Читать книгу Patriotic Plays and Pageants for Young People - Constance D'Arcy Mackay - Страница 6

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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.

Spirit of Patriotism I. Behold

How at my word time's curtain is uprolled,

And all the past years live, unvanquished

As are the laurels of the mighty dead.

I am the spirit of the hearth and home!

For me are flags unfurled and bugles blown.

For me have countless thousands fought and died;

For me the name of "Liberty" is cried!

I am the leader where the battle swings,

I bring the memory of all high things.

And so to-day I come to bid you look

At scenes deep-written in the Nation's book.

The youth of all the heroes you shall see—

What lads they were, what men they grew to be.

How honor, thrift, and courage made them rise

By steps that you can learn if you be wise.

First, Pocahontas in a woodland green;

Then life among the Pilgrim folk is seen—

Thrifty Priscilla, Maid o' Plymouth Town,

In Puritanic cap and somber gown!

For the next scene comes life in Southern climes—

The Ferry Farm of past Colonial times.

Then Washington encamped before a blaze

O' fagots, swiftly learning woodland ways.

Then Boone with Rigdon in the wilderness

Dauntlessly facing times of strife and stress.

Crossing the Common in the morning sun

Young Benjamin Franklin comes: about him hung

Symbols of trade and hope—kite, candles, book.

The crystal gazer enters, bids him look

At all the guerdon that the years will bring.

The Vision next: Trianon in the Spring,

And Franklin honored by the Queen of France

With courtly minuet and festal dance.

Lastly, a cabin clearing in the West,

Where on a holiday 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.

COSTUME

THE SPIRIT OF PATRIOTISM. The Spirit of Patriotism should wear a long white robe, with flowing Grecian lines, made either of white cheesecloth, or white cashmere. It should fall from a rounded neck. Hair worn flowing, and chapleted with a circlet of gold stars. White stockings and sandals. Carries a staff from which floats the Stars and Stripes.