Shepherd of the Hills

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 by Harold Bell Wright

 A Readers Theater Production 
adapted by Bob Stoffels

Cast: Grant Matthews (Matt), Grant Matthews Jr.,  (Young Matt), Mollie Matthews (Aunt Mollie), Samantha Lane (Sammy), Daniel Howitt (Dad Howitt, the Shepherd), PeteHoward, Narrator

Set: The Matthew Homestead (three or four chairs on the front porch)
The Sheep Ranch ( a bench, or three chairs, on the porch)
(Homestead to left; sheep ranch to right; narrator probably farther to right)  

Costumes: Men:  blue jeans or bib overalls.  Work shoes. Flannel shirt
Women:  long farm dresses, perhaps a bonnet

Narrator:  This is the story of Branson, Missouri.  Branson has been called a Little Las Vegas; a family oriented Las Vegas, the Country Music capital of the country, a successor to Nashville, and the Live Entertainment Capital of the World.  It is, in some ways, all of these.  There are about 40 stage shows going on at all times in Branson, most in stand-alone theaters.  These theaters seat about 2,000 people each; so some 80,000 people can be accommodated at shows every day.  Many of the 6.8 million visitors who pass through Branson each year do just that -- pass through.  Most, though, stay in the town, and the town has no trouble finding room for them.  
            Branson (population 3,706) is located 50 miles south of Springfield, Missouri, which in turn is located some 100 miles south-west of St. Louis. The town is not the easiest in the world to reach. It is nestled in the heart of the Ozarks, and there are few places on earth quite so pretty. And it is there that our story takes place.
             Harold Bell Wright visited Branson in the early years of the 20th century, and wrote The Shepherd of the Hills.  The book, first published in 1907, became an immediate best seller and remains today as the fourth most widely read book in publishing history. People came to Branson by the hundreds, and then by the thousands, to see Pilot Knob, and Dewey Bald, and Fall Creek, and most importantly Mutton Hollow, where sits -- to this day -- the homestead of Matt and Mollie Matthews.

(Lights on the first of the two sites; the homestead),
(Matt and Mollie seated on porch)

            They have a son, a strong, good looking boy, about 18. Although his name is Grant Matthew, Jr., he is called, simply “Young Matt.”

 (Young Matt enters, joins his parents).

            The heroine of our story is Samantha Lane, called by one and all “Sammy.”  She is about Young Matt’s age, and is most beautiful.  In the words of  Uncle Ike, the postmaster at the Forks, “Ba Thundas! That gal o’ Jim Lane’s jest plumb fills th’ whole house. An’ when she comes a-riding up I’ll be dad-burned if she don’t pretty nigh fill th’ whole outdoors, ba thundas.”  Miss Sammy Lane was one of those rare young women whose appearance is not to be described. It could be said that she was beautiful, and include all the special adjectives that confirm that.  But what is the use?  When all this is written, those who knew Sammy will say, “Tis but a poor picture, for she is something more than all this.” !” We will meet Sammy shortly. 
            Then there is a young, somewhat strange, pre-teen boy. He, also, plays a major role.  
            Then  there is Daniel Howitt, known as “Dad” Howitt. He is “The Shepherd of the Hills.” 
            Finally, there is Howard, who appears toward the end of the production. 

            Our play takes place in two locations:  the Matthews homestead, and the sheep ranch in Mutton Hollow -- a ranch also owned by Matt. These two places were connected to the cabin of Sammy Lane and her father by well-marked paths.  But it is the trail that leads from Sammy Lane’s home to the big log house where Young Matt lives, that is, nobody knows, how old.

            As our play begins, Sammy Lane rides her horse up to the Matthews homestead. 

You will find the first scene of the play in Shepherd 1.