Historic Pella - Readers Theater Play


	SCENE I The Prairie
		(Sara stands holding new wooden shoes. She is pouting)
	Mareah	No, Sara, it is not dignified for you to walk with your friends . . . especially in those hideous wooden shoes your papa asked the shoemaker to make for you. You've never worn wooden shoes. Your feet will beg big blisters. You are the dominie's daughter and should ride in the carriage . . . with DIGNITY!
	Dominie	Oh, Mareah, the exercise will do Sara some good. She should be with her friends. This journey across the Iowa prairie is an exciting experience.
	Sara	(Hugging Dominie) Oh, thank you Papa! (She turns to Mareah triumphantly and runs off stage.)
	Narrator 1	It is a Tuesday in August 1847. Yesterday had been the day the Dutch colonists had planned to begin their trip across the part of the new state in which they planned to live. A few days ago, on Sunday, aboard a river boat, they had held church services. Yesterday it had poured down rain and everyone was forced to stay on the river boat. But today the town of Keokuk is behind them and the overcast skies have been pried out of their gloominess by the piercing rays of morning sun.
	Mareah	This stepdaughter is hard to manage. The other two, Johanna and Mary, as so lovable and they do adore me. (She preens a bit) Oh, this carriage ride is revolting as is the terrible heat of this place. Why oh why did we have to come?
	Johanna	(Who has been hanging on to Mareah) Mama, why are you sad?
	Mary	(Looking into Mareah's face at close range) Are you going to cry again?
	Mareah	(An arm around each girl) Oh, surely not my pets. If only Sara would not be so stubborn. She never lets me mother her. I am simply another traveler to Sara. She pretends I do not exist.
	Johanna	She misses our real mother . . . our mother who died in Holland. We miss her too but we love you for our mama now.
	Narrator 2	The death of Sara's mother hung heavily on her mind. They had been so close and her sudden death left an emptiness. Mareah was more like a stylish older sister and Sara was jealous of her father's lavish attention to Mareah. Sara had made a vow. She would never call Mareah Mama. Dominie Scholte often told Mareah "Sara will come to love you, just giver her time, Mareah . . . just give her time."
	SCENE II
		Sara is seated, examining a blister on her foot. Her knit sock is tucked in the band of her skirt.
	Sara	Oh, I should have listened to Mareah. My heels are blistered and the backs of my legs hurt from trying to hold these new wooden shoes on my feet. But riding in the carriage was such a bore! (Sara rises and yells) Kaatje! Griet! Wait for me! (Kaatje and Griet enter. Sara jogs along, limping . . . minus one wooden shoe.)
	Kaatje	(laughing) You look like old Jacobus. I saw him once down at the dike walking like you're walking. One of his legs was much shorter than the other.
	Sara	(Sara stands stork-like to show her blister.) Just look what these klompen are doing to my feet.
	Griet	(In a waspish voice) Maybe you should have stayed in your carriage . . . your fancy carriage with your fancy slippers on your fancy feet!
	Sara	That's no fun. In spite of the blisters, I enjoy being here. I thought I'd never find you.
	Griet	We don't have blisters. Wooden shoes are good for . . .
	Kaatje	(Interrupting) for tramping in wet places such as this prairie today.
	Sara	But my klompen are new!
	Kaatje	No! Who would have ever guessed?
	Griet	A city girl in klompen . . . her tender feet bubbling in blisters. Will wonders never cease?
	Sara	Yes, like both of you. (She looks thoughtful) Say, this tall grass feels good. Let's run barefoot. (The three girls take off their shoes.) (They seat themselves, knees drawn up, skirts over their legs.)
	Kaatje	(After a brief pause) It won't be like home in Holland. (She sounds sad) Home had canals and windmills and streets paved with bricks. And I miss Janneke.
	Griet	But her father forbid you to see her when your father joined Scholte and the Seceders.
	Kaatje	Yes, but I know Janneke watched us from the window of the barn when we left. I never got to say goodbye. (She hides her face in her apron.)
	Griet	If only your father hadn't preached to our fathers . . . against the king's orders. . . we'd all still be at home.
	Kaatje	I could be on my nice farm!
	SING SONG: I'd Like to be Home in Holland

Kaatje	But mother says not to cry over milk already spilled.	The Hollanders' ship
Griet	But now it seems the whole bucket has been upset! (The three girls embrace.)
SCENE III
Narrator 1	The three girls trudged for some time on the pathway which the procession of about 800 Dutch people had made. The girls sat on a carpet of blue stemmed grass interspersed with buttercups growing wild. Morning glories climbed the tall slough grass and birds flew about in annoyance at being disturbed.
Griet	(Lying on her back. Others are sitting cross legged.) This Iowa heat is really something!
Kaatje	Doesn't all this grass remind you of the sea?

	Griet	Don't mention the sea to me. I was SO seasick. I turned green and fed the fish often from over the railing on the deck. (She clutches her stomach and pretends to retch.)
	Sara	You seem to miss everything you know is gone forever. Why don't you girls think how nice our new town will be? There's a river near it.
	Griet	A river is far from being a sea!
	Sara	I didn't get seasick but Mareah did . . . terribly.
	Griet	No worse than I did I'll wager.
	Sara	Didn't you girls want to go to America?
	Griet	I didn't, at first, until we almost starved to death when the potato crop went rotten. Then I wanted to go. I LOVE to eat and couldn't stand going hungry.
	Sara	(haughtily) That you like to eat is obvious. And soon your father can plant crops and you can eat well forever. (pats tummy)
	Kaatje	My father says God made the world but the Dutch made Holland. I guess we can make Pella too . . . a place with plenty of food.
	Griet	Talk about food, it's coffee-time. Let's hurry to catch up! Don't go too fast now. I'll just huff and puff to keep up.
	Sara	You're a little chubby Griet. Let me help you get up.
	Griet	It's true. I am chubby but for you, Sara Scholte, you're so tall and thin and have such skinny legs, you look like the storks back home, the ones roosting in great nests on the chimneys.
	Sara	Well, what can I say? My father IS the leader. At least we're not having to do things that mean old king told us to do.
	Kaatje	Yes, we're out of King William's Holland and into . . . almost into . . . Pella (She open her arms wide) And that's that.
	A NEW SCENE
	Narrator 2	Mareah was glad the long journey was almost over. The bumping and jolting would son cease and she could relax. She lay her head back on the leather upholstery in the carriage. Her eyes were closed and her mind went back into the memories of the past several months.

Mareah	Honnie, I will miss my sister. (She cries in her handkerchief)	Gold Chest A hidden keyhole kept the Hollanders' gold safe in the chest. You can see the chest at The Scholte House.
Honnie	Yes, mevrouw.
Mareah	Saint Louis is so far away. Remember how great the days were there and how wonderful they were in the East where people welcomed us with open arms.
Narrator 1	In the cities Mareah had shopped to her heart's content though there were barrels and boxes in great quantities filled with beautiful things. In some of the barrels were Delft dishes in the traditional blue and white. They were the possession Mareah treasured most. (Sara enters. She appears bored)
Mareah	Sara, dear, when we get our big new house . . . and that will be soon . . . let us save the best for last and unpack the Delft at the very end of getting settled.
Sara	(In a very bored voice) Yes, Mareah. We'll unpack your precious Delft last.
Johanna	May I help to, Mama?
Mary	And may I?
Mareah	Yes my dear ones. We will unpack the delft together . . . in Pella . . . in our lovely new home.
BACK TO PRAIRIE SCENE
	(The three girls march banging their wooden shoes.)
Together	Hoorah for Pella! Hoorah for Pella! Hoorah for Pella! (Honnie enters.)

	Honnie	Sara! Get those klompen off of your feet. For shame! The dominie's child making more noise than the commoners. (Sara is pulled by Honnie over to the Dominie.)
	Dominie	Are the wooden shoes too small Sara? Or are the feet too large? (He peers over the glasses perched on his nose.)
	Sara	The feet are not used to them. I want to be like Kaatje and Griet.
	Honnie	(Shudders in amazed anger) Oh, Sara, they are country girls.
	Dominie	They are Sara's friends, Honnie, and being with one's friends is being happy. (He is filling his long-stemmed pipe. He puffs) Are we happy girls?
	Kaatje, Griet, Sara	We are happy!
	Dominie	(Leans over, takes a handful of soil and sifts it between his fingers . . . and says dreamily) We are happy . . . most of us.
		(Anton enters with a cart in which is sitting a distraught woman, her cap askew. Her mouth is curled in anger.)
	Mevrouw Van Pernis	(Rasping voice) Soon we will be in Pella, yah?
	Anton	Yah, Mama.
	Van Pernis	Where is this grand Pella? Humph?
	Anton	Yah, Mama.
	Van Pernis	Yah Mama? What kind of answer is that?
	Anton	Sorry Mama, my mind is full of thinking of the days ahead of getting settled. And my back is like a broken board.
	Van Pernis	Well, stop bumping me around. I am treated with no mercy. You hit every rut. I am too old to be traveling.

Anton	Yah mama. (He turns to speak to the audience) I say to myself . . . be patient Anton. We are almost there! Oh I will never be able to squeeze any sweetness from that sour pickle . . . my Mama.
	(Two bystanders, men, begin a chat.)
Teunis	Anton should have left his Mama in Holland. He should have come to America alone.
Cornelius	But Teunis, he is her only son.
Teunis	That's just it. She's afraid one day he will marry Honnie. They've met in secret falling in love with each other. But Anton's mama acts as if she can't live without him.
Cornelius	He'll wake up some day. He and Honnie can't be a secret forever. (They both shake their heads and walk off).
INSIDE THE LOG CABIN
	(Scholte is musing over the plat map of the town)
Sara	(Looking over his shoulder.) Where will our house be Papa?
Dominie	On Washington Street. What do you know about Washington?
Mary	He was America's first king!
Dominie	(Laughing) No, there wasn't a king in America
Mareah	Washington. George Washington . . . America's first president. (She preens) America remembers him and our new town will remember the name of my dear Hendrik. Scholte, the first Dutchman of Iowa. (Dominie and Mareah embrace) (Honnie enters and spreads out the sleeping pallets.)
Honnie	Time for bed girls. See the fireflies? Try to count them. (The two little girls begin counting. (The girls bed down.)
Sara	Papa, how far have we had to travel to get to this spot? Papa? PAPA? (Getting no response, Sara pounds her pillow ad flounces down.) He's probably off somewhere holding Mareah's hands again!
Mary	(Sitting up) JEALOUS!
Sara	Be still! Papa is too old to hold hands like a young boy.
Mary	But Mareah isn't. And anyway, Papa used to hold hands with our other mother.
Sara	But that was different.
Johanna	(She pops up into a sitting position) Not really. Papa loved both our mamas.
Sara	(Angrily) But Mareah is NOT our mother.
Johanna	She's our mother now.
Mary	She's my mother and she wants to be your mother, too.
Sara	Oh, you are both such . . . such. . . little children. I'm more grown up. I'm as tall as Mareah.
Johanna	You're still a child too, Sara . . . a naughty child.
Mary	And bad!
Mareah	(Mareah and Dominie enter, arms about each other.) And why is Sara naughty and bad? (The girls look at each other, lie down and are quiet.) (Dominie and Mareah get on their knees to kiss each girl -- kissing by way of blowing kisses in the air if preferred. Dominie and Mareah embrace and look fondly at the girls.)
Narrator 1	In time they came to the place Scholte had named Pella. their first home was to be in a log cabin.
Peter	Pella grew quickly. The sawmill buzzed out lumber to those who could afford it. Lumber was an expensive item on the prairie. Make-shift houses or dugouts were built with almost all free material. About a hundred families built an area of shelter in what cam to be jokingly called Strawtown.
Jacob	A cellar was dug in the earth and around this was a sod wall, two or three feet high. The long slough grass which grew in abundance was cut and laid on a light framework on the roof of the house. Some of the walls were less than two feet high and the roof reached nearly to the ground. Inside, the walls were of rough bark, often woven grass or boards. Many were simply sided in sod which often crumbled as it dried out. The floor were pounded hard and were swept out as though they were made of wood.	Learn more about straw houses Scholte Church
Adrian	Some larger wooden homes were built of a crude type of weathered board hewn with a froe and mud was used as plaster. It was in these homes that the fun get-togethers were held, where rags were sewn end to end and then rolled in balls to be woven into mats for the floors of the cabins and sod houses. Farm land was slowly cultivated with grub hoes and shovels. Blacksmiths worked long hours copying the few plows they'd purchased in Keokuk. They also made other implements they saw their American neighbors using.
Kees	A school was hastily constructed and the schoolmaster taught the children . . . teaching them Dutch as well as English. A church had been built during the very mild winter. In January, the first services were held there after worship had been held in homes. Foot stoves were made for the church to keep folks warm. Dominie Scholte's sermons sometimes lasted more than two hours!
Adriana	A large warehouse stored much of the furnishing which the colonists had brought with them. Little by little, crates were removed and unpacked in the small homes as they neared completion.
Elisabeth	Only pieces of necessity were unpacked in the cabin occupied by the Scholte's. Mareah wanted none of the beautiful furnishings unpacked. Her lovely Delft pieces remained in the barrels, waiting for the time when they could once again grace the Scholte's table. Only yards from the cabin, the new home was being built. Favored by an unusually mild Iowa winter, the house was going up much quicker than had been thought possible.
Annie	A huckster's wagon had come to the new town and all of his supplies had been bought by a wealthy Dutch merchant who then started his own store.
Anthonie	The Americans taught their Dutch neighbors how to hunt prairie chickens, quail, ducks, and rabbits. They found deer in the woodland some distance away and fish in the ponds and streams. In turn, although the language was a barrier, the Dutch served their American friends tea or coffee or sageleaf milk. Anise seed cookies were a favorite to serve.
Bauke	Sometimes an Indian or two would come upon the scene, look in wonder at the change that had happened since last summer when the Dutch had tramped through a practically unsettled prairie . . . and then they'd walk on.
Christina	Babies were born in the colony as Iowans and Americans. A cemetery near Strawtown told sadder events.
Jannake	The grass root clumps grubbed in the fall provided much of the fuel used in the sod houses and in cabins. Wood crews brought wood for fireplaces.
Jan	And in the Dutch hearts, a new fire burned . . . the fire of being Americans with the freedom they had searched for and found.
Narrator 1	And after a year when the Scholte's home was built, time came for the last of the unpacking . . the barrels of Delft.	Scholte House
Dominie	I will pry off the lid, my dear. (He pries the lid and pushes aside straw. He pulls out one dish.)
Mareah	Oh, my lovely dishes from home! My beautiful Delft. (She clutches it) (Dominie digs and draws out broken fragments.)
Mareah	(Horror stricken) No! Oh No! They are broken. The Delft is broken. (Six plates are taken out.) (Dominie comforts her.)
Dominie	Oh, love, I will buy you new dishes. These must be thrown away . . . forgotten.
Mareah	(Shakes her head) No, Hendrik, you see . . . the Delft is like myself. I came from Holland and arrived in America broken in pieces. These are pieces of my past . . . pieces to treasure. Could we build a pathway from the log cabin to the doorway of our new home. It will be our Path of Delft. The path will lead to a new life . . . a pathway of memories. (Mareah is on her knees, arranging the pieces in the dirt.)
Sara	(Has been observing this) I'll help you sort out the pieces. (She puts a hand on Mareah's arm. ) See (Holds up a fragment) this piece has a windmill in blue. It will fit nicely here.
Mareah	Thank you, Sara. A windmill does fit in well.
Sara	(Hesitatingly) You're most welcome, Mama. (She cries the last word) Forgive me for being so uncaring. . . so stubborn. I am so sorry about the Delft. (In the background, Dominie fills his pipe. He puffs contentedly and smiles.)
Dominie	It is as I said it would be. They have found each other's love. It was just a matter of time . . . just a matter of time.
Narrator 1	The pieces of Delft were arranged and rearranged. Eventually darkness enclosed the scene in the folds of its cloak. Candles lighted the windows in the new house. (pause) They were home.
THE END

A Play by Muriel Byers Kooi Characters:
Dominie Scholte Mareah, his wife Sara Scholte Johanna Susanna Mary Scholte Griet Kaatje Honnie, the maid Anton	Dominie Scholte	Narrator 1 Narrator 2 Mavrouw Van Pernis Peter Jacob Kees Adriana Christina Adrian	Mareah Scholte	Cornelius Elisabeth Annie Anthonie Bauke Teunis Janneke Jan	Sara Scholte