New-York tribune., 1922-10-21
The T'ozs,e,.
cop4.. Nsw rork Tribune Inc, iszs

CopT. Nss York Tribune Inc, 1s1s
| A young friend came to us the other
day. with q story that bad turned sour
on his hands.
'.My characters lie said, "refuas 70
| talk about the things ! want them to
talk about, wish you'd help me with
| tho dialogre."
/ we are aIways glad TO lecture to the
young. Because we know that In an
other year they will be lecturing u.s..
| We swei1ed up and said, Importantly:
9When you write dialogue. you must
manage your transitions, smoothly.
! Hector and Eiinor are talking about
| Cabbages, and you wish them to talk
about Specters, because in another mo-
ment specter is to enter the story
do not jump them mt once from
| Cabbages to Specters, but lead to
Specters by degrees, naturally, easily,
logically"
| The advice is probably all rot, but you
have to tell the young something, to
save your face. They expect you to try
to save your face, and 1t gives them q
great deal Of pleasure showing youI y, that 9 !.
yo sa friend A. amy Tss sast Gar e parscu st day
/
and said that he'd been studying over
| 1t and would like to have q ccncreta
example, In the way we'd do 1T oursele.
"Show me how" ho said.
So we obliged.
HECTOR: How wonderful Cabbages
are when you come to think about
| thenl
ELINOR (coqaetaskly): Why should
| you think of Cabbages, when am here
| to think about?
HECTOR CATER long paase): Be-
cause the convolutions of Cabbage
| always suggest to me the convolutions
of Rose, and whenever | think Of q
Rose ! think Of yon, Elinor! (Mops tho
| perspiFati6n from his broae.)
ELINOR (aychig): Oh, Hector, III
wager that you say that to every woman
HECTOR (Dish jervor): swear to
you, Elinor, by the sacred memory of
my Mother, that I have never, never
| made just exactly that statement be-
! fore to any womanl
ELINOR (scitb tears In kov poioe) :
| Your Mother, Hectorl What an In
! fiuence In your life she must have heenl
You speak Of her SO often, and 80 ten
DERBY! How long, Hector, has she been
dead?
| HECTOR: For years and years,
| Elinor. Years and yearsl
! ELlNOR: 1t seems to mo, Hector, that
| l have heard that she died Of a broken
heart. Or am I thinking Of some one
| else?
| (The Aathor must be pcry careful
here. and firm. Both characters knotp
that they hape got TO get from Cab
! bdges to Specters, and they sgiN jump at
once from Hector's Mothers death to
jSpecters If they arc not restrained. They
| must be held of longer; IL Woutd seem
artificial ard lugged-in II they jumped
! too sooR.)
! HECTOR: 1t, is my Mother you arr
pcase.) Hearts are broken more easily
in. our family, Elinor, than you might
| believe. (Iooking at her mednihgty,) y
The slightest suggestion of an inpedi-
ment in love, Elinor, and the heart Of
| member of my family is sure to break
at, oncal At oncel
ELlNoR; Yes? And then'
This seenas at first thought to be a
rottc1, trick that Elinor has pulled here,
making 1t difficult for Hector and tho
q,
# yoa give e a second thought, ,eus
Etnor to eaye II she had Uttered 4
acord Of ey,apathy II, this place Hector.
1ooald haze had her IN his aams at once.
| Whereas, sve toGmt Specters first, and
the lope scene afterWard One mast
7catch characters carefully; they fin into
en'brqces, i they are permitted to,
casually and acith no thought of con-
seqaences.)
| HECTOR: And then, Elinor, and
| then :. and then. "a mel
ancholy pause. full Of mecning, NOT
necessarily eng specific meaning, but jest
meaning. Then Hector rssunles); But
! must tell you something ,f my Father,
Elinor.
ELINoR: He, too, died Of broken
| heart, did he not?
| HECTOR: He did!
ELlNoR: Can you recall the circun-
HECTOR: As II It were yesterday, though
| l was but child at the time. Returning
u.msspectsdly .asp ,. ,, f,on, long trip, my Father
whom ne had never seen before. ! can still
| hear the dun, crunching noise as my Father
Mhsh VII on h bsa sooS gn hara
pound is fornnyer in nv ears. The man, fell,
bathed in his own blood, and although he
He then struck ny Mother With a'trsa ts ssatsr Waf
| My Mother also fell speechiess. she dad ~
once of a broken heart as have said. NV
Fathers lack OF tsnst In her having slain
her: was left for, me. Wee tot that I
was, to lisp to my Father that the man he
! had Just struck down was a cousin Of nv
Mothers, whom she had not seen for years.
md who had turned up suddenly and asked
| for. drink OF whisky When my Fathet.
| realized how he had rhisiudged my Mother,
he. too. died Immediately OF a broken heart,
! !, ;i.} hh.dMo}Ri Yours must have been sad
| HECTOR: Yes, Elinor, have dwelt among
will maize the shadows lift. 80 'iiDs 'ns'
4 ELlNOR: And that, Hector?
IL HEcToR: IMS,n G Can you you not guess Elinor7
! HECTOR. Your, wcmanly Intuition has
| led you to the truth. Elinor. "a posise. an i
| then he says, sadlD.) But do not know that
\ I have any right to ask a Good woman
1 to. share my life.
you somethihg that I had not ihtendad ila w; -
tell you until after we were united, and NOT
even then unless circumstances arose which
made 1t absolutely necessary haya MAJ
been a Good Wornah! "os
| HECTOR: Then, Elinor II you are not a
Good Woman, there remains but one obstacle
to our union. i M
esor o fe sos s fertaars tapsckly ne whet aoa that aM n
me quickly, Hectori
HECTOR: Einon this DID house here Ia
haunted by specters, by this gnos,s OF the
| them but see them always. Always! par
i ticularly the specter OF tha cousin. Who
I comes back to explain to my Father that ha
was merely cousin and not a lover
| TLlNOR: But since your cousin e,id yo,,r
Mother ana your Father IRE ali TIRES dead. dead