SONS OF VETERANS--LIEUT. COL. JOHN W. HUDSON CAMP NO. 105 Geo. E. Foster Alfred Haynes UNITY LEND-A-HAND Mrs. Lyon Carter Mrs. Robert W. Fernald UNITARIAN LAYMEN’S LEAGUE Arthur B. Howe Robert S. Sturtevant WOMEN’S RELIEF CORPS NO. 97 Mrs. Edward L. Child Mrs. Robert W. Britton “_Lexington_” A PAGEANT DRAMA _of the_ AMERICAN FREEDOM _Founded upon Great Sayings To be Acted in Dumb Show_ COMPILED AND, IN PART, WRITTEN BY SIDNEY HOWARD _For the Celebration of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Battle of Lexington April 19th, 1775_ [Illustration] _Stage Manager_ WALDO F. GLIDDEN _Musical Director_ CHARLES REPPER _Director of Chorus_ CLARENCE E. BRIGGS _To My Wife_ “_The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here_--” A. LINCOLN _Foreword_ The aim of this play is to represent the impulse and the progress of civil liberty in this country since the commencement of the War for Independence. The intention is never literal. In spite of a certain actuality in the presentation of the incidents of “The Glorious Morning” at Lexington, the play must always be considered and produced as an abstraction of the events with which it is concerned. The events themselves are marked by the great sayings of our prophets of liberty and of sundry other minds of genius, all quite arbitrarily selected. Great sayings, through their immense significance to the popular imagination, become symbols of the periods which occasioned them. Great activities may, in the same sense, be looked upon as abstractions of the periods and movements which required them and made them possible. The great activities of the story of American civil liberty are here treated in a kind of processional dumb show which amplifies the quotations placed in the mouths of the two Spokesmen, the Choir of speakers and the characters in the play. When the dumb show is not executed in procession, it devolves upon groups which act collectively as a single individual and, on certain occasions, speak in unison. Comment upon the action is supplied by a few lines which have been written for the roles of the Chronicler and Freedom and for the Chorus of singers. The play demands an almost continual musical accompaniment. This should be composed upon the foundation of period songs, particularly those which are indicated in the text. Also, the various speeches of the Spokesmen will be enhanced if the composer musically emphasizes their rhythms with some sort of accompaniment. In the opinion of the author, the score will be most effectively scored for brass and wind instruments. The chorus must be a male chorus. The play will suffer, always, for the introduction of any woman’s voice except as indicated in the text.