Dr. Hardhack's Prescription Part 2

CURTAIN.

ACT IV.

_Six months later than when EMILY went away. She has returned home, bringing her friend, p.u.s.s.y WILLOW. In the room are gathered GRANDMA P., MAMMA P., the two aunts, also EMILY and p.u.s.s.y and DR. HARDHACK._

MAMMA P. Well, now, Dr. Hardhack, doesn't our Emily look beautiful?

AUNT F. So healthy!

AUNT H.-T. Such a splendid color!

DR. H. Pretty fair, pretty fair. A good summer's work, that. [_Looks at E. much pleased_]

AUNT F. And now, Doctor, we want you to tell us just what she may do, just how much.

AUNT H.-T. Of course you know now she's got into a city, she can't dress exactly as she did up in the country.

DR. H. I see, I see.

AUNT F. There isn't a thing of all her clothes she can wear. Having been all summer in those loose sacques, she's sort o' _spread out_. [_Motions with her hands_]

DR. H. Well, my advice is that you begin gradually s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g her up. Get something with plenty of whalebones ready and a good tough lacer. But don't begin too hard, just tighten a little every day, and by and by she will get back to where her clothes will fit her exactly.

AUNT F. [_Clapping her hands_] That's just what I said we would have to do.

MAMMA P. But, Doctor, won't that injure her health?

DR. H. Of course it will, but I fancy she will stand it for one winter.

It won't quite kill her, and that is all we doctors want.

EMILY. [_Comes forward_] Well, I have something to say on this point. I wouldn't lose my health again for anything that can be named.

DR. H. Oh, pooh, pooh! [_Waves his hand incredulously at E._] When patients are first up from a sickness, how prudent they mean to be!

AUNT H.-T. But seriously, Doctor, you must tell us how much it will be well to have Emily do.

AUNT F. One doesn't want to give up the world entirely, and yet one doesn't want to lose one's health.

DR. H. I appreciate the case fully. [_Walks up and down considering_]

Let her begin with the opera twice a week and one dance kept up till daylight. In a week she will feel stronger than ever she did and declare nothing hurts her, then she can take two dances, then three, and so on.

EMILY. But, Doctor, I'm not going to dances at all. I know now what life is, and what health is worth, and I'm not going to waste it in that way.

DR. H. Oh, it's all very well to talk! I knew a rich girl once right in this city of New York who _would_ go round visiting the poor and sitting up with sick people, and there was no end to the remarks made about her.

No, you mustn't breathe bad air, nor over-exert yourself unless you do so from a purely selfish motive. Then, it's all right and proper. [_To p.u.s.s.y_] Oh, you needn't sit over there, looking mischievous, miss! What do you know of life? You will soon learn to be ashamed of your rosy cheeks, and think it's pretty to have bad health. I'll bet a copper [_Slaps his knee_] that by spring, if we manage right, we can send you back as white and withered as Miss Emily was.

E. Now, Dr. Hardhack, you dreadful man! You must stop this talk. I brought p.u.s.s.y down here on purpose to help me live better than I have lived. It's so interesting now in New York that p.u.s.s.y is here with me. I never knew what wonderful things there were here. p.u.s.s.y taught me to know the birds this summer at her home, and now we have been this morning to see a most wonderful collection at the museum.

MAMMA P. [_Anxiously_] Is it wise, Doctor, for them to go and look at those stuffed birds? To be sure the birds are under gla.s.s, but I'm so afraid they will breathe poison.

DR. H. Not nearly as much as they would breathe if they went to a crowded theatre, madam.

E. It makes me shudder to think of all the hours I've spent at the theatre. As I think of it now, the rooms were so hot and overcrowded I wonder I ever lived through it. Since I've been away, I have learned to love everything that is connected with out-door life. p.u.s.s.y has taught me. So now we have arranged that p.u.s.s.y shall spend the winter with me.

She is to take singing and music lessons and have all the advantages of the city, and I shall go to her for the summer. Of course, we shall take a peep or two at New York sights, but we are not going into the gay world, Doctor, really, we're not!

DR. H. Ta, ta, ta! Don't tell me. [_Shakes finger warningly_] I shall hear of you yet. You'll see!

_Exit DR. H._

p.u.s.s.y. What a droll man he is! But I think he's just as nice as he can be. I hope he will come again while I'm here. I like to hear him talk.

AUNT F. It's his way to always run on in this strange style about everything.

AUNT H.-T. For my part, I never half know what he means.

E. It is plain what he means. You must do exactly contrary to what he tells you, as I shall. So, Auntie, don't trouble yourself to alter my things unless it be to let them out, for I'm going to keep all the breathing room I've got whether I have what's called "a pretty waist" or not. I'd rather have color in my cheeks and a cheerful heart than the smallest waist that was ever squeezed together.

AUNT H.-T. Such a pity, one couldn't have both.

AUNT F. Your cousin Jane was in here last week with her new Bismarck silk, and it fits her so beautifully! Somebody said she looked as if she'd been melted and poured into it. There wasn't a crease or wrinkle.

It did look lovely!

E. Well, Auntie dear, I must try some other way of looking lovely. May be, if I'm cheerful and happy and always in good spirits and have a fresh, bright face as p.u.s.s.y always has, [_Puts her arm affectionately about P._] it may make up for my not looking as if I had been melted and poured into my clothes.

GRANDMA P. [_Delightedly as she comes forward and joins others who are now all standing_] This is just the way I thought things would turn out if we followed Dr. Hardhack's Prescription.

CURTAIN.