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...

T HE 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 othe

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 lowe

“ 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 Chronicl

“ Political Freedom ” [ It is a long garden stair which we are shown, a stair suggested by some of the planting we have already seen but which begins its Georgian graciousness just where the Meeting House stood a moment since. It rises in shallow steps broken by broad levels, three of them, if possible, and on each of the levels, a bench, very simple and dignified. These levels will hereinafter be referred to as the first, second and third landings. The third is a long terrace, lined, in its cen

“ Social Freedom ” The Chronicler The nation being established conceives the empire. The race, born of the romance of empire and nourished upon the adventure of freedom, turns to the wilderness. The Choir Pioneers! O Pioneers! Beyond these eastern mountains, the adventure of freedom is resumed, and the romance of empire lives anew! [ Freedom turns at the shout and the music begins a soft, wild march theme. Suddenly possessed again, Freedom evokes the Western migration. As she begins to speak the

“ Our Own Day ” [ The Chronicler rises in light. ] The Chronicler Death that takes Lincoln spares him the disillusion and the time of waste that comes after him. The face of Freedom is covered and she turns her gaze away from the land. The Choir ( Fortissimo ) Allons! Through struggles and wars! The goal that was named cannot be countermanded. Four Voices We found our own, O my Soul, in the calm and cool of the daybreak. [ The beginnings of light upon the scene show Freedom weeping upon her balu

“The Battle of April 19, 1775, in Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Arlington, Cambridge, Somerville and Charlestown.” New Edition, 1922. By Frank Warren Coburn. Illustrated. 200 pp. Price $1.75. “The Battle on Lexington Common, April 19, 1775,” a paper read before the Lexington Historical Society, December 12, 1916, by Frank Warren Coburn. Illustrated. Published in 1918. 60 pp. Price $2.50. “Lexington, the Birthplace of American Liberty.” A hand-book. By Fred S. Piper. 1923. 62 pp. Price $0.50, post