By ELLA M. POWERS.
| (DIRECTIONS.—This exercise may be given by six little girls. The platform may be decorated with evergreen trees or boughs, and flags should be used freely. The American girl should be dressed in an American flag and wear a cap of red, white, and blue. The costumes of the others may be as follows: The Eskimo girl should procure a boy's fur coat, or wrap a fur rug about her and wear a fur cap or hood and fur mittens. The Indian girl can throw about her a gay-colored blanket, and wear strings of beads about her neck, arms, and head. Her straight dark hair should be parted in the middle, plaited in two braids in the back, and decorated with short pieces of bright ribbons. Moccasins and dark brown stockings may be worn on the feet. Bracelets, earrings, chains, beads, quills, and brooches may be used as ornaments. The hands, arms, and face should be stained. To color the skin get a stick of Hess Grease Paint No. 17. Rub a little vaseline into the skin to be tinted. Then rub a portion of the paint on the palm of the left hand and with the fingers of the right hand transfer it evenly to the skin surface until the required tint is obtained. The Chinese girl should be dressed brightly with large, square, loose hanging sleeves, a broad sash tied on one side, her hair brushed flat, coiled in the back, with haircomb and pins thrust into the coil. She may have a Japanese parasol and carry a fan. The African girl may be dressed in red and black, with black hair and red handkerchief over her head and large rings in her ears. Face and hands blackened with burnt cork. The Arabian girl can wear a tunic or bright shawl draped about her, a turban of a bright silk handkerchief, and wear feathers in her hair. She should be very dark-complexioned. The American girl enters, takes her seat in the center of the platform, saying:) |
American girl:
| And this again is Christmas
day; My invitations all Have gladly been accepted; Let us see who first will call. |
| (Eskimo girl enters, bows, comes forward with a fur bag filled with presents, which she passes to the American girl as she mentions them.) |
Eskimo girl:
| I'm a little Eskimo
girl, I live in the land of ice, We never saw a Christmas tree Nor fruits and candies nice; But we run races o'er the snow, Beneath the big, bright moon, And from this far away ice-land, I've brought you a nice bone spoon. My father hunts all through the day For reindeer, seal, and bear, And sends away in ships so strong These furs so rich and rare, And fish, and birds, and whales, you know, I've seen them many a time, And here's a pretty fur for you That came from the arctic clime. |
| (Eskimo girl offers presents and steps to one side. American girl turns and places presents on the boughs beside her. Enter Indian girl.) |
Indian girl:
| I'm a little Indian
girl, I live in the far Northwest, In the land of the Dakotas, In the land I love the best. I've brought a nice bead-basket, I made it all. You see I know about your Christmas A happy day to thee. And here's an arrow-head for you, And a piece of pottery queer, And here are herbs for medicine good, To make you strong, my dear. We children shoot and fish and hunt Just as our fathers do, The whole wide forest is our home: It feeds and clothes us, too. |