Entertainments. Comprising directions for holiday merry-makings, new programmes for amateur performances, and many novel Sunday-school exercises

Front matter

Book ^4C^

ENTEETAINMENTS.

COMPRISING

Contents

PAGE.

Introduction . . . . . . . . 9

Missionary Concert.— Scenes in Mission Fields . 14 The Evangel of the Morning Star. — An Allegory. L. S. Stillson 34

Introduction

The love for festivals, and especially for religious festivals, is so universal that we must regard it as one of the innate cravings of the human mind.

The element of entertainment must enter even into religion, if it is to be dear to the popular heart. Entertainments at any rate, the multitude will have, it only remains for Christians to decide whether they shall make this mighty power a Christian force, or leave all the merry and bright things of this life in the service of Satan.

Festivals were very dear to the primitive church. An ancient writer calls them : ^

" The title pages Of all past, present, and succeeding ages ;

The inventories

Of future blessedness ; The florilegia of celestial stories ; Spirits of joys; the relishes and closes Of angels music ; pearls dissolved ; roses Perfumed ; sugared honey-combs ; delights

Never too highly prized — Who loves not you, doth but in vain profess That he loves God, or heaven or happiness,'

" The children of this world are wiser in their generation io. Introduction.

than the children of light." The great popularity of the

Romish Church among the masses is owing in no small

degree to its many festivals. Take for instance the holy- days sacred to Mary alone.

" O, in May how we honored Our Lady,

Her own month of flowers !

How happy we were with our garlands

Through all the spring hours ; AD her shrines, in the church or the wayside, Were made into bowers.

And in August — her glorious Assumption ;

What feast was so bright !

What clusters of virginal lilies,

So pure and so white.

Why the incense could scarce overpower

Their perfume that night.

And through her dear feasts of October

The roses bloomed still ; Our baskets were laden with flowers,

Her vases to fill !

We chose at our will.

And we know when the Purification

Her first feast comes round, The early spring flowers to greet it,

Just opening are found ; And pure, white and spotless the snow drop Will pierce the dark ground.

The Protestant Church is at length recognizing the aid of entertainment in the religious education of children. Sunday-school celebrations and Sunday-school concerts are becoming more common and are conducted in a more artistic manner than formerly.

It is, however, often a most difficult matter for the Sunday-school worker to arrange a programme for an exhibition or concert which shall be neither silly nor tedious ; but, while presenting an attractive and effective entertainment, shall at the same time, inculcate some moral lesson. The labor of

Introduction. 1 1

drilling the performers, of interesting them in their parts, and superintending rehearsals is in itself sufficient; but, added to this, the manager generally has the task of originating the entire plan, and composing the material used.

Sunday-school literature is very defective in this particular. Very few dialogues, etc., are issued by the publishing houses from which Sunday-school libraries are generally supplied. We know of no comprehensive collection for the various festivals of the Christian year ; and the various good things which are frequently dropping from the press have but an ephemeral existence, and are seen but by comparatively few who might appreciate and use them.

To relieve the already overworked class, the prime movers of entertainments (of which each Sunday-school has one or two,) of the task of originating, as well as executing, is the object of this work. We offer a collection of new entertainments, by persons of great experience in amateur theatricals, in musical matters, in Sunday-school entertainments of all description, and in literary work. The members of this committee have been chosen from different denominations of the Christian religion ; the Episcopal, the Presbyterian, the Methodist, the Baptist, the Unitarian and the Congregational societies being all represented, while their residences are widely scattered throughout the different cities of the Union. With their original contributions, prepared expressly for this work and not heretofore published, we have combined selections from other authors ; referring to them in skeleton programmes when they can easily be found, and quoting them at length where they exist in a form not readily available for practical use. The little dramas by Mrs. Abby Morton Diaz, the poems by Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney, and Mrs. Mary Mapes Dodge, and the ballads by Bishop Coxe, are reprinted with the kind permission of the authors and of their publishers Messrs. Houghton, Osgood & Co., and Mr. A. K. Loring of Boston, and Scribner & Co. of New York.

12 Introduction.

The exercises here presented are principally such as are suitable for Sabbath evenings. A number of secular entertainments have also been added for the aid of temperance, missionary and other societies, and with a view to the enlivenment of church, fairs and social circles and the assistance of school exhibitions and holiday merry-makings.

Feeling sure that their work will meet a felt want, and seeing in prophetic panorama the long vista of delightful evenings which it may inspire, the committee,

Harriett G. Brittan, Susan Hale, Fanny M. Steele, S. K. Stillson, C. Frances Wilder, Lizzie W. Champney. extend their various offerings and their unanimous Happy New Year.

MISSIONARY CONCERT.

PROGRAMME.

SCENES IN MISSION FIELDS.

"The Field is the World."

i. India. — Scenes for Children. ----- Miss Brittan.

2. Greece. — Tableau and Song. Ode to Apollo. - Milman.

3. China. — Recitation. The Little Chinee. - - Geo. Cooper.

4. France and Italy. — Dialogue ; in costume.

* The Vaudois Teacher. - - Whittier.

5. Africa. — Recitation. Song of Slaves in the Desert. Whittier.

6. North American Indians. — Tableaux.

Scenes from Hiawatha. Lotigfellwu.

7. Persia or Turkey. — Tableau.

Scene from Arabian Nights.

8. Japan. — Tableau. A Japanese Feast.

9. The Freedmen. — Recitations. At Port Royal. - Whittier.

How Persimmons took care of

de baby, or, Daddy Wafless. L.W.Champney.

* All Recitations not given in this volume are to be found in the works of the authors named.

MISSIONARY CONCERT FOR SUN- DAY SCHOOL CHILDREN.

SCENES IN MISSION FIELDS.

i — i 2>r id i j± .

Let the superintendent, or one of the teachers who has a good voice, take the charge of the evening's eiitertainment, and after all things are arranged for the tableaux, let him step in front of the curtain, and make a short speech to the audience somewhat like this :

Bear young friends : We are going to try this evening to make you understand somewhat of missionary work — that is, what missionaries do. I suppose you all know that the meaning of missionary, is, one sent. If there was a poor little sick girl who lived in the next street to you, and your mother were to send you to that child with a beautiful basket of fruit, and tell you to say to her that your dear mother was coming With a nice easy carriage to take her for a good long ride — you would be a little missionary to that poor child ; you 15 would be sent to - her with good tidings or news, something that would make her feel happier at once, as well as give - her more hopes of happiness to come afterwards. Well, missionaries, as we generally call them, are those who go on messages of love, to those poor people who are terribly sick, with that most dreadful of all diseases, sin; and they carry with them something that will not only make the poor people happier at present, but they also take the Gospel or good news of more and greater happiness to come. They go to the poor heathen people who know nothing of the one great God, our loving Father God, and nothing of the dear Saviour, who loved us so much that He died to save us ; but they worship ugly images which their own hands have made, and they believe in the most silly and ridiculous stories, and they think that all these silly stories are as true as we know our Bible words to be. Now, this evening, we are going to let you see some of the foolish things that are believed in heathen countries, so that you may better understand how much need there is for us to send the Bible to them, if we would obey the command of Jesus to " do to others as we would have them do to us."

We will give you a glimpse of Greece, China, France, Italy, Africa, Persia and Japan ; and we will also take you among our own North American Indians, and among our freeclmen.

But, first, I will tell you something about the poor people in India, and what they believe. They are all heathen, and as they know nothing of the true God, of course they know nothing of the beautiful heaven that he has prepared for all those who love him. But they believe that when a person dies his or her soul goes directly before the God Yuma, the judge of the dead. He directly opens a book in which is written down all the good and the bad deeds that man has ever done. Well, you know they believe that there are a great many different gods, and each god has a heaven or paradise of his own. So when Yuma examines the books, if he finds that the man has done more good deeds than naughty or bad ones, the man goes directly to the paradise of the god that he has served most, or who loves him best, and he stays there very happy for a great number of years, and then comes back to this earth and is born again as some other little baby, in a better or richer position than he was before, and this he does many thousands of times, till at last when he has been very very good a great many times, he is taken to the highest heaven of all, where the greatest of all the gods lives, and then his soul becomes a little bit of the great god himself, and he never comes back to the world again. But, if when Yuma is judging the man, he finds from the books that the. man has done more naughty things than good, then the man's soul is sent to a dreadfully bad place where he is punished very much, and then he comes back

1 8 Mntertainme?its.

to the world again, yet not as a man, but as some animal ; well, if lie is good whilst he is an animal, when he dies he will come back to this world again as some better animal, or perhaps as a man again, so that he may again try to be better. Thns you see they believe that all animals — birds, beasts, fishes, insects, and reptiles have all at one time been men, women or children, and some day will be such again. Thus they think it is a dreadful sin to kill any animal, even the smallest insect, like an ant or a fly or a mosquito ; it is almost as great a sin to kill a fly they think, even by accident, as it would be to kill a man, and if they do kill an animal it is written down in the book against them as a great sin. While they think it is a very good deed to feed a beggar, and as all animals are very glad when anybody gives them food, they say that to feed an animal is as good a deed as to feed a beggar, and so every time they feed an animal it is written down in the book as a good deed for them. Now, I will show you one way that they have of getting, as the children at school would say, a great many good marks.

Scene ist. The curtain should now rise and show two full grown girls in the Hindoo costume in their own country. It consists of nothing but a sauee wound around the body, with bare feet; but as this cannot be done here, we must try to imitate it as nearly as possible. The young ladies should wear no shoes, but flesh-colored stockings, and to prevent taking cold let them have cork soles inside the stockings. Then they should wear all their under clothing, but loose enough not to impede any graceful actio7i or motion. . Over the under clothing should be placed the sauee, put on first round the waist, the width way of the cloth, reaching from the waist to the ankles ; this is wound twice round the body and then brought up over the neck, shoulders and head as seen in photographs. The sauce should be from six to seven yards in le?igth, and from a yard to five feet in width, according to the height of the wearer, the width going from the waist to the ankle. 17ie sauee may be composed of any kind of cotton cloth, but white muslin, or Turkey red with a bright colored border all . round it, is the prettiest and best; only where several are needed, it is best to have a variety. Each of the young ladies also should wear a quantity of mock jeivelry, chains, necklaces, mock pearl beads, bracelets, armlets, etc. ; these may be simulated by broad bands of gilt paper round the arms, with silver bangles on the ankles. Before the dialogue begins, the superintendent, or whoever has charge of the exercises, should inform the audience that as they do not understand Bengalee, he has requested these Bengal ladies to speak in English.

As the curtain rises the two women should be discovered with a little girl about five or six years of age, dressed in the same way. One woma?i should be seen seated crass-legged 011 the ground with the little girl seated on her lap. The other should be standing up, but stooping over, holding in her left hand a large leaf in which is about a teaspoonful of granulated sugar. With her right hand she takes up a few grains, and going to different portions of the room, she drops them down in the corners on the floor. The woman that is seated then addresses her :

"What are you doing, Benoth?"

Benoth. " Oh ! Mohenee, yesterday I met with a terrible misfortune. I was very tired, and I was stretching and yawning, and while my mouth was open a mosquito flew into my mouth. I commenced to cough to get it out but I could not, and I swallowed it and thus of course killed it ; and, oh, that great sin will be written down in the book against me ! "

Mohenee. " But what are you doing now? "

Benoth. " Well, you know that will be a dreadful big black mark against me, and so I am trying to do, something now by which I may get a great many little good marks."

Mohenee. " But what is it you are doing, pray do tell me?"

Benoth. " Why, you know for every beggar we feed we get a good mark, and to feed an animal is the same as to feed a beggar. But I am very poor ; and a horse, or a dog, or a cat — it takes a big bit of food to give them a dinner ; but one grain of sugar is sufficient to give a dinner to an ant, so that from this one spoonful of sugar I can feed hundreds of ants, and so get hundreds of little good marks to set against that one great big black mark."

Mohenee (jumping up ivith her little girl). " Oh, Benoth, what a splendid thought ! why we can get a lot of good marks very cheaply then. Come, Golap, (to her little daughter,) we will go and get some sugar to feed some ants too, for I dare say, by accident we may have killed some insects also. Come along."

{Moves across the stage with her little, daughter. Curtain/alls.)

Scene 2d. Represents the heathen mother's hopelessness on the death of her i ^ild. The curtain rises, reveal-., ing a common wooden box, {for the Zenana ladies have no furniture in their rooms,) a Zenana lady clothed the same as before — as these women marry so young, she might easily be represented by a young girl of fourteen or fifteen — a little girl of six or seven, and a young lady to represent the missionary lady, who should be dressed in white, with a large straw hat. She should hold in her hand the picture of the sacrifice of Cain and Abel which she has just bee?i explaining, showing them how the sacrifice of Abel typified the Lamb of God slain for us. The little girl is kneeling in front of the lady, her arms resting on the lady's lap, her eyes fixed intently on the lady's face, and the lady is teaching her the verse, "But Jesus said, suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me ; for of such is the kingdom of heaven." After repeating it two or three times, the little girl addresses the lady :

"Maam Sahib, I do love that Jesus who yon say died, that we might go to heaven. What can I do to show him that I love him ? "

Lady. " Do yon love him, Golap ? ( G-olap means Rose.) If you love him you must try and obey him. He says if we love him we must keep his commands."

Grolap. " But what does he want nie to do ? I do not know ; tell me, that I may obey him, and show him that I love him."

Lady. " Well, dear, he tells us we must never steal, we must never tell lies, we must be kind and loving to each other, and little children must obey .their parents. Then you must believe in Jesus and pray to him to make you good, and you must not worship those ugly idols which are only made of clay, and cannot see you or hear you if you pray, but you must pray to the one great God in heaven to take care of you and make you good for Jesus Christ's sake."

G-olap. " Oh, I do not worship those Takors, for they are only made of clay I know, and if I let one •fall it will break to pieces directly, and then it can not punish me for doing it, but I will pray to that good Jesus who lives up above those beautiful stars, and then perhaps when I die he will take me to live .in that beautiful place in heaven with him."

Lady. " He will dear if you will only love and serve him." {Curtain falls?)

Scene 3d. Curtain rises, disclosing the same Zenana lady sitting on the groimd, rocki7ig herself backward and forward, and moaning and weepi7ig and wringing her hands in greatest distress. Her sauce or cloth not only drawn up over her head, but falling down so as to cover her face. 27ie missionary lady is coming in. She goes up to the woman and putting her hand on her shoulder she says:

"Why, Bo ! Bo ! Bo ! (the title by which a young married woman is always addressed,) what is the matter?"

. Bo. " Oh ! don't you know, have you not heard that my Golap is gone, lost to me forever ! "

Lady. " Gone, why, where has she gone ? "

Bo. (Speaking through her sobs.*) " Oh, that terrible black mother, horrid Kali (Kali or Kalee as it is pronounced) the goddess of Begenne, has always hated me, and does hate me, and now she has sent the goddess Dussura (Cholera personified) to take away my treasure, my only love, my darling Golap — she is gone, gone from me forever ! I shall never, never, see her more ; oh, that horrid wicked Kalee."

Lady. " When did Golap die ? "

Bo. " Two days ago. Oh that dreadful black mother, to hate me so much as to take my only child from me."

Lady. "It was not Kalee, it was Jesus took your little one; he loved her so much and he wanted her to live with him in heaven, and so he has taken her there where she will have no more pain, or sin, or sorrow, or sickness, or death, and if you will only love Jesus you too can go to live with him in heaven."

Bo. " Oh no ! no ! I wish I could believe it, but I cannot. It is Kalee hates me."

(Lady starts on seeing a large black spider or cockroach coming towards her on the floor. These poor Hindoos thijik that because a child 'has not done either much good or much evil, when it dies, it immediately becomes some insect which lives only a short time ; and then when the insect dies it immediately comes to earth again as some other little child, therefore they will never kill an insect, as in doing so, they might be killing a child. A large toy spider or beetle might be obtained, and placed on the ground, where the audience could see it. The lady, knowing that Bo would not kill it, and d?'eading the insect comifig upon her, points to it, and says :

" Won't you put that out of the window ? "

Bo. " Put that out of window, send that away ? Oh, no ! not for the world, that is my only comfort ; it came here the day my little girl died, and I gave it some rice and it has remained here ever since, and I know it is my little girl, for it likes to stay near me."

Lady. " Oh, no, dear Bo , your little one is in heaven with the angels round God's throne singing his praises, she will never have any trouble or sorrow again, she will never come to this earth again, but be forever happy with God in heaven."

Bo (moaning and wringing her hands). " Oh, I wish I could believe it ; I wish I could believe it ; oh, if I could only think I might ever see my little darling once more ; but I can't believe it, it is too good to be true ; the only comfort I have is in thinking this insect is my darling, and that she likes to be near me."

Curtain falls.

II — GBEECE.

Tableau. — Stage arranged to simulate a grove. At the centre and back a large plaster bust, or full-length figure of the Apollo Belvidere, placed upo?i a wooden pedestal. Infrojit, two young girls dressed i?i the costume of ancient Greece, as described by the late President Felton of Harvard University. The girls have bare arms, wearing first the chiton or sleeveless vest, which may be made of two pieces of square cloth fastened at the shoulders by brooches, and belted at the waist. Second, a scant skirt made to clear the ground. Third, a sheet may be caught in the belt behind, draped around the limbs, brought again to the back, and over one shoulder, a loaded corner hanging in front. One of the girls, a brunette, should wear a chiton of buff or fawn-colored cashmere, and the sheet should have a broad border of maroon color. The other, a blonde, should wear a light blue chiton, and the sheet which composes the outer garment may be thickly spotted with small stars cut fi'om silver paper. Both wear imitation sandals over their stockings. The hair may be arranged in a loose knot at the back- of the head, a la Diana, with a sling-shaped fillet in front, or may be modelled after any classical statue. One holds a laurel wreath, the other a branch of laurel. They sing or repeat alternately the following selection from Millman :

ODE TO APOLLO.

Lord of the speaking lyre !

That with a touch of fire Strik'st music which delays the charmed spheres,

And with a soft control

Dost steal away the soul, And draw from melting eyes delicious tears.

Lord of the unerring bow,

Whose fateful arrows go Like shafts of lightning from the quivering string,

Pierced through each scaly fold,

Enormous Python rolled, While thou triumphant to the sky didst spring.

And scorn and beauteous ire

Steep'd with ennobling fire Thy quivering lip and all thy beardless face,

Loose flew thy clustering hair.

While thou the trackless air Didst walk in all thine own celestial grace.

Lord of the gorgeous shrine,

Where to thy form divine The snow-white line of lessening pillars leads

And all the frontispiece

And every sculptured frieze, Is rich and breathing with thy god-like deeds.

Phcebus Apollo, hear !

Great Lycian king, appear, Come from the Cynthian steep or Xanthus shore,

Here to thy Grecian home

In visible Godhead come, And o'er our land thy choicest influence pour.

III — CHIFA.

Recitation. — By a very small boy. Costume, a long, loose blouse-apron of yellow calico, with baggy, flowing sleeves, over ordinary suit, a hat shaped like an inverted work-basket, braided jute pig-tail fastened within. Jf a Chinese umbrella can be obtained at a curiosity store, let him hold it behind him, also an armful of cheap Japanese fans and pictures which {having finished his recitation and descended from the platform) he can peddle among the audience, thus adding to the proceeds of the evening. The recitation may be" The Little Chinee" published in the Independent.

THE LITTLE CHINEE.

"Who was it came*to town one day, In such a meek and pensive way,

But this strange^ wee Celestial ?

His precious queue hung down behind : Their Ps and Qs they have to mind

That side the globe terrestrial.

"How funny ! " cried the children there, " He must have dropped out of the air."

" Me washee, cookee," this he said, " Me sclubbee flooree, makee bed.

All samee, A one stylee."

He knocked at doors, his errand told, Then quietly his hands he'd fold —

No attitude was finer.

The folks all said : " My ! You're too small," They knew the dishes he'd let fall,

He spoke such broken China.

He only smiled and trudged along, And then he sang this classic song —

No bird could sing so gayly. 'Twas " Ching chow hi,'' and " Chop chi bo, " Me walkee, pickee my way, oh !

From China-town, by lailee."

He joined the children at their game.

They thought he didn't know the same —

His smile was tantalizing.

At marbles, tag, and bat, and ball, That day he took the prize from all

In manner most surprising.

Now, when the sun was going down, They followed him beyond the town —

His pig-tail hung behind him — And still he wore that pensive smile ; But when he'd gone about a mile

He vanished. None could find him.

Within a very deep, dark hole, Beside a giant oak-tree's bole,

They gazed, with wondering optics ; But he had gone, as each one sees, Straight down to the Antipodes,

To ply his little chop-sticks.

Oh ! here it was, beyond a doubt, He'd dug his way right up and out,

This mild, though artful laddie !

The children call — heard this reply ; " Me top-side up for home. Good-bye ! ' The heathen Chinee' — hi ! hi ! hi ! Me his son! Him my daddy ! "

IV — IF IR, -A. IT C IE -A.2ST3D TTJ^XjT.

Dialogue. — In Costume. Characters, Lady, Page and Vandois Colporteur. The time is the second third of the sixteenth century, the reign of Francis I, of France, and the scene is laid in ?iorthern Italy or France. The costume of this period offers the richest choice of age for artistic effect. Background a room in the style of the Renaissance. The lady should be dressed in rich brocade, with double sleeves, the imier, tightly fitting with ruffs of deeply pointed lace at the wrists, the outer "angel" or flowing sleeves, open to the shoulder, where there is a small puff. The waist is cut long and pointed; a large ruff completely hides the throat, a gold chain with large pendant, {a small crucifix), hangs over the shoulder. The hair is dressed high, and adorned with an aigrette and strings of pearls. A " rivierre" of jewels runs down the front of the dress. The page wears a velvet doublet slashed in the sleeves to show the linen beneath, and embroidered with dead gold. Long, closely-fitting, purplish gray stockings reaching from hip to heel. Next, the short trunk-hose shall show the foot and knee. A short velvet cape, and a cap adorned with a long white ostrich feather held in the hand. The colporteur should be dressed entirely in black; doublet, trunk-hose, stockings, short cloak thrown over one shoulder, and a small black cap, made by cutting a circle of cloth twenty inches across, gathering the edge and sewing it on a band, say twenty-two inches long, which fits tightly to the head, while the cap itself puffs out loosely above it. The colporteur should kneel, exhibiting his wares, lace and gay silks, in one hand. The poem fits readily into dialogue form. At the proper place he presents the lady with a Testament. The Munchaer Bilder Buchen give sheets of costumes for the period {second third of sixteenth century), which are very cheap, and will did those fortunate enough to obtain them, in arranging the dresses for this scene.