Patriotic Plays and Pageants for Young People Part 2

INDIAN BRAVES. The braves who follow Powhatan should wear costumes resembling those of the chief, save that they are less gorgeously painted, and wear fewer strings of beads and sh.e.l.ls. Their head-dresses, too, are shorter. They should be of gray, black, and brown feathers. Their faces are, of course, stained brown, their arms and necks likewise. Red and black warpaint should also be on their faces. Unless wigs of long hair are to be worn, the boys wearing the feathered head-dresses should be careful to see that their lack of long hair is concealed from view. Often the Indian braves wore their long matted locks braided; and black cheesecloth cut into strips and then braided and fastened to a tight black cap will make a splendid wig of this sort--the braids of hair should hang in front of the ears. The Indian braves should carry bows, arrows, and tomahawks.

THE INDIAN MAIDENS. The Indian maidens should wear tan fringed dresses, of the same length and fashion as that of Pocahontas. Necklaces and bracelets of sh.e.l.ls. The necks of the dresses embroidered in beads and sh.e.l.ls. They wear their long black hair in two braids, the ends of the braids bound either with scarlet, corn-yellow, or vivid blue. They have moccasins and tan-colored stockings. Their bead' embroidered footgear should be in striking color on a tan background. But their chief glory is their blankets. These should be barbarically glowing, since it is partly in their wild flare of color that the beauty of the Blanket Dance lies. The following designs for them are taken from the Indian motifs and colorings studied from the collections in various museums of natural history, and however startling they may seem at first, their color-scheme should be faithfully carried out, as much of the success of the scene depends on them. The material used may be canton flannel throughout. They should be the size of the average, every-day blanket.

1. Blanket made of equal halves of deep royal purple and pale turquoise blue.

2. Blanket of deep cobalt blue. Fastened in the center a great oval of orange.

3. Blanket made of equal halves of pale lemon and black.

4. Blanket made of equal halves of very dark green and very pale green.

5. Blanket made of equal halves of deep violet and white.

6. White blanket with disks of scarlet at each of its four corners.

7. Blanket of equal halves of royal purple and pale lavender.

8. Blanket of very pale green, with large white disk in center.

Each Indian maiden should wear a band of gay-colored cheesecloth, red, green, or blue, bound about her forehead. This band should match the color that fastens her braids. In the back of the head-band should be fastened a quill of contrasting shade. It need hardly be added that the Indian maidens wear neither feather head-dresses nor war-paint. Their arms, necks, and faces should be stained light brown. The tan-colored stockings are to simulate bare skin.

SQUAWS. The squaws wear the same cotton khaki costumes as the Indian maidens, save that their blanket are of more somber colors, and their headgear is either omitted altogether, or consists of black, bronze, or dull green.

THE LITTLE INDIAN BOYS. They should drew in exact imitation of the older braves, save that they wear no war-paint.

PROPERTIES. For either an indoor or outdoor representation of this scene where it is impossible to have a real fire, have a pile of f.a.gots and unionist them place large bunches of joss-sticks bound together with thread. These will burn easily and safely, and the blue smoke from them will simulate a waft from woodland embers.

The log can be made of two small vinegar barrels fastened together, covered with brown burlap, and then flecked with green and brown paint.

The teepees should be of canvas, unbleached cotton, or burlap fastened over three slender, strong poles, stuck into the ground. They should be equal to bearing the weight of the canvas or burlap, and yet light enough to be removed and carried off the scene by the young Indian braves as they leave in the direction of the river when the scene ends.

DANCES. At the place indicated in the scene, the Indian maidens give one or more characteristic Indian dances. "The Blanket Dance," one of the most widely known and picturesque of the Indian dances, follows somewhat the lines of a Virginia Reel. The Indian maidens stand in a line facing each other, their blankets wrapped about them. The head couple, facing each other, spread wide their blankets behind them like great b.u.t.terfly wings. Then they dance forward and back, forward and back, beckoning, retreating, gesturing, and finally dance off, with one blanket wrapped about two pairs of shoulders. Then the next couple, and so on. All sorts of fantastic steps, gestures, bendings, and swayings can be introduced. A wide s.p.a.ce should be left between the dancers, so that all they do can be clearly seen. Dancing in great circles, like a mild war-dance, yet without the whoops and wild gestures of the latter, is another form that lends itself to the out-of-doors. Another dance is the Eagle Dance; with arms spread wide, holding their blankets at wing-like angles, the dancers circle about each other, the dance growing wilder and wilder. Still another dance is the symbolical one of the Four Winds--North, South, East, West--done by four Indian maidens.

The South Wind gentle and swaying; the West Wind fantastic, with arms upraised; the East Wind with streaming hair and rain-drops shining on finger tips; the North Wind wilder than them all, and finally driving them all before her.

MUSIC. Piano: MacDowell's "An Indian Idyl," "From an Indian Lodge."

These can be had orchestrated. For a band: "Tomahawk Dance," by Andrew Herman. "Indian War Dance," by Bellstedt. "The Sun Dance," by Leo Friedman.

PILGRIM INTERLUDE

PILGRIM CHANT

(Tune: Oxford. To be sung off stage by the Puritan maidens before they enter to take part in the episode.)

Gone is now the sullen winter, Gone the famine and the snow; In the forest, like a promise, See the first white mayflowers blow.

Fresh hope thrills us with their coming, They, too, braved the winter long; Then at Springtime took new leaf.a.ge, Frail yet steadfast, small but strong.

Cling we thus to our new country, Let us struggle and endure; We have found a land of Freedom, And our heritage is sure.

THE SPINNING LESSON (A Pilgrim Interlude)

CHARACTERS

PRISCILLA MULLINS Lads of Plymouth Town JOHN BILLINGTON DEGORY MARTIN Youthful Pilgrim Maidens RUTH PATIENCE MIRIAM LETTICE ANNE STAR-OF-SPRING, an Indian maiden NATIQUA, a squaw, her mother FOREST FLOWER, another Indian maiden HERON'S WING, a young Indian brave

SCENE: A gra.s.sy glade at Plymouth in the Spring of 1621, Trees right, left, and background. At the beginning of the scene the gra.s.sy stage is deserted. There presently enters from background Anne, a young Pilgrim maid of about fourteen, whose somber garb shows out darkly against the green background. She looks quickly about her, right and left, shielding her eyes with her hand. Then she calls back over her shoulder to her companions, Diantha and Lettice.

ANNE (calling).

Come quickly, Diantha. Here is a fair spot for our corn-sh.e.l.ling, and not a prowling Indian in sight.

[Diantha, slender, dark, and somewhat older than Anne, enters with Lettice. They carry between them an Indian basket of capacious size, in which are dried ears of corn.

DIANTHA (clearly).

Nay, we need have no fear; for on one side Captain Miles Standish keeps watch, and on the other John Alden; so as for Indians----

LETTICE (as they come to center).

One Indian only have I seen this day, and to see him is ever a sign of good omen.

DIANTHA.

That means that Squanto is in Plymouth Town, our good, true Indian friend. He it was who taught us how to sh.e.l.l the corn, so many months agone; he it was who taught us, this Spring, the manner of sowing it.

LETTICE (holding up Indian basket).

And here is one of the Indian corn-baskets that Captain Standish found buried in a strange wilderness spot when he first explored these forests.

ANNE (drawing near to Lettice).

These forests--! Oh, my heart! As night draws on how dark and fearsome they appear! And now that Spring is in the land it sets me longing for English hedgerows.

[Sits on ground, left, and begins to sh.e.l.l corn.

LETTICE (joining Anne in her work).

Do you remember the Spring in Leyden, Diantha?

DIANTHA (looking upward as she stands).

Why, even here the Spring is very fair! Do not the sunlight, the blue sky, and the budding trees make your heart sing with joy?

ANNE.

Sit, then, Diantha, and let us have a quiet hour.

DIANTHA (standing behind them, half-gay, half-mocking).

A quiet hour--! Hither come Patience and Miriam and Ruth, the greatest clatter-tongues in Plymouth. See! They have been gathering wild plum blossoms!

[Enter Miriam, Patience, and Ruth from background. They hasten towards Diantha. The exquisite white of the blossoms they carry makes them look like heralds of the Spring.

MIRIAM (excitedly).

Diantha, what dost think! Priscilla Mullins hath declared herself weary of spinning in her own door-yard, and since Squanto hath told us that we need not fear the Indians she hath besought Degory Martin and John Billington to bring hither her spinning-wheel.