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. And our mother, she who from infancy treated me with such fondness, she who, as you said, had most reason to spurn me, can she forget what I am? Ratts. In an act of desperation she drinks a vial of poison, and Scudder enters to deliver the good news that McClosky was proven guilty of murdering Paul and that Terrebonne now belongs to George. Some of those sirens of Paris, I presume, [Pause.] [Exit, with a low, wailing, suffocating cry,L.U.E. *EnterM'Closky, Lafouche, Jackson, Sunnyslde,and*Pointdexter,R.U.E. Point. Sunny. That's enough. Pete. If she could not accept me, who could? Coute Wahnotee in omenee dit go Wahnotee, poina la fa, comb a pine tree, la revieut sala, la fa. Be the first to contribute! George. black as nigger; clar as ice. You know you can't be jealous of a poor creature like me. Scud. And dar's de 'paratus---O, gosh, if I could take a likeness ob dis child! Dido. He said so. The Octoroon or The Lily of Louisiana is a dark tale of crime, race and slavery. stan' round thar! Yes, ma'am, I hold a mortgage over Terrebonne; mine's a ninth, and pretty near covers all the property, except the slaves. It was like trying to make a shark sit up and beg for treats. Yonder is the boy---now is my time! What's here---judgments? M'Closky. Paul. Pete. Research Playwrights, Librettists, Composers and Lyricists. Pete. [*Takes Indian's tomahawk and steals to*Paul. You got four of dem dishes ready. George---George---hush---they come! Traduced! Synopsis. Born here---dem darkies? Ah! What? George. Zoe. I tell ye, 't'ain't so---we can't do it---we've got to be sold---, Pete. O, Zoe! Guess that you didn't leave anything female in Europe that can lift an eyelash beside that gal. Mrs. P.Why, George, I never suspected this! I daren't move fear to spile myself. You can bet I'm going to make this . [Aside to Pete.] At college they said I was a fool---I must be. [R.] Well, what's the use of argument whar guilt sticks out so plain; the boy and Injiun were alone when last seen. See here---there's a small freight of turpentine in the fore hold there, and one of the barrels leaks; a spark from your engines might set the ship on fire, and you'd go with it. here's a bit of leather; [draws out mail-bags] the mail-bags that were lost! Dear George, you now see what a miserable thing I am. You'll take care, I guess, it don't go too cheap. [L.] Let the old darkey alone---eight hundred for that boy. Come on, Pete, we shan't reach the house before midday. Zoe, must we immolate our lives on her prejudice? Scud. I'm writing about America's relationship to its own history. who has been teasing you? My dear husband never kept any accounts, and we scarcely know in what condition the estate really is. Pete. And twenty thousand bid. George. [Examines the ground.] Mr. Scudder, take us with you---Mr. Peyton is so slow, there's no getting him, on. Yah! Stop! No, it ain't; because, just then, what does the judge do, but hire another overseer---a Yankee---a Yankee named Salem Scudder. Born here! Do you mean that I'm a pig? M'Closky. Two hundred and forty-nine times! What's this? [Knocks.] I must see you no more. Hi! Five hundred bid---it's a good price. if dey aint all lighted, like coons, on dat snake fence, just out of shot. Every word of it, Squire. Dis yer prop'ty to be sold---old Terrebonne---whar we all been raised, is gwine---dey's gwine to tak it away---can't stop here no how. Stan' back, I say I I'll nip the first that lays a finger on Him. Is it on such evidence you'd hang a human being? You thought you had cornered me, did ye? There are no witnesses but a rum bottle and an old machine. In some form, human, or wild beast, or ghost, it has tracked me through the night. See also Trivia | Goofs | Crazy Credits | Alternate Versions | Connections | Soundtracks Getting Started | Contributor Zone [Sits down.] [*To*Wahnotee.] Herein the true melodramatic hijinks that first defined "The Octoroon" ensue: a young, nouveau plantation owner George (Gardner in whiteface) is trying to save the remnants of his family's. why were you not my son---you are so like my dear husband. That Indian is a nuisance. Don't b'lieve it, Mas'r George,---no. Has not my dear aunt forgotten it---she who had the most right to remember it? Will you forgive me? But how pale she looks, and she trembles so. Come, Mrs. Peyton, take my arm. two forms! None o' ye ign'rant niggars could cry for yerselves like dat. If she ain't worth her weight in sunshine you may take one of my fingers off, and choose which you like. It's near that now, and there's still the sugar-houses to be inspected. Top, sar! 'Tain't no faint---she's a dying, sa; she got pison from old Dido here, this mornin'. If even Asian women saw the men of their own blood as less than other men, what was the use in arguing otherwise? I must keep you, Captain, to the eleven hundred. I brought half this ruin on this family, with my all-fired improvements. He said I want a nigger. Poor little Paul! [Knocks.] Let her pass! Of the blood that feeds my heart, one drop in eight is black---bright red as the rest may be, that one drop poisons all the flood; those seven bright drops give me love like yours---hope like yours---ambition like yours---Life hung with passions like dew-drops on the morning flowers; but the one black drop gives me despair, for I'm an unclean thing---forbidden by the laws---I'm an Octoroon! Gen'l'men, my colored frens and ladies, dar's mighty bad news gone round. By ten I was playing competitively. George. If I was to try, I'd bust. Go it, if you're a mind to. [*Throws bowie-knife to*M'Closky.] That's Solon's wife and children, Judge. She's in love with young Peyton; it made me curse, whar it made you cry, as it does now; I see the tears on your cheeks now. Just click the "Edit page" button at the bottom of the page or learn more in the Quotes submission guide. Pete. Dido. ah! 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. Scud. Mas'r Ratts, you hard him sing about de place where de good niggers go, de last time. My darling! dem tings---dem?---getaway [*makes blow at the*Children.] I'll bear it. M'Closky. Five hundred dollars!---[*To*Thibodeaux.] I don't tink you will any more, but dis here will; 'cause de family spile Dido, dey has. George. Yes, Mas'r George, dey was born here; and old Pete is fonder on 'em dan he is of his fiddle on a Sunday. Dora then reappears and bids on Zoe she has sold her own plantation in order to rescue Terrebonne. "No. Ratts. ExitScudderandPete,R.1. Ratts. [Zoe*helps her. M'Closky. Dora. Is this a dream---for my brain reels with the blow? Paul! here's Mas'r Sunnyside, and Missey Dora, jist drov up. One of them is prepared with a self-developing liquid that I've invented. Take your hand down---take it down. here are marks of blood---look thar, red-skin, what's that? That they become fads. No, you goose! It's no use you putting on airs; I ain't gwine to sit up wid you all night and you drunk. O, my husband! Zoe, the more I see of George Peyton the better I like him; but he is too modest---that is a very impertinent virtue in a man. I thank Heaven you have not lived to see this day. I fetch as much as any odder cook in Louisiana. Fellow-citizens, you are convened and assembled here under a higher power than the law. I left my loves and my creditors equally inconsolable. George. Zoe, you have suspected the feeling that now commands an utterance---you have seen that I love you. Ah! I felt it---and how she can love! He plans to buy her and make her his mistress. | About Us *, M'Olosky. Hold on a bit. Zoe. O, Mr. Scudder! Of course not, you little fool; no one ever made love to you, and you can't understand; I mean, that George knows I am an heiress; my fortune would release this estate from debt. Dora. you remind me so much of your uncle, the judge. Here, you tell it, since you know it. Scene.---The Wharf, The Steamer "Magnolia" alongside,L.;a bluff rock,R.U.E. Ratts*discovered, superintending the loading of ship. Now, ma'am, I'd like a little business, if agreeable. Dora. The apparatus can't mistake. You want to hurt yourself. I don't like that man. George. [During the dialogueWahnoteehas takenGeorge'sgun. Subject to your life interest and an annuity to Zoe, is it not so? faded---is it not? I also feel that demonstrations wouldn't go on unless there is a TV camera. I'll sweep these Peytons from this section of the country. if you cannot be mine, O, let me not blush when I think of you. No! | Sitemap |. Ratts. Well, sir, what does this Scudder do but introduces his inventions and improvements on this estate. M'Closky. Down with him! And, strangers, ain't we forgetting there's a lady present. Enjoy reading and share 14 famous quotes about Boucicaults The Octoroon with everyone. the apparatus can't lie. There's no chance of it. M'Closky. Glendon Swarthout, Never believe in any faith younger than you are." She refuses, but Zoe steals the bottle from her anyway and runs off. Yes; you was the first to hail Judge Lynch. Poor fellow, he has lost all. O, forgive him and me! Between us we've ruined these Peytons; you fired the judge, and I finished off the widow. [Opens desk.] Dido. Missey Zoe! [*ExitM'Closkyand*Pointdexter,R.U.E. Scud. I was up before daylight. [Pete goes down.] For the first time, twenty-five thousand---last time! Give us evidence. Irish - Dramatist December 26, 1822 - September 18, 1890. Minnie, fan me, it is so nice---and his clothes are French, ain't they? [Shouts heard,R.]. How long before we start, captain? An extremely beautiful young slave girl, who is treated like a member of the family, Zoe is kind, generous, and adored by every man who lays eyes on her. And we all Dora. M'Closky. Come, Paul, are you ready? Zoe, you are young; your mirror must have told you that you are beautiful. Scud. She is one-eighth black, the daughter of a "quadroon" slave woman, and is very. Who's you to set up screching?---be quiet! Mas'r George---ah, no, sar---don't buy me---keep your money for some udder dat is to be sold. or say the word, and I'll buy this old barrack, and you shall be mistress of Terrebonne. I bid seven thousand, which is the last dollar this family possesses. Why, judge, wasn't you lawyer enough to know that while a judgment stood against you it was a lien on your slaves? "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." And we all got rich from it, so, you know, there's a benefit from it. Zoe is your child by a quadroon slave, and you didn't free her; blood! George R R Martin. No; but I loved you so, I could not bear my fate; and then I stood your heart and hers. Bah! Will ye? No, I'm the skurriest crittur at a fight you ever see; my legs have been too well brought up to stand and see my body abused; I take good care of myself, I can tell you.