unities, 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
it may be the basis of a winter afternoon's or evening's entertainment,
in its outdoor form it may take whole communities and schools into the
freedom of the open. It should rouse patriotic ardor, and be of benefit
ethically, esthetically, and physically. It should wake in its
participants a sense of rhythm, freedom, poise, and plastic grace. It
should bear its part in developing clear enunciation and erectness of
carriage. To those taking part it should bring the exercise of memory,
patience, and inventiveness. It should kindle enthusiasm for the things
of America's past. In what way can national hero-days and festivals be
more fittingly commemorated than by giving a glimpse of the hero for
whom the day is named? Thus the patriotic play is equally adaptable for
Fourth of July, Washington's Birthday, Lincoln's Birthday, Columbus
Day, and the hundreds of other days--not holidays--that lie in between.

If the patriotic play is produced in the right way it should contain
the very essence of democracy--_efficient team-work, a striving
together for the good of the whole_. It should lead to the ransacking
of books and libraries; the planning of scene-setting, whether indoor
or outdoor; the fashioning of simple and accurate costumes by the young
people taking part; the collecting of suitable stage properties such as
hearthbrooms, Indian pipes, and dishes of pewter. The greater the
research, the keener the stimulus for imagination and ingenuity, two
things that go to the making of every successful production.
Fortunately, the patriotic play is inherently simple, its appeal is
along broad general lines, so that it requires no great amount of money
or en