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06 - Porgy by DuBose Heyward · Porgy

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: He srang Part five. Fish running well outside the bar
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: these days, remarked Jake one evening to several of his
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: seagoing companions. A large bronze colored negro paused in his
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: task of rigging a line and cast an eye to
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: see through the driveway. An we men's best make the
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: mauls up it, he observed, dim septemper storm doomed soon,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: and fish ain't like its east wind and muddy water.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Jake laughed reassuredly. Golong wi yer ain't yo dune. No,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: we had one stiff gale last summer. An he never
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: came to your hand running. His wife came toward him
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: with a baby in her arms, and giving him the
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: child to hold, took up the mess of fish which
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: she was cleaning in a leisurely fashion. If you ain't
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: man's enough to clean fish no faster than that, you
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: best mind the baby an give him to a woman
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: for clean she said scornfully, as she bore away the pan.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: The group laughed at that, Jake's somewhat shamefaced merriment rising
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: above the others. He rocked the contented little negro in
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: his strong arms and followed the retreating figure of the
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: mother with admiring eyes. All right, men's, he said, returning
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: to the matter in hand. I'm all for riding luck
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: far as he will tope me. Turn out at four
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: tomorrow morning, and we'll push the seagull clean to the
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: blackfish banks before we wett to anchor. I got to
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: feeling in my bones that we going to begunnales under
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: wit the pure fish when we comes in to morrow night.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: The news of Jake's prediction spread through the Negro quarter.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Other crews got their boats hastily in commission and were
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: ready to join the Mosquito fleet when it put to
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: sea on the following morning. When the sun rose out
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: of the Atlantic, the thirty or forty small vessels were
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: mere specks, teetering upon the walls, rim against the red
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: disks that forged swiftly up beyond them. Afternoon found the
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: wharf crowded with women and children, who laughed and joked
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: each other as to the respective merits of their men
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: and the luck of the boats in which they went
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: to see. Clara, Jake's wife, sought the head of the
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: dock long before sundown and sat upon the bulkhead with
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: her baby asleep. In her lap. Occasionally she would exchange
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: a greeting with an acquaintance, but for the most part
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: she gazed towards the harbor mouth and said no word
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: to any one. She's always like Dad. A neighbor informed
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: a little group. A conjure woman once tells she Jake
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: gonna get drowned, and she ain't have no happiness sense
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: except when his feet is hidden to dirt. Presently, a
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: murmur rose among the watchers. Out of the harbor mouth,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: against the thin greenish blue of the horizon, appeared the
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: mosquito fleet. Driven by a steady breeze, The boats swept
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: towards the city with astonishing rapidity. Warm sunlight flooded out
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: of the west, touched the old city with transient glory,
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: then cascaded over the tossing surface of the bay to
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: paint the taut cup sails salmon pink. As the fleet
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: drove forward directly into the eye of the sun. Almost
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: before the crowd realized it, the boats were jibing and
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: coming about at their feet, each jocking for a favorable berth.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: Under the skillful and daring hand of Jake. The seagull
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: took a chance. Mister stern by a hair Bredeth gived
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: suddenly with a snap and boom, and ran in directly
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: under the old rock steps of the wharf. A chair
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: went up from the crowd. Never had there been such
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: a catch. The boat seemed floored with silver, which rose
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: almost to the thwarts, forcing the crew to sit on
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: gunwales or aft with the steersmen. Indeed, the catch was
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: so heavy that as boat after boat docked, it became
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: evident that the market was glutted, and the fishermen vied
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: with each other and giving away their surplus cargo so
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: that they would not have to throw it overboard. By
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: the following morning, the weather had become unsettled. The wind
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: was still coming out of the west, but a low,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: solid wall of cloud had replaced the promising sunset of
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: the evening before, and from time to time the wind
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: would wrench off a section of the black mass and
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: volley it with great speed across the sky to accumulate
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: in unstable pyramids across the sunrise. But the success of
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: the day before had so fired the enthusiasm of the
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: fishermen that they were not easily to be deterred from
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: following their luck, and the first gray premonition of the
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: day found the wharf seizing with preparation, Clara, with the
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: baby in her arms, accompanied Jake to the pier head.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: She knew the futility of remonstrance, but her eyes were
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: fearful when the heavy black clouds swept overhead. Once, when
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: a wave slapped a pile and threw a handful of
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: spray in her face, she moaned and looked up at
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: the big negro by her side. But Jake was full
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: of the business in hand, and besides, he was growing
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: a little impatient at his wife's incessient plea that he
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: sell his share of the seagull and settle on land.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: Now he turned from her and shouted, all right, men's.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: He bestowed a short, powerful embrace upon his wife, with
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: his eyes looking over her shoulder into the Alannin's veiled face,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: turned from her with a quick nervous movement, and dropped
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: from the wharf into his boat. Standing in the bow,
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: he moistened his finger in his mouth and held it
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: up to the wind. You men's best, get all the
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: fish you can today, he admonished, when bein' the east.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: By tomorrow it guts that wet taster unknow. One by
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: one the boats shoved off and lay in the stream
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: while they adjust to their spirit sails and rigged their
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: full jibs a beam like spinnakers for the free run
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: to see. The vessels were similar in design, the larger
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: ones attaining a length of thirty five feet. They were
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: very narrow and low in the waist, with high king
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: boughs and pointed sterns. The hulls were round bottom and
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: had beautiful running lines. The fishermen, who were also the
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: designers and builders, taking great pride in the speed and
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: style of their respective craft. The boats were all open
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: from stem to stern, and were equipped with thun whole
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: pens for rowing and expedient, to which the men resorted
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: only in dire emergency. Custom had reduced adventure to commonplace.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: Yet it was inconceivable that men could put out in
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: the face of unsettled weather for a point beyond sight
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: of land and exhibit no uneasiness or fear. Yet burst
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: of loud loos, laughter, and snatches of song blew back
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: to the wharf long after the boats were in midstream.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: The wind continued to come in sudden flaws, and once
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: the little craft had gotten clear of the wharves. The
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: fleet made swift but erratic progress. There were moments when
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: they would seem to mark time upon the choppy waters
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: of the bay. Then suddenly a flaw would bear down
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: on them, whipping the water as it came, and filling
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: the sails would fairly lift the slender boughs that it
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: drove them forward. By the time that the leisurely old
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: city was sitting down to its breakfast, the fleet had
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: disappeared into the horizon, and the sun had climbed over
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: its obstructions to flood the harbor with reassuring light. The
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: mercury spirits of the Negroes rose with the genial warmth,
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: for boatings were forgotten. Even Clara sang a lighter air
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: as she rocked the baby upon her lap. But the
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: sun had just lifted over the eastern wall, and the
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: heat of noon was beginning to vibrate in the court,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: when suddenly the air of security was shattered from the
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: center of towns under the deep, ominous clang of a
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: bell at his first stroke. Life in Catfish Row was paralyzed.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: Women stopped their task, and, not realizing what they did,
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: clasped each other's hands tightly and stood motionless with strained
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: listening faces. Twenty times the great hammer bell sending the
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: deep full notes across the city that was holding its
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: breath and counting them as they came. Twenty, said Clara.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: When it had ceased to shake the air, she ran
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: to the entrance and looked to the north. Almost at
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: the end of vision, between two buildings could be seen
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: the flagstaff that surmounted the custom house. It was bare
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: when she looked, just a thin, bare line against the
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: intense blue. But even as she stood there, a flick
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: of colors stored up its length, then fixed and flattened,
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: showing a red square with a black center. My god,
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: she called over her shoulder. It's the truth. That's the
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: hurricane's signal on top the custom house. Bess came from
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: her room and stood close to the terrified woman. That
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: can't be so, she said, comfortingly. Ain't you remember the
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: last hurricane, how it took two days to blow up.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: Now the sun out bright and the cloud all gone.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: But Clara gave no sign of having heard her. Come on, in,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: urged Bess. If you don't start to get your dinner,
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: you won't have nothin for the men's when it gets in.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: After a moment, the idea penetrated, and the half dazed
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: woman turned towards Bess, her eyes pleading, you come with
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: me an talk a lot. I ain't like to be
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: all alone now, sure I will, replied the other comfortingly.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: I mind the bay before you, and you can be
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: getting to dinner. Clara's face quivered, but she turned from
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: the sight of the far red flag and opened her
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: door for best to pass in. After the two women
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: had remained together for half an hour, Bess left the
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: room for a moment to fetch some sewing. The sun
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: was gone and the sky presented a smooth, leaden surface.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: She closed the door quickly so that Clara might not
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: see the abrupt change, and went out of the entrance
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: for a look to see, like the sky, the bay
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: had undergone a complete metamorphois. The water was black and
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: strangely lifeless. Thin intensely white crest rolled the low pointed waves,
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: and between the opposing plains of sky and sea, A
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: thin westerly wind, Thin intensely white crest rolled the low
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: pointed waves, and between the opposing plains of sky and sea.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: A thin westerly wind roamed about like a trapped thing,
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: and wind in a complaining trouble key. A singularly clear
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: half light pervaded the world, and in it she could
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: see the harbor mouth distinctly, as it lay ten miles
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: away between the north and south jetties that stretched on
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: the horizon like arms. With the fingertips nearly touching. Her
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: eyes sought the narrow opening, guiltless of the smallest speck
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: it lit upon utter void. It had taken three hours
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: to make harbor from the banks with good winds, said
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: a woman was also watching, But to ate no power
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: in dis breeze, and it ahead once at that dacd
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: row it in that time encouraged Bess. And the storm
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: ain't here yet. But the women hugged her for boardings
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: and stood there shivering in the close, warm air. Except
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: for the faint moan of the wind, the town and
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: harbor lay in a silence that was like held breath.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: Many nigro came to the wharf, passed out to the
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: pier head, and sat quietly watching the entrance to the bay.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: At one o'clock, the tension snapped, as though it had
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: been awaiting Saint Christopher's chimes to announce zero hour. The
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: wind swung into the east, and its voice dropped and
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: octave and changed its quality. Instead of the complaining wine,
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: a grave, sustained note came in from the Atlantic, with
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: an undertone of alarming variations that sounded oddly out of
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: place as it traversed the inert worders of the bay.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: The tide was at the last of the ebb and
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: racing out of the many rivers and creeks toward the sea.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: All morning, the west wind had driven it smoothly before it,
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: but now the stiffening eastern gale threw its weight against
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: the water, and the conflict immediately filled the bay with
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: large waves that leaped up any points, then dropped back
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: suddenly upon themselves. Shoppy water. Observed a very old negro
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: who squinted through half closed eyes, dim boats, never make
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: her way and datsy, but he was not encouraged to
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: continue by the silent, anxious group. Slowly, the threatening undertone
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: of the wind grew louder, then, as though a curtain
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: had been lowered across the harbor mouth. Everything beyond was
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: blotted by a milky screen. Oh my Jesus, a voice
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: shrilled here he come, now, let's we go. Many of
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: the watchers broke for the cover of buildings across the street.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: Some of those whose men were in the fleet crowded
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: into the small wharf house. Several voices started to pray
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: at once, and were immediately drowned in the rise and
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: clamor of the wind. With the mathematical precision that it
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: had exhibited in starting, the gale now moved its obliterary
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: curtain through the jetties and thrust it forward in a
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: straight line across the outer bay. There was something utterly
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: terrifying about the studied manner in which the hurricane proceeded
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: about its business. It clicked off its moves like an automaton.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: It was destiny worked neck neckadly for the eyes of
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: men to see. The watchers knew that for at least
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: twenty four hours, it would stay moving its tides and
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: winds here and there, with that invincible precision, crushing the
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: life from those whom its preconceived plan had seemed to
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: mark for death. With that instant emotional release that is
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: the great solace of the negro, the tightly packed wharf
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: house burst into em babblement of weeping and prayer. The
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: curtain advanced to the inner bay and narrowed the world
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: to the city with its buildings cowering white and fearful,
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: and the remaining simmer circle of the harbor. And now
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: from the opee bake surface of the screen came a
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: persistent roar that was neither of wind nor water, but
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: the articulate cry of the storm itself. The curtain shot
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: forward again and became a wall, gray and impenetrable, that
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: sunk its foundations into the torched sea and bore the
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: laden sky upon its soaring top. The noise became deafening.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: The narrow strips of water that was left before the
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: whar seemed to shrink away. The building huddled closer and waited.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: Then it crossed the strip and smote the city. The
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: roofs came the sound as though ton after ton of
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: ore had been dumped from some great eminence. There was
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: a dead weight to the shocks that could not conceivably
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: be delivered by so abstantiable a substance as air, yet,
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: which was the wind itself, lifting abruptly to enormous heights,
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: then hurling its full force downward. These shocks followed the
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: demonic plane, occurring at an exact intervals, and were succeeded
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: by prying fingers, as fluid as ether, as hard as steel,
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: that felt for cracks in roofs and winds. One could
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: no longer say with certainty, this which I breathed is air,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: and this upon which I stand is earth. The storm
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: had possessed itself of the city and made it its own.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: Tangibles and intangibles alike were whirled in a mad inextricable nobula.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: The waves that moved upon the bay could be dimly
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: discerned for a little distance. They were turgid, yellow, and naked.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: For the moment they lifted acrest, the wind snatched it
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: and dispersed it with the rain into the warm, semi
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: fluid atmosphere with which it delivered its attack upon the
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: panic stricken city. Notch by notch, the velocity increased, the
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: concussions upon the roofs became louder, and the prying fingers
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: commenced to gain a purchase, wearying small holes into larger ones.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: Here and there, the wind would get beneath the tin,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: roll it up, suddenly, whirl it from a building like
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: a sheet of paper, and send it thundering and crashing
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: down a deserted street. Again, it would gain entrance to
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: a room through a broken window, and, exerting its explosive
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: force to the full, would blow all of the other
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: windows outward and commence work upon the walls. From within.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: It was impossible to walk upon the street. At the
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: first shock of the storm, the little group of negroes
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: had sought shelter, and the wharf house fled to the roll.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: Even then, the force of the attack had been so
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: great that only by bending double and clinging together were
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: they able to resist the onslaughts, and traverse the narrow street.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: Porgy and Bess sat in their room. The slats had
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: been taken from the bed and nailed across the window,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: and the mattress bundled into a corner and had been
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: pre emptied by the goat. Bess sat wrapped in her
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: own thoughts, apparently unmoved by the demonic den without. Porgy's
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: look was one of wonder not unmixed with fear, as
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: he peered into the outer world between two of the slats.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: The goat, blessed with an utter lack of imagination, reveled
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: in the comfort and intimacy of his new environment, expressing
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: his contentment and suffocating waves after the manner of his kind.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: A kerosene lamp without a chimney, smoking straight up into
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: the unnatural stillness of the room, cast a faint yellow
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: light about it, but only accentuated the heavy gloom of
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: the corners. From where Porgy sat, he could catch glimpses
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: of what lay beyond the window. There would come occasional
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: moments when the floor of the storm would be lifted
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: by a burrowing wind, and he would see the high
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: neked breaker's racing under the sullen pale of splume and rain.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: Once he saw a derelic go by. The vessel was
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: a small river sloop with its rigging blown clean out.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: A man was clinging to the tiller. One wave larger
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: than his fellows submerged the little boat, and when it
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: wallowed to the surface again, the man was gone, and
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: the tiller was kicking wildly. Oh my Jesus, ab a
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: little pity, the watcher moaned under his breath. Later, a
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: roof went by. Porgy heard it coming even above the
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: sound of the attack upon the row, and it filled
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: him with awe and dread. He turned and looked at Bess,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: and was reassured to see that she met his gaze fearlessly.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Down the street, the roar advanced, growing nearer and louder. Momentarily,
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: surely it would be the final instrument of destruction. He
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: held his breath and waited. Then it thundered past his
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: narrow sphere of vision. Rolled loosely. It loomed to the
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: second story windows and flapped and tore at the buildings
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: as it swept over the cobbles. When a voice could
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: be heard again, Porgy turned to his companion, You and me, Bess,
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: He said, with conviction, we show is a little something
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: at all. After that, they sat long without exchanging a word.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: Then Porgy looked out of the window and noticed that
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: the quality of the atmosphere was becoming denser. The spume
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: lifted for a moment, and he could scarcely see the
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: tormented bay. I think it must be most night, he observed,
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: dain't much light now on the outside of this storm.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: He looked again before the curtain descended, and what he
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: saw caused his heart to miss abeat. He knew that
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: the tide should be again at the ebb, for the
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: flood had commenced just after the storm broke. But as
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: he looked, the water, which was already higher than a
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: normal flood, lifted over the far edge of the street,
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: and three tremendous waves broke in rapid succession, sending the
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: deep layers of water across the narrow way to splash
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: against the wall of the building. This reversal of nature's
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: laws struck terror into the dark places of porky soul.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: He beckoned to Bess, his fascinated eyes upon the advancing waves.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: She bent down and peered into the gloom. Oh, yes,
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: she remarked, in a flat tone. It bent dis way
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: in the last great storm. The wind hollow the water
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: in the jetty mouth, so he can't get out. Then
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: he pile up another tied on him. Suddenly, an enormous
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: breaker loomed over the backs of its shattered and retreating fellows.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: The two watchers could not see its crest, for it
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: towered into and was absorbed by the low hanging out hemisphere.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: Yellow smooth and with a perpendicular, slightly concave front, it
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: flashed across the street and smote the solid wall of
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: the row. They heard it roar like a mill race
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: through the drive and flattened hissing in the court. Then
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: they turned and saw their own door give slightly to
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: the pressure, and a dark flood spurt beneath it, and
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: debouched upon the floor. Bess took a mediate command of
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: the situation. She threw an arm about Porgy and hurried
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: him to the door. She withdrew the bolt, and the
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: flimsy panels shot inward. The court was almost totally dark.
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: One after another. Now the waves were hurtling through the
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: drive and impounding in the walled square. The night was
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: full of moving figures and cries of fear, while out
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: of the upper dark the wind struck savagely downward. With
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: her powerful swing, best got Porgy to a stairway that
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: providentially opened near their room, and leaving him to make
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: his way up alone, she rushed back and was soon
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: at his heels. With an armful of belongings. They sought
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: refuge in what had been the great ballroom of the mansion,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: a square, high ceilinged room on the second story, which
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: was occupied by a large and prosperous family. There were
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: many refugees there before them. In the faint light cast
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: by several lanterns, the indestructible beauty of the apartment was evident,
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: while the defacing effects of a sentry were absorbed in shadow.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: The noble open fireplace, the tall, slender mantle with its
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: Grecian frieze, and the intricate scroll work, the high paneled
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: walls were all there, and then, huddled in little groups
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: on the floor, or seated against the walls, with eyes
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: wide and the lantern shine, the black, fear stricken faces,
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: like the ultimate disintegration of a civilization. There it was,
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: and upon it as there to make quick work of
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: the last tragic chapter, the discouraging wrath of the gods
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: white and black. The night that settled down upon Catfish
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: Roe was one of nameless horror to the inhabitants, most
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: of whom were huddled on the second floor in order
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: to avoid the sea from beneath and deafening assaults upon
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: the roof above their heads. With the obliteration of vision,
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: sound assumed an exaggerated significance, and the voice of the gale,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: which had seemed by day only a great roar, broke
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: up in the dark into its various parts. Human voices
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: seemed to cry in it, and there were moments when
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: it sniffed and moaned at the windows. Once, during a
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: silence in the room, a winnie was distinctly heard. Da
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: my old horse, wailed Peter, he done dead in the
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: stall now, and deady voice going by. Oh my God.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: They all wailed at that, and Porgy, remembering his goat,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: whimpered and turned his face to the wall. Then some
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: one started to sing, Ah, Gods a home eh, and
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: d Roc don't ye see. With a feeling of infinite relief,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: Porgy turned to his Jesus. It was not a charm
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: that he sought now for the assiduing of some physical ill,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: but benign power, vaster, perhaps even than the hurricane. He
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: lifted his rich but baritone above the others. Oh, between
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: the earth, ands go, I can see my saber die. Ah,
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: God's a home men, de Roc, don't ye see. Then
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: they were all in it, heart and soul. Those had
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: fallen into a fitful sleep awoke, rubbed their eyes and sang.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: Hour after hour dragged heavily past. Outside, the storm worked
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: its will upon the defense city. But in the great
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: ballroom of Catfish Row, forty souls set wrapped in an
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: invulnerable garment, They swayed and patted, and poured their griefs
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: and fierce into a rhythm that never missed, a beat
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: which swept the hours behind it into oblivion, and that
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: finally sang up the faint gray light that penetrated the
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: storm and told them that it was again day. About
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: an hour after daybreak, the first lull came. Like the
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: other moves of the hurricane, it arrived without warning. One
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: moment the torment was at its height. The next there
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: was utter suspension. Abruptly, like an indrawn breath, the wind
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: sunk back upon itself, leaving an aching vacuum in its place.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: Then from the inundated water front arose the sound of
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: the receding flood. The ebb tide was again overdue, and
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: with the second tide piled upon it, the whole immeasurable
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: weight of the wind was reaping required to maintain its height. Now,
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: with the pressure removed, it turned and raced beneath the
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: low lying mists towards the sea, carrying his pitiful loote
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: upon its back to the huddle figures in the great
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: room of the row. Came the welcome sound as the
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: court emptied itself into the street. The negroes crowded to
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: the windows and peered between the barricades at the world
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: without The water reseated with incredible speed, submerged wreckage lifted
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: above the surface. The street became the bed of a
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: cataract that formed and boiled on its rush to the sea.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: Presently the wharf emerged, and at its end even a
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: substantial remnant of the house could be described. How it
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: had survived that long was one of the inexplicable mysteries
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: of the storm. Suddenly, Peter, who was at one of
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: the windows, gave a cry, and the other negroes crowded
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: above him to peer out. The sea was still running high,
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: and as a large wave lifted above the level of
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: the others, it thrust into view the hull of a
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: half submerged boat. Before the watchers could see, the wave
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: dropped its burden into a trough, but the old man
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: showed them where to look, and presently a big roller
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: caught it up and swung it bow on for all
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: to see. There was a flash of scarlet gunwale, and
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: beneath it a bright blue bird with open wings. Dos
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: seagull cried a dozen voices together, My God, that jake boat.
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: All night Clara had sat in a corner of the
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: room with the baby in her arms, saying no word
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: to any one. She was so still that she seemed
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: to be asleep, with her head upon her breast. But once,
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: when Bess had gone and looked into her face, she
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: had seen her eyes wide and bright with pain. Now
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: the unfortunate woman heard the voices and sprang to the
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: window just in time to see the craft swoop into
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: a hollow at the head of the pier. She did
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: not scream out for a moment, she did not even speak.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: Then she spun around on Bess with the dawn of
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: a wild hope in her dark face. Take care of
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: this baby till I get back, she said, as she
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: thrust the child almost savagely into Bess's arms. Then she
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: rushed from the room. The watchers at the window saw
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: her cross the street, splashing wildly through the knee deep water.
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: Then she ran the length of the wharf and disappeared
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: behind the sheltered ring wall of the house. It was
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: so sudden and tired, which moved slowly. Several minutes had
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: passed before it occurred to any one to go with her. Finally,
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: Peter turned from the window that woman and ought to
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: be out thereby sheself. He said, who going out there
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: with me? Now one of the men volunteered. They started
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: for the door. A sound like the detonation of a
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: cannon shook the building to its foundations. The gale had returned,
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: smashing straight downward from some incredible height to which it
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: had lifted during the lull. The men turned and looked
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: at one another. Shock followed shock in rapid succession. Those
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: who stood by the windows felt them give inward, and
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: instinctively threw their weight against the frames. The explosions merged
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: into a steady roar of sound that surpassed anything that
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: had yet occurred. The room became so dark that they
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: could no longer see one another. The barricaded windows were
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: vaguely discernible in bars of muddy gray and black. Deeply
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: rooted walls swung from the blows and in subtle slowly
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: back on the recoil. A confused sound of praying filled
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: the room, and about it shrilled the terror of the women.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: For an appreciable space of time, the spasm lasted, then slowly,
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: as though by the gradual withdrawing of a lever. The
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: of the attack abated the muddy gray bars that the
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: windows became lighter, and some of the more courageous of
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: the negroes peered out. The wharf could be seen dimly
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: extending under the low floor of spume and mist. The
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: breakers were higher than at any previous time, but instead
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: of smashing in upon the shore, they raced straight up
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: the river and paralleled the city. As each one swung by,
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: it went clean over the wharf, obliterating it for the
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: duration of its passage. Suddenly, from the direction of the
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: lower harbor, a tremendous mass appeared, showing first only a vast,
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: distorted stain against the gray fabric of the mist. Then
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: a gigantic wave took it and drove it into fuller view.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: Great God, Almighty, someone whispered, it's that big lumba schoon
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: of brook loose into harbor. The wave hunched its mighty
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: shoulders under the vessel, swung it up up for an
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: interminable moment, the soaring boughs spirit lifted it until it
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: was lost in mist. Tons of water gushed from the
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: steep incline of the deck and poured over the smooth
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: black wall of the side as it reared half out
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: of the sea. Then the waves swept aft and the
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: bough descended in a swift, deadly plunge. A crashing of
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: timbers followed that could be heard clearly above the roaring
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: of the storm. The hull had fallen directly across the
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: middle of the wharf. There was one cataclysmic moment when
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: the whole view seemed to disintegrate. The huge timbers of
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: the wharf up ended and were washed out like shawls.
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: The schooner rolled half over and her three masts crashed
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: down with their rigging. The shock burst, The lashings of
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: the vessel's deck lowed, and as the hull held an
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: avalanche of heavy timbers took the water. The roaring was utter,
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: heavy and obliterating. The mist closed down again. Bess turned
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: from the window, holding the sleeping infant in her arms,
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: raised her eyes and looked full at Porgy with an
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: expression of awe on his face. The cripple reached out
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: a timid hand and touched the baby's cheek. The windows
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: of the great ball room were opened to the sky,
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: and beyond them a busy breeze was blowing against its
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: washed and polished expanse, gathering cloud remnants into little heaps
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: and sweeping them in tumbling haste out over the threshold
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: of the sea. Most of the refugees had returned to
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: their rooms, where sounds of busy salvaging could be heard.
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: Porgy's voice arose jubilantly, announcing that the goat had been
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: discovered marooned upon the cook's stove, and that Peter's old
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: horse had bellied his whinny, and was none the worse
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: for a thorough wedding. Serena Robbins paused before Bess, who
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: was gathering her things preparatory to leaving the room, placed
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: her hands upon her hips and looked down upon her. Now,
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: what we are going to do with this poor motherless child,
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: she said, addressing the room at large. The other occupants
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: of the room gathered behind Serena, but there was something
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: about Bess's look that held them quiet. They stood there,
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: waiting and saying nothing. Slowly, Bess straightened up, her face
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: lowered and pressed against that of the sleeping child. Then
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: she raised her eyes and met the gaze of the
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: complacent older woman. What Serena saw there was not so
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: much the old defiance that she had expected, as it
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: was an inflexible determination and behind it a new born
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: element in the woman that rendered the scarred visage and condescent.
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: She stepped back and lowered her eyes, best strained the
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: child to her breast with an elemental intensity of possession,
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: and spoke in a low, deep voice that vested her
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: words with somber meaning, is Clara come back already? Since
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: she did? And say something about we to y'all about
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: this child? She put the question to the group, her
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: eyes taken in the circle of faces as she spoke.
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: There was no response, and at the suggestion of a
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: possible return of the dead, the circle drew together instinctively.
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: Very well, did said Bess solemnly, On til she do,
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: I'm going to stand on sher last living word and
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: keep this child, for she tells she do come back.
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: Serena was hopelessly beaten, and she knew it, oh very well.
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: She capitulated. All I've been going to do was just
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: to provide a with a proper Christian reason. But if
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: she done give 'em to yo, dere ain't nothin more
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: I can do, I guess end of section six