Timothy's Quest (1922) - full transcript

TIMOTHY'S QUEST

Minerva Court, named in vain for the Goddess of Wisdom... a little piece of your world, my world, God's world, and the Devil's!

One whom God amused in his own way by locking her happiness within her own soul... the only place where it is ever safe for a single moment!

"Lady" Gay, ...somebody, ...nobody, ...anybody... nobody knows where.

Timothy... brave little knight... nameless nobleman.

Miss Dora, "The Angel of the Alley."

"Blessed are those that mourn for they shall be comforted..."

"I seen her only the other day, an' now it's all up with her.
Poor old Floss! I'll be in to the funeral."

To the rescue!

"That brazen little kid's be'n gone for half an hour... he'll catch it from me when he does come!
Flossy never used the stick on him, I guess!"

"l'm sorry, Miss Montmorency, but..."



"A kid that ain't got no name to him ain't a' goin' ter say 'but' ter me!
I don't want no 'alibis'! All I want's my beer!"

"Huh! You'd think she was runnin' this Court!
She trades on her 'angelface', that girl does! 'Milk-fed', I call her!"

"Just the same you'd 'a' be'n where Flossy is now if Miss Dora hadn't sent yer to the horspittal las' winter!"

"Didn't Flossy ever tell you who you belong to, Timothy?"

"Somebody used to send money every little while to Flossy to spend for us.
But it stopped, and o' course Flossy was mad!"

"Does Gay belong to anybody?"

"I b'long to Tim'fy, I do!"

"We don't b'long to anybody, I guess. I'd like to find a mother for Gay, 'cause she's little an' a girl.
But I don't like the mothers in this Court an' I don't know where else to look!"

"I really think we'll have to make a picture prayer."

"A picture prayer is making a picture of something you want.
Then if you think about it long enough, some day it will come true."

His heart's desire.

"Just before Flossy 'cashed in' I asked her what she wanted done with the young 'uns an' she says:
'Do what yer like with 'em, drat 'em,... it don't make no odds ter me!'"

"You take the boy to the Orphan 'sylum an' I'll take the baby ter the Home of the Ladies' Relief an' Pertection Sassiety!"

"Le's get a coupla' winks an' termorrer we'll get rid of 'em both."



"Oh, Miss Dora's God! I wont be taken away from Gay an' sent to a 'sylum.
You remember I've been there once! An' please Miss Dora's God, give us an adopted mother for Gay an' me if the lady'll take two... but not unless. Amen."

Timothy's decision.

Rags, of pedigree most doubtful... but a perfect gentleman.

BOSON AND MAINE R. R.
ROUTE TAG
Pleasant River, Maine

So they went out into the world together, these three, as far as the security of a toy bank could carry them."

Dear miss Dora if you should come to find us we are goin' a great ways off or they will put Gay in asylum.
I made a picture prayer like you said so I hope a kind lady will adopt us.

Jabe Slocum, whose mother was a Doolittle and his grandmother a Stillwell.

Aunt Hitty Tarbox, armed with the knowledge of every biography and every ought... to... be... ography in the country.

"Which way yer goin', bub, t' the Swamp or t' the Falls?"

"l'd like the Falls, sir!"

"All right! Git in an' ride a piece;... can you git your folks aboard 'thout spillin' any of 'em?"

"This village is chuck full of old maids, Sonny, an' they ain't much on adoptin' children."

"But I made a picture prayer of a kind lady in a white house with a white cow an' a white cat.
Picture prayers always come true... Miss Dora said so!"

"Gorry! If I ain't left Aunt Hitty settin' on the rock by the Cross Roads, an' I promised t' pick her up!"

Miss Avilda Cummins.
A spinster by every implication of her being.

"That must be a country doorplate!"

"It's not a little white house, but there's a white cow an' a white cat an' a kind lady knitting in the window!"

Samantha Ann Ripley, a spinster purely by accident.

"Do you need any babies here, please?"

"Does Miss Martha Cummins live here, please?"

"MARTHA CUMMINS!"

"What do you want?"

"I want somebody to 'dopt this child."

"You needn't 'dopt me or Rags, you know, 'less you should want us to take care o' her!"

"I don't care to adopt any babies or dogs this afternoon!
You go right home where you belong!"

"Land o' Liberty!
Where'd they come from, and what air they tryin' to act out?"

"The boy seems to be a baby agent!"

"When I told him I wasn't adopting any babies just now, he burst out crying and the other two followed suit!"

"I didn't mean to cry, but Gay hasn't had anything to eat since morning, an' she'll have no place to sleep unless you'll let her stay here tonight!"

"Land O'Liberty! Come along with me!"

"This is what it would be like forever an' forever, if we was really adopted, Gay!"

"That boy asked me... if... Martha... Cummins... lived... here!"

"Git, Mariar!"

Oh, Timothy, what induced you to touch upon the bitterest spot in Miss Avilda's life... the memory of her youthful sister's sorrow.

"Vildy ain't never goin't fergit that poor wuthless sister o' her'n!"

"She won't never forget her till she can learn to forgive her!"

"Sakes alive!
Where'd they come from an' who be they?"

"Samanthy Ann Ripley, that boy's eyes is like"...

"I didn't know yer had any poor relations, Vildy."

"No more she has, Hitty Tarbox. These children have come all the way from some sink of iniquity in the city to find somebody to adopt them!"

"We came by all the other houses because we liked this best!"

"As it's coming on dusk you may stay over night,... but that's all!"

"I can't stand to have that boy about... his looks remind me of... something in the past."

"I'm tryin' to do my duty as I see it, Avilda Cummins, so don't point your finger at me!"

"We'll just go, Gay, Rags and me, an' not bother you any more!"

"Wait a minute, boy!
You're going to stay over night anyways,... I told you so."

"Vildy Cummins, we've got clothes in the attic, as you know well, an' I'm goin' to use 'em.
If you don't like it, I'll tell Dave Milliken I'll keep house for him if he still wants me."

"You wouldn't leave me, Samanthy, after all these years!"

"Yes, I would, and lose no time either... if you don't act like a Christian."

"Plenty o' good orthodox Christians turned their backs on Marthy when she was in trouble!"

"There's plenty o' orthodox hogs in this world, but there's no reason for me copyin' after 'em... or you neither!"

"I'll sleep 'em both and keep the baby a spell longer, maybe, but the boy'll have to go tomorrow.
Two's too many."

"You're big enough to do chores, Timothy.
Mebbe you can get some work on one o' the farms an' come to see Gay as long as she stays."

Adopted for the night.

"What made you ask Miss Vildy if Martha Cummins lived here?"

"But if a tombstone says who's buried under it, then it is a door plate to... somewhere!"

"Some people didn't think poor Marthy was good enough to be buried in the graveyard, so you mustn't ever speak to anybody about her!"

"Poor Miss Vilda! I'm so sorry for her!"

"One upon a time..."

"I can't yet, Dave, poor Vildy needs me.
Marthy's dyin' sudden, as she did, was too much fer her. I..."

"I'll never ask you again, Samanthy Ann... not so long as I live!
If you care more for Vildy Cummins than you do for me, you can stay with her till kingdom come!"

"If you was to ask me again every day o' your life, I'd say 'no' every time,... just 'cause you're so onreasonable!"

"...an' if we can stay at the White Farm, let the angels make Gay's shoes "toe in" to the bedroom... an' if we've got to go, leave 'em steppin' out!"

"Put me up a lunch, Samanthy, I'm goin' up to the city."

"Jabe Slocum, hitch up the mare and don't take all day about it either!"

"I guess the angels wasn't sure of Miss Avilda, 'cause they only turned your shoes half way 'round."

"Vicky's goin' to the deepot... now what do you make of that!"

"What reason would she have, Hitty Tarbox?"

"Two an' two always did make four!"

Generosity.

"Jabe, you deserve a crown for this, even if you are a Slocum."

"You look as though you might have known a person called Morrison... Flossy Morrison... did you?"

"Sure! But she ain't seein' callers underground!"

"Do you know... did she ever speak about anybody named Cummins... Marthy Cummins?"

"Flossy never said nothin' 'bout Marthy Cummins.
Y'ain't the mother o' them two brats she boarded, air' yer?... If so, they say you ain't paid up lately!"

"I came here for information... but I wont have any more words with anyone.
Thank you!"

"Samanthy, Samanthy!"

Feeling, rather than hearing, Dave's feeble cry.

"Samanthy, what are you doin'?"

"I thought Dave Milliken was callin' me?"

"Gorry! I clean forgot ye' Vildy! But I learned the children consid'able this mornin'.
Land's! They're ignorant as Cooper's cow!"

"Please, Miss Vilda don't scold Jabe, he's been so good to us!"

"You've got a lot o' spunk for a little boy, Timothy!
See if you can get work somewhere!"

"No, we ain't got no work for anybody!"

The village is seized with the spirit of adoption.

"I didn't know you'd takin' to wearin' daisies, Vildy!"

"It ain't anybody else's business if I want to be a fool for once in my life!"

"Samanthy... Samanthy!"

"Samanthy!"

"And there was more heathen in that Minerva Court than on India's coral strand... or any other place where missionaries go to save souls."

"Now, Miss Cummins, what are you intending to do about those children who have wandered into our midst?"

"What are you going to advise?"

"Well, any one of our good sisters present will be glad to board the attractive little girl if you'd pay for her clothes!"

"I'm thinking of adopting her myself, board, clothes and all!"

"The sick man down in the little house keeps calling for Miss Samanthy!"

"Go right up an' tell her, but not before the rest o' them!"

"But what about the boy?"

"I'm going to send the boy to the State Home.
There's boys enough in this village."

"And just to prove my intentions, Hitty Tarbox, you can go home, get your sewing things, come right back and start making baby clothes."

"When are ye goin' to send Timothy to the Home?"

"That blessed boy aint going to no Home! Since you're so onhuman, Vildy, I'll adopt him myself!
I aint a pauper an' I've saved enough to support a child."

"There's other kinds o' miracles 'sides buddin' rods 'n burnin' bushes 'n loaves 'n fishes!"

"What do you suppose guided that boy to pass all the other houses in this village 'n' turn into the White Farm!"

"It's the hand of the Lord... I've been a hard woman!
Poor little Marthy, so young, and confiding, and her alone in a great city!"

Dear miss Vilder I am goin' away I heard you say you were goin' to send me to a home I would rather dy than go to home.
Please be good to Gay. Timothy.

Dear Miss Samanthy, the man in the little house in the hollow is sick ; he says Samanthy, Samanthy all the time.
Jabe said not to tell you in front of Miss Vilder! Thimothy.

"Let Samanthy be crazy if she has a mind to!
You might have brought them two together years ago."

"Maybe I've been wrong! I didn't see things clear!
If I was hard to Marthy I'll make it up somehow to the children. She was terrible fond of Children."

"If I was you I'd go find Timothy before he gets too far away!"

"Lonesomeness is what ails me, Samanthy, I be well t'morrow if ye'd only hev' me."

"Timothy, Timothy!"

"Timothy! Timothy!
I want you, and I need you!"

And they forgot past unhappiness because of present joy, and this is the eternal magic of love.

THE END