St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1912-08-21

st. JOhnSbury has celebrated the
125th anniversary of the founding oi
the town with a Pageant which was
success beyond what anyone had
dreamed. AS any artistic whole its
success is unquestioned; not a wore
of criticism is heard and everyone has
word of praise for it's beauty; ii
was a financial success for although
no money was made all expenses viii
be paid; and best of all it has done
more to create a real 'get-together'
spirit than years of shouting and
preaching could accomplish. The
dress rehearsal on Wednesday was
sadly interfered with by the raiI
but the first performance on Thurs
day went off wonderfully well despite
that fact. There were occasional
showers on Thursday but not enough
rain fell to do any harm or to drive
any home. Friday was rather cold
but fair and bright and the crowd
that day was the largest of all. The
best weather of all was on Saturday
and about as many went as on Thurs
day. For the three days the attend
aEce was about 5000.
Beautiful Setting
The natural setting was perfect,
far beyond anything which man
could design. The grand stand was
erected facing the fifth green of
the golf course, the green forming the
stage on which the dialogue and
most of the dances took place. Back
,of the green the land rises in a
more than gradual slope to the "Old
Pine" with woods at the right and
also at the back surrounding the
Old Pine. The Introduction and the
finale were by far the best things in
the whole Pageant but so much that
came between was beautiful that it
is really unfair to call any one part
the best thing. After music from the
large orchestra, which reminded one
in imagination of the noise of a pri-
meval wilderness, from the woods
near the Old Pine comes the Wilder
ness. This was one of the most i'm
pressiVe moments. He was clad only
in skins and carries in his hand the
trunk of a dead pine which he uses
as staff and hOurishes wickedly
when angered The dignity and
strength with which he strides along
is powerful but the way in which he
is gradually driven back to his forest
by the gentle hand of Civilization is
more affecting. The dances by the
Mountains, Forests, Rivers and Val
leys in the introduction are picture
long to be remembered. The Noun
tains wore dark green with purple
wells over their heads and carried
scarfs of white and light blue, re-
presenting clouds, which they waved
to and fro in front of their faces.
The Forests clad in brown and green
with streaming hair carried branch
es of maple leaves. The. Rivers
were dressed in dark blue over
white; their scarfs were of white
and green and they tossed them over
and up and down to simulate water
falls. The Valleys kept beside the
Rivers always. They wore light
green and had wreaths of flowers in
their hair and over their shoulders
and carried flowers in their hands.
The Rivers and Valleys entered from
three directions representing the
three rivers which meet here and
were one of the fundamental reasons
why St. Johnsbury became the Nat
uraI center of the country round
about. When the Wilderness appears
the Rivers and Valleys all bow in
submission but when the Spirit of
Civilization beckons to them they
forsake the Wilderness. The Forests
and Mountains, however, retreat
with the Wilderness wnen Civilization
drives him back. J. B. Paige repre-
sented the Wilderness and Miss Mad
cline Randall the Spirit of Civiliza-
ton. The scenic effect of so many
girls clad in soft hued draperies,
dancing on the green hillside was
beautiful beyond compare.
The Episodes
The first episode represented the
days from 1850 to 1910 when only
Indians and hangers roamed these
hills The children in the audience
enjoyed this episode greatly for the
Redskins with their bows and ar
rows were fierce enough to delight
the child heart. The Rangers, headed
by John Stark and Stephen Nash,
wore the typical buckskin breeches
and coonskin caps and their fight
with the Indians was quite realistic.
The second episode gave a picture
of the most important event of the
towns history, the coming of DR..
Jonathan Arnold, the founder of the
town, from Providence, r. /. He is
accompanied ny OOus Jdu1OS w ulJ6-
law, who with his men is surveying
the land made, by ArnoId's charter
under the seal of Vermont, into the
town of st. Johnsbury. The same
land, II years previous was included
IN a grant under the seal of the
Province of New York and given the
name of Dunmore. In this episode
q male quartet sang 1.-THE Song of
the Vermonters'' by Whittier and
sung to the music of Bonnie Dundee.
Later Mrs. Arnold and the Arnold
lchildren with their colored nurse
join the party and all enjoy their
visions of the future of the town.
The episode closes with the Ode to
the Passumpsic written by Josias
Lyndon Arnold in 1890 and set to
music by Mr.. Peters. 1t was sung
by the large chorus whose singing