xt7t4b2x448b https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7t4b2x448b/data/mets.xml Moody, William Vaughn, 1869-1910. 1910  books b92-238-31299536 English Macmillan, : New York : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Faith healer  : a play in three acts / by William Vaughn Moody. text Faith healer  : a play in three acts / by William Vaughn Moody. 1910 2002 true xt7t4b2x448b section xt7t4b2x448b 

















THE FAITH HEALER

 








































     THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
     NEW YORK  BOSTON  CHICAGO
        ATLANTA  SAN FRANCISCO

     MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED
       LONDON - BOMBAY  CALCUTTA
             MELBOURNE

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD.
              TORONTO

 




THE FAITH HEALER


      A jSlar in ZItrec act0




               BY
    WILLIAM VAUGHN MOODY
      AUTHOR OF " THE GREAT DIVIDE," ETC.















             New 1



THE MACMILLAN



COMPANY



   1910
All rights reserved

 



















           COPYRIGHT, 19a9, 1910,
    By WILLIAM VAUGHN MOODY.

Set up and electrotyped. Published March, X910.






















              Norujoob I9rtss
   J. S. Cushing Co. - Berwick & Smith Co.
          Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.

 















   PERSONS OF THE PLAY

ULRICH MICHAELIS
MATTHEW BEELER
MARY BEELER, his wife
MARTHA BEELER, his sister
ANNIE BEELER, his daughter
RHODA WILLIAMS, Afrs. Beeler's niece
DR. GEORGE LITTLEFIELD
REV. JOHN CULPEPPER
UNCLE ABE, an old negro
AN INDIAN Boy
A YOUNG MOTHER WITH HER BABY
VARIOUS SICK PEOPLE AND OTHERS ATTENDANT
   UPON THEM

 This page in the original text is blank.

 

















ACT I

 This page in the original text is blank.

 

                        ACT I

A large old-fashioned room in Matthew Bee/er's farm-house,
  near a small town in the Middle WVest. The room is used
  for dining andfor general living purposes.  It suggests, in
  architecture and furnishings, a past of considerable pros-
  perity, which has now given place to mnore humble living.
  The house is, in fact, the ancestral home of Mr. Bee/er's
  wife, Mary, born Beardsley, a family of the local farming
  aristocracy, now decayed. At the rear is a large double
  window, set in a broad alcove. To the right of the window
  is the entrance door, which opens upon the side yard, show-
  ing bushes, trees, andfarm buildings.
In the right wall of the room a door and covered stairway
  lead to the upper story. Farther forward is a wall cup-
  board, and a door leading into the kitchen.  Opposite this
  cupboard, in the left-hand wall of the room, is a mantel-
  piece andgrate; farther back a double door, leading to a
  hall.  Off th e hall open two bedrooms (not seen), one be-
  longing to Mr. and Mrs. Bee/er, the other to Rhoda
  Williams, a niece of Airs. Bee/er, child of her dead sister.
The room contains, among other articles offurniture, a dining
  table (with detachable leaves to reduce its bulk when not
  in use for eating purposes), an invalid's wheel-chair, a low
  sofa of generous size, and a book-shelf, upon which are
  arranged the scientific books which AMr. Bee/er takes a
  somewhat untutored but genuine delight in. Tacked upon
  the wall near by are portraits of scientific men, Darwin
  and Spcer conspicuous among them, cutfrom periodicals.

 

THE FAITH HEALER



  Other pic/ures, including flail/v daguerreotyes and photo-
  graphs, are variously dist-ibu/ed about /the walls.  Over
  /he mantel shelf hangs a large map of the United Stteas and
  Mfexico, faded andfly-sypecked.
As the cur/ain rises, the room is dark, exceptfor a tulln fire
  in /he grate.  The /icking of the clock is heard; it strikes
  six. Martha Beeler, a woman of for/v-five, en/ers fromt
  the kitchen, carrying a ,ihteed la np. S/ic wears a shazwl
  over her shoulders, a print dress, and a kitchen apron.
  She places the lamp on the table, which is setfor breakfast,
  andputs coal on the grate, which soon flames more brightly.
She goes into the hall and is heard knocking and calling.

                     MARTHA.
Rhody!     Rhody!
Matthew Beeler, a man of fifty, enters. He is not quite
  dressed, but finishes as he comes in. Martha follows hint.

Where's that niece of yours got to now 

                      BEELER.
She's helping Mary dress.

                     MARTHA.
What in time's Mary gettin' up for She's
only in the way till the work's done.

                      BEELER.
She's restless.



[ACT I



4

 

APt  1]    inn rFA1H HEALLER5

                 MARTHA.
Signiferantly.
I shouldn't wonder. Pause. I hope you know
why Mary didn't sleep.

                 BEELER.
Evasively.
She's always been a light sleeper, since she got
her stroke.
                  MARTHA.
Look here, Mat Beeler! I'm your born sister.
Don't try to fool me! You know why your
wife didn't sleep last night.

                  BEELER.
Maybe I do, Sis.
Points to the ceiling.
Is he up yet 
                 MARTHA.
Up! I don't believe he's been abed.
They listen, as to the tread of some one on the floor above.
Back and forth, like a tiger in a cage !

                  BEELER.
Shrugs.
Queer customer.



A -- Tl



tTI . A.-11 Tw - as "I T 1

 

THE FAITH HEALER



                 MARTHA.
Yes.
nmi/ales him.
"Queer customer," that's you.  But come to
doin' anything about it !

                  BEELER.
Give me time, Sis, give me time!

                 MARTHA.
How much time do you want He's been in
this house since Wednesday night, and this is
Saturday morning.

                  BEELER.
Well, he's payin' his board, ain't he
At windozw, rolls up curtain.
Goin' to have just such another day as yesterday.
Never seen such a fog.

                 MARTHA.
Never seen such a fog, eh
Comes nearer and speaks mysteriously.
Did you happen to notice how long that fog
has been hangin' over this house



[ACT I



6

 

THE FAITH HEALER



                    BEELER.
How long Why, since Thursday.

                    MARTHA.
No, sir, since Wednesday night.

                    BEELER.
Looking at her, astonished.

Martha Beeler! You don't mean to say -he
brought the fog
She flounces out without answering. He eights lantern, with
dubious head-shaking, and holds it u2p before the print
portraits.



Mr. Darwin.    Same to you,
Still keepin' things straight 



Grunts as he turns down his lantern, which is smoking.

I guess not very.
The hail door again opens, and Rhoda Williams, a girl of
twenty, enters, with Annie Beeler, a child of ten. Rhoda
is running, with Annie in laughing pursuit.

                    RHODA.
Taking refuge behind the table.
King's X!



Mornin',
Spencer.



Mr.



ACT I]



7

 

8          THE   FAITH  HEALER        [ACT I

                   ANNIE.
Catcihing her.
You didn't have your fingers crossed.

                  RHODA.
Turning Annie about, and beginning to but/on the child's
long slip.
And you didn't have your dress buttoned.

                  ANNIE.
That doesn't count.



                  RHODA.
Yes, it does, before breakfast!



                  BEELER.
At the outer door.
How does your aunt strike you this morning

                  RHODA.
Sobered.
She seems wonderfully better.

                  BEELER.
Better!
                  RHODA.



I don't mean her poor body.
caring for that.



She's got past

 

ACT I]


WITith sarcasm.



THE FAITH HEALER

      BEELER.



You mean in her mind, eh

                 RHODA.
Yes, I mean better in her mind.

                 BEELER.
Because of what this fellow has been sayin' to
her, I suppose.

                 RHODA.
Yes, because of that.

                 BEELER.
As he pu/s on an oldfur cap.
An out-and-out fakir!

                 RHODA.
You don't know him.

                 BEELER.
I suppose you do, after forty-eight hours. What
in the name of nonsense is he, anyway And
this deaf and dumb Indian boy he drags around
with him. What's his part in the show



9

 

THE FAITH HEALER



                  RHODA.
I know very little about either of them. But I
know Mr. Michaelis is not -what you say.

                  BEELER.
Well, he's a crank at the best of it. He's worked
your aunt up now so's she can't sleep. You
brought him here, and you've got to get rid of him.
Exit by outer door, wit/ inarticuZate grumblings, among
which can be distingauished.
Hump! Ulrich Michaelis! There's a name for
you.
                   ANNIE.
What's a fakir
Rhoda does not answer.
Cousin Rho, what's a fakir

                  RHODA.
Humoring her.
A man, way off on the other side of the world,
in India, who does strange things.

                  ANNIE.
What kind of things

                   RHODA.
Well, for instance, he throws a rope up in the
air, right up in the empty air, with nothing for



[ACT I



To

 

THE FAITH HEALER



it to catch on, and then -    he -   climbs -   up
the- rope!
                       ANNIE.
Don't he fall 
Rhoda shakes her head in portentous negation.
Steps are heard descending the stairs. The child fidgets
  nervously.
                       ANNIE.
Listen!    He's coming down!
                       RHODA.
Yes, he's coming down, right out of the blue sky.
                       ANNIE.
In a panic.
Let me go.
She breaks away and retreats to the hall door, watching the
  stair door open, and U/rich Michaelis enter. Thereupon,
  with a glance of frghtened curiosity, she flees. Michaelis
  is a man of twenty-eight or thirty, and his dark, emaciated
  face, wrinkled by sun and wind, looks older. His abundant
  hair is worn longer than common. His frame, though
  slight, is powerfzl, and his way of handling himself has the
  freedom and largeness which come from much open-air life.
  There is nevertheless something nervous and restless in his
  movements. lie has a trick of handling things, putting
  them down only to take them up again immediately, before
  renouncing them for go6d. His face shows the effect of
  sleeplessness, and his gray flannel shirt and dark, coarse
  clothing are rumpled and neglected.



ACT I]



I I

 

THE FAITH HEALER



                     RHODA.
As he enters.

Good morning.

                    MICHAELIS.
Watching Annie's retreat.

Is-     is that child afraid of me 

                     RHODA.
As she adds thefinishing touches to the breakfast table.

Oh, Annie's a queer little body. She has her
mother's nerves. And then she sees no one,
living here on the back road. If this dreadful
fog ever lifts, you'll see that, though we're quite
near town, it's almost as if wee were in the wil-
derness.
The stair door opens, and an Indian boiy, about sixteen years
  old, enters. He is dressed in ordinary, clothes; his dark
  skin, longish hair, and the noiseless tread of his moccasined
  feet, are the only suggestions of his race. lie bows to
  Rhoda, who returns his salutation,; then, with a glance at
  AMichae/is, he goes out doors.
Rhoda nods toward the closing door.

It's really him Annie's afraid of. He's like a
creature from another world, to her.



[ACT I



12

 
THE FAITH HEALER



                MICHAELIS.
Looks at her in an odd, startled way.
Another world
                  RHODA.
Oh, you're used to his people.



Your father was



a missionary to the Indians, you told me.

                 MICHAELIS.
Yes.
                  RHODA.
Where 
                 MICHAELIS.
At Acoma.
                   RHODA.
Where is that 
                 MICHAELIS.
Standing near the wall Rmap, touches it.
In New Mexico, by the map.

                  RHODA.
Comes nearer.
\What is it like
                MICHAELIS.
It's - as you say - another world.



ACT I]



I3

 
THE FAITH HEALER



                  RHODA.
Describe it to me.

                MICHAELIS.
I couldn't make you see. it. It's - centuries
and centuries from our time. - And since I
came here, since I entered this house, it has
seemed centuries away from my own life.

                  RHODA.
My life has seemed far off, too -my old life -

                MICHAELIS.
What do you mean by your old life

                  RHODA.
She breaks out impulsively.
I mean - I mean -. Three days ago I was like
one dead! I walked and ate and did my daily
tasks, but -I wondered sometimes why people
didn't see that I was dead, and scream at me.

                MICHAELIS.
It was three days ago that I first saw you.

                  RHODA.
Yes.



[ACT I



I14

 

THE FAITH HEALER



                MICHAELIS.
Three nights ago, out there in the moonlit
country.
                 RHODA.
Yes.
                MICHAELIS.
You were unhappy, then

                 RHODA.
The dead are not unhappy, and I was as one
dead.
                MICHAELIS.
WMhy was that
                 RHODA.
I think we die more than once when things are
too hard and too bitter.

                MICHAELIS.
Have things here been hard and bitter

                  RHODA.
No. All that was before I came here! But it
had left me feeling -. The other night, as I
walked through the streets of the town, the
people seemed like ghosts to me, and I myself
like a ghost.



ACT I]



IS

 

THE FAITH HEALER



                    M IC HAELIS.
I cannot think of you as anything but glad and
free.
                      RHODA.
When    you met me on the road, and walked
home with me, and said those few words, it was
as if, all of a sudden, the dead dream was
shattered, and I began once more to live.
Bell rings.
That is Aunt Mary's bell.
Rhoda goes out by the hall door, wheeling the invalid chair.
  Martha enters from the kitchen, carrying a steaming coffee-
  pot and a platter of smoking meat, which she places on the
  table. Michaelis bows to her.

                     MARTHA.
Snappishly.
Hope you slept well!
She goes to the outer door, rings the breakfast bell loudly, and
  exit to kitchen. Rhoda enters, wheeling Mrs. Beeler in
  an invalid chair. Mrs. Beeler is a woman offorty, slight
  of body, with hairjust beginning to silver. Her face has
  the curious refinement which physical suffering sometimes
  brings. Annie lingers at the door, looking timidly at
  Michaelis, as he approaches Mrs. Beeler and takes her hand
  from the arm of the chair.



:i6



[ACT I

 

THE FAITH HEALER



                     MICIAELIS.
You are better 

                   MRS. BEELER.
Speaks with low intensity.
Much, much better.
le puts her hand gently back on the chair arm. Martha
  enters with other dishes. Size pours out coffee, putting a
  cup ateach plate. Air. Beeler has enterel'froon the kite/hen,
  and the boy from outsidte. Bee/er, w,'/h a glance of annoy-
  ance at his wife an(l 2Miichaelis, sits down at//ie head of the
  table. Rhoda pushes JArs. Bee/er's chair to the foot of
  the table and stands feeding her, eating her own breakfast
  meanwhile.
Aiichae/is sits at AMrs. Bee/er's ri,-ht, Aiartha opposite.  At
  Air. Beeler's rikht is the Itu.ian beo, at his Z/t Anni/'s
  vacant chair.  Afartha beckons to Anne to come to the
  tab/e, but the child;, etveiu the strann,ers, refuses, takingr a
  chair behind her mo/her by the mant/cpieec. Airs. Bee/er
  speaks after the mealhasprogressedfor some fitne in silence.

                   MIRS. BEELER.

Mat, you    haven't said     good   morning    to our
guest.
                       BEELER.
Grzffly.
Hlow are you
lie helps himself to mteat and passes it to the others; the p/ae
  goes round the table.    There is a eons/ra,'lied si/enec.
         C



ACT I]



17

 

THE FAITH HEALER



Annie tugs at Rhoda's skirt, and asks in dumb show to
have her breakfast Siven her. Rhoda fills the child's p/ate,
with which she retreats to her p/ace by the mante.

                MRS. BEELER.
Why doesn't Annie come to the table
She tries to look around. Rhoda whispers to Mrs. Beeler,
who looks at her, puzzled.
Why doesn't Annie come

                   RHODA.
She's afraid.
                MRS. BEELER.
Afraid!  What is she afraid of

                   RHODA.
You know how shy she is, before strangers.

                MRS. BEELER.
Annie, please come here!      Annie!
Yhe child refuses, pouting, and gazing at Michael/s.

                   RHODA.
I wouldn't urge her. She doesn't want to come.

                   MARTHA.
Trenchan tly.
Don't blame her!



[ACT I

 


THE FAITH HEALER



                MRS. BEELER.
Gently reproving.
Martha!
                 MICHAELIS.
Holding out his hand to Annie.
Won't you come here, my child
Annie approaches slowly, as if hjpnotized.
You're not afraid of me, are you 

                   ANNIE.
Shyly.
Not if you won't climb up the rope.

                 MICHAELIS.
Puzzled.
Climb up what rope

                   RHODA.
It's a story I was foolish enough to tell her.
-Do eat something, Auntie.

                MRS. BEELER.
I'll drink a little more tea.
Rhoda raises the cusp to Mrs. Beeler's Aos.

                   BEELER.
You can't live on tea, Mary.



ACT I]



I9

 

THE FAITH HEALER



                   MARTHA.
I guess she can live on tea better than on some
things!
With a resenffu/glance at Michaelis.
Some things that some folks seem to live on,
and expect other folks to live on.
Michaelis looks up from Annie, who has been whispering in
his ear. Beeler nods at Martha in covert approval, as she
takes up dishes and goes into the kitchen.

                MRS. BEELER.
Leans forward across the table to Michaelis.
Don't mind my sister-in-law, Mr. Michaelis.
It's her way. She means nothing by it.

                   BEELER.
Between gulps of coffee, as hefinishes his meal.
Don't know as you've got any call to speak for
Martha. She generally means what she says,
and I guess she means it now. And what's
more, I guess I do, too!

                MRS. BEELER.
Beseechingly.
Mat !



[ACT I



20

 

THE FAITH HEALER



                    BEELER.
Throws down his napkin and rises.
Very wvell. It's none of my business, I reckon,
as long as it keeps within reason.
Be puets on his cap and goes out tAirough the kitchen.

                     AN-N IE.
To Mfichaelis, continuing the whispered conversation.
And if you do climb up the rope, do you prom-
ise to come down.

                   MICHAELIS.
Yes, I promise to come down.

                  MRS. BEELER.
Leans over her plate. The others bow their heads.
Bless this food to our use, and this day to our
strength and our salvation.

                     RHODA.
As they lift their heads.
Perhaps it will be light enough now without
the lamp.
Michaelis, holding Annie's hand, rises, goes to the window,
  and rolls up the shades, while Rhoda extinguashes the lamp.
  The fog is still thick, and the lAht which enters is dull.



ACT I]



2I

 

THE FAITH HEALER



  Rhoda unpins the napkin from her aunt's breast, and
  wheels her back from the table.  The boy crouches down
  by the grate, Indian fashion. Annie looks at him with shy,
  half-frightened interest.

                 MRS. BEELER.
Gazing out, from where she sits reclining.
The blessed sun! I never thought to see it
rise again so beautiful.

                     RHODA.
Looks at her aunt, puzzled and alarmed.
But, Auntie, there isn't any sun! It's-
She breaks off, seeing Michaelis place his finger on his lips
  as a signal for her to be silent. Mrs. Beeler turns to
  Rhoda, puzzled.
                 MRS. BEELER.
There isn't any sun Why -
Rhoda pretends not to hear. Mrs. Beeler turns to Michaelis.
What does she mean by saying there is no sun

                   MICHAELIS.
She means she doesn't see it.

                 MRS. BEELER.
Still puzzled.
But -you see it, don't you 



[ ACT I



22

 

THE FAITH HEALER



                 MICHAELIS.
I see the same sun that you see.

                MRS. BEELER.
Looks again at Rhoda, then dismisses 1her wonderment, and
looks out at the window dreamily.
Another day -and to-morrow the best of all
the days of the year.

                   ANNIE.
What day is to-morrow
She leaves Michaelis and comes to her mother's side.
What day is to-morrow

                MRS. BEELER.
With exultation in her voice.
My child, to-morrow is the most wonderful and
the most beautiful day of all the year. The
day when-all over the whole world-there is
singing in the air, and everything rises into new
life and happiness.
                   ANNIE.
Fretully.
Mamma, I don't understand! What day is to-
morrow



ACT I]



23

 

4THE FAITH HEALER



                MRS. BEELER.
To-morrow is Easter.
                   ANNIE.
With sudden interest.
Easter!  Can I have some eggs to color

                MRS. BEELER.
Ask Aunt Martha.
                   ANNIE.
Singsong, as she skips out.
Eggs to color! Eggs to color!
Rhoda has meanwhile fetched a large tray from the cupboard
and has been piling the dishes noiselessly upon it.

                   RHODA.
Shall I wheel you in, Aunt Mary

                MRS. BEELER.
Yes, please.
Rhoda wheels the chair toward the hall door, which Michaelis
  opens. AIrs. Beeler gazes at him as she passes.
Will you come in soon, and sit with me There
is so much that I want to hear.

                 MICHAELIS.
Whenever you are ready.



[ACT I



24

 

THE FAITH HEALER



                 MRS. BEELER.
I will ring my bell.
As they go out, Martha bus/les in, ga/hers up the dish /rav
  and is about to depart, with a vindict/ie look. At the
  door she turns, andjerks her head toward the boy.

                   MARTHA.
Is it against the law to work where he comes
from 
                  MICHAELIS.
Abstractedly.
What - No.
                   MARTHA.
Then he might as well do me some chores.
Not but right, payin' only half board.

                  MICHAELIS.
To the boy.
Do whatever she tells you.
The boy follows Martha out. Michaelis stands by the win-
  dow in thought. As Rhoda reen/ers, he looks up. Hle
  speaks signzftcanfty, with suppressed excitemnent.
She saw the sun!

                    RHODA.
Poor dear Auntie!



ACT I]



25

 

26



THE FAITH HEALER



[ACT I



                  MICHAELIS.
You pity her
                    RHODA.
After an instant's silence, during which she ponders her reply.
I think I envy her.
She removes the cloth from the table, and begins deftly to put
the room in order. Michaelis watches her with a kind of
vague intentness.
                  MICHAELIS.
How long did you say she had been sick
                    RHODA.
More than four years - nearly five.
                  MICHAELIS.
She has never walked in that time
                    RHODA.
Shakes her head.
Nor used her right hand, either.
                  MICHAELIS.
With intensity.
Are you certain 
                    RHODA.
Surprised at his tone.
Yes - I haven't lived here long, but I am
certain.

 
THE FAITH HEALER



                MIC HAELIS.
She has tried medicine, doctors

                  RHODA.
Uncle has spent everything he could earn on
them. She has been three times to the min-
eral baths, once as far as Virginia.

                MICHAELIS.
But never as far as Bethesda.

                  RHODA.
Bethesda Where is that

                MICHAELIS.
The pool, which is called Bethesda, having five
porches.
                  RHODA.
Oh, yes. The pool in the Bible, where once a
year an angel troubled the waters, and the sick
and the lame and the blind gathered, hoping to
be healed.
                MICHAELIS.
And whoever first, after the troubling of the
waters, stepped in, he was made whole of what-
soever disease he had.



ACT I]



27

 

THE FAITH HEALER



                   RHODA.
If anybody could find the way there again, it
would be Aunt Mary.
Pause.
And if anybody could show her the way it
would be -you.
She goes on in a different tone, as if to escape from the em-
barrassment of her last speech.
Her saying just now she saw the sun. She
often says things like that. Have you noticed

                 MICHAELIS.
Yes.
                  RHODA.
With hesitation.
Her brother Seth -the one who died -has
she told you about him

                 MICHAELIS.
Yes.
                   RHODA.
What she thinks happens - since - he died 
Michaelis nods assent.
And vet in most other ways her mind is per-
fectly clear.



[ACT I



28

 
THE FAITH HEALER



                 MICHAELIS.
Perhaps in this way it is clearer still.

                  RHODA.
Startled.
You mean - that maybe she really does - see
her brother 
                 MICHAELIS.
It may be.
                  RHODA.
It would make the world a very different -a
very strange place, if that were true.

                 MICHAELIS.
The world is a very strange place.
Pause.
                   RHODA.
Tell me a little about your life. That seems
to have been very strange.

                 MICHAELIS.
Vaguely, as he seats himself by the table.
I don't know. I can hardly remember what
my life was.



ACT I]



29(

 

30         THE FAITH HEALER           [ACT I

                  RHODA.
Why is that 
                 MICHAELIS.
Gazing at her.
Because, since I came into this house, I have
seen the vision of another life.

                  RHODA.
With hesitation.
What - other life 

                 MICHAELIS.
Since my boyhood I have been-
He hesitates.
I have been a wanderer, almost a fugitive
And I never knew it, till now - I never knew
it till - I looked into your face!

                  RHODA.
Avoiding his gaze.
How should that make you know

                MICHAELIS.
Leans nearer.
All my life long I have walked in the light of
something to come, some labor, some mission, I

 
THE FAITH HEALER



have scarcely known what - but I have risen
with it and lain down with it, and nothing else
has existed for me. - Nothing, until - I lifted
my eyes and you stood there. The stars looked
down from their places, the earth wheeled on
among the stars. Everything was as it had
been, and nothing was as it had been; nor ever,
ever can it be the same again.
                   RHODA.
In a low and agitated voice.
You must not say these things to me. You are -
I am not-. You must not think of me so.

                 MICHAELIS.



I must think of you as I must.
Pause. Rhoda speaks in a lighter tone, as if
tension of their last words.
                   RHODA.



to relieve the



Tell me a little of your boyhood. -What was
it like --that place where you lived

                 MICHAELIS.
Becomes absorbed in his own mentalpictures as he speaks.
A great table of stone, rising five hundred feet
out of the endless waste of sand. A little



ACT I]



31

 
THE FAITH HEALER



adobe house, halfway up the mesa, with the
desert far below and the Indian village far above.
A few peach trees, and a spring-a sacred
spring, which the Indians worshipped in secret.
A little chapel, which my father had built with
his own hands.   He often spent the night
there, praying. And there, one night, he died.
I found him in the morning, lying as if in quiet
prayer before the altar.

                  RHODA.
After a moment's hush.
What did you do after your father died

                MICHAELIS.
I went away south, into the mountains, and got
work on a sheep range. I was a shepherd for
five years.
                  RHODA.
And since then

                 MICHAELIS.
Zesitates.
Since then I have - wandered about, working
here and there to earn enough to live on.



[ ACT I



32

 

THE FAITH HEALER



                   RHODA.
I understand well why men take up that life.
I should love it myself.

                 MICHAELIS.
I didn't do it because I loved it.

                   RHODA.
Why, then
                 MICHAELIS.
I was waiting my time.

                  RHODA.
In a low tone.
Your time -for what

                 MICHAELIS.
To fulfil my life -my real life.

                  RHODA.
Your - real life
ke sits absorbed in thought without answering. Rhoda
continues, after a long pause.
There in the mountains, when you were a shep-
herd -that was not your real life
       D



ACT I]



33

 

THE FAITH HEALER



                MICHAELIS.
It was the beginning of it.

                  RHODA.
With hesitation.
Won't you tell me a little about that time

                MICHAELIS.
In the fall I would drive the sheep south, through
the great basin which sloped down into Mexico,
and in the spring back again to the mountains.

                  RHODA.
Were you all alone

                MICHAELIS.
There were a few men on the ranges, but they
were no more to me than the sheep - not so
much.
                  RHODA.
Weren't you dreadfully lonely

                MICHAELIS.
No.
                  RHODA.
You hadn't even any books to read



[ACT I



34

 

THE FAITH HEALER



                MICHAELIS.
Takes a bookfrom his coalpocket.
I had this pocket Bible, that had been my
father's. I read that sometimes. But always
in a dream, without understanding, without
remembering.
ffis exci/feflt increases.
Yet there came a time when whole chapters
started up in my mind, as plain as if the printed
page were before me, and I understood it all,
both the outer meaning and the inner.

                  RHODA.
And you didn't know what made the difference

                 MICHAELIS.
Yes.
                  RHODA.
What was it
                MICHAELIS.
I can't tell you that.

                  RHODA.
Oh, yes!
                 MICHAELIS.
There are no words to tell of it.



ACT I ]

 

THE FAITH HEALER



                  RHODA.
Yet tell me. I need to know. Believe me, I
need to know!
                 MICHAELIS.
Slowly, groping for his words.
It was one morning in the fourth spring. We
were back in the mountains again. It was
lambing time, and I had been up all night.
J'ust before sunrise, I sat down on a rock to
rest. Then - it came.

                  RHODA.
What came
He does not answer.
You saw something
He nods for yes.
What was it
                 MICHAELIS.
Rises, lifting his arms, a prey to uncontrollable excitement.
The living Christ ! - Standing before me on the
mountain, amid the grazing sheep. -With these
eyes and in this flesh, I saw Him.
Long pause.
                  RHODA.
In a low tone.
You had fallen asleep. It was a dream.



[ACT I



36

 

THE FAITH HEALER



                 MIC HAELIS.
Shakes his head in negation.
That wasn't all.
He turns away. She follows himn, and speaks after a silence.

                   RHODA.
Tell me the rest. What happened to you,
after-after what you saw -that morning in
the mountains 
                 MICHAELIS.
Begins to talk slowly and reluctantly.
I lived straight ahead, with the sheep for two
years.
                   RHODA.
Hesitating.
Did you ever see anything again 

                 MICHAELIS.
No. - But twice - I heard a voice.

                   RHODA.
What kind of a voice

                 MICHAELIS.
The first time it came at night. I was walking
on the top of the mountain, in a stony place.
It -it was like a wind among the stones.



ACT I]



37

 
THE FAITH HEALER



                  RHODA.
What did it say
                MICHAELIS.
It said, " Prepare! Prepare!"

                  RHODA.
And the second time

                MICHAELIS.
In the same place, at dawn. The voice said,
" Go forth, it is finished! " I looked round me
and saw nothing. Then it came again, like a
wind among the stones, " Go forth, it is begun!"

                  RHODA.
And you obeyed

                MICHAELIS.
I found a man to take my place, and started
north. Three days after, I climbed the mesa
toward my old home. Above, in the pueblo, I
heard the sound of tom-toms and wailing squaws.
They told me that the young son of the chief
lay dead in my father's chapel. I sat beside him
all day and all night. Just before daylight-
He breaks off abruptly.



38



[ACT I

 

THE FAITH HEALER



                    RHODA.
Go on!
                  MICHAELIS.
Just before daylight, when the other watchers
were asleep, the power of the spirit came strong
upon me. I bowed myself upon the boy's body,
and prayed. My heart burned within me, for I
felt his heart begin to beat!  His eyes opened.
I told him to arise, and he arose. He that was
dead arose and was alive again!
Pause. MArs. Beeler's bell rings. Mfichaelis starts, looks
about idm as if awakened fromn a dream, then slowly goes
  toward the hall dloor. Rhoda follows and detains him.

                    RHODA.
In a low tone.
How long had he lain - for dead 

                  MICHAELIS.
Three days.
                   RHODA.
With hesitation.
I have heard that people have lain as long as
that in a trance, breathing so lightly that it
could not be told, except by holding a glass
before the face.



ACT I]



39

 

40           THE FAITH HEALER                [ACT I

                   MICHAELIS.
Startled.
Is that true
                     RHODA.
I have read so.
                   MICHAELIS.
i wonder -I wonder.
He stands in deep thought.
But I have had other