E-text prepared by Robert Cicconetti, Riikka Talonpoika,
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
at
BY
SHEPHERD KNAPP
The Heidelberg Press
Publishers for Discriminators
Fifteenth and Race Streets, Philadelphia
1921
TO THOSE
WHO FIRST ACTED IN THIS PLAY
TO THOSE WHO WITH SO MUCH SKILL AND PATIENCE
TRAINED THE PARTICIPANTS
AND TO THE FRIENDLY AUDIENCES OF BOYS AND GIRLS
WHO ENCOURAGE US BY THEIR APPLAUSE
IT IS DEDICATED
This play is intended, not only for acting, but also for reading. Itis so arranged that boys and girls can read it to themselves, just asthey would read any other story. Even the stage directions and thedescriptions of scenery are presented as a part of the narrative. Atthe same time, by the use of different styles of type, the speeches ofthe characters are clearly distinguished from the rest of the text, anarrangement which will be found convenient when parts are beingmemorized for acting.
The play has been acted more than once, and by different groups ofpeople; sometimes on a stage equipped with footlights, curtain, andscenery; sometimes with barely any of these aids. Practicalsuggestions as to costumes, scenery, and some simple scenic effectswill be found at the end of the play.
What sort of a Christmas play do the boys and girls like, and in whatsort do we like to see them take part? It should be a play, surely, inwhich the dialogue is simple and natural, not stilted and artificial;one that seems like a bit of real life, and yet has plenty of fancyand imagination in it; one that suggests and helps to perpetuate someof the happy and wholesome customs of Christmas; above all, one thatis pervaded by the Christmas spirit. I hope that this play does notentirely fail to meet these requirements.
Worcester, Mass.
SHEPHERD KNAPP.
Before the Play begins, MOTHER GOOSE comes out in front of thecurtain, and this is what she says:
Well, well, well, well, well, here we all are again. And what's moreimportant, Christmas is here again, too. Aren't you glad? Now I wantto tell you children something. Do you know what I enjoy most atChristmas time? It's to come in here and see all you children sittingin rows and rows, all your faces looking up at me, and a smile onevery one of them. Why, even some of those great big men and womenback there are smiling, too. And I think I know why you are allsmiling. There are two reasons for it, I believe. One is that youthink old Mother Goose is a good friend of yours, and loves you allvery much. And you're quite right about that, for I declare, I loveevery one of you as much as I love—plum pudding. And the secondreason why you are all smiling, I guess, is because you think I amgoing to show you a Christmas Play. And you'