The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-03-04
CHILDREN In COMEDY
Entertainment at Normal Yesterday At
ternoon Pronounced Success.
Large Audience Is Pleased With the
Rendition of Program.
Mother Goose and Little Miss Muffit
Make Decided Hit.
Nursery Rhymes and Familiar Songs
Well Received by Listeners.
From Saturdays Daily.

From Saturdays Daily.
All of the best known characters of
Mother Goose's melodies were imperson-
ated on the stage of the normal school
yesterday afternoon by seventy seven
children. That big hall is supposed to
have seating capacity of six hundred,
yet long before the hour for opening the
program, half past two, arrived, the
seats were pretty much all filled The
audience at its largest absolutely pack
ed the hall, filling up all the aisles and
other standing room, and numbering
surely not less than a thousand. All
showed plainly, too, that they were glad
they had come and thought the treat
that was there presented to them was
we'll worth crowding for. Many of the
ladies and children among the spectators
just laughed until they cried. Everybody
was sorry when it was all over.
The old familiar nursery rhymes that
were indelibly stamped on the mind of
each and every enc in early childhood
days were now recollected with all the
sweet associations and memories which
invariably cling to them. No wonder
that the old as well as the young felt
most delicious thrill of emotion as this
and that number on the program re-
called some tender thought or happy oc-
,currence on which the mind in after
years loves to dwell.
All the seventy-ive children of the
practice school were on the stage at once
in the two opening choruses. Twenty
different tunes were taught the children
for the various rhymes which were sung
as the tales of Mother Goose were enact
ed on the stage, some familiar, popular
air being suited to each of the word
jinglers. Mrs. Parry and Miss Huff
had trained the little singers with an
expenditure of time and trouble that
can be fully appreciated only by those
who have had experience in that kind
of work. Miss Fisher must have been
likewise painstaking in training the chill
dren for the drills. Miss Woodbury. has |
what was probably the most responsible |
duty of all in supervising and manag
ing the general preparations, and assist |
ing the other teachers in all kinds of |
ways. Miss Blaisdel practiced her lit
tie boys and girls of the primary depart
ment, familiarizing them with what
they had to do so thoroughly that their
performances occasioned no little sur
prise. And the costumes and the stage
paraphernalia! Who can tell how much
labor all these ladies must have under
gone to produce such exquisite effects?
Take for instance the "four and TWEEN
ty blackbirds baked in pie" ''When
the pie was opened, the birds began to
sing" in reality, as the king cut the
top of the huge make belief pie-crust,
that was fully twelve feet in diameter.
The blackbirds had bills and wings and
sang as they fluttered about and peck
ed at each other.
As Little Miss Muffit sat on tut
fet" the spider that came gliding down
and frightened her away was at least
twelve inches in diameter. No wonder
she screamed and ran. The ''old wom
an who lived in a SHOE did not whip her
children all soundly or send them to bed,
but simply gave each of them tin pan
with which they executed some very
pretty and clever maneuvers and
marches "Simple Simon" was certainly
his real self with his Characteristic cos
tune and his slow, stupid drawl. The
bachelor who was bringing his wife home
from London in wheel borrow very
nearly gave her more of fall than was
her due, as she narrowly escaped being
spilled not only out of the barrow but
off the stage as well. "The beggars"
were probably as comical as any other
in the whole entertainment. These were
three little girls as utterly Sin rags" and
Sin tags" as one could imagine. Old
King Coles "fiddlers three" went
through the motions of playing on their
instruments but the real music came
from violin in the hands of a young
lady behind the curtain.
This was really the annual entertain
ment given by the model school. This
usually occurs at the close of the school
year, but as this has always been some
what inconvenient owing to the fact
that the commencement exercises must
be held about the same time, the teach
ers of the model school have decided
IN establish a new custom and hold
the entertainment given by the little
children in the late winter or early