Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-07-05
OLD FASHIONED
N. s. DRAMA GIVEN
ON S. K. PROGRAM

The play. The Old Peabody
Pew" a dramatization by Kate
Douglass Wggin OF her own story,
was presented last evening in the
congregational church as a part of
the Sigma Kappa Convention pro-
gram.
This drama OF old fashioned New
England church life was supposed to
have taken place in a white painted
meeting house on the Tory Hill
which j. situated in a range known
as the hills Of EdcCWood. The play
was presented last evening with a
high degree of reality. owing to the
fact that the Congregational church
in NaterVille is built and decorated
similar to the old church represent
ed in Mrs. Virgins story. The
creamy white painted walls with the
built in poWS and the antique de-
signs on the stained windows all act
ed rs n background for the story.
The play begins with music. The
orGanist PLAYS several old fashioned
church hymns ana the church bell5
ring. Then come the chimes clear
and suggestive of their call to wor-
ship which once held such a promi-
ncnt place in the hearts of the con-
ErcGation. AS these fade away the
music stops and reader details the
prologue.
The story begins with meeting
| of the carpet committee of the
| Edgcwood DorCas Society. Several
| Of the women in the church have by
| dint Of hard labor and patience
= managed to partially renoNate the
old NcStrY OF the church and the one
! thing that they need TO make the
church the best in the state, is car
I peting for the entire floor SeNera
! who own pcWS have Carpeted their
own but still there are many pes
! which remain empty. chief OF which
/ is the Oid Peabody Pew. which has
! remained vacant since the last mem
, hcr OF the Peabody family departed
/ 10 Years ago because of trouble in
: his home Village Of which he was
/ not guilty. JuSpin Peabody Is ms
! name and in the same village and IN
4 The same church with the rest OF
| The committee is his old sweetheart
: Nancy Wentworth, q girl OF loving
! disposition who has never ceased q
! care for him.
! The story is featured by this little
/ plot, the thread Of when Is very Ih't'
cstinE. Justin Peabody comes back
! 10 the village and to the church and in
/ the same Old pew which he lett ~
! Years before he meets Nancy and their
happiness is assured for evcrmore.
/ The plot is interviewer by bits OF
( cony ersation which draw upon the
/ comedy side OF the story and give the
I spectators q vivid picture of the lives
OF these good old-fashioncd people who
/ ia spite of their petty gossip and nat
ural female curiosity, had some very
I iigh ideals which they were willing to
! work for in order to attain.
! Mss 1xerine Flood directed the play
! Tho costumes were all old-fashionec
| and the hcaddrcsses in particular were
! colonial in STYLE and intensely becom-
! irc.
! The cast If characters was as fol
! lows: Mrs Baxter. the minister's wife
/ Louise Madeline Gates: Mrs. Burbank
president of the Dorcas Society, Arlene
! Smith Mann; Mrs. Miller wife of Dea-
! con Miller, the sexton, Doris Irene Rob
erts; Mrs Sargent, village historian
Ethel Lindsay Littlcfield: the Widow
! BuzzeU. willing to take a second risk
| Emily Redngton Heath; Miss Lobelia
/ Brewster, who is no lover Of man, Lura
( Arahina NorCross; Miss Maria Sharp
quick of speech, sound of heart, Flor.
I cnce Appleton Plaisted; Miss Nancy
( Went worth, who has waited for her
romance 10 years. Helen Coburn Smith;
Justin Peabody. sole living claimant "a
+ the old Peabody pew, Marjorie Sophia
kowell. reader, Ruth Armida Allen,