[Illustration: Good-by! good-by!] WAR BRIDES _A Play in One Act_ BY MARION CRAIG WENTWORTH ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE PLAY AS PRESENTED BY MME. NAZIMOVA NEW YORK THE CENTURY CO. 1915 Copyright, 1915, by THE CENTURY CO. Acting rights controlled by DRAMATISTS' PLAY AGENCY, 145 West 45th Street, NEW YORK CITY _Published, February 1915_ TO MY LITTLE BOY BRANDON LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Good-by! good-by! _Frontispiece_ FACING PAGE Arno: You are wanted 42 Hedwig: Franz? } Amelia: Franz, too } 62 Amelia: No, you must not! You have too much to live for 66 This play was first produced on January 25, 1915, at B.F. KEITH'S PALACE THEATRE, NEW YORK CITY, with the following cast: Hedwig (Joan) Mme. Nazimova Amelia (Amy) Mary Alden Mother Gertrude Berkeley Hoffman (Joseph Kerman) Charles Bryant Minna Edith Speare Arno C. Brown Hertz (Captain Bragg) William Hasson Peasants, Women and Soldiers. Time--Present. Place--A War-Ridden Country. Personal Manager for Madame Nazimova William F. Muenster WAR BRIDES The war brides were cheered with enthusiasm and the churches were crowded when the wedding parties spoke the ceremony in concert.--PRESS CLIPPING. SCENE: _A room in a peasant's cottage in a war-ridden country. A large fireplace at the right. Near it a high-backed settle. On the left a heavy oak table and benches. Woven mats on the floor. A door at left leads into a bedroom. In the corner a cupboard. At the back a wide window with scarlet geraniums and an open door. A few firearms are stacked near the fireplace. There is an air of homely color and neatness about the room._ _Through the open door may be seen women stacking grain. Others go by carrying huge baskets of grapes or loads of wood, and gradually it penetrates the mind that all these workers are women, aristocrats and peasants side by side. Now and then a bugle blows or a drum beats in the distance. A squad of soldiers marches quickly by. There is everywhere the tense atmosphere of unusual circumstance, the anxiety and excitement of war._ _Amelia, a slight, flaxen-haired girl of nineteen, comes in. She brushes off the hay with which she is covered, and goes to packing a bag with a secret, but determined, air. The Mother passes the window and appears in the doorway. She is old and work-worn, but sturdy and stoical. Now she carries a heavy load of wood, and is weary. She casts a sharp eye at Amelia._ _Mother:_ What are you doing, girl? [_Amelia starts and puts the bag in the cupboard._] Who's going away? They haven't sent for Arno? _Amelia:_ No.