Butch! (She hurries after him.)

Curtain

PART TWO

THE LAKE

Scene 1

(A cleared place on the bank of the lake. At the back, beyond a slight mound, the lake begins. Willow trees droop into the water. Gold sunshine touches the lake, plays over an old boat tied under a tree. Voices—excited, boisterous, rough—shatter the quiet. From the left the picnic party enters, singly, in groups of three, in pairs—a dozen or more people. Tall farm boys, red-handed, red-faced, dressed in battered overalls, clumping shoes, ragged shirts; short, round farm girls, in unbecoming calicos and ginghams, with bows in their hair. Some of the boys carry boxes of food.)

Boys and Girls

I cain’t carry this no fu’ther.

Whur’s the f’ar go?

Fu’ther down, I reckon.