other half messy.] It's wiped to here. [Makes a move as if to finish work, then turns and looks at loaf of bread outside the breadbox. Drops towel. In that voice of coming back to familiar things.] Wonder how they are finding things upstairs. I hope she had it a little more red-up up there. You know, it seems kind of sneaking. Locking her up in town and then coming out here and trying to get her own house to turn against her! MRS. PETERS But Mrs. Hale, the law is the law. MRS. HALE I s'pose 'tis. [Unbuttoning her coat.] Better loosen up your things, Mrs. Peters. You won't feel them when you go out. [Mrs. Peters takes off her fur tippet, goes to hang it on hook at back of room, stands looking at the under part of the small corner table. MRS. PETERS She was piecing a quilt. [She brings the large serving basket and they look at the bright pieces. MRS. HALE It's log-cabin pattern. Pretty, isn't it? I wonder if she was goin' to quilt it or just knot it? [Footsteps have been heard coming down the stairs. The Sheriff enters followed by Hale and the County Attorney. SHERIFF They wonder if she was going to quilt it or just knot it! [The men laugh, the women look abashed. COUNTY ATTORNEY [Rubbing his hands over the stove.] Frank's fire didn't do much up there, did it? Well, let's go out to the barn and get that cleared up. [The men go outside. MRS. HALE [Resentfully.] I don't know as there's anything so strange, our takin' up our time with little things while we're waiting for them to get the evidence. [She sits down at the big table smoothing out a block with decision.] I don't see as it's anything to laugh about. MRS. PETERS [Apologetically.] Of course they've got awful important things on their minds. [Pulls up a chair and joins Mrs. Hale at the table. MRS. HALE [Examining another block.] Mrs. Peters, look at this one. Here, this is the one she was working on, and look at the sewing! All the rest of it has been so nice and even. And look at this! It's all over the place! Why, it looks as if she didn't know what she was about! [After she had said this they look at each other, then start to glance back at the door. After an instant Mrs. Hale has pulled at a knot and ripped the sewing. MRS. PETERS Oh, what are you doing, Mrs. Hale? MRS. HALE [Mildly.] Just pulling out a stitch or two that's not sewed very good. [Threading a needle.] Bad sewing always made me fidgety. MRS. PETERS [Nervously.] I don't think we ought to touch things. MRS. HALE I'll just finish up this end. [Suddenly stopping and leaning forward.] Mrs. Peters? MRS. PETERS Yes, Mrs. Hale? MRS. HALE What do you suppose she was so nervous about? MRS. PETERS Oh--I don't know. I don't know as she was nervous. I sometimes sew awful queer when I'm just tired. [Mrs. Hale starts to say something, looks at Mrs. Peters, then goes on sewing.] Well I must get these things wrapped up. They may be through sooner than we think. [Putting apron and other things together.] I wonder where I can find a piece of paper, and string. MRS. HALE In that cupboard, maybe. MRS. PETERS [Looking in cupboard.] Why, here's a bird-cage. [Holds it up.] Did she have a bird, Mrs. Hale? MRS. HALE Why, I don't know whether she did or not--I've not been here for so long. There was a man around last year selling canaries cheap, but I don't know as she took one; maybe she did. She used to sing real pretty herself. MRS. PETERS [Glancing around.] Seems funny to think of a bird here. But she must have had one, or why would she have a cage? I wonder what happened to it. MRS. HALE I s'pose maybe the cat got it. MRS. PETERS No, she didn't have a cat. She's got that feeling some people have about cats-being afraid of them. My cat got in her room and she was real upset and asked me to take it out. MRS. HALE My sister Bessie was like that. Queer, ain't it? MRS. PETERS [Examining the cage.] Why, look at this door. It's broke. One hinge is pulled apart. MRS. HALE [Looking too.] Looks as if someone must have been rough with it. MRS. PETERS Why, yes. [She brings the cage forward and puts it on the table. MRS. HALE I wish if they're going to find any evidence they'd be about it. I don't like this place. MRS. PETERS But I'm awful glad you came with me, Mrs. Hale. It would be lonesome for me sitting here alone. MRS. HALE It would, wouldn't it? [Dropping her sewing.] But I tell you what I do wish, Mrs. Peters. I wish I had come over sometimes when she was here. I-- [Looking around the room]-wish I had. MRS. PETERS But of course you were awful busy, Mrs. Hale--your house and your children. MRS. HALE I could've come. I stayed away because it weren't cheerful--and that's why I ought to have come. I--I've never liked this place. Maybe because it's down in a hollow and you don't see the road. I dunno what it is, but it's a lonesome place and always was, I wish I had come over to see Minnie Foster sometimes. I can see now-[Shakes her head. MRS. PETERS Well, you mustn't reproach yourself, Mrs. Hale. Somehow we just don't see how it is with other folks until--something comes up. MRS. HALE Not having children makes less work--but it makes a quiet house, and Wright out to work all day, and no company when he did come in. Did you know John Wright, Mrs. Peters? MRS. PETERS No; I've seen him in town. They say he was a good man. MRS. HALE Yes--good; he didn't drink, and kept his word as well as most, I guess, and paid his debts. But he was a hard man, Mrs. Peters. Just to pass the time of day with him--[Shivers.] Like a raw wind that gets to the bone. [Pauses, her eye falling on the cage.] I should think she would 'a wanted a bird. But what do you suppose went with it? MRS. PETERS I don't know, unless it got sick and died. [She reaches over and swings the broken door, swings it again, both women watch it. MRS. HALE You weren't raised round here, were you? [Mrs. Peters shakes her head.] You didn't know--her? MRS. PETERS Not till they brought her yesterday. MRS. HALE She--come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird herself--real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and--fluttery. How--she--did--change. [Silence; then as if struck by a happy thought and relieved to get back to every day things.] Tell you what, Mrs. Peters, why don't you take the quilt in with you? It might take up her mind. MRS. PETERS Why, I think that's a real nice idea, Mrs. Hale. There couldn't possibly be any objection to it, could there? Now, just what would I take? I wonder if her patches are in here-and her things. [They look in the sewing basket. MRS. HALE Here's some red. I expect this has got sewing things in it. [Brings out a fancy box.] What a pretty box. Looks like something somebody would give you. Maybe her scissors are in here. [Opens box. Suddenly puts her hand to her nose.] Why-- [Mrs. Peters bends nearer, then turns her face away.] There's something wrapped up in this piece of silk. MRS. PETERS Why, this isn't her scissors. MRS. HALE [Lifting the silk.] Oh, Mrs. Peters--its-[Mrs. Peters bends closer. MRS. PETERS It's the bird. MRS. HALE [Jumping up.] But, Mrs. Peters--look at it! Its neck! Look at its neck! It's all--to the other side. MRS. PETERS Somebody--wrung--its--neck. [Their eyes meet. A look of growing comprehension, of horror. Steps are heard outside. Mrs. Hale slips box under quilt pieces, and sinks into her chair. Enter Sheriff and County Attorney. Mrs. Peters rises. COUNTY ATTORNEY [As one turning from serious things to little pleasantries.] Well, ladies, have you decided whether she was going to quilt it or knot it? MRS. PETERS We think she was going to--knot it. COUNTY ATTORNEY Well, that's interesting, I'm sure. [Seeing the birdcage.] Has the bird flown? MRS. HALE [Putting more quilt pieces over the box.] We think the--cat got it. COUNTY ATTORNEY [Preoccupied.] Is there a cat? [Mrs. Hale glances in a quick covert way at Mrs. Peters. MRS. PETERS Well, not now. They're superstitious, you know. They leave. COUNTY ATTORNEY [To Sheriff Peters, continuing an interrupted conversation.] No sign at all of anyone having come from the outside. Their own rope. Now let's go up again and go over it piece by piece. [They start upstairs.] It would have to have been someone who knew just the-[Mrs. Peters sits down. The two women sit there not looking at one another, but as if peering into something and at the same time holding back. When they talk now it is in the manner of feeling their way over strange ground, as if afraid of what they are saying, but as if they can not help saying it. MRS. HALE She liked the bird. She was going to bury it in that pretty box. MRS. PETERS [In a whisper] When I was a girl--my kitten--there was a boy took a hatchet, and before my eyes--and before I could get there--[Covers her face an instant.] If they hadn't held me back I would have--[Catches herself, looks upstairs where steps are heard, falters weakly]--hurt him. MRS. HALE [With a slow look around her.] I wonder how it would seem never to have had any children around. [Pause.] No, Wright wouldn't like the bird--a thing that sang. She used to sing. He killed that, too. MRS. PETERS [Moving uneasily.] We don't know who killed the bird. MRS. HALE I knew John Wright. MRS. PETERS It was an awful thing was done in this house that night, Mrs. Hale. Killing a man while he slept, slipping a rope around his neck that choked the life out of him. MRS. HALE His neck. Choked the life out of him. [Her hand goes out and rests on the bird-cage. MRS. PETERS [With rising voice.] We don't know who killed him. We don't know. MRS. HALE [Her own feeling not interrupted.] If there'd been years and years of nothing, then a bird to sing to you, it would be awful--still, after the bird was still. MRS. PETERS [Something within her speaking.] I know what stillness is. When we homesteaded in Dakota, and my first baby died--after he was two years old, and me with no other then-MRS. HALE [Moving.] How soon do you suppose they'll be through, looking for the evidence? MRS. PETERS I know what stillness is. [Pulling herself back.] The law has got to punish crime, Mrs. Hale. MRS. HALE [Not as if answering that.] I wish you'd seen Minnie Foster when she wore a white dress with blue ribbons and stood up there in the choir and sang. [A look around the room.] Oh, I wish I'd come over here once in a while! That was a crime! That was a crime! Who's going to punish that? MRS. PETERS [Looking upstairs.] We mustn't--take on. MRS. HALE I might have known she needed help! I know how things can be--for women, I tell you, it's queer, Mrs. Peters. We live close together and we live far apart. We all go through the same things--it's all just a different kind of the same thing. [Brushes her eyes, noticing the bottle of fruit, reaches out for it.] If I was you I wouldn't tell her her fruit was gone. Tell her it ain't. Tell her it's all right. Take this in to prove it to her. She--she may never know whether it was broke or not. MRS. PETERS [Takes the bottle, looks about for something to wrap it in; takes petticoat from the clothes brought from the other room, very nervously begins winding this around the bottle. In a false voice.] My, it's a good thing the men couldn't hear us. Wouldn't they just laugh! Getting all stirred up over a little thing like a--dead canary. As if that could have anything to do with-with--wouldn't they laugh! [The men are heard coming down stairs. MRS. HALE [Under her breath.] Maybe they would--maybe they wouldn't. COUNTY ATTORNEY No, Peters, it's all perfectly clear except a reason for doing it. But you know juries when it comes to women. If there was some definite thing. Something to show-something to make a story about--a thing that would connect up with this strange way of doing it-[The women's eyes meet for an instant. Enter Hale from outer door. HALE Well, I've got the team around. Pretty cold out there. COUNTY ATTORNEY I'm going stay here a while by myself. [To the Sheriff.] You can send Frank out for me, can't you? I want to go over everything. I'm not satisfied that we can't do better. SHERIFF Do you want to see what Mrs. Peters is going to take in? [The Lawyer goes to the table, picks up the apron, laughs. COUNTY ATTORNEY Oh, I guess they're not very dangerous things the ladies have picked out. [Moves a few things about, disturbing the quilt pieces which cover the box. Steps back.] No, Mrs. Peters doesn't need supervising. For that matter, a sheriff's wife is married to the law. Ever think of it that way, Mrs. Peters? MRS. PETERS Not--just that way. SHERIFF [Chuckling.] Married to the law. [Moves toward the other room.] I just want you to come in here a minute, George. We ought to take a look at these windows. COUNTY ATTORNEY [Scoffingly.] Oh, windows! SHERIFF We'll be right out, Mr. Hale. [Hale goes outside. The Sheriff follows the County Attorney into the other room. Then Mrs. Hale rises, hands tight together, looking intensely at Mrs. Peters, whose eyes make a slow turn, finally meeting Mrs. Hale's. A moment Mrs. Hale holds her, then her own eyes point the way to where the box is concealed. Suddenly Mrs. Peters throws back quilt pieces and tries to put the box in the bag she is wearing. It is too big. She opens box, starts to take bird out, cannot touch it, goes to pieces, stands there helpless. Sound of a knob turning in the other room. Mrs. Hale snatches the box and puts it in the pocket of her big coat. Enter County Attorney and Sheriff. COUNTY ATTORNEY [Facetiously.] Well, Henry, at least we found out that she was not going to quilt it. She was going to--what is it you call it, ladies? MRS. HALE [Her hand against her pocket.] We call it--knot it, Mr. Henderson. (CURTAIN) 1917
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