The Goddess of Reason 28
THE CROWD
_Vive Robespierre!_
[_The Marseillaise. Enter Republican soldiers._
DE VARDES
Oh, for the red Hussars!
[_Enter four men wearing tricolour scarfs and plumes,
huge cockades, pistols and sabres._
THE CROWD
The Commissioners!
DE VARDES
Hooded crows!
[_There crosses the stage a float upon which is fixed a
miniature guillotine._
THE CROWD
Ha! ha!
_Vive la Guillotine!_
A MAN
_Vive les noyades!_
DE VARDES
Cold
Are thy baths, O Apollo!
[_Enter red-bonneted men and women dragging a tumbril
in which are heaped spoils of the church,—broken
images, crucifixes, candelabra, chalices, patens,
etc._
THE CROWD
Ha—h—h!
DE VARDES
Jesu!
[_He crosses himself._
[_Music. The great tricolour flag of the Republic is borne across the
stage._
THE CROWD
_La patrie! Vive la patrie!_
DE VARDES
France! France!
[_Stately music. Enter young men in Greek dress,
bearing a gilded framework upon which is fixed a
tall flambeau, wreathed with flowers. They advance
and place the structure before the church
steps._
A PEASANT
Brave! But what is it?
ANOTHER
The torch of Reason!
The Goddess lights it,—then we worship her!
A THIRD
No, we worship Reason!
THE SECOND
‘Tis the same thing!
[_Enter young girls clad in white, linked together
with tricolour ribbons and carrying osier baskets
from which they scatter flowers. They are followed
by children swinging censers, then by a shouting
throng drawing a triumphal car upon which sits the
Goddess of Reason. She is clothed in a white tunic
and a blue mantle; upon her loosened hair is a
wreath of oak leaves and she has in her hand a
light spear._
THE CROWD
Reason! Reason!—Yvette! Yvette!
DE VARDES
Mon Dieu!
[_The car stops._ YVETTE _rises_.
THE CROWD
_Vive la déesse! Vive Yvette!_ (LALAIN _comes forward_.) _Vive Lalain!_
LALAIN
People of Nantes! Citoyens! Patriots!
Old things are past. To-day we welcome new.
Gone are the priests, gone is the crucifix;
Chalice and paten whelmed beneath the Loire!
Kings, princes, nobles, priests, all crumbled down!
Death on a pale horse hath ridden o’er them,
The ravens and the sea mews pick their bones.
Theirs are the yesterdays, the ci-devants!
The red to-day is ours, the purple morrow!—
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity!
We worship Thee, Triune and Indivisible!—
O Mother Nature, pure, beneficent,
Redeemed from darkness of the centuries,
Smile on thy children, come to worship thee!
And thou, supernal Reason, Crown of Man,
Eyes of the blind, divine, ascending flame,
Pearl without price, rose, light, music, warmth!—
O gushing spring where else were desert waste!
O flooding light, celestial melody!
O flower that blooms on either side the grave!
O steadfast star that burns the night away!
We worship thee!
[_He takes the censer from a boy and swings it to and
fro before the standing goddess. Clouds of incense
arise. The trumpets sound._
THE CROWD (_with ecstasy_)
We worship thee, Yvette!
Yvette! Yvette! Reason! Yvette Charruel!
YVETTE
O God! I knew not ‘twas like this!
LALAIN
Reason, descend!
Illume thy torch, among us mortals dwell.
O sweetest Reason! ne’er regret the skies!
Descend—
[_He gives his hand to_ YVETTE. _She descends from
the car._
A MAN
She is the fairest Reason!
ANOTHER
Now
She’ll light the torch!
[_A boy brings her lighted touchwood._ LALAIN _fastens
it to the point of her spear, and kneeling presents it
to her. She advances to the church steps and raises
the flaming lance in order to light the torch. She
sees_ DE VARDES. _The spear falls to the earth. The
flame goes out._
YVETTE
O Our Lady!
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