Tess of the Storm Country
1
FOREWORD
The re-creation of Tess of
the Storm Country, under
the improved conditions of
modern photoplay production,
is in response to a demand
among my friends. It has been
a work of devotion, for, of all
the characters I have portrayed,
Tess is the one I have most
loved.
Mary Pickford [signature]
2
Nearly two thousand years ago
from a hill-top in Judea
came the sublime command:
"Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself."
3
But this philosophy of the
Great Teacher is often
preached where never practiced
-- and sometimes practiced
where never preached.
4
When Elias Graves built his
home on the top of the
hill, he anticipated little
difficulty in getting rid
of his squatter neighbors
at the bottom.
5
But all of Graves' money
and influence have been
unable to upset "squatter
law," under which these
fisher folk cling to their
miserable homesteads.
6
Elias Graves grows more
stubborn with failure --
his determination to dis-
perse the squatters has
become an obsession.
7
Teola Graves fears
her father, who
demands obedience
rather than love.
8
Dan Jordan, a law student,
has fascinated the lonely
girl, but has failed to
impress her father.
9
"Oh, Dan, if you could only
find a way to drive out
the squatters, father would
do anything we ask."
10
Frederick Graves does not
share his father's hatred
of the squatters.
11
"Marvelous view, sir --
if it weren't for your
neighbors."
12
"Don't mention neighbors
to me -- filthy lot!"
13
"Ben Letts, clean up
that mess. It air
been there a week."
14
"Clean it up yerself."
15
"Have you tried to buy
them out, Mr. Graves?"
16
"Buy them out? The
land is already mine.
I'd like to kick them out!"
17
"But, father, these people
have no other place
to go."
18
"Matter! Can't you smell
what's the matter?"
19
"I'll attend to this, Mr. Graves."
20
"Frederick, if you
had any spunk,
you'd go with him."
21
"I might like young Jordan -
if he'd get over the
notion of becoming my
son-in-law."
22
"Soak 'im, Tess -- soak the
hill-topper!"
23
"MY! You're awfully little
to be so mad."
24
"Git off'n our land!"
25
"Ooh - hoo! Daddy!"
26
"She'd be a darn pretty kid
if she were cleaned up."
27
"Keep yer eyes off'n her,
Ezra Longman --
she's fish fer my net!"
28
"They're breaking the law
by netting. We can
seize their nets and
starve them out!"
29
"Dan dear, how splendid --
you're winning father over."
30
"There's one of the
godless lot now --
shameless little hussy!"
31
"No hill-topper kin
look me down."
32
"What's the matter with 'em?"
33
"Did you ever hear that
'cleanliness is next to
godliness?'"
34
"Look, Daddy, what the
flood brought in!"
35
"Mr. Skinner, I'm sorry my
father feels as he does
about you folks."
36
"Well, he's got his views --
we got our'n."
37
"I wants a smack."
38
"Sure - I got a smack fer ye."
39
Jordan and the game wardens
surprise the squatters.
40
"They've got a net in there."
41
"We'll catch them using it."
42
"Aw, Mister, how air we
goin' to earn our
beans and bacon?"
43
When the squatters begin
to feel the pinch of
hunger, Daddy Skinner
gets out his net.
44
"I air warnin' ye, ye'll ketch
more trouble than fish."
45
"I tells ye, old Graves air
still watchin' with them
shoe-button eyes of his'n."
46
"D'ye want us to sit 'round
and starve?"
47
"We must be married
at once, Dan --
we dare not wait
any longer."
48
"They've started out
with the net, sir."
49
"If your father won't give
his consent tonight,
we will slip away and
get married tomorrow."
50
"Count me out, father -
I can't see it your way."
51
"They're using that net.
Now's your chance
to get them!"
52
"Daddy Skinner's gone nettin',
and I air scared clean
through the gizzard!"
53
"Ye'd be a pretty brat, Tess,
if ye wasn't so dum dirty."
54
"I knowed a man once what
died from takin' a bath!"
55
"-- but if I'd been
cleaned up I'd
said to him --"
56
"I'll wash if it kills me!"
57
"I don't see how you could
get so dum dirty in
seventeen years."
58
"He's dead!"
59
"Is that your gun?"
60
"I won't give ye away,
Ben Letts, if ye
leaves Tess alone."
61
"Air Daddy gone home?"
62
"Your pap killed
young Jordan -
they've took 'im
to jail."
63
"Ye're lyin' to me!
Daddy Skinner
never killed no man!"
64
"They shot Jordan!"
65
"Skinner did it -
we caught him
red-handed."
66
"Tell 'im Daddy Skinner
wouldn't hurt nothin' -
not even a fly."
67
"Then why did your father
take his gun?"
68
"Daddy Skinner air gooder
than you be -- fer all yer
church!"
69
"Dear God, if Ye lives
in the sky, Ye'll save
my daddy, won't Ye?"
70
"Stop such blasphemy!
Your father is a
murderer --"
71
"-- and I'll see that
he pays the penalty!"
72
"Bad temper won't help you,
Tess - or your father either."
73
"I air sorry I hitted yer dad."
74
"Don't mind what my father
says, Tess. No prayer
is blasphemy. You keep
right on - praying."
75
"Ye didn't do the killin',
did ye, Daddy?"
76
"Daddy, ye ain't goin' to
hang, 'cause Someone
air goin' to help ye --
says so in the Book."
77
"I cribbed it from the church."
78
"They ain't got no right
to have every Bible
in this dum town."
79
Love watches.
80
First lessons.
81
"I kin read most of it, but
some of the words air
too dum long."
82
"Did He die on the Cross
to save poor folks
too - like Daddy Skinner?"
83
"Fred, I'm told you are
furnishing money to
defend Skinner."
84
"Oh, how could you, Frederick,
when he killed poor Dan?"
85
"This is the last straw -
I'm done with you!"
86
The daily bulletin
from Tess.
87
Ezra declares himself.
88
"I loves ye, Tess - oh, Gord,
how I loves ye!"
89
"Trouble is, ye're in love
-- in love with that
gosh-durn hill-topper!"
90
The awakening.
91
The trial - when the net of
circumstantial evidence
closes around the be-
wildered Daddy Skinner.
92
"This man deliberately set out
to break the law, and to
prevent interference, he
carried a loaded gun --"
93
"Lemme out -- I can't breathe --"
94
"-- he was apprehended
by officers of the law, and
in attempting to escape,
he shot down their leader
in cold blood!"
95
Preparing for her father's
homecoming.
96
"When air Daddy
comin' home?"
97
"Looks like he ain't
never comin' home."
98
"I guess ye don't know
who I be - this here's
my pap's trial."
99
"Defendant, stand up."
100
"Orn Skinner, a jury
of your peers has
found you guilty of
murder."
101
"Ye've made a mistake,
Mister Jedge."
102
"The Book says: 'Ask an'
it shall be given'. An'
every night on my knees
I been askin' fer ye to
come home."
103
"Daddy air to come home,
ain't he, Mister Jedge?"
104
"I'm sorry, little girl,
but your father must
go back to jail --
to await sentence."
105
"Tess darlin', ye're only
makin' it harder fer
yer daddy."
106
"I'm sorry I'm so cussed --
'sides ye air comin' home,
Daddy -- afore long."
107
"You'd better go home,
my child."
108
"With faith still unshaken
Tess trudges home."
109
"Ye're comin' with me.
Now yer pap's gone,
ye needs a husband."
110
Ben Letts vows vengeance.
111
"Looks like the Jedge
don't read his Bible --
makin' a mistake like that."
112
"We're going to appeal
your father's case.
I'm sure it won't be
long before he is
home again."
113
"Tess, have you ever
thought that sometime
you and I -- ?"
114
"I air a squatter."
115
"I love you, Tess -- and
when I finish college -
I'm coming back for you."
116
Ma Moll ---- the
squatter's doctor.
117
The prolonged absence of
her father on business
has given Teola a false
sense of security.
118
Afraid to live,
but without
courage to die.
119
"If it hadn't been for your
father, Dan would be
with me now - when I want
him - when I need him most!"
120
"Afore God, Daddy never
killed 'im!"
121
"Oh, the disgrace - the shame -
I dare not face my father!"
122
DAWN.
123
"Why didn't you let us
both die?"
124
Enmities are forgotten
in another's need.
125
"What will I do with the baby?
Father would kill me
if he knew!"
126
"Well, the brat kin stay with me
if ye air afeared to keep it!"
127
"Will you swear you will
tell no one?"
128
"I won't tell nothin' to
nobody - I swears it!"
129
Through the bleak months
that follow, Tess bears
another's burden.
130
"You can't go out at
this hour - it's time
you were in bed."
131
"You little thief --
I'll teach you!"
132
"I've took my lickin' -
now kin I have
the milk?"
133
Frederick returns
from college for the
Christmas holidays,
impatient to see Tess.
134
"I'm not going home.
Take my baggage
to the hotel."
135
"Poor little thing - nobody
wants him! If only we
both could go to his father."
136
"The poor little critter air got
the croup somethin' awful ----
Maybe if ye prays hard enough
ye might both be took!"
137
"I can't stand it no longer,
Ben Letts -- I air goin'
to tell the truth about
the killin'!"
138
"I came down to - to help -
to comfort her."
139
"Go? Not much! It's been
a thousand years
since I've seen Tess!"
140
"Let's git some fire-wood."
141
"Whose is it?"
142
"Why - I - I found it --"
143
"Oh, Frederick, please don't
question her any more!"
144
"Tess, is that child yours?"
145
"If I wants to keep a brat
in this here shanty, it's
nobody's dum business."
146
"You - the girl in whom
I put my faith --"
147
"What do you know
about faith?
Git out of here!"
148
"Don't speak of her -
it's horrible!"
149
Afraid of detection, Letts
plans to escape, and
determines to take Tess
with him.
150
"Ezra, eh?"
151
"Brat or no brat, ye're
goin' to marry me!
Git yer duds!"
152
"Daddy Skinner ----
never - done it!
Ben Letts killed Jordan!"
153
"Phone the police!"
154
"The dum bloke was tryin' to
choke me into marryin' him."
155
"Why not? - I air the
brat's pappy."
156
"I hopes my Daddy's neck
will be twisted by the rope
if Ben Letts ain't a liar."
157
"It's Ben Letts who will hang -
Ezra has confessed."
158
"Won't ye believe in me?"
159
"I could throw ye
out in the snow,
I hates ye so!"
160
"Naw, I don't hate ye -- I
loves ye -- ye poor, sick,
miserable, little dum devil!"
161
From over the snowy hill-tops
Sabbath bells are calling.
162
"It is unchristianlike
to pamper yourself
in this way. Church
will do you good."
163
In spite of Tess' tender
care and sacrifice --
164
"That brat air dyin'."
165
"He's got to be sprinkled
in the Church or God
can't find him when he dies."
166
"Then ye'd better hurry."
167
"I brought ye a dyin' brat,
Preacher, what's got to be
sprinkled."
168
"The presence of that girl
is an insult to every
woman in this church!"
169
"But the poor little cuss air
dyin'. He's got to be
sprinkled or he won't never
see the face of God."
170
"Give me my baby!"
171
"Is he - dead?"
172
And with the philosophy of
the Great Teacher in
his heart rather than on his
lips, Elias Graves makes
a Christmas call.
173
"On this day of days, I have
come here in all humility
to say that you have taught
me the true meaning of
Christianity."
174
"Well - I been kind of a cuss
myself."
175
"Teola air happy now --
she air with the man
she loves."
176
"Mr. Graves, ye've met
my daddy, ain't ye?"
177
Know thy neighbor as
thyself - and thou canst
not help but love him.
178
"Ye means ye're deedin'
the village to all us
squatters?"
179
"Can you ever care
for me again?"
180
"I air Daddy's brat --"
181
"-- but I air yer squatter."
The End
Home