Act I

The play opens in Johnny-The-Priest's saloon in New York City, one afternoon in the fall. Barge captain Chris Christopherson receives a letter from Anna, his daughter, who writes that she is coming to see him. Chris explains that he hasn't seen her since she was five and lived in Sweden. Since he was a sailor who rarely saw his family, Anna's mother brought her to Minnesota to live with her cousins on a farm. When her mother died, she stayed on. Chris insists that it was "better Anna live on farm, den she don't know dat ole davil, sea, she don't know fa'der like me."

When Chris leaves to get food, Anna appears in the bar, "plainly showing all the outward evidences of belonging to the world's oldest profession." She immediately demands of the bartender, "Gimme a whisky—ginger ale on the side. And don't...