The Heart o' the Hills

[Original narrative cards,
 reconstructed dialogue cards:]

1
In the heart of the 
 Kentucky mountains 
dwells a primitive
and picturesque people.

2
Often misunderstood
 are these simple 
mountain folk, for theirs
is a quaint humor, an 
elemental courage and a
stern code of justice.

3
At the ancestral cabin 
  of the Honeycutts 
  lives Little Jason.

4
Steve Honeycutt,
  Jason's stepfather.

5
To shoot straight
 is the chief aim
of the mountain girl,
    Mavis Hawn.

6
One of the few men from
 the lowlands, trusted 
by the mountaineers, is the
geologist and school teacher,
      John Burnham.

7
 "Lawdy, child, bullets are
a-buzzin' round here as thick
as bumble-bees!"

8
 "When I kin hit the belly-
band two outer three, I'm
a-goin' to - git him!"

9
 "- one day my pap was
a-goin' down to Louisville,
peaceful-like, when --"

10
 "I've never knowed who
done the shootin', but I
promised pap I'd git him --
an' I'm a-goin to keep my
promise."

11
 "What you need, Mavis, is 
books, not bullets."

12
Widow Hawn, 
   Mavis' mother.

13
 "Wimmen ain't got no sense
'bout business no-how.
Reckon you-uns order have
a man 'bout here."

14
 "Mavie, my pap's been
a-wearin' me out with a
hick'ry."

15
"Who?"

16
"Mammy."

17
"If anything happens, me
an' you air a-goin' to git
married."

18
 "Say, Mavis my old man 
air a-sweetheartin' yore old 
woman to git her land."

19
 "I air a-goin' to show you a
secret."

20
A matter of business brings 
  a party of lowlanders 
     to the mountains.

21
Gray Pendleton, a blue-grass
 aristocrat, cherishes a
boyish affection for his
father's ward, Marjorie Lee.

22
Colonel Pendleton, 
a Southern planter,
is associated with 
Morton Sanders, a
Northern capitalist, in
a project to exploit
mountain coal lands.

23
 "Marjorie and I are going 
for a gallop. We'll wait for 
you at the crossroads."

24
 "There's heaps more o'
this here coal up the gap."

25
"Hol' on thar!"

26
 "Hol' on! What fer? Ye got a
still hid up thar?"

27
 "I don't reckon you-uns
dare to come nary a bit
further!"

28
 "I'm of a notion to fetch me
a stick an' whoop the life 
outer ye!"

29
"My whoopin' days air over!"

30
 "She'd shoot fer sartin!
We-uns better come back
later."

31
 "Say little fellow, can you
direct us to the crossroads?"

32
 "I ain't answerin' no
questions from a feller
that wears gal's socks."

33
 "Girl! Perhaps you can 
tell us the way?"

34
 "It air over the spur --
a whoop an' a holler."

35
 "I seed ye a-lookin'
at her!"

36
 "Tain't so! I seed ye
a-lookin' at him!"

37
 "D--- ye, Mavie, fer
a-doin' me dirt afore
the furriners!"

38
 "I seed ye with yer
hair oiled ..."

39
 "... and mammy a-wearin'
of her Sunday dress on
Wednesday."

40
 "I reckon ye air a-goin' to
treat me like I was growed."

41
 "Be my dinner, ready,
mammy?"

42
Grandpap Jason Hawn
 entertains his lowland
guests with a "shin-dig."

43
 "Men folks, grab 
yer partners!"

44
Grandpap Jason,
 Patriarch and
leader of his clan.

45
 "This shanty air so
turrible small ye can't
cuss a cat without gittin'
hair in yer teeth."

46
 "The Colonel is an honest 
old fool. He mustn't find out
how we're getting possession 
of these lands."

47
 "What will you-uns gimme
if I marry Marthy and git her
land fer ye?"

48
 "Mavie, I reckon the 
furriner's a-whoopin' Jasie."

49
 "Ho! on thar; I done
lost me teeth!"

50
 "They be dancin' 
down thar!"

51
 "May I have the
pleasure?"

52
"I air a lady!"

53
 "Furriners ain't no good
no-how! They get rich diggin
our coal, an' cuttin' our 
timber, an' --- raisin' h--l
ginerally!"

54
 "Thar ain't a-goin' to be no
upscuddle here! Ye beg the
stranger's pardon."

55
 "We-uns air beholdin to
you-uns."

56
After the jollification
  at Grandpap Hawn's.

57
 "Don't ye care, pap!
Mammy air a no-account! ...
She skinned out an' left me."

58
Uncle Lige, the circuit 
 rider, who administers
to the spiritual needs 
of the mountaineers.

59
 "Me and Jasie wants to 
git married."

60
"Hev ye got yer license?"

61
"How old air ye?"

62
 "I aim to be thirteen the
30th or 40th of May."

63
 "Ye can't git married; ye
ain't growed."

64
 "It ain't no use, Jasie, the
law's ag'in us! We gotta wait."

65
Mavis brings to the Cross-
  Roads the latest news
of Morton Sanders' treachery.

66
"Mavie, what's ailin' ye?"

67
 "That there low-down
hound, Sanders, he's fooled
us folks outer our lands --"

68
 "--- this mornin' he driv
me from my shanty, p'int
blank ----"

69
 "--- we-uns want our land
back! An' we-uns want that
skunk, Sanders, run plumb
outer these mountings!"

70
 "Be thar in the clearin'
tonight!"

71
 "Go on down an' notify
the sheriff."

72
The mountaineer
 is often a law
  unto himself.

73
 "Sanders, we-uns give ye
jes twenty-four hours to cl'ar
outer these mountings!"

74
 "You can't frighten me 
with this night-riding scare."

75
Midnight.

76
"Ye've been a-ridin'!"

77
 "You'll find the gal in 
that thar shanty."

78
"We've come to git her."

79
 "She was seen hiding this
night-rider rigout."

80
 "I reckon if ye does a man's 
work, Mavie, ye jes naturally
take a man's medicine."

81
 "You're in luck, Hawn;
there's a $10,000 reward for
the arrest and conviction of
Sanders' murderer."

82
 "You-uns don't git no
granddatter o'mine - not when
thar's a bunch o' greenbacks
tied to the rope that's pinin'
to hang her!"

83
A day later, the kindly 
 schoolmaster seeks
Mavis in her mountain
    hiding place.

84
 "Your grandpap told me 
where you were hiding."

85
 "To prove your innocence
Mavis, you must go down 
and stand trial."

86
 "If you are like your pap,
you can't be a coward and
hide here."

87
On trial for murder 
  in the first degree.

88
 "Gentlemen, I have 
established that only one 
shot was fired!"

89
 "There sits the black-
hearted murderess with the
brand of Cain upon her soul!"

90
 "I was a-ridin' but I done
no shootin' --"

91
 "D--n it! Didn't ye seed
me kiss the book?"

92
 "Gentlemen of the jury, 
that gal is telling a deliberate 
falsehood!"

93
"Order! Order!"

94
 "Order, h--l! She may be 
a murderess, but she ain't
no liar!"

95
 "I have proved that she
is the guilty party ---"

96
 "--- and that she should 
be HANGED! --"

97
 "- - - hanged!
HANGED!!
by the neck until
she is dead!"

98
 "And may God rest 
her soul!"

99
 "The court'll hear the 
verdict of the jury."

100
 "Pardon me, Jedge, fer
disorganizin' the persecutor
but I done that killin'."

101
 "Yo' Honor, - this feller's a
liar - I done it my own self!"

102
 "I beg pardon, Jedge, them
thar gentlemen air both liars!
I fired the shot!"

103
 "Air thar anyone else what
done the shootin'?"

104
 "Jedge, I reckon I 
be excused."

105
 "Jedgematically speakin', 
I reckon we'll have to
dis-charge the prisoner
and try the jury."

106
For the first time in her
 life, Mavis Hawn leaves
the mountains, to attend 
John Burnham's school
   in the lowlands.

107
 "Le's watch her; she may be
tryin' to wreck a train."

108
"What's ailin' you --- skeered?"

109
 "Skeered!!!!! I reckon you'd
run if a saw-mill was a-chasin'
you."

110
John Burnham's 
  lowland school.

111
"Look at the funny legs!"

112
"It's Mavis Hawn."

113
Little Jason's longing for 
  Mavis brings him to
the Land of the Blue-Grass.

114
 "I'll work hard for ye --
I'll even w'ar gal's socks --
if you'll jes l'arn me what I
wants to know."

115
 "That's a forfeit, Mavis!
If I catch you, I'll kiss you!"

116
 "I reckon I'll go down 
to Louisville to l'arn!"

117
 "Jasie, aren't you going to 
say-howdy?"

118
 "Go on 'long an' play
with yer frien' what w'ars
gal's socks!"

119
SIX YEARS PASS.

Mavis Hawn has been
  adopted by Colonel
Pendleton in atonement
for the trickery of his
partner, Sanders, who
swindled Mavis out of 
  her inheritance.

120
 "Lawdy, Mavis; that hunt
seems to have been a triumph
for you."

121
 "Mavis, dear, I can't bear to
have you leave us, because
--- I love you."

122
 "My people are not yours,
Gray, nor yours mine - not in
our generation."

123
After an absence of
 years, Little Jason
Honeycutt answers the 
call of his native hills.

124
"Howdy, Jed!"

125
 "Don't you remember
Little Jasie?"

126
"Hol' on thar, stranger!"

127
 "H--l, Grandpap! Don't 
you remember me? I'm little
Jasie."

128
 "Wal, Mavie has been
home nigh onto three 
weeks, -- she jist gone
up yonder to her mammy's."

129
 "I reckon I'll give Mavie 
a little surprise."

130
The intervening years have 
 dragged Steve Honeycutt 
 deeper into the mire.

131
 "What was ye an' Mavis 
a-talkin' 'bout last night?"

132
 "Nuthin' much - jes
a-talkin'."

133
 "Ef ye dar tech me, I'll
tell Mavis it was you --
what killed her pap!"

134
Tragedies are quickly 
 forgotten in the 
    mountains.

135
"Be ye jealous, Mavie?"

136
 "When's Gray Pendleton 
coming for you Mavis?"

137
"Aren't some folks lucky?"

138
 "Do you remember what
Uncle Lige once said we 
could do, when we were
'growed'?"

139
 "Well, we're 'growed' -
aren't we?"

140
"I reckon - 'we air'."

141
 "Meet me at Uncle 
Lige's --- I'm going for
the license."

142
And on the 30th. or 40th. 
 of May, they were married.

The End