PATRIOTIC PLAYS AND PAGEANTS



PATRIOTIC PLAYS: THEIR USE AND VALUE


The primary value of the patriotic play lies in its appeal to the love
of country, and its power to revitalize the past. The Youth of To-Day
is put in touch with the Patriots of Yesterday. Historic personages
become actual, vivid figures. The costumes, speech, manners, and ideas
of bygone days take on new significance. The life of trail and wigwam,
of colonial homestead and pioneer camp, is made tangible and realistic.
And the spirit of those days--the integrity, courage, and vigor of the
Nation's heroes, their meager opportunities, their struggle against
desperate odds, their slow yet triumphant upward climb--can be
illumined by the acted word as in no other way. To read of the home
life of America's beginnings is one thing; to portray it or see it
portrayed is another. And of the two experiences the latter is the less
likely to be forgotten. To the youthful participants in a scene which
centers about the campfire, the tavern table, or the Puritan
hearthstone will come an intimate knowledge of the folk they represent:
they will find the old sayings and maxims of the Nation-Builders as
pungent and applicable to the life of to-day as when they were first
spoken.

The patriotic play has manifold uses. It combines both pleasure and
education. It is both stimulating and instructive. In its indoor form