THE SCENE
room in the Bradley Home,
Early evening; Armistice Day.
ley enters reading a letter,
s across the room and sits on
e davenport. Reads a moment,
nds up and turns on the light
the end of the davenport. Sits
and continues reading. Phyllis en-
ters, arranges some flowers on the
table. Starts in surprise when she
sees her husband.
HAROLD
what are you looking at
| PHYLLIS
re Why, Harold, at you, of course. So
‘that’s why you wanted me to get your
‘uniform. ‘What on earth are you wear-
: Well, dear,
HAROLD
s is Armistice Day.
20 PHYLLIS
Yes, I know, but your uniform will
ring back so many things to your
d, and you've always said you
wanted to forget.
fy. HAROLD.
s, dear, that’s right. I've always
aid I wanted to forget, but today I
ant to remember.
| PHYLLIS
that, it will make you so uneasy, SO
nh py, going back over these ter-
_ rible days of the War. I do wish you
~~ could forget.
HAROLD
But, Phyllis, I must not forget—I
must remember—everything.
PHYLLIS
ish. you wouldn't say that, Har-
5
i HAROLD
. But there are so many who can’t
orget. A man who has lost his legs
He remembers—every-
me ‘he wants to walk and has no
egs to walk on.
SE FEY PHYLLIS
I wish: you wouldn't recall these
hings. Only last night you were
dreaming again, you thought you were
in the trenches—you were shouting—
Keep your heads down, men, those
‘shells are finding our lines.”
pi HAROLD
Yes, that’s what comes from trying
o forget. It comes back at night. It
isturbs me in my sleep. It just won't
e forgotten. ¥
PHYLLIS
« Perhaps that’s right, dear. Perhaps
e shouldn’t forget. Some of the sol-
diers, though, have forgotten, they nev-
er mention the war, never even think
=) Orit. :
Sp HAROLD
I don’t agree; it is true they don’t
talk about it but do you think that
eans they have forgotten ?—forgotten
e sacrifice—no, they haven’t forgot-
nd they must never forget; and
world musn’t forget either. The
rar cost the lives of ten million men.
op you think that should be forgot-
(rises, walks nervously across the
. Stops suddenly and says—) You
, Phyllis, I went into a school
oom the other day and looked at the
ys in class—bright, healthy, looking
tle fellows with their hands up so
nxious to show their knowledge. Then
ddenly it changed—I saw them in a
1 hole and they were all dead,
to bits. We can’t have that—we
’t have that—we can’t—Oh, but I
st not get worked up like this.
oes back and sits heavily on the
venport.)
: There is silence.
continues) I didn’t tell you why
letter, it explains it all. It
ten sixteen years ago by a
mine in England.
he PIYLLLe :
Sixteen years ago! By a friend of
surs—in England!
: HAROLD
Yes, you are interested, aren't you?
PHYLLIS
2 HAROLD
Well, you'll be more interested in a
nute.
te A PHYLLIS
“do you mean?
i HAROLD i
Let me explain. Seventeen years ago
in France I met Stanley Grant. He was
a flying officer in the British Army.
This letter explains how I met him.
Tl] read it in a minute. In 1919, when
the war was over, he wrote this letter
and pinned it on the wall of his bed-
room where he could see it every night
‘and every morning—you see—he didn’t
~ want to forget. Two weeks ago he
posted it to me with a postscript ex-
plaining it all.
PHYLLIS
He wrote it in 1919, sixteen years
ago, and pust mailed it now
FIAROLD
Yes, that’s it, and here it is. Dear
. Harold: You haven't forgotten, have
you, that day in France when you saw
an aeroplane fall between the lines. I
haven't forgotten it and never will
You saved my life that evening at the
risk of your own. You crawled out and
found me all crumpled up and half-
dead under the wreck, and you dressed
my wounds and dragged me to a shél-
ter, There in the shell hole I came back
to consciousness and looked at you—
you will never know how good you
looked to me that night. I saw you
were an American soldier and I
thought—Uncle Sam, good old Uncle
Sam, has come across the sea and
now has come across No Man’s Land
~ fo save John Bull—John Bull wounded.
~~ You remember how I struggled ta
hank you and you said: “For God's
‘Sake, man, keep quiet and keep your
head down. I haven't saved you yet,
we've got a hundred yards of Hell to
get through before we are safe.” And
‘when you said—“hundred yards of Hell
to get through”—I remember I looked
ver the edge of the shell hole and saw
a star looking straight down at us, and.
1 said to myself; It’s Hell all right, but
there is hope—there is hore—even in
Hell—while we can still lcok up and
3LO
A PLAY BY REV. FRED M. SELLERS
Pastor Of Shavertown M. E. Church
(Editor's Note: During the World War, Fred Sellers was a Canadian avia-
tor. Because he knows whereof he speaks, his passionate sermons in be-
half of peace have had a tremendous influence in this section. When his
one-act play was first presented it attracted so much comment that The
Post asked permission to reprint it,
in full, an unusual thing for a news-
paper to do. Graciously, and with protests that he is not a playwright, Rev.
Mr. Sellers granted the request. Any
lic or private presentation, although
EXTRA COPIES
Extra copies of this page for
groups desiring to produce. Rev
Mr. Seller’s play can be secured at
The Dallas Post, Lehman Avenue,
Dallas.
If you ask that the copies be
mailed to you please inclose ten
cents for postal charges. In all
cases, give the number of copies
wanted.
tee God’s ancient stars shining in the
sky. Then I thought of what my
Mother used to say—“that the stars
are God's thoughts on fire’—and I got
to wondering what God could think of
the mess man has made of the world—
The fields blood-soaked and torn and
all littered up with bits of men—arms
and legs lying about and piled up in
heaps—great junk-heaps of flesh and
blood. I thought of many things that
night, and made so many promises, and
one of them was that some day I'd go
to America and thank you. It was a
long time ago, and \at last T am going
to keep that promise. I am sailing to-
morrow. I am gaing to call on you—on
Armistice Day, if I can make itl 111
be wearing my uniform, and a part of
it is what I was wearing that night. I
wish you'd wear your uniform, too,
will you? And we will go out into some
field and lie down together on the
ground and look up at that same old
Rev. Mr. Sellers for permitting it to
group is free to use the play for pub-
it is suggested that acknowledgement
be made to the Shavertown preacher. The Post is extremely grateful to
use his play.)
lowing cast:
Carl Colstein, German Soldier
Phyllis Bradley
Dorothy Baker
Justice
The play, “Of One Blood”, was presented first in the Shaver-
i town M. E. Church on Sunday evening, November 1, with the fol-
Harold Bradley, American Soldier
Stanley Grant, British Flying Officer
Harry Ritts
Jackson Guernsey
Earl Schall !
Elgie Prutzman
Frances Thomas
Helen Weer
HAROLD
Phyllis, this is Mr. Colstein. (They
shake hands.) = 3
PHYLLIS i
Well, well, things are happening to-
day.
HAROLD
Yes, they happened that first Armis-
tice Day, too. Sit here, Mr. Colstein,
PHYLLIS
And do you know, we are going to
have another visitor any moment. I
you know,
GRANT
Well, this is going to be interesting.
The circle is going to be complete.
Carl here will speak for Germany,
Harold will represent Uncle Sam, T’ll
star—and then T’ll thank you.
PHYLLIS |
Do ycu mean that he wants you to]
go out and lie on the cold ground and
look up at that star?—what a queer
idea! |
i HAROLD
Yes, it is queer, isn’t it? But, listen,
let me finish reading it. He says here
—Don’t think me crazy. I feel I must
thank you and T'1l never be able to
do it until we are lying on the ground
looking at that star—the ground and
the star became a part of me that
night. You remember how it trembled
and seemed to grean and shriek under
the pounding, the terrific beating, of
those huge shells. And you remember
too, how I put my hand on your shoul-
der, when I took it away it was wet—
wet with your blood—you were wound-
ed, too. I kept asking you if you saw
the star and you said, Yes, you saw it,
that you had seen it often before, it
was an old friend of yours, that you
had talked to it and winked back at it
when you were just a kid, playing hide
and seek. I think, you know, that that
dear old star was the same that led
the Wise Men to Bethlehem, the birth- !
place of the Son of God. It is a long
letter, Phyllis, he goes on and talks
about many things—you can read it
later. (Looks at his watch—) Why, |
he’ll be here now any minute. |
PHYLLIS 3
Why didn’t you tell me all this be-
fore—why didn’t you tell me he was
coming?
HAROLD
‘Well, I just didn’t want to get you
all fussed up about it. (There is a
knock at the door, he goes to open it.)
Shakes hands with Grant. (There is
silence as they look into each other's
faces.)
I am so glad you have come—after
all these years. (As they walk into the
room.)
GRANT
And I am certainly glad I have come,
as you say—after all these years. You
haven't changed a bit.
HAROLD
You haven't changed either. You
must meet Mrs. Bradley. Phyllis, this
is my friend, Stanley Grant. (They
shake hands.)
PHYLLIS
I am so glad you have come, Mr.
Grant, Harold has been waiting for
you and he has been so excited. Let's
sit down.
GRANT
(Looks at his watch). You are going
to have another visitor pretty soon. I
thought he would be here by this time.
Perhaps I shouldn’t have taken the li-
berty to invite him.
HAROLD
Oh, that’s all right—who
friend of yours?
GRANT
Well,—yes, in a way. I met him on
the ship coming over. He is a German,
was a soldier in the German Army, and
was fighting on the same front as we
were the day you rescued me.
HAROLD
Why,—you don’t say.
PHYLLIS
How interesting.
is it, a
GRANT
Yes, just a coincidence, of course.
‘We got to talking and comparing notes
and made that discovery, He is a dan-
dy fellow—we’ll just talk over old times
together.— (There is a knock at the
door. Harold rises, says—)
HAROLD
Come along, Grant, and help me wel-
come your friend. (Grant shakes hands
and introduces—) Mr. Colstein, this is
Mr. Bradley, Harold Bradley, the
American I was telling you about.
talk for the British, Harold's nurse will
speak for the Red Cross, and you, Mrs.
Rradley, youll—speak for the women
who waited and kept the home fires
burning.
(There is a knock at the door."Phy-
Llis meets Miss Baker and introduces
her to the others).
HAROLD
Well, now that we are all here, let's
not be formal, let's be seated and make
ourselves at home.
GRANT
Harold, Carl and I have been argu-
ing for seven days—all the way across
the Atlantic—it was the old question,
you know—about who started the war.
3
HAROLD
Perhaps Mr. Colstein would rather
not talk about that.
CARL
Oh, Mr. Bradley, I don’t mind at all.
GRANT
No, Colstein doesn’t mind. He says
that Germany had ‘to fight—that she
was forced into it.
HAROLD
Yes, I have met other Germans who
said the same thing. What do you
mean, Mr. Colstein by saying that
Germany was forced into it?
CARL
Well, my country as you know had
a treaty with Austria, and Mr. Grant
here says that England had a treaty |
with Belgium and was honour bound
to defend Belgium. Germany has hon-
or, too, Mr. Bradley, and had to pro-
tect Austria.
GRANT
You see, Bradley, how he looks at it.
HAROLD
Yes, I see. But, Mr. Colstein, Ger-
many marched her soldiers into Bel-
gium, Germany fired the first gun.
CARL
But, Mr. Bradley, don’t you know
that French soldiers were in Belgium
before the Germans, that French gen-
erals were helping the Belgians mo-
bolize before we crossed the border— |
and that means that France ,and not
Germany, broke Belgium neutrality.
HAROLD
No, Mr. Colstein, I didn’t know that
—and I don’t believe it.
PHYLLIS
But, Harold, you shouldn’t say that,
you don’t know.
HAROLD
I think I do know. I know that Ger-
many was prepared and had been pre-
pared for years.
CARL
There was no crime in being pre-
pared, Mr. Bradley.
DOROTHY
I think Phyllis is right, Harold
asked Miss Baker to visit us this even- |
ing. She\was Harold’s nurse in France, |
doesn’t know, and you have to agree,
Harold, and you too, Mr. Grant, that
Germany was not committing a crime
{in being prepared. ;
GRANT
I understand, Miss Baker—You are
trying to be polite and I appreciate
|that, but Colstein here and Bradley and
myself, we have been through the war
and we must forget that we are Ger-
| mans or English or American. We must
| find out who started the war. We must
‘face the truth and then see that it
| doesn’t happen again. B34 Gol
DOROTHY
i. That's right, Mr. Grant, only of
| course I was through the war too."
PHYLLIS
Yes, and I was too. I suffered almost
ras if TI had been in the trenches. We
all saw it and sufféred in our own way.
CARL
That's it exactly. We all suffered.
GRANT
You said, didn’t you Colstein, that
there was nothing wrong in being pre-
pared, ¢
CARL
Yes, that’s what I said.
GRANT
It is one thing, you know, for a na-
tion to be prepared to defend itself,
and quite a different thing when a na-
tion is prepared to lick the world.
CARL
The German people were convinced
that the world was determined to stop
their progress. The nations were jea-
lous of our prosperity—were deter-
mined to stop us—to humiliate us.
GRANT
You were told that, Colstein, and
vou, and all the Germans, believed it—
vou wanted to believe it.
CARL
Well, we were right, weren't we?
Didn't events prove we were right—
didn’t we have to fight the world?
GRANT
| superiority. I call that blasphemy.
HAROLD
Yes, I believe that’s about it.
CARL
So, God was neutral until
came in.
!
HAROLD
What do you mean, Mr. Colstein?
CARL
Well, if God had been with the Allies
they certainly would have won—with
God’s help in three years.
HAROLDM
I don’t like your putting it that way.
CARL
Why? What don’t you like about it?
/ HAROLD |
Your sarcasm. \ |
CARL
Sarcasm?
HAROLD
Yes, sarcasm.
CARL
“Well, if God helped you make war,
why didn’t God help you make the
peace?
1
HAROLD !
I don’t know what you mean.
CARL
You should.
; HAROLD
But I ‘doen't. )
CARL
You say you beat us in the war,
will you admit that you betrayed us
in the peace?
HAROLD
Betrayed you? ?
CARL
Yes, betrayed us. The Allies dis-
armed Germany and promised to dis-
arm themselves—did you do) it -
© HAROLD
Would Germany have done it?
CARL
That isn’t the point. You claim God
was with you, and I want to tell you,
Mr. Bradley, that that’s an old trick.
HAROLD
An old trick?
CARL
Yes. Nations and individuals have
always dragged God into their wars]
when they wanted to make themselves
and other people believe in their moral’
HAROLD
Blasphemy ?
Yes, Germany asked for it and got
it. You wouldn’t listen to reason—it|
wasn't only in military circles that you |
talked war, but in your newspapers, ini
| your school books, in your homes, and
even in your churches—everywhere
vou talked and preached the necessity
and the glory and the dignity of ‘war,
and that you, the Germans, were or- |
dained by God to conquer and rule the
world.
CARL
That's what you thing. You were]
told that in England and you believed |
it—you wanted to believe it— but it
isn’t true—it’s absurd.
GRANT
‘Why, what's untrue about it. You
say there was nothing wrong in being
prepared, and I am just telling you
how well you were prepared—prepared
for war, for conquest, for victory—a
great and glorious German victory, but
you didn’t get it. You got defeat, over-
Iwhelming defeat—you weren't prepared
| for that.
CARL
't defeated
| The German Army wasn’t defeate
in the field—and you should know that,
Grant, Germany was defeated at home.
Germany had no food, the soldiers
asked for an armistice to save their
mothers and wives and sisters from
starving to death.
HAROLD
You will have to admit, though,
that your army was beaten in France.
You lost the war, Colstein, because
you were fighting, not only against
the world but against God Almighty.
CARL
America, Mr. Bradley, was fighting
with God, and that’s why you won?
7
£
¢
:
:
g
g
8
§
(They walk into the room.)
—-
a LL
7
3
3
:
:
:
g
g
,|was innocent, Germany was guilty—
and you call that forgetting.
CARL
You said a moment ago that I was
sarcastic, I say now that you are blas-
phemous.
f
PHYLLIS
Oh, Harold, why are you having all
this argument? I am not enjoying it at
all, are you Dorothy? i
HAROLD J
No, I am not enjoying it a bit, and
what’s the use anyway, Wihat’s the use
of fighting the war all over again, we
can’t change it now—we can’t change
history. And besides, it is not fair. Here
we are four of us against Mr. Colstein
—four to one. [
CARL
Its been that way for a long time,
Miss Baker. Before the war, during the
war, and since the war. The odds have
always been against Germany.
HAROLD
I am not talking in that spirit at all.
Miss Baker says we can’t change his- |
tory, I think we can. We can prevent
history from repeating itself. For thou-
sands of years history has been doing
that and will continue to do it if we do
not change our ways of thinking and
living. History repeats itself because
people repeat themselves—because one
generation repeats the lies and stupidi-
ties and sins of the other. But,—of
course, if Mr. Colstein feels that way
about it—Ilet’s forget it.
GRANT
(Impatiently). Yes, let's forget it.
CARL
You don’t forget though, Grant, and
you don't, Bradley, you sit in judgment,
proud of your past, sure of your fu-
ture, England was innocent, America
GRANT
But, Mr. Colstein, you don’t under-
stand.
CARL
Yes, I do, you and Bradley haven't
learned a thing in sixteen years. You
won the war and then you dragged God
into it to make your victory look re-
spectable, then you make us pay.
HAROLD
Made you pay? You didn’t pay for
the war, Colstein.
GRANT
No, Colstein, you didn’t pay. We
were too easy, we let you off.
CARL
Yes, we paid. Paid with two million
dead soldiers, with thousands of men
PAGE THREE
many is desperate. Germany is going
mad. a
GRANT
Going mad? Germany was mad in
1913, mad with pride and power. that's |
why she started the war—she WAS
mad. 5
CARL
Grant, you make me sick, T am sick
and tired of hearing you talk like a
saint. You English, you are innocent,
you are always innocent. England has
been fighting for a thousand years and
You strut through the world like a
beacock. You are ridiculous — im-
possible! / 5 ati
GRANT
Yes, you are sick of the English,
! (speaking slowly to control his voice)
and I'll tell you why you're sick. We.
made you sick in 1914 when we swept
your ships from the sea and bottled up
your navy in the Keil Canal. You were
3 so sick then, you have never got over
America it. And I'll tell you something else, I'll
tell you twice so you won't forget. You
are just a dumb dutchman. (Speaking
. ! quickly, angrily. Rises, Carl also rises,
they are standing close together, fac-
ing each other.) You're blind, blind as
la bat. When we whipped you in France
and you surrendered, we should have
pushed you back into Germany and
blown your homes to bits ang given
you a real taste of the hellish thing you
started. i {
, DOROTHY
Mr. Grant. Mr. Colstein, will you let
me speak. You came here tonight as
two friends, and now what are you.
You were going to find out who start-
ed the war and now you are ready to
make war. Your words are like the
bombs and bayonets you used in the
trenches. You have turned this room
into a battlefield. . !
PHYLLIS
Yes, vou have lost your tempers. You
are ready to fight again. 5 :
GRANT pr
No. no, Mrs. Bradley, I haven’t' lost
my temper .... 4
CARL
No-0-0-, Mrs. Bradley.
' DOROTHY
Yes, you have. And T have heen sit-
ting here listening and I have learned
something — something important. IT
have learned how the war started; it
was started by men like you, Mr. Grant
and ‘like you, Mr. Colstein, who were so
anxious to get their rights and more
than their rights that they lost all
sense and reason. They forgot there
was ever such a thing as justice, Their
voices, red-hot with anger, their wills
crossed like high-tension wires, with
the sparks flying in all directions. 3
. PHYLLIS /
That's it, that’s just it—the sparks
flew in all directions, there was an ex-
plosion that blew the world to pieces;
and we will never be able to put the
world together again without justice.
This argument, like the war, is ridi-
culous. It is all so silly and stupid,
isn’t it? Germans and English and
Americans, we are all one, aren’t we?
\ DOROTHY
Yes, we are all of one blood.
HAROLD
Of one blood? Of one blood ‘Where is
that written—who said that? .
GRANT
God—hath made—of one blood. You
know, don’t you, Carl?
CARL
Yes, Stan. I think I can tell you. I
learned that years ago in church. It
was said by St. Paul when he was
preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to
the Greeks on Mars Hill. God hath
made of one blood all nations of men
to dwell on the face of the earth.
(Justice enters, blindfolded, walks
slowly across the room, speaks to the
players.) .
JUSTICE
I have waited patiently outside, hop-
ing at last to hear you speak my name.
I cannot tell you how often I have
waited in vain for a chance to enter
the private rooms and uncil cham-
bers of the world. Men often mention
my name and pretend to desire nothing
more than my presence, when all the
time I know from their tone of voice
that they desire nothing less. T thought
tonight that once I heard you speak
my name, and in a tone that made &
free way for my feet. Ah, that mem
everywhere would make a free way for
the feet of justice. I was the first to
come. T am the last to speak. :
(She walks forward. The lights are
lowered. She stands, a symbolic figure,
a blindfolded woman holding a pair of
scales in her hand.
JUSTICE ,
I am Justice. There can be no peach
without Justice. Man must learn to
know the truth and Justice of God. I
am blind to the colors of men and to
races and to national boundary lines.
TI am blind to all the things that make
for strife and bloodshed and war. The
things that divide us are accidental and
artificial. The things that unite us are
elemental and eternal—the eternal
bonds of blood and bone. I can see
with the eyes of the spirit—in the
veins of men all blood is red—red—
red like the blood that dripped from:
the hands and feet of Christ when they
nailed Him to the Cross. Long ago the
Prophets sang of peace. And the an-
gels sang of peace and goodwill to all
men and then Chirst came with His
benediction on the peacemakers. He is
the way for Germans and French,
English and Americans, Italians and
Rthiopians—East and West, North and
South. We must learn to walk in His
way—then we shall put the swords
back to rust in their scabbards; or—
better still—we shall beat our swords
and spears into plowshares. We shall
learn war no more. We shall live as
one people; of one blood, in one world.
We shall walk in the path of peace and
prosperity—in the broad highway of
beauty and brotherhood.
Benediction—MINISTER.
The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God, and to communion
blind and insane, thousands without
Frmsatmiatatatonstanssstisted
a
arms, without legs, who'd be better off
dead. For seventeen ye
munion of the Holy Spirit, be with
Am i 2
and the love of God, and the com-
been bleeding from our wounds. Ger
She is always innocent, always right.