Part 2

It has come now to our turn, Americans, to see what we can do. The indignant spirit of self-government which inspired our ancestors is now pronounced by the Lords and Commons of England to be a spirit of rebellion. The colonies hesitate not a moment, but unite and greatly dare to be free. God who sitteth upon the throne of his holiness, the governor among nations, will know our cause and uphold our right to freedom. Let us pray.

[_The people kneel. Only the girl, Freedom, stands upright. The Parson prays, the people repeating his prayer with him in unison. She walks rigidly up the slope to the edge of the crowd to the Parson’s side. At the end of the prayer she is standing beside him. This is the prayer_:]

OMNES

O Lord, when dangers surround us and oppressors threaten our rights and enemies invade our homes, we, thy people, look to thee, O Lord, for our refuge and, committing our cause to thy wisdom and justice, we do humbly expect, O Lord, that light will arise in darkness, that the power of the oppressor may be broken, that our enemies will not prevail against us, that our God will maintain our right. Amen.

[_As Freedom entered the crowd, the light about her seemed to invest it with a very wonderful splendor. During the prayer, however, and at the end, only Freedom and the Parson are visible. Then the light goes entirely, the hymn dies out and the crowd disperses in the darkness._

_Then the light glows upon the two Spokesmen and they begin to speak again. This time dim music accompanies their words ... spoken once to the House of Commons by Edmund Burke._]

THE FIRST SPOKESMAN

A government against which a claim of freedom is tantamount to high treason is a government to which submission is equivalent to slavery.

THE SECOND SPOKESMAN

The people of the colonies are the descendants of Englishmen and therefore love liberty according to English ideas and on English principles.

THE FIRST SPOKESMAN

Men may be as sorely touched and as deeply grieved in their privileges as in their purses; men may lose little in property by the act which takes away all their freedom.

THE SECOND SPOKESMAN

To prove that Americans ought not to be free we are obliged to depreciate the value of freedom itself.

THE FIRST SPOKESMAN

“An Englishman is the unfittest person on earth to argue another Englishman into slavery.”

THE SECOND SPOKESMAN

“A great empire and little minds go ill together.”

THE FIRST SPOKESMAN

“We stand where we have an immense view of what is and what is past.”

THE SECOND SPOKESMAN

“Clouds, indeed, and darkness rest upon the future.”

[_The music ends in another roll of drums. The Chronicler rises._]

THE CHRONICLER

The alarm is toward. The night of watching commences.

[_He sits again. The Belfry tolls midnight. Through the darkness a voice is heard calling the roll of the Lexington Company. It is Sergeant William Munroe._]

MUNROE

(_Each man answering “Here!” as his name is pronounced._) Isaac Blodgett ... Ebenezer Bowman ... Francis Bowman ... John Bridge ... Joseph Bridge ... James Brown ... John Brown ... Solomon Brown ... John Buckman ... Eli Burdoo ...

[_The light of very early morning shows the Company drawn up diagonally across the scene in attitudes of attention. Captain John Parker stands in thought a little apart. Parson Clark looks down upon the people from the Meeting House. The men and women of the town hover on the outskirts of the scene._

_The kettledrums drown the Sergeant’s voice. Music bursts forth, a crashing theme which can be divided by the demands of the subsequent dialogue and by rolling of the kettledrums._

_The greatest possible amount of light blazes upon the Meeting House door. Thence, like a comet, Freedom comes. She is robed now in a cloak of flame and a scarlet cap of liberty crowns her. Perhaps the drums continue, perhaps the theme of triumph modulates softly beneath her shouted words._]

FREEDOM

Huzza!

THE MINUTE MEN

(_Statues, all._)

Huzza!

FREEDOM

Answer, Mankind!

A VAST SHOUT OUT OF THE DEPTHS OF THE HILLS

Huzza!

FREEDOM

Soldiers of Liberty, Make your arms strong! Make your hearts stout! Make your souls great!

THE MINUTE MEN

(_As before._)

Huzza!

THE SHOUT FROM THE HILLS

(_As before._)

Huzza!

FREEDOM

Soldiers of Liberty, I am your dream, I am your cause, I am your destiny!

THE MINUTE MEN

(_As before._)

Huzza!

THE SHOUT FROM THE HILLS

(_As before._)

Huzza!

FREEDOM

Breathe with my breath! Strike with my sword! Bleed with my blood! Be life! Be love! Be sacrifice! Be death!

THE MINUTE MEN

(_As before._)

Huzza!

THE SHOUT FROM THE HILLS

(_As before._)

Huzza!

FREEDOM

I bid you stand! I bid you strike! I bid you die! Take me! Believe me! Obey me! Adore me! I am come to lead you, Soldiers of Liberty! I am come to lead you forever.

[_A tremendous huzza and the music blares forth and there is darkness again save for the lights in the houses, and upon the Chronicler. The music subsides to hesitant themes and into a lyric eloquence of dawn and cool breezes and the early light which presently steals across the tree tops. The Chronicler rises._]

THE CHRONICLER

You will see now, in one incalculable and everlasting instant, the nativity of a nation. The night of watching passes and the day dawns that is glory.

[_He sits. The light spreads over the scene and shows the people and the Company. Freedom has vanished._

_Captain Parker arouses himself at once._]

PARKER

Those of you who are equipped, stand fast. Those of you who lack equipment, go into the Meeting House and supply yourselves. Then come back to your places.

[_There is some business of inspecting equipments. Each man looks into his powder horn and some of them try the triggers of their muskets._

_The light increases a little. The music becomes more excited._]

PARKER

William Diamond, let me hear your drum. Jonathan Harrington, where is your fife?

[_Drum and fife break loose._]

A MINUTE MAN

This is folly and we so few!

PARKER

Folly or sense, I will shoot the first man who runs.

MUNROE

Fall in!

[_The Company comes to attention in absolute silence. The line extends almost across the stage. The backs of the Minute Men cut the scene diagonally. Parker stands down stage at the lower or right end of the line. Parker and the Parson are always visible to the audience. A silence is broken only by drum taps; and by the footfalls (off stage) of marching men._

_Clark lifts his hands to heaven a moment in silent prayer._]

PARKER

(_To the Minute Men in a voice of thunder._)

Stand your ground. Don’t fire unless you’re fired upon. But if they mean to have a war, let it begin here!

[_The rising sun blazes upon the British redcoats as they appear on both sides of the Meeting House. First the scarlet figure of Major Pitcairn, riding his horse, then the British column, four abreast, with the lieutenant of each platoon marching in his place._

_Pitcairn sees the unwavering line of Minute Men and pulls his horse up sharp._]

PITCAIRN

Halt!

[_The Britishers halt, the order being repeated down the column. For an instant there is no motion of any kind. No sound except an occasional throb of a kettledrum, defying rhythm now as the shots will do in a moment._

_Pitcairn comes a few steps forward. He looks at the colonists. He laughs bitterly._]

PITCAIRN

Throw down your arms, you damned rebels!

[_No one moves._]

D’ye hear me?

[_Slowly Parker turns and looks upon his little, feeble line of men. Then he looks again at the Britishers. Then we see him realize the futility of his attempt._

_Very reluctantly the line of Minute Men sways and loosens. It does not quite break. Its manœuver is rather that of retiring. Then a few draw angrily back and a few more stand defiantly. Jonas Parker throws his hat at his feet._]

JONAS PARKER

Here I stand, so help me God!

[_An angry murmur of resentment rises from the Minute Men. Parker is spellbound. Pitcairn turns to his first platoon lieutenant._]

PITCAIRN

Surround and disarm these rebels.

[_The lieutenant gives the proper commands to bring the first British platoon down stage and into line. The second, under command of its own lieutenant, follows and the British Company stands, so, drawn up in company front facing the retreating Minute Men._]

THE FIRST LIEUTENANT

Damn ’em, Major, we’ll get at ’em....

[_He gives the order by which the first platoon should deploy as skirmishers for the business of disarming the colonists. The platoon breaks with another cheer, but before its men have taken two steps, one of the Minute Men, a figure lost in the shadow and the crowd, has fired his musket at Major Pitcairn._

_The British stop in amazement._

_Immediately John and Ebenezer Munroe lift their muskets._]

JOHN MUNROE

I’ll give ’em the guts of my gun!

[_They fire almost together, wounding the Major’s horse._

_Seeing the Major’s horse plunge, the first lieutenant cries_:]

THE FIRST LIEUTENANT

The Major’s hit.... Fire, damn you, fire!

[_The first platoon fires--too high, it would seem, for no Minute Men fall. But the Minute Men fire back, Lieutenant Tidd, Ebenezer Locke, Nathan Munroe, Jonas Parker and Benjamin Sampson._

_Parker stands frozen._

_Pitcairn tries to control his horse._]

THE SECOND LIEUTENANT

Fire, by God, fire!

[_The second platoon fires._

_Then everything happens at once. The music crashes out a theme which terminates in a high tremolo. Pitcairn is seen to signal cease firing with his sword. The Minute Men break, all but Jonathan Parker who has been wounded by the volley of the second platoon and sinks to his knees trying to reload his gun. Jonathan Harrington, wounded, runs down stage left where his wife is cowering in the corner and there dies in her arms. Two of the Minute Men overpower Parker and drag him off. Robert Munroe, wounded, falls and dies beside the horse sheds. Solomon Brown, firing from the Buckman Tavern, is silenced by a volley fired toward the tavern and continues shooting from the trees. The three escape fighting from the Meeting House. The British clear the Common, bayonetting Jonas Parker as they go._

_Then it is over._]

PITCAIRN

We shall have further to go than Concord before this morning’s work is finished. Fall in!

[_The music strikes into a dissonant march as the Britishers fall in._

_Pitcairn rides up the Concord Road. The lieutenants lead the platoon after him. The march comes to its end as the last Britisher disappears. The scene is left to a dying away of the march in the minor resolution and to Parson Clark and the seven dead._

_Parson Clark comes two or three paces forward._]

CLARK

“Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mispeh and Shen, where the battle was fought, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying: ‘Hitherto hath the Lord helped us!’”

[_In frightened little groups, the people come back and gather about their dead._]

Lexington has been allotted by providence to meet the first blow, to offer the first sacrifice. Thus far hath the Lord helped us.

[_Parker comes forward quickly, but Clark stops him, lifting his hands to the heavens and crying out_:]

“Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory!”

[_Parker bows his head._]

As to what is still before us, we do not anxiously inquire nor proudly prophesy. Our cause is just.

PARKER

They must come back from Concord.

CLARK

That is true. Carry the dead into God’s house. Blessed be the name of the Lord!

[_He has shouted this last. The people begin to pick up the dead and to carry them toward the Meeting House whither Parker and Clark walk together. The music strikes into a march, as solemn and grand as any march can be and the Chorus sings_:]

THE CHORUS

O Lord, who wert our free-born fathers’ Guide, Judge us for our unalterable intent; Govern us, God, with Thy still government, Telling our fathers how their sons have died.

[_Before the singing is done, all of the people have vanished within the Meeting House. When the stage is emptied, the Chronicler rises._]

THE CHRONICLER

The instant is delivered into time.

[_He sits and Minute Men come up the Bedford Road. They are armed. They cross the stage in groups of three to twelve and go out by the Concord Road. The music quickens once more. The light is the most brilliant of full afternoon._

_People come out of the houses and the paths and peer excitedly up the Concord Road. Scattered shots begin to be audible from that direction. The knots of people point in triumphant excitement up the road. Suddenly they withdraw, scattering in excited confusion. Shouts and shots sound nearer and closer together. Then the British, routed and retreating from Concord, surge through the Common and out behind the Meeting House and there are shots, too, from there. The huzzas of the colonists all but drown the shouts and musketry. About the Meeting House a cloud rises that may be dust but is presently seen to be steam. The stage darkens. Only the wild music and the shoutings continue and, in the midst of the steam curtain, Freedom, more gorgeous than ever, shouts louder than the rest, her arms madly lifted to heaven. The steam is many colored, then it dies to the single figure. Then it is darkness and the music falls with it. Then the steam is gone and the Meeting House with it and the Buckman Tavern and all other evidences of Lexington Common are gone and in their place is a new scene altogether._]

_Part Two_

“_Political Freedom_”

[_It is a long garden stair which we are shown, a stair suggested by some of the planting we have already seen but which begins its Georgian graciousness just where the Meeting House stood a moment since. It rises in shallow steps broken by broad levels, three of them, if possible, and on each of the levels, a bench, very simple and dignified. These levels will hereinafter be referred to as the first, second and third landings. The third is a long terrace, lined, in its central portion, by a chaste and lovely balustrade which extends to a planting of delicately trimmed shrubbery. The whole scene has the look of some exquisite New England garden of the eighteenth century._

_The musical accompaniment of this revelation is serenity itself. Freedom stands on the lowermost step of the stair. She wears more than ever gorgeous raiment. She stands there as though she paused in her ascent to look back into the audience. On either side of the stair, the Choir of speakers is banked, thirty-two in all, dressed pictorially, yet not so brightly as to distract the eye from the action of the play._]

FREEDOM

Revolt is the way of Freedom, And the progress of Freedom is Change.

(_Then a wild cry._)

Bloodily! Bloodily! Revolt! Revolt! Revolt!

(_Then more calmly._)

Look that you curb us not, My men and I; For present liberties enslave tomorrow, And present triumphs shackle future years. We see no limit set upon our purpose Short of the Godhead ... so, restrain us not. Be it here sworn: These dead of Lexington Have not vainly died, These living Have not vainly dreamed.

[_She goes on up the stair._]

THE CHOIR

(_Almost a whisper._)

These dead....

THE CHORUS

(_Off stage, an echo of the burial song._)

God, tell our fathers how their sons have died!

THE CHRONICLER

The story of the American Freedom is begun.

[_The singing subsides and Freedom turns again, lifting her right arm in a supreme gesture of command. Thereupon light blazes over the first Spokesman and the clarion words of Patrick Henry break from his lips._]

THE FIRST SPOKESMAN

Appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts! There is no peace! Our brethren are already in the field!

[_Another gesture from Freedom and the second Spokesman is illuminated to shout, as his antiphonal response, the words of Tom Paine._]

THE SECOND SPOKESMAN

Oh, ye that love mankind, stand forth! Oh, ye that dare oppose the tyranny and the tyrant, stand forth!

THE FIRST SPOKESMAN

Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!

THE SECOND SPOKESMAN

Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. England hath given her warning to depart. Oh, receive the fugitive and prepare, in time, an asylum for mankind!

[_Freedom’s two arms go wildly up._]

A GREAT SHOUT FROM THE HILLS

Give me liberty or give me death!

FREEDOM

Who shall be master of this high event, And take revolt beneath his government?

THE CHOIR

Washington! Washington! Washington!

FREEDOM

An hour, a destiny, And the need of man For leadership, these three God answers perfectly; And, in the tumult and the darkness, lo, A hero comes So solemnly, And the shoutings die and the drums Are still and the van Of battle takes its leader so, And the race, its guardian, And none has been more greatly strong than he In resolution and humility.

THE CHOIR

(_Almost in a whisper._)

Washington!

[_Three men have ridden into the scene. They are Patrick Henry, Edmund Pendleton and George Washington. There to meet them come the President of the Continental Congress and Members of Congress. Washington dismounts and advances until the President and he stand face to face._]

THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS

(_Very solemnly._)

We, reposing special trust and confidence in your patriotism, valor, conduct and fidelity, do, by these presents, constitute and appoint you to be general and commander-in-chief of the army of the United Colonies and of all the forces now raised or to be raised by them for the defense of American Liberty.

[_He presents the sword of office to Washington who stands looking very seriously at it._]

WASHINGTON

I beg it may be remembered that I this day declare with utmost sincerity I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with. But, as it has been a kind of destiny that has thrown me upon this service, I shall hope that my undertaking it is designed to answer some good purpose.

[_He accepts the sword. A great sigh comes like a hope from all around._

_A roll of snare drums far away and the groupings shift so that Washington and Freedom stand alone together and the others draw aside. Drum rhythms succeed one another until they resolve into two themes. The one, played by the kettledrums, follows the syncopation of the Spokesmen’s words. The other, played by the snare drums, marks the time of a march. To this accompaniment, the Continental Army comes upon the scene. First, the farmers who have left their ploughs to join Warren for Bunker Hill. Then the tatterdemalion army of which Washington took command for the siege of Boston. Then the mob takes on form and appearance and order such as it must have had to accomplish Burgoyne’s defeat, and the retreat through Jersey. At the same time the Choir has begun to intone the Declaration of Independence. The two Spokesmen listen and take up their shouted responses. And the intoning runs rhythmically, following the accents of the kettledrums which, in their turn, follow the accents of Jefferson’s prose._]

FOUR VOICES FROM THE CHOIR

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another....

EIGHT VOICES FROM THE CHOIR

(_Upon a higher note._)

And to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them....

FOUR VOICES FROM THE CHOIR

(_Upon the same note as before._)

They should declare the causes which impel them to the separation....

THE FIRST SPOKESMAN

We hold these truths to be self-evident....

FREEDOM

All men are created free and equal....

THE SECOND SPOKESMAN

Endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights....

FREEDOM WITH FOUR VOICES

Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness....

THE FIRST SPOKESMAN

To secure these rights governments are instituted among men....

THE SECOND SPOKESMAN

Deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed....

FOUR VOICES FROM THE CHOIR

Whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends....

EIGHT VOICES FROM THE CHOIR

(_Upon a higher note._)

It is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it....

TWELVE VOICES FROM THE CHOIR

(_Upon a still higher note._)

And to institute new government to provide new guards for their future security.

THE FIRST SPOKESMAN AND FOUR VOICES

We, therefore....

THE SECOND SPOKESMAN AND FOUR VOICES

The representatives of the United States of America....

THE FIRST SPOKESMAN AND FOUR VOICES

(_Upon a higher note._)

In general congress assembled....

THE SECOND SPOKESMAN AND FOUR VOICES

(_Upon the same note._)

Appealing to the supreme judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions....

FREEDOM AND FOUR VOICES

Do, in the name and authority of the good people of these colonies....

(_Four more Voices._)

Solemnly publish and declare....

(_Full Choir crescendo._)

That these United States are and of right ought to be free and independent states....

[_The army is assembled and cheers its chief with three mighty huzzas which are part of a triumphant burst of melody. Washington stands immobile and Freedom, likewise, above and behind him. The music dies into mourning. The light dies except upon Washington and the central and most ragged group which, in varied attitudes of weariness, sinks to the ground about him. The light is dismal._]

THE CHRONICLER

(_Rising and speaking to the audience._)

The soul of an event is the vision which God sets before its hero; its life hangs upon the faith men bring to it. The heroes of God’s choosing make Him manifest to man; but the faith of man is a wretched thing. Now this event fares mournfully, for the army of revolt is more cruelly driven by the doubts and jealousies of man than by the winds and snows of winter, and the meaning of Freedom is forgotten in the fact of hardship. Within himself and his great enterprise the chieftain stands steadfast, concerned only with the omen and the pity of the time.

[_Men’s voices sing again, weakly. The song is the hymn of Washington’s soldiers which they sang about the campfires of Valley Forge. The soldiers move about, warming their bodies wretchedly at imaginary campfires._]

CHORUS

Lessons of war from him we take And manly weapons learn to wield; Strong bows of steel with ease we break, Forced by our stronger arms to yield. ’Tis God that still supports our right, His just revenge our foes pursues; ’Tis He, that, with resistless might, Fierce nations to His power subdues.

[_Washington, as the chorus dies, moves at last and begins to speak, and his men crouch about his feet as in the dim light of campfires._]

WASHINGTON

What is to become of the army this winter? We are barefoot and naked. Soldiers are not made of sticks and stones to occupy a cold, bleak hill and sleep under frost and snow without clothes or blankets. Unless some great and capital change takes place, this army must inevitably starve, dissolve or disperse. From my soul I pity these miseries which it is not in my power to relieve or prevent.

[_The light fades except upon Washington and Freedom._]

FREEDOM

I have cried out your name to the broad heavens, I have given your courage to the stars to shout. Be of good cheer, my leader, The strong and the young have heard and will give answer, The day is not yet lost.

[_Washington looks hopefully into her beautiful, pitiful face as she bends over him. The light leaves them and the Chronicler rises._]

THE CHRONICLER

How differently fare the enemies of Freedom! In Philadelphia where the British are, is a time of plenty and of high festival.