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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 70498 ***







WORKS BY PERCY MACKAYE


_PLAYS_

    THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS. A Comedy.
    JEANNE D’ARC. A Tragedy.
    SAPPHO AND PHAON. A Tragedy.
    FENRIS, THE WOLF. A Tragedy.
    A GARLAND TO SYLVIA. A Dramatic Reverie.
    THE SCARECROW. A Tragedy of the Ludicrous.
    YANKEE FANTASIES. Five One-Act Plays.
    MATER. An American Study in Comedy.
    ANTI-MATRIMONY. A Satirical Comedy.
    TO-MORROW. A Play in Three Acts.
    A THOUSAND YEARS AGO. A Romance of the Orient.

_COMMUNITY DRAMAS_

    CALIBAN. A Community Masque.
    SAINT LOUIS. A Civic Masque.
    SANCTUARY. A Bird Masque.
    THE NEW CITIZENSHIP. A Civic Ritual.
    THE EVERGREEN TREE. A Christmas Masque.

_OPERAS_

    SINBAD, THE SAILOR. A Fantasy.
    THE IMMIGRANTS. A Tragedy.
    THE CANTERBURY PILGRIMS. A Comedy.

_POEMS_

    THE SISTINE EVE, AND OTHER POEMS.
    URIEL, AND OTHER POEMS.
    LINCOLN. A Centenary Ode.
    THE PRESENT HOUR. Poems of War and Peace.
    POEMS AND PLAYS. In Two Volumes.

_ESSAYS_

    THE PLAYHOUSE AND THE PLAY.
    THE CIVIC THEATRE.
    A SUBSTITUTE FOR WAR.
    COMMUNITY DRAMA. An Interpretation.

_ALSO (As Editor)_

    THE CANTERBURY TALES. A Modern Rendering into Prose.
    THE MODERN READER’S CHAUCER (with Professor J. S. P. Tatlock).

_AT ALL BOOKSELLERS_

[Illustration]

[Illustration: DANCE-CAROL OF THE EVERGREEN

    _So we will sing our even-song_
    _And dance for thee, like king and queen,—_
    _O Evergreen, dear Evergreen!—_
          _To make thy heart be merry._ (Page 42)]




                                   The
                              EVERGREEN TREE

                                    by
                              PERCY MACKAYE

                              [Illustration]

                         D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
                             NEW YORK LONDON
                                   1917

                          _Copyright, 1917, by_
                              PERCY MACKAYE

                          _All Rights Reserved_

              NOTE: For Information concerning Permission to
             produce this Masque or to read it in Public, see
                ANNOUNCEMENTS, on page 81 of this volume.

                 Printed in the United States of America




                                   The
                              EVERGREEN TREE

                      A Masque of Christmas Time for
                       Community Singing and Acting

                                    by
                              PERCY MACKAYE

                     With Scenic and Costume Designs
                                    by
                           ROBERT EDMOND JONES

                              Together with
                      THREE MONOGRAPHS ON THE MASQUE
                                written by
                     the Author, the Scenic Designer,
                                   and
                              ARTHUR FARWELL
                          Composer of the Music




                                    TO

                         THOSE FRIENDLY THOUSANDS
                        OF MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN
                  IN AMERICAN TOWNS AND CITIES, WHO HAVE
                  SHARED WITH THE AUTHOR IN HIS MASQUES
                   A COMMON DEVOTION TO THE HAPPY CAUSE
                            OF A COMMUNAL ART

                         THIS MASQUE IS DEDICATED
                         IN CHRISTMAS FELLOWSHIP




PREFACE


Always an evergreen tree points up at a star.

Always a star looks somewhere down on the cradle of a child.

Always, once in the year, a child laughs up at evergreen boughs.

Tree, star and child are triune in the poetry of nature—a constellation
of man that never sets.

The antic mirth, the naïve awe of paganism, the joy and passion of
Christianity, are masks happy and tragic which the Folk Spirit of
childhood has worn for ages, and shall wear for ages more, in ritual of a
tree that never dies.

On the verge of No-Man’s-Land, where the blasted earth reels amid war’s
stench and thunder; in calm cathedrals, to carolling choirs; by lonely
chimney sides, or amid the young, tense assemblies of army camps,
Christmas—this Christmas of our new age—grows again in the ancient
greenness of a little tree.

How may we, too, do it homage?

Not forgetting the old simple merriment of folk days gone by, how shall
we say—and sing—to our tree something of that deep response which we feel
to-day to the creative sadness of our time?

Our young men are going out to the war: our country is grappling the
issue of a planet. Here is a dramatic conflict, not for us as spectators,
but as participants. Here is a theme, not of the traditional theatre,
but of a communal drama, the action of which is at once a battle and a
prayer. How may we take part together in expressing such a theme, at this
new Christmas time?

Surely it must be through some simple festival—chiefly of song, for
song is elemental to us all: a festival in which our people—young,
old, rich, poor, women, men, but chiefly our young soldiers—may share,
outdoors or indoors, in a ritual, democratic and devotional, on a scale
great or small, simple to act and symbolize: a drama not designed for a
hollow amphitheatre of spectators, but for a level-floored cathedral of
communicants: a drama in which the goal of world liberty we battle for
is clearly contrasted with its opposite, that we ourselves may not lose
sight of our goal or swerve from it, as our common prayer, in the midst
of battle. And there, as the focus-point of our festival and symbol of
it—the tree of light: light of our own childhood and of the world’s.

I do not know whether this simple masque will prove worthy to help in
creating such a festival for our new Christmas time—I can only wish and
hope that it may.

                                                            PERCY MACKAYE.

Cornish, New Hampshire, September, 1917.




CONTENTS


                                                                      PAGE

                             _INTRODUCTORY_

    DEDICATION                                                          ix

    PREFACE                                                             xi

    LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS                                              xiv

    PERSONS AND GROUPS                                                  xv

    CHORUSES AND CAROLS                                                xvi

    THE COMMUNITY CHORUS                                              xvii

    TIME AND PLACE                                                    xvii

    QUOTATION FROM ST. MATTHEW                                       xviii

                 _TEXT OF THE MASQUE IN TWELVE ACTIONS_

       I. “WHO KEEPETH WATCH?”                                           1

      II. THE LANTERN IN THE DESERT                                      9

     III. “SOMEBODY IS COMING!”                                         11

      IV. THE LIGHT-CHILD                                               14

       V. “SWORD OF THE WORLD”                                          21

      VI. THE BEFRIENDING                                               28

     VII. THE THREE WISE MEN                                            31

    VIII. “WHICH, O LORD, IS WISEST?”                                   34

      IX. OUTCASTS                                                      44

       X. THE WOUNDED PEDLAR                                            48

      XI. THE PERSECUTING HOST                                          53

     XII. THE MORNING STARS                                             54

                             _COMMENTARIES_

    COMMUNITY PRELUDE                                                   69

    COMMUNITY EPILUDE                                                   72

    THREE MONOGRAPHS:

      I. DRAMATIZING COMMUNITY SONG, BY PERCY MACKAYE                   73

     II. COMMUNITY MUSIC AND THE COMPOSER, BY ARTHUR FARWELL            77

    III. DESIGNS FOR “THE EVERGREEN TREE,” BY ROBERT EDMOND JONES       78

    ACTION OF “THE EVERGREEN TREE”                                      80

    ANNOUNCEMENTS CONCERNING MUSIC AND PRODUCTION                       81




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


                               _I. SCENES_

    DANCE-CAROL OF THE EVERGREEN                             _Frontispiece_

                                                               FACING PAGE

    THE LIGHT-CHILD                                                     16

    SWORD OF THE WORLD                                                  24

    THE THREE WISE MEN                                                  32

    OUTCASTS                                                            44

    THE PEDLAR-KING                                                     62

    THE MORNING STARS                                                   66

                            _II. GROUND-PLAN_                           69

                             _III. COSTUMES_

    GNOME, TREE, ELF                                                    78

    BEAR, WOLF, LION                                                    78

    JOSEPH, MARY, SHEPHERDS                                             78

    HOST, HEROD, CAPTAIN                                                78

    BELSHASAR, CASPAR, MELCHIOR                                         78

    FOLLOWERS OF BELSHASAR, CASPAR, MELCHIOR                            78

    SORROW, SONG, DEATH, POVERTY                                        78

    RUTH, CLAUS, CHILDREN, CHORUS B                                     78




_PERSONS AND GROUPS_

In the Order of their Appearance


PERSONS

    ELF
    GNOME
    TREE
    WOLF
    BEAR
    LION

    JOSEPH
    MARY (Mute)
    SHEPHERD

    CAPTAIN OF THE HOST OF HEROD
    HEROD

    BELSHASAR
    MELCHIOR
    CASPAR

    RUTH
    CLAUS
    SONG (Mute)
    SORROW (Mute)
    DEATH
    POVERTY (Mute)

GROUPS

    SHEPHERDS
    HOST OF HEROD
    FOLLOWERS OF THE THREE KINGS
    OUTCASTS: FOLLOWERS OF SONG, SORROW AND POVERTY

For Army Camp productions, in camps where it may not be practicable to
have women as acting principals, the two mute female figures, MARY and
SONG, may—if necessary—be omitted, and RUTH be acted by some well-skilled
youth, as was the custom in Elizabethan days. The part of TREE, in any
production, may be acted either by a young woman or by a young man (in
small-scale productions preferably by a young woman). ELF and GNOME are
preferably acted by children: a girl and a boy, or—if desirable—by two
boys. In Chorus A, and in the first Semi-Chorus of the Outcasts, choir
boys may, if need be, take the places of women.




_CHORUSES AND CAROLS_


CHORUSES

  _First Action_        I. (A,1)           Chorus of the Wilderness.
  _Fourth Action_       II. (A,2)          Light of the World.
  _Fourth Action_       III. (A,3)         The Star.
  _Fifth Action_        IV. (B,1)          The Might of Herod.
  _Fifth Action_        V. (A,4 B,2)       The Wrath of Herod.
  _Fifth and Eleventh_  VI. and X.         Song of the Persecuting Host.
                         (B,3 and 4)
  _Sixth Action_        VII. and VIII.     Glory and Serenity.
                         (A,5 and 6)
  _Ninth Action_        IX. (A,7)          Dirge of the Outcasts.
  _Twelfth Action_      XI. (A,8 and B,5)  Chorus of the Christmas Tree.
                                             Part   I: The Pedlar-King.
                                             Part  II: The Tree.
                                             Part III: The Child.


CAROLS

  _Second Action_       1. Joseph’s Carol.
  _Third Action_        2. Fairy Round.
  _Fourth Action_       3. Luck Song.
  _Fourth Action_       4. The Tree-Child’s Lullaby.
  _Seventh Action_      5. “We Three Kings of Orient Are.”
  _Eighth Action_       6. The Bell, the Sword and the Laughter.
  _Eighth Action_       7. Dance-Carol of the Evergreen.
  _Tenth Action_        8. Ballad of the Kings and the Pedlar.

In modified small-scale productions of the Masque, where it may be
impracticable to render all the music in its completeness, the Carols
alone may be sung. In that event, the Choruses should not be wholly
omitted, but may be rendered as Choral Poems spoken in chanted speech by
properly qualified leaders (at Stage A and Stage B), as indicated in the
“Guide to the Evergreen Tree” pamphlet, referred to in the Announcements
on the last page of this volume.




_THE COMMUNITY CHORUS_


is in two divisions, as follows:

CHORUS A, in White: Men and Women: located near Stage A.

CHORUS B, in Red: Men: located near Stage B.




_TIME AND PLACE_


TIME

The Time is laid on a night shortly after the birth of Christ.


PLACE

The Masque takes place in Four Regions, indicated by Two Stages, and Two
Aisles, the Audience being located between the two stages.

Stage A represents the Place of Outcasts: a knoll, with path, in the
Wilderness, before the Evergreen Tree.

Stage B (located opposite Stage A) represents the Place of Empire: the
Gateway and Steps to the Palace of Herod.

Aisle I (located on the right of Stage B, as one faces Stage A)
represents a Pathway from the land of Herod into the Wilderness.

Aisle II (located on the left of Stage B and parallel to Aisle I)
represents another Pathway into the Wilderness.

See Ground Plan opposite page 69.




_From the Gospel of Saint Matthew: Chapter II_


Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa in the days of Herod the
king, behold, there came Wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying,
“Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in
the east, and are come to worship him.”

When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled....

And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, “Go and search diligently for
the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I
may come and worship him also.”

When they had heard the king, they departed; and lo, the star, which they
saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the
young child was....

And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod,
they departed into their own country another way.

Now when they were departed, behold an angel of the Lord appeareth to
Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise and take the young child and his
mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I tell thee: for
Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”

And he arose and took the young child and his mother by night, and
departed into Egypt....

Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the Wise men, was exceeding
wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem,
and in all the borders thereof, from two years old and under.




THE EVERGREEN TREE




FIRST ACTION

(“Who Keepeth Watch?”)


_STAGE A: THE PLACE OF OUTCASTS_

It is night.

In a dark place of the wilderness, a tree is growing.

Before it is an open space on a knoll, from which—left and right—a path
leads down away into the desert.

At one side, in shadow, sit ELF and GNOME.

At centre, in starlight, stands TREE, half emerged from dim boughs.

[Sidenote: _First Chorus: A,1. Chorus of the Wilderness_]

    _CHORUS_

    _Who keepeth watch in the lone wilderness_
    _For the coming of a sign?_
    _Who sendeth her roots down into the dark places_
    _Seeking the springs of life,_
    _And is restored:_
    _And lifteth up her boughs in prayer of quiet,_
    _And lo, they are filled with starlight?_
        _The Tree: the Tree keepeth watch for the coming of a sign._
    _Who waiteth very patiently in the night desert_
    _For dawn of a new morrow?_
    _And the wild beasts draw near unto her: they are tired_
    _But none is afraid,_
    _For her lap is like to a mother’s, where little children_
    _Play till they weary and sleep:_
    _There dryads bring her their dreams,_
    _And the fairy folk are at home.—_
    _Who liveth very old, alive with young green,_
    _And waketh her heart with song for the coming of light?_
        _The Tree: the Tree:_
    _The Tree keepeth watch in her heart for the coming of light._

    (A long wailing cry resounds from the dark.)

    THE VOICE

    Hi-ih!

    ELF

    What’s that?

    GNOME

    That is Wolf.
    He’s coming from the desert. He is lonely.

    ELF

    Why is he coming here?

    GNOME

    Tree is here.
    All the creatures come to Tree, when they are lonely.

    ELF

    Even Tree seems lonely to-night,
    With eyes that look far away.—
    Tree, what are you watching for?

    TREE

    A star.

    ELF

    But the sky is filled with starlight.

    TREE

    I am watching for a new star.
    I have been waiting for it a long while.
    I think I shall see it again soon.

    GNOME

    Again?—Have you seen it before?

    TREE

    Yes: once:
    One night, not long ago,
    I saw it rising in the east, across the desert.
    It made a path of wonderful shining.
    Then it stood still in the sky—far over yonder!—
    And seemed I heard shepherds singing.

    (WOLF enters.)

    WOLF

    Hi-ih! It’s a cold night.
    I want to come out of the wind.

    GNOME

    Ask Tree.

    WOLF

    High-o! Green-and-alive!
    Can a fellow come out of the wind, here?

    TREE

    Welcome, Wolf.

    WOLF

    And what may you three be talking about?

    ELF

    A star.

    GNOME

    A new star in the east.

    (Noises of puffing and growling are heard.)

    THE NOISES

    Ooff!—Ah-yarrr!

    ELF

    Who now?

    GNOME

    That’s Bear and Lion coming.
    They’re tired and sleepy.

    (BEAR and LION enter. Bear carries a bee-hive; Lion, a large bone.)

    BEAR

    Ooff! Ooff! Where’s a hollow to sleep in?

    GNOME

    Ask Tree.

    TREE

    Welcome, Bear! Break a bough for your pillow.

    WOLF

    (Edging away)

    Hi! Not my tail!

    LION

    Ah-yarrr! I’m tired of killing.
    Where can I bury my bone?

    GNOME

    Ask Tree!

    TREE

    Welcome, Lion. Lay your head on my roots and rest.

    LION

    Yarrr! It’s a night of cold.
    You kill nothing, Bear: how do you keep so fat?

    WOLF

    His belly is full of wild honey.—
    Here! he’s soft and round:
    Keep him in the middle.

    BEAR

    Three are warmer than one. Go to sleep.

    (WOLF and LION lean against BEAR. Slowly all fall into slumber
    and low snoring.)

    THE THREE

    (Murmuring together)

    Hi-yo!—Ooff! Ooff!—Ah-yarrr!

    ELF

    And why do you wish the star to come, Tree?

    TREE

    Because of my dream.

    GNOME

    What dream?

    TREE

    Because I have dreamed a new star will come in the night;
    And will gather all the old stars out of the heaven
    To sparkle upon my branches.
    And there they shall sing all together.
    And in the midst of them the new star
    Shall laugh aloud,
    Shall laugh like a young child,
    And my boughs shall be as sheltering arms to make him a home.
    And there we shall dwell no more, dreadful in the desert,
    Where wild beasts kill one another, and weary of killing;
    And there shall be no more lonely things;
    But there shall be carolling of stars and a young child’s laughter;
    And I shall be the angel in his home.

    ELF

    The wild beasts are fast asleep.

    GNOME

    Nothing is stirring in the world.

    ELF

    Yes: look! I think I see—

    GNOME

    Where?

    ELF

    Don’t you see—there! through the dark:
    It is moving towards us.

    GNOME

    I think I hear some one singing.

    ELF

    It is drawing nearer.

    TREE

    O my dear dream!

    ELF AND GNOME

    Is it the new star?

    TREE

    Yes; but it has fallen down out of the heaven.
    It has made itself very small and lowly.
    It has made itself into a little lantern,
    To light the feet of them who wander in the wilderness.

    ELF

    See!

    GNOME

    Hark.




SECOND ACTION

(The Lantern in the Desert)


_AISLE I: A PATHWAY INTO THE WILDERNESS_

Moving toward the Tree, a Procession enters singing.

First comes JOSEPH in white. He holds high a tall staff, from which a
swinging lantern shines. Behind him comes, in pale blue, MARY, attended
by SHEPHERDS in white. These carry lighted candles and long crooks, and
they are ranged about a MANGER, borne in their midst.

[Sidenote: _Carol 1. Joseph’s Carol_]

    JOSEPH

    _As Joseph I was walking,_
      _I heard an angel sing:_

    JOSEPH AND SHEPHERDS

    “_This night shall be the birthnight_
      _Of Christ our heavenly King._

    _His birth-bed shall be neither_
      _In housen nor in hall,_
    _Nor in the place of paradise,_
      _But in the oxen’s stall._

    _He neither shall be rockèd_
      _In silver nor in gold,_
    _But in the wooden manger_
      _That lieth on the mould._

    _He neither shall be clothèd_
      _In purple nor in pall,_
    _But in the fair white linen_
      _That usen babies all._”

    JOSEPH

    _As Joseph I was walking_
      _Thus did the angel sing;_

    JOSEPH AND SHEPHERDS

    _And Mary’s Son at midnight_
      _Was born to be our King._




THIRD ACTION

(“Somebody Is Coming!”)


_STAGE A_

Tree and the FAIRIES have watched and listened eagerly.

    TREE

    (To ELF and GNOME)

    Look, look! The light is coming here.
    Rouse up the wild beasts,
    And let us make a welcome for these wanderers.

[Sidenote: _Carol 2. Fairy Round_]

    TREE, ELF, GNOME

    (Sing in a round)

    _Wolf, Bear, Lion!_
    _Wolf, Bear, Lion!_

        _Are you awake?_
        _Are you awake?_

            _Somebody is coming!_
            _Somebody is coming!_

    LION

    (Waking and rubbing his eyes, joins in the round)

    _Who can it be?_
    _Who can it be?_

    BEAR

    (Rolling to his feet with an “Ooff!” imitates LION)

    _Let’s go and see!_
    _Let’s go and see!_

    WOLF, BEAR AND LION

    (Scrambling down the path)

    Hi-ih! Ooff! Yarrr!

    TREE

    Peace, wild folk! Make a welcome for these new comers.

    LION

    (Grinning savagely)

    Welcome, they are! My mouth waters for them.

    WOLF

    (To LION)

    Hi! Let me pass.
    I’ll pick a bone with you—after the meat’s gone.

    BEAR

    You talk loud, but you keep your tail between your legs.

    WOLF

    That’s more than _you_ can do—with yours!

    LION

    Now for a new kill!




FOURTH ACTION

(The Light-Child)


_APPROACHING-SPACE and STEPS A; Then, STAGE A_

Approaching along the path, JOSEPH and his GROUP pause, confronted by the
BEASTS.

    JOSEPH

    God save you, Sir Lion!

    LION

    Save yourself, Sir Man—if you can.

    WOLF

    Look sharp: there’s more there behind.

    BEAR

    They carry a trough there. What’s in it?

    SHEPHERD

    Keep off!—Aim your blows, fellows: strike!

    (The SHEPHERDS, with their crooks, drive back the BEASTS. JOSEPH
    intervenes.)

    JOSEPH

    Stay, good Shepherds! Put away your crooks.
    Fear nothing, Mary.
    These wild folk crave our leave to behold the Child
    And do Him homage.

    LION

    Man-child!—Yarrr!

    JOSEPH

    (Pausing before the Evergreen Tree)

    Pray you set down the manger. Now, Sir Beasts,
    And you, Elf Folk, will it please you draw near and look in?

    (On either side the SHEPHERDS draw back, revealing at centre
    the MANGER, out from which a wonderful glow shines upward,
    touching the faces of the SHEPHERDS and hushing the BEASTS with
    awe.)

    TREE

    The light! The light!

[Sidenote: _Second Chorus: A,2. Light of the World_]

    _CHORUS_

    _Where sleepeth till dawn-break the light of the new morrow?_

              _Alleluia!_
    _Lo, as a babe, it sleepeth in a little manger:_
              _Light of the World! Alleluia!_

                  _The dark is his cradle;_
                  _The beasts come about him;_
                  _The stars in their watches_
                  _Are covered with cloud._

                  _Home hath he none;_
                  _The desert receives him—_
                  _The place of outcasts_
                  _And lonely things._

                  _No sound is heard there_
                  _Save shepherds singing;_
                  _The lords of earth_
                  _Avert their faces;_
                  _Dark—dark is his cradle._

    _Yet surely will dawn break with light of his new morrow:_

              _Alleluia!_
    _Yea, for the babe that sleepeth in a little manger_
              _Is Light of the World: Alleluia!_

    (The FAIRIES and BEASTS peer in the MANGER with awed delight.
    Murmuring aloud, they speak to JOSEPH.)

    ELF

    May we not dance for him?

    GNOME

    And make gambols?

    LION

    May I give him my bone? ’Twill make him a rare toy!

    BEAR

    Ooff!—If he lie in my lap, my fur will warm him.

    WOLF

    Look-ee! If I wag my tail for him, he will laugh.

    JOSEPH

    Hush! He is asleep. Please do not wake Him.

    (The BEASTS draw back. Kneeling down with ELF and GNOME, all
    Five sing together.)

[Sidenote: _Carol 3. Luck Song_]

    THE BEASTS AND FAIRIES

    _While this Light-Child sleeping lies,_
    _Word or murmur never wake him!_
    _But when he shall open his eyes,_
    _Mirth and antics we will make him._
                  _Amen!_

    JOSEPH

    Thank you, friends, for your courtesies;
    But now the night grows old, and we are weary of wandering.
    Out of the land of Herod we are fled, and go into Egypt.
    Mary and Joseph are we, and Jesus, the little Child,
    Whom these good Shepherds bear with us in his birth-cradle.
    Now we must needs find shelter for the babe to rest.

    TREE

    Now welcome, Mary and Joseph, and Jesus, the little Child!
    Rest you, I pray, with these Shepherds, under my boughs.

    JOSEPH

    Gentle Tree, you say kindly.

    SHEPHERD

    (To MARY, with gladness)

    Here Herod can never harm Him, Lady dear.

    TREE

    Who is Herod, that he would harm a little child?

    JOSEPH

    Herod is lord of the world—there, in the land we have fled from.
    Mighty is he, yet afraid: for out of the east
    Three Wise Men followed a star to this poor manger,
    Telling Herod a little child should inherit his kingdom.
    Mighty is Herod, yet trembles now on his throne,
    And wishes this Little One death.

    SHEPHERD

    But shall never find Him!

    JOSEPH

    Nay, for none in Herod’s kingdom knows
    Where Child and Mother and Manger and guiding Star
    Are vanished away. Only you, dear folk of the desert,
    Share now our secret.

    TREE

    And shall ward it full well.
    So enter into my shelter, with your good Shepherds,
    Joseph and Mary and Manger-Child—and rest.

    (TREE and MARY pass behind within shadow. As the SHEPHERDS with
    the MANGER follow, a sweet, lulling VOICE sings from within.)

[Sidenote: _Carol 4. The Tree-Child’s Lullaby_]

    THE VOICE

    _Babe of my love,_
    _Lull thee to rest!_
    _Bird of my heart,_
    _Night is thy nest._

      _Evergreen bough,_
      _Shadow my babe!_
      _Shelter my bird,_
      _Evergreen bough!_

    _Star of my dreams,_
    _Soon thou wilt shine:_
    _Dream of the stars,_
    _Splendor be thine!_

      _Evergreen bough,_
      _Shine with my Star!_
      _Shelter his dreams,_
      _Evergreen bough!_

    (JOSEPH, pausing a moment before he follows, speaks to his
    lantern.)

    JOSEPH

    Now lantern, that dost hide His holy light,
    Show forth on high thy little Master’s star!

    (He blows out the lantern.

    Instantly a shining Star appears on the top of the Tree.
    Staring upward with gestures of surprise, the CREATURES murmur
    aloud.)

    BEASTS, ELF AND GNOME

    The star! The star!

    (In wonder, while the CHORUS sings, they follow after the
    others.)

[Sidenote: _Third Chorus: A,3. The Star_]

    _CHORUS_

    _Where shineth in whiteness the star of the new Master?_
                  _Alleluia!_
    _Lo, from the tree that sheltereth a child’s dreaming_
                  _Shineth His star: Alleluia!_

[Illustration: THE LIGHT-CHILD

    _CHORUS_

    _Where sleepeth till dawn-break the light of the new morrow?_
                              _Alleluia!_
    _Lo, as a babe it sleepeth in a little manger:_
              _Light of the World! Alleluia!_]




FIFTH ACTION

(“Sword of the World”)


_STAGE B: THE PLACE OF EMPIRE_

Gateway and Steps in front of HEROD’S Palace.

With spears and in armor, the CAPTAIN and the HOST OF HEROD are
assembling.

With deep, pounding reverberation, VOICES of the male CHORUS conflict
with the far, high singing of the other CHORUS, now dying away.

[Sidenote: _Fourth Chorus: B,1. The Might of Herod_]

    _CHORUS_

    _Herod—Herod—Herod—Herod, the mighty_
                    _Lord of the world!_
    _Hail him, hail him, hail him Herod the Master!_
                    _Bow to his will!_

    _His power what star can confound?_
    _Or cloud can darken his splendor,_
    _Who bindeth his brow with the lightning_
    _And girdeth his loins with the storm!_

    _For he maketh the world of men_
    _The winnowing floor of his glory:_
    _And he weareth the mail of the Most High,_
    _And shareth the mantle of God.—_

            _Millions obey him,_
            _Man is his tool._

            _Forth on his errands_
            _Fly his red legions;_
            _Domes of his dwelling_
            _Glow in the dawn._

            _Fire—fire_
            _Forgeth his empire;_
            _Slaves—slaves_
            _Rear his dominion;_
            _Sowing and harvest_
            _Bleed in his furrows;_

            _Peace is his footstool,_
            _War is his crown._

    _Herod—Herod—Herod—Herod, the mighty_
                  _Lord of the world!_

    (Beside the gate, the CAPTAIN of the HOST strikes a deep-toned
    gong and calls aloud.)

    CAPTAIN

    Herod! Herod, the most High!

    (HEROD comes forth with his Followers. Clad in long robe of Tyrian
    purple, he wears on his head a gold helmet. In his hand, he holds
    a great staff, surmounted by a globe of the world.)

    HEROD

    Who calls so loud at my gate?

    CAPTAIN

    I, Captain of the Host of Herod.

    HEROD

    Why do you cry on my name?

    CAPTAIN

    For I am come at your bidding, King of Men.
    Lo, we are here to do your command.

    HEROD

    My command I gave you, to bring unto me three Wise Men,
    Kings of the East. Show them before me now.

    CAPTAIN

    Most High, they are not here. We have made far searching
    But they are vanished away.

    HEROD

    Where are they gone?

    CAPTAIN

    No man has seen.

    HEROD

    Where shines their star?

    CAPTAIN

    Heaven has no sign.

    HEROD

    Where was he found—the child they worshipped?

    CAPTAIN

    Lowly he lay, in a poor manger.

    HEROD

    Now bring him before me!

    CAPTAIN

    He too has departed.

    HEROD

    My command! My command! My command!
    Have ye not slain him? Speak!

    CAPTAIN

    Herod, most High, how shall the vanished be slain?
    No sign gives us token
    Where child and mother and manger and guiding star
    Are vanished away.

    HEROD

    Powers of my crown and throne! Am I not Herod,
    Herod, the Mighty? Who shall defeat my power?

[Sidenote: _Fifth Chorus: B,2 & A,4. The Wrath of Herod._]

    (Close by, from the Place of Empire, deep CHORAL VOICES
    reiterate HEROD’S boasts of triumph; far off, from the Place of
    Outcasts, they are answered in antiphony by high, sweet CHOIRS,
    affirming his defeat.)

[Sidenote: _B,2, Reiterative_]

    _CHORUS B_

    _Herod, our lord and king! Who shall defy his command?_

[Sidenote: _A,4, Antiphonal_]

    _CHORUS A_

    _A star! A star shall confound him._

    HEROD

    Am I the Sword of the World, and shall a weakling disarm me?

[Sidenote: _B,2, Reiterative_]

    _CHORUS B_

    _How shall the crook of a shepherd shatter the sword of a king?_

[Sidenote: _A,4, Antiphonal_]

    _CHORUS A_

    _A child! A child shall disarm him!_

    HEROD

    Hath God anointed me, yea, and shall a babe disinherit?

[Sidenote: _B,2, Reiterative_]

    _CHORUS B_

    _Lo, shall the light of a manger outshine his glory of palaces?_

[Sidenote: _A,4, Antiphonal_]

    _CHORUS A_

    _A dream! A dream shall survive him!_

    HEROD

    Now, by my host of power! he shall not escape me—
    This babe low-born, but for his sake shall all
    The hosts of childhood perish. Go forth and slay them,
    All newly born of women, that he among them
    May not escape, and all who shall resist
    My power, young men or old, brothers or fathers,
    Destroy them likewise—yea, with red fire and spear
    And burning sword-blade. Go! My will is God’s,
    For I am Herod—Herod, lord of the world!

    (Raising his sword, the CAPTAIN makes sign to the HOST, who
    lift high their spears. As the CHORUS breaks into song, they
    depart, marching, while HEROD reënters his palace.)

[Sidenote: _Sixth Chorus: B,3. Song of the Persecuting Host_]

    _CHORUS_

    _Go forth, ye host of power!_
      _Lay waste, lay waste the lowly!_
    _For Herod’s might is a blazing tower,_
      _And Herod’s wrath is holy._
          _Yea, Herod’s wrath_
          _God’s ire it hath_
    _As he rends the weak asunder._
    _Go forth upon his fiery path_
      _Go forth, ye host, in thunder!_

    _The strong, the strong shall reign!_
    _Unleash the hounds of pain,_
      _And loose their cry_
      _Where the wounded lie_
    _And the weakling race are slain._

    _Go forth, ye host of power!_
      _Destroy, destroy the dreaming!_
    _For none may pause for a dream to flower_
      _Where Herod’s might goes streaming._
          _Yea, Herod’s might_
          _God maketh His right_
    _When the weak of the world go under._
    _Go forth upon their darkling flight,_
      _Go forth, ye host, in thunder!_

[Illustration: SWORD OF THE WORLD

    _CHORUS B_

    _Herod, our lord and king! Who shall defy his command?_

    _CHORUS A_

    _A star! A star shall confound him!_]




SIXTH ACTION

(The Befriending)


_STAGE A_

Now, from the Place of Outcasts, CHORAL VOICES sing, while once more
JOSEPH, MARY and SHEPHERDS bearing the MANGER appear, coming forth from
the shelter of the Evergreen. With them TREE also appears.

[Sidenote: _Seventh Chorus: A,5. Glory and Serenity_]

    _CHORUS_

    _Glory and serenity,_
      _Beauty of desire,_
    _Bless to-night this holy tree_
      _And our candle fire._
    _Tree of our hearts, behold!_
    _How the dreams of a child in your boughs unfold_
    _And the weary of earth put off their pain_
    _Where the Child of our love has lain._

    JOSEPH

    Shepherd, the morrow’s light will soon begin
    To wake the desert world. Here we have lain
    This night in quiet refuge; yet through sleep
    I heard far off the host of Herod rage
    Against this Child His kingdom. So once more
    Let us go forth our way, till He is safe
    Beyond the war-lord’s might.

    SHEPHERD

                                  Yea, let us go,
    Yet not till we have thanked this gentle Tree.

    JOSEPH

    Dear Tree, you have befriended in his need
    This little Child new-born. So—for His sake—
    Your gracious boughs shall evermore be green,
    Nor ever in winter lose their April sap,
    But freshly, at this season of His birth,
    They shall be fragrant of the hallowed dreams
    His happy heart bequeathes you.

    TREE

                                    He was welcome,
    And I will deck my boughs with infant joys
    In his remembrance.

    SHEPHERD

                        So we say—God keep you!
    And not ‘Goodbye’!

    JOSEPH

    (To TREE)

                        Nay, still another token
    We leave with you: His star—to be henceforth
    A morning star of song for other children
    Who rest from Herod’s wrath. So you shall be
    No more a forest sprite, but a hallow’d angel—
    His shining angel with a sheathèd sword
    To guard all childhood’s home. Keep here his star:
    Farewell!

    TREE

              O fare you well, dear wanderers,
    That have fulfilled with love my lonely dream!

    (With lighted candles, in processional, the SHEPHERDS with
    MANGER, MARY and JOSEPH depart toward the desert. While the
    CHORUS sings, TREE stands gazing after them.)

[Sidenote: _Eighth Chorus: A,6. Glory and Serenity_]

    CHORUS

    _Glory and serenity,_
      _Beauty of desire,_
    _Blend the song of men set free_
      _With their children’s choir._
    _Child of our hearts, behold!_
    _How the dark is strewn with your fairy gold_
    _And the bitter of soul lay-by their spleen_
    _Where the Tree of our love grows green._

    (TREE goes within.)




SEVENTH ACTION

(The Three Wise Men)


_AISLE II: ANOTHER PATHWAY INTO THE WILDERNESS_

Entering from its farther end appear, in procession, the THREE WISE MEN,
and their FOLLOWERS. Lighted by torches of their Attendants, this PAGEANT
OF THE KINGS moves onward in oriental splendor.

Each KING wears a crown of gold.

The crown of the youngest, BELSHASAR, is set on a turban. He is clean
shaven, pale and recluse. The garb of him and his Group has a tone of
asceticism.

The crown of the middle-aged, MELCHIOR, is placed on a helmet. He is
thick-set, black-bearded and sharp-eyed. A martial glitter touches him
and his Group.

The crown of the oldest, CASPAR, is set on a high-peaked hat with wide
flapping brims. His beard is silver white, his face ruddy and wrinkled
with laughter. His ample gown is gorgeous with red dyes and jewels. Like
him in jocular splendor are his Followers.

As they approach the place of the Tree, KINGS and FOLLOWERS come singing
a carol, led by the KINGS.

[Sidenote: _Carol 4. Trio and Chorus: “We Three Kings of Orient Are”_]

    BELSHASAR, MELCHIOR AND CASPAR

    _TRIO_

    _We three kings of Orient are:_
    _Wending home, we traverse afar_
            _Field and fountain_
            _Moor and mountain_
    _Seeking for our lost star._

    _CHORUS_

    (Of the THREE KINGS and their FOLLOWERS)

            _O Star of Wonder,_
            _Star of Night,_
    _Star with royal beauty bright!_
            _Eastward leading,_
            _Home proceeding,_
    _Show once more Thy perfect light!_

    _TRIO_

    _Where the guiding glory once shone_
    _Dark we wander onward and on,_
            _Watching, hoping,_
            _Dimly groping,_
    _Seeking the light that’s gone._

    _CHORUS_

            _O Star of Wonder,_
            _Star of Night,_
    _Star with royal beauty bright!_
            _Eastward leading,_
            _Home proceeding,_
    _Show once more Thy perfect light!_

[Illustration: THE THREE WISE MEN]




EIGHTH ACTION

(“Which, O Lord, is Wisest?”)


_STAGE A_

The THREE KINGS enter before the Tree, their Followers grouped on the
right. As he comes, KING CASPAR lifts his voice in a carol, solo, in
which BELSHASAR and MELCHIOR soon join with him. Each of them, in his
singing, acts out the sung carol in his bearing and movement.

[Sidenote: _Carol 5. Solo and Trio. The Bell, the Sword and the Laughter_]

    CASPAR

    _Lord of life! how pleasant ways_
      _Are thy paths of danger,_
    _Leading down from Herod’s place_
      _By an ox’s manger:_
    _Lo, there lay a little child_
      _Rosy ’neath the rafter.—_
    _Ahaha! how glad he smiled!_
      _Lord, how blithe his laughter!_

    MELCHIOR

    _Laughter! Nay, I heard none laugh._
      _Whom thou heardest—say now!_

    CASPAR

    _Him, the child, where mid the chaff_
      _He lay on the hay-mow._
    _Sure, Belshasar, thou didst bend_
      _Nigh him and thou heardest._

    BELSHASAR

    _Caspar, nay: I comprehend_
      _Not one thing thou wordest._

    CASPAR

    _Ohoho! Still, Lord, I hear_
      _Music of that laughter._

    MELCHIOR

    _Daft thou ever wert: I fear_
      _Still thou growest dafter._
    _Nothing heard I, by my soul_
      _But a sword its clanging._

    BELSHASAR

    _Nay, a bell, I heard it toll:_
      _On a cross ’twas hanging._

    MELCHIOR

    _Now, am I not Melchior?_
      _By my crown its keeping!_
    _’Twas a sword that dangled o’er_
      _Where the babe lay sleeping._

    BELSHASAR

    _Nay, a bell—a passing-bell:_
    _Lonely was its ringing._

    CASPAR

    _Ahaha! I heard full well_
      _‘Merry Christmas!’ singing._

    CASPAR, BELSHASAR AND MELCHIOR

    (Sing together)

    _Lord, how may we wise men tell_
      _How to clothe our starkness?_
    _Song and sword and passing-bell_
      _Lure us through the darkness._
    _Send us sign of hidden things—_
      _Thou who naught despisest!_
    _Lo, of us three crownèd kings,_
      _Which, O Lord, is wisest?_

    VOICES OF ELF AND GNOME

    (Echo in song, within)

    “_Which, O Lord, is wisest?_”

    (In songful laughter)

    _Óhoho! Aháha!_

    CASPAR

    Lord, Lord, Thy sign! Harken, wise men, my brothers:
    Laughter, laughter He sends us for a sign!

    BELSHASAR

    Nay, voices of the desert places!

    MELCHIOR

                                    Mockings of midnight!

    ELF AND GNOME

    (Enter, laughing lyricly)

    _Óhoho! Aháha!_

    CASPAR

    Heigh! What is here? Elf!—Gnome!

    BELSHASAR

    Keep back! They are imps of evil.

    MELCHIOR

    Stay! Do not speak with them. Hush!

    (CASPAR pays no heed, but greets the FAIRIES, who return his
    greeting with blithe bows.)

    CASPAR

    Now, neighbors, God rest you merry!

    ELF

    Welcome, Wise Man!

    GNOME

                        Welcome, Sir King!

    MELCHIOR

    (To BELSHASAR)

    He speaks with them.

    BELSHASAR

    (To MELCHIOR)

                        Come. He is lost!

    (They draw away.)

    GNOME

    Where are you from—ye Kings?

    CASPAR

    From the East, returning home from Herod’s land.

    ELF

    What went you there for to do?

    CASPAR

    To worship a new-born Child.

    GNOME

    How did you find your way?

    CASPAR

    We followed a star.

    ELF AND GNOME

    (Nodding to each other)

                        A star!

    CASPAR

    Yea, but our path now has lost it.—
    Why do ye laugh there so merry?

    ELF AND GNOME

    (Pointing)

    Look up!

    CASPAR

              The star! The star!
    Ho, Melchior, Belshasar, look up!
    His star—the star we have lost—is found:
    Behold, it shines on the tree!

    MELCHIOR

    I see no star.

    BELSHASAR

                  ’Tis darkness all.

    CASPAR

    What! Can you see nothing shining yonder?

    MELCHIOR

    Nothing. Your eyes are bleary with night.

    BELSHASAR

    Nay, he’s grown old and merry and cracked.

    CASPAR

    Deaf to His laughter, blind to His star!
    God save you, Wise Men! Let me grow old
    And merry and cracked,
    And talk with His wild, silly creatures.

    (Enter WOLF, BEAR and LION.)

    BELSHASAR

    (To MELCHIOR)

    Come farther!—Wild beasts they draw near.

    (They move aside into shadow.)

    CASPAR

    Halloa, goodman Bear! Good even!

    BEAR

    (Forlornly)

    Ooff! Ooff! My honey hive’s empty.

    LION

    Look you! My bone is picked bare.

    WOLF

    I’ve never a bone left to pick,
    And I’m losing the fur on my tail.

    CASPAR

    Heigh, Master Wolf, Sir Lion!
    How come ye so down at heart?

    LION

    The Light-Child is gone on his way.

    WOLF

    When a fellow can’t sing, he feels hungry.

    CASPAR

    Nay, neighbors, the Light-Child is with us;
    He smiles from His twinkling star
    Yonder, yea laughs in His light
    And bids us make merry together
    For joy of His shining.—Hoho!
    Bring hither my music, good fellows!
    Bring hither my fiddles and cakes
    To make Him a feast night.

    (From among CASPAR’S FOLLOWERS, cakes and instruments are
    brought before him. To WOLF, BEAR and LION he gives each a
    cake; to ELF and GNOME a stringed instrument.)

                              Here, neighbors,
    Have each of you now a sweet frosting:
    Here’s moon-cake and sun-cake and star-cake,
    To mind us His birth-time. And you—
    Here’s tune-strings to play, while we sing
    To praise this good tree of His star.

    (TREE enters, winged, all in white.)

    ELF

    Look, look! Tree now is his angel.

    TREE

    Welcome, dear passers in darkness!
    The Light-Child is gone on His way,
    But He leaves you His star, to make glad
    Your path in the wilderness.—Welcome
    Under His star!

    CASPAR

                    Thank you, Tree.
    His star hath made merry our hearts
    To dance in His light—aye, to sing
    As we enter your place of His dreams.
    Come, neighbors, now blithe be our carol!

    (With his sceptre for baton, CASPAR leads in dance and song
    WOLF, BEAR, LION, ELF and GNOME, the BEASTS holding their
    cakes, the FAIRIES playing their instruments. Joining in their
    blithe dance of devotion, the old KING clutches the great flap
    of his crown, to keep it from joggling off.)

[Sidenote: _Carol 6. Dance-Carol of the Evergreen._]

    ALL

    (Sing, to the strongly stressed dance-rhythm)

    _O Evergreen, our Evergreen!_
    _Thy boughs are brave and bright o’ sheen,_
    _Thy bark and wood are live and strong_
        _And bonny with the berry._
    _So we will sing our even-song_
    _And dance for thee, like king and queen.—_
    _O Evergreen, dear Evergreen!—_
        _To make thy heart be merry._

    _O Even-song, our Even-song,_
    _Thy notes this holy night belong_
    _To Him who came to heal our teen_
        _With love and starry leaven._
    _His childhood keepeth ever green_
    _All hearts of creatures here that long—_
    _O Even-song, dear Even-song—_
        _To make our earth His heaven._

    (Following TREE, they dance joyously within. Outside, MELCHIOR,
    BELSHASAR and their Followers wait in the dimness.)

    BELSHASAR

    A bell! I hear a bell tolling.

    MELCHIOR

    A sword! The clang of a sword!




NINTH ACTION

(Outcasts)


_STAGE B AND AISLE I_

From the right of HEROD’S Gate sounds the tolling of bells—from the left,
the clangor of swords.

During this, HEROD comes forth and stands on his dais. There, in shifting
light and darkness, HELMETED MEN with swords hurry to him, confer in
pantomime and depart.

Then, as HEROD stands looking down from his height, there passes below
him a PROCESSION OF OUTCASTS, which—moving from Aisle II to Aisle
I—passes on along Aisle I toward the Place of the Tree. When the last of
this dirgeful Pageant has gone by him, HEROD returns in darkness within
the gate.

The Procession of Outcasts is accompanied by FOUR MASKED FIGURES in
symbolic garb, and consists of the FOLLOWERS of these, walking before and
after a stretcher, borne at the middle of the Pageant. First of the Four
is a Female Figure, SONG, who leads the Procession, looking upward; last,
is a Male Figure, POVERTY, bowed in stature. The other two Male Figures
walk at the head and foot of the stretcher, the first being SORROW,
staring before him, the second one—DEATH, who bears a muffled babe in his
arms, lulling it, with a calm smile.

[Illustration: OUTCASTS]

On the stretcher a Poor Man lies wounded—a PEDLAR, with his pack for a
head-rest. He wears a red jerkin and great boots and a workman’s cap. His
beard is brown. His face is pale, his side bandaged. In one hand he holds
a broken sword. The Man is CLAUS, whose Wife, RUTH, walks beside him, in
peasant garb. At his other side walk two small tattered Figures—a BOY and
a GIRL, their children.

As all pass slowly onward, the OUTCASTS chant their song-dirge, out of
which rises momentarily, first, the Voice of RUTH, then of CLAUS, while
at times Full Chorus gives deeper volume to the singing. Rhythms of
tolled bells and of clanging swords accompany the two Semi-Choruses.

[Sidenote: _Ninth Chorus: A,7. Dirge of the Outcasts._]

    THE OUTCASTS

    (Semi-Chorus of Women)

    _Bells, bells of the dark!_
    _Tongues of iron and terror!_
    _Toll no more, no more,_
    _Bells of my breaking heart!_

    RUTH

    _Beautiful I bore him,_
    _Babe of my life and milk:_
    _Wonderful I wore him,_
    _Yea, as a scarf of silk:_
    _Terrible—terrible—_
        _They tore him!_

    THE OUTCASTS

    (Semi-Chorus of Women)

    _Bells of my breaking heart,_
    _Toll no more, no more,_
    _Tongues of iron and terror,_
    _Bells, bells of the dark!_

    _FULL CHORUS_

    (Men and Women)

    _God!—God of the broken heart!_
      _Lord of the tolling bell!_
    _God, our God, if thou art, if thou art,_
      _Tell us, our Father, tell:_
          _How darkly long_
          _Shall the reign of the strong_
    _Endure, to make of Thine earth our hell,_
    _Ere thou, O Lord of the bleeding dart,_
      _Rise in Thy light, to quell?_

    THE OUTCASTS

    (Semi-Chorus of Men)

    _Swords, swords in my soul!_
    _Tongues of fire and horror!_
    _Clang aloud, aloud,_
    _Swords of my burning heart!_

    CLAUS

    _Newly born I named him_
    _Babe of my joy and ruth:_
    _Kin of heart I claimed him,_
    _Yea, as my star of youth:_
    _Murderous—murderous—_
      _They maimed him!_

    THE OUTCASTS

    (Semi-Chorus of Men)

    _Swords of my burning heart!_
    _Clang aloud, aloud,_
    _Tongues of fire and horror,_
    _Swords, swords in my soul!_

    _FULL CHORUS_

    (Men and Women)

    _God!—God of the burning soul!_
      _Lord of the clanging sword!_
    _God, our God, from Thy kindling goal,_
      _Answer us, answer, Lord!_
          _How far and blind_
          _Shall the kings of our kind_
    _Beguile our hearts on their paths abhorred,_
    _Ere thou, O Christ of a race made whole,_
      _Come in Thy world-accord?_




TENTH ACTION

(The Wounded Pedlar)


_STAGE A_

While the OUTCASTS have been approaching, CASPAR has come forth from the
Place of the Tree and watched them coming.

Now, where he joins BELSHASAR and MELCHIOR, the THREE KINGS call, in
song, to the dim Figures who draw near.

[Sidenote: _Carol 8. Trio and Solo. Ballad of the Kings and the Pedlar_]

    THE THREE KINGS

    _Who are ye that come singing in darkness,_
      _Outcast in the desert so late?_

    CLAUS

    _O Kings, it is me, Claus the Pedlar,_
      _And these be my children and mate._

    THE THREE KINGS

    _Who are those there, your comrades, beside you:_
      _Those shadows, say, who should they be?_

    CLAUS

    _They be Death, and his young brother, Sorrow,_
      _And his old brother, Poverty._

    THE THREE KINGS

    _Nay, but who is that other amidst them,_
      _That lifteth her face: What is she?_

    CLAUS

    _That is Song, and she is their sister_
      _Who waiteth upon them, all three._

    (CLAUS, RUTH and the two CHILDREN have now joined the THREE KINGS.)

    CASPAR

    _Goodman, why are the eyes of your woman_
      _So weary of look and so wild?_

    CLAUS

    _He hath broken our home, hath King Herod,_
      _And killed us our new-born child._

    _Now tell us, ye Kings that be Wise Men,_
      _Now tell us, where darkly we roam:_
    _What right hath a king of a pedlar_
      _To rob him his child and his home?_

    MELCHIOR

    _A king hath the right of his power_
      _To raise high his glory and crown._

    CLAUS

    _Then it’s Claus hath the right of a pedlar_
      _To pull his high glory adown._

    CASPAR

    _A king hath his host and his captains_
      _To shatter the weak with his horde._

    CLAUS

    _Then it’s Claus he will be his own captain_
      _To sharpen the edge of his sword._

    BELSHASAR

    _Nay, a king hath the might of his lordship_
      _’Tis death for his slave to defy._

    CLAUS

    _Then it’s me hath the right of my manship_
      _To master his might or to die._

    _For ’tis God is my King and not Herod,_
      _And God he keepeth no slave;_
    _And liever than live Herod’s henchman_
      _I’ll lie a free man in the grave._

    _So I dared him his host and his captains,_
      _And struck for my babe a sword blow;_
    _And ’tis here they have broken my body;_
      _With Death now right soon must I go._

    CASPAR

    Nay, cheerly, Claus! Cheerly, goodwife and kiddies!
    Now you have wandered to a lucky place.
    Our Evergreen shall heal your hurt. Run, Elf,
    And fetch him balsam gum to balm his wounds.

    (ELF runs within.)

    CLAUS

    No balsam gum can heal us our lost babe.
    Ruth, wife, where lieth now his little body?

    RUTH

    Death holds him fast. Death holdeth him forever.

    MELCHIOR

    Herod is king. Ye should have awe of kings
    And bow before them.

    BELSHASAR

                        We are kings and wise,
    And warn you what you owe to Herod.

    CLAUS

                                        Herod!
    I have paid back to Herod all I owe him—
    The red blade of this broken sword.

    CASPAR

                                        Brave said!
    Give me the hasp. See, we will hang it here
    On this green bough, to be your shining cross
    Of freedom and remembrance—yea, a sign
    For Herods, when they pass, to pause and think on.

    MELCHIOR

    (To BELSHASAR)

    He flouteth what we say!

    (BELSHASAR shrugs, but motions MELCHIOR to listen. ELF returns.)

    CASPAR

                              So, Pedlar Claus,
    Lay-by thy pack, and rest you here till morrow;
    Tend him, good Elf and Gnome. Now, mother, bravely!
    These beasties shall make hospitality
    And share their holy frost-cakes with your children,
    Wiping their eyes with love: And these war-weary,
    Glad of our Evergreen, shall take new hope
    From yon clear star.

    (He helps CLAUS to rise and supports him to the foot of the
    Tree, where he places his pack for CLAUS to recline. The
    stretcher is borne away. Far off, a long blast sounds.)

    BELSHASAR

                        Hark, hark! What trumpet calls?

    MELCHIOR

    ’Tis Herod’s host. Take heed!

    RUTH

                                  God shield us now!

    (She turns toward CASPAR, who comforts her and the CHILDREN.)




ELEVENTH ACTION

(The Persecuting Host)


_AISLE I AND AISLE II_

Pouring forth from the Place of Empire, the HOST OF HEROD and their
LEADERS, with spears held high, come marching on both pathways toward the
Tree, singing in chorus as they march.

[Sidenote: _Tenth Chorus: B,4. Song of the Persecuting Host_]

    _CHORUS_

    _Go forth, ye host of power!_
      _Enslave, enslave the humble!_
    _’Fore Herod’s host their hearts shall cower,_
      _Their builded hopes shall crumble._
          _Yea, Herod’s host_
          _Shall trample them most_
    _Where they build their shrines of wonder.—_
    _Go forth with Vengeance’ war-red ghost,_
      _Go forth, go forth in thunder!_





TWELFTH ACTION

(The Morning Stars)


_STAGE A_

Staying his Followers, the CAPTAIN OF THE HOST approaches the THREE KINGS
by the Tree.

In his hand he bears the Staff of Herod.

    CAPTAIN

    Halt here!—Behold them. They are found.
    Stand forth, ye Kings of East! What make ye
    So far from Herod’s throne?

    MELCHIOR

                              We journey home.

    CAPTAIN

    Know ye not Herod’s wrath, what ’tis!—
    Why brought ye not your tidings back
    To him? Where is the Manger-Child?

    MELCHIOR

    We know him not.

    BELSHASAR

                    Our trail we lost.
    His star is dark.

    CASPAR

                    Nay, shineth yonder!

    CAPTAIN

    (Staring)

    Where shineth?

    BELSHASAR

                    He is old and daft.

    MELCHIOR

    Hail, Captain of our lord his host!
    Welcome you are in Herod’s name.—

    CLAUS

    (Rising painfully)

    Nay, curst is he in Herod’s name.—
    Give back my babe!

    CAPTAIN

    (Strikes him with his staff.)

                        Take hence thy life!

    (CLAUS falls back motionless. DEATH draws near and bends over
    him.)

    DEATH

    Come, Claus: Awake! Thy babe is here.

    CLAUS

    Friend Death, now raise me up.—Methought
    Thou hadst been deaf and dumb, but now
    We speak together.

    DEATH

                        Here I hold
    Thy little babe.

    CLAUS

    (Taking the muffled child)

                        O little babe,
    Now are we both in Death his arms
    Safe held from Herod’s wrath. Be glad
    Thy father was not Herod’s slave.

    (In his great cloak DEATH leads him away. RUTH stares after them.)

    RUTH

    Claus! Claus!—Now Death hath taken him.

    CASPAR

    Poor woman, do not weep for Claus.
    Friend Death is kind.

    RUTH

                        Now are we left
    Alone, and none to shield us.

    CASPAR

                                  Yea,
    A king shall shield ye.

    CAPTAIN

                        King! What king
    Would shield these Herod’s outcasts?

    CASPAR

                                        One
    That’s old and merry and cracked, and wears
    This crown of Caspar, king of babes
    Made fatherless.

    MELCHIOR

    (To the CAPTAIN, shrewdly)

                    You hear?

    BELSHASAR

                              He’s mad!

    CAPTAIN

    Nay, give me sign what manner wise men
    And kings you are. Make sign, ye three,
    Now to this staff; for, by its power!
    All lesser kings who bow them not
    To Herod’s staff shall lose their crowns.
    Bow! Bow ye low to Herod, lord of the world!

    MELCHIOR

    (Bows low to the staff.)

    Herod, most High!

    CAPTAIN

                        Thy crown keep safe.

    BELSHASAR

    (Bows low to the staff.)

    Herod, the Mighty!

    CAPTAIN

                        Keep thy crown.

    CASPAR

    (Remains standing, and smiles.)

    Herod, the Poor!

    CAPTAIN

                    What now! How name ye
    Herod—the poor?

    CASPAR

                    Is he not poor
    To lose him both my brothers’ crowns,
    And needs ask alms of me, old Caspar?—
    Ho, take him this my crown, poor Herod!
    And this, my sceptre, yea, and this
    My cloak also, and bid him keep
    His staff for kings of sadder heart
    To bow them to. Mine is too merry.—
    Now, kiddies, come: where be your cakes
    And frosting?

    (Having put off his King’s robe, sceptre and crown, CASPAR now
    appears in his under-jerkin of red, with long boots, like a
    Peasant.)

    MELCHIOR

    (To BELSHASAR)

                  Mad! Stark gone!

    CAPTAIN

    (Tossing aside the robe, sceptre and crown, speaks to his
    Followers.)

                                    Lay-by
    These tokens, men! Your spears! Your spears!
    This wise man shall learn wisdom now
    In Herod’s name.

    BELSHASAR

    (Interposing)

                        Forbear! He raves.

    (HE and MELCHIOR draw the CAPTAIN momentarily aside.)

    RUTH

    (To CASPAR)

    Alas! How can you help us now
    And have no kingdom?

    CASPAR

                        Ha, my dears!
    A joyful heart finds many a job
    Can earn a kingdom.

    (Taking the little BOY and GIRL, one on each knee, he speaks to
    them and their Mother.)

                        Cheerly, woman!
    Thy goodman plied a goodly trade.—
    Poor Claus he was a pedlar: Ho!
    A pedlar now will Caspar be,
    And take thy goodman’s pack and name,
    And ply his trade of children’s toys
    By neighbor chimneys, house to house,
    With jingling bells in winter air;
    And hearth to hearth the mirth shall spread
    Around the fire, and yule logs blaze,
    And apples toast, and stockings spill
    With candy dolls and popping tricks;
    And tiptoe boys and girls shall peep
    To spy the pedlar with his sack,
    And pay his wage in wonder coin
    Left on the hearthstone; and through all
    The evergreen and evergreen,
    Around the tree of light shall run—
    With fairy twinklings of His star—
    The laughter of a Manger Child.

    (Rising, he lifts the CHILDREN in his arms.)

    Up, kiddies, now, with Pedlar Claus
    To find His kingdom!

    CAPTAIN

    (To BELSHASAR, brushing him and MELCHIOR aside)

                        Nay, no more!
    He bowed not down, and shall pay dear
    For Herod’s anger.

    CASPAR

    (Swinging the Pedlar’s pack upon his back)

                        Ho, good hearts!
    Now, Sorrow, come! and Poverty!
    And you, dear Song, that serve on them!
    You, Elf and Gnome, and desert beasts!
    Ye children all, both old and young,
    Come, gather by this holy Tree
    And share with Pedlar Claus his pack!

    CAPTAIN

    (Mocking)

    Ho, Claus, the Pedlar-King! Hail Claus!

    THE HOST OF HEROD

    Hail, Claus, the Pedlar-King! King Claus!

    (They crowd toward him; his cap is struck off.)

    CAPTAIN

    (Raising the cap on a spear)

    Lo, Claus, his crown! Behold the crown!

    THE HOST

    Hail to the crown! The Pedlar’s crown!

    CAPTAIN

    Ye Spears of Herod, spill him wine!
    Yea, with his blood anoint him!

    (Pointing their spears, the HOST turn to rush upon CASPAR, when
    suddenly A BLAZE OF LIGHT checks and astounds them: silverly
    A BLAST OF TRUMPETS sounds; the Evergreen branches burst into
    bloom of stars, while TREE, as ANGEL, comes forth, holding
    sheathed a shining Sword, its hasp in a Crown of Holly.)

    TREE

                                    Stay!
    Bow, Host of Herod! Bow ye down
    And hail our Saint of Evergreen:
    Hail _Santa_ Claus!

    (TREE places the Holly Crown on CASPAR’S head. A BURST OF
    SLEIGH-BELLS sounds, filling the air with their circlings of
    silver music.)

    THE CHILDREN, FAIRIES AND BEASTS

    (Shout with wild joy)

    Hail, Santa Claus!

    THE CAPTAIN AND THE HOST

    (Falling back, murmur in awe)

    Hail, Santa Claus!

    (Overwhelmed, they bow down. Choirs of shrilly gladness break
    forth in Chorus, as the jingling sleigh-bells change to PEALING
    CHIMES.)

[Sidenote: _Eleventh Chorus: A,8 and B,5. Chorus of the Christmas Tree_]

[Sidenote: _Part I. (Chorus A) The Pedlar-King_]

    _CHORUS_

    _Hail—Santa Claus!_
    _Saint of our Evergreen!_
    _Hail, dear Pedlar of starry joys!_

    _On your own shoulders_
    _Now you have lifted_
    _All the world’s weariness—_
    _Pack of old burdens,_
    _Sack of our sorrows:_
    _Lifted it, stored anew,_
    _Crammed with enchantment,_
    _Bursting with merry_
    _And magical laughter,_
    _Wonder of children—_
    _Mirth of our Lord!_
    _Hail, dear Pedlar—_
    _King of our Evergreen:_
        _Santa! Santa!_
        _Holly-crown’d saint of us!_
    _Hail, eternal_
    _Wise man and child!_

    (During this Chorus and while it continues, SANTA—with beaming
    face—opens his great pack and distributes forth gifts to the
    CHILDREN, the OUTCASTS, and the HOST OF HEROD, who now rise
    joyfully and press round him. CHORUS now answers CHORUS across
    the assembled People, the deep voices of the Men’s Chorus (B)
    now singing in Antiphony.)

[Sidenote: _Part II. (Choruses A and B) The Tree_]

    _CHORUS A_

    _Who wakened her heart with song for the coming of light?_
    _Who harked for the morning stars their singing together?_

[Sidenote: _Antiphonal_]

    _CHORUS B_

            _The Tree! The Tree!_
            _The Evergreen Tree!_
    _The light of her heart hath blossomed—_
            _Hath bloomed with stars_
    _In the places of desert._

    _CHORUS A_

    _Who nourished a dream in the lone wilderness,_
    _Where wild beasts kill one another and weary of killing?_

[Sidenote: _Antiphonal_]

    _CHORUS B_

          _The Tree! The Tree!_
          _The Evergreen Tree!_
    _The power of her dream hath blossomed_
          _With blinding stars_
    _In the hearts of the terrible._

    _CHORUS A_

    _Herod, lord of the world! Who hath defeated his power?_

[Sidenote: _Antiphonal_]

    _CHORUS B_

    _A star! A star doth confound him!_

    _CHORUS A_

    _Herod, sword of the world! Who hath surmounted his cunning?_

[Sidenote: _Antiphonal_]

    _CHORUS B_

    _A child! A child hath disarmed him!_

    _CHORUS A_

    _Herod, wrath of the world! What hath o’erthrown his dominion?_

[Sidenote: _Antiphonal_]

    _CHORUS B_

    _A dream! A dream hath survived him!_

[Sidenote: _Part III. (Choruses A and B) The Child_]

    _CHORUS A_

    (Appearing in their over-garments of WHITE, look toward the
    place of HEROD while they sing.)

    _Where are ye that through the blindness of the slaughter,_
      _Through the terror and the tempest of the night,—_
    _Where are ye that bowed you down to a helmet and a crown?_
          _Have you seen the Child His stars?_
          _Have you heard the morning stars—_
      _His stars that sing around the Tree of light?_

          _Will you hasten? Will you heed?_
          _Will you bind His wounds that bleed?_
      _Will you build his works of joy and charity?_
          _Are you risen? Do you hark?_
          _Are you coming through the dark—_
      _Are you coming, are you coming to the Tree?_

    _CHORUS B_

    (In their over-garments of RED, rise from the place of their
    singing, and move forward in procession toward the CHORUS IN
    WHITE.)

    _Here are we that knew the blindness of the slaughter,_
      _Knew the terror and the tempest of the night:_
    _Here are we that bowed us down to a helmet and a crown,_
          _But we’ve seen the Child His stars,_
          _We have heard the morning stars—_
      _His stars that sing around the Tree of light._

          _We will hasten! We will heed!_
          _We will bind His wounds that bleed;_
      _We will build His works of joy and charity._
          _We are risen, and we hark!_
          _We are coming through the dark—_
      _We are coming, we are coming to the Tree!_

    (As they approach the Tree, the Singers of CHORUS B lay off
    their RED over-garments and join the CHORUS IN WHITE. The two
    CHORUSES now form one.

    Joined, in their singing, by the HOST OF HEROD, the OUTCASTS,
    and by ALL THE ASSEMBLED PEOPLE, they raise their Voices
    together.)

    _ALL_

    _Child of God, forgive the blindness and the slaughter!_
      _Child of Pity, calm the terror of the night!_
    _Yea, and all that bow them down to a helmet and a crown—_
          _Let them see, like us, Thy stars!_
          _Let them join the morning stars—_
      _Thy stars that sing around the Tree of light!_

          _Child of Heaven, now we heed!_
          _We will bind Thy wounds that bleed;_
      _We will build Thy works of joy and charity._
          _We are risen in Thy right:_
          _We are singing through the night—_
      _We are singing, we are singing to the Tree!_

                        _Alleluia!_
                        _Amen!_

[Illustration: THE PEDLAR-KING

    Bow, Host of Herod! Bow ye down
    And hail our Saint of Evergreen:
    Hail _Santa_ Claus!]

[Illustration: THE MORNING STARS

    _CHORUS_

    _Child of Heaven, now we heed!_
    _We will bind Thy wounds that bleed,_
    _We will build Thy works of joy and charity:_
    _We are risen in Thy right,_
    _We are singing through the night—_
    _We are singing, we are singing to the Tree!_]




COMMENTARIES ON THE MASQUE




[Illustration: GROUND PLAN OF “THE EVERGREEN TREE”

(Not drawn to Scale)

(For Standard Outdoor Production—Alterable for Indoors)]




SUGGESTIONS FOR COMMUNITY PRELUDE AND EPILUDE




I.—PRELUDE


In producing this Masque, different communities will doubtless wish to
observe different ways of assembling to prepare and begin its production.

Some, especially those given on a small scale, may need and desire no
prelusive form of ceremony, in action, speech or song.

For productions given on a larger scale, however, since a receptive and
devotional state of feeling is greatly to be desired for its proper
rendering and its impression upon those who witness and take part, it is
strongly recommended that some kind of brief, general Song Overture of
the people be held just before the Masque begins.

With this need in mind, the suggestions here made by the author are given
for whatever service they may render to the desired end.

As Prelude to the production of “The Evergreen Tree,” the following kind
of Song Overture and informal Ceremony are suggested for such large-scale
types of the Masque’s production as are witnessed and performed by all
classes, races, ages and creeds of the community.

After night-fall, on a winter’s evening, let us imagine men, women and
children of a town or city gathered together out of doors in a public
square or park, or indoors within some level-floored structure, to
assemble by the community Christmas Tree, and to join in general singing
under a leader.

The Leader will gather the best trained singers at a central place
(indicated by the roped-off circle in the Ground Plan on the page
opposite), and will start the community singing, or guide its spontaneous
beginnings under his leadership.

The trained Chorus will perhaps sing the “Adeste Fidelis,” or “Hark! the
Herald Angels Sing,” and the carollers will raise their voices in such
old Christmas songs as may best appeal to them. So, perhaps for twenty
minutes or half an hour, the singers will hold an informal Overture, in
which all the gathered people may have joined.

Meanwhile, or beforehand, the Chorus will have put on their outer
garments of red and white (designed according to Mr. Jones’ costume
suggestions), and will have divided into their two separate bodies—(1)
the mixed voices, Chorus A, and (2) the male choir, Chorus B.

Then the Chorus Leader, or some one appointed by him, when the Masque is
almost ready to begin, will rise at the centre—visible above the heads of
the Chorus and the people—and will speak to the assemblage, perhaps in
his own words, or perhaps—using some portion or all of the speech here
given—he will speak substantially as follows:

    THE CHORUS LEADER

    Neighbors and Friends—we have been singing together:
    Wherever friends sing together out of their hearts
    There God sings with them.
    We believe many different ideas, many differing creeds.—
    To-night let us forget how we differ:
    Let us remember only how we believe in one great thing—
    One Spirit in common—and this is its holy name:

                      SINGING TOGETHER.

    In old, old times, when plays were sung by the people,
    They built for them altars, sacred places of singing;
    And before their dramas began,
    They used to pray there
    And ask a blessing on the players, on the chorus and the people.
    And there, on those altars, they wrote the name of their Lord.

    Friends, we are gathered here now by an old, old altar:
    The altar of Song—
    Song of the people: old, young; happy, sad; rich and poor.
    We cannot see it with our eyes,
    But we know it in our hearts;
    And there we can read what is written—the name of our Lord,
    Whose hallowed name is called

                      SINGING TOGETHER.

    Now out of our Singing will rise an Acted Pageant
    To tell an old story newly—
    The story of a Child.
    Over yonder, by the Christmas Tree—there is the Wilderness,
    The Place of Outcasts:
    Over there—is the Gate of a Palace: the Palace of Herod—
    Herod, the mighty king in the Bible,
    His place of Empire;
    And there—and there—are two Paths, that lead to the Tree.

    Now let us sing one more carol,
    And take our places;
    Then listen, and watch for a sign, while the Chorus sings:
    And when all is over—each of us, all together,
    Let us raise up our hearts and voices to one great Spirit
    That will make of us all one people:
    The Spirit whose glorious name is

                      SINGING TOGETHER.

So concluding, the Chorus Leader and his Assistant Leader will accompany
their Choruses (the one—Chorus A, the other—Chorus B) to the places where
they sit during the Masque (indicated on the diagram) in front of their
respective stages.

As they go to their places, the Choruses will sing the carol “Good King
Wencelas.” Then, when all is still, the Masque of “The Evergreen Tree”
will commence with the Chorus of the Wilderness.




II.—EPILUDE


At the conclusion of the Masque, it is not advisable that any other
formal ceremony should follow.

The participants, the children and the people will naturally be gathering
about Santa Claus and partaking of the gifts from his pack, or otherwise
sharing in happy festivity.

In order, however, that the Masque shall not end in a general, disordered
scattering of the assemblage, it is recommended that those in costume,
including the Choruses (now united), shall march in good order to the
places of their costuming, or to such other places as the Director of the
Masque may designate, singing together stanzas of the Masque hymn—easily
learned, in unison, to the appealing music of Arthur Farwell—

    “Glory and serenity,
      Beauty of desire,
    Bless to-night this holy tree
      And our candle-fire.”—etc.




THREE MONOGRAPHS




I.—DRAMATIZING COMMUNITY SONG

BY PERCY MACKAYE


The allurement of the communal field in drama is its freshness of
opportunity—its infinite potential variety.

Definitions have not yet hedged it; criticism has not yet charted,
nor pedagogy catalogued its boundless horizons and creative streams;
commercialism has not yet invaded its unstinted harvests, to store and
can them for the market, under the labels of middlemen.

So, in approaching this realm of “The Evergreen Tree,” I have felt
something of that thrill of discovery which must more often have been
felt in earlier days on American soil: a feeling, I think, such as John
Muir once told me he experienced when he gazed first, from the top of a
great tree, over uncharted miles of the redwood region. Only here I have
seemed to look upon the conjoining of a great, structural continent—the
Drama—with a primal sea—the tides of Community Song, now carolling in
quiet inlets, now choral with tempestuous music from fathomless deeps.

If, then, I were to suggest the nature of this kind of community drama by
a topographical line, rather than by a definition of theory, I would do
so perhaps by a line such as this:

[Illustration]

wherein the rising pyramid would represent an emerging contour of that
continent (the Drama), whose base is submerged and fused with those
singing tides (Community Music).

So perhaps, as dramatist, I might suggest the coming together of those
two realms or “movements” of social art, to which my friend Arthur
Farwell refers in his comments, as composer.

Obviously, this coming together implies a new technique of the
community dramatist—a technique not for a hollowed amphitheatre (that
of the traditional theatre), but for a level assembly place (that of
the cathedral): where visually, from a floor thronged with choral
communicants, there rises a sharp focal point of dramatic action—a small
raised stage, for such few acting characters as are typical of the
community dramatic ritual.

So the setting of the Masque takes form according to its nature (as
indicated by the Ground Plan opposite page 69, and by the worded
description in the front of this volume). And so, as the dramatic
architect by his design shapes the conditions for the coöperation of the
composer, he shapes also the conditions for the coöperation of the scenic
producer—in this case, Robert Edmond Jones, whose fresh and fertile
genius becomes in a production as significant for the eye as the creative
ardor of Arthur Farwell does for the ear.

In the following pages, each of these representative artists describes
briefly his distinctive approach and viewpoint toward the ensemble
production. As well as may be in brief space, we hope thus to suggest—for
all who read the Masque with a view to its performance on however
simple a scale—something of our own feelings for the right creative and
interpretive approach to this fresh field, in which we are planning to
coöperate personally in at least some one production of “The Evergreen
Tree.”

In the pioneering attempt of this Masque, my own purpose is to dramatize
community singing—for conditions of our own time, especially in America,
during this new, formative period which the world war has begun.

In other lands and ages of folk art, community song has been dramatized,
as it can only be dramatized vitally, by artists moved by the spirit of
religion; and relics of such forms still survive amongst us in rituals
of the churches. But these rituals necessarily have attained their
growth—nobly classic at their best, at their worst—dully disintegrated.

Now new forces of an age religiously urgent for democracy demand a
re-creation of the forms of folk art, plastic to the living currents of
the new time. These currents, though continuous from the past, widen now
between strange banks and other horizons; though perennial, they require
fresh coördination.

The carol, for instance, and the ballad—old forms of folk art—survive
with us only in their archaic appeal. We in America cannot hope or wisely
desire to revive them for what they once were—spontaneous expressions of
continuous communal life in villages and peasant heaths, for that life
has gone from us, not to return. But we can do this—and in so doing,
give them new life. We can relate them definitely to a form of art for
us still living and indigenous—to the drama, and essentially to that
community kind of drama which is but now beginning its renascence of
world forms portentous for the future.

So in “The Evergreen Tree,” perhaps for the first time, I have embodied
the acted carol and the acted ballad as structural parts of a dramatic
unity—a communal dramatic unity, to which the forms of folk music are
allied and essential.

Here, then, comes into being a new kind of music drama—far removed from
the connotation of opera—a _Song Drama_ of the people. From this, speech
will not be absent; but it will necessarily be related to the simplicity
of folk song and folk poetry, in being rhythmic and chantable in its
cadences—taking on forms of spoken poetry definitely related to the
people’s poetry of song.

This Song Drama, too, of its nature—though susceptible of splendid
pageantry—will depend, for its dramatic conflict, far less on wills
opposed in visual action than on contrasted emotions of song—of choral
song, thus bringing again the Chorus back to its rightful place, heard
and visible, among the people—as with the Greeks; only now for us it
becomes a _double_ Chorus, oppositional in will and definitely divided
in two parts (the antiphonal Choruses, A and B, of this Masque, costumed
also in visual contrast), until its parts become reconciled in emotion,
when—both aurally and visibly—the two unite, as at the end of “The
Evergreen Tree.”

This much at least expresses my conception of a new art implied in the
present work—not as an _a priori_ theory, nor as a generalization for
others—but as the working method which has seemed for me best adapted to
perform a definite task in the community field involved.

The theme of the Masque I will only touch upon here to say that, in
inventing its legend of Caspar and Claus, I hope I may not wholly miss
that unconscious approval, which would be dearer than any other—the
belief of the children.

Cornish, N. H., September, 1917.




II.—COMMUNITY MUSIC AND THE COMPOSER

BY ARTHUR FARWELL


The birth of our national self-consciousness in music, from the creative
standpoint, occurred less than twenty years ago. Not until the last two
decades did the prodigious musical studies of our young people at home
and abroad produce composers in sufficient quantity to make American
music, its character and potentialities, a national question.

Even so brief a period as this has, however, sufficed to witness a
succession of distinct phases in our national musical attitude and
achievement, phases so strongly contrasted as to represent radical
changes of artistic tendency and almost complete reversals in belief and
direction of effort.

The last and greatest of these changes is that one which has withdrawn
attention from the composer as an abstract phenomenon, and from fruitless
theories of American music, and has centered it upon the immediate
service which music can render to the people of our nation. In the
long run, the nation cannot go one way and its music another. That the
ideal in the spirit of music must sooner or later, in this country, be
reconciled to and wedded with the ideal of the spirit of democracy, is an
idea which has met with general acceptance only in the last three years,
although it has been ardently championed by a few individuals for nearly
two decades.

Taking its rise in the compelling necessity of this principle, the
“community music” movement has swept the country in the last few years,
plunging it anew into violent discussion, annihilating personal theories
and products of the musical hot-house, demanding the wholesome and the
true—and giving the people expression.

In this movement the composer of the music for “The Evergreen Tree” has
been immersed. In the communal dramatic work and ideas of Percy MacKaye,
he has recognized a similar development in the art of the theatre. It
was inevitable that these two movements should come together and unite
their powers in seeking to make a helpful contribution to the quest for
a drama—and should it not truly be a music drama?—that shall serve most
appropriately the deep need of the American people for expression in such
a form.

Anything which may prove to be of worth in my compositions for “The
Evergreen Tree,” I owe to the new influx of life which I have received
from my contact with the soul of the people, as revealed in the movement
which is making us a singing nation.

Cornish, N. H., September, 1917.




III.—DESIGNS FOR “THE EVERGREEN TREE”

BY ROBERT EDMOND JONES


The drawings in this book will prove most helpful if they are thought of
merely as notes to be amplified or varied according to the special needs
of each community production.

Different communities will develop the main scheme in various ways.

The production indicated here is on a large scale in the open air;
but the arrangement of stages and aisles is equally impressive in the
smallest church.

Facilities for lighting will vary widely in different communities.

Don’t be discouraged if you haven’t an elaborate electric equipment
at your disposal. Think how beautiful the Masque might be, done by
candle-light in an old country meetinghouse!

The costumes are extremely simple, and depend largely for their
effectiveness on the dignity with which they are worn.

The two _Choruses_ wear surplice-like over-garments, red or white. _Elf_
suggests a butterfly: _Gnome_, a beetle: _Tree_, a Fra Angelico angel.
_Wolf_, _Bear_ and _Lion_ wear masks, rudely made, like mummers of the
Middle Ages. _Wolf’s_ tail is attached to a belt, which he pulls from
side to side.

[Illustration:

    GNOME
    TREE
    ELF

TREE wears green hose bound with silver thongs, a green smock on which
the tree symbol is embroidered in silver, and flat silver wings. Later,
TREE appears in a white smock with the symbol in gold. GNOME wears loose
green trousers, a long tunic striped black and white and two long coats,
orange over green. The hood has eyes of red, white and black at the
sides. ELF wears a white smock with silver bells (mute) and butterfly
spots of red and black. ]

[Illustration:

    BEAR
    WOLF
    LION

The three beasts wear masks of white cloth stretched over a foundation
of cardboard or buckram. WOLF wears a blue-and-white striped jerkin over
blue leggings bound with white, and a big gray tail, fastened to a belt.
BEAR has a padded gray coat over loose padded leggings. LION’S jerkin and
hose are gray, with fringes and thongs of red. ]

[Illustration:

    JOSEPH
    MARY
    SHEPHERDS

JOSEPH, MARY and the SHEPHERDS wear semi-circular cloaks over long, loose
under-robes. JOSEPH’S cape is white over a blue robe; MARY wears blue
over white; the SHEPHERDS are in white. JOSEPH’S cap is blue with a white
band; his lantern has star-shaped panes.]

[Illustration:

    HOST OF HEROD
    HEROD
    CAPTAIN

HEROD wears a triple gold crown and a heavy robe of scarlet on which is
a black design edged with white buttons. His staff is gold. The drawings
for the CAPTAIN and the HOST show the costume adapted to army use. The
HOST wears a scarlet tunic over the Khaki; the CAPTAIN a great scarlet
cloak edged with a scimitar design in white. The CAPTAIN’S shield is
silver and black; the other, silver and scarlet.]

[Illustration:

    BELSHASAR
    CASPAR
    MELCHIOR

BELSHASAR: a cloak of blue, banded with white, over a long black robe; a
high-crowned turban, blue and white. MELCHIOR: a blue cloak with zigzag
trimmings of black and white, a black gown, a black-and-white helmet
with a red hood. CASPAR wears a high-peaked hat of brilliant orange and
a great orange cloak trimmed with bands of red and white and large white
buttons. Underneath he wears a costume exactly like that of CLAUS: long
high boots and a red jerkin trimmed with conventionalized holly leaves in
green and edged with white fur. All three kings wear gold crowns.]

[Illustration:

    FOLLOWERS OF BELSHASAR
    FOLLOWERS OF CASPAR
    FOLLOWERS OF MELCHIOR

The costumes of the FOLLOWERS recall those of the three kings, but are
more simply made: the FOLLOWERS OF BELSHASAR wear blue capes over black
gowns, white hoods and tall, blue hats; the FOLLOWERS OF CASPAR wear
coats of orange banded with white over green gowns sashed with red, and
orange hats; the FOLLOWERS OF MELCHIOR have black gowns and blue capes
with black-and-white designs like those on MELCHIOR’S costume.]

[Illustration:

    SORROW
    SONG
    DEATH
    POVERTY

SORROW, POVERTY and DEATH are in black and white. SONG wears white with
bands of blue, and a wreath of white flowers in her hair. The FOLLOWERS
have costumes cut exactly like those of their leaders, but of gray
instead of white. The FOLLOWERS of SONG carry long silver trumpets.]

[Illustration:

    RUTH
    CLAUS
    THE CHILDREN
    CHORUS B

RUTH wears a white jacket over a red bodice and a gray skirt over a
black-and-white striped under-skirt. CLAUS has high boots, a red jerkin
edged with white fur and a red cap also edged with white fur. There
should be no green trimming on his jerkin. His costume and RUTH’S should
be extremely ragged and the two children should be roughly wrapped in
rags. CHORUS B wears a short red coat with white bands and a design of
spear-heads on the shoulders. When this coat is removed at the end of the
Masque, the white coat of CHORUS A is seen. This bears a tree in green on
either shoulder.]

Nearly all the other costumes consist of a simple, cloak-like
undergarment, over which are worn tunics and robes to characterize the
Host of Herod, the Shepherds, the Followers of the Three Kings, or the
Outcasts. There is nothing realistic in these clothes: they merely
_suggest_ the characters, broadly, as if they were made by children for
a child’s play. They may be carried out by any dressmaker in inexpensive
materials—muslin, cambric, cheesecloth, flannel—keeping always to a few
brilliant, flat colors: strong red, strong blue, black and white, gray,
and orange.

Make these costumes yourselves: use your own ingenuity in cutting and
draping them: wear them with a sense of what each costume means. Then
your ceremony will be beautiful.

New York, September, 1917.




_ACTION OF “THE EVERGREEN TREE”_


The Masque is performed in Twelve Actions, taking place as follows:

First Action: Stage A (Chorus; Speech).

Second Action: Aisle I (Carol; Processional).

Third Action: Stage A (Carol; Speech).

Fourth Action: Approaching Space and Steps A; then Stage A (Chorus;
Carols; Speech).

Fifth Action: Stage B (Chorus; Speech).

Sixth Action: Stage A (Chorus; Speech).

Seventh Action: Aisle II (Carol; Processional).

Eighth Action: Stage A (Carols; Speech).

Ninth Action: Stage B and Aisle I (Choral Song; Chorus; Processional;
Pantomime).

Tenth Action: Stage A (Carol; Speech).

Eleventh Action: Aisle I and Aisle II (Choral Song; Processional).

Twelfth Action: Stage A (Chorus; Speech).




ANNOUNCEMENTS IN REGARD TO THIS MASQUE


THE MUSIC

for the Choruses and Carols of “The Evergreen Tree” has been composed by

ARTHUR FARWELL

and is Published, with the Words of the Same, by

THE JOHN CHURCH COMPANY

39 West 32nd Street, New York City. Price $1.50


THE PRODUCTION

of the Masque can be adapted to any scale of expense, simple or
elaborate, and to any practical number of participants, few or many.
With a view to assisting any community, army camp, or naval station, to
organize and adapt a production to its own local conditions,


“A GUIDE TO ‘THE EVERGREEN TREE,’”

a Series of QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS relating to all phases to the Masque’s
production, has been compiled by PERCY J. BURRELL, under sanction of the
Author, Composer and Costume Designer, and will be sent, by The John
Church Company, on request, free of expense to any one interested.

NO PERFORMANCE WITHOUT PERMISSION first having been obtained, and NO
PUBLIC READINGS, where money is charged for admission, can legally be
given.

PERMISSION MAY BE OBTAINED to produce this Masque, or to read it in
Public, by applying to the Masque Organizer of “The Evergreen Tree,” 39
West 32nd Street, New York (Care The John Church Company), who will be
glad to supply further information and to arrange, wherever practicable,
for personal conference in regard to productions.

[Illustration]



*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 70498 ***