(Behind them Bijah enters silently and stands at their elbows unperceived.)
Bijah. Leetle early for campaignin’, Chester, leetle early.
(The other two stand aghast.)
The scene which follows between the three men gives their characters, the Coniston political atmosphere, Jethro’s position as boss of the State and his character, the cumulating antagonism between Jethro Bass and Isaac Worthington, the relation between Jethro and Cynthia, his ward. Bijah confides to the two that a new era is dawning; that “the railroads, represented by Worthington, Sr., are tired of paying tribute” to Jethro and are about to turn and exterminate him. Bixby says that Jethro’s power is gone, that a greater than he has risen, that Isaac Worthington’s campaign, brought forth under cover of a great reform movement, will sweep the State in the next few months and leave Jethro politically dead. Bijah brings out a copy of the last issue of the Newcastle Guardian (leading newspaper of the State), and reads them “The scathing arraignment of Jethro Bass ... showing how he had debauched his own town of Coniston; how, enlarging on the same methods, he had gradually extended his grip over the county and finally over the State; how he had bought and sold men for his own power and profit, deceived those who had trusted him, corrupted governors and legislators ... how he had trafficked ruthlessly in the enterprises of the people.” Bijah tells them that the whole State is in a stir over this article, that it is the open declaration of war against Jethro.
Here Alva Hopkins and his daughter Cassandra enter. Hopkins has read the article and come post-haste to see Jethro. He and Bijah discuss the situation and Bijah tells them that the postmastership which Jethro has promised to Ephraim Prescott (and which it is surmised they have gone to Washington to secure) is to go to Dave Wheelock; that that will be the first tangible sign to the public of the fall of Jethro Bass....
The cardinal principle in scenario writing, as in the play itself, is that not talk but action is basal. In a scenario, however, action is described rather than represented. As we have just seen, the lengthy historical account of what lies behind the opening scene is hard to convey without talkiness. Many would-be dramatists dodge this difficulty, indeed the whole task of making clear the emotional significance of the action which the play involves, by writing scenarios which are little more than schedules of the entrances and exits of their characters. There was something of this in the “Coniston” scenario. The difficulty is still more marked in the following:
THE SIRE DE MALETROIT’S DOOR
SCENE: The Maletroit Entrance-Hall
[Diagram of Setting]