CHAPTER XVIII
PLAY-ACTING
'Therefore, they thought it good you hear a play, And frame your mind to mirth and merriment, Which bars a thousand harms, and lengthens life.'
The winter set in cold and frosty, and as Christmas drew near the snowcame down in real earnest, covering the fields with its white carpet,and turning Sky Cottage into a very good imitation of a Swiss chalet. Itwas chilly work getting up in the dark mornings by candle-light, anddriving off to school when the sun had scarcely risen; the four miles ofroad seemed much longer than they had done in the summertime, and inspite of woollen gloves, the hand which held the reins was apt to bestiff and numb with the cold long before Warford was reached.
'I wish I were a cat!' said Peggy one morning, quite roused to envy bythe contemplation of Tabbyskin's toilet, 'to have no trouble withwashing or dressing; only just to jump out of bed, hump up your back andstretch yourself, drink your saucer of milk, and then lick yourselfcomfortably on the hearthrug in front of the dining-room fire.'
'I think the dormouse has the best of it,' said Lilian, 'for he sleepsstraight on, and never seems to feel the frost at all. It would be aglorious plan to retire to bed for the winter. I'm sure Nature intendedme for a hibernating animal, for I hate the cold. It makes my fingers sostiff I can't practise nicely one little bit.'
'You'd say so if you were at school now,' grumbled Peggy. 'There is anew housekeeper, and she manages so badly that sometimes they are onlyjust lighting the fires when we are going into the class-rooms. Thestudio felt like an ice-house yesterday, and nobody was able to drawproperly. Some of the girls have the most dreadful chilblains on theirfingers. I'm sure one goes through a great deal to get one's education!'
'Never mind, the holidays begin on Wednesday, and then you shall have alovely time. If only this frost keeps up, we ought to get some skating,and that's warm work, at any rate!'
But as regards skating, the children were doomed to disappointment, for,with the usual perversity of the English climate, the weather changed,and Christmas Eve brought a mild wind and drizzling rain. They trudgedthrough the half-melted snow to the church to help with the decorations,for it was fun twisting holly and evergreens, and making garlands of ivyto fasten round the pillars. Archie, who naturally was to the fore onsuch an occasion, managed to climb up and hang wreaths round the headsof the cherubs at the top of the Jacobean monument, which gave theirweeping faces quite a festive appearance for once. Each of the Crusaderswas accorded a cross of yew, and the Elizabethan lady and gentleman hada special decoration all to themselves. Lilian transformed the pulpitinto a perfect bower, weaving in holly and laurels till the Rector hopedshe would leave room for him inside it; and Peggy and Bobby helped--orhindered--the schoolmistress as she adorned the font with a wonderfularrangement of cotton-wool and frosted leaves.
Luckily Christmas Day was fine (for a wet Christmas is enough to dampthe stoutest spirits), but after that the weather indulged in such avariety of changes, alternately freezing and thawing from day to day,that there was no time for a safe crust of ice to form even on thesmallest and shallowest of ponds. At the first fall of deep snow Archiehad mounted both himself and the children on Canadian snow-shoes, for assoon as his illness had allowed, he had persuaded his aunt to bring histool-chest into his bedroom, and had beguiled his convalescence with alittle carpentry.
At first they had all floundered hopelessly about, and it had taken somepractice even to slide a few steps; but long before they had reached thestage of skimming over the frozen surface at the rate of eight or tenmiles an hour, which had been their fond ambition, the snow had meltedinto moist and dirty slush, which was particularly trying, as they hadjust decided to make a sledge out of an old packing-case, and dragLilian round the pasture.
As outdoor exercise was rather out of the question, amusement mustperforce be found indoors, and amateur theatricals became the order ofthe day. Archie was full of enthusiasm over what Nancy called'play-acting,' and had soon initiated his friends into all the mysteriesof drop-scenes, side-shifts, make-ups, cues, and footlights. Bothtragedy and comedy raged in the Rose Parlour, the company feelingthemselves equal to anything, from a representation of Hamlet to thefamous scene between Sir Peter and Lady Teasle. Like all their hobbies,they rode it hard, or, as Archie elegantly expressed it, 'rolled uptheir sleeves and went into it bald-headed.' I am afraid thehouse-keeping languished while Lilian painted scenery on large sheets ofblue grocery paper. Nancy had to dry her washing as best she could, forall the clothes-horses in the establishment were needed for side-wings,and the dining-room tablecloth, being green, was generally missing,having to do duty for such occasions as 'a grove,' 'a glade in theforest,' or the garden scene in 'Much Ado about Nothing.'
From such constant rehearsals the actors found themselves adopting avery stilted kind of conversation. They addressed each other as 'Ho,knave!' or 'Prithee, kind wench!' and would answer the simplest questionby 'Yea, certes!' or 'An't please thee, my lord.' Bobby took to carryingabout an old horse-pistol which he had found in the lumber-room, andsaying 'Oddsbodkins' on all occasions, and Peggy put on such a generalair of melodrama that it seemed scarcely possible for her to speak inplain prose; Archie was impresario, stage-manager, scene-shifter,dresser, maker-up, and principal actor all combined, while Lilian waxedso enthusiastic that she even sacrificed the feathers out of her lastsummer's best hat to adorn the slouched head-gear considered necessaryfor a due representation of Romeo.
One thing only the players felt to be missing in their entertainments,and that was the very important feature of an audience; for what is theuse of learning up parts, and constructing scenery, if there is nobodyto come and watch you act? Peggy sounded Father on the subject of achildren's party, but he did not rise at all to the occasion.
'We can't afford it, Peggy,' he said briefly; then, noticing her look ofdisappointment: 'That's where the shoe pinches, my dear child. The plainnecessities of life we are bound to have, but the state of my pursetells me not to indulge in any luxuries, and I am afraid we mustconsider party-giving under that head.'
Kind Miss Forster would probably have turned her house upside down forArchie's gratification, but she herself was on the sick-list thisChristmas-time, so any gaieties at the Willows were equally out of thequestion. Getting a hint of the dilemma, the Rector came to the rescue,and invited the performers to give an exhibition of their skill andtalent on the occasion of the Sunday-school tea-party, which was to takeplace early in the New Year. This gave quite a fresh aspect to affairs,and great were the discussions as to what piece should be chosen,everybody unfortunately wanting something different, and generallyutterly inappropriate, or impossible to act.
Lilian, always fond of tragedy, had set her heart on the last scene in'Romeo and Juliet.'
'I should be Juliet, you know, stretched out on the bier, and Archiewould have to be Romeo, and come in, and think I was dead, and stabhimself, and then of course I should wake up and stab myself, too; andPeggy and Bobby could be the Montagues and Capulets, getting reconciledover our dead bodies.'
Archie, however, having leanings towards comedy, was not at all willingto play the role of the despairing lover.
'We could never manage to fix up an Italian vault,' he objected, 'and Idon't see how Peggy and Bobby could represent a whole crowd of Montaguesand Capulets, however much noise they made. Why not do a scene from "TheRivals"? You'd be grand as Lydia Languish, and Peggy would just enjoyMrs. Malaprop's mistakes. I, of course, should be Captain Absolute.'
'Then who would be Sir Anthony?'
'Why, Bobby would have to be Sir Anthony.'
'He _couldn't_! Bobby your father! It would look perfectly ridiculous,and people would only laugh! No, that won't do anyhow, and we shall haveto think of something else.'
Bobby was vague as to any particular play, only bargaining he might beallowed to bring in his pistol, and do as much fighting as possible, andthat his part should not require too much learning.
Peggy had ambitions towards the trial scene in the 'Merchant of Venice,'with herself as Portia, having a scarlet dressing-gown which she thoughtwould answer beautifully for the doctor's robes, and designing Archiefor the part of Shylock, while Lilian was to don male attire, andrepresent the unfortunate merchant.
'Then who is to take Bassanio and Gratiano and Salanio, and Salarino andthe Duke, to say nothing of Nerissa? Bobby can't very well act six partsat once.'
'Can't we leave them out?'
'Leave them out! Might as well act "Hamlet" with the part of Hamletomitted!' said Archie with much scorn, and the problem seemed no nearerbeing solved than ever.
But here the Rector again stepped in, and limited the performance tohalf an hour's duration, begging them to choose something appropriatefor a Sunday-school audience, and if possible with a moral, and furtherreminding them that a platform consisting of tables hastily pushedtogether after the tea was concluded would scarcely give facilities foreither footlights, drop-scenes, or side-shifts, a curtain being theutmost he could undertake to manage in that direction.
With wings very much clipped, the soaring actors had to throw asideShakespeare and Sheridan, and apply themselves to books of recitationsand dialogues for village schools. It was difficult to find anything ofthe right length with exactly the right number of parts, but at lastArchie declared he had hit upon one which would do beautifully.
'Just four characters. You and I could be John and Mary, Lilian; andPeggy and Bobby would of course be the children.'
'Why of course? I'm too old for a child!' said Peggy indignantly.
'No, you're not. You're small for your age, and you won't look so verymuch taller than Bobby, if you wear your shortest frock. It's a jollypiece, and should go first-rate, so we'd better decide on this rightaway, and let the Rector know.'
Peggy flushed up to her eyes, and turned her back to hide her risingtears. After all her aspirations it was a bitter humiliation to be putdown for the very minor part of 'a child,' especially by Archie. She hadbeen learning elocution at school this term, and knew she could bothrecite and act well. Moreover, she loved to shine, and to be first andforemost, and had looked forward to this occasion as likely to prove oneof much triumph. Very few of us are heroes when it really comes to thepoint, and I grieve to say that she looked so glum, and was generally sogrumpy and discontented over the arrangement, that unselfish Lilian,divining the cause, instantly proposed to give up her own part to Peggy,and train a little village girl for the second 'child' instead. But thisPeggy would not allow, and rushed away to the barn to weep off herill-humour amongst the hay, returning in a much better frame of mind,with several valuable suggestions for Lilian's make-up; for she was agenerous child at heart, though she could not give up her own waywithout a struggle.
The small piece chosen did not require much either in the way ofrehearsing, scenery, or costumes, which was just as well, for the timewas short, and the day of the tea-party seemed to arrive almostdirectly. By four o'clock the school was full of impatient children,dressed in their best, the girls with their heads such marvels offrizzing and curling that you could well imagine their hair had beenscrewed up in plaits and papers for several days previously, while theboys were shiny with soap and hair-oil. Lilian and Peggy were soon hardat work pouring out tea as if for dear life, while Archie and Bobbydistributed buns and ham-sandwiches with lightning speed, which seemedto vanish with equal quickness, for many of the boys had dispensed withdinner in order to enjoy their tea the more.
'The big boy in the corner drank twelve cups!' declared Peggy, 'andlittle Willie Jones had eight, or even nine, for I lost count; and theboy from Monkend Farm ate at least fourteen buns. I believe he pocketeda few, though I never could catch him!'
Peggy was in her element; she was able to manage, or, as Archie calledit, 'boss around,' to her heart's content. She kept a severe eye on thesmall children, patted them firmly on the back when they choked, andrefused to allow them to grab at the cake, regulating their teaaccording to her own notions of what was good for them, and turningstolen lumps of sugar out of their pockets with the cleverness of adetective.
Tea was over at last, and the crumby remains having been cleared away,the tables were pushed to one side of the great schoolroom to form theplatform, while the benches were arranged in rows to accommodate theaudience, which at present was indulging in an amount of noise only tobe equalled by the Tower of Babel. Peggy, hard at work behind thescenes, put her eye to a hole in the curtain, and surveyed the prospectbelow, where children big and little were engaged in jumping over theforms, chasing each other round the stove, and generally acting morelike monkeys at the Zoo than civilized human beings, while the Rectorstrove in vain to collect them at the empty end of the room to playgames, and the curate, a shy young man fresh from Oxford, looked as ifhe would have preferred to wrestle with a consignment of heathens fromthe Cannibal Islands.
'Come along, Bobby,' said Peggy; 'we ought to go and help. Archie andLilian can arrange the scenery quite well. The Rector is getting pulledto pieces, and poor Mr. Wentworth has lost his glasses.'
Mrs. Davenport would have approved of Peggy for once, for even thepattern Bertha could not have displayed more energy in a parishemergency. She promptly organized a game of 'Oranges and Lemons,'herself leading the long tail of infants who passed under the Rector'sand Mr. Wentworth's upraised hands; she set the boys to swinghoney-pots, and the girls to play 'Drop the Handkerchief'; she boldlyinterposed her small person between the fists of two fightinghobbledehoys, and seized a little boy by the boot who had ventured toclimb up the stove-pipe; she welcomed some of the parents who had begunto arrive for the entertainment, and found them comfortable places onthe benches, even nursing one of the babies while its mother went to therescue of an older child, who was being forcibly held down and sat uponby several of its companions; and by the time the bell was rung, and theaudience requested to take their places, she was almost as hot andpulled about as the Rector himself, but with a feeling of consciousvirtue that made up for everything.
The first part of the entertainment was to be chiefly musical, so theproceedings began with a waltz by Lilian, who was always the Rector'smainstay in making up a programme, and had helped at most of hisSunday-school concerts since she was ten years old. A violin solofollowed from the village tailor, who was much applauded, most of thehearers being persuaded that not even the band in the Warford PublicGardens could surpass 'Bill Evans and his fiddle.' Little Jimmy Carsonrecited 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' in a high, thin, piping voice,standing on tiptoe in his eagerness to give due effect to the famouslines, flinging out his arms wildly to indicate where
'Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them Volleyed and thundered,'
and getting so mixed up with his aspirates that he concluded with:
'_H_onour the charge they made, _H_onour the Light Brigade, Noble six 'undred.'
A selection of small boys and girls sang school glees and Christmascarols, a trifle flat occasionally, but perhaps that was the fault ofthe piano, which needed tuning. The two Miss Prices from the Post-Officewarbled a mild little duet, which gave unbounded satisfaction to theirfond mamma, if to nobody else; the blacksmith's assistant roared out asea song in a voice like a tempest; and a young man on a visit to themiller gave a comic song, which quite took the company by storm.
A five minutes' interval followed before the act, which was regarded asthe chief event of the evening. There was a good deal of giggling andwhispered conversation behind the scenes as the actors hastily concludedtheir preparations, but at length, in response to the enthusiasticclapping and stamping of the audience, the curtain was drawn aside bytwo Sunday-school teachers, and the play began. Peggy, standing behindone of the clothes-horses which served for a side-wing, could see thetwo hundred eager faces turned towards the platform, and experiencedthat peculiar sensation known as 'stage fright.' Instead of longing nowfor a prominent part, she heaved a sigh of relief to think that Lilianmust begin
instead, and trembled for the moment when she would beobliged to face those watching eyes.
The piece chosen turned upon a discussion between a man and his wife asto the relative difficulties of their work, resulting in the husbandundertaking to do the morning's duties during the absence of thehousewife. Lilian, in a print dress, apron, and sun-bonnet, made acharming little village mother, and trotted off with her basket, leavingmany injunctions for 'John' to follow. Archie, as the husband, incorduroy trousers, his shirt-sleeves rolled up, and a short clay pipe inhis mouth, was a capital British workman, and his struggles in theperformance of his domestic duties were the subject of much mirth. Whenhe broke the china, and stirred up the washing with the poker, theaudience cheered, and it shouted with delight when he upset the kettleand burnt the bread black in the oven. Peggy and Bobby as 'thechildren,' with crumpled pinafores and smudged faces, were an equalsuccess, for in watching Archie Peggy had forgotten her sudden shyness,and she now threw herself thoroughly into her part, howling mostrealistically when her nose was scrubbed in the wash-tub, or her haircombed with a fork; while Bobby stole jam and resisted medicine withlifelike zeal. Lilian's face, when as 'Mary' she returned to find hercottage a scene of confusion, was considered excellent, and the moral ofthe story was enough to satisfy even the Rector. The audience 'hoorayed'and thumped with their thick boots on the floor, and shouted 'encore';but as it was not possible to break the china, spill the medicine, andupset the kettle twice over without a considerable amount ofpreparation, they had to be content with the graceful bows which theartistes bestowed upon them.
'Say them "Little Orphaned Annie" instead of an encore,' whisperedLilian to Peggy, as the stamping still went on, and nobody seemedinclined to go.
'Shall I?' said Peggy, flushing; for it was her best piece at theelocution class, and she had been complimented on it by her teacher.
'Yes, go on quick!' said Lilian, pushing her forward, and catching theRector's eye.
Peggy was in good form that night, and I really think her recitation wasconsidered the star of the evening. Her gruesome voice as she recountedwhat the goblins did to naughty boys made several small sinners in theback benches shake in their shoes--many innocent infants felt theyshould never dare to go to bed in the dark again; and the wild shriekwith which she ended her announcement that 'the goblins are about' quitebrought down the house, and the children shouted and yelled and cheeredas the Rector strove to get order once more, and wind up the proceedingswith the National Anthem. So Peggy had her triumph after all, even if itwere only a small one.