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 Ibsen 
 
 The Pillars of Society
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 Kenneth MacKenna 
 
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 T — 
 
 Ibsen's Plays 
 
 THE 
 
 Pillars of Society 
 
 A Play in Four Acts 
 
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 Pillars of Society 
 
 A FLAY IN FOUR ACTS 
 
 By HE:N^EIK IBSEN 
 
 TRAX.SLATKD BV 
 
 WILLIAM ARCHER 
 
 Copyright, 1890, by Joiix W. Lovkll Co. 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 WALTER H. BAKER & CO.
 
 «l«?trito8k»«4^* 
 
 CHABACTERS. 
 
 Consul Bernick. 
 Mrs. Bernick, his wife. 
 Olaf, tfieir son, a boy of thirteen. 
 Miss Bernick (Martha), t?ie 
 
 ConnuVn sister. 
 JOHAN TiJNNESEN, Mts. Be^'iiicWs 
 
 younger brother. 
 Miss Hessel, her elder step-sister 
 
 (LONA). 
 
 HilmarTonnesen, Mrs.Bernick^s 
 
 cousin. 
 Rector Rorlund.* 
 
 RUMMEL, ) 
 
 ViGELAND, V Merchants. 
 
 Sandstad, ) 
 
 DiNA DoRF, a young girl 
 
 the ConsuVs house. 
 Krap, the Co7isul''s clerk. 
 Shipbdilder Adne, 
 Mrs. Rommel. 
 Mrs. Postmaster Holt, 
 Mrs. Doctor Lynge. 
 Miss Rummel. 
 Miss Holt. 
 
 Toionspeople and others, foreign sailors, steamboat passengers, etc. 
 
 The action takes place in Consul BernicKs house, in a small Norwegian 
 
 coast-town. 
 
 * In the original, ' ' Adjunkt " or Assistant-master. The word "Rec- 
 tor" is used in the Scotch sense of a schoolmaster, not in the English 
 5ense of a clergyman. 
 
 [Translator's Note. — The title of the original is ''Samfundeta 
 Stotter," literally ''Society's Pillars." In the text the word "Sam- 
 fund" has sometimes been translated "society," sometimes '' commu- 
 nity." The noun " Stotte," a pUlar, has for its correlative the verb " ac 
 stotte, " to support ; so that the English phrase, "to support society," 
 represents the Norwegian "at stotte Samfundet." The reader may 
 bear in mind, then, that this phrase is, in the original, a direct allusioo 
 to the title of the play.]
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY: 
 
 A PLAY IN FOUR ACTS. 
 
 ACT 1. 
 
 [A large garden-room in Consul Bernick's house. In 
 front, to the left, a door leads into the ConsuVs 
 office ; farther back, in the same wall, a sim,ilar 
 door. In the middle of the opposite icall is a large 
 entrance door. The wall in the background is 
 almost entirely composed of plate-glass, with an 
 open door-way leading to a broad flight of stejos, 
 over which a sun-shade is let down. Beyond the 
 steps a part of the garden can be seen, shut in by a 
 trellisfence xoith a little gate. On the other side of 
 the fence is a street consisting of small, brighMy- 
 painted wooden houses. It is summer and the sun 
 shines warmly. N'ow and then people pass along 
 the street : they stop and speak to each other : cus- 
 tomers come and go at the little corner sho}^, and so 
 forth. 
 
 In the garden-room a number of ladies are gath- 
 ered round a table. At the head of the table sits 
 Mrs. Bernick. On her left sit Mrs. Holt and her 
 daughter ; next to them, Mrs. and Miss Rummel. 
 
 1014234
 
 4 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 On Mrs. Bernick's Hght sit Mrs. Ltnge, Miss Ber- 
 NicK (Martha), and Dina Dorf. All the ladies are 
 busy sewing. On the table lie large /leaps of half- 
 Jinished and cut-out linen, and other articles of 
 clothing. Farther back, at a little table on which are 
 two floxcer-pots and a glass of eau sucre, sits Rec- 
 tor Rorlund, reading from a hook with gilt edges, a 
 toord here and there being heard by the audience. 
 Out in the garden Olaf Bernick is running about, 
 shooting at marks with a cross-bow. 
 
 Presently Shipbuilder Aune enters quietly by the 
 door on the right. The reading is stopped for a 
 moment ; Mrs. Bernick nods to him and points to 
 the left-hand door. Aune goes quietly to the Con- 
 sul's door and knocks o?ice or twice, softly. Krap, 
 the ConsuPs clerk, opens the door and comes out 
 with his hat in his hand and papers under his arm.'] 
 
 Xrap. Oh, it's you that were knocking ! 
 
 Aune. The Consul sent for me. 
 
 ICrap. Yes ; but he can't see you just now ; he has 
 commissioned me 
 
 Aune. You ? I would much rather 
 
 Krap. Commissioned me to tell you this : You must 
 stop these Saturday lectures to the workmen. 
 
 Aune. Indeed? I thought I might use my leisure 
 time 
 
 Krap. You must not use your leisure time to make 
 the men useless in work-time. Last Saturday j'ou must 
 needs talk of the harm our new machines and new 
 method of work will cause to the workmen. Why do 
 you do so?
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 5 
 
 AuNE. I do it to support society. 
 
 Krap. That's a strange idea ! The Consul says it's 
 undermining society. 
 
 AuNE. My "society" is not the Consul's "society," 
 Mr. Krap ! As foreman of the Industrial Society, I have 
 to 
 
 Krap. Your first duty is as foreman of Consul Ber- 
 nick's shipyard. Your first duty is to the society called 
 Bernick & Co., for by it we all live. — Well, now you 
 know what the Consul had to say to you. 
 
 AuNE. The Consul would have said it differently, IVIr. 
 Krap ! But I know well enough what I have to thank 
 for this. It's that cursed American that's put in for re- 
 pairs. These people think work can be done here as 
 they do it over there, and that 
 
 Krap. Yes, yes — I have no time to go into generalities. 
 You now know the Consul's wishes, and that's enough. 
 Now you'd better go down to the yard again ; you're 
 sure to be wanted ; I shall be down myself presently. — 
 I beg your pardon, ladies ! {lie hows, and goea out 
 through the garden and down the street. Aune goes 
 quietly out to the right. Rector Rorltjnd, who during 
 the whole of the foregoing conversatio?i has continued 
 reading, prese^itly closes the book toith a bang.) 
 
 RoRLUND. There, my dear ladies, that is the end. 
 
 Mrs. RuivrMEL. Oh, what an instructive tale ! 
 
 Mrs. Holt. And so moral ! 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Such a book really gives one a great 
 deal to think over. 
 
 RoRLiTND. Yes — it forms a refreshing contrast to what 
 we unhappily see every day, both in newspapers and 
 magazines. The gilded and rouged outside, flaunted by 
 9
 
 6 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 the great communities — what does it really conoeal? 
 Hollowness and rottenness, if I may say so. They have 
 no moral foundation under their feet. In one one word 
 — they are whited sepulchres, these great communities, 
 nowadays. 
 
 Mrs. Holt. Too true ! too true ! 
 
 Mrs. Eummel. We have only to look at the crew of the 
 American ship which is lying here just now. 
 
 RouLUND. Oh, I won't speak of such scum of human- 
 ity. But even in the higher classes — how do matters 
 stand there? Doubt and fermenting restlessness on 
 every side ; the mind unsettled, and insecurity in all re- 
 lations of life. See how the family is undermined over 
 there ! — how a brazen spirit of destruction is attacking 
 the most vital truths ! 
 
 Dij^A [without looking up). But are not many great 
 things done there too? 
 
 RoRLUND. Great things? — I don't understand. 
 
 Mrs. Holt (astonished). Good heavens, Dina ! 
 
 Mrs. Rummel (at the same time). Oh, Dina, how can 
 you? 
 
 RoKLUND. I don't think it would be for our good if 
 such "great things " became common among us. No 
 — we at home here ought to thank God that things are 
 as they are with us. Of course a tare now and then 
 springs up among the wheat, alas ! but we honestly do 
 our best to weed it out. What we have to do, ladies, is 
 to keep society pure — to exclude from it all the untried 
 elements which an impatient age would force upon us. 
 
 Mrs. Holt. And of these there are more than enough, 
 unhappily. 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. Yes, last year we only escaped by a
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 7 
 
 hair's-breadtb having a railroad carried through the 
 town. 
 
 Mrs. Beenick. Oh, Karsten managed to block the way. 
 
 RoRLUND. Providentially, Mrs. Bernick ! You may be 
 sure that your husband was a tool in a higher hand when 
 he refused to support that scheme. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. And yet the papers said such horrid 
 things about him ! But we are quite forgetting to thank 
 you, my dear Rector. It is reall}' more than kind of you 
 to sacrifice so much of your time to us. 
 
 RoRLUND. Oh, not at all ; now, in the holidays 
 
 IVIrs. Bernick. Yes, yes, but it is a sacrifice neverthe- 
 less. 
 
 RoRLUND {draioing his chair nearer). Don't speak of it, 
 my dear lady. Do not all of you make sacrifices for a 
 good cause ? And do you not make them willingly and 
 gladl}' ? The Lapsed and Lost, for whom we are work- 
 ing, are like wounded soldiers on a battle-field ; you, 
 ladies, are the Red Cross Guild, the sisters of mercy, 
 who pick lint for these unhappy sufferers, tie the band- 
 ages gently round the wounds, dress, and heal them 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. It mast be a blessing to be able to see 
 eveiything in such a beautiful light. 
 
 RoRLUND. The gift is largely inborn ; but it can also 
 be acquired. The great point is to see things in the 
 light of an earnest mission. What do you say. Miss 
 Bernick ? Do you not find that you have, as it were, 
 firmer ground under your feet since you have given up 
 your life to your school-work ? 
 
 Martha. I scarcely know wliat to say. Often when I 
 am in the school-room I wish I were far out upon the 
 stormy sea.
 
 8 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 RoRLUND. Yes, yes, that is temptation, my dear Miss 
 Beriiick. You must bar the door against such an un- 
 quiet guest. The stormy sea — of course you do not 
 mean that literally ; you mean the great billowing 
 world, where so many are wrecked. And do you really 
 think so much of the life you hear rushing and roaring 
 outside? Just look out into the street. There people 
 go about in the burning sunshine, toiling and moiling 
 over their paltry affairs. Ours, surely, is the better 
 part, as we sit in the cool shadow, and turn our backs 
 towai'd the quarter from which distraction comes. 
 
 Maktha. Yes, I suppose you are quite right 
 
 RoRLUND. And in a house like this — in a good and 
 pure home, where the Family is seen in its fairest shape — 
 
 where peace and unity reign {To Mrs. Bernick.) 
 
 What are you listening to, Mrs. Bernick ? 
 
 Mrs. Bernick {%oho has turned toward the door of the 
 ConsuVs room). How loud they are speaking in there ! 
 
 RoRLXJND. Is there anything particular going on ? 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. I don't know. I can hear there is some 
 one with my husband. 
 
 Htt.mar Tonnesen, with a cigar in his mouth, comes in by 
 the door to the right, but stops on seeing so many 
 ladies. 
 
 HiLMAR. Oh, I beg pardon [Turning to go.) 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Come in, Hilmar, come in ; you are 
 
 not disturbing us. Do you want anything ? 
 
 Hilmar. No, I only looked in in passing. Good 
 
 morning, ladies. (Tb Mrs. Bernick.) Well, what's going 
 
 to come of it ?
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 9 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Of what ? 
 
 HiLMAK. You know Bernick has called a cabinet 
 council. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Indeed ! "What is it about? 
 
 HiLMAR. Oh, it's this railway nonsense again. 
 
 Mrs. Kummel. No ! Is it possible ? 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Poor Karsten, is he to have aU tha<-. 
 worry again 
 
 RoRLUND. Why, what can be the meaning of this, Mr, 
 Tonnesen ? Consul Bernick made it plainly under- 
 stood last year that he would have no railway here, 
 
 HiLMAR. Yes, I thought so too ; but I met Krap just 
 now, and he told me that the railway question was to the 
 fore again, and that Bernick was holding a conference 
 with three of our capitalists. 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. I was sure I heard Rummel's voice. 
 
 HiLMAR. Yes, Mr. Rummel is there, of course, and 
 Sandstad and Michael Vigeland — "Holy Michael," as 
 they call him. 
 ■ RORLUND. H'm 
 
 HiLMAR. I beg your pardon. Rector. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Just when everything was so nice and 
 quiet too ! 
 
 HiLMAR. Well I, for my part, have no objection to 
 their beginning their bickerings again. It's a variety at 
 least. 
 
 RoRLUND. I think we could get on without that sort 
 of variety. 
 
 HiLMAR. It depends upon one's constitution. Some 
 natures ci-ave for a Titanic struggle now and then. But 
 provincial life, worse luck, offers little in that way, and 
 it is not evei'y one that can {^Turning over the leaves
 
 10 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 o/'Eohlund's hook.) Woman as the Servant of Society— ^ 
 what sort of rubbish is this ? 
 
 Mrs. Bebnick. Oh, Hihuar ; you mustn't say that 
 You have surely not read the book. 
 
 HiLivLVR. No, and I don't intend to. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. You don't seem well to-day. 
 
 HiLM.\R. No, I am not. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Perhaps you didn't sleep well last night. 
 
 HiLMAR. No ; I slept very badly. I took a walk last 
 evening for the sake of my health. Then I went to the 
 club, and read an account of a polar expedition. There 
 is something invigorating in following men in their 
 struggle with the elements. 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. But it does not seem to have agreed 
 with you, Mr. Tonnesen ? 
 
 HiLMAR. No, it didn't agi'ee with me at all. I lay 
 tossing all night half-asleep, and dreamt I was chased' 
 by a horrible walrus. 
 
 Olaf (comes up the garden steps). Have you been 
 chased by a walrus, Uncle ? 
 
 HiLMAR. I dreamt it, little stupid ! But do you still 
 go playing with that ridiculous bow? Why don't you 
 get hold of a proper gun ? 
 
 Olai)\ I should like to very much, but 
 
 HiLMAR. There would be some sense in a gun ; it 
 braces the nerves. 
 
 Olaf. And then I could shoot bears. Uncle — but father 
 won't give me leave. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. You really mustn't put such ideas 
 into his head, Hilmar. 
 
 HiLMAR. H'm — that's the rising generation nowadays ! 
 Goodness knows there's plenty of talk about pluck and
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 11 
 
 daring, but, it all ends in play after all ; no one has any 
 faith in the discipline that lies in looking danger man- 
 fully in the face. Don't stand and point at me with 
 your bow, stupid ; it might go off. 
 
 Olaf. No, Uncle, there's no bolt in it. 
 
 HiLMAR. How do you know ? There may very likely 
 be a bolt in it. Take it away, I tell you. I'd like to 
 know why you've never gone over to Amei'ica in one of 
 your father's ships? There you could see a buffalo-hunt 
 or a fight with the red-skins. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. But Hilmar 
 
 Olaf. I should like to, vei*y much. Uncle ; and then, 
 perhaps, I might meet Uncle Johan and Aunt Lona. 
 
 Hilmar. H'm — don't talk nonsense. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Now you can go down the garden 
 again, Olaf. 
 
 Olaf. May I go out into the street too, mother ? 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Yes, but take care not to go too far. 
 (Olaf runs out through the garden gate.) 
 
 RoRLUND. You should not put such notions into the 
 child's head, Mr. Tonnesen. 
 
 Hilj\l\r. No, of course, he's to be a mere stick-iu-the 
 mud, like so many others. 
 
 EoRLUND. But why don't you go over yourself ? 
 
 Hilmar. I ? With my health ? Of course no one here 
 makes any allowance for that. But besides — one has 
 certain duties toward the society one belongs to. There 
 must be one person to hold high the banner of the ideal. 
 Ugh, there he's shouting again ! 
 
 The Ladies. "Who's shouting? 
 
 Hilmar. Oh, I don't know. They're rather loud-voiced 
 in there, and it makes me so nervous.
 
 1 2 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. It is probably my husband, Mr. Tonne- 
 aeii ; but you must remember be is so accustomed to 
 speak to great assemblies. 
 
 EoRLUND. The others are not whispering either, it 
 seems to me. 
 
 HiLMAK. No, sure enough, when it's a question of the 
 
 pocket, then ; everything here ends in paltry material 
 
 calculations. Ugh ! 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. At least that is better than formerly, 
 when everything ended in dissipation. 
 
 IVIrs. Lynge. Used things really to be so bad here ? 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. They were indeed, Mrs. Lynge. You 
 may think jourself lucky that you didn't live here then. 
 
 Mrs. Holt. Yes, there has certainly been a great change ! 
 When I think of the time when I was a girl 
 
 Mrs. Rummel, Oh, only think of fourteen or fifteen 
 years ago — Heaven help us, what a life it was ! There 
 was both a dancing club and a music club 
 
 Martha. And a dramatic club — I remember it so well. 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. Yes, if/ was there your play was acted, 
 Mr. Tonnesen. 
 
 Hilmar {in the background). What, what ? 
 
 Rorlund. Mr. Tonnesen's play ? 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. Yes ; that was long before you came 
 here, Rector. Besides, it only ran one night. 
 
 Mrs. Lynge. Was it not in that play that you told me 
 you played the heroine, Mrs. Rummel? 
 
 Mrs. Rummel [glancing at the Rector). I? I really don't 
 remember, Mrs. Lynge. But I remember too well all 
 the noisy gaiety that went on among families. 
 
 Mrs. Holt. Yes, I actually know houses where two 
 great dinner parties were given in one week.
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 13" 
 
 Mrs. Lynge. Aud then there was a company of stroll- 
 ing actors, I have heard. 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. Yes, that was the worst of all 
 
 IVIrs. Holt [uneasily). H'lu, h'm 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. Oh, actors did you say ? No, I remem- 
 ber nothing about them. 
 
 IVIrs. Lynge. Why, I was told that these people played 
 such a lot of pranks. What was the truth of the matter? 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. Oh, it was nothing at all, Mrs. Lynge. 
 
 Mrs. Holt. Dina, dear, hand me that piece of linen, 
 please. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick (at the same time). Dina, my love, go out 
 and ask Katrina to bring in the coffee. 
 
 Martha. I'll go with you, Dina. (Dina and Martha 
 go out by the farthest back-door on the left.) 
 
 Mrs. Bernick (rising). And you must excuse me for a 
 moment, ladies ; I think we had better take our cofiee 
 outside. (She goes down the garden-steps and begins ar- 
 ranging a table ; Rorland stands in the doorway talking to 
 her. HiLMAR sits outside smoking.) 
 
 Mrs. Rummel (softly). Oh, dear, Mrs. Lynge, how you 
 frightened me. 
 
 Mrs. Lynge. I? 
 
 Mrs. Holt. Yes ; but you yourself began it, Mrs. 
 Rummel. 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. I? Oh, how can you say so, Mi-s. Holt? 
 Not a single word came from me. 
 
 Mrs. Lynge. But what is it all about. 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. How could you begin to talk about 1 
 
 Only think — did you not see that Dina was in the room r 
 
 Mrs. Lynge. Why, bless me ! is there anything the 
 matter with ?
 
 14 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 Mws. Holt. Here, in this house, too! Do you not 
 know, then, that it was Mrs. Bernick's brother ? 
 
 Mkh. Lraoii. What about him ? I know nothing what- 
 ever about it, I've only just come 
 
 Mrs, Rummel. Then you haven't heard that ? H'm 
 
 [To her daughter.) You can go down the garden 
 
 for a little, Hilda. 
 
 Mrs. Holt. You go too, Netta. And be sure you be- 
 have very kindly to poor Dina when she comes. (Miss 
 Rummel and Miss Holt go out into the garden.) 
 
 Mrs. Lynge. Well, what about Mrs. Bernick's brother? 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. Don't you know he was the hero of the 
 scandal ? 
 
 Mrs. Lynge. Mr. Hilmar the hero of a scandal ! 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. Good heavens, no ! Hilmar is her 
 cousin, Mrs. Lynge. I am talking of her brother 
 
 Mrs. Holt. The Prodigal Tonnesen 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. Johau was his name. He ran away to 
 America. 
 
 Mrs. Holt, Had to run away, you understand. 
 
 Mrs. Lynge. Then the scandal was about him ? 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. Yes, it was a sort of — what shall I call 
 it ? — a sort of — with Dina's mother. Oh, I remember it 
 as if it were yesterday. Johan Tonnesen was in old Mrs. 
 Bernick's office : Karsten Bernick had just come home 
 from Paris — he wasn't engaged yet 
 
 Mrs, Lynge. Yes, but the scandal ? 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. Well, you see, that winter Moller's 
 comedy company was in the town. 
 
 Mrs. Holt. And in the company was Dorf, the actor, 
 and his wife. All the young men were mad about her. 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. Yes — Heaven knows how they could
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 15 
 
 think lier pretty. But one evening Dorf came home 
 very late 
 
 Mrs. Holt. And quite unexpectedly. 
 
 Mrs. E.UMMEL. And there he found — no, really I'm 
 ashamed to tell you. 
 
 Mrs. Holt. Why, you know, Mrs, Rummel, he found 
 nothing, for the door was locked on the inside. 
 
 Mrs. Kummel. Yes, that's what I say — he found the 
 door locked. And only think ! the person that was inside 
 had to jump out at the window. 
 
 Mrs. Holt. Right from the attic window. 
 
 Mrs. Lynge. And it was Mrs. Bernick's brother ? 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. Of course it was. 
 
 Mrs. Lynge. And that was why he ran off to America? 
 
 Mrs. Holt. He had to run, you may be sure. 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. For afterward something else was 
 found out, that was almost as bad. Only think, he had 
 been playing tricks with the cash-box 
 
 Mrs. Holt. But, after all, no one knows exactly about 
 that, Mrs. Rummel ; perhaps it was a false report. 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. "Well, I really must say ! Was it 
 
 not known over the whole town ? For that matter, wasn't 
 old Mrs. Bernick almost bankrupt ? Rummel himself 
 has told me that. But Heaven forbid / should say any- 
 thing. 
 
 Mrs. Holt. Well, the money didn't go to Madam 
 Dorf at any rate, for she 
 
 Mrs. Lynge. "Yes, what became of Dina's parents 
 afterward ? 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. Oh, Dorf deserted both his wife and 
 ' his child. But Madam was impudent enough to re- 
 main here a whole year. She did not dare to show her-
 
 10 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY, 
 
 Kolf in the theatre again ; but she made her living by 
 Avasliing and sewing 
 
 Mus. Holt. And she tried to set up a dancing-school. 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. Of course it wouldn't do. What par- 
 ents would trust their children with such a person as 
 that? But it didn't last long ; the fine Madam wasn't 
 accustomed to work, you see ; her chest became affected, 
 and she died, 
 
 Mrs. Lynge. Well, that's really a horrible story ! 
 
 INIiis. RuMMEL. Yes, you may believe it has been a 
 terrible thing for the Bernicks. It is the dark spot on 
 the sun of their happiness, as Rummel once expressed 
 it. You must never talk of these things in ihis house 
 again, Mrs. Lynge. 
 
 Mrs, Holt. And, for Heaven's sake, don't mention the 
 step-sister either. 
 
 Mrs. Lynge. Yes, by the bye, ]Mrs. Bernick has a 
 step-sister too ? 
 
 ]\Irs. Rummel. Used to have — fortunately ; for now 
 all relationship is over between them. Yes, she was a 
 strange one ! Would you believe it, she cut her hair 
 short, and went about with men's shoes on, in rainy 
 weather. 
 
 Mrs. Holt. And when her step-brother — the prodigal 
 — had run away, and all the town was, of course, in com- 
 motion about him — what do you think she did ? Why, 
 she followed him. 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. Yes, but think of the scandal she 
 caused before she left, Mrs. Holt ! 
 
 Mrs. Holt. Hush, don't talk about it. 
 
 j\Irs. Lynge. What, was there a scandal about her 
 too?
 
 TEE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 17 
 
 Mrs. Kummel. Yes ; I'll tell you all about it, Mrs. 
 Lynge. Bernick had just become engaged to Betty 
 Tonnesen ; and as he was coming, with her on his arm, 
 into her aunt's room to tell her of the engagement 
 
 Mrs. Holt. The TOnnesens were orphans, you under- 
 stand. 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. Lona Hessel rose from her chair, 
 
 and gave the handsome, aristocratic Karsten Bernick a 
 ringing box on the ear ! 
 
 Mrs. Lynge. Well, I never ! 
 
 Mrs. Holt. Yes, everyone knows about it. 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. And then she packed her box and. went 
 off to America. 
 
 Mrs. Lynge. She must have been making eyes at him 
 herself. 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. Yes, that was just it. She imagined 
 that he was going to propose to her as soon as he came 
 home from Paris. 
 
 Mrs. Holt. Only think, how could she dream of such 
 a thing ! — Bernick, a polished young man of the world 
 — a perfect gentleman — the darling of all the ladies 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. And so proper, besides, Mrs. Holt 
 
 — so moral. 
 
 Mrs. Lynge. Then, what has become of this Miss 
 Hessel in America ? 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. Well, you see, over that there rests, as 
 Rummel once expressed it, a veil which should scarcely 
 be lifted. 
 
 Mrs. Lynge. What does that mean? 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. She has no connection with the family 
 now, of course ; but this much is known in town, that 
 she has sung for money in taverns over there
 
 18 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY, 
 
 Mrs. Holt. And that she has given lectures 
 
 Mrs. Eummel. And that she has written an insane 
 book. 
 
 Mrs. Lynge. Is it possible ? 
 
 Mrs. Eummel. Yes, Lona Hessel, too, is certainly a 
 sun-spot in the Beruick's happiness. But now you know 
 the whole story, Mrs. Lynge. Heaven knows, I have 
 only told it that you may take care what you say. 
 
 Mrs. Lynge. You may be quite easy on that point. 
 But poor Dina Dorf ! I am really very sorry for her ! 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. Oh, for her it was an absolute stroke 
 of luck. Only think, if she had remained in her parents' 
 hands ! Of course we looked after her, all of us, and 
 tried to instil good principles into her. At last Miss 
 Bernick got leave for her to come and live here. 
 
 Mrs. Holt. But she has always been a difficult girl to 
 deal with, after all the bad examples she has had, you 
 know. Of course she is not like one of our own — we 
 have to make the best of her, Mrs. Lynge. 
 
 Mrs. Eummel. Hush, there she comes ! {Loud.) Yes, 
 as you say, Dina's really a clever girl. What, are you 
 there, Dina? We are just finishing our work here. 
 
 Mrs. Holt. Ah, how nice your coffee smells, my dear 
 Dina Such a cup of coffefe in the forenoon- 
 
 Mrs. Bernick {standing on the steps). The coffee is 
 ready, ladies. (Martha and Dina have meanivhile helped 
 the servant to bring in the coffee things. All the ladies go 
 out and sit down ; each talks more kindly than the other to 
 Dina. After a time she comes into the room and looks for 
 her sewing.) 
 
 Mrs. Bernick {out at the coffee-table). Dina, won't you 
 come too ?
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 19 
 
 DmA. No, thanks ; I'd rather not. [She sits down to 
 sew. Mrs. Beknick and Rorlund exchange a few loords : 
 a moment after, he comes into the room.) 
 
 Rorlund (goes up to the table, as if looking for some- 
 thing, and says, in a low voice). Dina. 
 
 DiNA. Yes. ' 
 
 Rorlund. Why will you not come out ? 
 
 Dina. When I came in with the coffee I could see by 
 the strange lady's looks that they had been talking about 
 me. 
 
 Rorlund. And did you not see, too, how friendly she 
 was with you ? 
 
 Dina. But that's what I can't bear, 
 
 Rorlund. You have a headstrong disposition, Dina. 
 
 Dina. Yes. 
 
 Rorlund. But why is it so ? 
 
 Dina. I was born so. 
 
 Rorlund. But could you not try to change it ? 
 
 Dina. No. 
 
 Rorlund. Why not ? 
 
 Dina {looks up at him). Because I belong to the 
 "Lapsed and Lost." 
 
 Rorlund. Fie, Dina, 
 
 Dina. And so did my mother before me. 
 
 Rorlund. Who has spoken to you of such things ? 
 
 Dina. No one ; they never speak. Why do they 
 not? They all handle me as carefully as though I 
 
 would fall to pieces, if Oh, how I hate all this 
 
 good-heartedness ! 
 
 Rorlund. My dear Dina, I understand very well how 
 you feel oppressed here, but 
 
 Dina. Oh, if I could only get far away ! I could get
 
 20 TEE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 on well enough by myself, if only the people I lived 
 among weren't so — so 
 
 KoRLUND. So what? 
 
 DiNA. So proper and moral. 
 
 RoRLUND. Now, Dina, you don't mean that. 
 
 DiNA. Oh, you know very well how I mean it. Every 
 day Hilda and Netta come here that I may take example 
 by them. I can never be as well-behaved as they are, 
 and I wovit be. Oh ! if I were only far away, I too could 
 be good. 
 
 RoELUND. You are good, my dear Dina. 
 
 Dina. What does it matter here ? 
 
 RoRLDND. Then you are seriously thinking of going 
 away ? 
 
 Dina. I wouldn't remain here a day longer if you were 
 not here. 
 
 RoRLUND. Tell me, Dina, why do you like so much to 
 be with me ? 
 
 Dina. Because you teach me so much that is beau- 
 tiful. 
 
 RoRLUND. Beautiful ! Do you call what I can teach 
 you beautiful? 
 
 Dina. Yes ; or rather — you teach me nothing, but 
 when I hear you speak it makes me think of so much 
 that is beautiful. 
 
 RoRLUND. What do you understand, then, by a beauti- 
 ful thing ? 
 
 Dina. I have never thought of that. 
 
 RoRLUND. Then think of it now. What do you under- 
 stand by a beautiful thing ? 
 
 Dina. A beautiful thing is something great — and far 
 away.
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 21 
 
 RoRLUND. H'm. My dear Dina, I sympathize with you 
 from my inmost heart. 
 
 DrNA. Is that all ? 
 
 RoRLUND. You know very well how unspeakably dear 
 you are to me. 
 
 DiNA, If I were Hilda or Netta you would not be 
 afraid to let any one see it. 
 
 RoRLUND. Oh, Dina, you can form no conception of 
 
 the thousand considerations When a man is placed 
 
 as a moral pillar of the society he lives in, why — he can- 
 not be too careful. If I were only sure that people would 
 interpret my motives rightly ! But that doesn't matter ; 
 you must and shall be helped to rise. Dina, shall we 
 make an agreement that when I come — when circum- 
 stances permit me to come — and say. Here is my hand — 
 that you will take it and be my wife ? Do you promise 
 me that, Dina ? 
 
 Dina. Yes. 
 
 RoRLUND. Thanks ! thanks ! For I too Oh, 
 
 Dina, you are so dear to me. Hush ! someone is com- 
 ing. Dina, for my sake — go out to the others. {She 
 goes out to the coffee-table. At the same moment Rummel, 
 Sandstad, and Vigeland coine out from the Consul's office, 
 followed by Consul Bernick, ivho has a bundle of papers in 
 his hand.) 
 
 Bernick. Then that matter is settled ? 
 
 Vigeland. Yes, in Heaven's name, so let it be. 
 
 Rummel. It is settled Bernick. A Norseman's word 
 stands firm as the Doverfjeld, you know. 
 
 Bernick. And no one is to give in or fall away, what- 
 ever opposition we may meet with ? 
 
 Rummel. We stand and fall together, Bernick. 
 10
 
 •2 2 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 HiLMAR {coming up from the garden). Excuse me ; is 
 it not the railway that falls ? 
 
 Beiinick. On the contrary', it is to go ahead. 
 
 KuMMEL. Full steam, Mr. Tonnesen. 
 
 HiLMAR [coming forward). Indeed ! 
 
 KoRLUND. What ? 
 
 IVIrs. Bernick {at the door). My dear Karsten, what is 
 the meaning ? 
 
 Bernick. Oh, my dear Betty, how can it interest you ? 
 {To the three men.) But now we must get the lists 
 ready ; the sooner the better. Of course we four put 
 our names down first. The position we occupy in so- 
 ciety makes it our duty to do as much as we can. 
 
 Sandstad. No doubt, Consul. 
 
 Rummel. We ivill make it go, Bernick ; we're bound to. 
 
 Bernick. Oh, yes ; I have no fear as to the result. 
 We must work hard, each in his own circle, and if we 
 can once point to a really lively interest in the affair 
 among all ranks of society, it follows that the Town must 
 also contribute its share. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Now, Karsten, you must really come 
 and tell us 
 
 Bernick. Oh, my dear Betty, ladies don't understand 
 these things. 
 
 HrLMAR. Then you're actually going to back up the 
 railway, after all ? 
 
 Bernick. Yes, of course. 
 
 RoRLUND. But last year. Consul ? 
 
 Bernick. Last year it was a different matter altogether. 
 Then it was a coast line that was proposed. 
 
 ViGELAND. Which would have been entirely super* 
 
 fluous, Rector ; for have we not steamboats ?
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 23 
 
 Sandstad. And would have been outrageously 
 
 expensive. 
 
 E.UMMEL. Yes and would actually have ruined 
 
 vested interests here in the town. 
 
 Beenick. The great objection was that it would have 
 done no good to the great mass of the communitj-. 
 Therefore I opposed it, and then the inland line was 
 adopted. 
 
 HiLMAB. Yes, but that won't touch the towns about 
 here. 
 
 Bernick. It will touch our town, my dear Hilmar, for 
 we are going to build a branch line. 
 
 Hilmar. Aha ; it is an entirely new plan, then ? 
 
 RuMMEL. Yes ; isn't it a magnificent idea, eh ! 
 
 RORLUND. H'm 
 
 ViGELAXD. It cannot be denied that Providence seems 
 to have ordered the lie of the land specially for a branch 
 line. 
 
 RoELUND. Do you really say so, Mr. Vigeland ? 
 
 Bernick. Yes, I must admit I too regard it as a special 
 guidance that I happened to take a business journey 
 this spring, and by chance came down a valley where I 
 had never been before. It struck me like a. flash of 
 lightning that here was the very track for a branch to 
 the town. I sent an engineer to inspect it all ; I have 
 here the preliminary accounts and estimates ; nothing 
 stands in our way. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick {still standing along with the other ladies 
 at the garden door). But, my dear Karsten, why have 
 you kept all this so secret ? 
 
 Bernick. Oh, my good Betty, you wouldn't have been 
 able to grasp the true position of affairs. Besides, J
 
 24 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 haven't spoken of it to any living creature until to-day. 
 But now the decisive moment has come. Now we must 
 go to work openly, and with all our might. Ay, if I 
 have to risk all I possess in the affair, I will make it suc- 
 ceed. 
 
 RuMMEL. We, too, Bernick ; you may rely on us. 
 
 RoRLUND. Do you really expect such great results from 
 this undertaking, gentlemen ? 
 
 Bernick. Yes, I should think so ! What a lever it 
 will be for our whole community ! Only think of the 
 great tracts of forest it will bring within reach ; think 
 of all the rich mineral seams it will allow us to work ; 
 think of the river, with its one waterfall above the other ! 
 What great manufactures may there not be started. 
 
 RoRLUND. And you are not afraid that a more frequent 
 intercourse with a depraved outer world ? 
 
 Bernick. No — be quite at ease. Rector. Our busy 
 little town rests nowadays. Heaven be thanked, on a 
 sound moral foundation ; we have all helped to drain it, 
 if I may say so ; and that we will continvie to do, each 
 in his own way. You, Rector, continue jonv beneficent 
 activity in the school and in the family. We, the men of 
 practical work, support society by spreading prosperity 
 in as wide a circle as possible ; and our women — yes, 
 come nearer, ladies ; I am glad that you should hear ; — 
 our women, I say, our wives and daughters — do you 
 work on undisturbed in your labor of well-doing, ladies, 
 and be a help and comfort to those nearest and dearest 
 to you, as my dear Betty and Martha are to me and 
 Olaf {Looks around.) Why, where is Olaf to-day ? 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Oh, now in the holidays, it's impossible 
 to keep him at home.
 
 TEE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 25 
 
 Bernick. Then he's certain to have gone down to the 
 water again. You'll see, this will end in a misfortune. 
 
 HiLiviAR. Bah — a little sport with the powers of nature. 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. How nice it is of you to be so domes- 
 tic, Mr, Bernick. 
 
 Bernick. Ah, the family is the kernel of society. A 
 good home, honorable and trusty friends, a little close- 
 drawn circle, where no disturbing elements cast their 
 shadow — — 
 
 Krap comes in from the right with letters and j^obpers. 
 
 KJRAP. The foreign post. Consul — and a telegram 
 from New York. 
 
 Bernick [taking it). Ah, from the owners of the Indian 
 Girl. 
 
 EuMMEL. Oh, the post has come ? Then you must 
 excuse me 
 
 ViGELAND. And me too. 
 
 Sandstad. Good-day, Consul. 
 
 Bernick. Good-day, good-day, gentlemen. And re- 
 member we have a meeting this afternoon at five 
 o'clock. 
 
 The Three. Yes — of course — of course. {They go out 
 to the right.) 
 
 Bernick {who has read the telegram). Well, this is real- 
 ly too American ! Positively shocking ! 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Why, Karsten, what is it ? 
 
 Bernick. Look here, Krap — read this ! 
 
 Krap {reads). " Fewest possible repairs ; send Indian 
 Girl without delay ; good season : at worst, cargo will 
 keep her afloat." Well, I must say 
 
 Bernick. The cargo keep her afloat ! These gentle-
 
 26 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 meu know very well tliat with that cargo she'll go to the 
 bottom like a stoue, if anything happens. 
 
 KoRLUND. This shows the state of things in these 
 vaunted large communities. 
 
 Bernick. You are right there — no considei-ation even 
 for human life in a question of profit. {To KiiAP.) Can 
 the Indian Girl be ready for sea in four or five days ? 
 
 Krap. Yes, if Mr. Vigeland will agree to let the Palm 
 Tree stand over in the meantime, 
 
 Bernick. H'm — he won't do that. Oh, just look 
 through the mail, please. By the way, did you not see 
 Olaf down on the pier ? 
 
 Krap. No, Consul. {He goes into Consul's office.) 
 
 Bernick {looking again at the telegram). These fellows 
 never think twice about risking the lives of eighteen 
 
 HiLMAR. Well, it's a sailor's calling to brave the 
 elements ; there must be something bracing to the 
 nerves in having only a thin plank between you and 
 eternity 
 
 Bernick. I'd like to see the shipowner amongst us 
 that would have the conscience for such a thing ! not a 
 single one ! {Catches sight of Olaf.) Ah, thank Heav- 
 en, there he is, safe and sound. 
 
 Ol.af laith a fishing-line in his hand, comes running iq) the 
 street and through the garden gate. 
 
 Olaf {still in the garden). Uncle Hilmar, I've been down 
 seeing the steamboat. 
 
 Bernick. Have you been down on the pier again ? 
 
 Olaf. No, I was only out in a boat. But just think, 
 Uncle Hilmar, a circus company came with the steamer,
 
 THE PILLARS OF' SOCIETY. 27 
 
 with horses and wild beasts; and there were a great 
 many passengers besides. 
 
 Mrs. Rxjmmel. Oh ! are we really to have a circus ? 
 
 RoRLUND. We ? Really I should hope not. 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. No, of course not rve, but 
 
 DiNA. I should like to see the horsemanship. 
 
 Olaf. And I, too. 
 
 HiLMAK. You're a little blockhead. What is there to 
 see? All sham. Now it would be something worth 
 while to see the gaucho sweeping over the Pampas on 
 his snorting mustang. But, hang it ! here in these little 
 towns 
 
 Ol;\f [pulling 31artha's dress). Aunt Martha, look, 
 look — there they come. 
 
 Mrs. Holt. Yes, indeed, here we have them. 
 
 Mrs. Lynge. Oh, what horrid people ! (Many travellers 
 and a whole crowd of townspeople come up the street.) 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. Yes, they are a regular set of mounte- 
 banks. Just look at that one in the gray dress, Mrs. 
 Holt ; the one with the knapsack on her back. 
 
 Mrs. Holt. Yes, see, she has slung it on the handle of 
 her parasol. Of course it is the manager's wife. 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. Oh, and there is the manager himself, 
 the one with the beard. Well, he looks a regular 
 pirate. Don't look at him, Hilda ! 
 
 Mrs. Holt. Nor you either, Netta. 
 
 Olaf. Oh, mother, the manager is bowing to us. 
 
 Bernick. What? 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. What do you say, child ? 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. Yes, I declare, and there's the woman 
 nodding too ! 
 
 Bernick. Come, this is really too much I
 
 •16 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 Martha {yoiih an involuntary cry). Ah ! 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. What is it, Martha ? 
 
 Martha. Oh, no, nothing — only I thought 
 
 Olaf {shrieks with delight). Look, there come the 
 others, with the horses and wild beasts ! And there are 
 the Americans too ! All the sailors from the Indian 
 
 Girl (" Yankee Doodle " is heard, j^Zayec^ on a 
 
 clarinet and drum.) 
 
 HrLMvUi {dopping his ears). Ugh, ugh, ugh ! 
 
 Korlund. I think we should retire for a little, ladies. 
 This is not a scene for us. Let us go to our work again. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Perhaps we should draw the curtains ? 
 
 RoRLUND. Yes, that is just what I was thinking. {The 
 ladies take their j^laces at the table. Korlund shuts the gar- 
 den door and draws the curtain over it and over the win' 
 dows : it becomes half dark in the room.) 
 
 Olaf {2:)eeping out). Mother, the manager's wife is 
 standing at the fountain washing her face ! 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. What, in the middle of the market- 
 place ! 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. And in broad daylight ! 
 
 HiLMAR. Well, if I were travelling in the desert and 
 
 came upon a spi'ing, I should never hesitate to Ugh, 
 
 that abominable clarinet ! 
 
 RoRLUND. It seems to me the police should interfere. 
 
 Bernick. Oh, no ; one mustn't be too hard upon for- 
 eigners ; these people haven't the deep-rooted sense of 
 propriety that keeps us within the right limits. Let 
 them do as they please, it doesn't hurt us. All this dis- 
 ordeiiiness, setting itself up against propriety and good 
 manners, is, fortunately, quite out of touch with our 
 society, if I may say so What is this ?
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 29 
 
 A Stkange Lady suddenly enters by the door on the right. 
 
 The Ladies (frightened and sjjeaking low). The circus 
 woman ! The manager's wife ! 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Good heavens ! what does this mean ? 
 
 Martha (starts up). Ah ! 
 
 The Lady. Good - day, my dear Betty ! Good - day, 
 Martha ! Good-day, brother-in-law ! 
 
 Mrs, Bernick {with a shriek) . Lona ! 
 
 Bernick (starts back a step). As I live ! 
 
 Mrs. Holt. Why, mercy on us ! 
 
 Mrs. Kummel. It can't be possible ! 
 
 HiLMAR. What! Ugh! 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Lona ! Is it really ! 
 
 LoNA. Really me ? Yes, indeed it is. You may fall on 
 my neck and embrace me, for that matter. 
 
 HiLMAR. Ugh ! ugh ! 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. And you come here as ? 
 
 Bernick. You are actually going to appear ? 
 
 Lona. Appear ? How appear ? 
 
 Bernick. I mean — in the circus ? 
 
 Lona. Ha ! ha ! ha ! What nonsense, brother-in-law. 
 Do you think I belong to the circus ? No ; it's true I've 
 done all sorts of things, and made a fool of myself in 
 many ways 
 
 Mrs. Eummel. H'm ! 
 
 Lona. But I've never learned to play tricks on horse- 
 back- 
 
 Bernick. Then you're not ? 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Oh, thank goodness ! 
 
 Lona. No, indeed ; we came like other respectable 
 people — second-class, it's true, but we're used to that.
 
 30 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 Mrs. Beenick. We, you say ? 
 
 Bernick (striding forward). What wef 
 
 LoNA. Why, my boy and I, of course. 
 
 The Ladies {with a cry). Your boy ! 
 
 HiLMAR. What? 
 
 RoRLUND. Well, I must say 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Why, what do you mean, Lona ? 
 
 LoNA. Of course I mean John ; I've no other boy but 
 John, that I know of — or Johan, as you call him. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Johan ! 
 
 Mrs. Eummel (aside to Mrs. Lynge). The prodigal 
 brother ! 
 
 Bernick (slowly). Is Johan with you ? 
 
 LoNA. Of course, of course ; I wouldn't travel without 
 him. But you're all looking so dismal — and sitting here 
 in this twilight, sewing at something white ? There 
 hasn't been a death in the family ? 
 
 Eorlund. You find yourself, Miss Hessel, in the society 
 for the Lapsed and Lost. 
 
 LoNA (half to herself). What do you say ? These nice- 
 looking, well-behaved ladies, can they be ? 
 
 Mrs. Rummel. Oh, this is too much ! 
 
 LoNA. Oh, I understand, I understand ! Why, good 
 gracious, that's Mrs. Rummel ! And there sits Mrs. 
 Holt, too ! Well, we three haven't gi'own younger since 
 we met last. But listen now, good people ; let the 
 Lapsed and Lost wait for one day ; they'll be none the 
 worse for it. A joyful occasion like this 
 
 RoRLUND. A return home is not always a joyful oc- 
 casion ! 
 
 Lona. Indeed ? How do you read your Bible, Pastor ? 
 
 RoRLUND. I am not a clergyman.
 
 THh] PILLARS OB' SOCIETY. 31 
 
 LoNA. Oil, theu you will be for certain But, fie, 
 
 fie — this moral lineu here smells so tainted — just like a 
 shroud. I am accustomed to the air of the prairies now, 
 I can tell you. 
 
 Bernick {wiping his forehead). Yes, it is really rather 
 oppressive in here. 
 
 LoNA. Wait a little, wait a little — we'll soon rise from 
 the sepulchre {draws hack the curtains). We must have 
 broad daylight here when my boy comes. Yes — then 
 you'll see a boy that has washed himself 
 
 HiLMAR. Ugh ! 
 
 LoNA {opens the door and the windows). I mean when 
 he has washed himself — up at the hotel — for on board 
 the steamer you get as dirty as a pig. 
 
 HiLMAR. Ugh, ugh ! 
 
 LoNA. Ugh ? Why I declare it is {Points to Hil- 
 
 MAR, and asks the others.) Does he still loaf about saying 
 "ugh " to everything? 
 
 HiLMAR. I don't loaf ; I stop here for the sake of my 
 health. 
 
 RoRLXJND. H'm. Ladies, I don't think that 
 
 LoNA {catches sight o/Olxf). Is he yours, Betty? Give 
 me your fist, my boy — or are you afraid of your ugly old 
 aunt? 
 
 RoRLUND {putting his book under his arm). I don't 
 think, ladies, that we are quite in the mood for doing- 
 more work to-day. But we shall meet again to-morrow ? 
 
 LoNA {as the visitors rise to go). Yes, let us — I'll be 
 here, you may depend. 
 
 RoRLUND. You ? Allow me. Miss Hessel, to ask what 
 you will do in our society ? 
 
 LoNA. I will let in fresh air, Pastor.
 
 ACT II. 
 
 [TTie (/arde?i room in Consul Bernick's house.^ 
 
 [Mrs. Bernick is sitting alone at the toork-table, sewing. 
 In a little while Consul Bernick enters from the 
 right, ivith his hat and gloves on, and a stick hi his 
 hand.] 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Are you home already, Karsten ? 
 
 Bernick. Yes. I have an appointment here. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick (sighing). Oh, yes, I suppose Johan will 
 be down here again. 
 
 Bernick. No, it's with one of my men. [Takes off his 
 hat. ) "Where are all the ladies to-day ? 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Mrs. Rummel and Hilda hadn't time to 
 come. 
 
 Bernick. Ah ! Sent excuses ? 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Yes ; they had so much to do at home. 
 
 Bernick. Of course, of course. And the others aren't 
 coming either, I suppose. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. No, something has come in the way with 
 them too. 
 
 Bernick. I was sure it would. Where is Olaf ? 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. I allowed him to go out a little with 
 Dina. 
 
 Bernick. H'm ! Dina, the thoughtless hussy. How 
 could she go and at once strike up a friendship with 
 Johan !
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 38 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Why, my dear Karsten, Dina has no 
 idea 
 
 Bernick. Well then, Johan at least should have had 
 tact enough not to take any notice of her. I could see 
 Vigeland's expressive glances. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick [dropping her loork into her lap). Kars- 
 ten, can you understand what has brought them home ? 
 
 Bernick. H'm ;-he has a farm over there, which I 
 suppose isn't getting on very well ; she hinted yesterday 
 that they had to travel second-class 
 
 Mrs. Bernick, Yes, I'm afraid it must be something of 
 that sort. But that she should have come with him ! 
 She ! after the terrible way she insulted you ! 
 
 Bernick. Oh, don't think of these old stories. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. How can I think of anything else ? 
 He's my own brother, you know ; and yet it's not for his 
 sake, but all the unpleasantness it will bring upon you. 
 Karsten, I am so dreadfully afraid that 
 
 Bernick. What are you afraid of ? 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Might they not think of arresting him 
 for that money your mother lost ? 
 
 Bernick. What nonsense ! Who can prove that she 
 lost the money ? 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Unfortunately the whole town knows 
 it, and you said yourself 
 
 Bernick. I said nothing. The town knows nothing 
 about these affairs ; it was a mere rumor. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Oh, how noble you are, Karsten ! 
 
 Bernick. Forget these old stories, I say. You don't 
 know how you torture me by raking all this up again. 
 [He walks up and down the room ; then he pitches his 
 stick away from him.) That they should come home
 
 84 TUE PILLARS OF SOCIETY, 
 
 jnst at this time, when I depend so much on unmixed 
 good-feeling, both in the press and in the town. There 
 will be paragraphs iu the papers all over the country-side. 
 Whether I receive them well or ill, my action will be 
 discussed, my motives misinterpreted. They'll rip up all 
 these old stories — just as you do. In a community like 
 
 ours {Throws doxon JxU gloves upon the table.) And 
 
 I haven't a person here I can confide in, or that can give 
 me any support. 
 
 Mrs. Beknick. No one at all, Karsten ? 
 
 Bernick. No ; you know I haven't. That they should 
 come upon me just at this moment ! There's no doubt 
 they'll cause a scandal in one way or another — especially 
 she. It is a perfect calamity to have such people in one's 
 family. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Well, it's not my fault that 
 
 Bernick. What's not your fault ? That you are re- 
 lated to them ? No ; that's true enough. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. And it wasn't I that asked them to 
 come home. 
 
 Bernick. Aha ! now we have it. "/didn't ask them 
 to come home ; /didn't write for them ; / didn't drag 
 them home by the hair of their heads." Oh, I know the 
 whole story off by heart. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick [bursting into tears). Oh, why are you 
 so unkind ? 
 
 Bernick. Yes, that's right ; set to crying, so that the 
 town may have that to talk about, too. Stop this non- 
 sense, Betty. You'd better sit outside there ; someone 
 might come in. Perhaps you want people to see madam 
 with red eyes ? Yes, it would be nice if it got abroad 
 among people that Ah ! I hear someone in the
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 3/) 
 
 lobby. {A knock.) Come iii. (Mrs. Bebnick goes out 
 to the garden steps vrith her work.) 
 
 AuNE comes in from the right. 
 
 AuNE. Good-day, Consul ! 
 
 Bernick. Good-day. Well, I suppose you can guess 
 ■what I want with you ? 
 
 AuNE. Your clerk told me yesterday oliat you wei-e 
 not pleased with 
 
 Berj^iok. I , am altogether displeased with the way 
 things go on at the yard, Aune. You are not getting on 
 at all with the repairs. The Palm Tree should have 
 been at sea long ago. Mr. Vigeland comes bothering 
 me about it every day. He is a tx-oublesome man to 
 have for a partner. 
 
 AuNE. The Palm Tree can go to sea the day after to- 
 morrow. 
 
 Bernick. At last ! But the American, the Indian Girl, 
 that's been lying here five weeks, and 
 
 Aune. The American? I understood that we were 
 first to get on as fast as possible with your own ship. 
 
 Bernick. I have given you no reason for such an idea. 
 You should have made all possible progress with the 
 American too ; but you have done nothing. 
 
 Aune. The vessel's bottom is as rotten as matchwood, 
 Consul ; the moi'e we patch at it the worse it gets. 
 
 Bernick. That's not the true reason. Krap has told 
 me the whole truth. You don't understand how to work 
 with the new machines — or rather, you won't work with 
 them. 
 
 Aune. Consul Bernick, I am getting on for sixty ;
 
 36 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 from my boyhood I have been accustomed to the old 
 way of work 
 
 Bernick. We can't get on with it nowadays. You 
 mustn't think, Aune, that it's for the sake of mere profit ; 
 luckily I don't require that ; but I must take into con- 
 sideration the community I live in, and the house of 
 business of which I am the head. It is from me that 
 that progress must come, or it will never come at all. 
 
 Aune. I have no objection to progress, Consul. 
 
 Bernick. No, for your own narrow circle, for the 
 working-class. Oh, I know well enough the agitations 
 you get up ; you make speeches ; you stir people up ; 
 but when a tangible piece of progress offers itself, as in 
 the case of the machines, you will have nothing to do 
 with it ; you are afraid. 
 
 Aune. Yes, I am really afraid. Consul ; I am afraid for 
 the many whom the machines will rob of their daily 
 bread. You often talk of care for the community. Con- 
 sul, but it seems to me that the community, too, has its 
 duties. How dare science and capital set all this new 
 mechanism to work before the community has educated 
 -a generation that can use it ? 
 
 Bernick. You read and think too much, Aune ; it does 
 you no good ; it is that which makes you dissatisfied 
 with your position. 
 
 Aune. It is not that. Consul ; but I cannot bear to 
 see one good workman after another sent away to star- 
 vation for the sake of these machines. 
 
 Bernick. H'm ; when printing was discovered, many 
 copyists had to starve. 
 
 Aune. Would you have admired the art so much. 
 Consul, if you had then been a copyist ?
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. bl 
 
 Beenick. I didn't send for you to argue with you. I 
 sent for you to tell you that the Indian Girl must be 
 ready to sail the day after to-morrow. 
 
 AuNE. Why, Consul 
 
 Bernick. The day after to-morrow, do you hear; at 
 the same time as our own ship ; not an hour latei*. I 
 have my reasons for hurrying on the affair. Have you 
 read this morning's paper ? Ah ! — then you know that 
 the Americans have been making disturbances again. 
 The shameless pack put the whole town topsy-turvy. 
 Not a night passes without fights in the taverns or on 
 the street ; not to speak of other abominations. 
 
 AuNE. Yes, they're certainly a bad lot. 
 
 BER>acK. And who gets the blame for all this disturb- 
 ance ? It is I — yes I, that suffer for it. These news- 
 paper scribblers are always covertly carping at us for 
 giving our whole attention to the Palm Tree. And I, 
 whose mission it is to be an example to my fellow- 
 citizens, must have such things thrown in my teeth ! I 
 cannot bear it. It won't do for me to have my name 
 bespattered in this way. 
 
 AuNE. Oh, your name is so good it can bear more 
 than that. 
 
 Bernick. Not just now ; precisely at this moment I 
 need all the respect and good-will of my fellow-citizens. 
 I have a great undertaking on hand, as you have pi'ob- 
 ably heard ; but if evil-disposed persons succeed in 
 shaking people's unqualified confidence in me, it may 
 involve me in the greatest difficulties. So I must 
 silence these carping and spiteful scribblers at any 
 price, and that is why I give you till the day after to- 
 morrow. 
 
 11
 
 38 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 AuNE. You might as well give me till this afternoon, 
 Consul Beruick. 
 
 Bernick. You mean that I'm demanding impossibili- 
 ties ? 
 
 AuNB. Yes, with the working staff we have now 
 
 Beenick. Oh, very well ; — then we must look about us 
 elsewhere. 
 
 AuNE. Will you really dismiss still more of the old 
 workmen ? 
 
 Bernick. No, that's not what I'm thinking of. 
 
 AuNE. For I am sure if you did so there would be an 
 outcry both in the town and in the newspapers. 
 
 Bernick. Very possibly ; therefore I won't do it. But 
 if the Indian Girl isn't cleared the day after to-morrow 
 I shall dismiss you. 
 
 AuNE [with a atari). Me ! [Laughiyig.) Oh, you are 
 joking now, Consul. 
 
 Bernick. I don't advise you to trust to that. 
 
 AuNE. You- can think of dismissing me ! Me, whose 
 father and grandfather worked in the shipyard all their 
 lives, and myself too 
 
 Bernick. Who forces me to it ? 
 
 AuNE. You ask impossibilities, Consul ? 
 
 Bernick. Oh, where there's a will there's a way. Yes 
 or no ; answer me decidedly, or I dismiss you on the 
 spot. 
 
 Atoje {coming nearer). Consul Bernick, have you rightly 
 reflected what it is to dismiss an old workman ? You 
 say he can look out for something else ? Oh, yes, I dare 
 say he can — but is that all ? If you could only look 
 into the house of a dismissed workman on the evening 
 when he comes home and brings his tool-chest with him.
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 39 
 
 Bernick. Do you tbink I am glad to part with you ? 
 Have I not always been a good master to you ? 
 
 AuNE. So mucb tbe worse, Consul. Just on tbat 
 account my people at borne will not blame you. Tbey 
 will not say anytbing to me, for tbey dare not ; but tbey 
 will look at me wben I am not noticing, and tbink it 
 must surely bave been my fault. You see, tbat — tbat 
 is wbat I cannot bear. Poor man as I am, I bave always 
 been tbe first in my own bouse. My bumble home is 
 itself a little community. Consul Bernick. Tbat little 
 community I bave been able to support and bold to- 
 getber because my wife believed in me, my cbildren 
 believed in me. And now tbe wbole tbing falls to 
 pieces. 
 
 Bernick. Well, if it can't be otberwise, tbe less must 
 fall before tbe greater ; tbe part must in Heaven's name 
 be sacrificed to tbe wbole. I can give you no otber 
 answer ; and you will find tbings are so ordered bere in 
 tbe world. But 3'ou are an obstinate man, Aune ! You 
 stand against me, not because you can't do otberwise, 
 but because you will not prove tbe superiority of ma- 
 chinery to manual labor. 
 
 AuNE. And 3'ou bold fast to tbis, Consul, because you 
 know tbat if you send me away you will at least bave 
 sbown tbe papers your goodwill. 
 
 Bernick. And if it were so ? You bear wbat a dilemma 
 I am in — I must either bave tbe wbole press down upon 
 me, or I must get it well-disposed toward me at tbe 
 moment wben I am working for a great and beneficent 
 cause. Wbat follows ? Can I possibly act otberwise ? 
 I tell you tbe question is wbetber your home is to be 
 kept up and hundreds of new homes to be kept down,
 
 40 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 hundreds of homes which will never be founded, will 
 never have a smoking hearthstone, if I do not succeed 
 in what I am now working for. So I give you your 
 choice. 
 
 AuNE. Well, if that is how it stands, I have nothing 
 more to say. 
 
 Bernick. H'm — my dear Aune, I am truly sorry that we 
 must part. 
 
 Aune. We will not part, Consul Bernick. 
 
 Bernick. What ? 
 
 Aune. Even a common man has his rights here in the 
 world. 
 
 Bernick. Of course, of course. Then you can 
 promise ? 
 
 Aune. The Indian Girl shall be cleared the day after 
 to-morrow. {He hows and goes out to the right.) 
 
 Bernick. Aha, I've got over his stiff-necked notions. 
 I take that as a good omen 
 
 Hilmar Tonnesen, xvith a cigar in his mouth, comes 
 through the garden gate. 
 
 HiLMAK {o7i the garden steps). Good-day, Betty ! Good- 
 day, Bernick ! 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Good-day. 
 
 Hilmar. Oh, you've been crying, I see. Then you have 
 heard all ? 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. All what ? 
 
 Hilmar. That the scandal is in full swing ! Ugh ! 
 
 Bernick. What do you mean ? 
 
 Hilmar (coming into the room). Why, that the two 
 Americans are going about the streets, showing them- 
 selves off in company with Dina Dorf.
 
 THE PILLARS OF 80CIET7. 41 
 
 Mrs. Bernick {also coining in). Oh, Hilmar, can it be 
 possible ? 
 
 Hilmar. Yes, unfortunately, it's quite true. Lona 
 had even the want of tact to call out to me ; but of course 
 I pretended not hear her. 
 
 Bernick, And of course all of this hasn't been going 
 on unnoticed. 
 
 Hilmar. No, you may be sure it hasn't. People stopped 
 and looked at them. It ran like wildfire over the town 
 — like a fire on the western prairies. People stood at 
 the windows of all the houses waiting for the procession 
 to pass, head to head behind the curtains. Ugh ! You 
 must excuse me, Betty ; I say, ugh ! for it makes me so 
 nervous. If this goes on I shall have to think of taking 
 a trip somewhere, pretty far ofi". 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. But you should have spoken to him, 
 and showed him 
 
 Hilmar. In the public street? No, I beg to be ex- 
 cused. The idea that that fellow should dare to show 
 himself here in town ! Well, we'll see if the press 
 doesn't put a stojDper on him. I beg your pardon, 
 Betty, but 
 
 Bernick. The press, you say? Have you heard any 
 hints of that sort ? 
 
 Hilmar. Yes, a slight hint. When I left here last 
 night I strolled up to the club for the sake of my 
 health. I could see from the sudden silence when I 
 came in that the two Americans had been on the tapis. 
 And then in came that impertinent Editor Hammer, 
 and congratulated me, before everybody, upon my rich 
 cousin's return. 
 
 Bernick. Rich ?
 
 42 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 HiLMAR. Yes, that was what he said. I measured him 
 from top to toe with the scorn he deserves, and gave 
 him to understand that I knew nothing of Johan Tonne- 
 sen being rich. "Indeed," says he; "that's strange. 
 In America people generally get on when they've some- 
 thing to start with, and your cousin didn't go over 
 empty-handed." 
 
 BernicIc. H'm ! Be so good as to 
 
 Mrs. Bernick (anxiously). There, you see, Karsten. 
 
 HiLMAR, Well, at any rate, I've had a sleepless night 
 on the fellow's account, and there he is going about the 
 streets, looking as if he had nothing to be ashamed of. 
 Why wasn't he finished at once ? It is intolerable how 
 tough some people are. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Oh, Hilmar, what are you saying ? 
 
 HiLMAR. Oh, I'm not saying anything. But here he 
 escapes safe and sound from railway accidents, and fights 
 with Californian bears and Blackfoot Indians ; why, he's 
 not even scalped Ugh ! here they are. 
 
 Bernick {looks down the street). Olaf is with them, 
 too. 
 
 Hilmar. Yes, of course ; they must remind people that 
 they belong to the first family in the town. Look, look, 
 there come all the loafers out from the druggist's shop 
 to stare at them and make remarks. Really, this is too 
 much for my nerves ; how a man, under such circum- 
 stances, is to hold high the banner of the ideal 
 
 Bernick. Tliey are coming straight here. Listen, 
 Betty ; it is my decided wish that you should be as 
 friendly as possible to them. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Will you allow me, Karsten? 
 
 Bernick. Of course, of coui'se ; and you, too, Hilmar.
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 43 
 
 They surely won't remain here very long ; and when we 
 are alone with them — no innuendoes — we must not hurt 
 their feelings in any way. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Oh, Karsten, how noble you are ! 
 
 Bernick. Now, now, don't talk of that. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Oh, but you must let me thank you, 
 and forgive me for being so hasty. You had every rea- 
 son to 
 
 Bernick. Don't talk of it, don't talk of it, I say. 
 
 HlLMAR. Ugh ! 
 
 JoHAN ToNNESEN and DiNA, and after them Lona and Olaf, 
 come through the garden. 
 
 Lona. Good-day, good-day, my dear people. 
 
 Johan. We have been out looking all about the old 
 place, Karsten. 
 
 Bernick. Yes, so I hear. Greatly changed, isn't it? 
 
 Lona. Consul Bernick's great and good works every- 
 where. We have been up in the gardens you have pre- 
 sented to the town 
 
 Bernick. Oh, there ! 
 
 Lona. " Karsten Bernick's Gift," as the inscription 
 over the entrance says. Yes, it's all your work here. 
 
 Johan, And such magnificent ships as you have got ! 
 I met my old school- fellow, the captain of the Palm Tree. 
 
 Lona. Yes, and you've built a new school-house, too. 
 And they owe both the gas and the water-works to you, 
 I hear. 
 
 Bernick. Oh, one must work for the community one 
 lives in. 
 
 Lona. Well, it's good of you, brother-in-law ; but it is 
 nice, too, to see how people appi'eciate you. I don't
 
 44 TUE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 think I am vain, but I could not help reminding one 
 or two of the people we talked to that we belong to 
 the family. 
 
 HiLMAR. Ugh ! 
 
 LoNA. Do you say " Ugh ! " to that ? 
 
 HiLMMi. No, I said "H'm" 
 
 LoNA. Oh, wa^ that all, poor fellow. But you are 
 quite alone here to-day ! 
 
 INIks. Bernick. Yes, to-day we are quite alone. 
 
 LoNA. By the bye, we met one or two of the Lapsed 
 and Lost up in the mai-ket-place ; they seemed to be 
 very busy. But we've never had a proper talk yet ; 
 yesterday Ave had the three pioneers of progress here, 
 and the pastor too 
 
 HiLMAR. The Rector. 
 
 LoNA. I call him the Pastor. But now — what do you 
 think of my work for these fifteen years ? Hasn't he 
 grown a fine boy? Who would recognize the madcap 
 that ran away from home. 
 
 HiLAiAR. H'm ! 
 
 JoHAN. Oh, Lona, don't boast too much. 
 
 LoNA. I don't care, I'm really proud of it. "Well, well, 
 it's the only thing I've done in the world, but it gives 
 me a sort of right to exist. Yes, Johan, when I think 
 how we two began life over there with only our four 
 paws 
 
 HiLMAR. Hands. 
 
 Lena. I say paws, for they were as dirty as 
 
 HiLMAE. Ugh ! 
 
 LoNA. And empty, too. 
 
 HiLMAR. Empty. Well I must say 
 
 LoNA. What must you say ?
 
 TEE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 45 
 
 Bernick. H'm ! 
 
 HiLMAR. I must say — ugh ! [Goes out upon the garden 
 stair.) 
 
 LoNA. What's wrong with the man? 
 
 Bernick. Ob, never mind him ; he's rather nervous 
 just now. But wouldn't you like to look round the gar- 
 den a little ? You haven't been down there yet, and I 
 happen to have an hour to spare. 
 
 LoNA. Yes, I should like it very much ; j'ou may be- 
 lieve ray thoughts have often been with you all here in 
 the garden. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. There have been great changes there, 
 too, as you will see. {The Consul, his Wife, and Lona 
 go down the garden, ivhere they are now and then visible 
 during the following scene.) 
 
 Olaf {at the garden door). Uncle Hilmar, do you 
 know what Uncle John asked me ? He asked if I'd like 
 to go with him to America. 
 
 Hilmar, You, you little good-for-nothing, that go 
 about tied to your mother's apron-strings. 
 
 Olaf. Yes, but I won't be so any more. You shall 
 see, when I'm big 
 
 Hilmar. Oh, rubbish ; you don't really want to be 
 made a man of ( They go down the garden together.) 
 
 Johan {to DiNA, who has taken off her hat, and stands 
 at the door to the right shaking the dust from her dress). 
 The walk has made you very warm. 
 
 DiNA. Yes ; it was splendid. I have never had such 
 a nice walk before. 
 
 Johan. Perhaps you don't often go walks in the 
 morning. 
 
 DiNA. Oh, yes ; but only with Olaf.
 
 46 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 JoHAN. Ah ! — Perhaps you would like to go down the 
 garden ? 
 
 DiNA. No ; I would rather remain here. 
 
 JoHAN. And I too. Then it's settled that we take a 
 walk every morning. 
 
 DiNA. No, Mr. Tonnesen, you must not do that. 
 
 JoHAN. Why should I not? You know j'ou prom- 
 ised. 
 
 DiNA. Yes, but on thinking over it, I Yoa must 
 
 not go out with me. 
 
 JoHAN. Why not ? 
 
 DiNA. Ah, you're a stranger here ; you can't under- 
 stand it ; but I must tell you 
 
 JoHAN. Well ? 
 
 DiNA. No, I would rather not speak about it. 
 
 JoHAN. Oh, yes — you may speak to me of whatever 
 jou like. 
 
 DiNA, Then I must tell you that I am not like the 
 other girls here ; there is something — something about 
 me. That's why you mustn't walk with me. 
 
 JoH/\N. But I can't understand this at all. You haven't 
 done anything wrong ? 
 
 DiNA. No, not I, but ; no, I won't say any more 
 
 about it. You're sure to hear it from the others. 
 
 JoHAN. H'm . 
 
 DiNA. But there was something else I wanted to ask 
 you about. 
 
 JoHAN. And what was that? 
 
 DiNA. Is it really so easy to lead a life that is worth 
 something over in America ? 
 
 JoHAN. Well, it isn't always easy ; one has often to 
 suflfer much and work hard in the beginning.
 
 TUE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 47 
 
 DiNA. I would willingly do that 
 
 JoHAN. You? 
 
 DiNA. I can work well enough ; I am strong and 
 healthy, and Aunt Martha has taught me a great deal. 
 
 JoHAN. Then, hang it all, why not come with us ? 
 
 DiNA. Oh, now you're only joking ; you said the same 
 to Olaf too. But I wanted to know, too, if people over 
 there are very— very moral, you know ? 
 
 JoHAX. Moral ? 
 
 DiNA. Yes, I mean, are they so — so proper and well- 
 behaved as they are here ? 
 
 JoHAN. Well, at any rate, they're not so bad as people 
 here think. Don't be at all afraid of that. 
 
 DiNA. You don't understand me. What I want is just 
 that they should not be so very proper and moral. 
 
 JoHAN. Indeed ? What would you have them then ? 
 
 DiNA. I would have them natural. 
 
 JoHAN. Well, that's perhaps just what they are. 
 
 DiNA. Then that would be the place for me. 
 
 JoHAN. Yes, indeed, it would ; so you must come 
 with us. 
 
 DiNA. No, I would not go with you ; I would have to 
 go alone. Oh, I should get on ; I should soon be fit for 
 something 
 
 Bernick (at the foot of the garden stair ivilh Oie two 
 ladies). Stay here, stay here ; I will fetch it, my dear 
 Betty. You might easily catch cold. {^Conies into the 
 room and looks for his wife's shavol.) 
 
 Mrs. Bernick [from the garden). You must come too, 
 Johan ; we are going down to the grotto. 
 
 Bernick. No, Johan must remain here just now. Here, 
 Dina ; take my wife's shawl and go with them. Johan
 
 48 THE riLLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 will remain here with me, my dear Betty. I want to ask 
 him about things in America. 
 
 Mrs. Bebnick. Very well ; then come after us ; you 
 know where to find us. (Mrs. Bernick, Lona, and Dina 
 (JO down through the garden to the left.) 
 
 Bernick {looks out after them for a moment, goes and 
 shuts the farthest hack door on the left, then goes up to 
 JoiiAN, seizes both hands, shakes them, and presses them 
 warmly.) Johan, now we are alone ; you must give me 
 leave to thank you. 
 
 JoHAN. Oh, nonsense ! 
 
 Bernick. My house and home, my domestic happiness, 
 my whole position in society — all these I owe to you. 
 
 JoHAN. Well, I'm glad of it, my dear Karsten ; so some 
 good came of that foolish story after all. 
 
 Bernick (shaking his hands again). Thanks, thanks, 
 all the same. Not one in ten thousand would have done 
 what 3'ou then did for me. 
 
 Johan. Oh, nonsense ! Were we not both of us young 
 and thoughtless ? One of us had to take the blame upon 
 him. 
 
 Bernick. But to whom did it lie nearer than to the 
 guilty one ? 
 
 Johan. Stop ! Then it lay nearer to the innocent one. 
 I was alone, free, an orphan ; it was a positive blessing 
 to me to escape from the grind of the office. You, on 
 the other hand, had your old mother in life, and, besides, 
 you had just become secretly engaged to Betty, and she 
 was very fond of you. What would have become of her 
 if she had come to know ? 
 
 Bernick. True, true, true ; but 
 
 Johan. And was it not just for Betty's sake that you
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 49 
 
 broke off that entanglement with Madame Dorf ? It was 
 for the vei*y purpose of putting an end to it that you 
 were up at her house that night 
 
 Bernick. Yes, the fatal night when that drunken beast 
 came home. Yes, Johan, it was for Betty's sake ; but 
 yet, that you should turn appearances against yourself 
 and go away 
 
 JoHAN. Have no scruples, my dear Karsten. "We 
 agreed that it should be so ; you had to be saved, and 
 you were my friend. I can tell you I was proud of that 
 friendship. Here was I, plodding along like a poor stay- 
 at-home, when you came back like a very prince from 
 your great foreign tour ; you had been in both London 
 and Paris. Then you chose me for your bosom friend, 
 though I was four years younger than you. Well, that 
 was because you were making love to Betty ; now I 
 understand it well enough. But how proud I was of it 
 then ! And who wouldn't have been proud ? Who 
 would not willingly have sacrificed himself for you, 
 especially when it was only a matter of a month's town- 
 talk, and one had only to run away out into the wide 
 world. 
 
 Bkrnick. H'm ! My dear Johan, I must tell you openly 
 that the story is not so entirely forgotten yet. 
 
 Johan. Is it not? Well, what does it matter to me 
 when once I am back again at my farm ? 
 
 Bernick. Then you are going back again ? 
 
 Johan. Of course. 
 ' Bernick. But not so very soon, I hope ? 
 
 Johan. As soon as possible. It was only to please Lona 
 that I came over at all. 
 
 Bernick. Indeed ; how so ?
 
 :,() THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 JoHAN. Well, you see, Lona isn't young now, and for 
 some time past a sort of home-sickness lias come over 
 her, though she would never admit it. [Smiling.) She 
 dared not leave behind her an irresponsible being like 
 me, who, before I was out of my teens, had been mixed 
 up in 
 
 Bernick. And then ? 
 
 JoHAN. Well, Karsten, now I must make a confession 
 I am really ashamed of. 
 
 Bernick. You haven't told her the whole truth ? 
 
 JoHAN. Yes, I have. It was wrong of me, but I 
 couldn't help it. You have no conception what Lona 
 has been to me. You could never endure her ; but to 
 me she has been a mother. In the first few years over 
 there, when we were desperately poor, oh, how she 
 worked ; and when I had a long illness, and could not 
 earn anything, and could not keep her from doing it, 
 she took to singing songs' in the cafes, gave lectures 
 that people laughed at, Avrote a book she has both 
 laughed and cried over since, and all to keep my soul 
 and body together. Last winter, when I saw her pining 
 away, she who had toiled and moiled for me, could I sit 
 still and look on ? No, I couldn't, Karsten. I said, 
 " Go, go, Lona, don't be afraid for me ; I am not such 
 a scapegrace as you think." And then — then I told her 
 the whole. 
 
 Bernick. And how did she take it ? 
 
 JoHAN. Oh, she said what was quite true, that as I was 
 innocent I could have no objection to taking a trip over - 
 here myself. But you needn't be afraid ; Lona will say 
 nothing, and I'll take better care of my own tongue an- 
 other time.
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. •">! 
 
 Bernick. Yes, yes, I am sure you will. 
 
 JoHAN. Here's my hand upon it. And now ddn't let 
 us talk any more of that old story ; fortunately it is the 
 only escapade" either you or I have been mixed up in, I 
 hope. And now I mean thorouglily to enjoy the few 
 days I shall have here. You can't think what a splendid 
 walk we have had this forenoon. Who would have 
 thought that little baggage that ran about here and 
 played angels in the theatre ! But tell me what be- 
 came of her i:)arents afterward ? 
 
 Bernick. Oh, there's nothing more to tell than what I 
 wrote you immediately after you went away. You got 
 the two letters, of course ? 
 
 JoHAK. Of course, of course ; I have them both. The 
 drunken scoundrel left her ? 
 
 Beknick. And was aftei-ward killed in a drinking- 
 bout. 
 
 JoHAN. And she too died soon after ? But I suppose 
 3'ou did all you could for her without exciting atten- 
 tion. 
 
 Bernick. She was proud ; she betrayed nothing, but 
 she would accept nothing. 
 
 JoHAN. Well, at any rate, it was right of you to take 
 Dina into your house. 
 
 Bernick. Oh, yes However, it was really Martha 
 
 that brought that about. 
 
 JoHAN. Oh, it was Martha ? By the bye, where is 
 Martha to-day ? 
 
 Bernick. Why, as for her, when she's not busy at the 
 school, she has her sick people to attend to. 
 
 JoHAN. Then it was Martha that looked after her ? 
 
 Bernick. Yes, Martha always had a sort of weakness
 
 r)2 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 for education. That's why she accepted a place in the 
 communal school. It was very foolish of her. 
 
 JoHAN. She certainly looked very weary yesterday ; I 
 should not think her health would stand it. 
 
 Bernick. Oh, so far as her health goes, I suppose it's 
 all right. But it is unpleasant for ine. It looks as if I, 
 her brother, were not willing to maintain her, 
 
 JoHAN. Maintain her ? I thought she had enough of 
 her own to 
 
 Bernick. Not a halfpenny. I daresay you remember 
 what difficulties my mother was in when you went away. 
 She got on for some time with my help ; but, of course, 
 in the long run that would not do for me. So I got 
 myself taken into partnership ; but even then things did 
 not go well. At last I had to take over the whole afifair, 
 and when we made up our accounts, it apjDeared that 
 there was scarcely anything left to my mother's share ; 
 and as she died shortly afterward, Martha, of course, 
 was left with nothing. 
 
 JoHAN. Poor Martha ! 
 
 Bernick. Poor ! Why so ? You don't suppose I let 
 her want for anything ? Oh, no, I think I may say I am 
 a good brother. Of course she lives with us and eats at 
 our table ; her salary is quite enough for her dress, and 
 — what can a single woman want more ? 
 
 JoHAN. H'm ; that's not the way we think in Amer- 
 ica. 
 
 Bernick. No, I dare say not ; there are too many agi- 
 tators at work over there. But here, in our little circle, 
 where, thank Heaven, corruption has not yet managed 
 to creep in, here women are content to occupy a modest 
 and becoming position. For the rest, it is Martha's own
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 53 
 
 fault ; she could have been provided for long ago if she 
 had cared to, 
 
 JoHAN. You mean she could have married ? 
 
 Bernick. Yes, and married very well too ; she has had 
 several good offers ; it's strange enough — a woman with- 
 out money, no longer young, and, besides, quite insig- 
 nificant. 
 
 JoHAN. Insignificant ? 
 
 Bernick. Oh, I don't blame her at all for it. Indeed I 
 wouldn't have her otherwise. You know, in a large 
 house like ours, it is always well to have some steady- 
 going person like her whom one can put to anything 
 that may turn up. 
 
 JoHAN. Yes, but she herself ? 
 
 Bernick. She herself ? why of course she has enough 
 to interest herself in ; Betty, and Olaf, and me, you 
 know. People should not think of themselves first, and 
 women least of all. We have each our community, 
 great or small, to support and work for. I do so, at 
 any rate. [Pointing to Krap, xoho enters from the right.) 
 See, here you have a proof. Do yon think it is my own 
 business I am occupied with? By no means. [Quickly 
 ^oKrap.) Well? 
 
 Krap [whispers, showing him a bundle of papers). All 
 the arrangements for the purchase are complete. 
 
 Bernick. Capital ! first-rate ! — Oh, Johan, you must 
 excuse me for a moment. [Low, and with a pressure of 
 the hand.) Thanks, thanks, Johan, and be sure that 
 anything I can do to serve you — you understand — Come, 
 Mr. Krap ! [They go into the Consid's office.) 
 
 Johan [looks after him for some time). H'm ! [He 
 
 turns to go down the garden. At the same moment Mab- 
 12 ,
 
 54 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 THA enters from the right with a little basket on her arm.) 
 Ah, Martha? 
 
 ]VL\RTHA. Oh — Johan — is it you ? 
 
 JoHAN. Havg you been out so early, too ? 
 
 Martha. Yes. Wait a little ; the others will be here 
 soon. [Tu7'ns to go out to the left.) 
 
 Johan. I say, Martha, why are you always in such a 
 hurry ? 
 
 IMartha. I? 
 
 Johan. Yesterday you kept out of the way so that I 
 couldn't get a word with you, and to-day 
 
 Martha. Yes, but 
 
 Johan. Before, we were always together, we two old 
 play-fellows. 
 
 Martha. Ah, Johan, that is many, many years ago. 
 
 Johan. Why, bless me, it's fifteen years ago, neither 
 more nor less. Perhaps you think I have changed a 
 great deal ? 
 
 Martha. You ? Oh, yes, you too, although 
 
 Johan. What do you mean ? 
 
 Martha. Oh, nothing. 
 
 Johan. You don't seem overjoyed to see me again. 
 
 Martha. I have waited so long, Johan — too long. 
 
 Johan. Waited ? For me to come ? 
 
 Martha. Yes. 
 
 Johan. And why did you think I would come ? 
 
 Martha. To expiate where you had sinned. 
 
 Johan. I? 
 
 Martha. Have you forgotten that a woman died in 
 shame aud need for your sake? Have you forgotten 
 that by your fault a young girl's best years have been 
 embittered ?
 
 TEE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. oo 
 
 JoHAN. And I must hear this from you ? Martha, has 
 your brother never ? 
 
 j\Iartha. What of him ? 
 
 JoHAN. Has he never ; oh, I mean has he never 
 
 even said a word in my defence ? 
 
 Maktha. Ah, Johan, you know Ivarsten's strict prin- 
 ciples. 
 
 JoHAN. H'm — of course, of course — yes, I know my 
 
 old friend Ivarsten's strict principles. But this is ! 
 
 Well, Avell — I have just been talking to him. It seems 
 to me he has changed a good deal. 
 
 IMartha. How can you say so ? Karsteu has always 
 been an excellent man. 
 
 Johan. That wasn't exactly what I meant ; but let that 
 pass. H'm ; now I understand the light you have sevan 
 me in ; it is the prodigal's return that you have been 
 waiting for. 
 
 Martha. Listen, Johan, and I shall tell you in what 
 light I have seen you. (Points down to the garden ) Do 
 you see that girl playing in the grass with Olaf ? That 
 is Dina. Do you remember that confused letter you 
 wrote me when you went away ? You told me to believe 
 in you. I have believed in you, Johan. All the bad 
 things that there were rumors of afterward must have 
 been done in desperation, without thought, without pur. 
 pose . 
 
 Johan. What do you mean ? 
 
 Marth.\. Oh, you understand me well enough •, no 
 more of that. But you had to go away — to begin afresh 
 — a new life. See, Johan, I have stood in your place 
 here, I, your old playfellow. The duties you forgot, or 
 could not look to, I performed for you. I tell you this
 
 56 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 so that you may not have this to reproach yourself 
 with. I have been a mother to that much-wronged child, 
 have brought her up as well as I could 
 
 JoHAN. And sacrificed your whole life in so doing ! 
 
 Martha. It has not been thrown away. But you have 
 been long of coming, Johan. 
 
 JoHAN. Martha — if I could say to you Well, let me 
 
 at any rate thank you for your faithful friendship. 
 
 Martha {smiling sadly). H'm — well, now we have made 
 a clean breast of it, Johan. Hush, here comes some one. 
 
 Good-by ; I don't want them to {She goes out 
 
 through the farthest hack door to the left.) 
 
 LoNA Hesskl comes from the garden, followed hy Mrs. 
 Bernick, 
 
 Mrs. Bernick {still in the garden). Good heavens, what 
 can you be thinking of ? 
 
 LoNA. Let me alone, I tell you ; I must and will talk 
 to him. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Think of the scandal it would be ! Ah, 
 Johan, are you still here ? 
 
 LoNA. Out with you, boy ; don't hang about indoors 
 in the stuffy rooms ; go down the garden and talk to 
 Dina. 
 
 Johan. That's just what I was thinking of doing. 
 
 IMrs. Bernick. But 
 
 LoNA. Listen, Johan ; have you ever looked rightly at 
 Dina? 
 
 Johan. Yes, I should think I bad, 
 
 LoNA. Well, you should look at her to some pui'pose. 
 She's the very thing for you.
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 57 
 
 Mks. Bernick. But, Lona • 
 
 JoHAN. The thing for me? 
 
 Lona. Yes ; to look at, I mean. Now go ! 
 
 JoHAN. Yes, yes, I don't need any driving. {He goes 
 down the garden.) 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Lona, you amaze me. You can't possi- 
 bly be in earnest. 
 
 LoNA. Yes, indeed I am. Isn't she fresh, and sound, 
 and true? She is just the wife for John. She's the 
 sort of companion he needs over there ; something dif- 
 ferent from an old step-sister. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Dina ! Dina Dorf ! Consider a lit- 
 tle ! 
 
 Lona. I consider first and foremost the boy's happi- 
 ness. Help him I must and will ; he is no hand at such 
 things ; he has never had much of an eye for women. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. He ? Johan ! Why, haven't we sad 
 cause to know that 
 
 Lona. Oh, don't talk of that foolish story ! Where is 
 Bernick ? I want to speak to him. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Lona, you must not do it, I tell you ! 
 
 LoNA. I shall do it. If the boy likes her, and she him, 
 why then they shall have each other. Bernick is such a 
 clever man ; he must manage the thing 
 
 ]\Irs. Bernick. And you think that these American im- 
 proprieties will be tolerated here 
 
 Lona. Nonsense, Betty 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. That a man like Karsten, with his 
 strict moral ideas 
 
 Lona. Oh, come now, surely they're not so unreason- 
 ably strict. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. What do you dare to say ?
 
 58 TEE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 LoNA. I dare to say that I don't believe Bernick is very 
 much more moral than other men. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Is your hatred for him still so deep- 
 rooted? But what do you want here, since 3'ou have 
 
 never been able to forget that ? I can't understand 
 
 how you dare look him in the face, after the shameful 
 way you insulted him, 
 
 LoNA. Yes, Betty, I forgot myself terribly that time. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. And how nobly he has forgiven you — 
 he, who had done no wrong. For he couldn't help your 
 foolish fancies. But since that time you have hated me 
 too. (Bursts into tears.) You have always envied me my 
 happiness ; and now you come here to heap this trouble 
 upon me ; to show the town what sort of a family I have 
 brought Karsten into. Yes, it is I that have to suffer 
 for it all, and that is what you want. Oh, it is cruel of 
 you ! [She goes out crying through the farthest hack door 
 to the left.) 
 
 LoNA {looking after her). Poor Betty ! 
 
 Consul Bernick comes out of his office. 
 
 Bernick (still at the door). Yes, yes, that is well, Krap ; 
 that is excellent. Send four hundred crowns for a din- 
 ner to the poor. (Turns.) Lona ! (Coming nearer.) 
 You are alone ? Isn't Betty hei'e ? 
 
 LoNA. No. Shall I fetch her ? 
 
 Bernick. No, no ; do not. Oh, Lona, you do not 
 know how I have burned to talk openly with you — to 
 beg your forgiveness. 
 
 LoNA. Now listen, Karsten ; don't let us get senti- 
 mental. It doesn't suit us.
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 59 
 
 Bernick. You shall bear me, Lona. I know very well 
 how much appearances are against me, since you know all 
 that about Dina's mother. But I swear to you that it 
 was only a short madness ; at one time I really, truly, 
 and honestly loved you. 
 
 Lona. What do you think has brought me home just 
 now? 
 
 Bernick. Whatever you are intending, I implore you 
 to do nothing before I have justified myself. I can do 
 it, Lona ; at least I can show that I was not altogether 
 to blame. 
 
 LoN.\. Now you are frightened. You once loved me, 
 you say. Yes, you assured me so, often enough in your 
 letters ; and perhaps it was true, too, after a fashion, so 
 long as you were living out there in a great, free world, 
 that gave you courage to think freely and greatly your- 
 self. You, perhaps, found in me a little more character, 
 and will, and independence than in most people at home 
 here. And then it was a secret between us two ; no one 
 could make fun of your bad taste. 
 
 Bernick. Lona, how can you think ? 
 
 Lona. But when you came home, when you saw the 
 ridicule that poured down upon me, when you heard 
 the laughter at what were called my eccentricities 
 
 Bernick. You were extravagant then. 
 
 Lona. Principally for the sake of annoying the prudes, 
 both in trousers and petticoats, that infested the town. 
 And then you met that fascinating young actress 
 
 Bernick. The whole thing was a piece of foll}^ — noth- 
 ing more. I swear to you, not a tithe of the scandal 
 and tittle-tattle was true. 
 
 Lona. Perhaps so ; but then Betty came home —
 
 60 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 young, beautiful, idolized by everyone — and when it be« 
 came known that she was to have all our aunt's money 
 and I nothing 
 
 Bernick. Yes, here we are at the root of the mattei', 
 Lona ; and now you shall hear the square truth. I did 
 not love Betty ; it was for no new fancy that I broke 
 with you ; it was entirely for the sake of the money. I 
 was forced to do it ; I had to make sure of the money. 
 
 Lona. And you tell me this to my face ! 
 
 Bernick. Yes, I do. Hear me, Lona ! 
 
 Lona. And yet you wrote me that an unconquerable 
 love for Betty had seized you, appealed to my magna- 
 nimity, conjured me for Betty's sake to say nothing of 
 what had passed between us 
 
 Bernick. I had to, I tell you. 
 
 Lona. Now, by all that's holy, I don't regret having 
 forgotten myself as I did that day. 
 
 Bernick. Let me tell you, calmly and quietly, what 
 my position was at that time. My mother, you know, 
 stood at the head of the business ; but she had no busi- 
 ness ability. I was called home quickly from Paris ; the 
 times were critical ; I was to retrieve the situation. 
 What did I find ? I found — what had to be kept strictly 
 fiecret — a house as good as ruined. Yes, it was as good 
 as ruined, the old, respected house, that had stood 
 through three generations. What could I, the son, the 
 only son, do, but look about me for a means of sav- 
 ing it ? 
 
 Lona. So you saved the house of Bernick at the ex- 
 pense of a woman. 
 
 Bernick. You know very well that Betty loved me. 
 
 Lona. But I?
 
 i'HE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. tJl 
 
 Bernictr. Believe me, Lona, you would never have 
 been bappy -with me. 
 
 Lona. Was it your care ior my liappiuess that made 
 you give me up ? 
 
 Bernick. Perhaps you think I acted from selfish mo- 
 tives ? If I had stood alone ^hen, I would have begun 
 the world again bi-avely and cheerfully. But you don't 
 understand how the head of a great house becomes a liv- 
 ing part of the business he inherits, with its enormous 
 responsibility. Do you know that the weal and woe of 
 hundreds, ay, of thousands, depends upon him ? Can 
 you not consider that the whole community, which both 
 you and I call our home, would have suffered deeply if 
 the house of Bernick had fallen ? 
 
 Lona. Is it for the sake of the community, then, that 
 for these fifteen years you have stood upon a lie ? 
 
 Bernick. A lie ? 
 
 Lona. How much does Betty know of aU that liesj be- 
 neath and before her marriage with you ? 
 
 Bernick. Can you think that I would wound her to no 
 purpose by telling her these things ? 
 
 Lona. To no purpose, j'ou say ? Well, well, you are 
 a business man ; you should understand what is to the 
 purpose. But, listen, Karsteu ; I, too, will speak calmly 
 and quietly. Tell me, after all, are you really happy ? 
 
 Bernick. In my family do you mean ? 
 
 Lona. Of course. 
 
 Bernick. I am indeed, Lona. Oh, you have not sacri- 
 ficed yovu'self in vain. I can say truly that I have grown 
 happier year by year. Betty is so good and kind, and 
 in the course of j'ears she has learned to mould her 
 character to what is peculiar in mine
 
 t)2 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 LoNA. H'm ! 
 
 Bernick. At first, indeed, she had some high-flown 
 notions about love ; she could not reconcile herself to 
 the thought that, little by little, it must pass over into 
 a quiet friendship. 
 
 LoNA. And is she quite reconciled to that now f 
 
 Bernick. Entirely. You may guess that daily inter- 
 course with me has not been without a ripening influence 
 upon her. People must learn to moderate their personal 
 claims if they are to fulfil their duties iu the community 
 in which they are placed. Betty has by degrees come 
 to understand this, so that our house is now a model 
 for our fellow-citizens. 
 
 LoNA. But these fellow-citizens know nothing of the 
 lie? 
 
 Bernick. Of the lie ? 
 
 LoNA. Yes ; of the lie upon which you have stood for 
 these fifteen years. 
 
 Bernick. You call that ? 
 
 LoNA. I call it the lie — the threefold lie. First the 
 lie toward me ; then the lie toward Betty ; then the lie 
 toward Johan. 
 
 Bernick. Betty has never asked me to speak. 
 
 LoNA. Because she has known nothing. 
 
 Bernick. And you will not ask me to ; out of consider- 
 ation for her you will not. 
 
 LoNA. Oh, no ; I dare say I shall manage to bear all 
 the ridicule ; I have a broad back. 
 
 Bernick. And Johan will not ask me either — he has 
 promised me that. 
 
 LoNA. But you, yourself, Karsten ; is there not some- 
 thing within you that longs to get clear of the lie ?
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 68 
 
 Bernicr. You would Lave me voluntarily sacrifice my 
 domestic hapjiiness, and my position in society ? 
 
 LoNA. What right have you to stand where you are 
 standing ? 
 
 Bernick. For fifteen years I have every day gained 
 more and more right — by my whole life, by all I have 
 labored for, by all I have achieved. 
 
 LoNA. Yes, you have labored for much and achieved 
 much, both for yourself and others. You are the richest 
 and most powerful man in the town ; they have to bow 
 before 3'our will, all of them, because you are held to be 
 without stain or flaw — your home is held to be a model, 
 your life a model. But all this eminence, and you your- 
 self along with it, stand on a trembling quicksand ; a 
 moment may come, a word may be spoken, and, if you 
 do not save yourself in time, you and your whole gran- 
 deur go to the bottom. 
 
 Bernick. Lona, what did you come here to do? 
 
 LoNA. To help you to get firm ground under your 
 feet, Karsten. 
 
 Bernick. Revenge ! You want to revenge yourself. 
 I thought so long ago. But you cannot do it. There 
 is only one who has a right to speak, and he is silent. 
 
 Lona. Johan ? 
 
 Bernick. Yes, Johau. If anyone else accuses me, I 
 shall deny all. If \o\x try to crush me, I shall fight for 
 my life. But I tell you you will never succeed. He 
 who could destroy me will not speak — and he is going 
 away again. 
 
 Rummel and Vigeland enter from the right. 
 
 RuMMEL. Good-day, good-day, my dear Bernick ; you
 
 64 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 must come with us to the trade council. We have a 
 meeting on the subject of the railway, you know, 
 
 Bernick. I cannot ; it is impossible just now. 
 
 ViGELAND. You really must, Consul. 
 
 RuMMEL. You must, Bernick. There are people work- 
 ing against us. Editor Hammer and the others who 
 went for the coast line declare that there are private 
 interests iiidden behind the new proposal. 
 
 Bernick. Why, then, explain to them 
 
 ViGELAND. It does iio good explaining to them, Consul. 
 
 RuMMEL. No, no, you must come yourself. Of course 
 no one will dare to suspect you of anything of that sort. 
 
 LoNA. No, I should think not. 
 
 Bernick. I cannot, I tell you ; I am unwell ; — or at 
 any rate wait — let me collect myself. 
 
 Rector Rorlund enters from the right. 
 
 RoRLUND. Excuse me. Consul ; you see me most pain- 
 fully agitated 
 
 Bernick. Well, well, what is the matter with you ? 
 
 Rorlund. I must ask you a question, Consul. Is it 
 with your consent that the young girl who has found an 
 asylum under your roof shows herself in the public 
 streets in company with a person whom 
 
 LoNA. What person. Pastor ? 
 
 Rorlund. With the person from whom, of all others 
 in the world, she should be kept farthest apart. 
 
 LoNA. Ho ! ho ! 
 
 Rorlund. Is it with your consent, Consul ? 
 
 Bernick. I know nothing about it. {Looking for his 
 hat and gloves.) Excuse me ; I am in a hurry; I am 
 going up to the trade council.
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 65 
 
 HiLMAR {comes from the garden and goes over io iht-- 
 farthest hack door to the left.) Betty, Betty, come here ! 
 
 Mrs. Bernick {at the door). What is it ? 
 
 HiLMAR. You must go down the garden and put an 
 end to the flirtation which a certain person is carrying 
 on with that Dina Dorf. It has made me quite nervous 
 to listen to it. 
 
 LoNA. Indeed ? What did the certain pex'son say ? 
 
 HiLMAR. Oh, only that he wants hex to go with him to 
 America. Ugh ! 
 
 RoRLUND. Can such things be possible ? 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. miat do you say ? 
 
 LoNA. Why, that would be capital. 
 
 Bernick. Impossible ! You have made a mistake. 
 
 HiLMAR. Then ask himself. Here comes the couple. 
 Only let me be out of the business. 
 
 Bernick {to Rummel and Vigeland). I shall follow you 
 — in a moment 
 
 Rummel and Vigeland go out to the right. Johan Tonnei- 
 sen and Dina come in from the garden. 
 
 Johan. Hurrah, Lona, she is coming with us ! 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Oh, Johan — how can you ! 
 
 RoRLiiND. Can this be true ? Such a crying scandal ! 
 By what arts of seduction have you ? 
 
 Johan. What, what, man? what are you saying? 
 
 RoRLUND. Answer me, Dina ; is this your intention — 
 is it your full and free determination ? 
 
 Dina. I must get away from here. 
 
 RoRLUND. But with him — with him? 
 
 Dina. Tell me of anyone else that has courage to set 
 me free ?
 
 Q6 THE PILLARS OF SOCTETY. 
 
 RoRLUND. Then I must let you know who he is. 
 
 JoHAN. Be silent ! 
 
 Bernick. Not a word more ! 
 
 RoRLUND. Then I should ill serve the community over 
 whose manners and morals I am placed as a guardian ; 
 and I should act most indefensibly toward this young 
 gill, in whose training I too have had an important 
 part, and who is to me 
 
 JoHAN. Take care what you are doing ! 
 
 RoRLUND. She shall know it ! Dina, it was this man 
 who caused all your mother's misfortune and shame. 
 
 Bernick, Rector ! 
 
 Dina. He! {To Johan.) Is this true? 
 
 JoHAN. Karsten, you answer ! 
 
 Bernick. Not a word more ! Not a word more to-day. 
 
 Dina. Then it is true. 
 
 RoRLUND. True, true ! and more than that. This 
 person, in whom you were about to place your trust, 
 did not run away empty-handed ; — "Widow Bernick's 
 strong box — the Consul can bear witness ! 
 
 Lona. Liar ! 
 
 Bernick. Ah ! 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Oh, God ! oh, God ! 
 
 Johan {goes toward him with uplifted arm). Tou dare 
 to ! 
 
 Lona {keeping him back). Do not strike him, Johan. 
 
 RoRLUND. Yes, yes ; attack me if you like. But the 
 truth shall out ; and this is the truth. Consul Bernick 
 has said so himself, and the whole town knows it. Now, 
 Dina, now you know him. {A short pause.) 
 
 Johan {softly, seizing Bernick's arm). Karsten, Kars- 
 ten, what have you done ?
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. ^7 
 
 Mes. Bernick {softly, in tears). Oh, Karsten, that I 
 should bring all this shame upon you. 
 
 Sandstad {comes quickly in from the right, and says, 
 with his hand still on the door-handle). You must really 
 come now, Consul ! The whole railway is hanging by a 
 thread. 
 
 Bernick {absently). What is it ? What am I to ? 
 
 LoNA {earnestly, and with emphasis). You are to rise 
 and support society, brother-in-law. 
 
 Sandstad. Yes, come, come ; we need all your moral 
 predominance. 
 
 JoHAN {close to him). Bernick, we two wiU talk of this 
 to-morrow. {He goes out through the garden; Bernick 
 goes out to the right with Sandstad, as if his will were 
 paralyzed.)
 
 ACT III. 
 
 l^The garden-room in Consul Beenick's house. Bernick, 
 with a cane in his hand, entei's, in a violent jyassion, 
 from the farthest hack room to the left, leaving the 
 door half open behind him.] 
 
 Bernick. There now ! At last I've done it in earnest ; 
 I don't think he'll forget that thrashing. (To someone in 
 the other room.) What do you say ? But / say you are 
 a foolish mother ! You make excuses for him, and 
 support him in all his naughtiness. Not naughtiness ? 
 What do you call it then ? To steal out of the house at 
 night and go to sea in a fishing-boat ; to remain out till 
 late in the day, and put me in mortal terror (though 
 goodness knows I've enough anxiety without that). And 
 the young rascal dares to threaten me with running 
 away ! Just let him try it ! You ? No, I dare say not ; 
 you don't seem to care much what becomes of him. I 
 
 believe if he were to get killed ! Oh, indeed ; but 
 
 I have work to leave behind me here in the world. I 
 can't afford to be left childless. Don't argue, Betty, it 
 must be as I say ; he must be kept in the house. 
 (Listens.) Hush, don't let people notice anything. 
 
 Krap comes in from, the right. 
 
 Krap. Can you spare me a moment. Consul ? 
 Bernick (throws aivay the cane). Of course, of course ; 
 have you come from the yard ?
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 69 
 
 Krap. Just this momeni H'm ! 
 
 Bernick. Well ? There's nothing wrong with the Palm 
 Tree I hope ? 
 
 Krap. The Palm Tree can sail to-morrow, but 
 
 Bernick. The Indian Girl, then ? I might have guessed 
 that that stiff-necked 
 
 Krap. The Indian Girl can sail to-morrow, too ; but — 
 I don't think she'll get very far. 
 
 Bernick. What do you mean ? 
 
 Krap. Excuse me. Consul ; that door is ajar, and I 
 think there is someone in the room. 
 
 Bernick [shuts the door). There now. But what is the 
 meaning of all this secrecy ? 
 
 Krap. It means this : that I believe Aune intends to 
 send the Indian Girl to the bottom, with every soul on 
 board. 
 
 Bernick. Good heavens ! how can you think ? 
 
 Krap. I cannot explain it any other way, Consul. 
 
 Bernick. Well then, tell me in as few words as 
 
 Krap. I shall. You know how slowly things have 
 been going in the yard since we got the new machines 
 and the new inexperienced workmen ? 
 
 Bernick. Yes, yes. 
 
 Krap. But this morning, when I went down there, I 
 noticed that the repairs on the American had been going 
 at a great rate. The big patch in her bottom — the 
 rotten place, you know 
 
 Bernick. Yes, yes! what of it? 
 
 Krap. It was completely repaired — to all appear- 
 ance ; covered over ; looked as good as new. I heard 
 that Aune himself had been working at it by lantern- 
 light the whole night through. 
 13
 
 70 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 33ERNICK. Yes, yes, and then ? 
 
 Krap. I went and examined it ; the workmen had just 
 gone to their breakfast, so I was able to look about un- 
 noticed, both outside and inside. It was difficult to get 
 down into the hold, as she is loaded. There is rascality 
 at work. Consul. 
 
 Bernick. I cannot believe it, Krap. I cannot and will 
 not believe such a thing of Aune. 
 
 Keap. I am sorry for it, but it is the plain truth. 
 There is rascality at work, I say. There was no new 
 timber put in, so far as I could see. It was only botched 
 and puttied up, and covered with tarpaulins, and so forth. 
 All bogus ! The Indian Girl will never get to New York. 
 She'll go to the bottom like a cracked pot. 
 
 Bernick. But this is horrible ! What do you think 
 can be his motive ? 
 
 Krap. He probably wants to bring the machines into 
 discredit ; wants to revenge himself ; wants to have the 
 old workmen taken on again. 
 
 Bernick. And for that he would sacrifice all these lives? 
 
 Krap. He has been heard to say that there are no men 
 on board the Indian Girl — only beasts. 
 
 Bernick. Yes, yes, that may be ; but does he not think 
 of the immense capital that will be lost? 
 
 Krap. Aune doesn't regard immense capital with a very 
 friendly eye, Consul. 
 
 Bernick. True enough ; he is an agitator and spreader 
 of discontent ; but such a piece of villany as this ! Listen, 
 Krap ; this affair must be examined into again. Not a 
 word of it to any one. Our yard would fall into bad re- 
 pute if people got to know anything of this sort. 
 
 Kbap. O! course, but
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOClEl T. 71 
 
 Beknick. During the dinner hour you must go down 
 there again ; I must have perfect certainty. 
 
 Krap. You shall, Consul ; but, excuse me, what will 
 you do then ? 
 
 Bernick. Why, report the case, of course. "We cannot 
 make ourselves accessories to a crime. I must keep my 
 conscience unspotted. Besides, it will make a good im- 
 pression on both the press and the public at large when 
 they see that I set aside all personal considerations and 
 let justice take its course. 
 
 I{jL\p. Very true, Consul. 
 
 Bernick. But, first of all, perfect certainty — and, until 
 then, silence 
 
 Kr.^p. Not a woi'd, Consul ; and you shall have abso- 
 lute certainty. {He goes out through the garden and down 
 the street. ) 
 
 Bernick {half aloud). Horrible! But no, it is impos- 
 sible — inconceivable ! 
 
 As he turns to go to his own room Hilmar Tonnesen enters 
 from the right. 
 
 HrLMAR. Good- day, Bernick ! Well, I congratulate 
 you on your field-day in the trade council yesterday. 
 
 Bernick. Oh, thanks. 
 
 HiLMAR. It was a brilliant victory, I hear, the victory 
 of intelligent public spirit over self-interest and prejudice 
 — like a French razzia upon the Kabyles. Strange, that 
 after the unpleasant scene here, you 
 
 Bernick. Yes, yes, don't speak of it. 
 
 HiLMAR. But the tug of war is to come yet. 
 
 Bernick. In the matter of the railway, you mean ?
 
 72 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 HiLMAK. Yes, I suppose you have heard of the egg that 
 Editor Hammer is hatching? 
 
 Beknick {anxiously). No ! What is it ? 
 
 HiLMAR. Oh, he has got hold of the report that is going 
 about, and is going to make an article of it. 
 
 Bernick. What report ? 
 
 HiLMAE. Of course, that about the great purchase of 
 property along the branch line. 
 
 Bernick. What do you mean ? Is there such a report? 
 
 HiLMAR. Yes, over the whole town. I heard it at the 
 club. It is said that one of our lawj'^ers has been secretly 
 commissioned to buy up all the forests, all the veins of 
 ore, all the water-power 
 
 Bernick. And is it known for whom ? 
 
 HiLMAR. At the club everyone thought that it must be 
 for a company from some other town that had got wind 
 of your scheme, and had rushed in before the prices rose. 
 Isn't it mean ? disgraceful ? Ugh ! 
 
 Bernick. Disgraceful? 
 
 HiLMAR. Yes, that strangers should trespass on our 
 preserves in that way. And that one of our own lawyers 
 could lend himself to anything like that ! Now, all the 
 profit will go to strangers. 
 
 Bernick. But this is only a vague rumor. 
 
 HiLMAR. It is believed, at any rate ; and to-morrow or 
 next day Editor Hammer will, of course, go and nail it 
 fast as a fact. Everyone was enraged about it already 
 up there. I heard several say that if this rumor is con- 
 firmed they will strike their names off the lists. 
 
 Bernick, Impossible ! 
 
 HiLMAR. Indeed ? Why do you think these peddling 
 creatures were so ready to join you in your undertak-
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY, 73 
 
 ing ? Do you think tbey weren't themselves hankering 
 
 after ? 
 
 Bernick. Impossible, I say ; there is at least so much 
 public spirit in our little community 
 
 HiLMAK. Here? Oh, yes, you are an optimist, and 
 judge others by yourself. But I am a pretty keen ob- 
 server. There is not a person here — with the exception 
 of ourselves, of course — not one, I say, who holds high 
 the banner of the ideal. (Up toward the background.) 
 Ugh, there they are. 
 
 Bernick. Who ? 
 
 HiLMAR. The two Americans. (Looks out to the right.) 
 And who is that they are with ? Why, it's the cap tarn 
 of the Indian Girl. Ugh ! 
 
 Bernick. What can they want with him ? 
 
 HiLMAR. Oh, it's very appropriate company. They say 
 he has been a slave-dealer or a pirate ; and who knows 
 what that couple have turned their hands to in all these 
 years. 
 
 Bernick. I tell you, it is utterly unjust to think so of 
 them. 
 
 HiLMAR. Yes, you are an optimist. But here we have 
 them upon us again; so I'll get away in time. (Goes 
 toward the door on the left.) 
 
 LoNA Hessel enters by the door on the right. 
 
 liONA. What, Hilmar, am I driving you away ? 
 
 HiLMAR. Not at all, not at all. I am in a great hurry ; 
 I have something to say to Betty. (Goes out by the far- 
 thest back door on the left.) 
 
 Bernick {after a short pause). Well, Lona ? 
 
 LoNA. Well?
 
 74 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 Bebnick. What do you think of me to-day? 
 
 LoNA. The same as yesterday ; a lie more or less \ 
 
 Bernick. I must explain all this. Where has Johan 
 gone to? 
 
 LoNA. He'll be here directly ; lie had to talk to a man 
 out there. 
 
 Bernick. After what you heard yesterday, you can un- 
 derstand that my whole position is ruined if the truth 
 comes to light. 
 
 LoNA. I understand. 
 
 Bernick. Of course you know well enough that /was 
 not guilty of the supposed crime. 
 
 LoNA. Of course not. But who was the thief? 
 
 Bernick. There was no thief. There was no money 
 stolen ; not a halfpenny was wanting. 
 
 LoNA. What? 
 
 Bernick. Not a halfpenny, I say. 
 
 LoNA. But the rumor ? How did that shameful 
 rumor get abroad, that Johan ? 
 
 Bernick. Lona, I find I can talk to j'ou as I can to no 
 other person ; I shall conceal nothing from you. /had 
 my share in spreading the rumor. 
 
 LoNA. You ! And 3'ou could do this wrong to the 
 man who, for your sake ? 
 
 Bernick. You must not condemn me without remem- 
 bering how matters stood at the time. As I told you 
 yesterday, I came home to find my mother involved in 
 a whole series of foolish undertakings. Misfortunes of 
 various kinds followed. It seemed as if all possible ill- 
 luck came upon us at once ; our house was on the verge 
 of ruin. I was half reckless and half in despair, Lona. 
 I believe it was principally to deaden thought that I got
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 75 
 
 into that entanglement which ended in Johan's running 
 away. 
 
 LoNA. H'm 
 
 Bernick. You can easily imagine how all sorts of 
 rumors got abroad after he and you left. It was said 
 that this was not his first misdemeanor. Some said 
 Dorf had received a large sum of money from him to 
 keep quiet and go away ; others declared that she had 
 got the money. At the same time it got abroad that our 
 house had difficulty iu meeting its engagements. What 
 more natural than that the gossips should put these two 
 rumoi's together ? As Madam Dorf remained here in 
 unmistakable poverty, people began to say that he had 
 taken the money with him to America, and rumor made 
 the sum larger and larger every day. 
 
 LoNA. And you, Karsten ? 
 
 Bernick. I clutched at the rumor as a drowning 
 man clutches at a straw. 
 
 LoNA. You helped to spread it. 
 
 Bernick. I did not contradict it. Our creditors were 
 beginning to press upon us ; what I had to do was to 
 quiet them ; the great point was to keep people from 
 suspecting the solidity of the firm. A momentary mis- 
 fortune had befallen us, but if people only refrained 
 from pressing us, if they would only give us time, every- 
 one could have his own. 
 
 LoNA. And everyone got his own? 
 
 Bernick. Yes, Lona, that rumor saved our house, and 
 made me the man I am. 
 
 LoNA. A lie, then, has made you the man you are. 
 
 Bernick. Whom did it hurt, then ? Johan intended 
 never to i-eturn.
 
 7b THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 LoNA. You ask whom it hurt. Look into yourself 
 and see if it has not hurt you. 
 
 Bernick. Look into any man you please, and you will 
 find at least one dark spot which he must keep cov- 
 ered. 
 
 LoNA, And you call yourselves the pillars of society ! 
 
 Bernick. Society has none better. 
 
 LoNA. Then what does it matter whether such a society 
 is supported or not ? What is it that passes current 
 here ? Lies and shams — nothing else. Here are you, 
 the first man in the town, living in wealth and pride, in 
 power and honor, you, who have set the brand of crime 
 upon an innocent man. 
 
 Bernick. Do you think I do not feel deeply how I 
 have wronged him ? Do you think I am not prepared 
 to make atonement ? 
 
 LoNA. How ? By speaking out ? 
 
 Bernick. Can you ask such a thing ? 
 
 LoNA. What else can atone for such a wrong? 
 
 Bernick. I am rich, Lona ; Johan may ask what he 
 pleases 
 
 LoNA. Yes, offer him money and you'll see what he'll 
 answer. 
 
 Bernick. Do you know what he intends to do ? 
 
 LoNA. No. Since yesterday he has been silent. It 
 Beems as if all this had suddenly made a full-grown man 
 of him. 
 
 Bernick. I must speak to him. 
 
 LoNA. Then here he is. 
 
 Johan Tonnesen enters from the right. 
 Bernick {going toward him). Johan !
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 77 
 
 JoHAK. Let me speak first. Yesterday morning I 
 gave you my word to be silent, 
 
 Bernick. You did. 
 
 JoHAN. But I did not know then 
 
 Bernick. Jolian, let me in two words explain the cir- 
 cumstances 
 
 JoHAN. There is no need ; I understand the circum- 
 stances very well. Your house was then in a difficult 
 position ; and when I was no longer here, and you had 
 my unprotected name and fame to do what you liked 
 
 with Well, I don't blame you so much for it ; we 
 
 were young and heedless in those days. But now I have 
 need of the truth, and now you must speak out. 
 
 Bernick, And just at this moment I need all my 
 moral repute, and so cannot speak out. 
 
 JoHAN. I don't care so much about the falsehoods you 
 have spread abroad about me ; it is the other thing you 
 yourself must take the blame of. Dina shall be my 
 wife, and I shall live here, here in this town along with 
 her. 
 
 LoNA. You will ? 
 
 Bernick. With Dina ! As your wife ? Here in this 
 town ? 
 
 JoHAN. Yes, just here ; I shall remain here to defy all 
 these liars and backbiters. And that I may win her, you 
 must set me free. 
 
 Bernick. Have you considered that to admit the one 
 thing is to admit the other as well ? You may say that 
 I can prove by our books that there was no robbery at 
 all. But I cannot ; our books weren't kept so exactly at 
 that time. And even if I could, what would be gained 
 by it? Should I not, at best, appear as the man who
 
 78 TEE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 had once saved himself by a falsehood, and who for fif- 
 teen years had let that falsehood, and all its conse- 
 quences, stand untouched, without saying a word against 
 it? You have forgotten what our society is, or you 
 would know that that would crush me to the very 
 dust. 
 
 JoHAN. I can only repeat to you that I shall make 
 Madam Dorf's daughter my wife, and live with her here 
 in the town. 
 
 Bernick {wipes the perspiration from his forehead). 
 Hear me, Johan — and you, too, Lona. The circum- 
 stances in which I am placed at this moment are not or- 
 dinary ones. I am so situated, that if you strike this 
 blow you ruin me utterly, and not only me, but also a 
 great and blessed future for the community which was 
 the home of your childhood. 
 
 Johan. And if I do not strike the blow, I destroy the 
 whole happiness of my future life. 
 
 LiONA. Go on, Karsten. 
 
 Bernick. Then listen. It all arises fwm this affair of 
 the railway, and that is not so simple as you think. 
 You have, of course, heard that last year there was a 
 talk of a coast-line ? It had many and powerful advo- 
 cates in the town and neighborhood, and especially in 
 the press ; but I got it shelved, because it would have 
 injured our steamboat trade along the coast. 
 
 Lona. Have you an interest in this steamboat trade ? 
 
 Bernick. Yes. But no one dared to suspect me on 
 that account. My honored name was an ample safe- 
 guard. For that matter, I could have borne the loss ; 
 but the town could not have borne it. Then the inland 
 hne was determined on. When that was settled, I
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 79 
 
 assured myself secretly that a branch line could be con- 
 structed down to the town. 
 
 LoNA. Why secretl}', Karsten? 
 
 Bernick. Have you heard any talk of the great buying- 
 up of forests, mines, and water-power? 
 
 JoH.\N. Yes, for a company in some other town 
 
 Bernick. As these j^roperties now lie they are as good 
 as worthless to their scattered owners ; so they have 
 been sold comparatively cheap. If the buyer had waited 
 until the branch line was generally spoken of, the 
 holders would have demanded fancy prices. 
 
 LoNA. Very likely ; but what then ? 
 
 Beknick. Now comes the point which may or may not 
 be interpreted favorably — a thing which no man in our 
 community could risk, unless he had a spotless and 
 honored name to rely upon. 
 
 LoxA. Well? 
 
 Bernick. It is I who have bought the whole. 
 
 LoNA. You? 
 
 JoHAN. On your own account ? 
 
 Bernick. On my own account. If the branch line is 
 made, I am a millionnaire ; if it is not made, I am ruined. 
 
 LoNA, This is a great risk, Karsten. 
 
 Bernick. I have staked all I possess upon the throw. 
 
 LoNA. I was not thinking of the money ; but when it 
 is known that 
 
 Bernick. Yes, that is the great point. With the 
 spotless name I have hitherto borne I can take "the 
 whole affair upon my shoulders and caiTy it through, 
 saying to my fellow-citizens, " See, this I have dared for 
 the good of the community ! " 
 
 LoNA. Of the community ?
 
 80 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 Beenick. Yes ; and not one will question my motivea 
 
 LoNA. Then, after all, there are men here who have 
 acted more openly than you, with no concealed motives, 
 without private considerations. 
 
 Bernick. Who ? 
 
 LoNA. Wh}^ of course, Kummel and Sandstad and 
 Vigeland. 
 
 Bernick. To gain them over I had to let them into 
 the secret. 
 
 LoNA. And then? 
 
 Bernick. They have stipulated for a fifth of the profits 
 to be divided between them. 
 
 LoNA. Oh, these pillars of society ! 
 
 Bernick. Don't you see that it is society itself that 
 forces us into these subterfuges? What would have 
 hapiDened if I had not acted secretly ? Why, everyone 
 would have thrown himself into the undertaking, and 
 the whole thing would have been bi'oken up, divided, 
 bungled, and spoiled. There is not a single man in the 
 town here, except myself, that knows how to manage an 
 enormous concern such as this will become ; in this 
 country the men of real business ability are almost all 
 of foreign origin. That is why my conscience acquits 
 me in this matter. Only in my hands can all these 
 properties become a lasting benefit to the many who 
 will make their bread out of them. 
 
 LoNA. I believe you are right there, Karsten. 
 
 JoHAN. But I know nothing of "the many," and my 
 life's happiness is at stake. 
 
 Bernick. The welfare of your native place is also at 
 stake. If things come to the surface which cast a slur 
 upon my former conduct, all my opponents will fall
 
 THE PILLARS OF 80GIBTY. 81 
 
 upon me with united strength A boyish error is never 
 atoned for in our society. People will go over my 
 whole life during the interval, will rake up a thousand 
 little circumstances, and explain and interpret them in 
 the light of what has been discovered ; they will crush 
 me beneath the weight of rumors and slanders. I shall 
 have to retire from the railway affairs ; and if I take my 
 hand away the whole thing will fall to pieces, and I shall 
 lose both my fortune and, as it were, my social life. 
 
 LoNA. Johan, after what you have heard you must be 
 silent and go away. 
 
 Bernick. Yes, yes, Johan, you must. 
 
 Johan. Yes, I shall go away, and be silent too ; but I 
 shall come back again, and then I shall speak. 
 
 Bernick. Remain over there, Johan ; be silent, and I 
 am ready to share with ^^ou 
 
 Johan. Keep your money, and give me back my name 
 and fame. 
 
 Bernick. And sacrifice my own ! 
 
 Johan. You and your society must settle that ! I 
 must and shall win Dina for myself. So I shall sail to- 
 morrow with the Indian Girl. 
 
 Bernick. With the Indian Girl? 
 
 Johan. Yes ; the captain has promised to take me. I 
 shall go over, I tell you ; I shall sell my fann, and 
 arrange my affairs. In two months I shall be back 
 again. 
 
 Bernick. And then you will tell all ? 
 
 Johan. Then the guilty one must take the guilt upon 
 himself. 
 
 Bernick. Do you forget that I must also take upon 
 me guilt which is not mine ?
 
 82 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 JoHAN. Who was it that, fifteen years ago, reaped the 
 benefit of that slander ? 
 
 Bermck. You di'ive me to desperation ! But, if you 
 speak, I shall deny all ! I shall say it is a conspiracy 
 against me ; a piece of revenge ; that you have come 
 here to blackmail me ! 
 
 LoNA. Shame on you, Ivarsten ! 
 
 Bernick. I am desperate, I tell you ; I am fighting for 
 my life. I shall deny all, all ! 
 
 JoHAN. I have your two letters. I found them in my 
 box among my other papers. I read them through this 
 morning ; they are plain enough. 
 
 Beknick. And you will produce them ? 
 
 JoHAN. If you force me. 
 
 Bernick. And in two months you will be here again ? 
 
 JoHAN. I hope so. The wind is good. In three weeks 
 I shall be in New York, if the Indian Girl doesn't go to 
 the bottom. 
 
 Bernick {starting). Go to the bottom ? Why should 
 the Indian Girl go to the bottom ? 
 
 JoHAN. That's just what I say. 
 
 Bernick (almost inaudlblij). Go to the bottom ? 
 
 JoH.\N. Well, Bernick, now you know what you have 
 to expect ; you must do what you can in the meantime. 
 Good-by ! Give my love to Betty, though she certainly 
 hasn't received me in the most sisterly fashion. But 
 Martha I must see. She must say to Dina — she must 
 
 promise me [He goes out by the farthest back door 
 
 on the left) 
 
 Bernick {to himself). The Indian Girl ? {Quickly.) 
 
 Lona, you must get this stopped ! 
 
 LoNA. You see yourself, Karsten — I have lost all
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. «o 
 
 power over him. {She follows Johan into the room on 
 the left.) 
 
 Beiwick (i/t unquiet thought). Go to the bottom ? 
 
 AuNE enters from the right. 
 
 AuNE. Excuse me, Consul, are you disengaged ? 
 
 Beeniok (turns angrily). What do you want? 
 
 AuNE. I wish, by your leave, to ask you a question. 
 Consul Bernick. 
 
 Bernick. Well, well ; be quick. What do you want 
 to ask about ? 
 
 AuNE. I want to know if it is your determination — 
 your fixed determination — to dismiss me if the Indian 
 Girl should not be able to sail to-morrow ? 
 
 Bernick. What now ? The ship lodl be ready to sail. 
 
 AuNE. Yes, she will. But supposing she were not — 
 should I be dismissed ? 
 
 Bernick. Why do you ask such a useless question ? 
 
 AuNE. I want very much to know, Consul Just an- 
 swer me ; should I be dismissed ? 
 
 Bernick. Do I generally change my mind ? 
 
 AuNE. Then to-morrow I should have lost the position 
 I now hold in my home and in my family — lost all my 
 influence over the workmen — lost all opportunity of ad- 
 vancing the cause of the needy and oppressed ? 
 
 Bernick. Aune, we have discussed that point long ago. 
 
 AuNE. Yes — then the Indian Girl must sail. {A short 
 pause.) 
 
 Bernick. Listen ; I cannot look after everything my- 
 self ; cannot be responsible for everything. I suppose 
 you are prepared to assure me that the repairs are thor- 
 oughly carried out ?
 
 84 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 AuNE. You gave me very short time, Consul. 
 
 Behnick. But the repairs are all right, you say ? 
 
 AuNE. The weather is fine, and it is midsummer. 
 {Another pause.) 
 
 Beknick. Have you anything more to say to me ? 
 
 AuNE. I don't know of anything else, Consul. 
 
 Bernick. Then — the Indian Girl sails 
 
 AuNE. To-morrow? 
 
 Bernick. Yes. 
 
 AuNE. Very well. {He bows and goes out. Bernick 
 stands for a moment undecided ; then he goes quickly 
 to the door as if to call Aune back, but stops and stands 
 hesitating, with his hand on the handle. Immediately 
 after the door is opened from outside and Krap enters.) 
 
 Krap {speaking low). Aha, he has been here. Has 
 he confessed ? 
 
 Bernick. H'm ; have you discovered anything ? 
 
 Krap. What need was there ? Did you not see the 
 evil conscience looking out of his very eyes ? 
 
 Bernick. Oh, nonsense ; — such things are not to be 
 seen. Have you discovered anything, I ask ? 
 
 Krap. I couldn't get to the place ; I was too late -. 
 they were busy hauling the ship out of dock. But this 
 very haste proves plainly tliat 
 
 Bernick. It proves nothing. The inspection has taken 
 place, then? 
 
 Krap. Of course ; but 
 
 Bernick. There, you see ! and they've found nothing 
 to complain of ? 
 
 Krap. Consul, you know very well how such inspec- 
 tions are conducted, especially in a yard that has such a 
 good name as ours.
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 8;') 
 
 Bernick. That does not matter ; it relieves us of all 
 reproach, 
 
 Krap. Could you really not see, Consul, from Anna's 
 very look, that ? 
 
 Bernick. Aune has entirely satisfied me, I tell you. 
 
 Krap. And I tell you I am morally convinced 
 
 Bernick. What does this meau, Krap ? I know very 
 well that you have a grudge against the man ; but if you 
 want to attack him, you should choose some other op- 
 portunity. You know how necessary it is for me — or 
 rather for the owners — that the Indian Girl should sail 
 to-morrow. 
 
 Krap. Very well ; so be it ; but if ever we hear again 
 of that ship — h'm ! 
 
 ViGELAND enters from the right. 
 
 ViaELAND. How do you do, Consul? Have you a mo- 
 ment to spare ? 
 
 Bernick. At your service, Mr. Vigeland. 
 
 ViGELAND. I only want to know if you agree with me 
 that the Palm Tree should sail to-morrow. 
 
 Bernick. Yes — I thought that was settled. 
 
 Vigeland. But the captain has just come to tell me 
 that the storm-signals have been hoisted, 
 
 Krap. The barometer has fallen rapidly since this 
 morning. 
 
 Bernick. Indeed ? Is there a storm coming ? 
 
 Vigeland. A stiff gale at any rate ; but not a contrary 
 wind ; quite the reverse 
 
 Bernick. H'm ; what do you say, then ? 
 
 Vigeland. I say as I said to the captain, that the 
 Palm Tree is in the hands of Providence. And besides, 
 14
 
 86 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 she's only going over the North Sea to begin with; 
 and freights are tolerably high in England just now, 
 so that 
 
 Bebnick. Yes, it would probably be a loss to us if we 
 delayed. 
 
 ViGELAND. The vessel's well built, you know, and fully 
 insured as well. I can tell you it's another matter with 
 the Indian Girl 
 
 Bernick. What do you mean ' 
 
 ViGELAND. Why, she is to sail to-morrow too. 
 
 Bernick. Yes, the owners hurried us on, and be- 
 sides 
 
 ViGEL.\ND. Well, if that old hulk can venture out — and 
 with such a crew into the bargain — it would be a shame 
 II we couldn't 
 
 Bernick. Well, well ; I suppose you have got the ship's 
 papers with you. 
 
 ViGELAND. Yes, here they are. 
 
 Bernick. Good ; perhaps you will go with Mr. Krap. 
 
 Krap. This way, please ; we'll soon put them in order. 
 
 ViGELAND. Thanks — and the result we will leave in the 
 liands of Omnipotence, Consul. {He goes with Krap into 
 the foremost room on the left.) 
 
 Rector Rorlund comes through the garden. 
 
 RoRLUND. Ah, is it possible you are to be found at 
 home at this time of the day, Consul? 
 
 Bernick (absently). As you see ! 
 
 Rorlund. It was really to see your wife that I looked 
 in. I thought she might need a word of consolation. 
 
 Bernick. I dare say she does. But I, too, should like 
 a word or two with you.
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 87 
 
 RoRLxmo. With pleasure. Consul. But what is the 
 matter with you ? You look quite pale and disturbed. 
 
 Bernick. Indeed ? Do I ? Well, it could scarcely be 
 otlierwise, with such a lot of things besetting me all at 
 once. In addition to all my usual business, I have this 
 afltair of the railway. Listen a moment, Rector ; let me 
 ask you a question. 
 
 RoRLUND. With great pleasure, Consul. 
 
 Bernick. A thought has occurred to me lately ; when 
 one stands at the commencement of a wide-stretching 
 undertaking, intended to pi'omote the welfare of thou- 
 sands, if a single sacrifice should be demanded ? 
 
 RoRLu^^D, How do you mean ? 
 
 Bernick. Take, for example, a man who is starting a 
 great manufactory. He knows very certainly — all ex- 
 perience has taught him — that sooner or later, in the 
 working of that manufactory, human life will be lost. 
 
 RoRLTJND. Yes, it is only too probable. 
 
 Bernick. Or he is engaged in mining operations. He 
 takes both fathers of families and young men in the hey- 
 day of life into his service. Cannot it be said with 
 certainty that some of these are bound to perish in the 
 undertaking ? 
 
 Rorlund. Unfortunately there can be little doubt of 
 that. 
 
 Bernick. Well ; such a man, then, knows beforehand 
 that his enterprise will undoubtedly, some time or other, 
 lead to the loss of life. But the undertaking is for the- 
 greater good of the greater number ; for every life it 
 costs, it will, with equal certainty, promote the welfare 
 of many hundreds. 
 
 Rorlund. Aha, you are thinking of the railway — of aU
 
 88 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 the dangerous tunnellings and blastings, and that sort 
 of thing 
 
 Beknick. Yes — yes, of course ; I am thinking of the 
 railway. And, besides, the railway will bring in its train 
 both manufactories and mines. But don't you thint 
 that 
 
 RoRLUND. My dear Consul, you are almost too Quixotic. 
 If you place the affair in the hand of Providence 
 
 Bernick. Yes — yes, of course ; Providence 
 
 EoRLUND. You can have nothing to reproach your- 
 self with. Go on and prosper with the railway. 
 
 Bernick. Yes, but let us take a peculiar case. Let us 
 suppose a mine had to be sprung at a dangerous place ; 
 and, unless it was sprung, the railway would come to a 
 standstill. Suppose the engineer knows that it will cost 
 the life of the workman who fires the train ; but fired it 
 must be, and it is the engineer's duty to send a workman 
 to do it. 
 
 EORLUND. H'm 
 
 Bernick. I know what you will say : It would be noble 
 for the engineer himself to take the match and go and 
 fire the train. But no one does such things. Then he 
 must sacrifice a workman. 
 
 RoRLUND. No engineer, among us would ever do 
 that. 
 
 Bernick. No engineer in the great nations would think 
 twice about doing it. 
 
 . Rorlund. In the gi'eat nations. No, I dare say not. 
 In these depraved and unprincipled communities 
 
 Bernick. Oh, these communities have their good 
 points, too. 
 
 Rorlund. Can you say that — you, who yourself ?
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 89 
 
 Bernick. In the great nations one has always room to 
 press forward a useful project. There, one has courage 
 to sacrifice something for a great cause ; but here, one 
 is cramped in by all sorts of petty considex-ations. 
 
 RoELUND. Is a human life a petty consideration ? 
 
 Bernick. When that human life threatens the welfare 
 of thousands. 
 
 KoRLUND. But 3'ou are putting quite impossible cases, 
 Consul. I don't understand you to-day. And you refer 
 me to the great communities. Yes, there — what does a 
 human life count for there ? They think less of lives 
 than of profits. But we, I hope, look at things from an 
 entirely different moral standpoint. Think of our noble 
 shipowners ! Name me a single merchant here among 
 us Avho, for paltry gain, would sacrifice a single life. 
 And then think of those scoundrels in the great com- 
 munities who make money by sending out one unsea- 
 worthy ship after another 
 
 Bernick. I am not speaking of unseaworthy ships. 
 
 RoRLUND. But I am, Consul. 
 
 Bernick. Yes, but to what purpose ? It is quite away 
 from the question. Oh, these little timid considera- 
 tions ! If a general among us were to lead his troops 
 under fire, and get some of them shot, he wouldn't be 
 able to sleep at night after it. It is not so in other 
 
 places. You should hear what he says {Pointing to 
 
 the door on the left.) 
 
 RoRLUND. He ? Who, the American ? 
 
 Bernick. Of course. You should hear how people in 
 America 
 
 RoRLUND. Is he in there ? Why didn't you tell me. 
 I shall go at once
 
 90 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY- 
 
 Beenick. It is of no use. You will make no imprea 
 sion upon him. 
 
 RoRLUND. That we shall see. Ah, here he is. 
 
 JoHAK ToKNESEN comes frovi the room on the left. 
 
 JoHAN [speaking thr^ough the open doorway). Yes, yes, 
 Dina, so be it ; but I shall not give you up all the same. 
 I shall return, and things will come all right between us. 
 
 EoRLUND. Allow me. What do you mean by thes? 
 words ? What do you want ? 
 
 JoHAN. I want that young girl, before whom you 
 yesterday slandered me, to be my wife. 
 
 RoKLUND. Yours ? Can you think that ? 
 
 JoHAN. She ^hall be my wife. 
 
 EoELUND. Well, then, you shall hear — — {^Goes to the 
 half-open door.) Mrs. Bernick, you must have the kind- 
 ness to be a witness. And you, too, Miss Martha ; and 
 let Dina come too. [Sees Lona.) Ah, are you here ? 
 
 LoNA [at the door). Shall I come too ? 
 
 RoRLUND. As many as will — the more the better. 
 
 Bernick. What are you going to do ? 
 
 LoNA, Mrs. Bernick, 1\I.\rtha, Dina, and Hilmar Ton- 
 NESEN come out of the room on the left. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Rector, all I can do cannot prevent him 
 from 
 
 Rorlund. I shall prevent him, Mrs. Bernick. Dina, 
 you are a thoughtless girl. But I do not blame yon 
 very much. You have stood here too long without the 
 moral support that should have kept you up. I blame 
 myself for not having given you that support. 
 
 Dina. You must not speak now !
 
 TEE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 91 
 
 Mrs. Beenick. What is all this ? 
 
 RoRLUND. It is now that I must speak, Dina, though 
 your behavior to-day has rendered it ten times more 
 difficult for me. But all other considerations must give 
 place to your rescue. You remember the promise I 
 gave you. You remember what you promised to answer, 
 when I found that the time had come. Now I can hesi- 
 tate no longer, and therefore [to Johan Tonnesen) this 
 young girl, whom you are pursuing, is my betrothed. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. What do you say ? 
 
 Bernick. Dina ! 
 
 JoH.\N. She ! Yours ? 
 
 IMaktha. No, no, Dina. 
 
 LoNA. A lie ! 
 
 Johan. Dina, does that man speak the truth? 
 
 Dina {after a short pause). Yes. 
 
 EoRLDND. This, I trust, will paralyze all your arts 
 of seduction. The step I have determined to take for 
 Dina's welfare may now be made known to our whole 
 community. I hope — nay, I am sure — that it will not 
 be misinterpreted. And now, Mrs. Bernick, I think we 
 had better take her away from here and try to restore 
 the peace and equilibrium of her mind. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Yes, come. Oh, Dina, what happiness 
 for you ! {She leads Dina out to the left ; Rector Rorlund 
 goes along tvith them.) 
 
 Martha. Good-by, Johan ! {She goes out.) 
 
 HiLMAR {at the garden door). H'm — well, I really must 
 6ay 
 
 LoNA {ivho has been following Dina loilh her eyes). Don't 
 be cast down, boy ! I shall remain here and look after 
 the Pastor.
 
 92 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 Bernick. Johan, you won't go now with the Indian 
 Girl ! 
 
 JoHAN. Now more than ever. 
 
 Bebnick. Then you will not come back again ? 
 
 Johan. I shall come back again. 
 
 Bernick. After this ? "What can you do after this ? 
 
 JoHAN. Revenge myself on you all ; crush as many of 
 you as I can. {He goes out to the right.) 
 
 ViGELAND and Krap come from the GonsiWs office. 
 
 ViGELAND. See, the papers are in order now, Consul. 
 
 Bernick. Good, good 
 
 Krap [aside). Then it is settled that the Indian Girl is 
 to sail to-morrow ? 
 
 Bernick. She is to sail. (He goes into his room-. 
 Vigeland and Krap go out to the right. Hllm.ar Tonne- 
 sen is following them, when Olaf peeps cautiously out 
 at the door on the left.) 
 
 Ol.vf. Uncle ! Uncle Hilmar ! 
 
 HiLMAR. Ugh, is that you ? Why don't you remain 
 upstairs ? You know you are under arrest. 
 
 OL.\r (comes a few steps forward). Hush ! Uncle Hil- 
 mar, do you know the news ? 
 
 Hilmar. Yes, I know that you got a thrashing to-day. 
 
 Olaf (looks threateningly toward his father's room). He 
 sha'n't thi-ash me again. But do you know that Uncle 
 Johan is to sail to-morrow with the Americans? 
 
 Hilmar. What is that to you ? You get upstairs again ! 
 
 Olaf. Perhaps I may go buftalo-hunting yet, uncle. 
 
 Hilmar. Rubbish ; such a coward as you 
 
 Olaf. Just wait a little ; you'll hear something to- 
 morrow.
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 98 
 
 HiLMAE. Little blockhead ! {lie goes out through the 
 garden. Olaf runs out of the room and shuts the door 
 when he catches sight of Kkap, ivho conies from the right.) 
 
 Keap {goes up to the ConsuVs door and opens it a little). 
 Excuse my coming again, Consul, but there's a terrible 
 storm brewing. {He waits a moment ; there is no answer.) 
 Is the Indian Girl to sail in spite of it ? 
 
 Beknick {after a short pause, answers from the office). 
 The Indian Girl is to sail in spite of it. (Krap shuts the 
 door and goes out again to the right.)
 
 ACT TV. 
 
 \ The garden-room in Consul Berntck's house. The table 
 has been removed. It is a stormy evening, already 
 half dark, and growing darker.'] 
 
 [^A servant lights the chandelier, two maid-serva^its 
 bring in flower-pots, lamps, and candles, which are 
 placed on tables and shelves along the loall. Rum- 
 MEL, wearing a dress-coat, white gloves, and a white 
 necktie, stands in the room, giving directions. '\ 
 
 RuMMEL {to the servant). Only every second candle, 
 Jacob. The place mustn't look too brilliant ; it is sup- 
 posed to be a surprise, you know. And all these 
 
 flowers ? Ob, yes, let them stand ; it will seem as 
 
 if they were there always. 
 
 Consul Bernick comes out of his room. 
 
 Bernick {at the door). What is the meaning of all this ? 
 
 RuMMEL. Oh, are you there ? ( To the servants.) Yes, 
 you can go now. {The servants go out by the farthest back 
 door on the left.) 
 
 Bernick {coming into the room). Why, Rummel, what 
 can all this mean? 
 
 Rummel. It means that the proudest moment of your 
 life has arrived. The whole town is coming in pro- 
 cession to do honor to its leading citizen. 
 
 Bernick. What do you mean ?
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 95 
 
 RuMMEL. In procession and with music ! We should 
 have had torches too ; but we dared not attempt it 
 in this stormy weather. But there's to be an illumina- 
 tion ; it will look quite splendid in the newspapers. 
 
 Beenick. Listen, Rummel — I will have nothing to do 
 with all this. 
 
 RuMMEL. Oh, it's too late now ; they'll be here in half 
 an hour. 
 
 Bernick. Wby have you not told me of this before? 
 
 RuMMEL. Just because I was afraid you would make 
 objections. But I ai*ranged it all with your wife ; she 
 allowed me to put things in order a little, and she is 
 going to look to the refreshments herself. 
 
 Bernick (listening). What is thiit? Are they coming 
 already ? I thought I beard singing. 
 
 RuMMEL (at the garden door). Singing ? Oh, it is only 
 the Americans. They are hauling out the Indian Girl 
 to the buoy. 
 
 Bernick. Hauling her out ! Yes^ — ; I really cannot 
 this evening, Rummel ; I am not well. 
 
 Rummel. You are certainly not looking well. But 
 you must brace j'ourself up. Come, coine, man, you 
 must brace yourself up. I and Sandstad and Vigeland 
 attach the greatest iuii:)ortance to getting this aflfuir 
 managed. Oar opponents must be crushed under the 
 weiglit of the unanimous utterance of public opinion. 
 The rumors are spreading over the town ; the announce- 
 ment as to the purchase of the pi'operty can't be kept 
 back any longer. This very evening, amid songs and 
 speeches and the ring of brimming goblets, in short, 
 amid all the effervescent festivity of the occasion, you 
 must let them know what you have ventured for the
 
 I>(j THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 good of the community. With the aid of such efferves- 
 cent festivity, as I have just expressed it, it's astonishing 
 what one can ejffect here among us. But we must have 
 the effervescence or it won't do. 
 
 Bernick. Yes, yes, yes 
 
 RuMMEL. And especially when such a difficult and 
 delicate matter is to be brought forward. You have, 
 thank Heaven, a name that will carry us through, Ber- 
 nick. But listen now ; we must make some arrange- 
 ment. Hilmar Tunnesen has written a song in your 
 honor. It begins very prettily with the line, "Wave th' 
 Ideal's banner high." And Rector Rorlund has been 
 commissioned to make the speech of the evening. Of 
 course you must reply to it. 
 
 Bernick. I cannot, I cannot this evening, Rummel. 
 Could not you ? 
 
 Rummel, Impossible, however much I might like to. 
 The speech will, of course, be mainly directed to you. 
 Perhaps a few words will be devoted to the rest of us. 
 I have spoken to Vigeland and Sandstad about it. We 
 had arranged that you should answer with a toast to the 
 welfare of the community ; Sandstad should say a few 
 words on the union between the different classes of the 
 community ; Vigeland should exjjress the fervent hope 
 that our new undertaking may not disturb the moral 
 foundation upon which we have placed the community ; 
 and I should call attention, in a few well-chosen words, 
 to the claims of Woman, whose more modest activity is 
 not without its use in the community. But you are i\ot 
 listening. 
 
 Bernick. Yes — yes, I am. But, tell me, do you think 
 the sea is running very high outside ?
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. !>T 
 
 KuMMEL. Oh, you are anxious on account of the Palm 
 Tree ? She's well insured, isn't she ? 
 
 Bernick. Yes, insured ; but 
 
 EuMMEL. And in good repair ; and that's the main 
 thing. 
 
 Bernick. H'm — and even if anything happens to a ves- 
 sel, it doesn't follow that lives will be lost. The ship and 
 cargo may go to the bottom — people may lose chests 
 and papers 
 
 RuMMEL. Good gracious, chests and papers aren't of so 
 much importance. 
 
 Bernick. You think not ! No, no, I only meant 
 
 Hark ; — that singing again ! 
 
 EuMMEL. It is on board the Palm Tree. 
 
 ViGELAXD enters from the right, 
 
 ViGELAND. Yes, they're hauling out the Palm Tree. 
 Good evening, Consul ! 
 
 Bernick. And you, who know the sea well, hold fast 
 to ? 
 
 ViGELAND. I hold fast to Providence, Consul ; besides, 
 I have been on board and distributed a few leaflets, 
 which I hope will act with a blessing. 
 
 Sandstad and Krap enter from the right. 
 
 Sandstad {at the door). It's a miracle if they escape. 
 Ah, here we are — good evening, good evening. 
 
 Bernick. Is anything the matter, Krap ? 
 
 Krap. I have nothing to say, Consul 
 
 Sandstad. Every man on board the Indian Girl is 
 di*unk. If these animals ever get over alive, I'm no 
 prophet.
 
 98 TEE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 LoNA comes from the right. 
 
 LoNA {to BernicJc). Well, I've been seeing him off 
 
 Bernick. Is he on board already ? 
 
 LoNA. Will be soon, at any rate. We parted outside 
 the hotel. 
 
 Bernick. And he holds to his purpose ? 
 
 LoNA. Firm as a rock. 
 
 RuMMEL {at one of the windows). Deuce take these new- 
 fashioned arrangements. I can't get the blinds down. 
 
 LoNA. Are they to come down? I thought, on the 
 contrary 
 
 RuMiviEL. They are to be down at first. Miss Hessel. 
 Of course you know what is going on ? 
 
 LoNA. Oh, of course. Let me help you. {Takes one 
 of the cords.) I shall let the curtain fall upon my bro- 
 ther-in-law — though I would rather raise it. 
 
 RuMMEL. That you can do later. When the garden 
 is filled with a surging crowd then the curtains rise 
 and they look in upon a surprised and happy family — 
 a citizen's house should be transparent to all the world. 
 (Bernick seems about to say something but turns quickly 
 and goes into his office.) 
 
 RuMMEL. Well, let us hold our last council of war. 
 Come, Mr. Krap, we want you to supply us with a few 
 facts. {All the men go into the Consul's office. Lona has 
 lowered all the window-blinds, and is just going to draw the 
 curtain over the open glass-door when Olaf jumps down 
 from above upon the garden stair ; he has a plaid over his 
 shoulder and a bundle in his hand.) 
 
 Lona. Good heavens, child, how you frightened me ! 
 
 Olaf {hiding the bundle). Hush, aunt !
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 99 
 
 LoNA. Why did you jump out at tbe window? Where 
 are you going ? 
 
 Olap. Hush, don't say anything, aunt. I am going to 
 Uncle Johan ; only down to the pier, you understand ; — ■ 
 only to say good-by to him. Good night, aunt ! 
 
 {He runs out through the garden. 
 
 LoNA. No! stop! Olaf— Olaf! 
 
 Johan Tonnesen, dressed for a journey, with a bag over his 
 shoidder, steals in by the door on the right. 
 
 Johan. Lona ! 
 
 LoNA {turning). What! you here again ? 
 Johan. There are still a few minutes to spare. I must 
 see her once more. We cannot part so. 
 
 Martha and Dina, both vjith cloaks on, and the latter with a 
 little knapsack in her hand, enter from the furthest 
 back door on the left. 
 
 Dina. To him ; to him I 
 
 Martha. Yes, you shall go to him, Dinal 
 
 Dina. There he is ! 
 
 Johan. Dina I 
 
 Dina. Take me with you 1 
 
 Johan. What ! 
 
 Lona. You will? 
 
 Dina. Yes, take me with you. The other one has 
 written to me saying that this evening it shall be 
 announced publicly to everyone 
 
 Johan. Dina — you do not love him ? 
 
 Dina. I never have loved the man. I would rather be 
 at the bottom of the fjord than be betrothed to him I
 
 100 THE PILLARS OF SOGIETY. 
 
 Oh, how he seemed to make me grovel before him yester. 
 day with his patronizing words ! How he made me feel 
 that he was stooping to an abject creature ! I will not be 
 despised any more ! I will go away ! May I come 
 with you ? 
 
 JoHAN. Yes, yes — a thousand times yes ! 
 
 DiNA. I shall not be a burden on you long. Only 
 help me over there ; help me to make a start 
 
 JoHAN. Hurrah ! We'll manage all that, Dina ! 
 
 LoNA (^pointing to the ConsuVs door). Hush ; don't 
 speak so loud. 
 
 JoHAN. Dina, I shall shield and protect you. 
 
 Dina. I will not allow you to. I will make my own 
 way ; over there I shall manage well enough. Only let 
 me get away from here. Oh, these women — you do not 
 know — they have written to me to-day ; they have ex- 
 horted me to appreciate m}' good fortune ; they have 
 impressed upon me what magnanimity he has shown. 
 To-morrow and forever after, they will be watching me to 
 see whether I render myself worthy of it all. I am sick 
 of all this goodness. 
 
 JoHAN. Tell me, Dina, is that your only reason for 
 coming ? Am I liothiug to you ? 
 
 Dina. Yes, Johan, you are more to me than anyone 
 else. 
 
 Johan. Oh, Dina! 
 
 Dina. They all say here that I must hate and detest 
 you ; that it is my duty ; but I don't understand what 
 they mean by duty ; I never could understand it. 
 
 LoNA. And you never shall, my child ! 
 
 M.VRTHA. No, you shall not, and that is why you must 
 go with him as his Avife.
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 101 
 
 JoHAN. Yes, yes! 
 
 LoNA. What ? Now I must kiss you, Martha ! I did 
 not expect this of you. 
 
 Martha. No, I daresay not ; I did not expect it my- 
 self. But sooner or later the crisis was bound to come. 
 Oh, how we writhe under this tyranny of custom and 
 convention ! Rebel against it, Diaa. Become his wife ! 
 Do something to defy all this use-and-wont ! 
 
 JoHAN. What is your answer, Dina ? 
 
 DiNA. Yes, I will be your wife. 
 
 JoHAN. Dina ! 
 
 Dina. But first I will work, and become something for 
 myself, just as you are. I will give myself, I will not be 
 taken. 
 
 LoNA. Eight, right ! So it should be ! 
 
 JoHAN. Good ; I shall wait and hope 
 
 LoNA. And win too, boy ! But now, on board ! 
 
 JoHAN. Yes, on board ! Ah, Lona, my dear sister, one 
 
 word ; come here {He leads her up toward the 
 
 background and talks quietly to her.) 
 
 Maktha. Dina, you happy one — ^let me look at you 
 and kiss you once more — for the last time. 
 
 DmA. Not the last time ; no, my dear, dear aunt ; we 
 shall meet again. 
 
 Martha. Never ! Promise me, Dina, never to come 
 back again. [Takes both her hands and looks into her 
 face.) Now go to your happiness, my dear child, over 
 the sea. Oh, how often have I sat in the school-room 
 and longed to be over there ! It must be beautiful 
 there ; the heaven is wider ; the clouds sail higher 
 than here ; a freer air streams over the heads of the 
 
 people 
 
 15
 
 102 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 Din A. Oh, Aunt Martha, you will follow us some day. 
 
 Mabtha. I? Never, never. My little life-work lies 
 here, and now I think I can be fully and wholly what I 
 should be. 
 
 DiNA. I cannot think of being parted from you. 
 
 Martha. Ah, one can part from so much, Dina. 
 {Kisaes her.) But you will never know it, my sweet 
 child. Promise me to make him happy. 
 
 DiNA. I will not promise anything. I hate this prom- 
 ising ; things must come as they can. 
 
 Martha. Yes, yes, so they must; you need only re- 
 main as you are — true, and faithful to yourself. 
 
 DiNA. That I will. Aunt Martha. 
 
 LoNA {puts in her pocket some papers which Johan has 
 given her). Good, good, my dear boy. But now, away. 
 
 JoHAN. Yes, now there's no time to be lost, Good- 
 by, Lona ; thank you for all your love for me. Good- 
 by, Martha, and thanks to you, too, for your true friend- 
 ship. 
 
 Martha. Good - by, Johan ! Good - by, Dina ! And 
 happiness be over all your days ! {She and Lona hurry 
 them toward the door in the background. Johan Tonne- 
 ben and Dina go quickly out through the garden. Lona 
 shuts the door and draws the curtain.) 
 
 Lona. Now we are alone, Martha. You have lost her, 
 and I him. 
 
 MAiiTHA. You — him? 
 
 Lona. Oh, I had half lost him already over there. 
 The boy longed to stand on his own feet ; so I made 
 him think / was longing for home. 
 
 Martha. That was it? Now I understand why you 
 came. But he will want you back again, Lona.
 
 TEE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 103 
 
 LoKA. An old step-sister — what can he want with her 
 now ? Men snap many bonds to arrive at happiness. 
 
 Maktha. It is so, sometimes. 
 
 LoNA. But now we two must hold together, Martha. 
 
 Martha. Can I be anything to you? 
 
 LoNA. Who more? We two foster-mothers — have we 
 not both lost our children ? Now we are alone. 
 
 M.iKTHA. Yes, alone. And therefore I will tell you — 
 I have loved him more than all the world. 
 
 LoNA. Martha ! (Seizes her arin.) Is this the truth? 
 
 Maktha. My whole life lies in the words. I have loved 
 him, and waited for him. From summer to summer I 
 have looked for his coming. And then he came — but 
 he did not see me. 
 
 LoNA. Loved him ! and it was you that gave his hap- 
 piness into his hands. 
 
 Martha. Should I not have given him his happiness, 
 since I loved him ? Yes, I have loved him. My whole 
 life has been for him, ever since he went away. What 
 reason had I to hope, you ask? Well, I think I had 
 some reason. But then, when he came again — it seemed 
 as if everything were wiped out of his memory. He did 
 not see me. 
 
 LoNA. It was Dina that overshadowed you, Martha. 
 
 Martha. It is well that she did ? When he went away 
 we were of the same age ; when I saw him again — oh, 
 that horrible moment — it seemed to me that I was ten 
 years older than he. He had lived in the bright, quiver- 
 ing sunshine, and drunk in youth and health at every 
 breath ; and here sat I the while, spinning and spin- 
 ning 
 
 LoNA. Tlie thread of his happiness, Martha.
 
 104 FHE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 Mabtha. Yes, it was gold I spun. No bitterness ! Is 
 it not true, Lona, we have been two good sisters to 
 him? 
 
 Lona {embraces her). Martha ! 
 
 Consul Bernick comes out of his room. 
 
 Bernick (to the men inside). Yes, yes, manage the whole 
 thing as you please. When the time comes, I shall be 
 
 ready (Shuts the door.) Ah, are you there ? Listen, 
 
 Martha, you must look to your dress a little. And tell 
 Betty to do the same. I don't want anything gorgeous, 
 you know ; just homely neatness. But you must be 
 quick. 
 
 Lona. And you must look pleased and happy, Martha ; 
 no tears in your eyes. 
 
 Bernick. Olaf must come down too. I will have him 
 at my side. 
 
 Lona. H'm, Olaf 
 
 Martha. I'll tell Betty. (She goes out by the furthest 
 back door to the left.) 
 
 Lona. Well, so the great and solemn hour has come. 
 
 Bernick (goes restlessly up and doivn). Yes, it has 
 come. 
 
 Lona. At such a time a man must feel proud and 
 happy, I should think. 
 
 Bernick (looks at her). H'm. 
 
 Lona. The whole town is to be illuminated, I hear. 
 
 Bernick. Yes, I believe there's some such idea. 
 
 Lona. All the clubs will turn out with their banners* 
 Your name will shine in letters of fire. To-night it 
 will be telegi-aphed to all comers of the country : — 
 •' Surrounded by his happy family, Consul Bernick re-
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 105 
 
 ceived the homage of his fellow-citizens as one of the 
 pillars of society." 
 
 Bernick. So it will ; and they will hurrah outside, and 
 the people will call me forward into the doorway there, 
 and I shall have to bow and thank them. 
 
 LoN.\. Have to ? 
 
 Bernick. Do you think I feel happy at such a time ? 
 
 LoNA. No, I do not think that you can feel thoroughly 
 happy. 
 
 Bernick. Lona, you despise me. 
 
 LoNA. Not yet. 
 
 Bernick. And you have no right to. Not to despise 
 me ! — Lona, you cannot conceive how unspeakably alone 
 I stand here in this narrow, stunted society — how I 
 have had, year by year, to suppress my longing for a full 
 and satisfying life-work. "What are my achievements, 
 manifold as they seem ? Scrap-work — odds and ends. 
 But for other work or greater work there is no room 
 here. If I tried to go a step in advance of the views 
 and ideas which happened to be those of the day, all my 
 power was gone. Do you know what we are, we, who 
 are reckoned the pillars of society ? We are the tools 
 of society, neither more nor less. 
 
 Lona. Why do 3'ou only see this now ? 
 
 Bernick. Because I have been thinking much lately — 
 since you came home — and most of all this evening. Oh, 
 Lona, why did I not know you to the core, then, in the 
 old days ? 
 
 Lona. What then ? 
 
 Bernick. I should never have given you up ; and, if I 
 had had you, I should not have stood where I stand 
 now.
 
 106 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 LoNA. And do you never think what she might have 
 been to you, she, whom you chose in my stead ? 
 
 Bernick. I know, at any rate, that she has been to me 
 nothing of what I required. 
 
 LoNA. Because you have never shared your Hfe-work 
 with her ; because you have never placed her in a free 
 and true relation to you ; because you have allowed her 
 to go on pining under the weight of shame you cast 
 upon those nearest her. 
 
 Beenick. Yes, yes, yes ; it all comes of the lie and the 
 pretence. 
 
 LoNA. Then, why do you not break with all this lying 
 and pretence. 
 
 Beenick. Now ? Now it is too late, Lona. 
 
 LoNA. Karsten, tell me — what satisfaction does this 
 show and deception give you. 
 
 Beenick. It gives me none. I must sink along with 
 the whole of this bungled social system. But a new 
 generation will grow up after us ; it is my son I am 
 working for ; it is for him that I am preparing a life- 
 task. There will come a time when truth shall spread 
 through the life of our society, and upon it he shall found 
 a happier life than his father's. 
 
 Lona. With a lie for its ground-work ? Keflect what 
 it is you are giving your son for an inheritance. 
 
 Bernick {with suppressed despair). I am giving him 
 a thousand times worse inheritance than you know 
 of. But, sooner or later, the curse must pass away. 
 
 And yet — and yet {Breaking off .) How could you 
 
 bring all this upon my head ! But it is done now. I 
 must go on now. You shall not succeed in crushing 
 me !
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 107 
 
 HiToMAR ToNNESEN, With ail Open note in his hand, and 
 much discomposed, enters quickly from the right. 
 
 HiLMAR. Why, this is Betty, Betty ! 
 
 Beknick. What uow ? Are they coming already ? 
 
 HiLMAE. No, no ; but I naust speak to someone at 
 once. {Jle goes out by the furthest back door on the left.) 
 
 LoNA, Karsten, you say we came to crush you. Then 
 let me tell you what stuff he is made of, this prodi- 
 gal son whom your moral society shrinks from as if he 
 were plague-struck. He has nothing more to do with 
 you, for he has gone away. 
 
 Berxick. But he is coming back 
 
 LoNA. Johan will never come back. He has gone for 
 ever, and Diua has gone with him. 
 
 Beknick. Gone for ever? And Dina gone with him? 
 
 LoNA. Yes, to be his wife. That is how these two 
 
 strike your virtuous society in the face, as I once 
 
 No matter ! 
 
 Bernick. Gone ! — she too ! — in the Indian Girl ? 
 
 LoNA. No, he dared not trust such a precious freight 
 to that rotten old tub. Johan and Dina have gone in 
 the Palm Tree. 
 
 Bernick. Ah ! And so — in vain (Rushes to the 
 
 door of his office, tears it open, and calls in.) Krap, stop 
 the Indian Girl ; she mustn't sail to-night. 
 
 Krap (inside). The Indian Girl is already standing out 
 to sea. Consul. 
 
 Bernick (shuts the door, and sa^JS feebly). Too late— 
 and all for nothing. 
 
 LoNA. What do you mean ? 
 
 Bernick. Nothing, nothing. Leave me I
 
 108 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETF. 
 
 LoNA. H'm. Listen, Karsten. Johan told me to tell 
 you that he leaves in my hands the good name he once 
 lent to you, and also that which you stole from hiin while 
 he was far away. Johan will be silent ; and I can do or 
 let alone in this matter, as I will. See, I hold in my 
 hand your two letters. 
 
 Bernick. You have them ! And now — now you will — 
 this very night — perhaps when the procession 
 
 LoNA. I did not come here to betray you, but to make 
 you speak out of your own accord. I have failed. Re- 
 main standing in the lie. See ; I tear yoiir two letters 
 to pieces. Take the pieces ; here they are. Now, there 
 is nothing to bear witness against you, Karsten. Now 
 you are safe ; be happy too — ^if you can. 
 
 Bernick {deeply moved). Lona, why did you not do 
 this before ? It is too late now ; my whole life is ruined 
 now ; I cannot live after to-day. 
 
 LoNA. What has happened ? 
 
 Bernick. Do not ask me. And yet I must live ! I vrill 
 live — for Olaf's sake. He shall restore all and expiate 
 all 
 
 LoNA. Karsten ! 
 
 HiLMAB ToNNESEN enters again rapidly. 
 
 HiLMAR. No one to be found ; all away ; not even 
 Betty ! 
 
 BER^acK. What is the matter with you ? 
 
 HiLMAR. I dare not tell you. 
 
 Bernick. What is it ? You must and shall tell me ! 
 
 HiLMAR, Well, then, Olaf has run away in the Indian 
 Girl.
 
 TEE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 109 
 
 Bebnick {staggering backward). Olaf — in the Indian 
 Girl ! No, no ! 
 
 LoNA. Yes, he has ! Now I understand ; I saw him 
 jump out of the window. 
 
 Bernick [at the door of his room, calls out in despair). 
 Krap, stop the Indian Girl at any cost ! 
 
 Krap {comes m the room.) Impossible, Consul. How 
 can you think that 
 
 Bernick. ^We must stop it ! Olaf is on board ! 
 
 Krap. What do you say ? 
 
 RuMMEL {enters from the office). Olaf run away? Im- 
 possible ! 
 
 Sandstad {enters from the office). He will be sent 
 back with the pilot. Consul. 
 
 Hllmar. No, no ; he has written to me {showing the 
 letter) ; he says he is going to hide among the cargo 
 until they are fairly out to sea. 
 
 Bernick. I shall never see him again ! 
 
 RuMMEL. Oh, nonsense ; a good strong ship, newly 
 repaired 
 
 ViGELAND (io/io has also come in). And in your own 
 yard, too. Consul. 
 
 Bernick, I shall never see him again, I tell you. I 
 have lost him ; Lona and — I see it now — he has never 
 been really mine. {Listens.) What is that ? 
 
 RuMMEL. Music. The procession is coming. 
 
 Bernick. I cannot, I will not receive anyone. 
 
 RuMMEL. What are you thinking of ? It is impossi- 
 ble 
 
 Sandstad. Impossible, Consul ; think how much is at 
 stake for yourself.
 
 110 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 Bernick. What does it all matter to me now ? Whom 
 have I now to work for ^ 
 
 RuMMEL, Can you ask ? You have us and the com- 
 munity. 
 
 ViGELAND. Yes, that is very true. 
 
 Sandstad. And surely, Consul, you do not forget that 
 we 
 
 Martha enters by the farthest hack door on the left. Low 
 music is heard far down the street; 
 
 Martha. Here comes the procession ; but Betty is 
 not at home ; I can't understand where she 
 
 Bernick. Not at home ! There, you see, Lona ; no 
 support either in joy or sorrow. 
 
 EuMMEL. Up with the blinds. Come and help me, 
 Ml-. Krap ! You too, Sandstad ! What a terrible pity 
 that the family should be disunited just at this moment ; 
 quite against the programme. (The blinds are drawn 
 iqy from the door and windows. The ivhole street is seen 
 to be illuminated. On the house opposite is a large trans- 
 parency with the inscription, "Long live Karsten Bernick, 
 the Pillar of our Society ! ") 
 
 Bernick [shrinking back). Away with all this ! I will 
 not look at it ! Out with it, out with it ! 
 
 RuMMEL. Are you in your senses, may I ask ? 
 
 Martha. What is the matter with him, Lona ? 
 
 LoNA. Hush ! [Wiispei'S to her.) 
 
 Bernick. Away with the mocking words, I say ! Do 
 you not see all these lights are gibing at us ? 
 
 RuMMEL. Well, I must say 
 
 Bernick. Oh, you know nothing- ! But I, I ! 
 
 All these are the lights iu a dead-room !
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. Ill 
 
 Krap. H'm? 
 
 EuMMEL. Well, but really, now — you make far too 
 much of it. 
 
 Sandstad. The boy will have a trip over the Atlantic, 
 and then you'll have him back again. 
 
 ViGELAND. Only put your trust in the Almighty, 
 Consul. 
 
 RuMMEL. And in the ship, Bernick ; it'll weather the 
 storm safe enough, 
 
 Krap. H'm ! 
 
 RuMMEL. Why, if it were one of these coffin ships we 
 hear of in the great communities 
 
 Bernick. I can feel my very hair growing gray. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick, with a large shaivl over her head, comes 
 through the garden door. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Karsten, Karsten, do you know ? 
 
 Bernick. Yes, I know ; but you — you who can see 
 
 nothing — you who haven't a mother's care for him ! 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Oh, listen to me ! 
 
 Bernick. Why did you not watch over him ? Now I 
 have lost him. Give me him back again, if you can ! 
 
 ]Mrs. Bernick. I can, I can ; I have got him ! 
 
 Bernick. You have got him ! 
 
 The Men. Ah ! 
 
 Hilmar. Ah, I thought so. 
 
 Martha. Now you have him again, Karsten ! 
 
 LoNA. Yes ; and now win him as well ! 
 
 Bernick. You have got him ! Is it true what you say ? 
 Where is he ? 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. I shall not tell you until you have for- 
 given him.
 
 112 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 Bernick. Oh, forgiven, forgiven ! But how did 
 
 you come to know ? 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Do you think a mother does not 
 see? I was in mortal terror lest you should find 
 
 it out. A few words he let fall yesterday ; and 
 
 his room being empty, and his knapsack and clothes 
 gone 
 
 Bernick. Yes, yes ? 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. I ran ; I got hold of Aune ; we went 
 out in his sailing-boat ; the American ship was on the 
 point of sailing. Thank Heaven, we arrived in time — 
 we got on board — we looked in the hold — and we found 
 him. Oh, Karsten, you must not punish him ! 
 
 Bernick. Betty ! 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Nor Aune either ! 
 
 Bernick. Aune ? What do you know of him ? Is the 
 Indian Girl under sail again ? 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. No, that is just the thing 
 
 Bernick. Speak, speak ! 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Aune was as much alarmed as I ; the 
 search took some time, the darkness increased, and the 
 pilot made objections ; and so Aune ventured — in your 
 name 
 
 Bernick. Well? 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. To stop the ship till to-morrow. 
 
 Krap. H'm 
 
 Bernick. Oh, what unspeakable happiness ! 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. You are not angry? 
 
 Bernick. Oh, what surpassing happiness, Betty ! 
 
 RuMMEL. Why, you're absurdly nervous. 
 
 HiLMAR. Yes ; whenever there's a question of a little 
 struggle with the elements, then — ugh !
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 113 
 
 Kr.vp {at the window). The processiou is coming 
 through the garden gate, Consul. 
 
 Bernick. Yes, now let them come ! 
 
 RuMMEL, The whole garden is full of people. 
 
 Sandst.vd. The ver}' street is full. 
 
 RuMMEL. The whole town has turned out, Bernick. 
 Tiiis is really an inspix'iug moment. 
 
 ViGELAND. Let us take it in a humble spirit, Rum- 
 mel. 
 
 RuMMEL. All the banners are out. What a procession ! 
 Ah, here is the committee, with Rector Rorlund at its 
 head. 
 
 Bernick. Let them come, I say ! 
 
 RuMMEL. But listen ; in your excited state of mind 
 
 Bernick. What, then ? 
 
 RuMMEL. Why, I should not mind speaking for you, 
 
 Bernick. No, thank you ; to-night I shall speak myself. 
 
 RuMMEL. Do you know, then, what you have got to 
 say ? 
 
 Bernick. Yes, don't be alarmed, Rummel — now I 
 Rnow what I have to say. {The music has meamohile 
 ceased. The garden door is thrown open. Rector Rorlund 
 enters at tJie head of the Committee, accompanied bij two 
 porters, carrying a covered basket. After them come tomns- 
 people of all classes, as many as the room, will hold. An 
 immense crowd, with banners and flags, can be seen out in 
 the garden, and in the street.) 
 
 Rorlund. Consul Bemick ! I see from the surprise 
 depicted in your countenance, that it is as unexpected 
 guests we force ourselves upon you in your happy fam- 
 ily-circle, at your peaceful hearth, surrounded by up- 
 right and public-spirited friends and fellow-citizens.
 
 114 THE PILLAUS OP 80CIE2 7. 
 
 But it is iu obedience to a heartfelt impulse that we 
 bring you our homage. It is not the first time we have 
 done so, but it is the first time we have greeted you thus 
 publicly and unanimously. We have often expressed to 
 you our gratitude for the broad moral foundation upon 
 which you have, so to speak, built up our society. This 
 time we chiefly hail in you the clear-sighted, indefati- 
 gable, unselfish, nay, self-sacrificing citizen, who has 
 taken the initiative in an undertaking which, we are 
 credibly assured, will give a powerful impetus to the 
 temporal prosperity and well-being of the community. 
 
 Voices {among the crowd). Bravo, bravo ! 
 
 EoRLUND. Consul Bernick, you have for many years 
 stood before our town as a shining example. I do not 
 speak of your exemplary domestic life, your spotless 
 moral record. Such things should be left to the closet, 
 not proclaimed from the housetops ! But I speak of your 
 activity as a citizen, as it lies open to the eyes of all. 
 Well-appointed ships sail from your wharves, and show 
 our flag iu the most distant seas. A numerous and 
 happy body of workmen looks up to you as to a father. 
 By calling into existence new branches of industry, you 
 have laid a foundation for the welfare of hundreds of 
 families. In other words — you are in an eminent sense 
 the pillar and corner-stone of this community. 
 
 Voices. Hear, hear ! Bravo ! 
 
 RoRLUND. And it is just this light of disinterestedness 
 shining over all your actions that is so unspeakably be- 
 neficent, especially in these times. You are now on the 
 point of procuring for us — I do not hesitate to say the 
 word plainly and prosaically — a railway. 
 
 Many Voices. Bravo ! bravo !
 
 THE PrLLAR8 OF SOCIKTY. 115 
 
 RoRLUND. But it seems as though this undertaking 
 were destined to meet with difficulties, principally aris- 
 ing from narrow and selfish interests. 
 
 Voices. Hear, hear ! Hear, hear ! 
 
 RoRLUND, It is no longer unknown that certain indi- 
 viduals, not belonging to our community, have been 
 beforehand with the enei'getic citizens of this place, and 
 have obtained possession of certain advantages, which 
 should by rights have fallen to the share of our own 
 town. 
 
 Voices. Yes, yes ! Hear, hear ! 
 
 RoRLUND, This deplorable fact has, of course, come to 
 your knowledge as well, Consul Bernick. But, never- 
 theless, you continue steadil}' to pursue your undertak- 
 ing, well knowing that a patriotic citizen must not be 
 exclusively concerned with the interests of his own 
 parish. 
 
 Different Voices. H'm ! No, no ! Yes, yes ! 
 
 RoRLtJND. We have assembled, then, this evening, to 
 do homage, in your person, to the ideal citizen — the 
 model of all the civic virtues. May your undertaking 
 contribute to the true and lasting welfare of this com- 
 munity ! The railway is, no doubt, an institution which 
 lays us open to the importation of elements of evil from 
 without, but it is also an institution that helps us to get 
 quickly rid of them. From elements of evil fi'om with- 
 out we cannot even now keep ourselves quite free. But 
 that we have just on this festal evening, as I hear, hap- 
 pily and more quickly than was expected, got rid of cer- 
 tain elements of this nature 
 
 Voices, Hush, hush ! 
 
 RoRLUND. This I accept as a good omen for the under-
 
 116 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 taking. That I touch upon this point here shows that 
 we know ourselves to be in a house where family ties are 
 subordinated to the ethical ideal. 
 
 Voices. Hear, hear ! Bravo ! 
 
 Bernick {at the same time). Permit me 
 
 RoRLUND. Only a few words more, Consul Bernick. 
 What you have done for this community has certainly 
 not been done in the expectation of any tangible reward. 
 But you cannot reject a slight token of your grateful 
 fellow-citizens' appreciation, least of all on this moment- 
 ous occasion, when, according to the assurances of 
 practical men, we are standing on the threshold of a new 
 time. 
 
 Many Voices. Bravo ! Hear, hear ! Hear, hear ! [He 
 gives the j^orters a sign ; they bring forward the basket ; 
 members of the Committee take out and present, during 
 the following speech, the articles mentioned.) 
 
 RoRLUND. Therefore, I have now, Consul Bernick, to 
 hand you a silver coffee service. Let it grace your board 
 when we in future, as so often in the past, have the 
 pleasure of meeting under this hospitable roof. And you, 
 too, gentlemen, who have so actively co-operated with 
 the first man of our community, we would beg to accept 
 a little remembrance. This silver goblet is for you, Mr. 
 Hummel. You have many a time, amid the ring of 
 wine-cups, done battle in eloquent words for the civic 
 interests of this community ; may you often find worthy 
 opportunities to lift and drain this goblet. To you, Mr. 
 Sandstad, I hand this album, with photographs of your 
 fellow-citizens. Your well-known and much-appreciated 
 philanthropy has placed you in the happy position of 
 counting among your friends members of all parties in
 
 TUE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 117 
 
 the community. And to you, Mr. Vigelantl, I have to 
 oflfer, for the decoration of your domestic sanctum, this 
 book of family devotion, on vellum, and luxuriously 
 bound. Under the ripening influence of years, you have 
 attained to an earnest view of life ; your activity in the 
 daily affiiirs of this world has for a long series of 3'ears 
 been purified and ennobled by thoughts of things higher 
 and holier. [Turnip toward the crowd.) And now, my 
 friends, long live Consul Bernick and his fellow- workers ! 
 Hurrah for the Pillars of Society ! 
 
 TuE "Whole Crowd. Long live Consul Bernick ! Long 
 live the Pillars of Society ! Hurrah ! hurrah ! hurrah ! 
 
 LoNA. I congratulate you, brother-in-law ! {An expec- 
 tant silence intervenes.) 
 
 Bernick [begins earnestly and slowly). My fellow-citizens, 
 your spokesman has said that we stand this evening on 
 the threshold of a new time ; and there, I hope, he was 
 right. But in order that it may be so, we must bring 
 home to ourselves the truth — the truth which has, until 
 this evening, been utterly and in all things banished 
 from our community. [Astonishment among the audi- 
 ence.) I must begin by rejecting the panegyric with 
 which you. Rector Rorlund, according to use and wont 
 on such occasions, have overwhelmed me. I do not 
 deserve it ; for until to-day I have not been disinterested 
 in my dealings. If I have not always striven for pecun- 
 iary pi'ofit, at least I am now conscious that a longing 
 desire for power, influence, and respect has been the 
 motive of most of my actions. 
 
 RuniMEL (half aloud). What next ? 
 
 Bernick. Before my fellow-citizens I do not reproach 
 myself for this ; for I still believe that I may place 
 16
 
 1.8 TUE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 myself ia the first rank among men of practical useful- 
 ness. 
 
 Many Voices. Yes, yes, yes ! 
 
 Beknick. But what I do blame myself for is ray weak- 
 ness in condescending to subterfuges, because I knew 
 and feared the tendency of our society to suspect im- 
 pure motives behind everything a man undertakes. 
 And now I come to a case in point. 
 
 RuMMEL {anxiously). H'm — -h'm ! 
 
 Beknick. There are rumors abroad of great sales of 
 property along the projected line. This property I have 
 bought — all of it — I, alone. 
 
 Suppressed Voices. What does he say ? The Consul ? 
 Consul Bernick ? 
 
 Bernick. It is for the present in my hands. Of course, 
 I have confided in my fellow-workers, Messrs. Rummel, 
 Vigeland, and Sandstad, and we have agreed to 
 
 Rummel. It is npt true ! Prove ! — prove ! 
 
 Vigeland. We have not agreed to anything ! 
 
 Sandstad. Well, I must say 
 
 Bernick. Quite right ; we have not yet agreed on what 
 I was about to mention. But I am quite sure that these 
 three gentlemen will acquiesce when I say that I have 
 this evening determined to form a joint-stock company 
 for the exploitation of these lands ; whoever will can 
 have shares in it. 
 
 Many Voices. Hurrah ! Long live Consul Bernick ! 
 
 Rummel (aside to Bernick). Such mean treachery ! 
 
 Sandstad (likemse). Then you have been fooling 
 us ! 
 
 Vigeland. Why then, devil take— — ! Oh, Lord, 
 what am I saying?
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. H'J) 
 
 The Crowd {outside). Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah ! 
 
 Bernick. Silence, gentlemen. I have no right to this 
 homage ; for what I have now determined was not my 
 first intention. My intention was to retain the whole my- 
 self ; and I am still of opinion that the pi'operty can be 
 most profitably worked, if it remains in the control of 
 one man. But it is for you to choose. If you wish it, I 
 am willing to manage it for you to the best of my ability. 
 
 Voices. Yes, yes, yes ! 
 
 Bernick. But, first, my fellow-citizens must know me 
 to the core. Then let everyone examine himself, and let 
 us realize the prediction, that from this evening we 
 begin a new time. The old, with its tinsel, its hy- 
 pocrisy, its hollowness, its lying propriety, and its pitiful 
 cowardice, shall lie behind us like a museum, open for 
 instruction ; and to this museum we shall present — shall 
 we not, gentlemen ? — the coffee-service, and the goblet, 
 and the album, and the family devotions on vellum and 
 luxuriously bound. 
 
 RuMMEL. Yes, of course. 
 
 ViaELAND [mutters). If you have taken all the rest, 
 why 
 
 Saxdstad. As you please. 
 
 Bernick. And now to make my settlement with so- 
 ciety. It has been said that elements of evil have left 
 us this evening. I can add what you do not know ; the 
 man thus alluded to did not go alone ; with him went, 
 to become his wife 
 
 LoNA (loudly). Dina Dorf ! 
 
 RoRLUND. What ? 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. What do you say ? (There is great ex- 
 citement.)
 
 120 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 EoRLUND. Fled ? Run away — with him ? Impossible ! 
 
 Bernick. To become his wife, Rector Rorluud. And 
 I have more to add. i^Ande.) Betty, collect yourself, 
 to bear what is coming. {Aloud.) I say, let us bow be- 
 fore that man, for he has nobly taken another's sin up- 
 on himself. My fellow-citizens, I will come out of the 
 lie ; it had almost poisoned every fibre in my being. 
 You shall know all. Fifteen years ago / was the guilty 
 one. 
 
 Mes. Bernick {in a low and trembling voice). Karsten !• 
 
 Martha (likewise). Oh, Johan ! 
 
 LoNA. Now at last you have found yourself again. 
 [Voiceless astonishment among the audience.) 
 
 Bernick. Yes, my fellow-citizens, I was the guilty one, 
 and he fled. The false and vile rumors which were 
 afterward spread abroad it is now in no human power to 
 disprove. But I cannot complain of this. Fifteen years 
 ago I swung myself aloft upon these rumors ; whether I 
 am now to fall with them is for you to decide. 
 
 RoRLUND. What a thunderbolt ! The first man in the 
 town ! [Aside to Mrs. Bernick.) Oh, how I pity you, 
 Mrs. Bernick ! 
 
 HiLMAR. Such a confession ! Well, I must say ■ 
 
 Bernick. But do not decide this evening. I ask every- 
 one to go home — to collect himself — to look into him- 
 self. When your minds are calm again, it will be seen 
 whether I have lost or won by speaking out. Good- 
 night ! I have still much, very much, to repent of, but 
 that concerns only my own conscience. Good-night ! 
 Away with all this show ! We all feel that it is out of 
 place here. 
 
 RoRLUND. Certainly it is. [Aside to Mrs. Bernick.)
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETT. 121 
 
 Run away! Then she was unwortliy of me, after all. 
 [Half aloud, to the Committee.) Yes, gentlemen, after 
 this I think we bad better go away quietly. 
 
 HiLM.ut. How, after this, one is to hold high the ban- 
 ner of the ideal, I for one — Ugh ! (The announcement 
 has meanwhile been whispered from mouth to mouth. All 
 the members of the procession retire through the garden. 
 RuMMEL, Sandst.u), and Vioeland go off disputing earnesl- 
 ly but softlg. Consul Bernick, Mrs. Bernick, M.\rtha, 
 LoxA, and Krap alone remain in the room. There is a 
 short silence.) 
 
 Bernick. Betty, can you forgive me ? 
 
 Mrs. Bernick {looks smilingly at him). Do you know, 
 Karsten, you have opened to me the brightest hope I 
 have had for many years ? 
 
 Bernick. How ? 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. For many years I have believed that 
 you had once been mine, and I had lost you. Now I 
 know that you never were mine ; but I shall win you. 
 
 Bernick (embracing her). Oh, Betty, you have won me. 
 Through Lona I have at last learned to know yoU aright. 
 But now let Olaf come. 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Yes, now you shall have him. Mr. 
 Krap — — ! (She whispers to him in the background. 
 He goes out by the garden door. During the following all 
 the transparencies and lights in the houses are put out one 
 by one.) 
 
 Bernick (softly). Thanks, Lona ; you have saved what 
 is best in me — and for me. 
 
 Lona. What else did I intend ? 
 
 Bernick. Yes, what — what did you intend ? I cannot 
 fathom you.
 
 122 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 LoNA. H'm 
 
 Bernick. Then it was not hatred? Not revenge? 
 Why did you come over ? 
 
 LoNA. Old friendship does not rust. 
 
 Bernick. Lona ! 
 
 LoNA. When Johan told me all that about the lie, I 
 swore to myself : The hero of my youth shall stand free 
 and true. 
 
 Bernick. Oh, how little have I, pitiful creature, 
 deserved this of you ! 
 
 LoNA. Yes, if we women always asked for deserts, 
 Karsten ! 
 
 AuNE and Olaf enter from the garden. 
 
 Bernick (rushing to him). Olaf ! 
 
 Olaf. Father, I promise never to do it again. 
 
 Bernick. To run away ? 
 
 Olaf. Yes, yes, I promise, father. 
 
 Bernick. And I promise that you shall never have 
 reason to. Henceforth you shall be allowed to grow up, 
 not as the heir of my life-work, but as one who has a life- 
 work of his own to come. 
 
 Olaf. And shall I be allowed to be what I like ? 
 
 Bernick. Whatever you like. 
 
 Olaf. Thank you, father. Then I shall not be a Pillar 
 of Society. 
 
 Bernick. Oh ! Why not ? 
 
 Olaf. Oh, I think it must be so tiresome. 
 
 Bernick. You shall be yourself, Olaf ; and the rest 
 may go as it will. And you, Aune 
 
 Aune. I know it. Consul ; I am dismissed.
 
 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 123 
 
 BER>acK. We will remain together, Aune ; and forgive 
 me 
 
 Aune. What ? The ship does not sail to-night ? 
 
 Bernick. Nor yet to-moiTow. I gave you too short 
 time. It must be looked to more thorouglily. 
 
 Aune. It shall be, Consul, and with the new machines ! 
 
 Bernick. So be it. But thoroughly and uprightly. 
 There are many among us that need thorough and up- 
 right repairs. So good -night, Aune. 
 
 Aune. Good-night, Consul ; and thanks, thanks, thanks. 
 
 {He goes out to the right.) 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. Now they are all gone. 
 
 Bernick. And we are alone. My name no longer 
 shines in the transparencies ; all the lights are put out 
 in the windows. 
 
 LoNA. Would you have them lighted again ? 
 
 Bernick. Not for all the world. Where have I been ? 
 You will be horrified when you know. Now, I feel as if 
 I had just recovered my senses after being poisoned. 
 But I feel^I feel that I can be young and strong again. 
 Oh, come nearer — closer around me. Come, Betty ! 
 Oome, Olaf ! Come, Martha ! Oh, Martha, it seems as 
 though I had never seen you in all these years. 
 
 LoNA. No, I daresay not ; your society is a society of 
 bachelor-souls ; you have no eyes for Woman. 
 
 Bernick. True, true ; and therefore, of course, it is 
 agreed, Lona — you will never leave Betty and me ? 
 
 Mrs. Bernick. No, Lona ; you must not ! 
 
 Lona. No ; how could I think of going away and leav- 
 ing you young people, just beginning life ? Am I not 
 your foster-mother ? You and I, Martha, we are the two 
 old aunts. What are you looking at ?
 
 124 THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY. 
 
 Martha. How the sky is clearing ; how it grows light 
 over the sea. The Palm Tree has fortune with it 
 
 LoNA. And happiness on board. 
 
 Bernick. And we — we have a long, earnest day of 
 work before us ; I most of all. But let it come ; gather 
 close around me, you true and faithful women. I have 
 learned this, in these days : it is you women who are 
 the Pillars of Society. 
 
 LoNA. Then you have learned a poor wisdom, brother- 
 in-law. {Lays her hand firmly upon his shoulder.) No, 
 no ; the spirits of Truth and of Freedom — these are the 
 Pillars of Society,
 
 COMEDY SKETCHES 
 
 By Julian Sturgis 
 
 A collection of short plays suited for amateur theatricals or high-class 
 vaudeville, easy to produce and of high quality. Recommended especially 
 for parlor performance. 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Apples. One male, one female. 
 Fire Flies. One male, one female. 
 Heather. One male, one female. 
 Picking up the Pieces. One male, one female. 
 Half- Way to Arcady. One male, one female. 
 Mabel's Holy Day. Two males, one female. 
 Twenty minutes each. 
 Price, 2_5 cents 
 
 IN OFFICE HOURS 
 
 And Other Sketches 
 
 By Evelyn Greenleaf Sutherland 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 In Office Hours. Comedy Sketch in One Act, five males, four 
 
 females. 
 A Quilting Party in the Thirties. Outline Sketch for Music, 
 
 six males, four females, and chorus. 
 In Aunt Chloe's Cabin. Negro Comedy Sketch in One Act, 
 
 seventeen female characters and " supers." 
 The Story of a Famous Wedding. Outline Sketch for Music 
 and Dancing, six males, four females. 
 Price, 25 cents 
 
 THE SOUP TUREEN 
 
 And Other Duologues 
 A collection of short plays for two and three characters. Good quality, 
 high tone and confidently offered to the best taste. 
 
 CONTENTS 
 The Soup Tureen. One male, two females. 
 Lelia. One male, one female. 
 The Unlucky Star. Two males. 
 The Serenade. Two females. 
 
 Play twenty minutes each. 
 Price, 2^ cents 
 
 HOLIDAY DIALOGUES FROM DICKENS 
 
 Arranged by W. E. Fette 
 
 Comprising selections from "The Christmas Carol," " The Cricket on 
 
 the Hearth," " The Battle of Life," etc., arranged in a series of scenes 
 
 to be given either singly or together, as an extended entertainment. For 
 
 the celebration of Christmas no better material can be found. 
 
 Price, 2S cents
 
 LOST— A CHAPERON 
 
 A Comedy in Three Acts by Courtney Bruerton and W, S. Maulsby. 
 Six male, nine female characters. Costumes, modern ; scenery, an in- 
 terior and an exterior. Plays a full evening. A lot of college girls in 
 camp lose their chaperon for twenty-four hours, and are provided by a 
 camp of college boys across the lake with plenty of excitement. The parts 
 are all good, the situations are very funny and the lines full of laughs. 
 Recommended for high-school performance. Price, 2^ cents 
 
 THE PRIVATE TUTOR 
 
 A Farce in Three Acts by E. J. Whisler. Five male, three female char- 
 acters. Costumes, modern ; scenery, two simple interiors. Plays two hours. 
 Tells of the endeavors of two college boys to disguise the fact that they have 
 been " rusticated " from the family of one of them. Hans Dinklederfer, 
 the leader of a German band, trying to make good in the character of a 
 private tutor, is a scream. All the parts are good. A capital high-school 
 play. Price, 2^ cents 
 
 THE REBELLION OF MRS. BARCLAY 
 
 A Comedy of Domestic Life in Two Acts by May E. Countryman. 
 Three male, six female characters. Costumes, modern; scenery, easy 
 interiors. Plays one hour and three-quarters. A clever and amusing 
 comedy with all the parts evenly good. There are many Mr. Barclays all 
 over this country, and Mrs. Barclay's method of curing her particular one 
 will be sympathetically received. Good Irish comedy parts, male and fe- 
 male. Strongly recommended. Price, 2^ cents 
 
 THE TRAMPS' CONVENTION 
 
 An Entertainment in One Scene for Male Characters Only by Jessie A. 
 Kelley. Seventeen male characters. Costumes, typical tramp dress ; 
 scenery, unimportant. Plays an hour and a half. An entertainment in 
 the vaudeville class, with possibilities of unlimited fun. Music can be in- 
 troduced, if desired, though this is not necessary. The opening is very 
 funny and original and the finish — The Ananias Club — can be worked up 
 to any extent. Strongly recommended. Price, 2^ cents 
 
 THE DAY THAT LINCOLN DIED 
 
 A Play in One Act by Prescott Warren and Will Hutchins. Five male, 
 two female characters. Costumes, modern ; scene, an easy exterior. Plays 
 thirty minutes. A very effective play suited for a Lincoln Day entertain- 
 ment. It offers plenty of comedy, and is a piece that we can heartily 
 recommend. Professional stage-rights reserved. Price, 2^ cents 
 
 PA'S NEW HOUSEKEEPER 
 
 A Farce in One Act by Charles S. Bird. Three male, two female char- 
 acters. Modern costumes ; scenery, a simple interior or none at all. Plays 
 forty minutes. Jack Brown, visiting his chum, is tempted by his success 
 in college theatricals to make up in the character of the new housekeeper, 
 an attractive widow, who is expected but does not arrive. He takes in 
 everybody and mixes things up generally. All the parts are first rate and 
 the piece full of laughs. Strongly recommended. Price, 75 cents
 
 THE TIME OF HIS LIFE 
 
 A Comedy in Three Acts by C. Leona Dalrymple. Six males, three 
 females. Costumes, modern ; scenery, two interiors, or can be played in 
 one. Plays two hours and a half. A side-splitting piece, full of action 
 and a sure success if competently acted. Tom Carter's little joke of "im- 
 personating the colored butler has unexpected consequences that give him 
 "the time of his life," Very highly recommended for high school per^ 
 formance. Price, 2^ cents 
 
 THE COLLEGE CHAP 
 
 A Comedy Drama in Three Acts by Harry L. Newton and John 
 Pierre Roche. Eleven males, seven females. Costumes, modern ; scenery, 
 two interiors. Plays two and a half hours. An admirable play for ama- 
 teurs. Absolutely American in spirit and up to date ; full of sympathetic 
 interest but plenty of comedy ; lots of healthy sentiment, but nothing 
 " mushy." Just the thing for high schools ; sane, effective, and not dif- 
 ficult. Price, 2_s cents 
 
 THE DEACON'S SECOND WIFE 
 
 A Comedy in Three Acts by Allan Abbott. Six males, six females. 
 Costumes, modern ; scenery, one interior, one exterior. Plays two hours 
 and a half. A play of rural life specially written for school performance. 
 All the parts are good and of nearly equal opportunity, and the piece is full 
 of laughs. Easy to produce ; no awkward sentimental scenes ; can be 
 strongly recommended for high schools. Price, 25 cents 
 
 THE TEASER 
 
 A Rural Cbmedy in Three Acts by Charles S. Allen. Four male, three 
 female characters. Scene, an easy interior, the same for all three acts; 
 costumes, modern. Plays an hour and a half. An admirable play for 
 amateurs, very easy to get up, and very effective. Uraliah Higgins, a 
 country postman, and Drusilla Todd are capital comedy parts, introducing 
 songs or specialties, if desired. Plenty of incidental fun. 
 Price, 2j cents 
 
 COUNTRY FOLKS 
 
 A Comedy Drama in Three Acts by Anthony E. Wills. Six males, five 
 females. Costumes, modern; scenery, one interior. Plays two and a 
 quarter hours. An effective and up-to-date play well suited for amateur 
 performance. All the parts good and fairly even in point of opportunity ; 
 the ladies' parts especially so. Easy to stage, and well suited for schools. 
 Well recommended. Price, 2^ cents 
 
 THE MISHAPS OF MINERVA 
 
 A Farce in Two Acts by Bertha Currier Porter. Five males, eight fe- 
 males. Costumes, modern ; scene, an interior. Plays one and a half 
 hours. An exceptionally bright and amusing little play of high class and 
 recommended to all classes of amateur players. Full of action and 
 laughs, but refined. Irish low comedy part. Strongly endorsed. 
 Price, 2^ cents
 
 0' 
 
 THE VILLAGE POST-OFFICE 
 
 An Entertainment in One Scene by Jessie A. Kelley. Twenty-two 
 males and twenty females are called for, but one person may take several 
 parts and some characters may be omitted. The stage is arranged as a 
 country store and post-office in one. Costumes are rural and funny. 
 Plays a full evening. Full of " good lines " and comical incident and 
 ^character. Strongly recommended for church entertainments or general 
 use ; very wholesome and clean. Frice, 2^ cents 
 
 MISS FEARLESS & CO. 
 
 A Comedy in Three Acts by Belle Marshall Locke. Ten females. 
 Scenery, two interiors ; costumes, modern. Plays a full evening. A bright 
 and interesting play full of action and incident. Can be strongly recom- 
 mended. All the parts are good. Sarah Jane Lovejoy, Katie O'Connor 
 and Euphemia Addison are admirable character parts, and Miss Alias and 
 Miss Alibi, the " silent sisters," offer a side-splitting novelty. 
 Price, 2J cents 
 
 LUCIA'S LOVER 
 
 A Farce in Three Acts by Bertha Currier Porter. Eight females. Cos- 
 tumes, modern ; scenery, two interiors. Plays an hour and a half. A 
 bright and graceful piece, light in character, but sympathetic and amusing. 
 Six contrasted types of girls at boarding-school are shown in a novel story. 
 Lots of fun, but very refined. Easy to produce and can be strongly 
 recommended. Price, 25 cents 
 
 A GIRL IN A THOUSAND 
 
 A Comedy in Four Acts by Evelyn Gray Whiting. Fourteen females. 
 Costumes, modern ; scenes, three interiors and an exterior. Plays a full 
 evening. Very strong and sympathetic and of varied interest. Irish 
 comedy ; strong " witch " character ; two very lively " kids " ; all the 
 parts good. Effective, easy to produce, and can be strongly recommended 
 as thoroughly wholesome in tone as well as amusing. Price, 2J cents 
 
 MRS. BRIGGS OF THE POULTRY YARD 
 
 A Comedy in Three Acts by Evelyn Gray Whiting. Four males, seven 
 females. Scene, an interior ; costumes, modern. A domestic comedy 
 looking steadfastly at the " bright side " of human affairs. Mrs. Briggs is 
 an admirable part, full of original humor and quaint sayings, and all the 
 characters are full of opportunity. Simply but effectively constructed, and 
 written with great humor. Plays two hours. Price, 25 cents 
 
 TOMMY'S WIFE 
 
 A Farce in Three Acts by Marie J. Warren. Three males, five females. 
 Costumes, modern ; scenery, two interiors. Plays an hour and a half. 
 Originally produced by students of Wellesley College. A very original 
 and entertaining play, distinguished by abundant humor. An unusually 
 clever piece, strongly recommended. Price, aj cents
 
 
 Tnp MAfifCrDATp Farce In Three Acts. Twelve males, four 
 lUL 1UAU1J1AA1L< females. Costumes, modem; scenery, all 
 interior. Plays two hours and a half. 
 
 THE NOTORIOUS MRS. EBBSMITH ?;?7^ J*^ f^^y ^f 
 
 ElgLt males, five females. 
 Costumes, modem ; scenery, all interiors. Plays a full evening. 
 
 TIfG PROFI IfiATF ^^^y in Four Acts. Seven males, five females. 
 ^ Scenery, three interiors, rather elaborate ; 
 
 costumes, modem. Plays a full evening. 
 
 THE SCHOOLMISTRESS ^^"''^ *° '^"^^ ^''*' ^^^ °'^®'' *®'^*° 
 
 females. Costumes, modem; scenery, 
 three interiors. Plays a full evening. 
 
 TBE SECOND MRS. TASQDERAY S^r Lfr ""H 
 
 tumes, modem ; scenery, three interiors. Plays a full evening. 
 
 SWFFT I AVENRFR ^*^™^y ^° Three Acts. Seven males, four 
 tJnLiiil UAlhavl<D. fgnj^igg Scene, a single Interior; costumes, 
 modem. Plays a full evening. 
 
 THF TIMFS ^<^'"®*^y ^ Four Acts. Six males, seven females. 
 Scene, a single interior ; costuimes, modern. Plays a 
 full evening. 
 
 THF WFAKFR SFX comedy in Three Acta. Eight males, eight 
 females. Costumes, modern ; scenery, two 
 Interiors. Plays a full evening. 
 
 A WIFE WITHOUT A SMLE •^^^M^Z^Z^^Z 
 
 moderji ; scene, a single interior. Flays a full evening. 
 
 Sent prepaid on receipt of price by 
 
 B^altet: i^. 'Bafeet: a Company 
 
 No. 5 Hamilton Place, Boston, Massachusetts
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped belov\. 
 
 AUG 2^ 
 
 SCHARGE-URL 
 
 (NOV04I9# 
 
 1 L9-37»(-3,'57(C5424s4)444 
 
 Sent prepaid on receipt of price by 
 
 l^altn "$. I5afeet a Company 
 
 No. 5 Hamilton Place, Boston, Massachusetts
 
 Ibsen - 
 
 "■'73 The pillars of 
 ;A6 society 
 
 ilNDDl^' ' ' 
 
 9 1960 
 
 1158 00615 6o\ 
 
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 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FA 
 
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