The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1919-07-24
GROWING A PLAY
A Bemsspvn Account cf Real People
By Ihoruahy Canhsld Fisher


There sat the little school house,
where my great grandfather had said
his a-b, aba And now my little
daughter was learning her letters
there. 20 quickly do the generations
pass, In fact these four generations
had passed so very quickly that the
century they covered had slipped away
without anybody's finding time to do
much for the little school-house. |
think. indeed. that " my great-grand-
father had come to life he would not
have felt at ail out Of place in the bare
interior Of the school or on the forbid
ding stony playground.
You see, we are a slow-living, slow
changing set, we Vermont mountain
GERS, who live among mountains set
ting us the example of never changing
st all.
Perhaps that is why, when the
project OF "doing something for the
school house" gradually began TO grow
up In our daily talk, our thoughts
turned naturally to the old times. At
first, Of course, We canvassed the usual
possibilities. We considered embark
ing upon that orgy Of the superhuous
article known as a BAZAAR" or one Of
those forIorn little plays" written for
amateur acting by goodness knows
what dreary authors; or rummage-
SALE don't need to enumerate all
these threadbare expedients only too
familiar TO every one who has ever
tried to make money for good end.
But we found none of these usual
things at all TO our taste because they
did not, as the phrase goes, Sound
a bit like us
Then somehow, growing out OF the
old houses we live in, and the old fields
we till, and the older mountains on
whose fanks our houses cluster, there
came the idea of being our great
grandparents. 1t was not to be play
NO, for it was to be real. We were
not TO act part--no. for 1t is not
acting to be your own great-grand-
father We "North District people Of
1915 would simply bring to life the
North District people Of 1871 and
show them to the rest Of the town.
At once we all began to collaborate.
Don't let amy one make you think It is
difficult to write play, or 1t least to
create dramatic entsrtainment. =
We simply planted our ides and let II
grow. Little by little it took shape,
emerging from the actual conditions Of
our life. How did we decide the form
1t should haveg Why, of course if we
were all to have a part in the play
(and we all wanted to be in the fun), itI
must represent some old-time occasion
when people would naturally gather
together. The sight of the pumpkins
yellow in the fields, and the turkeys
Topping to roost in the trees brought
TO our minds that Thanksgiving Day
the great old-time gathering Of family
and friends. So an eighteenth-century
Thanksgiving party Is was. Yes, sol
simple as that is the creation of drama
when you plant it and let it grow.
OF course the next thing was to find
out what they did and thought and ate
and wore on Thanksgiving Day CEN
tury and a quarter ago. With the
formulating Of these questions the
Historical instinct" so often wooed
in vain in college classes, sprang full
flcdged into life in our midst. Wei
read old books. we looked up old diar-
les kept by our great-grandparents.
we read histories with eagerness, and
we sought out our oldest people and
sat and listened in profound and re-
spectful attention to "reminiscences.
"What did they have to eat at old
time Thanksgiving dinners, Grandma
Perkins 7" We asked. suggesting ten
tative menu. Turkey, mashed pota-
toes, plum pudding -. Grandma
Perkins cane pointed the finger of
scorn at our ignorance: Mashed po-
tatoes' Potatoes cooked in the ashes
of the hearth. Of coursel Plum-pud-
ding. They want rich Massachusetts
folks They had Indian-meal pud-
ding" Grandma Perhns's grand
mother, you see, could remember the
very times we were living back into.
Or, we went to Great-Aunt Elmira
with our minds full of the book ac-
counts OF the severity with which chill
drcn were treated in those days, and
said. Il suppose we must train our
children who are to be in the play to
sit perfectly still and only answer
when they're spoken to-" How Great
Aunt Elmira did Taught "They tried
10 keep the children down." she said,
Just as you try to make 'em do what
you thinks proper. But you know
-. .L-. ~ ", a. .