COPYRIGHTED 1918 by THE NORTH WESTCHESTER PUBLISHING CO. All Rights Reserved SEP -4 1918 8^ 0?^ To them that dreamed of wings, and to them, that have achieved wings, these lines are humhly inscribed The Dream of Wings THE SPEAKERS JOHN BULL UNCLE SAM ICARUS LEONARDO da VINCI DARIUS GREEN WILBUR WRIGHT THE LOST LAFAYETTE FLYERS Victor Chapman Norman Prince Kniffin RockweU THE SPIRIT OF THE NORDIC RACE THE DREAM OF WINGS At the left of the stage {from the audience') is discovered the tradi- tional figure of John Bull against a shadowy outline of the Houses of Parliament To the right stands Uncle 8am. Behind him is the suggestion of the Washington Capitol. Between him and John Bull is an irregular patch of blue. Uncle Sam Morning, John. John Bull Morning, Sam. Uncle Sam How're things going? John Bull Oh, they're going — like the tail of a comet. Better ask when they'll stop. Uncle Sam Not when, John — where. John Bull Aye: where, {raises his waistcoat significantly) Uncle Sam {sympathetic) Rations short? John Bull {defiantly) Oh, I'm not at the last hole in my belt, yet. 3 Uncle Sam Never while I have a bushel of wheat or a piece of bacon. John Bnll Thankee Sam, that's good of you. {slight pause) You know, I haven't always played cricket with you. Uncle Sam Forget it, John. I guess there have been times when I rocked the boat. John Bull Your tars fight mine whenever they're in port together but if another lot of sailors or the natives mix in our fellows gei together to lick the skins off 'em. Uncle Sam Sure: The boys will always scrap: It's the way they amuse themselves. But it's better fun fighting another gang than each other. What's needed? (takes out note hook) John Bull We need quite a lot of stuff and — er — I'm a little short of cash just now — but my note is good. Uncle Sam Good as gold What first? John Bull {passionately) Everything. We're fighting slave labor and short trans- portation, with the work of free men and oversea carriage. Uncle Sam But we are freemen, so we must win — We can not lose. Rome fell because of slaves — {stops) John Bull {aivkwardly) That's past and forgotten. Uncle Sam (with deep emotion) It can never be forgotten. Lincoln struck the chains from my wrists, not the negro's, but the scar still burns for my sins, not against the black race, but my own. John Bull Our race, Sam. We have the faults of our qualities but we've got to keep the family together. Where we live is nothing. It's the blood that counts. Don't let outsiders say we're not related just because we've had a tiff or two. Uncle Sam {ichimsicaUy) Relations need a lot of room for their elbows. John Bull Well, we've got the room, haven't we? And we'd both bet- ter keep it for our great grand children and put up a sign: "No trespassing." Uncle Sam You've said it, John! Look at our boundary line — 3000 miles and not a fence post on it. Why? Because we under- stand each other, — as men and as kindred. This war has given us some jolts, — but by gosh, we needed 'em! And it's showed our breed true to form. John Bull You know people said we were in this war for profit — I mean the money there was in it. ( Uncle Sam nods) Vv^hat's your bill to date, Sam? Uncle Sam John Bull Mine is Uncle Sam {unth a long whistle) That's not money— It's an abstraction. John Bull I gave up thinking in terms of money long ago. Uncle Sam I'm getting there. There was never a doubt of what the old set thought, but some of the new hands started yelping their ideas — from the noise they made you'd think they owned the shop. I kicked out some, and warned the others. I guess there won't be any serious trouble at the works from out- siders after this. John, let's not go back to the money stan- dard: Getting things we don't need and worrying to look after them — let's travel light and enjoy ourselves. John Bull We'll have a new standard, Sam: A measure for the soul- stuff of our people. Uncle Sam We've always had it, John. We just forgot it for a spell making money. John Bull What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Uncle Sam Owning the world is a figure of speech, — like our war bills. What counts is the point of view, — and living up to it as well as we can, of course: Seeing the stars even with our feet in the mud and on our hands Let's get on with the list. What comes first? John Bnll Ships! Ships! Ships! Ships for the sea! Ships for under the sea! Ships for the air — we must command the sea and air. Uncle Sam Sure. 6 John Bnll I've got my ships standardized and my boys understand them and the water. My place isn't big enough for all the aeroplanes we need, — Can't you take the air for your sphere of influence, Sam? Uncle Sam Why not? The swiftest ships command the sea. When our long-ships and their oarsmen ruled the waves I dreamed of wings and the dream came true! My clippers were more sea-birds than ships, and my lads were proud to sail on them before the mast for the speed was in the way they handled the sails. But when the speed was an engine they wouldn't shovel coal. Well, I don't blame them! Their great-grandsons can take service again and drive my navy and merchant air fleets! You keep the water, John! I'll take the air. Together there's nothing we can't do! I dreamed of wings— and I made the dream come true. Icarus (floating down) I, too, dreamed of wings. Leonardo da Vinci {entering) And I. Darius Green I couldn't make my contraption work — but I dreamed of flying. Wilbur Wright The vision must come before the actual. Leonardo da Vinci They are same my friend. Uncle Sam We call a crank, visionary, if we feel like being kind. Leonardo da Vinci A visionary may be a crank — or a seer, according to his perception ; if he sees the truth or is beglamored by a fantasy. John Bnll How can you tell which from t'other? Leonardo da Vinci True vision is ultimate perception. No matter how im- probable it is always in the nature of things. That is the proof of its truth. But fantasy, however plausible, is without the sphere of things possible and leads to nothing. John Bull Do you mean to say that it's in the nature of things for a man to fly? Leonardo da Vinci Just as natural as that he should cross the sea. John Bull But he had a ship for that. Leonardo da Vinci {indicating others) We dreamed of a ship for the air. Wilbur Wright reached the actual through the chance of living when he did, but we saw as true as he; just as the man who first hollowed a log had the potential vision of your Dreadnaughts. Wilbur Wright That's so. Darius Green Did he know it? Leonardo da Vinci {smiling) Not consciously; but his idea was shared by all who saw his log, and as no concrete impression is forgotten, it pass- 8 ed gradually into human experience. You can trace the Dreadnaught's descent without a break from the hollowed log. John Bnll Aye — but where did that first man get his idea? Leonardo da Vinci (simply) The dream of moving without effort. Wilbur Wright It can't be done — not if you want to get anywhere. Leonardo da Vinci Of course not: But the fantastic imagining of the impos- sible inspired the vision of the possible. learns I used to watch the gulls swooping over the ^gean until it seemed that I was a gull myself. I could feel the air under my wings as I beat upwards and its rush past in the long glide down with my pinions outstretched and set. Darius Green Gosh! That's the way I used ter watch the hawks. Till I was dizzy. No— that aint it. .Till I felt sorta floaty— like milk- weed or dandelion fluff. Wilbur Wright I know — I watched the birds, Icarus One day I found a dead gull on the rocks by the sea. I studied the mechanism of its wings: My father was the cleverest designer and metal worker in Crete, and together we made the wings. Wilbur Wright I though they were stuck on with wax! Icarus {deeply scornful) With wax! If you had seen my father's workshop you would not repeat that foolishness. Wax! The wings were a marvel of craft and ingenuity, — you could have learned some- thing from their devices of control, Mr, Wright. Wilbur Wright What was your power? Icarus It was a one-youth power, — I used my arms for the motor and guided by strings fastened to my fingers. One still morning before sunrise, a great crowd gathered on the seashore below a sheer wall of rock — My father and I stood at the top.. he adjusted the wings..! sprang from the cliff, .and soared! Wilbur Wright that moment! The sense of completed life! John Bull But you fell. Icarus {indifferent) O yes, I fell. Something went wrong — I saw the sea rising towards me — I saw the white upturned faces of the crowd — I saw the clouds turn from pink to gold — (to Wilbur Wright). Like you, I had my moment of life complete. Wilbur Wright Did no one take up the invention? Icarus After that object lesson? Hardly! They saw the crash — how could they know the moment was worth it? A poet, indeed, did sing of the aspiration of the human soul that can transcend the limitations of its flesh, but a priest replied that the gods had struck me down for presuming to 10 be as they. The poet was right and the priest was wrong, but his story stuck and was told and retold until it was believed and the moral of my fall has been misread as that of Lucifer. The pioneers are always broken, — I suppose that man who first hollowed a log was drowned, — what of it! (with exalta- tion). Oh yes, I fell — but I flew! Darius Green (to Icarus, with shy admiration) I read that yarn about you in school, but I knew it wasn't true. It ain't presumption to try to do the thing you conld do if you knowed how. You get things all straight in your mind and then, somehow, you can't work them out. I made my machine up in the hay mow, with just the Junk I could get, and I couldn't try it no how with the fellers around to laugh at me. They was going over to town for the Fourth of July, and I said I stay home 'count of a toothache. When they was gone I drug the machine up on the barn roof where I'd made a little platform. Then I got in, buckled the straps and started to turn the crank Wilbur Wright (excited) You flew! Darius Green Waal, no.. I didn't. The old machine Jest went off the platform with a bump, and slid down the roof like a bob sled — we landed ker-plunk, — on the manure pile. Wilbur Wright (with sympathy) That's what happens at flrst. Darius Green The first was the last for me. The boys guessed I was up to sumpin' and they came back to ketch me at it. They seen me go off the roof — gosh! How they laughed — I knowed I couldn't explain — I never tried it no more. I dreamed all right, but I guess I didn't have the brains. 11 {To Icarus). A feller wrote poetry about me, too. He made out I was a blame fool not to stick to my chores. WUbur Wright Too bad! Luck isn't one thing. It's a lot of things happen- ing right. Leonardo da Tinci The greatest single constituent of your luck, Sir, was to be born at the right time. You had an ingenious mind, you had affectionate and intelligent assistance in your work, and yours was the day of oil driven engines. That was your luck. Wilbur Wright {impressed) I never thought of that before! Leonardo da Vinci I knew I needed such an engine when I planned my flying machine . . I was experimenting with fuels — Whenever I was on the track of an idea full of possibilities of enduring bene- fit for humanity some prince would summon me to model an equestrian statue or paint the portrait of his mistress! Darius Green {with a sigh) Just like I had to hoe potatoes or milk the cows. Leonardo da Vinci What were my tricks of design and color compared to my thoughts ! Wilbur Wright I've often wondered why the authorities let your ideas get by. Men were imprisoned or burned in your day for less originality than yours. Leonardo da Vinci The authorities never troubled me for I never tried to re- form my contemporaries. Why should I expect them to think as I did, when I knew I could not think as they? Men can com- 12 municate their emotions, not their thoughts. I saw the people suffer but how could I help them? Had they been able to understand their situation they would not have been oppress- ed. They were the herd because they lacked the brains to be anything else. Uncle Sam [pro^idly) Democracy did not cut much ice in those days. Leonardo da Vinci You mean that it does now? No, my friend: The herd is still the herd. It brays louder, but it is still driven by brains as it always has been. Uncle Sam Did you use your brains to come it over other people? Leonardo da Vinci No: But that was because I valued knowledge rather than wealth. Had I desired possessions, doubtless I should have used my understanding to exploit the less Intelligent since that is the quickest and easiest way to wealth. Wilbur Wright Experiments take an awful lot of cash. I suppose you had to paint pictures on the side to get it. Leonardo da Vinci I did not paint much. In a practical sense, my life was a failure: With splendid possibilities there is nothing to show but a mass of tentative observations and a few faded pictures. Wilbur Wright But you were all kinds of a success as a human being, weren't you? 13 Leonardo da Vinci {impartial) Yes and no. I had great honor showed me but I was very lonely. Princes of the state and church treated me with deference, as the ruler of a realm greater than theirs; And so Indeed I was, for such is the Kingdom of the Mind. But I would gladly have been less eminent and more beloved, — less admirable and less aloof. DarinS Green {with inarticulate heartfelt admiration) Gosh! John Bull {ruffling) That's the trouble with all you demigod fellows! You breathe aether but most of us live on air, and bad air at that. Uncle Sam {whimsical) And hot. Wilbur Wright I suppose you didn't believe in anything — I mean religion. Leonardo da Tinci I believed in myself — It is a creed that takes great faith. Uncle Sam It does so. Leonardo da Vinci Men seek power but they shirk responsibility. There is no nostrum too absurd for their credulity yet they are loth to be- lieve in themselves — to believe in that miracle of human po- tentiality which we call a soul. You are right about the demigods, John Bull: I saw the verities, indeed, but I could not make my fellows see them That is why I was a failure as a human being. 14 Darius Green I guess just being what you was, is mor'n doin' a heap a things. Leonardo da Vinci No, lad. The greatness of man is measured by his service to men. It was not an Olympian, but the earthborn Prame- theus that gave men fire. learns And to be chained on a mountain top and tortured was his reward! The jealousy of the Gods! Leonardo da Vinci What would you? Men made the Gods in their own image. Prometheus was not chained to a mountain, but to his lower self: The vulture that tore his vitals was self-knowledge— his release came with wisdom. (To John Bnll and Uncle Sam). Remember that, you two, whose hearts are torn as Prometheus' never was. John Bnll (between a groan and a prayer) God help us! Uncle Sam (passionately dashing his hat on the ground) . Damit! What's the good of talking like that! John and I are sweating blood to find something that works. We're in a hell of a hole: How are we going to get out? Answer that if you can. Leonardo da Vinci Do you know what you really want? Uncle Sam My God! I want a man. 15 John Bull Hear! Hear! Leonardo da Vinci You mean a leader with wisdom, courage and integrity? Uncle Sam and John Bull {together) Yes. Leonardo da Vinci But at the same time he must give no offense to rival poli- tical factions: He must not too greatly disturb the course of daily life; above all he must not be too exacting in demanding accounts of public moneys disbursed? Uncle Sam {diffidently after a slight pause) There's no sense hoping for too much. Leonardo Di Vinci There is much sense in recognizing the substance of your hopes, {to John Vyv>Y\ and liicle Sam), You Augio Saxons have never failed to produce a man to meet your emergencies; and you have never failed to hinder him, letting a pack of curs snarl at him, striving to show themselves less mean by mak- ing him appear less great. John Bull {ttoitting Uncle Sarii ) That's democratic. He says the world must be made safe for democracy. Uncle Sam {hastily) Forget it. I only meant making the country safe for Demo- crats. Icarus Demos can neither lead nor construct, he can only talk. I lived long enough to learn that. 16 Darius Green After the Selectmen have done arguin' there's always one man runs the Town Meetin'. John Bull How can we find our man? Leonardo da Tinci I do not know, .with your system. John Bull How were you discovered? Leonardo da Vinci I was known to be the master of my profession. John Bull But your line was art and scientific speculation. That's no use for the job we're on. Leonardo da Vinci My line, as you call it, was Beauty and Truth. But I saw them alone. My world was torn by brawling princes. What have Beauty and Truth to do with the bestial madness of war? Uncle Sam Were you too proud to fight? Leonardo da Vinci I was too intelligent. Uncle Sam Couldn't you pass on the idea? Leonardo da Vinci Alas, that is the tragedy of the seers the antique world call- ed demigods. They show men a vision beyond men's under- standing. They teach the beauty of brotherly love and the truth of justice, but men can not be just because they are greedy and they can not love one another because the injus- tice begotten of greed, breeds hate. 17 John Bull {sadly) "Won't anything" teach 'em good sense. Leonardo da Vinci No, because man is a predatory animal and must follow the law of his being. To prove to him that honest work is a hundred times more profitable than successful war, is to waste your breath and weary him, since he finds more pleas- ure and excitement in strife and its destruction, than in cre- ation and its toil. John Bull If that's the way we're made what's to be done? Leonardo da Vinci Until you can evolve a race of sages and artists who are willing to be hewers of wood and drawers of water, you had better play the game of war and play it better than anyone else. Uncle Sam Now you're talking! More ships! John Bull Bigger guns! Improved ammunitions! Leonardo da Vinci {sadly) And more targets for it. Darius Green One winter we fellers usta fight the Indian Hill gang fer a snow fort every afternoon till chore-time. There didn't seem no way to get the Hill boys out till Jim Perkins he dipped our snow balls in water and let 'em freeze. Gee but they cleared out of the fort when we began firin' them ice-chunks. We held the fort till the Hills boys got to freezing gravel with their balls. Bob Williams he lost an eye and all the rest of us was scratched up or had our teeth broke. We called a truce to de- 18 cide on us all goin' back to snowballs, an' we said we would but we didn't. I dunno where we'd have stopped but for a thaw comin' on. Leonardo da Vinci I had ideas for battle engines, but I would not develop them. Wilbur Wright Orville and I meant our 'planes to be useful. Uncle Sam And aren't they useful? Do you think aviation would be what it is to-day but for it's necessity in this war? First the sport of the thing, then the need of it, then the business of it! . . . .That's right isn't it, John? With ships, learning to read, motors, religion, flying machines {The Lost Flyers of the Lafayette Squadron appear: a group of slim youths with wide apart eyes and worn, eager faces. The sky above them is dotted with flying craft. ) One of the Flyers: (Kniffin RockweU) That's where we come in. Uncle Sam My eaglets! Another Flyer: (Victor Chapman) Right, Uncle Sam! And we hope you have some new broods coming off. We need 'em. Icarus {to Darius Oreen, pointing to the Squadron's machines) Our dream of wings! Leonardo da Vinci And mine! 19 Wilbui- Wright And mine. First Flyer: (Norman Prince) There may be some one that can see the whole of this war business, — we saw only our bit, but we saw it clear: If the Anglo-Saxons don't run the world the Germans will. John Bull You hear that, Sam! Uncle Sam Do you, John? {After a moment's hesitation from each, both simultaneously put out their hands that meet in a long clasp.) John Bnll I have my crosses — but they mean union. Uncle Sam And I my stripes — but the stars go with them. John Bnll We will set our heroes of the air among them — constella- tions that will glow forever. First Flyer: (Norman Prince) Ours is the best trick in the game, but we need machines, we need flyers, and more machines, and more flyers — and then some. Uncle Sam You shall have 'em boys! Everything you need if it takes my last cent. What's money, anyhow! It's only fit to spend. Second Flyer: (Victor Chapman) We don't want your money. Uncle Sam. You don't suppose we do this for 30 per and all found, do you? Uncle Sam You make me ashamed, boys. 20 First Flyer: (Norman Prince) We're not expensive, but our equipment is, and we need a lot. John Bnll (grumbling) Money's nothing. What you can't get is the brains and the labor: Wages paid by the minute! Leonardo da Vinci Are they paid in nothing but money? Jolin Bnll How else should they be paid? Leonardo da Yinci You are asking labor to put its soul into the work of its hands. The things of the spirit must be paid with the spirit. Second Flyer: (Victor Chapman) That's what I meant about not doing this for 30 per. Uncle Sam gave us the chance of our lives and we gave our lives for the chance, {laughs joyously) Most of us didn't fit our places on earth — how could we? We were made for this. We were civilian duffers, but in the air we had a God's eye view of life. Leonardo da Vine! Dear lads, of what account is sterile knowledge and lonely wisdom compared to your bright death and glorious service. {He uncovers and hoics to them with reverence as do the others.) {The Spirit of the Nordic Race appears, A tall, slen- der, fair haired figure, v;earing a Viking helmet with towering wings and a dark blue cloak upon which are constellations of golden stars.) 21 Spirit of the Nordic Race Well-spoken! Ye men of other days and lands far apart, we be of one blood! Service! That is the watchword of our race. We laugh at life and we laugh at death, not in mockery but for the joy of living. Life is a game and we play it fair. Service and fair play, and scorn of tyranny and foul means. Liberty is not in government, nor freedom in words, but in the spirit. Democracy is only possible for a race whose men are kings of their own souls. Service and fair-play! But beware of them that betray the service and cheat at the game. Deeds, not words, Anglo- Saxons! Keep our blood pure and our lives clean and guard our heritage for our children's children. Give to the oppressed peoples their chance for happiness but in their own way and in their own place. Ours are the seas and the skies and the wide places of the earth. Hold fast to the things of the spirit, yet never forget they speak through the flesh. Cast not pearls before swine for the swine must be nourished and pearls will not do it. Enjoy to the utmost of our understanding — our work, our pleasures, our fellows. Service and fair play — but prove the stranger before we admit him to our game. Ye who have dreamed of wings are the symbol of our race: The actuality of wings will be the supremacy of our race! Wings! The very romance of adventure. There had been nothing like it since our kin went forth on daring quests in the golden days of Hellas! And our Paladins! And our Knights Errant! Our destiny is greater than these. See to it that the rising sun turns the flight of our airmen to a fiery cloud guiding our hosts toward the East. So does our stream return to its source. 22 ( To John Bull and Uticlo Sam ) Get together. Our destiny is one. Be true to the best in ourselves: to the mystery of wisdom, dignity, and noble common-sense. The tabernacle of God is among men. Divinity is made manifest through flesh and humanity touches the divine. Ser- vice and fair-play: That is the glory of our race. Wings! Anyone can use them now — but the dream was ours! Pegasus, the Victory of Samothrace, — {to Uncle Sam) your eagle — all symbols of our passion for individual liberty, that serves the law of its freedom, justice and self-control! That ideal is the gift of our race to the world! 23 ■iiiililL 015 909 048 6 ^