The afternoon before the "circus" the little settlement more than ever took on the appearance of a medieval village ... almost everybody took turns in participating in the "circus" ... almost everybody togged out in costume. But first we had a parade of the "guilds" ... the Actors' Guild, in which Hildreth bore a part; in her pretty tights she looked like a handsome boy page in some early Italian prince's court.
Don Grahame was the son of the leader of the community whom Jones had promised to rake over the coals that night, after the circus.
Don led the Carpenters' Guild, looking like nothing else than a handsome boy Christ. Don, secretly disliking in his heart the free-love doctrines his father and others taught (though he always rose loyally in his father's defence) had gone to the other extreme, he lived an ascetic, virgin life. But it didn't seem to hurt him. He was as handsome as Hildreth was beautiful.
Everybody liked the young fellow. He had sworn that he would maintain his manner of abstinent living till he fell in love with a girl who loved him in return. Then they would live together....
That, he maintained, was the true and only meaning of free love. He had no use for varietism nor promiscuity.
The Guilds paraded twice around the Village Green, led by the Guild of Music Masters, who played excellently well.
The Children's Guild was a romping, lovely sight.
The circus was held shortly afterward in the huge communal barn, in the centre of its great floor,—the spectators seated about on the sides....