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A solitary scarecrow, fashioned from straw and old rags, is animated by the mysterious Mother Rigby, a witch of New England folklore. Gifted with a gentleman’s attire and a brass‑tipped forehead, the figure steps out of the cornfield and into a world of polished manners and glittering society. The play opens as he navigates the bewildering customs of a town that prizes appearance above substance.
Soon the living effigy finds himself courting the charming Polly Gookin, a young woman whose flirtations mirror the frivolity of the social circle she inhabits. When he glimpses his own reflection, the scarecrow is forced to confront the hollowness of his borrowed identity, questioning whether the finery that cloaks him can ever replace a genuine heart. His journey becomes a witty, bittersweet commentary on the foppishness of fashionable pretenses.
Through sharp dialogue and lyrical scenes, the drama balances humor with a lingering melancholy, inviting listeners to ponder the thin line between illusion and authenticity. It is a timeless satire that remains both entertaining and thought‑provoking.
Language
en
Duration
~2 hours (141K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Paul Marshall, Mary Glenn Krause, MFR and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
Release date
2018-05-13
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1875–1956
An American dramatist and poet from a famously literary family, he wrote ambitious verse dramas, pageants, and poems that tried to bring art into public life. His work joined literary imagination with big civic ideas, making him a distinctive voice in early 20th-century American letters.
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