“EVERYGIRL”
By Rachel Lyman Field
CHARACTERS
| Everygirl. | ||||
| Hope. | Wealth. | Knowledge. | Health. | Eight Dancers. |
| Mirth. | Beauty. | Work. | Love. | |
SCENE
Twilight in Everygirl’s garden.
DANCE OF THE FLOWERS
[The dancers wear white dresses trimmed with the flower which each represents.]
[After the dance is finished, enter Everygirl.]
Everygirl. How fair this little garden seems to-night!
Small though it be, I love it well,
For here I learned to know each flower
By name; I never wish to leave it
Till to-night, when a strange voice
Seemed calling me away. I could not sleep,
But wandered here to lose my foolish thoughts
Among the flowers—
Why, here’s a white rose that but yesterday
Was just a bud, half hidden by the leaves
That tightly curled about it! See it now—
A full-blown rose, and opened to the night.
The gentle winds, the moon, and all the stars!
And thus it is with me; no more am I
A child. And so these restless thoughts
Are but to show me that I now am grown,
And that my life has opened like the rose.
[Enter Hope.]
| Hope. Dear Everygirl, these words you speak are true, Hark! do you hear that far-off voice? Listen! It is the World’s voice, Everygirl. It calls— And you must follow, when the World calls. I know the garden bids you stay, And yet the World is stronger; you must go. So, Everygirl, this night I come with cheer— To say that you may choose three friends to go Journeying with you hand in hand, to share All joys and sorrows that the World may give. Think well, and choose with care these three, For they shall go with you forever. |
Everygirl. Dear lady, will you go with me?
Hope. Oh, no, I fain would go where sorrow is
And pain, where loss has come and joy is fled.
When all is black and dark, then I
Steal softly in and bring with me new strength
And light. Then tired hearts are glad,
And weary souls rise up to struggle on once more.
For, Everygirl, my name is Hope, and often shall I visit you.
[Exit Hope.]
Knowledge
Black gown of sateen.
Black cap with brown owl’s head and wings.
Lamp made of gravy-boat, painted brown.
Large pen for sword.
[Enter Mirth, dancing and singing to the tune of “Funiculi, Funicula”.]
Mirth. With laughter and with joy I come to you,
The flowers among.
For now that you are bright and fresh and fair,
The world is young.
Oh, come, while all the way is green and glad,
We’ll be so gay
That time will touch us not. Oh, come, oh, come
With me away.
I am Mirth, Everygirl. Gladly will I go
Into the world with you. And you shall be
Lighthearted as I am, to laugh and sing
And frolic all day long. Come, take me;
We will feast and dance, paying no heed
To sorrow, pain, or dark and dreadful things.
Everygirl. Oh, Mirth, while yet you spoke, I heard
A sound of hollow laughter, and a wail
That echoed through deserted banquet halls!
All the bright gold was tarnished, and the flowers
Were lying dead and withered all about.
Oh, Mirth, I like it not, this mocking laughter.
[Mirth stands silenced for a moment, then slowly exits.]
Hope
White cotton frock: pale blue tunic,
ornamented with white silk stars applied.
Pale blue fillet on head with silver star.
[Enter Wealth, jingling bags of money.]
Wealth. Aha, my pretty one, so you would go into the world!
See this bright gold—’twill bring you what you ask.
All the World bows to me; and I will go
And be your friend, and always stay
To bring you fame, and joy, and everything
That only I, great Wealth, provide
For those who are my friends and followers.
All these great bags and more shall be your own,
Vast lands and houses, servants and the like,
Yea, all you ask shall I bring at your word!
I know that you will take me, Everygirl.
No one rejects great Wealth, or what I give.
[Everygirl hesitates, takes one of the bags, but suddenly drops it, covering her face with her hands.]
Work
White cotton frock flowered in china blue,
turned back over blue and white striped petticoat.
White apron and cap.
Everygirl. Away! Away! I like you not, great Wealth!
Just now I heard a cry that shivered through my very heart.
It was the cry of toiling women, hungry and oppressed,
Working incessantly through heat and cold.
And there were little children, too, who wept
And struggled in the darkness of the mines,
And in foul places over all the earth!
The gold is theirs, not mine. Oh, Wealth,
Begone! [Exit Wealth.]
Health
Camp-Fire costume made a little more
elaborate by bead-embroidery and
stencilling. Branch of Pine.
[Everygirl stands weeping. Enter Beauty.]
Beauty. Do not weep, Everygirl! I come to bring you joy and happiness.
They call me Beauty, and the queen of all
The earth. All men look up to me,
And smile upon me—beautiful am I,
So shall you be, if I go with you.
All the World will stoop to kiss your hand,
And fairer shall you be than other maids.
Everygirl. [Taking Beauty by the hand.]
And, Beauty, will you always stay with me?
And be my friend, and never go away?
Beauty. Ah, that I cannot do.
You know that I must sometime leave you.
Everygirl. Beauty, stay always with me, never go away.
Beauty. Ah, no! I cannot be your friend forever. [Exit Beauty.]
[Enter Knowledge, clothed in black. Everygirl shrinks from her.]
Knowledge. You must not fear me, Everygirl, I am your friend.
Always we are friends. Was it not I
Who taught you once the names of all the flowers?
Men call me Knowledge, but I do not show
So fair a face as Beauty; mine is stern
And grim. No easy master am I,
But, if you now will take me for your friend,
I’ll show you all the wonders of the world—
Yea, and of many other worlds, also—
The magic of the deep and of the skies.
If you would have me with you,
You must search for knowledge and ever
Shall you be filled with wild desires
Never quite fulfilled. I’ll tell you all
The secrets of the world, even the thoughts
Of men and women shall be opened to you;
And those who pass along in busy throngs
Shall feel the mystic knowledge you possess.
Love
Frock of thin white cotton or China silk:
angel sleeves shirred at shoulder:
gold paper heart on left side.
Gold fillet in hair.
Everygirl. And will this knowledge help them too, as well
As me? Will it bring pleasure to sad hearts
And joy to tired lives?
[Knowledge turns sorrowfully away. Everygirl kneels, her face in her hands.]
Everygirl. I know not what to do, nor whom to choose!
Mirth
White cotton frock: points of yellow
from neck, with gilded bells: wreath
of daisies, and skipping rope
wound with the same.
[Enter Work, Health, and Love at the back of the garden. Work, advancing, touches Everygirl upon the shoulder.]
Work. It is I, Everygirl, who am the solace
And those who toil with me, though hard their lot,
Find gladness in the joy of working.
I would go with you. The World cares not
For idle hands. So take me, though I promise not
Delights and wild excesses of emotion.
For the great joy of labor and of toil I bring,
And you shall learn to glorify the work
Whate’er it be!
Everygirl. Oh, stay with me, and never go away!
[Work takes her hand. Health advances.]
Health. You see in me the thing that makes work sweet,
Without me all the world is bitter.
For I am Health, and with me beauty
Comes, and strength to labor and do good.
All things do I make possible,
For I create a palace beautiful
In which your thoughts may live and grow more fine
Because of fair surroundings.
Oh, Everygirl, I bring you health,
Oh, surely you will let me go with you?
Everygirl. Yes, yes, you must not leave me, Health.
[Love advances; she is more radiantly beautiful than all the rest.]
Beauty
Tunic of soft white silkaline
flowered in pink roses:
American Beauty rose made of wire
and tissue paper for scepter,
White skirt.
Everygirl. Your face I know. You are familiar to me.
I saw you in the blossoming of the flowers,
I saw your eyes in all the shining stars;
Your voice was in the wind among the trees,
Your light is in the eyes of one I know.
Who are you, that I feel your presence everywhere?
Love. I am Love, Everygirl.
Everygirl. Oh, Love, the World is calling, lead me forth.
Tiara may be made
of cheap hat pins.
Wealth
A Princess gown of white, stencilled in gold:
robe of red also stencilled in gold:
collar made of wired net with wild
carrot blossoms sewed flat.
[Everygirl, with one hand held by Work and one by Health, and led by Love, leaves the garden. At the gate she turns and faces the audience.]
Oh, Work, and Health, and Love, I shall not dread
The years that are to come, with you for friends!
Oh, stay you always by my side,
Then come what may I shall not fear
The world and all its strife. Perchance
With you I can help other girls to find
The Work and Health and Love that you have brought.
[A camp-fire girl in her Indian costume steps forward and recites the epilogue.]
You who have listened to our little play,
Come think on this before you go away:
Have you three friends to go and be your guide,
To ever journey with you side by side,
Sharing alike with you all joys and pains,
All the world’s losses and likewise its gains?
A glowing camp-fire shall our emblem be,
And ever doth its welcome burn for thee.
Oh, come, and gather with us by its blaze,
And in our songs, with us, your voices raise.
[Curtain]