Come on, Pete, we shan't reach the house before midday. Go on, Colonel. Ah. Scud. [Leads her forward---aside.] Ratts. George. Mrs. P.And you hesitated from motives of delicacy? Salem's looking a kinder hollowed out. Dido. Something forcing its way through the undergrowth---it comes this way---it's either a bear or a runaway nigger. George. Hi! my life, my happy life; why has it been so bright? Scud. I'm responsible for the crittur---go on. Research Playwrights, Librettists, Composers and Lyricists. Don't you know that she is the natural daughter of the judge, your uncle, and that old lady thar just adored anything her husband cared for; and this girl, that another woman would a hated, she loves as if she'd been her own child. [Pause.] You love George; you love him dearly; I know it: and you deserve to be loved by him. Well, ma'am, I spose there's no law agin my bidding for it. What's here---judgments? Well, then, what has my all-cowardly heart got to skeer me so for? Just one month ago I quitted Paris. Sunny. One hundred and forty-nine bales. "Judgment, 40,000, 'Thibodeaux against Peyton,'"---surely, that is the judgment under which this estate is now advertised for sale---[takes up paper and examines it]; yes, "Thibodeaux against Peyton, 1838." I have come to say good-by, sir; two hard words---so hard, they might break many a heart; mightn't they? Don't b'lieve dey'll turn out niggers when dey're growed; dey'll come out sunthin else. [R. C.] Pardon me, madam, but do you know these papers? The Octoroon (1912) Quotes It looks like we don't have any Quotes for this title yet. Paul. George. "No. Zoe. Darn that girl; she makes me quiver when I think of her; she's took me for all I'm worth. [Indignantly.] I suppose I shall go before long, and I wished to visit all the places, once again, to see the poor people. D'ye feel it? Ratts. Just click the "Edit page" button at the bottom of the page or learn more in the Quotes submission guide. Would you now? You p'tend to be sorry for Paul, and prize him like dat. One thousand bid. Jacob McClosky, the man who ruined Judge Peyton, has come to inform George and his aunt (who was bequeathed a life interest in the estate) that their land will be sold and their slaves auctioned off separately. [*With-draws slide, turns and sees*Paul.] Hush! Why, Minnie, why don't you run when you hear, you lazy crittur? Hark! Yes---when I saw him and Miss Zoe galloping through the green sugar crop, and doing ten dollars' worth of damage at every stride, says I, how like his old uncle he do make the dirt fly. Ratts. Dam dat Injiun! 49, Paul, a quadroon boy, aged thirteen. George Peyton returns to the United States from a trip to France to find that the plantation he has inherited is in dire financial straits as a result of his late uncle's beneficence. EnterZoe,L.U.E.,very pale, and stands on table.---M'Closkyhitherto has taken no interest in the sale, now turns his chair. George. he's coming this way, fighting with his Injiun. M'Closky. George, do you see that hand you hold? What's this, eh? You got four of dem dishes ready. George. Paul. I won't go on; that man's down. Gentlemen, the sale takes place at three. What, on Terrebonne? Mrs. Pey. ], Paul. This blow has staggered me some. Be the first to contribute! Tullian Tchividjian. [Laughs.]. Mrs. Pey. Scud. M'Closky. No, sar; but dem vagabonds neber take de 'specable straight road, dey goes by de swamp. Scud. Pete. George. Hold on a bit, I get you de bottle. this letter the old lady expects---that's it; let me only head off that letter, and Terrebonne will be sold before they can recover it. George. Scud. Miss Sunnyside, permit me a word; a feeling of delicacy has suspended upon my lips an avowal, which---. The Oxford English Dictionary cites The Octoroon with the earliest record of the word "mashup" with the quote: "He don't understand; he speaks a mash up of Indian, French, and Mexican." DORA played by a white actress or an actress who can pass as white. ExitScudderandPete,R.1. Zoe realizes that she is in love with him too, but they cannot marry, as she is an Octoroon, and, under 19th century laws, their marriage was legally prohibited. Five hundred dollars!---[*To*Thibodeaux.] Mrs. P.Why didn't you mention this before? I lost them in the cedar swamp---again they haunted my path down the bayou, moving as I moved, resting when I rested---hush! Lafouche. It's near that now, and there's still the sugar-houses to be inspected. That's about right. George. the apparatus can't lie. [Re-enters with phial.] See, I'm calm. Dido. Paul has promised me a bear and a deer or two. The tragic ending was used for American audiences, to avoid portraying a mixed marriage.[4]. Ratts. Dido. My love? Pete. Dere's a dish of pen-pans---jess taste, Mas'r George---and here's fried bananas; smell 'em, do, sa glosh. M'Closky. M'Closky. Five hundred bid---it's a good price. George, O, forgive me! All night, as I fled through the cane-brake, I heard footsteps behind me. I'll clear him off there---he'll never know what stunned him. No, it ain't; because, just then, what does the judge do, but hire another overseer---a Yankee---a Yankee named Salem Scudder. Yes---me and Co.---we done it; but, as you were senior partner in the concern, I reckon you got the big lick. Wahnotee tracks him down and confronts him; in the ensuing struggle, Wahnotee kills McClosky. "Sign that," says the overseer; "it's only a formality." Good morning, Mr. Sunnyside; Miss Dora, your servant. I don't like that man. "A fine, well-built old family mansion, replete with every comfort.". Dora. Mrs. P.Zoe, dear, I'm glad to see you more calm this morning. [Advances.] Aunty, there is sickness up at the house; I have been up all night beside one who suffers, and I remembered that when I had the fever you gave me a drink, a bitter drink, that made me sleep---do you remember it? No, no! As I swam down, I thought I heard something in the water, as if pursuing me---one of them darned alligators, I suppose---they swarm hereabout---may they crunch every limb of ye! I also feel that demonstrations wouldn't go on unless there is a TV camera. Search him, we may find more evidence. Pete. Grace. Whoever said so lied. It's not a painful death, aunty, is it? Hold your tongue---it must. I fetch as much as any odder cook in Louisiana. I shan't interfere. ZOE played by an octoroon actress, a white actress, a quadroon actress, a biracial actress, a multi-racial actress, or an actress of color who can pass as an octoroon. why were you not my son---you are so like my dear husband. Zoe. Lafouche. Go now, George---leave me---take her with you. E. Paul. [*Exit*Dora,L.U.E.] What on earth does that child mean or want? what, dem?---get away! It was like trying to make a shark sit up and beg for treats. Uh---uh, let's have a peep. Sunny. Dora. Now, Jacob M'Closky, you despise me because you think I'm a fool; I despise you because I know you to be a knave. He plans to buy her and make her his mistress. [Sits. That's just what you must do, and do it at once, or it will be too late. At New Orleans, they said, "She's pretty, very pretty, but no brains." "No, ma'am, the truth seldom is.". ], M'Closky. I guess he ain't left home yet, Colonel. Mrs. P.I fear that the property is so involved that the strictest economy will scarcely recover it. I will be thirty years old again in thirty seconds. How are we sure the boy is dead at all? I say, I'd like to say summit soft to the old woman; perhaps it wouldn't go well, would it? I will take the best room in the Grand Central or the Orndorff Hotel. [George*tries to regain his gun;Wahnoteerefuses to give it up;Paul,quietly takes it from him and remonstrates with him.*]. When the play was performed in England it was given a happy ending, in which the mixed-race couple are united. Work! There's no chance of it. You wanted to come to an understanding, and I'm coming thar as quick as I can. M'Closky. You called it yourself; you wanted to make us murder that Injiun; and since we've got our hands in for justice, we'll try it on you. Sunny. He didn't ought to bid against a lady. dem darkies! M'Closky. [Slowly lowering his whip,] Darn you, red skin, I'll pay you off some day, both of ye. Darn it, when I see a woman in trouble, I feel like selling the skin off my back. M'Closky. If he would only propose to marry me I would accept him, but he don't know that, and he will go on fooling, in his slow European way, until it is too late. Then I will go to the Red Light or the Monte Carlo and dance the floor afire. ", Pete. Be the first to contribute! Where is he? Here's the Picayune [producing paper] with the advertisement. Don't do nuffin. Glendon Swarthout, Never believe in any faith younger than you are." darn his carcass! Scud. O, you wanted evidence---you called for proof---Heaven has answered and convicted you. I'd be darned glad if somebody would tear my past life away from me. Hold on now! A view of the Plantation Terrebonne, in Louisiana.---A branch of the Mississippi is seen winding through the Estate.---A low built, but extensive Planter's Dwelling, surrounded with a veranda, and raised a few feet from the ground, occupies theL. Scud. I bring you news; your banker, old Lafouche, of New Orleans, is dead; the executors are winding up his affairs, and have foreclosed on all overdue mortgages, so Terrebonne is for sale. It contains elements of Romanticism and melodrama. Do you know what the niggers round here call that sight? and will despise me, spurn me, loathe me, when he learns who, what, he has so loved.---[Aloud.] If I must die, give me up to the law; but save me from the tomahawk. He's an Injiun---fair play. Pointdexter*mounts the table with his hammer, his Clerk sits at his feet. they call it the Yankee hugging the Creole. Scud. Then I will go to a parlor house and have them top up a bathtub with French champagne and I will strip and dive into it with a bare-assed blonde and a redhead and an octoroon and the four of us will get completely presoginated and laugh and let long bubbly farts at hell and baptize each other in the name of the Trick, the Prick, and the Piper-Heidsick. What! [Exit, with a low, wailing, suffocating cry,L.U.E. *EnterM'Closky, Lafouche, Jackson, Sunnyslde,and*Pointdexter,R.U.E. Point. Jackson. Scud. George. George offers to take her to a different country, but Zoe insists that she stay to help Terrebonne; Scudder then appears and suggests that George marry Dora. Missey Zoe! You don't come here to take life easy. ], M'Closky. I see my little Nimrod yonder, with his Indian companion. Your own Zoe, that loves you, aunty, so much, so much.---[Gets phial.] Paul. dead---and above him---Ah! Mas'r George---ah, no, sar---don't buy me---keep your money for some udder dat is to be sold. Tableaux.*. Zoe, you have suspected the feeling that now commands an utterance---you have seen that I love you. Will you hush? Dar, do ye hear dat, ye mis'able darkies, dem gals is worth a boat load of kinder men dem is. McClosky desires Zoe for himself, and when she rejects his proposition, he plots to have her sold with the rest of the slaves, for he knows that she is an octoroon and is legally part of the Terrebonne property. You blow, Mas'r Scudder, when I tole you; dere's a man from Noo Aleens just arriv' at de house, and he's stuck up two papers on de gates; "For sale---dis yer property," and a heap of oder tings---and he seen missus, and arter he shown some papers she burst out crying---I yelled; den de corious of little niggers dey set up, den de hull plantation children---de live stock reared up and created a purpiration of lamentation as did de ole heart good to har. We have known each other but a few days, but to me those days have been worth all the rest of my life. We've caught this murdering Injiun, and are going to try him. McClosky has proved that Judge Peyton did not succeed in legally freeing her, as he had meant to do. The proof is here, in my heart. Mr. M'Closky has bid twenty-five thousand dollars for the Octoroon. You say the proceeds of the sale will not cover his debts. They don't seem to be scared by the threat. What's de use of your takin' it kind, and comfortin' de missus heart, if Minnie dere, and Louise, and Marie, and Julie is to spile it? The Wharf---goods, boxes, and bales scattered about---a camera on stand, R. Scudder, R., Dora, L., George*andPauldiscovered;Dorabeing photographed byScudder,who is arranging photographic apparatus,GeorgeandPaullooking on at back.*. "No. [To Jackson.] Evidence! Because, Miss Sunnyside, I have not learned to lie. Lafouche. ah! I say---he smoke and smoke, but nebber look out ob de fire; well knowing dem critters, I wait a long time---den he say, "Wahnotee, great chief;" den I say nothing---smoke anoder time---last, rising to go, he turn round at door, and say berry low---O, like a woman's voice, he say, "Omenee Pangeuk,"---dat is, Paul is dead---nebber see him since. Mrs. P.[Embracing him.] M'Closky hates Scudder in return, especially because they both love Zoe, Mr. Peyton's "octoroon" daughter, Zoe. Say, Mas'r Scudder, take me in dat telescope? [falls on her knees, with her face in her hands] no---no master, but one. Yes! Why not! Sign that receipt, captain, and save me going up to the clerk. Then I shall never leave Terrebonne---the drink, nurse; the drink; that I may never leave my home---my dear, dear home. He said so. Well, he gone dar hisself; why, I tink so---'cause we missed Paul for some days, but nebber tout nothin' till one night dat Injiun Wahnotee suddenly stood right dar 'mongst us---was in his war paint, and mighty cold and grave---he sit down by de fire. Mrs. P.Hospitality in Europe is a courtesy; here, it is an obligation. Pete. O, my father! *, M'Olosky. my dear, dear father! See also O, here, do you know what annuity the old judge left you is worth to-day? Liverpool post mark. He is said to have "combined sentiment, wit and local colour with sensational and spectacular endings" (Nova). Night, as I fled through the undergrowth -- -it comes this --. 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