Transcriber’s Notes Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations in hyphenation and accents have been standardised but all other spelling and punctuation remains unchanged. Italics are represented thus _italic_. The Snow Man: a Metrical Play in One Act: by Laurence Housman Samuel French: Publisher 28-30 West Thirty-eighth Street: New York LONDON Samuel French, Ltd. 26 SOUTHAMPON STREET STRAND _PRICE TWENTY-FIVE CENTS_ Copyright, 1916, by LAURENCE HOUSMAN CAUTION.--Amateurs and Professionals are hereby warned that “THE SNOW MAN”, being fully protected under the copyright laws of the United States, is subject to royalty, and any one presenting the play without the consent of the author or his authorized agent, will be liable to the penalties by law provided. Application for the right to produce “THE SNOW MAN” must be made to Samuel French, 28-30 West 38th Street, New York City. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THE SNOW MAN. CHARACTERS. JOAN _A peasant woman_ MARY ANN } MATTHEW MARK } _Her children_ JASPAR _Her husband_ THE SNOW MAN THE SNOW MAN SCENE:--_A poor peasant dwelling, barely furnished with articles of the roughest description, a tressle-table, two benches,--a large one serving as a window-seat, and a smaller one standing by the hearth,--a wooden chair, a spinning wheel, a large bread pan, a shelf containing household crockery, and on the inner wall of the ingle a few pots and pans hanging on the wall. The room is wide and low; to the left is a deep hooded fireplace with containing walls on either side of it,--to one side a bread oven, to the other a cubby-bed with doors; opposite to the fireplace is a door leading to the woodshed. The house door is at the back rather to the right; in its left a long low window extends almost to a line with the fireplace. In the right hand corner stands a large chest. The roof is of heavy beams gray with smoke, and between them shows an inner surface of thatch, the walls are of blue plaster marked by mildew, with patches here and there where the plaster has peeled off. It is winter and daylight is drawing in. Outside the world is white with snow. A peasant-woman moves to and fro with quick dogged pace. The pace of a hard worker tired but always pushed for time. She takes black bread out of the oven, lays it out on the table, cuts off two pieces, and puts the remainder into the bread-pan. Then she takes down the garments from before the fire, presses them with a heavy iron, and puts them away in the chest. While crossing the room to and fro she economizes her time, never going empty-handed. She puts milk to warm on the fire, and gets down two small mugs from a shelf. She also gets from the cubby-bed two night