The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-04-27
Spring Folk Festival
At NeighbOrhOOd House
Southwest Washington Eagerly Awaits Next
Thursday When Children viii Give Sea-
son of Outdoor Dramatics.

7 scenes from "A Midsummer Nights
| Dream can hardly escape the influence
of the poet and a new ideal of beauty
when required to project the things Of
the imagination into actual performance.
Dramatic Eject Appeals.
! So true is this that it is trite to say
there is no appeal like the dramatic ap-
| peal But so useful is 1t that not to
! insist upon it in practice is to neglect
! the most potent means of mental, moral.
and aesthetic education-pOtent above all
| because it fits the inclination of the
child, the youth, and the adult. And
when work becomes pleasure, humanity
has greatly gained.
There is a big room at Neighborhood
House with polished floor and recess
| into which, by a skillful continuance of
| Mr. Neligh's, a stage can be made to
come forth. Here the wintertime plays
| are given. but just now only the rehear-
sails are held here. the stage for the fes-
tival plays having been erected in the
! back yard. But a large part of the fes-
| tival is dance and ceremonial and pag-
cant, and the dances have been rehearsed
! in this room. Hence the other day the
| visitor found all the little chairs that
| line the walls occupied with festive lit
| tie figures in all sorts of winsome cos
tunes. First near the door, We're eight
dear little eight-year-old Dutch girls,
with their cunning little caps and flow
cred aprons. Across the room, matching
these in size, eight little Germans, and
| beyond them as many more little Swedish
| maids. Larger girls in many-hued gar
! ments and scarfs were rainbow fairies.
and the largest girls of all were rehears-
| ing their May-pole dance. These had not
| their costumes yet, but the business of
Z tho hnIlr seemed ppliallv Interesting
| them. 1t was all purposeful. this scene
and there was an obvious proud respon-
sibitY upon the young faces of the
| dancers. But to think it was not play
also would have been foolish at any time,
especially when. rehearsal over. the
! dance spirit carried them out OF the
house and on their way home skipping
If still as to the music.
BY this time there had come clustering
into the doorway wonderful bouquet of
pink and blue and lavender and white,
posies all, it seemed for the moment.
Then the cluster resolved itself into
twelve tiny panniered shepherdesses.
with their soft little tresses pinned high
on their dear little heads. They were
not very perfect in their dance as yet
but who would care?
The festival plays were not in re-
hearsal, but in these will be represented
the youth of all ages at Neighborhood
House, from the kindergarten tots in a
pantomime play on Thursday Afternoon, to
tie grown young people in "A .Midsum-
mer Nights Dream on Friday night.
Boys OF twelve and fourteen, the True
Americans and White Eagles. give a
Robin Hood play Thursday night. The
Pleasure Club girls. fourteen to sixteen
years old, give Miss Constance McKay's
THE Play of MerrymOunt" and Satur-
cay night the Neighborhood Peace Club
of girls give Mrs. Eugena Paul Jeffer-
sons version of 'Hansel and Gretel'
which converts the story into morality
play. A procession, in the street, from
end to end of the block, presents the
whole festival in review on Saturday
afternoon. even babies from the nursery
being added to this, in their little carts
The picture is charming to the minds
eye. ii is even more appealing in reality
and at close range. For il is there. touch
ing hands and hearts with these little
festival makers in the midst of their own
creation, that the great significance of
well-directed play is to be felt. And
deeper still it reacheS-back to the pa
ents, in their homes, for the little overall
boy was his mothers md9enger, you re-
member. This is community event
a genuine celebration of the people, with
upward look and brotherly spirit sure
to be felt by all who come in contact
with it. And that should be all of us.