Discussion Post
This week’s readings include Trifles and “A Jury of Her Peers.” (Attached)
Discussion Board: Your original post should be a well developed and supported response to the prompt given.
Describe the setting of the play. What kind of atmosphere is established by the details in the opening scene? Does the atmosphere change through the course of the play? How does it change?
9’18 Riders to the Sea
CATHLEEN (slowly and clearly) An Id
anything she will do and isn’t it o. ~oman will be soon tired with
keening, and makin~ great nlt~e ays herself is after crying and
MAURYA (puts th sorrow m the house?
t empty cup mouth downwards h
together on BARTLEY’S feet) Th’ on t e table, and /c,ys her hands
is come. May the Almighty G ;r;e all together this time, and the end
Michael’s soul, and on the sO~ls o~~~mercy on Bartley’s soul, and on
and Shawn (bending her head)’ d earn us and Patch, and Stephen
Nora, and on the soul of e ‘ ‘ an ~ay He have mercy on my soul
very one IS left living in the world ‘
She pa'” –‘ .l._ ” • ….es, auu W”, keen rises l’ le
away. , a Itt more loudly from the women, then sinks
MAURYA (continuing) Mich;el has a . .
grace of the Almighty God B I dea~ bunal m the far north, by the
white boards and ad’ art ey wdl have a fine coffin out of the
h ‘ eep grave surely Wh
t at? No man at all can be Iivin f, . at more can We Want than
She kneels do’ g. Or ever, and we must be satisfied.
wn again and the curtain falls slowly.
QUESTIONS
1. In tragedy th .
. I .’. e protagoOlstgenerally ff,
15 C ear m thiS play; but what about acts, ~u ers; and learns. The sufferin
a. Does the protagonist act the actmg and learning? g
b. beWh~t ~oes she learn? H~~ri~~!?d~Eat are the effects of her actions?
~nOlng? 1 erent at the play’s end than at the’
2. What,!S the effect of a traged in w ‘ ‘. .
;(u~n rather than active? Supi:ort YO~~~hth~ trotagomst IS essentially “acted
an , to other tragedies that fit th’ eSls y references to Riders to the Sea
any)., ,,,’, . ‘ ‘ IS not·very-common pattern l’f y’ know ‘ 3 :n’ I ‘ , ,. ‘ , ou
• IS!:.USS the language of the la:’ ‘” , ..• ” : ‘ ‘ ,
tra81F aspects of the drama? p ,r,’ Ho~ does It ‘Support both th~ ~alistic and “,”
, , “””>”‘jf .!,’ /~, ~!£ ll’~.’~ “‘-‘~. ,; Il,.J1.; ;”_\t,~, ‘.'”.,’
.; ‘:”·,i1:’. L, \1,’, ,’;
,1″.” ” :J
~ .j .: t !” ‘ ;’, r
iJ: ,’,
SUSAN GLASPELL (1882-1948)
Trifles
CHARACTERS
SHERIFF PETERS
MltS. PETERS
HALE
MltS. HALE
COUNTY ATTORNEY HENDEltSON
SCENE. The kitchen in the now abandoned farmhouse ofJohn Wright, a gloomy
kitchen, and left without having been put in order-the walls covered with a faded
wall paper. Down right is a door leading to,the parlor. On the right wall above this
door is a built-in kitchen cupboard with shelves in the upper portion and drawers
below. In the rear wall at right. up two steps is a door opening onto stairs leading to
the second floor. In the rear wall at left is a door to the shed and from there to the
outside. Between these two doors is an old{ashifmed black iron stove. Running along
the left wall from the shed’door is an old iron sink and sink shelf, in which is set a
hand pump. Downstage of the sink is an uncurtained window. Near the window is an
old wooden rocker. Genter stage is an unpainted wooden kitchen table with straight’
chairs on either side. There is a small chair down right. Unwashed pans under the
sink. a loaf of bread outside the breadbox, a dish towel on the table-other signs of
incompleted work. ttl the rear the shed door opens and the SHERIFF comes in followed
by the COUNTY ATTORNEY and HALE. The SJiERlFF and HALE are men 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, MRS.
PF:rERS, first; she is a slight wiry woman, a thin nervous face. MRS. HA~E is larger
, and would ordinarily be called more ctmifortable looking, but she is disturbed now and
100Rs fearfully about as she enters, The women have come in slowly, and stand close
together near the door.
COUNTY ATTORNEY (at stove 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 to right of
table 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 h~re yesterday morning.
COUNTY ATTORNEY (crossing down to left of the table) By the way, has
anything been moved? Are things just as you left them yesterday?
SHERIFF (looking about) It’s just about the sa~e. When it dropped
below zero last night I thought I’d better send Frank out this morning
to make a fire for us-(sits right of center ~ble) no use getting pneumo
979
980 Trifles
nia with a hig 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 (crossing down to above table}’ ‘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 spok~ 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 1 thought maybe if 1 went to the house and talked
about it before his wife, though 1 said to Harry that 1 didn’t know as
what his wife wanted made much difference to John-
COUNTY ATTORNEY . Let’s talk about that later, Mr. Hale. 1 do want to
talk about that, but tell now just what happened· when you got to the
. house. •. .
HALE J didn’t hear or ~e 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 stiU standing) and there in
‘.,,: that rocker-(pointing to it) sat Mrs. Wright. (They all look at the rocker
. , down left~) .,. .. i” . : ‘ ‘ •
COUNTY ATTQ~EYWhat-was she doing? ” . , ”
HALE.,She.was rockin’ back and forth. She had her apron in her hand
, ,and was kind of-pleating it… ;., .
‘.
COUNTY ATTO.mEY And how did she-look? .
HALE Well. she looked queer.
COUNTY ATTORNEY How do yo’; mean-queer? , ‘ ,
HALE Well, as if she didn’t know what she was going to do next. And
kind of done up. ‘. ..’ ..)1 ‘,. .., . .
couNTY ATTORNEY (takes out notebook and penal and sits left of center
table) 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. 1 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. II 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
Susan Glaspell 981
sharp: “Can’t I see John?” “No,” she says, kind 0′ dull like. “Ain’t he
home?” says I. “Yes,” says she, “he’s home.” “Then why can’t 1 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 started for the stairs, with the idea of going up there.
I walked from there to here-then 1 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, 1 went out and called Harry. I thought 1 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 …
(staps, 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 any
body been notified?” 1 asked. “No,” says she, unconcerned. “Who did
this, Mrs. Wright?” said Harry. I1e said it business-like-and she
stopped pleatin’ of her apron. HI 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 1 was on the inside.”
“~omebody slipped a rope round his neck and strangled him and you
dtdn’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 1 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· the rocker to that chair over there (pointing to a
small chair in. the down right corner) and just sat there with her hands
held together and looking down. I got a feeling that I ought to make
some convtH”sation, 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 notebook 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 1 know that you
don’t.
COUNTY ATTORNEY (rising and looking around) 1 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?
982 Trifles
SHERIFF Nothing here but kitchen things. (The COUNTY ATTORNEY,
after again looking around the kitchen, opens the door of a cupboard closet in
right wall. He brings a small chairfrom right-gets on it and looks on a shelf.
Pulls his hand away, stjcky.)
COUNTY ATTORNEY Here’s a nice mess. (The women draw nearer up cen
Wr.)
MRS. 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 (rises) Well, can you beat the woman! Held for murder and
worryin’ about her preserves.
COUNTY ATTORNEY (getting downJrom chair) I guess before we’re
through she may have something more serious than preserves to
worry about. (Crosses down right center.)
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 below the center table to the sink, takes a dipperful of
water from the pail and pouring it into a basin, washes his hands. While he is
doing this the SHERIFF and HALE cross to cupboard, which they inspect. The
COUNTY ATTORNEY starts to wipe his hands on the roller towel, turns it for a
cleaner place.) Dirty towels! (Kicks his foot againsJ 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.,
COUN’fY 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 fuUlength again.)
MRS. HALE Those towels get dirty awful quick. Men’s hands aren’t
always as clean as they might be. ,I””, ,
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) l’v~ not seen much of her of late years.
I’ve not been in this house-it’s more than a year:. ;’ , i ;
COUNTY ATTORNEY (crossing to women up center) 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, 1 don’t mean anything. But I don’t think a place’d be
any cheerfuller for John Wright’s being in it.
\'” ‘ r’·.,”
Susan Gla.speU 983
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 past the women to up right
where 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 men leave by up right door to stairs.
The women listen to the men’s steps on the stairs, then look about the kitchen.)
MRS. HALE (crossing left to sink) I’d hate to have men coming into my
kitchen, snooping around and criticizing. (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. (Crosses to cupboard
up right.)
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. (Crosses right to MRS. PETERS at cupboard.)
MRS. PETERS (who has been looking through cupboard, lifts one end of towel that
covers a pan) She had bread set. (Stands still.)
MRS. HALE (eyes fixed ona loaf of bread beside the breadbox, which is on a low
shelfofthe cupboard.) 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, jar 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 ch~nies last summer. (She puts the jar 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 tou.ched rocks back and forth. MRS. PETERS moves to center
table and they both watch the chair rock for a moment or two.),
MRS. PETERS (shaking off the mood which the empty rocking chair has evoked.
Now in a businesslike manner she speaks.) 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, petticoat and skirt, MRS. HALE following with
a pair of shoes.) My, it’s cold in there. (She puts the clothes on the big table,
and hurries to the stove.)
MRS. HALE (right of center table examining the skirt) Wright was close. I
think maybe that’s why she kept so much to herself. She didn’t even
984 Trifles
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. I heard 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. Thi~ all you want to take in?
MRS. PETERS She said phe wanted an apron. Funny thing to want, for
there isn’t much to get you dirty in jail, goodness knows. But I sup
pose just to make her feel more natural. (Crosses to cupboard.) She said
,they was in the top drawer in this c,upboard. 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? (At’UP right door.) .;
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 footst8pS are heard in the room
above. In a low voice) Mr. Peters says it looks bad for her. Mr. Hen
derson 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 slip
ping that rope under his neck.
MRS. PETERS (crossing slowly to table and placing sha’wl and apron on table with
other clothing) 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 (crossing to left of MRS. PETERS at table). That’sjust what Mr.
, , ‘ Hale said. There was a gun in the house; He says that’s wha~ he can’t
.: understand. , ,” >
MRS. PETERS Mr. Henderson said coming out that what was needed for
the case was a fIlotive; something to show anger, !>r-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 tlui 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. (Makesa moveasiftoftnish work, then turns and
looks at loaf of bread outside tlui breadbox. Drops towel. In that voice of
coming back to familiar things.) Wonder how they are finding things
upstairs. (Crossing below table to down right.) 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.
‘.
Susan Glaspel/ 985
PETERS takes off her fur tippet, goes to hang it on chair back left of table,
stands looking at the work basket onfloor near down left window.)
MRS. PETERS She was piecing a quilt. (Slui brings the large sewing basket to
the center table and they look at the bright pieces, MRS. HALE above the table
and MRS. PETERS left of it.)
MRS. HALE It’s a log cabin pattern. Pretty, isn’t it? I wonder if she was
goin’ to quilt it or just knot it? (Footsteps have been luiard coming down the
stairs. The SHERIFF enters followed by HALE and tM COUNTY ATTORNEY.)
SHERIFF They wonder if she was going to quilt it or just knot it! (Tlui
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 by up left door.)
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 g~t ,..,
the evidence. (She sits in chair right of table smoothing out a block unth
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 left of
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 sewingl All the
rest of it has ·been so· nice and even. And look at’ thisl It’s all over
the place! Why, it looks as if she didn’t know what she was about!
(After sM has said this they look at each other, tMn 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 rou, doing. Mrs. Hale?
MRS. HALE (mildly). Just pulling out a stitch or two that’s not sewed very
good. (Thr’fUling a needle.) Bad sewing always made ~e fidgety .
MRS. PETERS (wilh a glance at door, nervously) I don’t thlOk we ought to
touch things. .. . .
MRS. HALE I’ll JUSt fi.nish-up. this end; (Suddenly stopping and leaning
fontlard.) Mrs. PeteJ:~?
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. (Rises.)
MRS. HALE In that cupboard, maybe.
MRS. pETERS (crosses right looking in cupboard) Why, here!s a bird-cage.
(Holds it up.) Did she haye a bird, Mrs. Hale?
986 Trifles
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 tf.round) Seems funny to think of a bird here. But
she must have had one, or why would she have a cage? I wonder what
happenc:c! 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 <\fraid 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. (Takes a step doum to MRS. HALE’S right.)
MRS. HALE (looking too) Looks as if someone must have been rough with
it.
MRS. PETERS Why, yes. (She brings the cageforwardandputsit on the table.)
MRS. HALE (glancing toward up left door) I wish if they’re going to find
any evidence they’d be about it. I don’t like this place.
MRS. PETERS But rm 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. . ‘. . .
t1RS., HALE (rises and crosses left) I could’ve come. I stayed away because i out left window)-l’ve never liked this place. Maybe bec;:ause ifs down MRS.~ETER~ (left of table and above it) ., Well, you mustn’t ‘reproach your MRS. HALE Not having children makes less work…,…but it makes a quiet MRS. PETERS Not to know him; I’ve seen him in town. They say he was MRS. HALE Yes-good; he didn’t drink, and kept his word as well as Susan Glaspell 98 7 MRS. PETERS I don’t know, unless it got sick and died. (She reaches over MRS. HALE You weren’t raised round here, were you? (MRS. PETERS MRS. PETERS Not till they brought her yesterday. self-real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and-fluttery. How MRS. PETERS Why, I think that’s a real nice idea, Mrs. Hal.e. There MRS. HALE (crosses to right oftable) Here s some red. I expect thiS has got MRS. PETERS Why, this isn’t her scissors. closer.) all-other side to. growing comprehension, of horror. Steps are ~ard outside. MRS. HALE slips COUNTY ATTORNEY (as one turning from serious things to little pleasantries) MRS. PETERS· We think she was going to-knot it. (SHERlFF crosses to COUNTY ATTORNEY Well, that’s interesting, I’m sure. (Seei~g the bird MRS. HALE (putting more quilt pieces over the box) We think the-cat got COUNTY ATTORNEY (preoccupied) Is there a cat? (MRS. HALE gwnces tn a MRS. PETERS Well, not now. They’re superstitious, you’ know. They 988 Trifles
COUNTY ATTORNEY (to SHERIFF PETERS, continuing an interrupted conver . the– (MRS. PETERS sits down left of table. The two women sit there not MRS. HALE She liked the bird. She was going to bury it in that pretty MRS. PETERS (in a whisper) When I was a girl-my kitten-there was a MRS. HALE (with a slow look around her) I wonder how it would seem MRS. PETERS (moving uneasily) We don’t know who killed the bird. Mrs. Hale. Killing a man while he slept, slipping a rope around his MRS. HALE His neck. Choked the life out of him. (Her hand goes out and M:RS. fETE~S (with rising voice) We don’t know whQ killed him. We don’t M:RS. HALE (her own feeling not interrupted) ,If there’d been years and MRS .. PETERS. (something within her speaking) , I,’ know what stillness, is. MRS. HALE (moving) How soon do you suppose they’ll be through look MRS. PETERS., I know what stillness is. (Pulling herself back.) The law has MRS. HALE (not as if answering that) I wish you’d seen Minnie Foster MRS. PETERS (looking upstairs) We mustn’t-take on. Susan Glaspell 989
can be-for women. I tell you, it’s queer, Mrs. Peters. We liv: close MRS. PETERS (takes the jar, looks about for somethmg to wrap tt m; t~es . winding this around the jar. In afalse votce) My. It s ~ good t~mg the downstairs,) , for doing it. But you know juries when it comes to women. If there HALE (remaining by door) Well, I’ve got the team around. Pretty cold out
there. You can send Frank out for me, can’t you? I want to go over every SHERIFF Do you want to see what Mrs. Peters is going to take in? (The COUNTY ATIORNEY Oh, I guess they’re not very dang~rou~ thmgs t~e MRS. PETERS Not-just that way. . . other room.) I just want you to come in here a minute, George. We cOUNTY ATIORNEY (scoffingly) Oh, windowsI follows the COUNTY ATTORNEY into the room. Then MRS. HALE rues, hands 7 http:instant.).lf 990 Trifles
stands there helpless. Sound of a knob turning in the other room. MRS. HALE COUNTY ATTORNEY (crosses to up left door facetiously) Well, Henry, at least MRS. HALE (standing cfnter below table facing front, her hand against her Curtain
QUESTIONS 1. What does Trifles say about men? about wom~n? about the ways in which they 2. D~scuss the use of “trifles” in the play. contrasted In the early part of the play? What happens to them during the 4. With which of the characters in this play do your sympathies lie? Why? To i .:;
5 .contemporary Drama ‘j’l Our final readings in .drama· bring our study up to the middle of the ( 11 the nineteentrr..centuryrealistic drama .with those of classical Greek and iii , (I \’as husband, father, and salesman. And failure, by Willy’s’ standards, is Miller has said that “the tragic feeling is evoked in’ us when we are ‘within the play, Willy’s son Biff, who bitterly protests his father’s choice 991 1
A Jury Of Her Peers [Copyright, 1917, by The Crowell Publishing Company. BY SUSAN GLASPELL From Every Week When Martha Hale opened the storm-door and got a cut of She hated to see things half done; but she had been at that “Martha!” now came her husband’s impatient voice. “Don’t She again opened the storm-door, and this time joined the After she had the robes tucked around her she took another “The country’s not very pleasant this time of year,” Mrs. Mrs. Hale scarcely finished her reply, for they had gone up lonesome-looking place. It was down in a hollow, and the “I’m glad you came with me,” Mrs. Peters said nervously, Even after she had her foot on the door-step, her hand on * * * The men went over to the stove. The women stood close Mrs. Peters took a step forward, then stopped. “I’m not– And so the two women stood by the door, at first not even The men talked for a minute about what a good thing it The county attorney was looking around the kitchen. “By the way,” he said, “has anything been moved?” He Peters looked from cupboard to sink; from that to a small “It’s just the same.” “Somebody should have been left here yesterday,” said the 2
“Oh–yesterday,” returned the sheriff, with a little gesture “Well, Mr. Hale,” said the county attorney, in a way of Mrs. Hale, still leaning against the door, had that sinking “Yes, Mr. Hale?” the county attorney reminded. “Harry and I had started to town with a load of potatoes,” Harry was Mrs. Hale’s oldest boy. He wasn’t with them “We come along this road,” Hale was going on, with a Now, there he was!–saying things he didn’t need to say. “Let’s talk about that a little later, Mr. Hale. I do want to When he began this time, it was very deliberately and “I didn’t see or hear anything. I knocked at the door. And Every one in the kitchen looked at the rocker. It came into “How did she–look?” the county attorney was inquiring. “Well,” said Hale, “she looked–queer.” “How do you mean–queer?” As he asked it he took out a note-book and pencil. Mrs. Hale did speak guardedly, as if the pencil had affected him “Well, as if she didn’t know what she was going to do next. “How did she seem to feel about your coming?” “Why, I don’t think she minded–one way or other. She “Well, I was surprised. She didn’t ask me to come up to the “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 3
says I, like you do when you can’t take in what you’ve “She just nodded her head, not getting a bit excited, but “‘Why–where is he?’ says I, not knowing what to say. “She just pointed upstairs–like this”–pointing to the room “I got up, with the idea of going up there myself. By this “‘He died of a rope round his neck,’ says she; and just went * * * Hale stopped speaking, and stood staring at the rocker, as “And what did you do then?” the county attorney at last “I went out and called Harry. I thought I might–need help. “I think I’d rather have you go into that upstairs,” the “Well, my first thought was to get that rope off. It looked– He stopped, his face twitching. “But Harry, he went up to him, and he said, ‘No, he’s dead “She was still sitting that same way. ‘Has anybody been “‘Who did this, Mrs. Wright?’ said Harry. He said it “We may have looked as if we didn’t see how that could “Harry was going to ask her more questions, but I said “And what did she do when she knew you had gone for the “She moved from that chair to this one over here”–Hale At sound of a moving pencil the man who was telling the “I dunno–maybe it wasn’t scared,” he hastened; “I * * * He said that last with relief, and moved a little, as if “I guess we’ll go upstairs first–then out to the barn and He paused and looked around the kitchen. “You’re convinced there was nothing important here?” he The sheriff too looked all around, as if to re-convince “Nothing here but kitchen things,” he said, with a little The county attorney was looking at the cupboard–a “Here’s a nice mess,” he said resentfully. The two women had drawn nearer, and now the sheriff’s 4
“Oh–her fruit,” she said, looking to Mrs. Hale for Mrs. Peters’ husband broke into a laugh. “Well, can you beat the women! Held for murder and The young attorney set his lips. “I guess before we’re through with her she may have “Oh, well,” said Mrs. Hale’s husband, with good-natured The two women moved a little closer together. Neither of “And yet,” said he, with the gallantry of a young politician, The women did not speak, did not unbend. He went to the “Dirty towels! Not much of a housekeeper, would you say, He kicked his foot against some dirty pans under the sink. “There’s a great deal of work to be done on a farm,” said “To be sure. And yet”–with a little bow to her–“I know “Those towels get dirty awful quick. Men’s hands aren’t “Ah, loyal to your sex, I see,” he laughed. He stopped and Martha Hale shook her head. “I’ve seen little enough of her of late years. I’ve not been in “And why was that? You didn’t like her?” “I liked her well enough,” she replied with spirit. “Farmers’ “Yes?” he encouraged. “It never seemed a very cheerful place,” said she, more to “No,” he agreed; “I don’t think any one would call it “Well, I don’t know as Wright had, either,” she muttered. “You mean they didn’t get on very well?” he was quick to “No; I don’t mean anything,” she answered, with decision. “I’d like to talk to you about that a little later, Mrs. Hale,” He moved toward the stair door, followed by the two men. “I suppose anything Mrs. Peters does’ll be all right?” the The county attorney looked at the two women whom they “Yes–Mrs. Peters,” he said, his glance resting on the Mr. Hale rubbed his face after the fashion of a show man “But would the women know a clue if they did come upon * * * The women stood motionless and silent, listening to the Then, as if releasing herself from something strange, Mrs. 5
the county attorney’s disdainful push of the foot had “I’d hate to have men comin’ into my kitchen,” she said “Of course it’s no more than their duty,” said the sheriff’s “Duty’s all right,” replied Mrs. Hale bluffly; “but I guess She looked around the kitchen. Certainly it was not Mrs. Hale moved toward it. “She was putting this in there,” she said to herself–slowly. She thought of the flour in her kitchen at home–half sifted, “It’s a shame about her fruit,” she said, and walked toward It was a sorry enough looking sight, but “Here’s one that’s With a sigh, she got down from the chair, went to the sink, “She’ll feel awful bad, after all her hard work in the hot She set the bottle on the table, and, with another sigh, The thin voice of the sheriff’s wife broke in upon her: “I She opened the door into the other room, started in, They were soon back–the stark coldness of that shut-up “My!” said Mrs. Peters, dropping the things on the table Mrs. Hale stood examining the clothes the woman who “Wright was close!” she exclaimed, holding up a shabby With a carefulness in which there was something tender, “She don’t care,” she said to herself. “Much difference it Then she looked again, and she wasn’t so sure; in fact, she “This all you was to take in?” asked Mrs. Hale. “No,” said the sheriff’s wife; “she said she wanted an She took the small gray shawl from behind the door Suddenly Mrs. Hale took a quick step toward the other “Mrs. Peters!” “Yes, Mrs. Hale?” “Do you think she–did it?”
6
A frightened look blurred the other thing in Mrs. Peters’ “Oh, I don’t know,” she said, in a voice that seemed to “Well, I don’t think she did,” affirmed Mrs. Hale stoutly. “Mr. Peters says–.” Footsteps were heard in the room For a moment Mrs. Hale had no answer. Then, “Well, I “No, it’s strange,” breathed Mrs. Peters. “They think it was She began to laugh; at sound of the laugh, abruptly “That’s just what Mr. Hale said,” said Mrs. Hale, in a “Mr. Henderson said, coming out, that what was needed “Well, I don’t see any signs of anger around here,” said She stopped. It was as if her mind tripped on something. After a moment she stepped back, and said, in that manner “Wonder how they’re finding things upstairs? I hope she “But, Mrs. Hale,” said the sheriff’s wife, “the law is the “I s’pose ’tis,” answered Mrs. Hale shortly. She turned to the stove, saying something about that fire “The law is the law–and a bad stove is a bad stove. How’d She was startled by hearing Mrs. Peters say: “A person The sheriff’s wife had looked from the stove to the sink–to “Better loosen up your things, Mrs. Peters. We’ll not feel Mrs. Peters went to the back of the room to hang up the fur Mrs. Hale spread some of the blocks out on the table. “It’s log-cabin pattern,” she said, putting several of them They were so engaged with the quilt that they did not hear “Do you suppose she was going to quilt it or just knot it?” The sheriff threw up his hands. “They wonder whether she was going to quilt it or just There was a laugh for the ways of women, a warming of “Well, let’s go right out to the barn and get that cleared “I don’t see as there’s anything so strange,” Mrs. Hale said 7
waiting for them to get the evidence. I don’t see as it’s “Of course they’ve got awful important things on their They returned to an inspection of the block for the quilt. “Why, look at this one.” She turned to take the block held out to her. “The sewing,” said Mrs. Peters, in a troubled way. “All the Their eyes met–something flashed to life, passed between “Oh, what are you doing, Mrs. Hale?” asked the sheriff’s “Just pulling out a stitch or two that’s not sewed very “I don’t think we ought to touch things,” Mrs. Peters said, a “I’ll just finish up this end,” answered Mrs. Hale, still in She threaded a needle and started to replace bad sewing “Mrs. Hale!” “Yes, Mrs. Peters?” “What do you suppose she was so–nervous about?” “Oh, I don’t know,” said Mrs. Hale, as if dismissing a thing She cut a thread, and out of the corner of her eye looked up “Well, I must get those clothes wrapped. They may be “In that cupboard, maybe,” suggested Mrs. Hale, after a * * * One piece of the crazy sewing remained unripped. Mrs. Mrs. Peters’ voice roused her. “Here’s a bird-cage,” she said. “Did she have a bird, Mrs. “Why, I don’t know whether she did or not.” She turned to Mrs. Peters looked around the kitchen. “Seems kind of funny to think of a bird here.” She half “I suppose maybe the cat got it,” suggested Mrs. Hale, “No; she didn’t have a cat. She’s got that feeling some “My sister Bessie was like that,” laughed Mrs. Hale. The sheriff’s wife did not reply. The silence made Mrs. “Look at this door,” she said slowly. “It’s broke. One hinge Mrs. Hale came nearer. “Looks as if some one must have been–rough with it.” Again their eyes met–startled, questioning, apprehensive. 8
“If they’re going to find any evidence, I wish they’d be “But I’m awful glad you came with me, Mrs. Hale,” Mrs. “Yes, it would, wouldn’t it?” agreed Mrs. Hale, a certain “But of course you were awful busy, Mrs. Hale. Your “I could’ve come,” retorted Mrs. Hale shortly. “I stayed “Well, you mustn’t reproach yourself,” counseled Mrs. “Not having children makes less work,” mused Mrs. Hale, “Not to know him. I’ve seen him in town. They say he was “Yes–good,” conceded John Wright’s neighbor grimly. Suddenly she leaned forward, looking intently at the cage. “I don’t know,” returned Mrs. Peters; “unless it got sick But after she said it she reached over and swung the “You didn’t know–her?” Mrs. Hale asked, a gentler note in “Not till they brought her yesterday,” said the sheriff’s “She–come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird That held her for a long time. Finally, as if struck with a “Tell you what, Mrs. Peters, why don’t you take the quilt in “Why, I think that’s a real nice idea, Mrs. Hale,” agreed the They turned to the sewing basket. “Here’s some red,” said Mrs. Hale, bringing out a roll of She held it in her hand a moment; then, with a little sigh, Instantly her hand went to her nose. “Why–!” Mrs. Peters drew nearer–then turned away. “There’s something wrapped up in this piece of silk,” “This isn’t her scissors,” said Mrs. Peters, in a shrinking Her hand not steady, Mrs. Hale raised the piece of silk. Mrs. Peters bent closer. “It’s the bird,” she whispered. “But, Mrs. Peters!” cried Mrs. Hale. “Look at it! Its neck– She held the box away from her. The sheriff’s wife again bent closer. “Somebody wrung its neck,” said she, in a voice that was 9
And then again the eyes of the two women met–this time Mrs. Hale slipped the box under the quilt pieces in the “Well, ladies,” said the county attorney, as one turning “We think,” began the sheriff’s wife in a flurried voice, He was too preoccupied to notice the change that came in “Well, that’s very interesting, I’m sure,” he said tolerantly. “We think the cat got it,” said Mrs. Hale in a voice He was walking up and down, as if thinking something “Is there a cat?” he asked absently. Mrs. Hale shot a look up at the sheriff’s wife. “Well, not now,” said Mrs. Peters. “They’re superstitious, She sank into her chair. The county attorney did not heed her. “No sign at all of The stair door closed behind them and their voices were The two women sat motionless, not looking at each other, “She liked the bird,” said Martha Hale, low and slowly. “When I was a girl,” said Mrs. Peters, under her breath, eyes–before I could get there–” She covered her face an Then they sat without speaking or moving. “I wonder how it would seem,” Mrs. Hale at last began, as Mrs. Peters moved uneasily. “Of course we don’t know who killed the bird.” “I knew John Wright,” was Mrs. Hale’s answer. “It was an awful thing was done in this house that night, Mrs. Hale’s hand went out to the bird-cage. “His neck. Choked the life out of him.” “We don’t know who killed him,” whispered Mrs. Peters Mrs. Hale had not moved. “If there had been years and It was as if something within her not herself had spoken, “I know what stillness is,” she said, in a queer, Mrs. Hale stirred. “How soon do you suppose they’ll be through looking for “I know what stillness is,” repeated Mrs. Peters, in just that “I wish you’d seen Minnie Foster,” was the answer, “when 10
The picture of that girl, the fact that she had lived neighbor “Oh, I wish I’d come over here once in a while!” she cried. “We mustn’t take on,” said Mrs. Peters, with a frightened “I might ‘a’ known she needed help! I tell you, it’s queer, She dashed her hand across her eyes. Then, seeing the jar “If I was you I wouldn’t tell her her fruit was gone! Tell She turned away. Mrs. Peters reached out for the bottle of fruit as if she were “My!” she began, in a high, false voice, “it’s a good thing Footsteps were heard on the stairs. “Maybe they would,” muttered Mrs. Hale–“maybe they “No, Peters,” said the county attorney incisively; “it’s all In a covert way Mrs. Hale looked at Mrs. Peters. Mrs. “I’ve got the team round now,” he said. “Pretty cold out
“I’m going to stay here awhile by myself,” the county Again, for one brief moment, the two women’s eyes found The sheriff came up to the table. “Did you want to see what Mrs. Peters was going to take The county attorney picked up the apron. He laughed. “Oh, I guess they’re not very dangerous things the ladies Mrs. Hale’s hand was on the sewing basket in which the But he did not take it up. With another little laugh, he “No; Mrs. Peters doesn’t need supervising. For that matter, Mrs. Peters was standing beside the table. Mrs. Hale shot a “Not–just that way,” she said. “Married to the law!” chuckled Mrs. Peters’ husband. He “I just want you to come in here a minute, George. We “Oh–windows,” said the county attorney scoffingly. “We’ll be right out, Mr. Hale,” said the sheriff to the Hale went to look after the horses. The sheriff followed the Martha Hale sprang up, her hands tight together, looking at 11
eyes made her turn back. Slowly, unwillingly, Mrs. Peters For a moment Mrs. Peters did not move. And then she did There was the sound of a knob turning in the inner door. “Well, Henry,” said the county attorney facetiously, “at Mrs. Hale’s hand was against the pocket of her coat. “We call it–knot it, Mr. Henderson.”
it weren’t cheerful-and that’s why.! ought to h
.. in.a hollow and you don’t see the road. I dunno what it is, but it’s a
I lonesome place and always was. I wish I had come over to see Minnie
Foster sometimes. I can see now-(Sh4kes her head.) ,. ;, .
self, Mrs., Hale. Somehow we just don’t see how it is with other folks
until-something turns up. .. ,..
house, and Wright out to work all day, and no company when he did
come in. (Turning from window.) Did you know John Wright,Mrs.
Peters?
a good man.
most, I guess, and paid his debts. But he was a hard man, Mrs. Peters.
Just to pass the time of day with him-(Shivm.) 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?
and swings the broken door, swings it again, both women watch it.)
shakes her head.) You didn’t know-her?
MRS. HALE She-come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird her
she-did-change. (Silence: then as if struck by a happy thought and
·relieved to get back to everyday things. Crosses right ~ov~ ~RS. PETERS to
cupboard, replaces small chair used to stand on to tis ongmal p~.e dor;m
right.) Tell you what, Mrs. Peters, why don’t you take the quilt 10 With
you? It might take up her mind.
couldn’t possibly be any objection to it could there? Now, Just ~hat
would I take? I wonder if her patches are in here-and her thmgs.
(They look in the sewing basket.), ‘ , .
sewing things in it. (Brings out afancy box.) What a pretty, box. Loo~
like something somebody would give you. Maybe her SCissors are 10
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. HALE (lifting the silk) Oh, Mrs. Peters-it’s–(MRS. PETERS bends
MRS. PETERS It’s the bird.
MRS. HALE But, Mrs. Peters-look at it! Its neck! Look at its neck! It’s
MRS. PETERS . &mebody-wrung-its-neck. (Their eyes meet. A look of
box under quilt pieces, and sinks into her chatr. Enter SHERlFF and COUNTY
ATTORNEY. MRS. PETERS steps down left and stands looking out ofwindow.)
Well. ladies, have you decided whether she was going to quilt it or
knot it? (Crosses to center above table.)
right of stove, lifts stove lid and glances at fire, then stands warming hands at
stove.)
cage.) Has the bird flown?
k. L •
quick covert way at Mas. PETERS.)
leave.
sation) 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
looking at One anothe~, 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 cannot help
saying it.)
box. ‘
boy took a hatchet, and befo,re my eyes-and before I could get
there– (Covers her face an instant.).lf they hadn’t held me back I
would have-(catches herself, looks upstairs where steps are heard, falters
weakly)-hurt him.
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. HALE I knew’John Wright. ,
MRS. PETERS It was an awful thing was done in this house that night,
neck that choked the life out of him. , ‘
rests on the bird-cage.),
know.
. yea,rs of oothing, ~hen a bird to sing to you, it would be awful-still,
! after the bird was still. ‘. ‘.’ “. , ;, ‘…
,When we homesteaded in Dakota, and my first baby died-after he
;. was two years old. and me wit11 no other then–, ,,! ,.’ ~ ”
,jng,for the evidence? . ))’,:’ .:1. ~,;.), ,
got to punish crjme, Mrs. Hale.
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 whilel That was a crime! That was a crime! Who’s
going to punish that?
MRS. HALE I might have known she needed helpl 1 know how things
together and we live far apart. We all go through the same thm?s.
it’s all just a different kind of the same thing. (Brushes her eyes, notum~
the jar offruit, reaches out for it.) Ifl was you 1wou~dn’t te,lI ~er her fru~t
was gone. Tell her it ain’t, Tell her it’s all right. Take thiS m to prove It
to her. She-she may never know whether it ~as broke o~ ~ot.
petticoat from the clothes brought from the ?ther room: ~ery nervousl~ begtns
men couldn’t hear us. Wouldn’t they just laughl Gettmg all stirred ,up
over a little thing like a-dead canary. As if that could have anythl~g
to do with-with-wouldn’t they laugh! (The men are heard comtng
MRS. HALE (under her breath) Maybe they would-maybe they wouldn t.
COUNTY ATTORNEY No, Peters, it’s all perfectly.clear except a reason
was some definite thing. (Crosses slowly to above table. SHERIFF crosses
down right. MRS. HALE and MRS. PETERS remain seated at either sid~ of
t4ble.) Something to show-something to make a story ~bou~-a thmg
that would connect up with this strange way of domg It–(The
women’s eyes meet for an instant. Enter HALEfrom outer door.)
COUNTY ATTORNEY I’m going to stay awhile by myself. (To the SHERIFF,)
thing. I’m not satisfied that we can’t do better.
LAWYER picks up the apron, laughs.) .
ladies have picked out. (Moves a few things about. dtsturbing ~e qutlt
pieces which cover the box. StqJs back.) No, Mrs. Peters doesn t need
supervising. For that matter a sheriff’s wife is married to the law.
Ever think ofit that way, Mrs. Peters? .
SHERIFF (chuckling) Married to the law. (Moves to down nght door to the
ought to take a look at these windows.
SHERIFF We’ll be right out, Mr. Hale. (HALE goes outside. Th~ SHERIFF
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 concea~d. Suddenly~ MRS..PETER~
throws back quilt pieces and tries to put the box m the bag she IS carrymg. It IS
too big. She opens box, starts to take bird out, cannot touch it, goes to puces,
snatches the box and puts it in the pocket of her big coat. Enter COUNTY
ATTORNEY and SHERIFF, who remains down right.)
we found out that she was not going to quilt it. She was going to
what is it you call if; ladies?
pocket) We call it-knot it, Mr. Henderson.
ac~ toward each ?ther? In how many different ways does Glaspell touch on
thiS th~me? (Nouce the speech patterns of the men and the women. How do
th,ey differ? What themes and concerns do you hear from each?)
3. DIscuss the, characterization of Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters. How are they
course of the play?
what extent do you approve of their actions?
I.
~l
It
1\
twentieth century. They include two plays; one a tragedy, Arthur. Miller’s I;,
Death of a Salesman, and the other a comedy, Eugene, Ionesco’s The if
Gap.
In’Deatli of a Salesman, Miller has blended many of the practices of
Shakespearean tragedies to create a modern tragedy, a tragedy of ·the ‘:(
common man. The blend is made ‘possible .by the deliberate setting aside
of one of Aristotle’s rules, which says that: tragic heroes must ‘be people
we can look up. to. We cannot look up to Willy Loman. Hamlet and Ii
Oedipus were both seekers of truth. Willy is afraid of the truth, because
if he should. realize and admit the- truth, he would .admit his failures
as great a crime as incest is by Oedipus’. I’
in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life, if need
be, to secure one thing-his sense of personal dignity.” In this sense,
Willy is certainly tragic; and the fact that the vision of dignity for
which he kills himself is seen by many to be a false one (including,
of sham dignity over true) merely makes the tragedy the more fearful.
Can we be sure that our own values are truer?
Copyright, 1918, by Susan Glaspell Cook.]
the north wind, she ran back for her big woolen scarf. As
she hurriedly wound that round her head her eye made a
scandalized sweep of her kitchen. It was no ordinary thing
that called her away–it was probably farther from ordinary
than anything that had ever happened in Dickson County.
But what her eye took in was that her kitchen was in no
shape for leaving: her bread all ready for mixing, half the
flour sifted and half unsifted.
when the team from town stopped to get Mr. Hale, and
then the sheriff came running in to say his wife wished
Mrs. Hale would come too–adding, with a grin, that he
guessed she was getting scarey and wanted another woman
along. So she had dropped everything right where it was.
keep folks waiting out here in the cold.”
three men and the one woman waiting for her in the big
two-seated buggy.
look at the woman who sat beside her on the back seat. She
had met Mrs. Peters the year before at the county fair, and
the thing she remembered about her was that she didn’t
seem like a sheriff’s wife. She was small and thin and
didn’t have a strong voice. Mrs. Gorman, sheriff’s wife
before Gorman went out and Peters came in, had a voice
that somehow seemed to be backing up the law with every
word. But if Mrs. Peters didn’t look like a sheriff’s wife,
Peters made it up in looking like a sheriff. He was to a dot
the kind of man who could get himself elected sheriff–a
heavy man with a big voice, who was particularly genial
with the law-abiding, as if to make it plain that he knew
the difference between criminals and non-criminals. And
right there it came into Mrs. Hale’s mind, with a stab, that
this man who was so pleasant and lively with all of them
was going to the Wrights’ now as a sheriff.
Peters at last ventured, as if she felt they ought to be
talking as well as the men.
a little hill and could see the Wright place now, and seeing
it did not make her feel like talking. It looked very
lonesome this cold March morning. It had always been a
poplar trees around it were lonesome-looking trees. The
men were looking at it and talking about what had
happened. The county attorney was bending to one side of
the buggy, and kept looking steadily at the place as they
drew up to it.
as the two women were about to follow the men in through
the kitchen door.
the knob, Martha Hale had a moment of feeling she could
not cross that threshold. And the reason it seemed she
couldn’t cross it now was simply because she hadn’t
crossed it before. Time and time again it had been in her
mind, “I ought to go over and see Minnie Foster”–she still
thought of her as Minnie Foster, though for twenty years
she had been Mrs. Wright. And then there was always
something to do and Minnie Foster would go from her
mind. But now she could come.
together by the door. Young Henderson, the county
attorney, turned around and said, “Come up to the fire,
ladies.”
cold,” she said.
so much as looking around the kitchen.
was the sheriff had sent his deputy out that morning to
make a fire for them, and then Sheriff Peters stepped back
from the stove, unbuttoned his outer coat, and leaned his
hands on the kitchen table in a way that seemed to mark
the beginning of official business. “Now, Mr. Hale,” he
said in a sort of semi-official voice, “before we move
things about, you tell Mr. Henderson just what it was you
saw when you came here yesterday morning.”
turned to the sheriff. “Are things just as you left them
yesterday?”
worn rocker a little to one side of the kitchen table.
county attorney.
as of yesterday having been more than he could bear to
think of. “When I had to send Frank to Morris Center for
that man who went crazy–let me tell you, I had my hands
full yesterday. I knew you could get back from Omaha by
to-day, George, and as long as I went over everything here
myself–”
letting what was past and gone go, “tell just what happened
when you came here yesterday morning.”
feeling of the mother whose child is about to speak a piece.
Lewis often wandered along and got things mixed up in a
story. She hoped he would tell this straight and plain, and
not say unnecessary things that would just make things
harder for Minnie Foster. He didn’t begin at once, and she
noticed that he looked queer–as if standing in that kitchen
and having to tell what he had seen there yesterday
morning made him almost sick.
Mrs. Hale’s husband began.
now, for the very good reason that those potatoes never got
to town yesterday and he was taking them this morning, so
he hadn’t been home when the sheriff stopped to say he
wanted Mr. Hale to come over to the Wright place and tell
the county attorney his story there, where he could point it
all out. With all Mrs. Hale’s other emotions came the fear
now that maybe Harry wasn’t dressed warm enough–they
hadn’t any of them realized how that north wind did bite.
motion of his hand to the road over which they had just
come, “and as we got in sight of the house I says to Harry,
‘I’m goin’ to see if I can’t get John Wright to take a
telephone.’ You see,” he explained to Henderson, “unless I
can get somebody to go in with me they won’t come out
this branch road except for a price I can’t pay. I’d spoke to
Wright about it once before; but he put me off, saying
folks talked too much anyway, and all he asked was peace
and quiet–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, and said all the women-
folks liked the telephones, and that in this lonesome stretch
of road it would be a good thing–well, I said to Harry that
that was what I was going to say–though I said at the same
time that I didn’t know as what his wife wanted made
much difference to John–”
Mrs. Hale tried to catch her husband’s eye, but fortunately
the county attorney interrupted with:
talk about that, but I’m anxious now to get along to just
what happened when you got here.”
carefully:
still it was all quiet inside. I knew they must be up–it was
past eight o’clock. So I knocked again, louder, 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,” jerking
a hand toward the door by which the two women stood,
“and there, in that rocker”–pointing to it–“sat Mrs.
Wright.”
Mrs. Hale’s mind that that rocker didn’t look in the least
like Minnie Foster–the Minnie Foster of twenty years
before. It was a dingy red, with wooden rungs up the back,
and the middle rung was gone, and the chair sagged to one
side.
Hale did not like the sight of that pencil. She kept her eye
fixed on her husband, as if to keep him from saying
unnecessary things that would go into that note-book and
make trouble.
too.
And kind of–done up.”
didn’t pay much attention. I said, ‘Ho’ do, Mrs. Wright? It’s
cold, ain’t it?’ And she said, ‘Is it?’–and went on pleatin’ at
her apron.
stove, or to sit down, but just set there, not even lookin’ at
me. And so I said: ‘I want to see John.’
sharp, ‘Can I see John?’ ‘No,’ says she–kind of dull like.
‘Ain’t he home?’ says I. Then she looked at me. ‘Yes,’ says
she, ‘he’s home.’ ‘Then why can’t I see him?’ I asked her,
out of patience with her now. ”Cause he’s dead,’ says she,
just as quiet and dull–and fell to pleatin’ her apron. ‘Dead?’
heard.
rockin’ back and forth.
above.
time I–didn’t know what to do. I walked from there to
here; then I says: ‘Why, what did he die of?’
on pleatin’ at her apron.”
if he were still seeing the woman who had sat there the
morning before. Nobody spoke; it was as if every one were
seeing the woman who had sat there the morning before.
broke the silence.
I got Harry in, and we went upstairs.” His voice fell almost
to a whisper. “There he was–lying over the–”
county attorney interrupted, “where you can point it all
out. Just go on now with the rest of the story.”
”
all right, and we’d better not touch anything.’ So we went
downstairs.
notified?’ I asked. ‘No,’ says she, unconcerned.
businesslike, and she stopped pleatin’ at her apron. ‘I don’t
know,’ she says. ‘You don’t know?’ says Harry. ‘Weren’t
you sleepin’ in the bed with him?’ ‘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.
be, for after a minute she said, ‘I sleep sound.’
maybe that weren’t our business; maybe we ought to let her
tell her story first to the coroner or the sheriff. So Harry
went fast as he could over to High Road–the Rivers’ place,
where there’s a telephone.”
coroner?” The attorney got his pencil in his hand all ready
for writing.
pointed 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.”
story looked up.
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.”
relaxing. Every one moved a little. The county attorney
walked toward the stair door.
around there.”
asked the sheriff. “Nothing that would–point to any
motive?”
himself.
laugh for the insignificance of kitchen things.
peculiar, ungainly structure, half closet and half cupboard,
the upper part of it being built in the wall, and the lower
part just the old-fashioned kitchen cupboard. As if its
queerness attracted him, he got a chair and opened the
upper part and looked in. After a moment he drew his hand
away sticky.
wife spoke.
sympathetic understanding. She turned back to the county
attorney and explained: “She worried about that when it
turned so cold last night. She said the fire would go out
and her jars might burst.”
worrying about her preserves!”
something more serious than preserves to worry about.”
superiority, “women are used to worrying over trifles.”
them spoke. The county attorney seemed suddenly to
remember his manners–and think of his future.
“for all their worries, what would we do without the
ladies?”
sink and began washing his hands. He turned to wipe them
on the roller towel–whirled it for a cleaner place.
ladies?”
Mrs. Hale stiffly.
there are some Dickson County farm-houses that do not
have such roller towels.” He gave it a pull to expose its full
length again.
always as clean as they might be.”
gave her a keen look. “But you and Mrs. Wright were
neighbors. I suppose you were friends, too.”
this house–it’s more than a year.”
wives have their hands full, Mr. Henderson. And then–”
She looked around the kitchen.
herself than to him.
cheerful. I shouldn’t say she had the home-making
instinct.”
ask.
As she turned a little away from him, she added: “But I
don’t think a place would be any the cheerfuler for John
Wright’s bein’ in it.”
he said. “I’m anxious to get the lay of things upstairs now.”
sheriff inquired. “She was to take in some clothes for her,
you know–and a few little things. We left in such a hurry
yesterday.”
were leaving alone there among the kitchen things.
woman who was not Mrs. Peters, the big farmer woman
who stood behind the sheriff’s wife. “Of course Mrs. Peters
is one of us,” he said, in a manner of entrusting
responsibility. “And keep your eye out Mrs. Peters, for
anything that might be of use. No telling; you women
might come upon a clue to the motive–and that’s the thing
we need.”
getting ready for a pleasantry.
it?” he said; and, having delivered himself of this, he
followed the others through the stair door.
footsteps, first upon the stairs, then in the room above
them.
Hale began to arrange the dirty pans under the sink, which
deranged.
testily–“snoopin’ round and criticizin’.”
wife, in her manner of timid acquiescence.
that deputy sheriff that come out to make the fire might
have got a little of this on.” She gave 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.”
“slicked up.” Her eye was held by a bucket of sugar on a
low shelf. The cover was off the wooden bucket, and
beside it was a paper bag–half full.
half not sifted. She had been interrupted, and had left
things half done. What had interrupted Minnie Foster?
Why had that work been left half done? She made a move
as if to finish it,–unfinished things always bothered her,–
and then she glanced around and saw that Mrs. Peters was
watching her–and she didn’t want Mrs. Peters to get that
feeling she had got of work begun and then–for some
reason–not finished.
the cupboard that the county attorney had opened, and got
on the chair, murmuring: “I wonder if it’s all gone.”
all right,” she said at last. She held it toward the light.
“This is cherries, too.” She looked again. “I declare I
believe that’s the only one.”
and wiped off the bottle.
weather. I remember the afternoon I put up my cherries
last summer.”
started to sit down in the rocker. But she did not sit down.
Something kept her from sitting down in that chair. She
straightened–stepped back, and, half turned away, stood
looking at it, seeing the woman who had sat there “pleatin’
at her apron.”
must be getting those things from the front room closet.”
stepped back. “You coming with me, Mrs. Hale?” she
asked nervously. “You–you could help me get them.”
room was not a thing to linger in.
and hurrying to the stove.
was being detained in town had said she wanted.
black skirt that bore the marks of much making over. “I
think maybe that’s why she kept so much to herself. I
s’pose 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 twenty years ago.”
she folded the shabby clothes and piled them at one corner
of the table. She looked up at Mrs. Peters and there was
something in the other woman’s look that irritated her.
makes to her whether Minnie Foster had pretty clothes
when she was a girl.”
hadn’t at any time been perfectly sure about Mrs. Peters.
She had that shrinking manner, and yet her eyes looked as
if they could see a long way into things.
apron. Funny thing to want,” she ventured in her nervous
little way, “for there’s not much to get you dirty in jail,
goodness knows. But I suppose just to make her feel more
natural. If you’re used to wearing an apron–. She said they
were in the bottom drawer of this cupboard. Yes–here they
are. And then her little shawl that always hung on the stair
door.”
leading upstairs, and stood a minute looking at it.
woman.
eyes.
shrink away from the subject.
“Asking for an apron, and her little shawl. Worryin’ about
her fruit.”
above; she stopped, looked up, then went on in a lowered
voice: “Mr. Peters says–it looks bad for her. Mr.
Henderson is awful sarcastic in a speech, and he’s going to
make fun of her saying she didn’t–wake up.”
guess John Wright didn’t wake up–when they was slippin’
that rope under his neck,” she muttered.
such a–funny way to kill a man.”
stopped.
resolutely natural voice. “There was a gun in the house. He
says that’s what he can’t understand.”
for the case was a motive. Something to show anger–or
sudden feeling.”
Mrs. Hale. “I don’t–”
Her eye was caught by a dish-towel in the middle of the
kitchen table. Slowly she moved toward the table. One half
of it was wiped clean, the other half messy. Her eyes made
a slow, almost unwilling turn to the bucket of sugar and
the half empty bag beside it. Things begun–and not
finished.
of releasing herself:
had it a little more red up up there. You know,”–she
paused, and feeling gathered,–“it seems kind of sneaking:
locking her up in town and coming out here to get her own
house to turn against her!”
law.”
not being much to brag of. She worked with it a minute,
and when she straightened up she said aggressively:
you like to cook on this?”–pointing with the poker to the
broken lining. She opened the oven door and started to
express her opinion of the oven; but she was swept into her
own thoughts, thinking of what it would mean, year after
year, to have that stove to wrestle with. The thought of
Minnie Foster trying to bake in that oven–and the thought
of her never going over to see Minnie Foster–.
gets discouraged–and loses heart.”
the pail of water which had been carried in from outside.
The two women stood there silent, above them the
footsteps of the men who were looking for evidence
against the woman who had worked in that kitchen. That
look of seeing into things, of seeing through a thing to
something else, was in the eyes of the sheriff’s wife now.
When Mrs. Hale next spoke to her, it was gently:
them when we go out.”
tippet she was wearing. A moment later she exclaimed,
“Why, she was piecing a quilt,” and held up a large sewing
basket piled high with quilt pieces.
together. “Pretty, isn’t it?”
the footsteps on the stairs. Just as the stair door opened
Mrs. Hale was saying:
knot it!”
hands over the stove, and then the county attorney said
briskly:
up.”
resentfully, after the outside door had closed on the three
men–“our taking up our time with little things while we’re
anything to laugh about.”
minds,” said the sheriff’s wife apologetically.
Mrs. Hale was looking at the fine, even sewing, and
preoccupied with thoughts of the woman who had done
that sewing, when she heard the sheriff’s wife say, in a
queer tone:
rest of them have been so nice and even–but–this one.
Why, it looks as if she didn’t know what she was about!”
them; then, as if with an effort, they seemed to pull away
from each other. A moment Mrs. Hale sat her hands folded
over that sewing which was so unlike all the rest of the
sewing. Then she had pulled a knot and drawn the threads.
wife, startled.
good,” said Mrs. Hale mildly.
little helplessly.
that mild, matter-of-fact fashion.
with good. For a little while she sewed in silence. Then, in
that thin, timid voice, she heard:
not important enough to spend much time on. “I don’t
know as she was–nervous. I sew awful queer sometimes
when I’m just tired.”
at Mrs. Peters. The small, lean face of the sheriff’s wife
seemed to have tightened up. Her eyes had that look of
peering into something. But next moment she moved, and
said in her thin, indecisive way:
through sooner than we think. I wonder where I could find
a piece of paper–and string.”
glance around.
Peters’ back turned, Martha Hale now scrutinized that
piece, compared it with the dainty, accurate sewing of the
other blocks. The difference was startling. Holding this
block made her feel queer, as if the distracted thoughts of
the woman who had perhaps turned to it to try and quiet
herself were communicating themselves to her.
Hale?”
look at the cage Mrs. Peter was holding up. “I’ve not been
here in so long.” She sighed. “There was a man round last
year selling canaries cheap–but I don’t know as she took
one. Maybe she did. She used to sing real pretty herself.”
laughed–an attempt to put up a barrier. “But she must have
had one–or why would she have a cage? I wonder what
happened to it.”
resuming her sewing.
people have about cats–being afraid of them. When they
brought her to our house yesterday, my cat got in the room,
and she was real upset and asked me to take it out.”
Hale turn round. Mrs. Peters was examining the bird-cage.
has been pulled apart.”
For a moment neither spoke nor stirred. Then Mrs. Hale,
turning away, said brusquely:
about it. I don’t like this place.”
Peters put the bird-cage on the table and sat down. “It
would be lonesome for me–sitting here alone.”
determined naturalness in her voice. She had picked up the
sewing, but now it dropped in her lap, and she murmured
in a different voice: “But I tell you what I do wish, Mrs.
Peters. I wish I had come over sometimes when she was
here. I wish–I had.”
house–and your children.”
away because it weren’t cheerful–and that’s why I ought to
have come. I”–she looked around–“I’ve never liked this
place. Maybe because it’s down in a hollow and you don’t
see the road. I don’t know 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–” She did not put
it into words.
Peters. “Somehow, we just don’t see how it is with other
folks till–something comes up.”
after a silence, “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?”
a good man.”
“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–.” She
stopped, shivered a little. “Like a raw wind that gets to the
bone.” Her eye fell upon the cage on the table before her,
and she added, almost bitterly: “I should think she
would’ve wanted a bird!”
“But what do you s’pose went wrong with it?”
and died.”
broken door. Both women watched it as if somehow held
by it.
her voice.
wife.
herself. Real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and–
fluttery. How–she–did–change.”
happy thought and relieved to get back to every-day
things, she exclaimed:
with you? It might take up her mind.”
sheriff’s wife, as if she too were glad to come into the
atmosphere of a simple kindness. “There couldn’t possibly
be any objection to that, could there? Now, just what will I
take? I wonder if her patches are in here–and her things.”
cloth. Underneath that was a box. “Here, maybe her
scissors are in here–and her things.” She held it up. “What
a pretty box! I’ll warrant that was something she had a long
time ago–when she was a girl.”
opened it.
faltered Mrs. Hale.
voice.
“Oh, Mrs. Peters!” she cried. “It’s–”
look at its neck! It’s all–other side to.”
slow and deep.
clung together in a look of dawning comprehension, of
growing horror. Mrs. Peters looked from the dead bird to
the broken door of the cage. Again their eyes met. And just
then there was a sound at the outside door.
basket, and sank into the chair before it. Mrs. Peters stood
holding to the table. The county attorney and the sheriff
came in from outside.
from serious things to little pleasantries, “have you decided
whether she was going to quilt it or knot it?”
“that she was going to–knot it.”
her voice on that last.
He caught sight of the bird-cage. “Has the bird flown?”
curiously even.
out.
you know; they leave.”
any one having come in from the outside,” he said to
Peters, in the manner of continuing an interrupted
conversation. “Their own rope. Now let’s go upstairs again
and go over it, piece by piece. It would have to have been
some one who knew just the–”
lost.
but as if peering into something and at the same time
holding back. When they spoke now it was as if they were
afraid of what they were saying, but as if they could not
help saying it.
“She was going to bury it in that pretty box.”
“my kitten–there was a boy took a hatchet, and before my
instant. “If they hadn’t held me back I would have”–she
caught herself, looked upstairs where footsteps were heard,
and finished weakly–“hurt him.”
if feeling her way over strange ground–“never to have had
any children around?” Her eyes made a slow sweep of the
kitchen, as if seeing what that kitchen had meant through
all the years. “No, Wright wouldn’t like the bird,” she said
after that–“a thing that sang. She used to sing. He killed
that too.” Her voice tightened.
Mrs. Hale,” said the sheriff’s wife. “Killing a man while he
slept–slipping a thing round his neck that choked the life
out of him.”
wildly. “We don’t know.”
years of–nothing, then a bird to sing to you, it would be
awful–still–after the bird was still.”
and it found in Mrs. Peters something she did not know as
herself.
monotonous voice. “When we homesteaded in Dakota, and
my first baby died–after he was two years old–and me
with no other then–”
the evidence?”
same way. Then she too pulled back. “The law has got to
punish crime, Mrs. Hale,” she said in her tight little way.
she wore a white dress with blue ribbons, and stood up
there in the choir and sang.”
to that girl for twenty years, and had let her die for lack of
life, was suddenly more than she could bear.
“That was a crime! That was a crime! Who’s going to
punish that?”
look toward the stairs.
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! If it weren’t–why do you and I
understand? Why do we know–what we know this
minute?”
of fruit on the table, she reached for it and choked out:
her it ain’t. Tell her it’s all right–all of it. Here–take this in
to prove it to her! She–she may never know whether it was
broke or not.”
glad to take it–as if touching a familiar thing, having
something to do, could keep her from something else. She
got up, looked about for something to wrap the fruit in,
took a petticoat from the pile of clothes she had brought
from the front room, and nervously started winding that
round the bottle.
the men couldn’t hear us! Getting all stirred up over a little
thing like a–dead canary.” She hurried over that. “As if
that could have anything to do with–with–My, wouldn’t
they laugh?”
wouldn’t.”
perfectly clear, except the 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
clumsy way of doing it.”
Peters was looking at her. Quickly they looked away from
each other. The outer door opened and Mr. Hale came in.
there.”
attorney suddenly announced. “You can send Frank out for
me, can’t you?” he asked the sheriff. “I want to go over
everything. I’m not satisfied we can’t do better.”
one another.
in?”
have picked out.”
box was concealed. She felt that she ought to take her hand
off the basket. She did not seem able to. He picked up one
of the quilt blocks which she had piled on to cover the box.
Her eyes felt like fire. She had a feeling that if he took up
the basket she would snatch it from him.
turned away, saying:
a sheriff’s wife is married to the law. Ever think of it that
way, Mrs. Peters?”
look up at her; but she could not see her face. Mrs. Peters
had turned away. When she spoke, her voice was muffled.
moved toward the door into the front room, and said to the
county attorney:
ought to take a look at these windows.”
farmer, who was still waiting by the door.
county attorney into the other room. Again–for one final
moment–the two women were alone in that kitchen.
that other woman, with whom it rested. At first she could
not see her eyes, for the sheriff’s wife had not turned back
since she turned away at that suggestion of being married
to the law. But now Mrs. Hale made her turn back. Her
turned her head until her eyes met the eyes of the other
woman. There was a moment when they held each other in
a steady, burning look in which there was no evasion nor
flinching. Then Martha Hale’s eyes pointed the way to the
basket in which was hidden the thing that would make
certain the conviction of the other woman–that woman
who was not there and yet who had been there with them
all through that hour.
it. With a rush forward, she threw back the quilt pieces, got
the box, tried to put it in her handbag. It was too big.
Desperately she opened it, started to take the bird out. But
there she broke–she could not touch the bird. She stood
there helpless, foolish.
Martha Hale snatched the box from the sheriff’s wife, and
got it in the pocket of her big coat just as the sheriff and
the county attorney came back into the kitchen.
least we found out that she was not going to quilt it. She
was going to–what is it you call it, ladies?”