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[0:02] Gather by the Ghost Light presents Romeo and Her Sister, starring Anna Demetriou and Charlotte McBurney, written by Jillian Blevins.

[0:12] For a more immersive listening experience, please enjoy the show with headphones.

[0:28] Charlotte: What I must do is all that concerns me. Not what the people think. It is the harder because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion. It is easy in solitude to live after our own. But the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. Discontent is merely the want of self-reliance.

[1:08] Susan: For goodness sake, Susie, stop dawdling. At this rate, we won't be home from school before dark. Mama said you're supposed to wait for me. She didn't say that you were to move at this glacial pace.

[1:20] Charlotte: What's glacial? Just hurry up.

[1:24] Susan: It's not my fault you're so tall. Charlotte, do you think father will be home today?

[1:35] Charlotte: He's coming back soon. I know it. And he'll bring me a new doll when he does.

[1:40] Susan: You have plenty of dolls.

[1:42] Charlotte: But he promised. Let's practice your spelling. Spell merciful.

[1:48] Susan: Spelling is boring.

[1:51] Charlotte: Yes, well, you'll need to learn to spell if you're to write proper letters and not look like a dutz. Merciful.

[1:58] Susan: I don't know why I need to write letters.

[2:00] Charlotte: All ladies must maintain their correspondence. And mistress says I have perfectly lovely diction and ladylike comportment.

[2:10] Susan: Oh, well then. By all means. Remain illiterate.

[2:15] Charlotte: You're going the wrong way.

[2:20] Susan: I oh right. Were you walking to the old house?

[2:27] Charlotte: It was a mistake. I don't like the new house either. It smells funny. And the neighborhood is ugly. And there are strangers living with us. And there's mice.

[2:39] Susan: I didn't say a thing about the new house or the old house. I just took a wrong turn.

[2:45] Charlotte: How will Father know to find us in the new house? What will he think when he goes back to the old house and we're gone?

[2:52] Susan: Hush. How will I get my new doll if father doesn't know where we live?

[2:56] Charlotte: It's not your concern, Susan.

[2:57] Susan: But no one told him. No one told him that we moved house, and he'll come back from his business trip and he won't know where to find us.

[3:05] Charlotte: Mother wrote him, all right. She wrote him a letter.

[3:09] Susan: She did?

[3:10] Charlotte: Yes. Now let's get home. I have to read to Granny Babbitt and take down the laundry from the line before it gets dark.

[3:20] Reverend Emerson: If we cannot at once rise to the sanctities of obedience and faith, let us at least resist our temptations. This is to be done in our smooth times by speaking the truth. Check this lying hospitality and lying affection. Live no longer to the expectation of these deceived and deceiving people with whom we converse.

[3:45] Reverend Emerson: Say to them, O father, O mother, O wife, O brother, O friend. I have lived with you after appearances hitherto. Henceforward, I am the truth. I appeal from your customs. I must be myself. I cannot break myself any longer for you. If you can love me for what I am, we shall be the happier. If you cannot.

[4:23] Charlotte: When in the chronicle of wasted time, I see descriptions of the fairest whites, and beauty making beautiful old rhyme, in praise of ladies dead and lovely knights. Then, in the blazon of sweet beauty's best, of hand, a foot, of lip, of eye, of brow, I see their antique pen would have expressed even such a beauty as you master now. So all their praises are.

[4:55] Charlotte: Please continue. So all their praises are but prophecies. Of this our time, all you prefiguring. And for they looked but with divining eyes, they had not skill enough for your worth to sing. For we which now behold these present days, had eyes to wonder, but lack tongues to praise.

[5:16] Granny Babbitt: Oh beautiful, just beautiful. What a voice you have. How's your pain?

[5:23] Charlotte: Cancer is cancer. Can I get you something? Are you hungry?

[5:28] Granny Babbitt: Oh, I couldn't stomach it. All that sues me is my favorite grandchild. But are you suffering terribly?

[5:37] Charlotte: Only of boredom. Dine is relentlessly dull.

[5:42] Granny Babbitt: Well then, I'll endeavor to entertain. Who would you like a visit from today?

[5:47] Charlotte: What about Miss Graves? From next door.

[5:51] Granny Babbitt: Ah, of course. You children have vexed me for the last time. I'll sick my cats on you if you dare disturb my quietude with your insipid laughter again. These nitty needles make fine tools for disciplining naughty urchins like you, push me girls.

[6:09] Charlotte: You sound just like her. Children are meant to be seen and not heard. And sour spinster ladies deserve to moulder in peace.

[6:19] Susan: Bravo! Another impression?

[6:23] Granny Babbitt: Hmm. The new junior parson, the radical fellow.

[6:28] Charlotte: Reverend Emerson?

[6:29] Granny Babbitt: Mm-hmm. Weep not for the past. For this is duration over which the secret virtue of prayer is powerless. Over which the omnipotence of God is powerless. Send no voice of unprofitable wailing back into the depths of time. For prayer can reverse in the future the events of the past.

[6:54] Charlotte: Mother hated it.

[6:55] Granny Babbitt: Oh, I'm sure she did. What did you make of it?

[7:01] Charlotte: I supposed I liked it. The truth of it.

[7:06] Granny Babbitt: What did you take that to be?

[7:08] Charlotte: That we may only move forward.

[7:10] Granny Babbitt: Indeed. We must.

[7:12] Charlotte: Granny Babbitt.

[7:15] Granny Babbitt: Yes, my dear.

[7:17] Charlotte: Do you think I'll be a spinster like Miss Graves?

[7:20] Granny Babbitt: Why do you ask that?

[7:22] Charlotte: Mother says that I'm odd-looking and disagreeable.

[7:25] Granny Babbitt: Well, so is she. And she managed to marry. Not that your father turned out to be much of a prize.

[7:33] Charlotte: I fell in the water last week playing hide and seek at the wharf with the neighborhood boys. Rough characters. She beat me for ruining my clothes. And she told me that if I don't learn to be a lady, I'll grow up to be an old maid.

[7:49] Granny Babbitt: When my husband revealed himself to be worse than useless, I came to Boston on my own, with three children. And your mother, bless her, is making her own way with you girls. Taking on borders and doing laundry. Surviving. When men fail, we must take charge. You come from a line of women who've done just that.

[8:16] Granny Babbitt: I think you're perfectly lovely as you are, Charlotte. You're the only one. And if you should never marry, that would be by your own choice. But I don't think you'd be the worse for it. Wife isn't an occupation all of us were meant for. And I've found other professions to have better hours, more honest pay, and to be frank, greater satisfaction.

[8:45] Charlotte: Well, do you think mother may remarry?

[8:49] Granny Babbitt: Your mother will be fine. She'll survive. But you, my dear? You're meant for great things. Just don't leave your mother and sister behind. The poor things lack our imagination.

[9:09] Charlotte: That's enough, Granny. Rest now.

[9:12] Granny Babbitt: Yes.

[9:13] Charlotte: All right. Would you sing for me, Lottie? That alto voice.

[9:19] Granny Babbitt: Yes, of course.

[9:31] Charlotte: All our lovely companions are faded and gone.

[9:40] Charlotte: No flower of her kindred, no rose bodies not to reflect back her bushes or give sigh for sigh.

[9:58] Charlotte: I'll not leave thee thou one to mine on the stem.

[10:08] Charlotte: Since the love we are sleeping, go asleep though with them.

[10:17] Charlotte: Thy skinly ice scatter thy leaves are the bed Where thy maid some of the garden lies and dead Soon may I follow when the foreign ships decay And from love shining circle the gems drop away when true hearts lie you withered and fun sort of habit is Come girls it's time we set this house to rights Can't we ask the boarders to do it Darling they're lodgers not servants But her mistress says that too much exertion may cause a young lady's womb to fall out just uncover the mirrors then Susan dear Charlotte the furniture Charlotte Whatever is wrong with you Granny died and now that she's buried, we must return to normalcy.

[12:18] Susan: She was right here.

[12:21] Susan: In the parlour in that box.

[12:24] Charlotte: Don't be morose, Charlotte.

[12:27] Charlotte: Why was she buried with a rose?

[12:28] Susan: Granny hates roses.

[12:31] Charlotte: Hated.

[12:33] Charlotte: Lilacs were her favorites.

[12:35] Susan: Lilacs aren't for funerals.

[12:37] Charlotte: If you studied your floreography, you'd know that.

[12:39] Charlotte: A dark crimson rose is for mourning.

[12:42] Susan: But why does it matter if she liked lilacs?

[12:45] Charlotte: This tiresome individualism.

[12:47] Charlotte: It must be the influence of that dreadful new pastor.

[12:50] Susan: Come now, help me.

[12:55] Charlotte: When are you going to tell Susan about father?

[13:00] Charlotte: When I decide to, I shall.

[13:03] Susan: She still thinks he's on a business trip.

[13:06] Susan: That he's coming back.

[13:08] Charlotte: All the better.

[13:09] Charlotte: Why trouble her?

[13:10] Charlotte: She's already lost her granny.

[13:12] Charlotte: She barely took the time to speak to Granny Babbitt.

[13:15] Susan: I was the one who Tone.

[13:18] Susan: I cared for her.

[13:21] Charlotte: We all cared for your grandmother, Charlotte.

[13:24] Charlotte: We have to tell Susan.

[13:26] Charlotte: We can't let her go on not knowing.

[13:29] Susan: What shall we tell her first?

[13:30] Susan: That father's left us?

[13:32] Susan: That he lost all our money.

[13:34] Susan: Or that he has a new wife and a new child on the way already.

[13:37] Susan: A new family.

[13:38] Charlotte: But Susan is a child.

[13:41] Charlotte: There are certain things that are better not to be spoken.

[13:44] Charlotte: Telling her might relieve your own burden, Charlotte, but it would make things worse for her.

[13:49] Charlotte: Not everyone needs to know everything.

[13:51] Charlotte: I took down all the black cloth from the mirrors.

[13:54] Charlotte: Can I go play now?

[13:56] Susan: Do you think you can start the clocks again?

[13:58] Charlotte: Um.

[14:00] Charlotte: Your sister can do it.

[14:02] Charlotte: Go on and play, Susie.

[14:03] Charlotte: Oh, there are some leftover funeral biscuits in the pantry.

[14:08] Charlotte: That chair should go over there.

[14:11] Susan: You spoil her.

[14:13] Charlotte: I'm raising her to be taken care of.

[14:16] Charlotte: Young ladies should expect nothing less.

[14:18] Susan: And who will take care of you without Granny your father?

[14:21] Charlotte: Until you're paying the bills, you'd do best not to concern yourself with my affairs.

[14:26] Susan: So I'll pay the bills.

[14:29] Charlotte: And how will you do that?

[14:30] Susan: I'll sing.

[14:32] Susan: I've been taking lessons at the piano factory.

[14:34] Charlotte: How?

[14:35] Susan: Granny.

[14:36] Susan: She says.

[14:38] Susan: She thought I was quite good.

[14:41] Susan: Professional.

[14:42] Charlotte: Captain Chickering agrees.

[14:44] Susan: Who?

[14:46] Charlotte: My singing instructor.

[14:48] Charlotte: I've already been offered a small sum from the church to sing this Sunday.

[14:52] Susan: That's nothing, Charlotte.

[14:53] Susan: A small sum?

[14:55] Susan: Every Sunday?

[14:56] Susan: And holidays too?

[14:58] Charlotte: If I leave school, I'll be able to earn much, much more.

[15:02] Charlotte: Chickering says that opera singers are paid $400 a performance.

[15:06] Susan: Opera?

[15:07] Charlotte: You're right about me, Mother.

[15:09] Charlotte: I'm not bound for a life of leisure like Susan.

[15:12] Charlotte: I would not make a good wife.

[15:15] Charlotte: But Granny was right about me too.

[15:17] Charlotte: I can be someone in this world.

[15:19] Charlotte: I can help take care of us.

[15:21] Charlotte: Let me help.

[15:22] Charlotte: All I want is to protect her.

[15:25] Susan: I know.

[15:27] Susan: You may continue your lessons.

[15:30] Susan: As long as the money comes from your own pocket.

[15:33] Charlotte: And we'll tell Susan about father?

[15:35] Susan: Not yet, Charlotte, please.

[15:37] Charlotte: When?

[15:38] Susan: If you truly want to take care of us, of your sister.

[15:42] Susan: Money is not all that's required.

[15:44] Susan: To truly care for someone is to spare them the bitter truths of life whenever you can.

[15:50] Charlotte: I'll allow you to be a singer only if you allow her to be a child.

[15:55] Charlotte: Sweep out this room.

[16:10] Charlotte: Insist on yourself.

[16:12] Charlotte: Never imitate.

[16:14] Charlotte: Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation.

[16:21] Charlotte: But of the adopted talent of another.

[16:23] Charlotte: You have only an extemporaneous half possession.

[16:27] Charlotte: Do that which is assigned you.

[16:30] Charlotte: And you cannot hope too much or dare too much.

[16:37] Susan: There's one more funeral biscuit.

[16:40] Charlotte: You have it.

[16:41] Susan: Are you sure?

[16:43] Charlotte: I hate them.

[16:44] Susan: Sit yourself.

[16:48] Charlotte: You have a pretty voice.

[16:50] Charlotte: But you'll need to improve your posture if you want to become an opera singer.

[16:53] Charlotte: You slouch.

[16:55] Charlotte: And lilacs with them made no sense for Granny Babbitt.

[16:59] Charlotte: They stained for youth.

[17:00] Charlotte: And she was so old.

[17:03] Susan: You may be good at spelling, but you've no memory for flowers.

[17:07] Charlotte: You were listening.

[17:09] Susan: Here's the book headmistress gave me.

[17:11] Susan: Language of flowers one.

[17:13] Charlotte: I hope you make loads of money.

[17:15] Charlotte: I know you will.

[17:17] Susan: About father.

[17:18] Susan: He's a liar.

[17:20] Susan: He was never gonna bring me any doll.

[17:22] Charlotte: I didn't mean for you to hear.

[17:23] Susan: Well, I did.

[17:25] Susan: And now let's never speak of him again.

[17:27] Charlotte: All right.

[17:28] Susan: Alright.

[17:30] Susan: I can't believe you've been spending time with that odd old sea captain.

[17:35] Charlotte: Tickering?

[17:36] Susan: He smells of fish and tobacco.

[17:38] Susan: What does he know about singing anyway?

[17:40] Charlotte: Well, he has a lot of pianos for one.

[17:43] Charlotte: And he used to sing at the opera himself, you see, before he became a sailor.

[18:00] Jonathan Cook: Written by Jillian Blevins.

[18:02] Jonathan Cook: Directed, edited, and sound designed by Jonathan Cook.

[18:06] Jonathan Cook: This episode features the voice talents of Lily Romagnoli as young Charlotte Cushman, Ellie McKerley as young Susan Cushman, Debbie Fryer as Granny Babbitt, Devon McSherry as the mother.

[18:20] Jonathan Cook: John Pereira IV as Reverend Emerson.

[18:23] Jonathan Cook: This program is funded in part by the South Carolina Arts Commission, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts.