The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1920-08-07

The touch of fall in the air for the
past few days has set those Mem
Rhians, who are at home ITO thinking
of the early autumn events, chief
among them being the Tri-State fair
in September, plans for which are well
under way. The opening event of the
fair this year will be a brilliant spec
tacle the historical pageant, written by
Mrs. Annah Robinson Watson directed
by Miss Frederick Magnus, and acted
by hundreds of Memphians. which will
also be one of the chief features of
the great national tercentenary cele-
bration of the landing of the Pilgrim
Fathers.
Interest in this great festival is daily
becoming moxe vital over the entire
country. The high impulse and pur-
pose 1T commentaries the lofty aspir-
mind, the struggle for religious and
political freedom it emphasizes, all
welded together in the fabric with
which the nation is clothed, make 1t a
fitting occasion for patriotic outpour
ing of national sentiment.
q In it's editorial comment on the an
niversary of the landing of the May
flower at Plymouth and the coming
of the pilgrims to America. the cur,
rent issue of the Christian Workers
Magazine, says: ID
1T has been web said that the May
Hover carried with her the moral des-
stinies of the world, for the pilgrims
Of civil aEd religious liberty. Their
I confidence in the Bible, the revealed
word of God, their faith in popular
government and popular education. and
their sense of obligation to man.. as
worth while.
e." What sought they thus afar? e
Bright jewels OF mine?
The wealth of seas. the spoils of$war?
They sought, a shrine!
LAY, call it holy ground
The soil WAere first they trod;
They have left unstafned what there
Freedom to worship Cod" @
Aside from these considerations the
Pilgrims quickly sent descendants to all
parts of the country and are repre-
Scented in all the states. Elder Brew
ster was an oxford man of high at
d tainmentS, Miles Standish, a scion of
an old line of English gentry; Isaac
Allerton, man of affairs, of large
Isaac Allerton H., early made his home.
The Bradfords also settled in Virginia,
hence the Pilgrims belong to the South
as well as the North.
Among features marking the Men,
phis celebration the great historic pa
geant- drama is arrousing special en-
rnuSiasm. When Memphis produced
her first notable pageant, Arranged
don,' 1t received wide and most COM
mendable comment and it was said
the map of the dramatic world" Each
pageant since has emphasized, with
even greater force the spirit of Mem
PMS, IN getting together for great
We're written by Mrs. watson. Inc pre-
sentation in September of "Ine Path of
Progress-A Pageant Drama of the Ma
tlon,' covers in its development seven
hundred years. 1t opens with the first
struggle among Englishmen for per-
sonal liberty when the great barons
forced King John. in 1915, to meet them
on the meadow of Runnymede and
sign Magma Charta. 1t shows the same
aspiration when 400 years later the
pilgrims left the home of their birth
for one in a strange and distant land
in search of freedom.
the Introductory scene is brilliant
with knights and barons, pages and
fete in honor OF Prince Henry, prince
OF Wales. son of King James, and
Queen Anne. Kings and queens, prin-
ces and Processes, lords and ladies,
with the children Of the Royal Masque,
with the Dance of Joy, the Dance of
Greeting, the Court Dance, the High
land Dance, on the green terraces of
Sthe palace grounds, make a scene ra-
dlant and pulsing with the throb of
life set to music.
LnGerlhg upon this background ap-
pears the Envoy of Progress" with
MS retlnue, respondent group, lib
erty, religion, education, science, her
aids and trumpeters. Other groups fol-
low, separatists, translators OF the Holy
Bible, then the one hundred Pilgrims
who crossed in the Mayflower.
The storm, the new home, the In
dams and swift development of these
stirring days; trouble with the mother
country; the gathering of the patriots,
the revolution, the conquest of the
West and subsequent national events of
grave Importance, with symbolized i'm
presentations are all combined in d
story of correct sequence and cumula-
tive quality.
The number of characters, the per
sonnet of the performers, the rare cos
tunes to be used, the inspiring music,
unique lighting arrangements, the dash
and spirit with which the production
will be staged, all promise a perform