Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1908-07-23
QUEBEC'S GREAT FETE
Notable Pageant Planned For Her
TercentenniaI Celebration.
SPLENDID OPEN AIR DRAMA.


formers In the Tableaux-Famous
Battle to Be Refought In Pantomine
Warfare.
| For the greatest pageant of modern
times, that to be given next July on
the scene of Wolfe and Montcalm's
bloody fight on the heights of Quebec.
when the city observes the tercente-
nary celebration of the founding of the
settlement, 5000 performers are now
being recruited in Quebec, Montreal
and Ottawa. They will shortly COM
mence their rehearsals and drill under
the direction of Frank Lascelles, who
was the master of the oxford pageant
last year and who has gone to Quebec
at the special invitation of his friend,
Earl Grey, governor general of Can
ada.
There Is no other such stage In the
world for dramatic pageantry as the
Plains of Abraham" said Mr.. Las
celles to a Quebec correspondent of
the Chicago Record-Herald, where
the grandeur of the natural scenery
defies description and where the 10000
spectators on the grand stand facing
the St Lawrence 800 feet below at a
point where Wolfe's highanders clam
bered up the heights, viii he able to
see at the grand finale of the perform
ance the combined uavies of three
great powers, consisting of twenty to
thirty men-of-war appearing on the
1,,4. 70 1,a
past the present and theNsuture of the
Canadian nation.
"The spectacle will be given in the
presence of the heir to the British
crown, the vice president of the United
States and the representatives of the
president of the French republic and
of the families of the French and Eng
lish generals who met there in mortal
combat century and a half ago"
Mr.. Lascelles has been asked to ex
| plain what the coming pageant will be
like, what historic scenes are to be
portrayed and how they are to be rep
resented In the great open air drama.
This in part is what he said
From the foot of his statue, where
stands for all time the bronze figure
of the great Champlain, stepping
ashore, as it were, as he did so long
ago to take possession of this new
country of the west, the Prince of
Wales and Mr.. Fairbanks, with other
illustrious guests, will see pass in pro
cession before them all the great men
and women who have made Canada
what 1t Is, and later on, on the Plains
of Abraham, they Will see the living
pictures of the great events of those
early days.
"On the banks of that river this
summer we shall see again, as Cartier
saw nearly 400 years ago. cluster OF
wigwams set beneath the trees Away
on the broad waters of the river many
feet below will come the little boats
with Cartier and his crew, their names
still preserved and their descendants
impersonating them.
''Then we are transported to the
court of France the gardens at Fon-
tainebleau, and high on the white
charger, trapped with cloth of gold,
rides the proud figure of Francis l. as
we see him IN pictures painted when
he lived. Around him, clad In rich
colored velvets and brocades, are the
ladies and gentlemen of his court,
some hundreds on horse and on foot,
and Cartier, with three of the Indians
with him, tells of the wonders of the
country from which he has come.
80 on through many scenes the
floating clouds of incense which ac-
company the ecclesiastical pomp and
ceremony of the great and digniled
Archbishop Montmorency de Laval
the booming cannon. the gorgeous at
tendants of the representatives of the
king. the Marquis de Tracy, the bril-
liant uniforms of the soldieTy. the
quaint costumes of the habitauts. the
fierce battle of the lroquois, the flying
arrows and the burning forts, the wag
dances of the savages and the May
poles of the children, the powder and
patches Of the ladies of France. the
curlCl leoutue locks of the cavaliers.
pass ON and pass away
"Then in a final scene will march ta.
armies of two brave nations. side ny
side In q parade OF honor the scarle.
and gold of the British ana the blue
aud white of the French headed hy
four noble -Montcalm and
Wolfe, Lewis and Murray. The Gags
wave, the drums rattle, the trumpets
blare, our dream Of the past is over,
and we see only the wonder of the
present and the infinite possibilities of
the future"