The director should make every effort to guard against stage waits and delays of every sort. Have your stage hands, prompter, property managers, scene painters and all your assistants on hand at every rehearsal, if possible. Long waits between the acts, tardiness in beginning the performance, and all delays do much to destroy an otherwise happy impression. Every piece of scenery, every costume, every bit of make-up and every property should be in its place--all ready to make a smooth final performance. Dress rehearsals are absolutely necessary. The last two rehearsals should be complete performances of the play with lights, curtains, costumes, make-up, scenery and all incidentals exactly as they are to be on the night of the performance. With such preparation, scarcely anything is impossible of attainment. The pleasure of the work and the pride in a production well done will amply repay an ungrudging lavishment of time and labor. WALTER BEN HARE. _Drury College_, _Springfield, Mo._ * * * * * STAGE DIRECTIONS. Stage directions are purposely simplified and few abbreviations used. _R._ means right of the stage: _C._, center; _L._, left, etc. The actor is supposed to be facing the audience. MUSIC. Music is provided for a few of the songs in this book. The others are to be sung to old airs that are presumably familiar to everyone. If any of them should prove unfamiliar, the music of all except some of the hymns will be found in Denison's "_Songs Worth While_," one of the best arranged and most carefully edited collections of old favorites ever published. This book is beautifully printed on non-glossy paper, measuring 7 by 10-1/4 inches, and is well bound in a stout paper cover done in colors. It may be obtained from the publishers for the price of $1.00, postpaid. For all the hymns not included in "_Songs Worth While_," see any standard church hymnal. CONTENTS The White Christmas (8 Male, 7 Female Adults) 13 Anita's Secret or Christmas in the Steerage (1 Male Adult, 9 Boys, 7 Girls) 49 Christmas With the Mulligan's (2 Female Adults, 5 Boys, 5 Girls) 93 The Wishing Man (4 Male Adults, 13 Boys, 7 Girls) 131 A Christmas Carol or the Miser's Yuletide Dream (10 Male, 5 Female Adults, 4 Boys, 4 Girls) 167 Her Christmas Hat (4 Male, 5 Female Adults) 203 THE WHITE CHRISTMAS [Illustration: JOSEPH MARY SIMEON TIMOTHY ISAAC ANNA THOMAS RUTH RACHEL DEBORAH PRISCILLA MELCHOIR GASPAR BALTASAR PROLOGUE] THE WHITE CHRISTMAS A CHRISTMAS MORALITY PLAY IN ONE ACT. _Originally produced by the Quadrangle Club of the University of Missouri, Christmas Eve, 1909._ CHARACTERS.