LEXINGTON
BIRTHPLACE OF AMERICAN LIBERTY

Second Presentation
of the
Historical Pageant Drama
“Lexington”
Commemorating the 150th Anniversary
of the
Battle of Lexington

Enacted Every Ten Years
by the
Citizens of Lexington
Massachusetts

AMPHITHEATRE
Every Evening, Week of June 15th
1925

Copyright, 1924
The Lexington Historical Society
All rights reserved
Printed in U. S. A.

The production staged
and under the personal
direction of
Samuel J. Hume

Special Nights

June 15—President’s Night
In Honor of the President of the United States.
June 16—Governors’ Night
In Honor of the Governors of the Thirteen Original States.
June 17—Bunker Hill Night
In Memory of the Patriots who fought at Bunker Hill.
June 18—College Night
In Honor of the visiting Alumni of the New England Colleges.
June 19—Historical Night
In Honor of the Historical Societies of America.
June 20—Military Night
In Memory of the sons of Lexington who have fallen in the service of their country.

1775 “Pageant of Lexington” 1925

INC.

Edward C. Stone, President
Waldo F. Glidden, Vice-President
Edward W. Kimball, Vice-President
Edwin B. Worthen, Treasurer
Daniel B. Lewis, Auditor
Fletcher W. Taft
Director of Publicity
Willard D. Brown
Chairman of Construction
Sheldon A. Robinson
Chairman, Grounds Committee
David Hennessy
Superintendent Amphitheatre

“Lexington”

Citizens’ Committee of One Hundred

Executive Committee

Finance Committee

Advisory Committee

Committee on Book

Committee on Production

Waldo F. Glidden, Chairman

American Legion—Stanley Hill Post No. 38

Eugene J. Viano Charles M. Blake

American Legion—Auxiliary No. 38

Mrs. Clayton G. Locke Miss Lillian Viano

Board of Trade

C. E. Hadley W. E. Mulliken

Buckman Tavern Community Association

Mrs. S. Randolph Kelley Mrs. E. W. Kimball

Catholic Club (Ladies’)

Mrs. Nancy M. Sealey Miss Julia O’Leary

Catholic Club (Men’s)

Geo. H. Gibson John J. Garrity

Catholic Daughters of America

Mrs. Helen R. Fitzgerald Mrs. Mary F. Buckley

Daughters of American Revolution—Lexington Chapter

Miss Amy E. Taylor Mrs. Edward L. Child Mrs. Alice Fay Stickel

East Lexington Civic Association

Edgar Harrod Albert Ross

First Parish Men’s Club (Unitarian)

Louis L. Crone Ralph H. Elvedt

Follen Church Men’s Club—East Lexington

Jos. W. Cotton James M. Nickerson

Girl Scouts Drum Corps

Miss Hazel Whiting Mrs. Dorothy G. Hall

Grand Army of the Republic—Geo. G. Meade Post No. 119

John N. Morse Everett S. Locke

Hancock Church Men’s Club

Henry L. Wadsworth William H. Shurtleff

Hancock School

Miss Harriet S. French Miss Margaret Noyes

Knights of Columbus—Lexington Council No. 94

James J. McKearney John J. McCormack

Lafayette Club

Miss Mary Manley Miss Anne Moakley

Lend-A-Hand (Senior)

Mrs. A. B. Tenney Mrs. Clarence E. Sprague

Lexington Boy Scouts

Philip E. Perry Peter Robertson

Lexington Council of Girl Scouts

Mrs. Everett S. Emery Mrs. J. Chester Hutchinson

Lexington Drum Corps

Chester Doe Dana Greeley

Lexington Golf Club

Edmund S. Childs Robert Whitney

Lexington Grange No. 233

Lawrence G. Mitchell Matthew Stevenson

Lexington Historical Society

Mrs. William Hunt Mrs. Hermann Dudley Murphy

Lexington Home and School Association

Mrs. Walter C. Ballard Miss Grace P. French

Lexington Minute Men

Ezra F. Breed Bion C. Merry

Lexington Public Health Association

Miss Ellen Tower S. Lewis Barbour

Lexington Teachers’ Club

Miss Anne L. Forsyth Miss Bertha V. Hayward

Liberty Heights Improvement Association

G. W. Nary James Guthrie

Lieut. Col. John W. Hudson Auxiliary No. 11

Mrs. E. Esther Burnham Miss Ethel L. Burk

Men’s Club—Church of our Redeemer

J. Fox Capt. Wm. Young

Old Belfry Club

Jasper A. Lane Mrs. Harold B. Lamont

Order of Eastern Star

Mrs. Guyetta G. Broderic Mrs. Helen H. Smith

Outlook Club

Miss Marguerite Nichols Miss Clara Wadleigh

Parker School

Miss Sadie I. Burgess Miss Ruth Morrison

School Department—Lexington

Miss Mary C. Lusk Miss Anne L. Forsyth

Simon W. Robinson Lodge, A. F. & A. M.

George E. Smith Robert M. Stone

Sons of Veterans—Lieut. Col. John W. Hudson Camp No. 105

Geo. E. Foster Alfred Haynes

Unity Lend-A-Hand

Mrs. Lyon Carter Mrs. Robert W. Fernald

Unitarian Laymen’s League

Arthur B. Howe Robert S. Sturtevant

Women’s Relief Corps No. 97

Mrs. Edward L. Child Mrs. Robert W. Britton

“Lexington”

A Pageant Drama of the American Freedom

Founded upon Great Sayings
To be Acted in Dumb Show
COMPILED AND, IN PART, WRITTEN BY
Sidney Howard
For the Celebration of the
One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary
of the Battle of Lexington
April 19th, 1775

Stage Manager
Waldo F. Glidden
Musical Director
Charles Repper
Director of Chorus
Clarence E. Briggs

To My Wife

“The world will little note

nor long remember what

we say here, but it can

never forget what they

did here—”

A. Lincoln

Foreword

THE aim of this play is to represent the impulse and the progress of civil liberty in this country since the commencement of the War for Independence. The intention is never literal. In spite of a certain actuality in the presentation of the incidents of “The Glorious Morning” at Lexington, the play must always be considered and produced as an abstraction of the events with which it is concerned.

The events themselves are marked by the great sayings of our prophets of liberty and of sundry other minds of genius, all quite arbitrarily selected. Great sayings, through their immense significance to the popular imagination, become symbols of the periods which occasioned them. Great activities may, in the same sense, be looked upon as abstractions of the periods and movements which required them and made them possible.

The great activities of the story of American civil liberty are here treated in a kind of processional dumb show which amplifies the quotations placed in the mouths of the two Spokesmen, the Choir of speakers and the characters in the play. When the dumb show is not executed in procession, it devolves upon groups which act collectively as a single individual and, on certain occasions, speak in unison.

Comment upon the action is supplied by a few lines which have been written for the roles of the Chronicler and Freedom and for the Chorus of singers.

The play demands an almost continual musical accompaniment. This should be composed upon the foundation of period songs, particularly those which are indicated in the text. Also, the various speeches of the Spokesmen will be enhanced if the composer musically emphasizes their rhythms with some sort of accompaniment. In the opinion of the author, the score will be most effectively scored for brass and wind instruments. The chorus must be a male chorus. The play will suffer, always, for the introduction of any woman’s voice except as indicated in the text.

The action is continuous; its changes of locale and atmosphere being indicated only by shifting emphases in the lighting.

The acting presents no difficulty beyond that of securing actors with good voices who have troubled to learn how to speak the English language.

Characters in the Play

The Chronicler.

The Two Spokesmen.

Freedom.

Parson Clark of Lexington.

Captain John Parker of the Lexington Company.

Sergeant Munroe of the Lexington Company.

William Diamond of the Lexington Company (drummer).

Jonathan Harrington of the Lexington Company (fifer).

Major Pitcairn.

Two British Lieutenants.

John Munroe of the Lexington Company.

Ebenezer Munroe of the Lexington Company.

George Washington.

Edmund Pendleton.

Patrick Henry.

The President of Congress.

General Howe.

Major Andre.

Alexander Hamilton.

John Brown.

Abraham Lincoln.

General Grant.

General Lee.

Groups in the Play

The Citizens of Lexington. (Men, women and children.)

The Lexington Company. (Men.)

Two Regiments of British Infantry. (Men.)

The Continental Army. (Men.)

The People of the United States. (Men, women and children.)

The Citizens of Philadelphia. (Men and women.)

The Pioneers. (Men, women and children.)

The Slaves. (Men.)

The Executioners of John Brown. (Men.)

The Army of the Union. (Men.)

The Army of the Confederacy. (Men.)

The Railroad Builders. (Men.)

The Steel Workers. (Men.)

The Coal Miners. (Men.)

The Farmers. (Men.)

The Builders. (Men.)

The Factory Hands. (Women and children.)

The Meek Men. (Men.)

Wealth. (Men.)

Labor. (Men.)

Government. (Men.)

Unrest. (Men.)

The Past. (Men.)

A Choir of Speakers.

A Chorus of Singers.

Buglers and Drummers.

“Lexington”

Think of the place in which the play is to be produced, just as it has been adapted from the natural forest. Think of the curving sleeve of water which lies along the lowermost edge of the scene, of the rising slopes and levels which surmount one another so spaciously, of the trees which close in back and sides.

Then, into the face of the slope immediately above the water’s edge and directly in the center, set a simple low throne and put a conventional lectern before it. Flank this with two lower seats, even more simple. Build this whole group as gracefully and as lightly as the best taste of the best Georgian period dictates and paint it the purest white.

This done, go to the extreme limits of the front of the scene and, just at the edge of the trees, erect two pedestals. These, in height, must a little more than top a man’s stature. In style and decoration they are as chaste as the central group. Probably they are finished with an exquisite cornice and adorned with garlands in low relief, just brushed with gold. Upon each one of them set a solid, simple throne, quite like the one you have already put in the center.

The Chronicler sits on the central throne. He is already in his place when the doors of the auditorium are opened to admit the first spectator. So are the two Drummers who occupy the low seats on either side of him. So are the two Spokesmen who sit atop the two pedestals.

For the Chronicler’s role an actor of fine Anglo-Saxon type must be engaged, one able to speak English with beautiful and natural precision. The same is true of the roles of the two Spokesmen.

The Chronicler wears buff breeches, a white shirt and a blue coat which hangs nobly from his shoulders and spreads over the arms of his seat. His hair, of a natural brown, is pulled back from his brow and tied with a black velvet ribbon. The lectern before him supports a great book. At the commencement of the play he opens this book and, at the end, he closes it. From time to time, during the action, he writes in it, using a large and snowy-white quill pen.

The Drummers who sit on either side of him are dressed in scarlet and as alike as two peas, in costume, make up and cut of hair. Neither one of them has ever any occasion to speak. Each one of them must devote his attention wholly to playing upon a great kettledrum which will be provided for this purpose. The two drums are tuned a diminished third apart.

The two Spokesmen will wear the scarlet robes and white wigs of British justices. They never move during the entire play.

All of these five persons, it must be repeated, will be in their places when the auditorium opens. None of them can be allowed to move until the auditorium has emptied. They must think of themselves as parts of the fixed scene.

Behind them, the slope flattens slightly and this area will, hereinafter, be described as the “Forestage.” Behind that, again, comes a second, slighter rise and that is succeeded by a much more considerable level place. This second level will hereinafter be spoken of as the “Stage.”

The stage is set to represent the Common of Lexington in the year 1775. The road from Cambridge and Boston enters at the back center and divides, passing the Meeting House on either side. The Meeting House is erected, full size, just at the back of the stage and directly in the center, thus masking this road. A little down on the right (in these stage directions right and left refer to the hands of the audience) stands the Old Belfry. Further over to the right, half buried in the trees, are the old horse sheds. Further down stage on the right stands the Marrett-Munroe House, also half buried in foliage, and the Concord Road leaves the Common as far down stage on the right as the planting permits. On the left, just a little below the position occupied on the right by the horse sheds, stands the Buckman Tavern. Then, all the way down stage left stands the Parsonage of the Rev. Jonas Clark. This should be set a little apart from the Common to suggest its remoteness. A road leads past this in the direction of Bedford.

These entrances will hereinafter be referred to as the Boston, Concord and Bedford Roads respectively. Other village paths may be supposed to lead on to the Common at any convenient points.

When the first member of the audience enters, it is twilight. He finds the life of the village going on with full realism of detail except that it is in no wise audible. He is looking at a soundless vision of the eighteenth day of April, one hundred and fifty years ago. Villagers are chatting about the doorway of the Buckman Tavern. They come in and go out. They wear long coats and smoke long pipes and drink long drinks. Some of them discuss a newspaper excitedly. What they are saying cannot be heard, for they play entirely in dumb show. A century and a half is too great a time to be bridged easily by sound.

Silent as the rest a boy guards a flock of a few sheep in the center of the Common. Young girls, going about pleasure or business and quite free from any preoccupation with the serious matters which engross the tavern’s patrons, stop to chat with him.

Presently a young farmer drives his cows in from pasture. Presently other farmers return from the fields, carrying the crude agricultural implements of their day. Presently another farmer drives his emptied truck wagon home from market.

Presently a traveler on a jaded mare comes up the Boston Road and halts by the Buckman Tavern. The citizens gather about him greedily. Greedy, it would seem, for news. And he gives them news before he has finished his ale and ridden on down the Bedford Road.

As the play’s commencement draws near, an old man comes out of the Meeting House. The children, playing about the Belfry, run into him and he admonishes them. Then he rings the bell. At first one cannot be quite sure of the bell. Then the spell becomes stronger and it does clang dimly through.

Part One

“The Glorious Morning”

[The Chronicler opens his book and begins to write.

In the far distance, a bugler blows “Assembly.”

For the first time, the Chronicler lifts his head and looks at the audience.

Just a little nearer than the bugle some horns play “Yankee Doodle.”

In the darkling tavern faint voices of men take up the chorus.

A very little light shines upon the Chronicler’s figure. He rises and lifts his right hand.

The Drummers play a long roll.

Then the Chronicler speaks.]

The Chronicler

(Directly into the audience.)

In the Book of American Freedom it has been written that the Town of Lexington, in the County of Middlesex, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, shall be designated as “The Birthplace of American Liberty.” This, says the book, is a fitting designation because the events which had their scene in Lexington on the glorious morning of the nineteenth of April one hundred and fifty years ago this year did forever mark and set aside the town to be a symbol of liberty to all free nations and all free peoples.

[The Drummers play another roll on their drums and the Chronicler sits.

Off stage, to a noble tune which gradually increases in volume, the Chorus sings two verses from Drayton’s “To the Virginian Voyage.”]

The Chorus

You brave, heroic minds,
Worthy your country’s name,
That honor still pursue;
Go and subdue!
Whilst loitering hinds
Lurk here at home with shame.
And in regions far,
Such heroes bring ye forth
As those from whom we came;
And plant our name
Under that star
Not known unto our north.

[As the singing diminishes, the light grows upon the thrones of the two Spokesmen and they begin. They speak eagerly, almost in a monotone, following no rhythm but the inevitable throb of Carlyle’s prose. The bell, too, follows this throb, sounding ever louder and more insistently through their words.]

The First Spokesman

The world is all so changed; so much that seemed vigorous has sunk decrepit, so much that was not is beginning to be!

The Second Spokesman

(Swinging antiphonally into tone and tempo.)

Borne over the Atlantic what sounds are these; muffled-ominous, new in our centuries?

The First Spokesman

Boston Harbor is black with unexpected Tea!

The Second Spokesman

Behold a Pennsylvanian Congress gather!

The First Spokesman

And ere long, on Bunker Hill....

The Second Spokesman

Democracy....

The First Spokesman

Announcing in rifle-volleys, death winged....

The Second Spokesman

Under her Star Banner....

The First Spokesman

To the tune of Yankee-Doodle-Doo....

The Second Spokesman

That she is born....

The First Spokesman

And whirlwind-like....

The Second Spokesman

Will envelope the whole world!

[The drums roll out. The lights die down on the Spokesmen. In the meanwhile, answering the summons of the bell ringer, the people of Lexington have come out of street and tavern in the twilight and gathered about the Meeting House steps.

Jonas Clark has gone to them to stand upon the steps facing them. He is now in his forty-fifth year, a vigorous, lean, eager man with a spirit of gripping and convincing sincerity.

At the conclusion of the words of the Spokesmen, all of the villagers are gathered together about their pastor, save one girl. She is distinguished from her sisters of the village, less by her dress (which is commonplace enough) than by a strange and wild loveliness and by a deep absorption in her own thoughts. She is tall and very beautiful and a prophetic intensity possesses her.

Led by their pastor, the people about the Meeting House lift their voices in the fifty-ninth Psalm.]

Parson Clark

Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: set me on high from those that rise up against me. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from the blood-thirsty men.

The People

For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul; the mighty gather themselves together against me: not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Lord; they run and prepare themselves without my fault.

Parson Clark

For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips, let them even be taken in their pride, and for cursing and lying which they speak.

The People

Yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning, for thou hast been my high tower, and a refuge in the day of my distress.

Parson Clark

Unto thee, O my Strength, will I sing praises, for God is my high tower, the God of my mercy.

[Then the people fall silent and do not move. But the great words that they have spoken together have very deeply stirred this single girl who has stood apart and listened. With the last word of the Psalm, she seems of a sudden to grow taller. A smile like light itself spreads over her face. Light seems to grow out of her. She lifts her two arms in a wild abandonment to exaltation and cries out.]

The Girl

Ah!

[The Chronicler looks up in amazement at this sudden shout.

The girl takes a few tense steps down toward him and the light about her grows ever in whiteness.]

The Girl

Write more, write more, you Chronicler!
Write how the roots
Stir in the ground!
Write how the sap
Stirs in the trees!
Write how the thaw
Gives breath of life!
And write how God
Peers through the firmament
Upon the continents; for this day is glory!

The Chronicler

Who are you, Girl?

The Girl

Men call me different names. God calls me Freedom!

[Upon this, a gigantic roll of the drums. The girl, Freedom, turns her back slowly upon the audience as Parson Clark begins to address his congregation. She goes up, tensely and superbly, face to face with him.]

Parson Clark

It has come now to our turn, Americans, to see what we can do. The indignant spirit of self-government which inspired our ancestors is now pronounced by the Lords and Commons of England to be a spirit of rebellion. The colonies hesitate not a moment, but unite and greatly dare to be free. God who sitteth upon the throne of his holiness, the governor among nations, will know our cause and uphold our right to freedom. Let us pray.

[The people kneel. Only the girl, Freedom, stands upright. The Parson prays, the people repeating his prayer with him in unison. She walks rigidly up the slope to the edge of the crowd to the Parson’s side. At the end of the prayer she is standing beside him. This is the prayer:]

Omnes

O Lord, when dangers surround us and oppressors threaten our rights and enemies invade our homes, we, thy people, look to thee, O Lord, for our refuge and, committing our cause to thy wisdom and justice, we do humbly expect, O Lord, that light will arise in darkness, that the power of the oppressor may be broken, that our enemies will not prevail against us, that our God will maintain our right. Amen.

[As Freedom entered the crowd, the light about her seemed to invest it with a very wonderful splendor. During the prayer, however, and at the end, only Freedom and the Parson are visible. Then the light goes entirely, the hymn dies out and the crowd disperses in the darkness.

Then the light glows upon the two Spokesmen and they begin to speak again. This time dim music accompanies their words ... spoken once to the House of Commons by Edmund Burke.]

The First Spokesman

A government against which a claim of freedom is tantamount to high treason is a government to which submission is equivalent to slavery.

The Second Spokesman

The people of the colonies are the descendants of Englishmen and therefore love liberty according to English ideas and on English principles.

The First Spokesman

Men may be as sorely touched and as deeply grieved in their privileges as in their purses; men may lose little in property by the act which takes away all their freedom.

The Second Spokesman

To prove that Americans ought not to be free we are obliged to depreciate the value of freedom itself.

The First Spokesman

“An Englishman is the unfittest person on earth to argue another Englishman into slavery.”

The Second Spokesman

“A great empire and little minds go ill together.”

The First Spokesman

“We stand where we have an immense view of what is and what is past.”

The Second Spokesman

“Clouds, indeed, and darkness rest upon the future.”

[The music ends in another roll of drums. The Chronicler rises.]

The Chronicler

The alarm is toward. The night of watching commences.