The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1921-07-13
FOURTEEN HUNDRED
IN PLYMOUTH PAGEANT
lit C Coast Town Devotes Entire Sum
mer to Production Of
Spectacle.

1IymOull, MdSS't Juiy To-. llbi III
and Indian will meet again on the
shores of Plymouth Bay this summer,
central figures in pageant to cele-
brate the tercentenary of the Fore
fathers Landing. The pageant,
VIII ch will depict scenes from the le-
gends OF the Norsemen, the chronicles
OF the colonists and the history OF
the World War is being prepared as
the feature event Of program of
observance to which latter-day Plym-
outh has given over its entire summer.
a moon just past the first quarter
On the night Of July l3 will look
down ON strange sights, and the murm.
ur Of the breaking waves driven in
ward by the high tide will serve as
soft accompaniment to unwonted.
aOunds. Helmeted Vikings, adventur-
GUS mariners of Eng and. Holland
and France, gaily clad courtiers of
King james, Puritans in sober raiment
and stolid Dutch burghers will pass
and repass on land and water. Out
in the harbor the little ship Maynower
will swing at anchor and great
Morse galley will cut the waves.
Voices upliited in speech and song
and music from hundred instru-
ments will aid in carrying an audience
Of thousands back over the centurtes.
All OF this and more wi be seen and
hoard in the first product on OF the
pageant for which fourteen hundred
men, women and children of Plymouth
and the LITE country towns nearby
have been rehcarsng at feverish pace
under the direction of George Pierce
Baker, professor of dramatic litera-
ture at Harvard University. The pag-
cant wa devised by Dr. Baker as the
great public event of the celebration
of the tcrceutenary OF the landing OF
The Pilgrims at Plymouth on the
twenty-irst of December 1920.
The celebration was opened in
more formal way and with an audience
necessarily limited on the precise ami
vcrsary in December last when COM
momoratory Grafton was delivered by
Senator Henry Cabot Lodge. The
precautionary commission reserved for
season less uncomfortably reminis.
cent oi the hardshlps of the first Pil
grim winter the out-of door features.
The exigencies of the pageant re-
qure a tide condition available at only
three periods of four days each this
summer The pageant therefore VII
be given on the night OF July 20 and
the three nights following. the four
nights beginning on July 80 and four
beginning on August 10.
1t is expected that President Hard.
ing will be the guest of commission
on August 1 and will view the pageant
that night. In possession Of his prom
Use to come here at that time unless
prevented by the pressure OF public
business. the commission is laying
plans to care for the greatest throng
the old town has ever seen. The
presence of a modern armada of Amer
ioan naval vessels in Cape Cod Bay at
the same time will be a further magnet
to tourists m.
The somewhat archaic canopy which
bent its arches over Plymouth Rock
for long period aud which has been
familiar to many generations of school
children through the illustrations in
ther history books was removed this
year, The rock, split by frost and
previous movings, was carefully re.
Joined and restored to it's original
place on the shore OF the harbor.
An architectural background and a
landing stage will make the approach
to the rock impressive and beautiful.
PassamaQuoddy Indians from east
ern Maine, with few of their Pen.
obscot cousins, have been installed in
a genuine Indian village in one of the
town parks. Here each day they
exhibit their ingenious handiwork and
revive ancient dances and rites OF
their tribes.
On the site of each OF the Pilgrim
houses that huddled to the weather
de of Coles and Burial Hills, where
the meeting house, fort and watch.
tower stood. is marker inscribed
with sentence OF. two of the settle
HthN . HlSbul > ne SiaNtS VI Nilt
Forefathors on the hillside are simil
arly designated. Relics of Pilgrim
days are exhibited in temporary muse,
ums in addition to the permanent ex-
hibition in Pilgrim Hall
But It is upon the pageant that chiet
reliance is paced for the scoring of
an indelibe impression upon the
brains OF those who worship this
year at the Pilgrim shrine. Verses
for choruses and chorales have been
written by Robert Frost, Edwin Airing
ton, Robinson, Hermann Hagedorn and
Josephine Preston Peabody Marks
Special music has been composed by
Henry +. Gilbert Edward Burlingame
Hill. Edgar Stil'man Kelley Leo
Sowerby. Arthur Foote, Chalmers
Clifton. John Powell. George w. Chad.
wick and Frederick G. Converse. In
addition MacDowel's symphonic peom,
"a. d. 1620.r has been made an in.
tegral part of the pageant.
| The stage is on the shore of the
harhor just above Plymouth Rock
which is used as one Of the proper.