WORKS BY PERCY MACKAYE

PLAYS

• The Canterbury Pilgrims. A Comedy.
• Jeanne d’Arc. A Tragedy.
• Sappho and Phaon. A Tragedy.
• Fenris, the Wolf. A Tragedy.
• A Garland to Sylvia. A Dramatic Reverie.
• The Scarecrow. A Tragedy of the Ludicrous.
• Yankee Fantasies. Five One-Act Plays.
• Mater. An American Study in Comedy.
• Anti-Matrimony. A Satirical Comedy.
• To-Morrow. A Play in Three Acts.
• A Thousand Years Ago. A Romance of the Orient.

COMMUNITY DRAMAS

• Caliban. A Community Masque.
• Saint Louis. A Civic Masque.
• Sanctuary. A Bird Masque.
• The New Citizenship. A Civic Ritual.
• The Evergreen Tree. A Christmas Masque.

OPERAS

• Sinbad, the Sailor. A Fantasy.
• The Immigrants. A Tragedy.
• The Canterbury Pilgrims. A Comedy.

POEMS

• The Sistine Eve, and Other Poems.
• Uriel, and Other Poems.
• Lincoln. A Centenary Ode.
• The Present Hour. Poems of War and Peace.
• Poems and Plays. In Two Volumes.

ESSAYS

• The Playhouse and the Play.
• The Civic Theatre.
• A Substitute for War.
• Community Drama. An Interpretation.

ALSO (As Editor)

• The Canterbury Tales. A Modern Rendering into Prose.
• The Modern Reader’s Chaucer (with Professor J. S. P. Tatlock).

AT ALL BOOKSELLERS

Dance-Carol of the Evergreen

So we will sing our even-song

And dance for thee, like king and queen,—

O Evergreen, dear Evergreen!—

To make thy heart be merry.

([Page 42])

The
EVERGREEN TREE

by
PERCY MACKAYE

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
NEW YORK LONDON
1917

Copyright, 1917, by
Percy MacKaye

All Rights Reserved

Note: For Information concerning Permission to
produce this Masque or to read it in Public, see
ANNOUNCEMENTS, on [page 81] of this volume.

Printed in the United States of America

The
EVERGREEN TREE

A Masque of Christmas Time for
Community Singing and Acting

by
PERCY MACKAYE

With Scenic and Costume Designs
by
ROBERT EDMOND JONES

Together with
Three Monographs on the Masque
written by
the Author, the Scenic Designer,
and
ARTHUR FARWELL
Composer of the Music

To
Those Friendly Thousands
of Men, Women and Children
in American Towns and Cities, Who Have
Shared With the Author in His Masques
a Common Devotion to the Happy Cause
of a Communal Art
This Masque is Dedicated
in Christmas Fellowship

PREFACE

Always an evergreen tree points up at a star.

Always a star looks somewhere down on the cradle of a child.

Always, once in the year, a child laughs up at evergreen boughs.

Tree, star and child are triune in the poetry of nature—a constellation of man that never sets.

The antic mirth, the naïve awe of paganism, the joy and passion of Christianity, are masks happy and tragic which the Folk Spirit of childhood has worn for ages, and shall wear for ages more, in ritual of a tree that never dies.

On the verge of No-Man’s-Land, where the blasted earth reels amid war’s stench and thunder; in calm cathedrals, to carolling choirs; by lonely chimney sides, or amid the young, tense assemblies of army camps, Christmas—this Christmas of our new age—grows again in the ancient greenness of a little tree.

How may we, too, do it homage?

Not forgetting the old simple merriment of folk days gone by, how shall we say—and sing—to our tree something of that deep response which we feel to-day to the creative sadness of our time?

Our young men are going out to the war: our country is grappling the issue of a planet. Here is a dramatic conflict, not for us as spectators, but as participants. Here is a theme, not of the traditional theatre, but of a communal drama, the action of which is at once a battle and a prayer. How may we take part together in expressing such a theme, at this new Christmas time?

Surely it must be through some simple festival—chiefly of song, for song is elemental to us all: a festival in which our people—young, old, rich, poor, women, men, but chiefly our young soldiers—may share, outdoors or indoors, in a ritual, democratic and devotional, on a scale great or small, simple to act and symbolize: a drama not designed for a hollow amphitheatre of spectators, but for a level-floored cathedral of communicants: a drama in which the goal of world liberty we battle for is clearly contrasted with its opposite, that we ourselves may not lose sight of our goal or swerve from it, as our common prayer, in the midst of battle. And there, as the focus-point of our festival and symbol of it—the tree of light: light of our own childhood and of the world’s.

I do not know whether this simple masque will prove worthy to help in creating such a festival for our new Christmas time—I can only wish and hope that it may.

Percy MacKaye.

Cornish, New Hampshire,
September, 1917.

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PERSONS AND GROUPS
In the Order of their Appearance

PERSONS

• ELF
• GNOME
• TREE
• WOLF
• BEAR
• LION

• JOSEPH
• MARY (Mute)
• SHEPHERD

• CAPTAIN of the host of Herod
• HEROD

• BELSHASAR
• MELCHIOR
• CASPAR

• RUTH
• CLAUS
• SONG (Mute)
• SORROW (Mute)
• DEATH
• POVERTY (Mute)

GROUPS

• SHEPHERDS
• HOST OF HEROD
• FOLLOWERS OF THE THREE KINGS
• OUTCASTS: FOLLOWERS OF SONG, SORROW AND POVERTY

For Army Camp productions, in camps where it may not be practicable to have women as acting principals, the two mute female figures, MARY and SONG, may—if necessary—be omitted, and RUTH be acted by some well-skilled youth, as was the custom in Elizabethan days. The part of TREE, in any production, may be acted either by a young woman or by a young man (in small-scale productions preferably by a young woman). ELF and GNOME are preferably acted by children: a girl and a boy, or—if desirable—by two boys. In Chorus A, and in the first Semi-Chorus of the Outcasts, choir boys may, if need be, take the places of women.

CHORUSES AND CAROLS

CHORUSES

CAROLS

In modified small-scale productions of the Masque, where it may be impracticable to render all the music in its completeness, the Carols alone may be sung. In that event, the Choruses should not be wholly omitted, but may be rendered as Choral Poems spoken in chanted speech by properly qualified leaders (at Stage A and Stage B), as indicated in the “Guide to the Evergreen Tree” pamphlet, referred to in the Announcements on the last page of this volume.

THE COMMUNITY CHORUS

is in two divisions, as follows:

CHORUS A, in White: Men and Women: located near Stage A.

CHORUS B, in Red: Men: located near Stage B.

TIME AND PLACE

TIME

The Time is laid on a night shortly after the birth of Christ.

PLACE

The Masque takes place in Four Regions, indicated by Two Stages, and Two Aisles, the Audience being located between the two stages.

Stage A represents the Place of Outcasts: a knoll, with path, in the Wilderness, before the Evergreen Tree.

Stage B (located opposite Stage A) represents the Place of Empire: the Gateway and Steps to the Palace of Herod.

Aisle I (located on the right of Stage B, as one faces Stage A) represents a Pathway from the land of Herod into the Wilderness.

Aisle II (located on the left of Stage B and parallel to Aisle I) represents another Pathway into the Wilderness.

See [Ground Plan opposite page 69].

From the Gospel of Saint Matthew: Chapter II

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came Wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.”

When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled....

And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, “Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.”

When they had heard the king, they departed; and lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was....

And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

Now when they were departed, behold an angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I tell thee: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”

And he arose and took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt....

Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the Wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the borders thereof, from two years old and under.

THE EVERGREEN TREE

FIRST ACTION
(“Who Keepeth Watch?”)

STAGE A: THE PLACE OF OUTCASTS

It is night.

In a dark place of the wilderness, a tree is growing.

Before it is an open space on a knoll, from which—left and right—a path leads down away into the desert.

At one side, in shadow, sit ELF and GNOME.

At centre, in starlight, stands TREE, half emerged from dim boughs.

First Chorus: A,1. Chorus of the Wilderness

CHORUS

Who keepeth watch in the lone wilderness

For the coming of a sign?

Who sendeth her roots down into the dark places

Seeking the springs of life,

And is restored:

And lifteth up her boughs in prayer of quiet,

And lo, they are filled with starlight?

The Tree: the Tree keepeth watch for the coming of a sign.

Who waiteth very patiently in the night desert

For dawn of a new morrow?

And the wild beasts draw near unto her: they are tired

But none is afraid,

For her lap is like to a mother’s, where little children

Play till they weary and sleep:

There dryads bring her their dreams,

And the fairy folk are at home.—

Who liveth very old, alive with young green,

And waketh her heart with song for the coming of light?

The Tree: the Tree:

The Tree keepeth watch in her heart for the coming of light.

(A long wailing cry resounds from the dark.)

THE VOICE

Hi-ih!

ELF

What’s that?

GNOME

That is Wolf.

He’s coming from the desert. He is lonely.

ELF

Why is he coming here?

GNOME

Tree is here.

All the creatures come to Tree, when they are lonely.

ELF

Even Tree seems lonely to-night,

With eyes that look far away.—

Tree, what are you watching for?

TREE

A star.

ELF

But the sky is filled with starlight.

TREE

I am watching for a new star.

I have been waiting for it a long while.

I think I shall see it again soon.

GNOME

Again?—Have you seen it before?

TREE

Yes: once:

One night, not long ago,

I saw it rising in the east, across the desert.

It made a path of wonderful shining.

Then it stood still in the sky—far over yonder!—

And seemed I heard shepherds singing.

(Wolf enters.)

WOLF

Hi-ih! It’s a cold night.

I want to come out of the wind.

GNOME

Ask Tree.

WOLF

High-o! Green-and-alive!

Can a fellow come out of the wind, here?

TREE

Welcome, Wolf.

WOLF

And what may you three be talking about?

ELF

A star.

GNOME

A new star in the east.

(Noises of puffing and growling are heard.)

THE NOISES

Ooff!—Ah-yarrr!

ELF

Who now?

GNOME

That’s Bear and Lion coming.

They’re tired and sleepy.

(Bear and Lion enter.
Bear carries a bee-hive; Lion, a large bone.)

BEAR

Ooff! Ooff! Where’s a hollow to sleep in?

GNOME

Ask Tree.

TREE

Welcome, Bear! Break a bough for your pillow.

WOLF

(Edging away)

Hi! Not my tail!

LION

Ah-yarrr! I’m tired of killing.

Where can I bury my bone?

GNOME

Ask Tree!

TREE

Welcome, Lion. Lay your head on my roots and rest.

LION

Yarrr! It’s a night of cold.

You kill nothing, Bear: how do you keep so fat?

WOLF

His belly is full of wild honey.—

Here! he’s soft and round:

Keep him in the middle.

BEAR

Three are warmer than one. Go to sleep.

(Wolf and Lion lean against Bear.
Slowly all fall into slumber and low snoring.)

THE THREE

(Murmuring together)

Hi-yo!—Ooff! Ooff!—Ah-yarrr!

ELF

And why do you wish the star to come, Tree?

TREE

Because of my dream.

GNOME

What dream?

TREE

Because I have dreamed a new star will come in the night;

And will gather all the old stars out of the heaven

To sparkle upon my branches.

And there they shall sing all together.

And in the midst of them the new star

Shall laugh aloud,

Shall laugh like a young child,

And my boughs shall be as sheltering arms to make him a home.

And there we shall dwell no more, dreadful in the desert,

Where wild beasts kill one another, and weary of killing;

And there shall be no more lonely things;

But there shall be carolling of stars and a young child’s laughter;

And I shall be the angel in his home.

ELF

The wild beasts are fast asleep.

GNOME

Nothing is stirring in the world.

ELF

Yes: look! I think I see—

GNOME

Where?

ELF

Don’t you see—there! through the dark:

It is moving towards us.

GNOME

I think I hear some one singing.

ELF

It is drawing nearer.

TREE

O my dear dream!

ELF AND GNOME

Is it the new star?

TREE

Yes; but it has fallen down out of the heaven.

It has made itself very small and lowly.

It has made itself into a little lantern,

To light the feet of them who wander in the wilderness.

ELF

See!

GNOME

Hark.

SECOND ACTION
(The Lantern in the Desert)

AISLE I: A PATHWAY INTO THE WILDERNESS

Moving toward the Tree, a Procession enters singing.

First comes JOSEPH in white. He holds high a tall staff, from which a swinging lantern shines. Behind him comes, in pale blue, MARY, attended by Shepherds in white. These carry lighted candles and long crooks, and they are ranged about a Manger, borne in their midst.

Carol 1. Joseph’s Carol

JOSEPH

As Joseph I was walking,

I heard an angel sing:

JOSEPH AND SHEPHERDS

“This night shall be the birthnight

Of Christ our heavenly King.

His birth-bed shall be neither

In housen nor in hall,

Nor in the place of paradise,

But in the oxen’s stall.

He neither shall be rockèd

In silver nor in gold,

But in the wooden manger

That lieth on the mould.