Captain Cranberry

Title: Captain Cranberry

A Cape Cod comedy in three acts

Author: Gladys Ruth Bridgham

Release date: October 19, 2023 [eBook #71902]

Language: English

Original publication: Boston: Walter H. Baker & Co., 1917

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/71902

Credits: Charlene Taylor, Ian Crann and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

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THE HOBBY HORSE Comedy in Three Acts. Ten males, five females. Costumes, modern; scenery easy. Plays two hours and a half.

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Captain Cranberry

A Cape Cod Comedy in Three Acts

By GLADYS RUTH BRIDGHAM

Author of “Leave it to Polly,” “A Regular Scream,” “Not on the Programme,” “A Modern Cinderella,” “On the Quiet,” “A Regular Rah! Rah! Boy,” “Sally Lunn,” “Six Times Nine,” “Cupid’s Partner,” “Her First Assignment,” “A Case for Sherlock Holmes,” “Ring-Around-a-Rosie,” “Three of a Kind,” “The Turn in the Road,” “The Queen of Hearts,” etc.

BOSTON WALTER H. BAKER & CO. 1917

Captain Cranberry

CHARACTERS

Cranford Berry (Cap’n Cranberry), keeper of the Bay Point Light.

Abner Freeman, a retired whaler.

Obadiah Daniels, postmaster.

Lemuel Sawyer, constable.

Samuel Sawyer, his son.

Lee Gordon.

Peter Pretzel Pomeroy.

Nat Williams.

Ariel Freeman, Abner’s daughter.

Hepsy Sawyer, Lemuel’s wife.

Cynthia Tinker.

SYNOPSIS

Act I.—Living room in Cynthia’s home, Bay Point, Cape Cod.

Act II.—The same; the next morning.

Act III.—Room in Abner Freeman’s old fish-house on the shore; late afternoon of the same day.

Copyright, 1917, by Gladys Ruth Bridgham

Free for amateur performance. Professional and moving picture rights reserved.

[Pg 3]

Captain Cranberry

ACT I

SCENE.—Living room in Cynthia Tinker’s home. Exits L., R. and C. There is a fireplace R. front. There should be a stairway at L.C., but it is not absolutely necessary, as another exit may be used representing exit to up-stairs rooms. There is a large center table with a lighted lamp upon it. Old style chairs.

(As curtain rises, Cynthia Tinker stands by the fireplace. She is removing some vases and pictures from mantel and packing them into a box which is on the floor near the fireplace. Cyn. is about forty, rather small, bright and energetic. There is a knock at the door C.)

Cyn. Come in and, for the land sakes, shut the door quick!

Enter Hepsy Sawyer, C. She is about thirty-five, tall and wiry. She wears a man’s oil coat and hat.

Hep. (as she enters). Well, I should say! (Slams the door.) Ain’t this a night though?

Cyn. It certainly is. Are you crazy, Hepsy? Or is somebody sick? Whatever on earth brought you out in all this storm?

Hep. You, Cynthy! (Removes coat and hat.) I thought I might be able to help you some an’ I couldn’t bear to think of you alone here on your last night.

Cyn. (taking hat and coat). That’s more’n kind of you, Hepsy. There’s a roaring fire in the kitchen stove. I’ll hang your coat up to dry, and put on some water to make a cup of tea.

(Exit, R. Hep. walks to fireplace and stands warming her hands.)

Reënter Cyn., R.

Hep. You are really goin’ in the morning, Cynth?

[Pg 4]

Cyn. (energetically). I really am.

Hep. Well, how you can be cheerful about it beats me! How do you know you’ll like it over to Falmouth and how do you know as you’ll get along with the people you’re going to keep house for?

Cyn. I don’t know anything about it, Hepsy, but I’ve got to give it a try. I ain’t got money enough to live on an’ I can’t set down in this house and starve. I can’t eat the shingles nor the wall paper. I’m doing the only sensible thing there is to do.

Hep. Trust you to do that, Cynthy. Can I do anything to help you? Hev you got everything packed?

Cyn. Yes, all that I’m going to pack. I was just finishing the last few little things. Cap’n Daniels thinks he can let the house all furnished.

Hep. (explosively). What?

Cyn. So that I won’t have to bother to have my things moved out an’ some—some day (looking around the room with a sigh), I may be able to come home an’ everything will be here waiting for me.

Hep. Cynthia Tinker, do you mean to say that Obed Daniels has let this place already?

Cyn. He thinks so.

Hep. (excited). Who to? Do tell, Cynthy!

Cyn. I don’t know who it is.

Hep. Don’t know? My land! Do you mean that you didn’t ask him?

Cyn. I haven’t seen him yet. He jest sent me a message by Bennie Hill.

Hep. And you ain’t the slightest idee who it is?

Cyn. Not the slightest.

Hep. My land! I shan’t sleep a wink to-night. Land sakes! Who could it be, Cynth? To want a house all furnished? Why in the land o’ goshen ain’t they got furniture o’ their own? Must be somebody awful queer coming to town. Good land, that reminds me! I most forgot to tell you! Arey Freeman is at home.

Cyn. Why, what do you mean, Hepsy?

Hep. Jest that! She come on the afternoon train. Her eyes hev give out and the doctor won’t let her study any more this year an’ she’s come home.

Cyn. Why, I can’t believe it. Are you sure, Hepsy? Have you seen her?

[Pg 5]

Hep. Oh, yes, I’ve been over. My Sammy told me first an’ I declare to goodness I didn’t know whether it was the truth or one of Sammy’s fairy tales. Sometimes I think that young one will be the death of me an’ Lem before we ever get him raised. It’s the most wearing thing! He keeps us guessing all the time. You can’t tell more’n half the time whether he’s telling the truth or lyin’!

Cyn. Oh, Hepsy, you shouldn’t speak that way about Sammy. He’s a dear little fellow and awful good-hearted, and——

Hep. (interrupting). Now don’t you go to takin’ his part! He’s all you say maybe but that don’t make it out he can’t tell the biggest yarns of any young one that walks! And what do you suppose? His father went into the store the other day and found him telling one of his tales to the Center Church minister. Lem like to have swooned. He said he guessed things had gone jest about far enough and he walked Sammy home in a hurry, I tell you! And do you know the Rev. Mr. Peters told Lem he ought not to blame Sammy. Well, Lem was struck in a heap. “Not blame him fer lyin’?” says Lem. “He don’t mean it that way,” says Mr. Peters. “The boy is a wonder. Why, genius just burns in him and he must let it out. If he keeps on this way you may have a famous writer in your family some day.” Wal, I declare to goodness, Lem nearly went crazy. He warmed Sammy plenty that night and then he set a shingle up on the kitchen mantel and told Sammy to keep his eye on it, and when he felt genius burning to jest remember that with his father’s help that shingle could make

things a good deal hotter for him than ever genius thought of doing. A writer! My land! Lem can’t stand anything sissy, you know. The Sawyers have always been able-bodied men, and able to do a day’s work as long as they breathed. Why, Grandfather Sawyer lived to be a hundred and three, and weighed two hundred, an’ the day he died he worked six hours and ate seven pancakes and five hot biscuit for his tea. That was his last night on this earth.

Cyn. (dryly). I should thought it might have been.

Hep. Hey? What did you say, Cynthy?

Cyn. (hastily). I—I was—going to ask you about Ariel. You went over?

Hep. Yes, as soon as I made up my mind that Sammy was telling the truth I started right over and what do you think I found? Five women there ahead of me! Ain’t that terrible?[Pg 6] Shouldn’t you think they’d have let her alone, jest gettin’ home that way, an’ she looked tired to death, though I must say she is prettier’n ever. An’ I says to her, says I——.

Samuel Sawyer (outside). Maw! Oh, maw! Be you in Miss Cynthy’s house?

Hep. (starting up). Good land! Sammy! What’s he want? (Going toward door, C.) It’s a pity a body can’t go calling without bein’ chased up by the family! (Opens door.) What do you want? No! You’re too wet to come in.

Cyn. (quickly). No, he isn’t! (Goes to door.) You come right in, Sammy. I don’t mind a little water. I’ve lived too close to it all my life to be afraid of it.

Enter Sam., C. He is about nine years old, small for his age and rather delicate looking. He is a decidedly pretty boy and in decided contrast to either mother or father. He wears raincoat and hat and rubber boots.

Hep. Take your feet right off this floor!

Sam. (uncertainly lifting first one foot then the other). How’ll I do it? Where’ll I put ’em, maw?

Hep. (pulling him onto a rug). Stand on a rug! My land! Did any one ever see sech a young one? What do you want o’ me?

Sam. A man has stole father’s pipe.

Cyn. (astonished). Good land!

Hep. (sternly). Now, Samuel Henry, that will do right now before you go any further!

Sam. ’Tain’t no story, maw. It’s so. I was a-goin’ along an’——

Hep. (warningly). Samuel Henry!

Sam. (beginning to whimper). It’s so, maw. I tell you it’s so!

Cyn. Gracious, Hepsy, I’d listen to what he says.

Hep. Listen to sech foolishness?

Sam. ’Tain’t foolish, maw. Pa’s over to the store, you know he is.

Hep. (disgusted). Yes, leave it to your pa to hang out at the store.

Sam. An’—an’—it isn’t pleasant out——

Cyn. (laughing). No, I guess it ain’t. That’s one truthful story, Sammy, if you never tell another.

Sam. (beginning to grow encouraged). An’—an’—pa forgot[Pg 7] his pipe an’ he sent me home for it, an’—I was goin’ along holdin’ the pipe in my hand—an’—an’—you can’t see a thing out, the fog’s so thick—an’ a man come right out the fog an’ grabbed the pipe out o’ my hand an’ ran off with it.

Cyn. (with a gasp). My land!

Hep. Samuel Henry, where do you expect to go when you die?

Sam. It’s so! It is so, maw!

Cyn. Well, of all the queer——

Hep. Didn’t I tell you? He jest lost that pipe somewhere and that’s the kind of a story he makes up, and the Rev. Mr. Peters thinks he is smart.

Cyn. Well, my land, if he can tell it off as natural as all that and look as innocent as he does, he sartain is smart. Sammy, you don’t really mean a man took your father’s pipe away from you? Bay Point folks don’t do things like that.

Sam. I don’t believe it was any one in Bay Point.

Hep. Nor in any other town. You march yourself home as straight as you can go.

Sam. No, no! I ain’t! Not alone! I ain’t a-goin’ out alone again to-night. He’ll jump out at me again. I’m scared an’—an’—cold.

Hep. Well, you jest go an’ tell your pa where his pipe’s gone to an’ you won’t complain about bein’ cold any more.

Sam. (beginning to cry). It’s so, maw! It’s so!

Cyn. My land, Hepsy, he does look scared.

Hep. (grimly). Yes, he knows his pa pretty well. Wal, I suppose I got to travel along. All the time I get to make social calls you can put in your eye. Lem can set in the store and talk hours on a stretch, but I’d like to ever get a chance to say anything. I’ll get my coat.

[Exit, R.

Cyn. (going to Sam. and speaking coaxingly). Sammy, if you lost the pipe, why don’t you own up to it? It would be ever so much easier for you in the end.

Sam. (throwing his arms around her). I didn’t, Miss Cynthy. A man took it!

Enter Hep., in hat and coat.

Hep. I’ll see you again ’fore you go, Cynthy.

Cyn. (going to door with them). All right. My land! Ain’t it thick?

[Exeunt Hep. and Sam., C.

Hep. (outside). I never see it worse. You can’t see an inch ’fore your nose. Walk along, Samuel Henry!

[Pg 8]

(Cyn. closes door, walks slowly to fireplace and puts some things into box.)

Ariel Freeman (calling from outside). Miss Cynthy! Oh, Miss Cynthy!

Cyn. (hurrying to door and opening it). Ariel! You blessed child!

Enter Ariel. She is about eighteen; light complexioned; exceedingly pretty.

Ariel. Don’t touch me! I’m soaked! (Throws her coat off.) Will this be all right?

(Throws coat over the back of a chair and turns chair toward fire.)

Cyn. Yes, of course. How in the world did you ever get here? You can’t see your hand before your face.

Ariel. Well, I couldn’t if it was clear, so it doesn’t make much difference, but I could find my way to your house if I was stone blind.

(Goes to Cyn. and throws her arms around her.)

Cyn. (alarmed). Your eyes, Arey? It isn’t really serious?

Ariel. No, they will come out all right but it’s a good deal of a nuisance. I can’t see across this room.

Cyn. Good land, you blessed child! You are sure you will get over it?

Ariel. Absolutely, but it will take time and I have got to try to have patience. My, but it’s good to feel your arms around me!

Cyn. And it’s good to feel them there, but you ought not to have come way over here such a night as this is!

Ariel. I ran away. Father said not to come, but they told me a dreadful story about your going away in the morning and I just had to see you. It isn’t true, is it?

Cyn. Yes, it is true, dearie. There’s no other way.

Ariel. Why, it can’t be true! There must be some way. Why, what am I going to do without you? You are all the mother I have got, and I need you to help me bear my troubles. Surely you could find something to do here in Bay Point.

Cyn. No, I can’t. There isn’t a thing. The factory over to Tylerville has shut down for good. Layford has failed, and[Pg 9] there ain’t another thing I can do in my own home, so I got to go out of it to earn a living.

Ariel. Some one else will be sure to take the factory and you can get work again.

Cyn. Some time, maybe, but I can’t set around and wait.

Ariel. It will be summer before long and maybe you could get some boarders.

Cyn. Now you know, Arey, that summer people haven’t begun to come here yet. Maybe they will some time, but I can’t wait for them, either.

Ariel. Well, I don’t care! It’s simply dreadful! I know you don’t want to go! Why, you love this house and everything in it! I have heard you say so time and time again.

Cyn. Yes, you have, dearie. It’s—true—(breaking down) I don’t want to go.

Ariel (kneeling by her). Oh, how selfish I am! I was just thinking of myself. I shouldn’t have spoken to you that way.

Cyn. I have tried to put a brave face on it, but it’s jest takin’ my heart out.

Ariel. You are all worn out. I bet you have cleaned and packed all day! Haven’t you?

Cyn. (faintly). Yes.

Ariel. And you haven’t had a mouthful of supper, have you?

Cyn. No, I don’t want anything.

Ariel. Yes, you do!

Cyn. (protesting). No, I couldn’t eat a thing, dearie.

Ariel (rising). Yes, you could! It’s just what you need. Now you sit here and rest and I will get you something to eat.

Cyn. No, no——

Ariel. But I say, yes, yes!

[Exit, R.

Cranford Berry (outside). Whoa! Port your hellum! (Slight pause. Cyn. listens and dabs at her eyes with her handkerchief.) I say, Miss Tinker! Ship ahoy!

Cyn. (in a shaky voice, going toward the door). Ye-es, Cap’n Berry!

Enter Ber. He is about fifty, with gray hair and a smooth face browned by wind and sea. He has a kindly manner, a rough but hearty voice that can be heard at a long distance, and he carries a package.

Ber. Well, Miss Tinker, how be you?

[Pg 10]

Cyn. (swallowing). Pre-t-ty well.

Ber. Well, I’m glad to hear it! It’s more’n you’re lookin’. Obed was jest telling me that you are setting sail for a new port in the morning. I jest stopped in to tell you I’m sorry to hear it. You’ve been mighty kind to me since I come a stranger to Bay Point, an’ I couldn’t let you go ’thout tellin’ you I appreciate it. (Places package on table.) I brought you a little fruit from the store. Jest as a little farewell gift. I don’t know how good it is. Obed don’t keep much of a assortment but you can eat it on the train; ’twill help to kill the homesickness.

Cyn. Oh-o-o! Cap’n Berry!

(Sits down and bursts into tears.)

Ber. (very much upset). There, now! There, now! I didn’t mean to set you to pumping for salt water that way! I always was an awful clumsy duffer!

Cyn. (trying to control herself). No, no, you’re not! You are jest as kind as you can be! It’s your kindness that’s upset me. I’m awful nervous to-night and tired! I don’t want to go, Cap’n Berry. I ain’t lettin’ folks know it. I ain’t tellin’ Hepsy Sawyer and the rest of them but what I’m tickled to pieces over it.

Ber. Good idee! What Mis’ Sawyer don’t know won’t hurt her, but what she does know keeps pressing on her brain until she has to let it out or die from concussion. (Glances about the room.) You don’t feel that there is any way you can stay here?

Cyn. No, there isn’t. I have thought of everything, but there is no way. (Ber. walks to the fireplace and stands warming his hands and looking thoughtfully into the fire.) I love my little home, Cap’n Berry. I was born here in this house. Mother died here and father and me lived a long time here together. After father was too old to go fishing he still had his pension, and with what I could get to do we managed to pull along, and after he died I managed to get along by myself though it wasn’t quite so easy. Father called this the Anchorage, and I never supposed I would have to leave it. I’ve worked hard to stay, and it doesn’t seem right for me to have to go.

Ber. You really mean that you don’t think it is right for you to have to go?

Cyn. That’s the way it seems. Father left the home to me[Pg 11] and intended I should live here, and it doesn’t seem right to have to leave.

Ber. Then I shouldn’t leave. I should stay right here.

Cyn. (astonished). Good land, Cap’n, what do you mean?

Ber. Jest what I say! ’Tisn’t a good idee to do a thing you think it ain’t right to do.

Cyn. But land sakes, Cap’n, how could I stay here? I can’t live on empty air, can I?

Ber. Well, no, not exactly that. I’ll tell you, though I don’t know as I’ll be very good at finding the right words to tell you jest what I mean. You say you think it is right for you to stay here. Now if you really think and believe that, why—stay! You say this is your home and a way has always been provided for you to live here. Miss Cynthy, you have faith in something. All of us have! We all have a Beacon light we’re steering our course by. Well, jest as long as it’s been fair weather an’ you had your Beacon plain in sight you sailed along all serene, but jest the minute the fog shut in you lost your grip on the steering gear. Miss Cynthy, I reckon the Keeper of the Beacon expects you to believe that He is there and the Beacon is shining jest as bright as ever, and when the fog lifts the rays will be all the brighter to guide you in the right course.