SUSAN GLASPELL
MRS. HALE: I could've come. I stayed away because it weren't cheerful—and that's why I ought to have come. I—I've never liked this place. Maybe because it's down in a hollow and you don't see the road. I dunno what it is, but it's a lonesome place and always was. I wish I had. come over to see Minnie Foster sometimes. I can see now—(shakes her head)
MRS. PETERS: Well, you mustn't reproach yourself, Mrs. Hale. Somehow we just don't see how it is with other folks until—something comes up.
MRS. HALE: Not having children makes less work—but it makes a quiet house, and Wright out to work all day, and no company when he did come in. Did you know John Wright, Mrs. Peters?
MRS. PETERS: Not to know him; I've seen him in town. They say he was a good man.
MRS. HALE: Yes—good; he didn't drink, and kept his word as well as most, I guess, and paid his debts. But he was a hard man, Mrs. Peters. Just to pass the time of day with him—(shivers) Like a raw wind that gets to the bone. (Pauses, her eye falling on like cage) I should think she would 'a wanted a bird. But what do you suppose went with it?
MRS. PETERS: I don't know, unless it got sick and died. (She reaches over and swings the broken door, swings it again, both women watch it)
MRS. HALE: You weren't raised round here, were you? (Mrs. Peters shakes her head) You didn't know—her?
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