It should be kept in mind that a Children's or Young People's pageant differs widely from a pageant given by older actors. It should have about it an atmosphere of entire simplicity. There should be no striving for effect. Naivete is to be desired rather than ornateness. Scenes filled with crowds of young players should alternate with scenes where solitary little figures appeal by their quaint remoteness, their suggestion of innocence and candor. The Pageant of Patriots is not only a pageant of country but of life's springtime, and interwoven with its episodes should be the glamor of the youth of the world.
THE PAGEANT OF PATRIOTS
(Indoor)
THE PAGEANT OF PATRIOTS
(Arrangement of Indoor Episodes).
[1. PROLOGUE BY THE SPIRIT OF PATRIOTISM]
[2. DRAMATIC SILHOUETTE: LORDS OF THE FOREST]
[3. THE COMING OF THE WHITE MAN (Tableau)]
[4. PRINCESS POCAHONTAS]
[5. PRISCILLA MULLINS (Tableau)]
[6. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, JOURNEYMAN]
[7. GEORGE WASHINGTON'S FORTUNE]
[8. THE BOSTON TEA PARTY]
[9. DRAMATIC SILHOUETTE: THE SPIRIT OF '76]
[10. ABRAHAM LINCOLN: RAIL-SPLITTER]
11. FINAL TABLEAU
[12. PROCESSION OF PLAYERS]
[PROLOGUE]
Spoken by The Spirit of Patriotism
People of ————, ye who come to see
Enacted here some hours of Pageantry,
Lend us your patience for each simple truth,
And see portrayed for you the Nation's Youth.
Into times dim and far I bid you gaze,
Down the long vista of departed days,
Of hope and aspiration, woe and weal,
Famine and hardship, strife and patriot zeal.
Back further still our march of years shall go
To times primeval: The first scene will show
In shadow silhouette the sagamore,
The braves and chieftains of the days of yore,
Lords of the forest, kings of stream and hill,
Of trail and wigwam: masters of the kill!
The white man's coming next—while curiously
A youthful Indian, pausing, peers to see
What strangers tread the shores that he calls home,
What white-winged ships have braved the wild sea-foam.
Prows of the Norsemen, etched against the blue!
Helmets agleam! Faces of wind-bronzed hue!
On roll the years, and in a forest green
The Princess Pocahontas next is seen;
And then in prim white cap and somber gown
Lovely Priscilla, Maid o' Plymouth Town.
Benjamin Franklin supping at an Inn,
A 'prentice lad with all his world to win.
Then Washington encamped before a blaze
O' fagots, swiftly learning woodland ways.
Next the brave times of 1773
When Boston folk would pay no tax on tea.
And then with urge of fife and roll of drum
In shadow silhouette behold them come—
The Patriot lads who for their country died,
Who rose and followed when my name was cried—!
Leaving the farm and forge and village street—
Our hearts still echo to those marching feet!
Spirit of '76! Thy deathless fame
Burns for us yet, a sacrificial flame!
Years pass. Behold a cabin in the West
Where on an Autumn night, with mirth and zest,
Lincoln's companions take their simple cheer.
These are the scenes to be enacted here.
Shown to you straightway in a simple guise:
Youthful the scenes that we shall here devise
On which the beads of history are strung.
Remember that our players, too, are young.
All critic knowledge, then, behind you leave,
And in the spirit of the day receive
What we would give, and let there come to you
The Joy of Youth, with purpose high and true.
[DRAMATIC SILHOUETTE: LORDS OF THE FOREST]
A white curtain of sheeting, or other similar material. A strong light placed behind the curtain throws into high relief the figures as they pass in significant procession. They are shadow silhouettes of a time long gone, of a race who now are shadows. Care should be taken that they move in exactly the right space, so that the shadows will not vary greatly in height or in bulk. First a chieftain passes, wonderful in feathers. Next a young brave, who, standing alone a moment, tries the taut string of his bow. Next an Indian maid, with a basket poised on her head. Then two young braves with fish slung on a pole between them. Then a group of Indian maidens. An Indian child or two. A squaw with fagots on her back. Another with a papoose. Then two Indians with a canoe, representing the portage of a canoe. Then a final group of young braves. The music, which begins as the chief passes, continues throughout the procession until the last Indian has passed, then ebbs and dies, growing fainter and fainter, till it ceases. Mac-Dowell's "From an Indian Lodge" is suitable for this.