LANG DON 
 
 CELEBRATION OF THE 
 FOURTH OF JULY BY MEANS 
 OF PAGEANTRY
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 The Celebration of the Fourth of July 
 by Means of Pageantry 
 
 WILLIAM CHAUNCY LANGDON 
 
 Master of the Pageants of Thetford, Vermont (191 1), and of St. Johnsbury, 
 Vermont (1912) 
 
 With an Article and Notes on the Music 
 By ARTHUR FARWELL 
 
 Supervisor of Municipal Concerts, New York City (1910-1912) 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 THE DIVISION OF RECREATION 
 
 OF THE 
 RUSSELL SAGE FOUNDATION 
 
 Copyright, 1912, by the Russell Sage Foundation
 
 "This second (fourth) day of July, 1776, will be the most 
 memorable epocha in the history of America. I am apt to 
 believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations 
 as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commem- 
 orated by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It 
 ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, 
 games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from 
 one end of this continent to the other, from this time for- 
 ward forevermore." JOHN ADAMS, July 3rd, 1776.
 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 The suggestions for the celebration of the Fourth of July 
 that are offered in this pamphlet are based on two convictions : 
 (i) That there is not only a need but an earnest desire for some 
 good way to celebrate our chief national holiday. This desire, 
 it is believed, is for a way not merely negative and restrictive, 
 arising from the revulsion against the suffering incident to the old 
 celebrations, but for a form of celebration that will be positive, 
 growing from the significance of the holiday and embodying the 
 glory of the idea of Liberty realized in national life. With this 
 desire on the part of the public, it becomes worth while to try to 
 work something out along this line, and I have desired to make 
 my contribution to this cause. 
 
 (2) The second conviction on which these suggestions are 
 offered is that there are principles that should govern such a 
 celebration and that should guide its formulation. There is, 
 ideally at least, some one best way to celebrate the Fourth of 
 July, some one best form of celebration, which embodies these 
 principles, and which should be the goal for all our attempts to 
 realize it. 
 
 Two outlines are offered in this pamphlet as suggestions for 
 those who have the preparation of a Fourth of July celebration 
 in hand, one for a Celebration and the other for a General 
 Pageant, with an episode that may be used in either. For those 
 who may desire it a technical discussion of these outlines and of 
 the general problem involved is given in the section, Pageantry 
 in Independence Day Celebrations. 
 
 Going to Mr. Arthur Farwell, at first only to ask him to 
 write some technical notes on the musical programme that I had 
 selected for the two outlines herein printed, I found that he had 
 for some time been giving thought and work to this matter of 
 Independence Day celebrations, especially of course in its musical 
 aspect. In consequence his comment on the whole plan has 
 been most helpful and stimulating, and I want here to make 
 appreciative acknowledgment of it. He has embodied in the 
 
 3
 
 article which he has written for this pamphlet, "Music in Inde- 
 pendence Day Celebrations," much that will be found valuable 
 by Fourth of July Committees and that goes to the root of the 
 question of the best celebration of this great holiday. 
 
 The ideal celebration must grow. It cannot be devised at 
 one stroke by any one man or group. It is hoped that the sug- 
 gestions herein offered may be of practical use to cities, towns 
 and villages seeking to work up for this year a celebration that 
 shall to some extent follow pageant lines. To this end the right 
 is herewith freely given to use either the Celebration or the Out- 
 line for a General Pageant, including the Episode, and to perform 
 them in whole or in part. In order that the extent of the practical 
 value of this pamphlet may be learned and in order that new 
 ideas may be made available for the general benefit another year, 
 it is earnestly requested that all communities that do use these 
 outlines or follow these suggestions, even though it be to but a 
 slight extent, will be so kind as to inform the Russell Sage 
 Foundation. This request is meant to apply particularly to 
 anything original that may be done, either as a whole or in pur- 
 suit of the suggestion made by Mr. Farwell for original work 
 along musical lines at the place provided within the Celebration. 
 The importance is urged also of getting photographs of the 
 scenes in action, not merely of costumed groups. It is requested 
 that if possible three copies of programmes and newspaper ac- 
 counts be sent, that one may be filed with the Russell Sage 
 Foundation and that Mr. Farwell and the writer may each have 
 one for use in preparing future editions of this pamphlet. 
 
 WILLIAM CHAUNCY LANGDON 
 
 400 Metropolitan Tower 
 New York City
 
 A Celebration for the Fourth of July 
 
 The Red, White and Blue. 
 I. THE PROCLAMATION OF THE HOLIDAY. 
 
 Hail, Columbia! and Yankee Doodle. 
 
 II. THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 Hymn to Liberty. 
 
 III. THE ACCLAMATION OF AMERICA. 
 
 The Star-Spangled Banner. 
 
 IV. THE TRIBUTE OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 Special Music. 
 
 V. THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE. 
 
 America. 
 
 VI. THE REVIEW. 
 
 The Grounds herein imagined are a square or a small park, 
 in front of the City Hall. The City Hall itself, or some other 
 public building, is the background for the scenes. There are 
 trees and bushes on either side of the City Hall. The grand- 
 stand or other seating accommodation directly faces the City 
 Hall. The distance from the grand-stand to the City Hall 
 accords with the number of people who take part in the Celebra- 
 tion. On the side of the Grounds, to the right of the audience, 
 there is placed a small grand-stand or platform for the Mayor 
 and his escorting party. Directly opposite, on the left side of 
 the Grounds, there is a half-shed or shell to serve as a sounding- 
 board for the orchestra, band, or whatever instrumental music 
 there may be and seats for a trained chorus to lead in the singing. 
 
 I. The Proclamation of the Holiday. The orchestra, band, 
 or whatever instrumental music there may be will play "The 
 Red, White and Blue." After four lines have been played, there 
 is heard a bugle call from one side of the City Hall, in the back- 
 ground, and then from the other side; repeated. Then there 
 come out from either side of the City Hall two troops of Boy 
 Scouts, each with its bugles, who march in a quarter-circle around 
 to either side of the entrance to the City Hall and there take their 
 position. The buglers sound a fanfare. A moment later the 
 Mayor appears at the top of the steps at the entrance to the City 
 
 5
 
 Hall. The city flag is carried immediately behind the Mayor. 
 With the Mayor are the City Council, his Department heads or 
 other city officials. The Boy Scouts salute, and the buglers 
 again sound a fanfare. At the same time from the two entrances 
 at either end of the main grand-stand there run two groups of 
 little girls dressed in white and carrying flowers and wreaths, the 
 two groups converging and uniting at the foot of the steps in 
 front of the Mayor. When the music has played the tune through 
 once and begins for the second time, the chorus sings the words 
 and the Mayor descends the steps and advances toward the au- 
 dience on the grand-stand. He walks alone; the little girls go 
 ahead of him in two groups, one on either side; the city officials 
 follow in a massed group behind him; and the Boy Scouts on 
 either side of them and a little behind the Mayor. As for the 
 second time the chorus of the song is reached, the Mayor and 
 his party halt and all, including the audience, join in singing the 
 chorus, "Three Cheers for the Red, White and Blue." The music 
 stops. 
 
 The Mayor will then read his proclamation of the holiday and 
 call upon the people of the town to join in this united celebration 
 of the day, or if the Celebration be held in the evening, to close 
 the festivities of the day by joining in this united celebration of 
 it. If it be desired, the Mayor may here briefly address the 
 people for a few moments. The Mayor will then call upon one 
 of the ministers of the town to offer a brief prayer. The Mayor 
 and his official party will then retire and take seats on the stand 
 provided for them at one side of the general grand-stand. The 
 Boy Scouts will take their position, standing in two groups at 
 either side of the Mayor and the City Officials, and the girls with 
 their flowers will sit in front of them on the grass. Meanwhile 
 the music will play "Hail, Columbia!" 
 
 n. The Declaration of Independence. As soon as the 
 Mayor's party has reached their places, while the music is still 
 playing, a group of Boy Scouts come from the two sides of the 
 grand-stand, bringing in two tables and sufficient chairs for the 
 scene to follow. This must be done quickly and with dignity, 
 each one carrying only one chair, going directly to the spot where 
 it is to be placed and immediately returning whence he came. 
 Immediately after, the music now playing "Yankee Doodle," 
 the members of the Second Continental Congress come by twos 
 and threes from the various entrances at the back. They take
 
 their seats at once. John Hancock takes the chair; John Adams 
 and John Dickinson deliver their speeches; the Declaration of 
 Independence, or part of it is read; and the vote is taken. John 
 Hancock declares the motion passed and instructs the small 
 grandson of the bell-ringer to go and tell his grandfather to 
 ring the bell. The boy runs off. The bell of the City Hall 
 peals forth and the peal is taken up by all the other bells of the 
 city. Cannon are fired at some convenient place near the 
 City Hall. The characteristic jubilation continues for a few 
 minutes, during which the members of the Congress one by one 
 step up to the table and sign their names. Then as the ring- 
 ing of the bells and the firing of the cannon cease, the mem- 
 bers of the Congress, each in his place stands facing the audience. 
 The music, instruments and chorus, instantly breaks forth 
 in "The Hymn to Liberty." Full details and directions for this 
 episode are to be found elsewhere in this pamphlet. 
 
 III. The Acclamation of America. During the last stanza 
 of the Hymn, the members of the Congress come forward into 
 two groups, both at first facing the entrance at the left of the 
 grand-stand, raising their arms or extending them as in wel- 
 come. From that entrance there pour in groups of foreign 
 peoples, of whatever nationalities may be represented in the 
 town, in native costume, or if the town be located in a west- 
 ern state, of people from the New England or Southern states 
 that first settled the town or state, in their early costumes, as 
 well as of those foreigners who have since settled there. Mean- 
 time the Boy Scouts quickly remove the chairs and the tables. 
 From the other entrance, on the right of the grand-stand, groups 
 of people come. The people take their places chiefly on the left 
 side so grouped together as to make the tableau beautiful and 
 their numbers effective. When the music ceases, the members 
 of the Congress, led by John Hancock, turn and point toward the 
 wooded entrance at the left of the City Hall ; they then walk in 
 that direction pointing still toward the woods. All the people 
 turn and in silence look where the members of the Congress 
 point. From the woods appears America on horseback (or, if 
 the town be small and the grounds restricted, on foot). Her 
 horse is white. She is robed all in white, and wears a white liberty 
 cap on her head. On her left arm she carries the Shield of the 
 United States, and held high, in her right hand, the American 
 Flag. With her as escort come first the State in which the town
 
 8 
 
 is located carrying the State shield and flag and then the thir- 
 teen original States, carrying their shields, but not their flags. 
 As soon as they are well out from under the trees, America 
 and her escort halt. America slightly elevates the flag. The 
 music, the instruments, the chorus and all the people of the 
 audience, rising, unitedly burst forth in the acclaim of "The Star 
 Spangled Banner." One stanza is sung. During this stanza 
 America and the States ride slowly down between the groups 
 of the members of the Congress and in a circle around the open 
 space in front of the grand-stand to a position near the rear 
 right corner of the grounds between the Mayor's stand and the 
 City Hall. The Congress follow and take their places with 
 America, a group on either side of her. 
 
 IV. The Tribute of the People. In the open space now left 
 clear in front of the audience and between America and her escort 
 and the Mayor and his official party, on the one side of the 
 grounds, and the massed groups of the foreign peoples on the 
 other, there now come up first one group and then another of the 
 foreign citizens in the old-country dress and dance their national 
 folk-dances or sing their national folk-songs to the appropriate 
 music on the proper instruments. The Boy Scouts and the 
 Camp Fire Girls may perform one of their characteristic appro- 
 priate activities. And last the Children of the Schools may be 
 introduced in an American dance or song. Opportunity should 
 be given also, and in the middle of these Tributes would be a 
 good place, for the audience under the lead of the trained chorus 
 to join in the singing of some one or more of the familiar local 
 American songs, like "Dixie," "The Old Oaken Bucket" and 
 "The Swanee River." It might be made a special point to sing 
 at least one song of another part of the country as well as one 
 that is local, e. g. to sing "Dixie" in New England as well as 
 "The Old Oaken Bucket." Here may be performed the music 
 specially written In Praise of Liberty for the occasion by local 
 composers as is suggested elsewhere in this pamphlet by Mr. 
 Farwell. The order of these tributes should be such as to pro- 
 vide a continual variety in the character of the exercises and 
 to lead to a climax. For instance, the European folk-dances 
 might alternate with the Boy Scouts and the Camp Fire Girls; 
 then as a special feature the American songs or the new original 
 music; and last the Children of the Schools in large numbers, 
 dressed in white and with sashes of the national colors, in their
 
 American dance. Great latitude may be used in the features 
 here introduced, provided that everything that is done be very 
 short, be artistic, and distinctly characteristic of the group per- 
 forming it. The offertory spirit should dominate in this part 
 of the Celebration. In every instance the group will first bow 
 or otherwise salute America and then the Mayor and finally the 
 people of the town in the audience; at the end before returning 
 to their places again saluting each in inverse order. 
 
 V. The Oath of Allegiance. At the close of these Tributes of 
 the People, the Mayor will step forward a few paces from his 
 position and call upon all the people to join him in taking anew 
 the Oath of Allegiance. The People in the grand-stand will 
 rise; the people on the grounds in costume will kneel on one 
 knee, except the Mayor; those on horseback, except America, 
 will dismount and stand at their horses' heads. America holding 
 the flag high above their heads, the Mayor will lead the people 
 in repeating the Oath of Allegiance. Then while the people 
 are still kneeling, a minister appointed by the Mayor, appro- 
 priately the oldest minister in the town, will pronounce a bene- 
 diction. All rising from their knees and the audience still 
 standing, all will then join in singing "America," led by the 
 instruments and the trained chorus. While this is being sung, 
 the Mayor and his official party will advance and march over to 
 the steps of the City Hall where they will take their positions for 
 the review. 
 
 VI. The Review. The Mayor stands about half way up the 
 steps, the city officials grouped behind him, the Boy Scouts on 
 the ground at either corner of the steps and the little girls sitting 
 in front along the lowest step. To martial music which con- 
 tinues through to the end the various groups of people that have 
 taken part in the Celebration will fall into line from the left of 
 the grand-stand and march down toward the left end of the 
 grand-stand, then doubling back march up toward the City 
 Hall, turning to march across in front of the Mayor whom they 
 salute as they pass, and on in front of America and the group 
 with her of the States and the members of the Second Continen- 
 tal Congress at the corner of the grounds; then down the right 
 side of the grounds and out at the right exit at the corner of the 
 grand-stand. When the procession has departed, America and 
 the States, followed by the members of the Congress, will ride 
 from their position straight down toward the center of the grand-
 
 IO 
 
 stand, and there turn and go straight up the middle of the 
 grounds toward the Mayor and his party. When America and 
 the States have turned and just as they have started to ride 
 toward the Mayor, the little girls with their flowers run down to 
 meet her, and return toward the Mayor ahead of her. As 
 America reaches a point directly in front of the Mayor, they 
 salute each other, and America, the States and the members of 
 Congress preceded by the little girls turn to the left and go out 
 of the grounds at the left of the City Hall where America first 
 rode in. Then the City Officials open a way between them, the 
 Mayor goes into the City Hall, followed by the City Officials and 
 by the Boy Scouts.
 
 Outline for a General Pageant for the 
 Fourth of July 
 
 The Red, White and Blue. 
 I. THE APPROACH OF LIBERTY. (Symbolical.) 
 
 Hail, Columbia! 
 II. THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 1776. (Realistic.) 
 
 Hymn to Liberty. 
 III. THE TRIUMPH OF FREEDOM AFTER THE REVOLUTION. (Procession.) 
 
 Yankee Doodle, Battle Hymn of the Republic and Dixie. 
 IV. BETWEEN THE LINES DURING THE CIVIL WAR, 1863. (Realistic.) 
 V. THE REUNION OF THE BLUE AND THE GRAY. (Procession.) 
 Battle Hymn of the Republic, Dixie, and The Swanee River. 
 VI. THE STRUGGLE FOR A BETTER NATIONAL LIFE, 1912. (Realistic.) 
 
 America. 
 
 VII. THE EXALTATION OF AMERICA! (Symbolical.) 
 The Star-Spangled Banner. 
 
 The Pageant Grounds herein imagined are a fairly open lawn 
 of medium size on the edge of thick woods, preferably of ever- 
 greens with small trees and bushes in front of the taller trees. It 
 will be better if the edge of the woods is irregular with receding 
 and protruding groups of trees, thus landscaping the scene before 
 the audience. It will be effective if the ground rises with a 
 steep slope through the woods into a hill, thus giving a high 
 background to the pageant. Near the grand-stand on the left 
 side of the Grounds there is a half-shed or shell of wood for the 
 orchestra, band or whatever instrumental music there may be, 
 and seats for a trained chorus to lead in the singing. 
 
 I. The Approach of Liberty. (Symbolical.) Promptly at 
 the hour for the pageant, the orchestra, band, or whatever in- 
 strumental music there may be, will play The Red, White and 
 Blue, repeating the chorus diminuendo, the final chords quite 
 soft. There then come from the woods in the background and 
 to the left, three notes long and clear sounded by a bugle or horn. 
 After a moment of silence, three more notes of the horn are 
 heard, and from the direction of the horn comes forth into the
 
 12 
 
 open, out from under the trees, Liberty, all in white. She is 
 followed by Democracy, Industry, Health and Patriotism. They 
 cross over toward the right of the grounds and seem to be merely 
 passing through. From several places in the woods, however, 
 are heard murmurs of discontent, low cries, and groans. Liberty 
 stops; she turns and listens. She goes back a few steps, puts the 
 horn to her lips and blows the three notes again. 
 
 From the woods, at various places, mostly at the back and on 
 the left, come groups of people typical of the oppressed of dif- 
 ferent periods under the restraint of their masters. First and 
 prominently there should be a group of English merchants and 
 American colonists, the Englishmen haughtily giving orders to 
 the Americans, who receive them with alternating respect and 
 rebellion. Groups suggestive of other kinds of oppression or 
 of lack of true freedom may follow. In these personal cruelty 
 is not always an essential feature ; indeed sometimes the absence 
 of freedom when combined with content will be the more sig- 
 nificant. Instances of such groups may be: early Puritans 
 seeking religious liberty and English bishops restraining them; 
 later Puritans and the quiet but obstinate Quakers; captains 
 and sailors of New England slave-ships selling negroes to South- 
 ern planters at the time of the Revolution; later negroes quite 
 content carrying bales of cotton for their Southern masters, and 
 singing snatches of plantation songs the while; coming down 
 later to the larger immigration period, a group of starving Irish 
 peasants ; or of Russian Jews driven with the knout by Cossacks. 
 Finally, there should be one or two groups without any master, 
 in present-day dress; their heads bent, they are absorbed each in 
 his own slavery to some form of circumstance or condition. 
 Some are pale and sick. Some, money in one hand and watch in 
 the other, are engrossed in the rush for material affluence. Some 
 are composed of one or two capitalists and several employees, 
 obstinately hostile to each other, the workmen throwing down 
 their tools or leaning on them idly, while the capitalists grasp 
 closer their purses and strong boxes. So all these groups, chosen 
 and worked out according to local appropriateness, come slowly 
 in, irregular in order and each group quite distinct from the others. 
 
 Liberty beckons to all the oppressed to come to her. They 
 press forward toward her, but are haughtily restrained by their 
 task-masters. The present-day groups look up eagerly to her for 
 a moment, then lose interest in the proffered freedom and again
 
 13 
 
 become absorbed each in the mood of his own subjection to condi- 
 tions. Liberty however turns toward the several groups of old- 
 time slaves and with imperial gestures of command requires the 
 masters to liberate those whom they hold in oppression. As- 
 tounded, not daring to disobey, they relinquish their control; the 
 oppressed, group after group in historical order, surge forward to 
 Liberty's side, joyfully and gratefully acclaiming her ; some of the 
 women kneeling before her and kissing her robe. The masters 
 withdraw a little distance and watch, first with amazement, then 
 with interest, and at last with hearty enthusiasm.* Finally 
 Liberty goes up to the groups of the present-day enslaved and 
 wins their attention; as they come over to her, their whole de- 
 meanor changes, becoming vigorous and joyful, and they join 
 each other with a new unselfish comradeship. As each group 
 comes to her Liberty calls the attention of one of her companions 
 to them ; for instance, the American colonists to Democracy, the 
 negroes to Industry, the present-day slaves to Health and to 
 Patriotism, who guide them to their places in the tableau. When 
 all are brought together into one group, both the oppressed and 
 the masters, Liberty points forward as if indicating the path of 
 progress to them, whither she will lead them, again blows her 
 three loud notes, and starts off briskly toward the left front 
 entrance, her companions and all the others following her. 
 The music strikes up "Hail, Columbia!" as the whole group 
 depart quickly, singing joyously. (The action of this scene 
 should not be too near to the front.) 
 
 II. The Declaration of Independence, 1776. (Realistic.) 
 This episode may be the same as in the Celebration and will close 
 with the singing of The Hymn to Liberty. Full details and 
 directions for this episode are to be found elsewhere in this 
 pamphlet. 
 
 III. The Triumph of Freedom after the Revolution. (Pro- 
 cession.) This is a procession of the American soldiers, return- 
 
 * For is it not true that in nearly all the issues of public life in the United 
 States, past and present, the underlying purpose on both sides has been to 
 preserve unity in the whole without sacrificing freedom in the part? Each 
 side has felt it necessary strenuously to uphold one aspect; conflict has re- 
 sulted because of the belief that either unity or local freedom was in jeopardy. 
 The Tories were not fond of being oppressed; they held the unity of the thir- 
 teen colonies secured under the British crown to be of superior value to the 
 local freedom of the colonies. And in the Civil War, the North fought for 
 unity; the South for the local freedom of the individual states. In an impor- 
 tant sense, both won.
 
 14 
 
 ing with the tattered battle-flags and in worn and faded buff and 
 blue uniforms, to their homes after the Surrender at Yorktown. 
 Soldiers from different colonies, wearing characteristic uniforms, 
 may be included, when possible. They should be preceded by 
 fifes and drums, playing "Yankee Doodle." General Washing- 
 ton and his staff should march on horseback at the head of 
 the column, immediately after the fifes and drums. When 
 General Washington and his staff reach the center back of the 
 grounds, they should halt and take their place there, facing the 
 audience, to review the passing soldiers, the fifes and drums tak- 
 ing position directly opposite them in the middle of the grounds 
 with their backs to the audience and continuing to play until all 
 the soldiers have passed. The course of the soldiers should be, 
 entering at one side of the grand-stand, to march well into the 
 grounds, march across between General Washington and the 
 fifes and drums, saluting as they pass, down on the other side of 
 the grounds, and depart at the other end of the grand-stand. 
 Then the fifes and drums should wheel around and march di- 
 agonally across the grounds directly to the exit (not following the 
 soldiers), followed by General Washington and his staff. 
 
 IV. Between the Lines during the Civil War, 1863. (Real- 
 istic.) Far off on the right of the audience is heard, played by 
 military band or by fife and drum corps, one line of "The Battle 
 Hymn of the Republic." From the extreme left is heard the 
 first line of "Dixie." Each is answered by another line of the 
 respective songs and by cheers on the Northern side and the 
 "rebel yell" on the Southern. The bugles sound the "Advance" 
 and the "Commence Firing" on either side. On either side at 
 as great a distance as is practicable the two armies advance in 
 skirmish line upon each other, running forward a short way and 
 then lying down and firing, until both sides have reached the 
 grounds. Here and there a soldier falls over dead, or wounded 
 and is helped by a comrade. The "Cease Firing" is heard on 
 the bugles on either side at some distance. The firing stops, and 
 the men on both sides sit up on the ground. They call to each 
 other by the names of "Yank" and "Johnnie Reb," and then 
 come out into the open, chatting with each other in a friendly 
 way and exchanging coffee and tobacco. After a moment of 
 this, the "Commence Firing" is again heard; the soldiers hurry 
 back to their lines, giving each other fair chance to get back, and 
 then resume their firing. The bugles sound "Retire" on either
 
 15 
 
 side, and both lines withdraw slowly, firing as they go. Again 
 "Cease Firing" is heard, and the firing stops. 
 
 V. The Reunion of the Blue and the Gray. (Procession.) 
 Again is heard from either side the first lines of "The Battle 
 Hymn of the Republic" and "Dixie" answering each other. 
 The full orchestra starts in to play the two tunes either alter- 
 nately, or together. (An arrangement of these two melodies in 
 combination for band and for orchestra is being prepared.) 
 Each from its own side at the entrances at either end of the 
 grand-stand enter the two armies, the Northern and the Southern, 
 in the blue and in the gray uniforms, faded and worn, and carry- 
 ing their tattered battle-flags, the stars and stripes with the 
 thirty-five stars of 1863, and the stars and bars of the Confederacy. 
 At the same moment, as the armies march into the grounds, from 
 the woods at the back of the grounds enter two color sergeants, 
 one in blue and one in gray, carrying between them the American 
 flag of the present, with the forty-eight stars. They take their 
 place at the back of the grounds facing the audience. The two 
 columns march up the grounds each on its own side, cross over in 
 front of the American flag saluting it as they pass, down on the 
 opposite side and out at the place where the other army is enter- 
 ing. In the northern states the Northern soldiers may take the 
 inner path, thus when crossing over, being nearer the audience, 
 with the Southern soldiers between them and the flag; in the 
 southern states the Southern soldiers may similarly take the 
 inner path. This will bring to the front the local point of view. 
 When the two armies are about disappearing at their respective 
 exits, the two color-sergeants with the American flag will retire 
 slowly, walking backwards, into the woods. 
 
 VI. The Struggle for a Better National Life, 1912. (Real- 
 istic.) As a musical transition from the last scene, some song 
 like The Swanee River should be sung and played here. This 
 episode to have vital significance must be based on the local 
 conditions of the town that is giving the pageant and have direct 
 application to the problem of its best development. It must 
 therefore be locally written. It thus affords opportunity for 
 different and original treatment in each locality. Some sugges- 
 tion as to the kind of relation and of incident that may be suc- 
 cessfully used in this episode can be gathered from the oppressed 
 of the present day in The Approach of Liberty. To the local 
 writer of this episode there must come the question, "What is the
 
 16 
 
 particular problem of this community? What is the public 
 question whose solution is essential to the best welfare and de- 
 velopment of the people of this town?" That he must study out 
 and dramatize in a fair, human, impartial spirit. He must 
 present both sides. It is dramatically essential, for without 
 some truth and right on both sides there is no real problem, and 
 there is no considerable human interest. The struggle of to-day 
 is in its chief features certainly a struggle against conditions. 
 This fact makes the most serious problem and it makes a play 
 without a villain, which is really the most dramatic and the most 
 interesting kind of play. If the town is in a mining or a manufac- 
 turing district, the question of capital and labor will doubtless 
 furnish the substance of the episode ; if the town is in a farming 
 region, the agricultural isolation and the discouragement of the 
 rural problem will determine the character of the episode. It 
 will naturally be difficult or impossible to define or suggest in 
 the episode the correct solution of the problem. The little play 
 must probably, to be true to life, be without an end, without a 
 denouement. But it can show or suggest a sincere attitude on the 
 part of each side and indicate the underlying public spirit that is, 
 however incomprehensible to others, at the bottom of the heart 
 of all classes and kinds of American people. The action of the 
 episode can point forward, with the flag of Hope flying, to the 
 common unanimity which will ultimately bring about the better 
 national life for which the whole country is striving, in days that 
 may eventually prove to have been wise and successful, or not as 
 wise as they might have been. The essential is that the episode 
 shall hold, in the midst of a picture of actual present struggle, 
 the confident hope that will put vigor into action, that will 
 extend the soldier's good hand of understanding to the other 
 side and that will in the end bring about the solidarity of a united 
 nation. This is the great human essential. This it is that 
 will bring about the Triumph of Freedom. 
 
 VII. America. (Symbolical.) Enter from the woods at the 
 right back, Liberty, Democracy, Industry, Health and Patriot- 
 ism. They take their places in the center back of the grounds. 
 Then from all sides come groups of the people who have taken 
 part in the pageant, from the slaves to the people of the last 
 episode. They bring in with them, group by group, sections of a 
 dais and throne, white and of classical design. This they build 
 together, each group adding its section and then withdrawing
 
 17 
 
 to its appointed position in the final tableau. When it is com- 
 plete, all turn toward Liberty with upraised hands in acclama- 
 tion and invite her to ascend the steps to the throne. Democ- 
 racy, Industry and Health go back into the woods and bring 
 forth the Sword of Justice, the Shield of the United States and 
 the American Flag. These they bring to Patriotism who re- 
 ceives them, one by one, and invests Liberty with them, first the 
 Sword which Health brings, then the Shield which Industry 
 brings, and last the Flag which Democracy brings. They then, 
 amid the acclamations of all, escort Liberty, now invested in her 
 character of America, to the dais. Liberty mounts the steps 
 and takes her place standing in front of the throne, the other 
 four standing on the steps. As she takes her place, America 
 raises the Flag high over the heads of the Pageant. Instantly, 
 with orchestra and voices, all burst forth singing The Star- 
 Spangled Banner. Still singing the groups of the Pageant pass 
 in review before America, until the present day people come who 
 open out to form an escort. America descends from the dais, 
 and followed by Patriotism, Democracy, Industry and Health, 
 and escorted by the people of the present, passes out to the front 
 after the procession of the Pageant.
 
 Episode: The Declaration of Independence 
 
 THE CHARACTERS REPRESENTED 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK, of Massachusetts Bay, President of the Congress. 
 CHARLES THOMSON, of Pennsylvania, Secretary of the Congress. 
 REV. JACOB DUCHE, Chaplain of the Congress. 
 
 NEW HAMPSHIRE. 
 Josiah Bartlett, 
 Wm. Whipple, 
 Matthew Thornton.* 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS BAY 
 Sam'l Adams, 
 John Adams, 
 Robt. Treat Paine, 
 Elbridge Gerry. 
 
 RHODE ISLAND. 
 Step. Hopkins, 
 William Ellery. 
 
 CONNECTICUT. 
 Roger Sherman, 
 Samuel Huntington, 
 Wm. Williams,* 
 Oliver Wolcutt.* 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 Geo. Clinton, f 
 John Alsop.f 
 R. R. Livingston.f 
 Henry Wisner.f 
 Wm. Floyd.t 
 Phil. Livingston,! 
 Frans. Lewis, J 
 Lewis Morris. J 
 
 NEW JERSEY. 
 Richard Stockton, 
 Jno. Witherspoon, 
 Fras. Hopkinson, 
 John Hart, 
 Abra. Clark. 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA. 
 John Dickinson, 
 Robt. Morris,}! 
 Benja. Franklin, 
 John Morton, 
 James Wilson, 
 Thomas Willing,** 
 Charles Humphreys,** 
 Benjamin Rush,* 
 Geo. Clymer,* 
 Jas. Smith,* 
 Geo. Taylor,* 
 Geo. Ross.* 
 
 DELAWARE. 
 Caesar Rodney, 
 Tho. M'Kean, 
 Geo. Read.ft 
 
 MARYLAND. 
 
 Samuel Chase, tt 
 Wm. Paca, 
 
 Thos. Stone, 
 Charles Carroll, 
 
 of Carrollton,* 
 John Rogers. 
 
 VIRGINIA. 
 George Wythe,* 
 Richard Henry Lee.tJ 
 Th. Jefferson, 
 Benja. Harrison, 
 Thos. Nelson, Jr., 
 Francis Lightfoot Lee, 
 Carter Braxton. 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA. 
 Wm. Hooper,* 
 Joseph Hewes, 
 John Penn. 
 
 SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 Edward Rutledge, 
 Thomas Hey ward, Jr., 
 Thomas Lynch, Jr., 
 Arthur Middleton. 
 
 GEORGIA. 
 Button Gwinnett, 
 Lyman Hall, 
 Geo. Walton. 
 
 Also a small boy, who stands by the side of the Secretary of the Congress, 
 acting as a page for the President and the Secretary; and an officer of the 
 Continental Army. 
 
 * Not a member of the Congress at the time of vote, but signed later. 
 f Did not vote because lacking instructions; not a member of the Congress 
 at the time of the signing, and did not sign the Declaration. 
 
 J Did not vote because lacking instructions, but later, having received in- 
 structions, signed. 
 
 Absented himself at the time of the vote, and did not sign later. 
 || Absented himself at the time of the vote, but signed later. 
 ** Voted against the Declaration, and did not sign later. 
 ft Voted against the Declaration, but signed later. 
 it Absent from Congress at time of vote; signed later. 
 Not a member of the Congress at time of signing. 
 
 18
 
 19 
 
 This list includes all of the Signers of the Declaration of 
 Independence, and also, so far as the names could be obtained, 
 those who were members of the Congress on July 2nd and 4th 
 and therefore voted or had the right to vote on the question. In 
 all cases it may not be regarded essential to represent all the 
 members of the Congress, an appropriate selection being made 
 to suit the local desires and circumstances. The names of the 
 Signers are here given in the spelling of their signatures to the 
 Declaration. 
 
 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 
 
 (The members of the Congress come in from various points at 
 the back and on the left in small groups, talking earnestly with 
 each other. They go each to his chair and there stand or sit 
 until the entrance of John Hancock, attended by Charles Thom- 
 son, who has with him certain books and papers. As John Han- 
 cock goes up to the Chair, all cease talking, rise and stand facing 
 him until he sits. Then all sit down.) 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK The Congress will come to order. The Secre- 
 tary will call the roll by Colonies. 
 
 CHARLES THOMSON (Calls the roll, mentioning the name of the 
 colony first and then the names of the members in a clear 
 distinct voice, each member answering to his name. It may 
 not be necessary to take time to call the complete roll, but 
 enough should be called to give the effect and each colony 
 should be called with one or two of its delegates.) 
 The roll has been called and a quorum is present. 
 JOHN HANCOCK. The Chaplain of the Congress will offer prayer. 
 REV. JACOB DUCHE. O God, our Heavenly Ruler, Whose im- 
 mutable law is Justice and Whose breath is Liberty, guide 
 Thou the deliberations of this Congress, that all their 
 thoughts and acts may be for the good of the American 
 people, for the welfare of mankind and for the glory of Thy 
 Name, Thou Creator of the World. Amen. 
 JOHN HANCOCK. Is it the pleasure of the Congress to proceed 
 
 with the order of the day? 
 
 A MEMBER OF THE CONGRESS. Before we proceed with the 
 order of the day, I wish to move you that "an application 
 be made to the committee of safety of Pennsylvania for a 
 supply of flints for the troops at New York: and that the 
 colony of Maryland and Delaware be requested to embody
 
 2O 
 
 their militia for the flying camp, with all expedition, and to 
 march them without delay to the city of Philadelphia."* 
 
 ANOTHER MEMBER. I second the motion. 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK. It is moved and seconded. Are you ready 
 for the question? Those in favor will say "Aye." 
 
 ALL. Aye. 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK. Those opposed, "No." (Silence.) It is 
 carried. Any other matter? Agreeable to the order of the 
 day, the Congress will take into their further consideration 
 "certain resolutions respecting independency" moved by 
 Mr. Richard Henry Lee of Virginia and seconded by Mr. J. 
 Adams of Massachusetts Bay on June 7th, and which were 
 referred to the Committee of the Whole Congress. Is the 
 Committee ready to report? 
 
 BENJAMIN HARRISON (rising). It is. 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK. Mr. Harrison of Virginia, as Chairman of the 
 Committee of the Whole. 
 
 BENJAMIN HARRISON. The Committee of the Whole report to 
 the Congress with its approval the resolution of June 7th, 
 "That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, 
 free and independent States, that they are absolved from 
 all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political 
 connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, 
 and ought to be totally dissolved."! The Committee also 
 had referred to it "least any time should be lost in case the 
 Congress agree to this resolution"! the draft of a declaration 
 written by Mr. Jefferson of Virginia in behalf of the spe- 
 cial Committee on the Declaration, consisting of Mr. Jeffer- 
 son, Mr. J. Adams of Massachusetts Bay, Dr. Franklin of 
 Pennsylvania, Mr. Sherman of Connecticut, and Mr. R. R. 
 Livingston of New York. The Committee reports this 
 draft to Congress with its approval. And, Sir, I move you 
 its adoption. 
 
 SEVERAL MEMBERS (rising). I second it. 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK. The adoption of the "resolution respecting 
 independency" in the form of the drafted Declaration is 
 moved and seconded. Are there any remarks? 
 (Mr. Dickinson rises. All turn with respectful attention 
 toward him.) 
 
 'Journal of the Second Continental Congress, Thursday, July 4th, 1776. 
 t Journal of the Second Continental Congress, June 7th, 1776. 
 J Memorandum on the original draft of the resolution.
 
 21 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK. Mr. Dickinson, of Pennsylvania. 
 
 JOHN DICKINSON. (During this address some of those who 
 agreed with Mr. Dickinson, such as Mr. Willing, Mr. 
 Humphries and Mr. Read, should nod their approval of his 
 arguments.) 
 
 "Mr. President, that the time will come when these colonies 
 must declare themselves independent of the British crown, I 
 believe; but it is clear to my mind, I am powerfully per- 
 suaded, in spite of the overwhelming favor with which the 
 proposition has met, that this is not the right time to declare 
 such independence. I value the love of my country as I 
 ought, but I value my country more, and I desire this illus- 
 trious assembly to witness the integrity, if not the policy of 
 my conduct. The first campaign will be decisive of the 
 controversy. The declaration will not strengthen us by 
 one man, or by the least supply, while it may expose our 
 soldiers to additional cruelties and outrages. Without some 
 prelusory trials of our strength, we ought not to commit 
 our country upon the alternative where to recede would 
 be infamy, and to persist might be destruction. With 
 other powers it would rather injure than avail us. Foreign 
 aid will not be obtained but by our actions in the field, which 
 are the only evidences of our union and vigor that will be 
 respected. Before such an irrevocable step shall be taken, 
 we ought to know the disposition of the great powers and 
 how far they will permit any one or more of them to inter- 
 fere. The erection of an independent empire on this con- 
 tinent is a phenomenon in the world; its effects will be 
 immense, and may vibrate round the globe. The formation 
 of our governments and an agreement on the terms of our 
 confederation ought to precede the assumption of our station 
 among sovereigns. When this is done, and the people per- 
 ceive that they and their posterity are to live under well 
 regulated constitutions, they will be encouraged to look 
 forward to independence, as completing the noble system 
 of their political happiness. The objects nearest to them 
 now are enveloped in clouds, and those more distant appear 
 confused ; the relation one citizen is to bear to another, and 
 the connection one State is to have with another, they do 
 not, cannot know. The boundaries of the colonies ought to 
 be fixed before the declaration. The unlocated lands ought
 
 22 
 
 also to be solemnly appropriated to the benefit of all. Upon 
 the whole, when things shall thus be deliberately rendered 
 firm at home and favorable abroad, then let America, 
 'Attolens humeris famam et fata nepotum,' bearing up her 
 glory and the destiny of her descendants, advance with ma- 
 jestic steps and assume her station among the sovereigns of 
 the world."* 
 
 (Mr. Dickinson has evidently made an impression. He sits 
 down. No one gets up to answer him. Some here and 
 there whisper to each other seriously. It is warm and some 
 of the members fan themselves with their hats, or quietly 
 mop their heads with their large handkerchiefs. There is 
 increasing looking about to see if someone will not get up 
 and speak. Finally Mr. Stockton rises.) 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK. Mr. Stockton of New Jersey. 
 
 RICHARD STOCKTON. Mr. President, the delegation from New 
 Jersey has but recently arrived ; we have not been privileged 
 to hear the debates on this question ; and we strongly desire 
 to hear it further discussed before it comes to vote. 
 (There are manifestations of assent, but all is silence. All 
 eyes are turned upon John Adams.) f 
 
 A MEMBER OF THE CONGRESS. " Let the gentlemen be gratified." 
 (Still there is silence. Edward Rutledge goes over to John 
 Adams smiling.) 
 
 EDWARD RUTLEDGE (to Adams). "Nobody will speak but you 
 upon this subject. You have all the topics so ready that 
 you must satisfy the gentlemen from New Jersey." 
 
 A MEMBER OF THE CONGRESS. "You must recapitulate the 
 arguments, at least." 
 
 JOHN ADAMS (also smiling, to Rutledge). "It has so much the 
 air of exhibiting like an actor or gladiator, for the enter- 
 tainment of the audience, that I am ashamed to repeat what 
 I have said here twenty times before, and there is nothing 
 new that can be advanced by me." 
 
 RICHARD STOCKTON. We earnestly hope that Mr. Adams will 
 
 *This is the substance of John Dickinson's speech as conjectured by Rich- 
 ard Frothingham in his "The Rise of the Republic of the United States," page 
 535. It is evidently compiled from Dickinson's Vindication, written in 1783, 
 for which see The Life and Writings of John Dickinson, Vol. I. Appendix V. 
 Pages 364-414, but particularly pages 368-373. 
 
 t The conversation that here follows is found in The Life and Works of 
 John Adams. Vol. Ill, pages 55-58; also given in Frothingham, page 534.
 
 23 
 
 nonetheless favor us with a few words of his judgment on 
 this matter. 
 
 (Mr. Adams rises, bowing courteously to Mr. Stockton and 
 then addresses the Chair. All turn to listen to him with 
 manifest anticipation.) 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK. Mr. J. Adams of Massachusetts Bay. 
 
 JOHN ADAMS (at first with quiet dignity, later as he throws him- 
 self into his subject, becoming more and more impassioned 
 and impressive). Mr. President, "this is the first time of 
 my life that I have ever wished for the talents and eloquence 
 of the ancient orators of Greece and Rome, for I am very 
 sure that none of them ever had before him a question of 
 more importance to his country and to the world."* Not- 
 withstanding the abilities that have been displayed and the 
 arguments that have been produced by the gentleman who 
 has just spoken, and the eloquence with which those argu- 
 ments have been enforced, I cannot agree with the conclu- 
 sion of the gentleman that this is not the time to declare to 
 the world the independence of these colonies. This is the 
 time, now, this very day! I agree with the gentleman 
 only with respect to the importance of this issue. This 
 question is "the greatest question that has ever been de- 
 bated in America, and a greater, perhaps, never was, nor 
 will be decided among men."t 
 
 "When I look back to the year 1761 and recollect the 
 argument concerning writs of assistance in the superior 
 court, which I have hitherto considered as the commence- 
 ment of the controversy between Great Britain and America, 
 and run through the whole period from that time to this, and 
 recollect the series of political events, the chain of causes and 
 effects, I am surprised at the suddenness as well as the great- 
 ness of this revolution. Britain has been filled with folly, 
 and America with wisdom. At least this is my judgment. 
 Time must determine. It is the will of Heaven that the two 
 countries should be sundered forever. It may be the will 
 of Heaven that America shall suffer calamities still more 
 wasting and distresses yet more dreadful. If this is to be 
 the case, it will have this good effect at least ; it will inspire 
 
 * See the Life and Works of John Adams, Vol. Ill, page 55. 
 fFrom a letter of John Adams to his wife, dated July 3rd, 1776; see the 
 Life and Works of John Adams, Vol. I, pages 230-232.
 
 24 
 
 us with many virtues which we have not, and correct many 
 errors, follies and vices, which threaten to disturb, dis- 
 honor and destroy us. The furnace of affliction produces 
 refinement in States as well as in individuals. And the 
 new governments we are assuming, in every part will re- 
 quire a purification from our vices, and an augmentation of 
 our virtues, or they will be no blessings."* 
 
 It were indeed well for us if we could have all the ad- 
 vantages enumerated by the gentleman before we take this 
 irrevocable step. But we cannot have them. The prin- 
 ciple the gentleman and his friends concede. They say 
 there is disadvantage and danger in immediate action. Mr. 
 President, only in immediate action by this Congress is 
 there hope of safety. Our soldiers are in the field. As long 
 as we postpone action on this resolution, they are rebels. 
 But this Declaration of Independence will give them a 
 country and endow them with the equal rights of combatants 
 at war. Then by our boldness and by our deeds we will 
 win the respect and the recognition of the foreign powers, 
 and raise a standard for the unity of America to which these 
 colonies will speedily resort. 
 
 "You think me transported with enthusiasm, but I am 
 not. I am well aware of the toil, and blood, and treasure 
 that it will cost us to maintain this declaration and support 
 and defend these States. Yet through all the gloom, I can 
 see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the 
 end is worth all the means. And that posterity will triumph 
 in this day's transaction, even although we should rue it, 
 which I trust in God we shall not."* 
 
 (As Mr. Adams sits down there is an outburst of applause, 
 indicating that he has expressed the sentiments of most of 
 the members present, which is however quickly suppressed 
 as appreciative of the critical importance, the solemnity, 
 of the impending action; but it breaks forth again with 
 exclamations of "Hear, hear!" and calls for the question.) 
 
 RICHARD STOCKTON and OTHERS. Question! Question! 
 
 JOHN DICKINSON. Mr. President, 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK. Mr. Dickinson. 
 
 (All are again respectfully silent as Dickinson speaks, evin- 
 cing their personal regard for him.) 
 *From the same letter of John Adams to his wife, dated July 3rd, 1776.
 
 25 
 
 JOHN DICKINSON. Mr. President, "two rules I have laid down 
 for myself throughout this contest, to which I have con- 
 stantly adhered, and still design to adhere: first on all 
 occasions where I am called upon, as a trustee for my 
 countrymen, to deliberate on questions important to their 
 happiness, disdaining all personal advantages to be derived 
 from a suppression of my real sentiments, and defying all 
 dangers to be risked by a declaration of them, openly to 
 avow them; and secondly, after thus discharging this duty, 
 whenever the public resolutions are taken, to regard them, 
 though opposite to my opinion, as sacred, because they lead 
 to measures in which the Commonwealth must be inter- 
 ested, and to join in supporting them as earnestly as if my 
 voice had been given for them."* 
 
 My judgment is against the passage of the declaration 
 at this time. I therefore deem it my duty, as it is my pref- 
 erence, not to vote on the question, and I intend to withdraw 
 before the vote is taken. But in the vote that is imminent, 
 wise or at this time unwise, I recognize the decision of my 
 country, "which I am resolved by every impulse of my soul 
 to uphold, and to stand or fall with her in that scheme of 
 freedom which she will have chosen."* While I will not 
 vote for this declaration, I will uphold it, and I therefore 
 shall within the week march to Elizabeth Town against my 
 country's enemies at the head of my brigade of five battal- 
 ions of the Philadelphia Associators. 
 
 (First John Adams and then the rest rise and bow to Mr. 
 Dickinson; he bows in return and starts to withdraw. 
 Robert Morris goes over to Mr. Dickinson and grasps his 
 hand.) 
 
 ROBERT MORRIS. "In my poor opinion, it is an improper time, 
 and will not promote the interest of America. "f 
 (John Dickinson and Robert Morris go out together by the 
 entrance at the right of the audience. The members re- 
 sume their seats.) 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK. Before putting the question to you for vote, 
 is it your pleasure again to hear the draft that has been re- 
 ported to you ? 
 
 SEVERAL MEMBERS. The Declaration! The Declaration! 
 
 *From a speech by John Dickinson delivered in Congress in 1779, given 
 in Life and Writings of John Dickinson, Vol. I, p. 204. 
 
 t From Life and Writings of John Dickinson, Vol. I, page 197.
 
 26 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK. Will the Committee present their report? 
 Will Mr. Jefferson read the proposed Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence? 
 
 (Thomas Jefferson rises, and the other members of the Com- 
 mittee on the Declaration also rise, and go over to a position 
 at the left of the President, corresponding to that occupied 
 by the table of the Secretary of the Congress. The group 
 stand together while Mr. Jefferson reads the first two and the 
 last paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence.) 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON. "The Unanimous Declaration of the 
 thirteen United States of America," etc. 
 "When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary" 
 
 to "declare the causes which impel them to the 
 
 separation." 
 
 "We hold these truths to be self-evident"- to -"and 
 
 to provide new Guards for their future security." 
 
 "We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of 
 
 America," to "we mutually pledge to each other 
 
 our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." 
 (Thomas Jefferson lays the Declaration of Independence on 
 the table before the President of the Congress, and the 
 members of the Committee take their seats, amid mani- 
 festations of cordial approval.) 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK. Are you ready for the vote? 
 
 SEVERAL MEMBERS. Question! Question! 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK. The Secretary of the Congress will take the 
 vote by call of the roll by Colonies. 
 
 (The various delegations quietly among themselves im- 
 mediately engage in deciding the vote of their Colonies. As 
 Charles Thomson calls the name of the Colonies in turn, 
 from north to south, a member of the Congress from that 
 Colony rises and declares the vote of the Colony, except 
 New York.) 
 
 CHARLES THOMSON. New Hampshire. 
 
 A MEMBER FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE. New Hampshire casts her 
 vote for the Declaration of Independence. 
 
 CHARLES THOMSON (after taking the votes of Massachusetts 
 Bay, Rhode Island and Connecticut). New York. 
 
 A MEMBER FROM NEW YORK. The New York delegation has 
 not yet received answer to its despatches to the Provincial 
 Congress, and are accordingly-at this time not authorized to 
 vote for Independence, as it otherwise should do.
 
 27 
 
 CHARLES THOMSON (after taking the rest of the votes from New 
 Jersey to Georgia ; to John Hancock). It is passed. Twelve 
 colonies. Unanimous. 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK. The Declaration of Independence is passed, 
 by the unanimous vote of twelve colonies. 
 (There is a hush of absolute silence for a moment, all feeling 
 the tremendous import of their action.) 
 
 JOHN ADAMS (amid growing but suppressed excitement). 
 "Heaven prosper this new-born republic, and make it more 
 glorious than any former republics."* 
 
 EDWARD RUTLEDGE (after being recognized by the Chair). Mr. 
 President, in view of the momentous importance of this 
 Declaration, I move you that the members of the Congress 
 sign this paper personally; that it be authenticated and 
 printed; and that it be proclaimed in each of the United 
 States, and at the head of the army.f 
 
 A MEMBER OF THE CONGRESS. I second it. 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK (after putting the motion and declaring it carried, 
 as he takes a quill and signs his name to the Declaration in 
 his large handwriting). There! John Bull can read that 
 without spectacles ! J (then more seriously as he shakes sand 
 on his signature) But, my friends, I must impress upon you 
 the necessity of our all hanging together in this matter. 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (going up to the table to sign, with several 
 other members). "Yes, indeed; we must all hang together, 
 or assuredly we shall all hang separately." (Those standing 
 nearest laugh, especially Benjamin Harrison.) 
 
 BENJAMIN HARRISON (who is a very large and heavily built man, 
 turning upon Elbridge Gerry, standing next to him, who 
 is very slight and small). "When it comes to the hanging, 
 I shall have the advantage of you ; it will be all over with 
 me long before you have done kicking in the air." 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON. Truly I think we may say that Nature 
 herself is an accomplice with us in this business, egging us on 
 to this Declaration, for the heat in this room is oppressive, 
 and the flies from yonder stable, (with a shake of his head) 
 
 * See Frothingham, p. 533. 
 
 t Adapted from two resolutions in the Journal of the Second Continental 
 Congress, July 4th, 1776. 
 
 t These humorous remarks are told by John T. Morse, in his Thomas 
 Jefferson, in the American Statesmen Series.
 
 28 
 
 I believe not a man here but would prefer treason to en- 
 during longer the bites of these flies through his thin silk 
 stockings.* 
 
 (Robert Morris returns and engages some of his associates 
 in earnest conversation. Enter hurriedly an officer of the 
 Continental Army, in buff and blue uniform, booted and 
 spurred, his boots and clothes covered with mud; he goes 
 directly up to the Secretary of the Congress.) 
 
 OFFICER. Despatches for the President of the Congress from 
 General Washington. 
 
 CHARLES THOMAS. Mr. Hancock, despatches from General 
 Washington. 
 
 (The officer turns to Mr. Hancock, salutes, takes from inside 
 his coat a flat packet and hands it to Mr. Hancock. Mr. 
 Hancock returns the salute, takes and opens the packet, 
 looks at it and hands it to Mr. Thomson.) 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK. Gentlemen, a letter from the General of the 
 Army. The Secretary will read the letter. 
 (All immediately come to order, taking their seats and giving 
 close attention.) 
 
 CHARLES THOMSON (reads). To The President of the Congress, 
 
 New York, July the 3rd, I776.f 
 
 Sir, Since I had the honor of addressing you and on the 
 same day several ships more arrived within the Hook making 
 the number that came in then, no, and there remains no 
 doubt of the whole of the fleet from Halifax being now here. 
 Yesterday Evening 50 of 'em came into the Bay and anchored 
 on the Staten Island side. Their views I cannot precisely 
 determine but am extremely apprehensive as a part of 'em 
 only came, that they mean to surround the Island and secure 
 the whole stock upon it. 
 
 Our reinforcements of militia are but small yet their 
 amount I can not ascertain, having not been able to procure 
 a return. However, I trust, if the Enemy make an attack 
 they will meet with a repulse, as I have the pleasure to in- 
 form you, that an agreeable spirit and willingness for Action 
 seem to animate and pervade the whole of our Troops. 
 
 * These humorous remarks are told by John T. Morse, in his Thomas 
 Jefferson, in the American Statesmen Series. 
 
 f Parts of the original letter have been here omitted. The letter is to be 
 found in The Writings of George Washington, edited by Worthington Chaun- 
 cey Ford, Vol. IV, page 200.
 
 29 
 
 (But) as it is difficult to determine what Objects the 
 Enemy may have in contemplation, and whether they may 
 not detach some part of their force to Amboy and to ravage 
 that part of the Country, I submit it to Congress whether it 
 may not be expedient for 'em to repeat and press home their 
 requests to the different Governments to furnish their 
 Quotas with all possible dispatch. 
 
 I must entreat your Attention to an application I made 
 some time ago for Flints we are extremely deficient in this 
 necessary article and shall be greatly distressed if we cannot 
 obtain a supply. Of Lead we have a sufficient quantity 
 for the whole Campaign, taken off the Houses here. 
 
 Esteeming it of infinite Importance to prevent the 
 Enemy from getting fresh provisions and Horses for their 
 Waggons, Artillery, &c., I gave orders to a party of our men 
 on Staten Island, to drive the stock off without waiting for 
 the Assistance or direction of the Committee there. I am 
 this minute Informed by a Gentleman that the Committee 
 of Elizabeth Town, sent their Company of Light Horse on 
 Monday to effect it and that some of their Militia was to 
 give their aid yesterday. 
 
 I have the honor to be, Sir, 
 
 Your very obedient and humble servant, 
 
 George Washington 
 
 General 
 
 ROBERT MORRIS. Mr. President, this calls for special and im- 
 mediate attention. I move you that "the delegates of New 
 York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania be a committee to 
 confer on the best means of defending the colonies" * 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK (interrupting). The States, now, Mr. Morris. 
 
 ROBERT MORRIS. The States "of New Jersey and Pennsylvania; 
 and that they be empowered to send expresses where neces- 
 
 M sfc 
 
 sary. * 
 
 (The resolution is seconded, put to vote and carried.) 
 ROBERT MORRIS. I further move you "that the Secret Com- 
 mittee be instructed to order the flints belonging to the con- 
 tinent and now at Rhode Island to be sent to the general at 
 New York"* and "that the Board of War be empowered to 
 
 * These resolutions are taken from the Journal of the Second Continental 
 Congress for July 4th, 1776; there are only some minor omissions in them.
 
 30 
 
 employ such a number of persons, as they shall find neces- 
 sary, to manufacture flints for the continent; and to apply 
 to the respective assemblies of the United American States 
 for the names and places of abode of persons skilled in the 
 manufactory aforesaid, and of the places in their respective 
 states, where the best flint stones are to be obtained, with 
 samples of the same."* 
 
 (This resolution also is promptly passed. Mr. Morris goes 
 up to the table and signs the Declaration. At this there is a 
 little applause.) 
 
 HENRY WISNER. I understood that there is an abundant supply 
 of excellent flint stone to be obtained in Orange County, in 
 New York. 
 
 A MEMBER OF THE CONGRESS. I move "that Mr. Wisner be 
 empowered to send a man, at the public expense, to Orange 
 County, for a sample of flint stone. "f 
 
 (This resolution is passed. Members again in turn go up 
 to the table to sign the Declaration.) 
 
 CHARLES THOMSON. There is a bill here, Mr. "President, that 
 should be paid, for the Trenton express. 
 
 A MEMBER OF THE CONGRESS. I move "that an order for 27 
 shillings or 3 54-90 dollars be drawn on the treasurers, in 
 favour of the express, who brought the despatches from 
 Trenton." 
 (The resolution is passed.) 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. Mr. President, measures should instantly 
 be taken to provide a seal for the new continental govern- 
 ment, with suitable device upon it. 
 
 A MEMBER OF THE CONGRESS. I move you "that Dr. Franklin, 
 Mr. J. Adams and Mr. Jefferson be a committee to bring in a 
 device for a seal for the United States of America. "f 
 (The resolution is passed.) 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK. Are there any further matters to come before 
 the Congress before the adjournment? 
 
 A MEMBER OF THE CONGRESS. The Secret Committee desire 
 authorization in the matter of the sale of gun-powder. I 
 therefore move "that the Secret Committee be instructed to 
 sell 25 Ib. of powder to John Garrison of North Carolina. "f 
 (The resolution is passed.) 
 
 * These resolutions are taken from the Journal of the Second Continental 
 Congress for July 4th, 1776; there are only some minor omissions in them, 
 t From the Journal of the Second Continental Congress for July 4th, 1776.
 
 JOHN HANCOCK. Unless there be objection, the Congress stands 
 adjourned "to 9 o'clock to-Morrow." (To the small boy) 
 Boy, go tell your grand-father to ring the bell ! 
 (The boy runs out to the back. The Congress rises, and 
 breaks up into groups.) 
 
 JOHN ADAMS (to a group who gather round him). This fourth 
 "day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epocha in 
 the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be 
 celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniver- 
 sary festival. It ought to be commemorated by solemn 
 acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solem- 
 nized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, 
 bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this con- 
 tinent to the other, from this time forward forevermore."* 
 (The bell in the City Hall begins to ring; the peal is taken 
 up by all the bells in the town. Salutes of thirteen guns are 
 also fired by cannon or by volleys of muskets. The mem- 
 bers of the Congress gather in two groups with John Han- 
 cock and the other prominent members in the front, facing 
 toward the entrance at the left of the grand-stand. As 
 soon as the ringing of the bells ceases, the chorus with the 
 instrumental accompaniment begins to sing in triumphant 
 manner "The Hymn to Liberty.") 
 
 NOTES ON THE EPISODE AND ON ITS PERFORMANCE 
 The Episode. In writing this episode, the effort has been 
 to draw a picture of the sessions of the Second Continental 
 Congress in Philadelphia when the Declaration of Independence 
 was voted and signed, which shall within the narrow compass of 
 a pageant episode give a true impression of that great occasion, 
 and represent the chief leaders in a just light. To do this it has 
 of course been necessary to use considerable freedom with the 
 material. Yet little if anything has been included which is not 
 historic or approximately probable. 
 
 The progress of the Declaration of Independence through the 
 Congress was as follows: On Friday, June 7th, 1776, Richard 
 Henry Lee of Virginia moved, and John Adams of Massachu- 
 
 This is taken from the letter of John Adams to his wife, dated July 3rd, 
 1776. In the letter he says "The second day of July" etc., as being the day 
 on which Independence was decided upon.
 
 32 
 
 setts Bay seconded "certain resolutions respecting indepen- 
 dency." Consideration of these resolutions was fixed for the 
 next day, Saturday, June 8th, at 10 o'clock. The resolutions 
 were again considered in the Committee of the whole Congress, 
 on Monday, June loth, when their consideration was postponed 
 for three weeks. On Monday, July 1st, the debate was resumed 
 in the Committee of the Whole. On Tuesday, July 2nd, the 
 consideration was continued, the resolutions being by all ac- 
 counts powerfully debated by John Dickinson of Pennsylvania 
 and John Adams. It was then voted in Committee and reported 
 by the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole, Benjamin 
 Harrison of Virginia, to the Congress, and was that day by the 
 Congress adopted by a unanimous vote of twelve colonies the 
 New York delegation, while personally in favor of the resolution, 
 lacking as yet authority from their Provincial Congress to vote 
 in favor of independence. The Committee on the Draft of the 
 Declaration, consisting of Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John 
 Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, 
 Roger Sherman of Connecticut, and Robert R. Livingston of 
 New York, then, on the same day, July 2nd, reported, and their 
 report was considered in the Committee of the Whole and in the 
 Congress until the late afternoon of Thursday, July 4th, 1776, 
 when the Congress voted the Declaration of Independence in its 
 specific and final form. It was also that day ordered authenti- 
 cated, printed and proclaimed, but it was not on that day, July 
 4th, signed. On July 6th in The Pennsylvania Evening Post, it 
 was for the first time printed in a newspaper; and the second 
 time in The Pennsylvania Gazette of July loth. On July 8th, 
 at noon, the Declaration was read to the people of Philadelphia 
 in Independence Square, outside of Independence Hall, by Col- 
 onel John Nixon, of the Committee of Safety. It was at this 
 time, not on July 4th, that the Liberty Bell was rung. On 
 July iQth, the Congress ordered the Declaration engrossed and 
 signed, and on August 2nd, 1776, the engrossed Declaration was 
 compared on the table before the Congress and signed by the 
 members present. Two members signed still later. 
 
 These events have in this episode all been represented as 
 occurring at one session, in the afternoon of Thursday, July 4th, 
 1776. The great speeches delivered by John Dickinson and 
 John Adams on July 2nd are not extant. A general idea how- 
 ever of the substance of each speech may probably be gained
 
 33 
 
 from John Dickinson's Vindication, written in 1783, and from 
 John Adams' letter to his wife written the following day, July 
 3rd, 1776. So far as practicable, the sources of the longer parts 
 of the dialogue in the episode are indicated in foot-notes. But 
 the writer desires clearly and specifically to state that he does 
 not offer this episode as correct history, in whole or in part, but 
 as a pageant episode, the purpose of which is simply to give in its 
 proper place in the celebration such a general impression of the 
 character of the men and the days that produced the Declara- 
 tion of Independence as will, it is hoped, be found suitable for 
 use in the celebration of our national holiday. 
 
 The Performance. A legislative session does not lend itself 
 kindly for dramatic material in the usual sense of that phrase. 
 It may be that the episode in full as here given may be consid- 
 ered by some too long in itself and also too replete with long 
 speeches. If so, it can be easily shortened to suit the local plans 
 and desires by the omission of lesser or greater portions of the 
 text. In order that the local people may do this work of short- 
 ening the episode intelligently and with a clear impression of the 
 real unity, of the thrilling importance and of the quaint circum- 
 stance of some of the minor incidents of the Fourth of July, 
 1776, it has been thought better to give an ample presentation 
 of the proceedings so far as they can be given or suggested. 
 
 On the other hand it may be that some communities will 
 deem it practicable and may desire to attempt a fairly complete 
 representation of this great session of the Congress. If so, they 
 should give particular attention to the elocution of the speeches 
 and to the small business of each individual member of the Con- 
 gress; otherwise disaster in the form of a flat uninteresting per- 
 formance will descend upon the celebration. Especially for the 
 parts of John Hancock, John Dickinson, John Adams, Benja- 
 min Harrison, Thomas Jefferson, and Charles Thomson players 
 should be chosen who have fine presence and strong clear voices, 
 as well as, if possible, a general resemblance to those well-known 
 men. In an episode of this forensic character, it is most 
 important that every word they say may easily be heard by 
 the audience. In all instances the delivery of the oratorical 
 passages should be distinct, simple and earnest. So also, those 
 who play the parts of the other members of the Congress should 
 realize that they have important, unremitting and difficult parts 
 to play. Together they constitute a dramatic accompaniment 
 3
 
 34 
 
 to the melody of the main action carried by the speaking char- 
 acters. They must be responsive to each argument and appeal, 
 according to their characters, yet at no time so conspicuously 
 responsive as to disturb the attention properly to be given to the 
 center of interest in the main action. Each player should, so far 
 as he is able, study his man to gain an appreciation of his char- 
 acter, and an understanding of his temper of mind and point of 
 view, so that in the performance he may live through the thoughts 
 and ideas of his part as the vote on the Declaration was ap- 
 proached and passed. 
 
 When the Boy Scouts assigned to this duty bring in the tables 
 and chairs, the table at which the President of the Congress sits 
 should be placed so that the President in his chair will face di- 
 rectly toward the audience at sufficient distance to allow the 
 members of the Congress being placed before him. On the 
 President's right slightly nearer the audience and also facing the 
 audience, should be placed the table of the Secretary of the 
 Congress. Both tables should be supplied with ink-stands and 
 quill pens. The chairs for the members of the Congress may 
 then be placed concentrically in a half-circle in front of the 
 President's table, leaving an aisle leading directly down from the 
 President's table toward the audience. This will make an ar- 
 rangement that is probable as regards the original arrangement, 
 that will make a good picture, and that will obviate many of the 
 members having their backs to the audience most of the time. 
 It might be well to have the location of each chair and table 
 previously fixed and indicated by an inconspicuous peg driven 
 into the ground, so that the Boy Scouts may without hesitation 
 take the chairs to their correct places and withdraw without even 
 necessity for aligning them. The Delegations from the Colo- 
 nies should sit together, as the vote was taken by Colonies, the 
 vote of the Colony being decided by a vote of the individuals 
 comprising the Delegation among themselves. 
 
 Portraits and brief biographies of most of the above members 
 of the Congress are to be found in William H. Michael's The 
 Declaration of Independence Illustrated: Stories about its Adop- 
 tion, with Biographies and Portraits of the Signers and of the 
 Secretary of the Congress. Published by the Government 
 Printing Office, Washington, 1904. Those who desire to approx- 
 imate as far as possible the chairs and table used in the Congress 
 can get pictures of the room, the tables, the chairs and the silver
 
 35 
 
 ink-stand used at the signing, in the form of picture post-cards 
 (Independence Series, Nos. 3, 5 and 9), from the Curator of the 
 National Museum, Independence Hall, Chestnut and 5th Streets, 
 Philadelphia. The price for the complete series of ten cards 
 including other pictures of the building is 25 cents.
 
 Pageantry in Fourth of July Celebrations 
 
 The significance of this holiday lies, not in the quiet, deter- 
 mined protest of certain representative colonial gentlemen against 
 the political and commercial exactions of an unreasonable mother 
 country, but in the fact that this protest was an utterance of the 
 fundamental principle of liberty, and was the foreword of the 
 founding and the development of a new nation upon the doctrine 
 that freedom is the breath of life, that freedom as nothing else 
 gives vigor, brings self-control and responsibility of character, 
 and entails upon both the individual and the community life 
 the highest endowment of intelligence, culture and character. 
 
 The celebrations of the past have for the most part been 
 lamentably inadequate to this theme. But as now we Americans 
 return to a proper regard for our chief national holiday, and seek 
 to evolve a suitable celebration for the occasion, the significance 
 of the holiday demands that each community devise a celebration 
 which shall sincerely and truthfully express what the great joyous 
 patriotic idea of Liberty has meant and does mean and may mean 
 to each city or town or village. It is not a task that can be done 
 by one man, nor by any one group of men; neither can it be 
 done in one year. The whole American people must put their 
 thought and heart into the work, year after year. Then finally 
 there will surely grow from all the thinking and writing and 
 inspiration of the people a great Folk-Celebration which will be 
 truly an adequate expression of the loyalty of the American 
 people to the principle of freedom that is inherent in the Fourth 
 of July. 
 
 In the celebrations of the last few years there appears a 
 trend in the direction of a kind of celebration which bids fair to 
 prove satisfactory and inspiring.* Three simple characteristics 
 
 'Attention may be called to two publications of this kind that are avail- 
 able: (i) A Pageant for Independence Day, by Thomas Wood Stevens and 
 Kenneth S. Goodman, published by The Stage Guild, 1527 Railway Exchange 
 Building, Chicago. Price, 35 cents; and Patriotic Plays and Pageants for 
 Young People, by Constance D'Arcy Mackay, published by Henry Holt and 
 Company, New York. Price, $1.35. 
 
 36
 
 37 
 
 are found in most of them, which instantly commend themselves 
 as essential to the adequate celebration : (i) The historic element 
 must be strongly present, holding in mind clearly the life of the 
 nation as a whole from the beginning. (2) The idea of Liberty 
 must be expressed in human terms. It must be dramatic. (3) 
 The celebrating present is quite as important an element as the 
 celebrated past. The celebration must not be only historic. It 
 must apply the inspiration of the Declaration of Independence to 
 the present life of the locality. 
 
 These characteristics indicate that the celebration of which 
 we are in search is akin to the Pageant, that new kind of drama 
 which presents the history of a community focused upon the 
 present character and the present problems of that community. 
 There will clearly be much in the desired celebration that is 
 similar to the proper type of the Pageant. But also there are 
 essential differences to be noted. Chief of these is the fact that 
 the spirit of the occasion of such a celebration is essentially 
 lyrical, rather than dramatic. In so far as the dramatic is 
 present it is present as a tool of the lyric. The dominant char- 
 acter of the day and therefore of the celebration is emotional. 
 Its purpose is to uplift the sentiment of the whole community, 
 uniting men, women and children in honoring the principle 
 "which has made and preserved us a nation." The celebration 
 must be first and last a song of praise. This consideration does 
 not preclude the dramatic treatment, but it does reserve the 
 dominant note, the first place for the lyric quality. 
 
 Accordingly two suggestions for the celebration of the Fourth 
 of July are offered in this pamphlet. The first is not a pageant; 
 it aspires to be what it is called a Celebration, with the idea that 
 this word might be used as the name for a distinct form which 
 combines something of the dramatic in substance and structure 
 with a pervading lyric quality and intention. The other is an 
 Outline for a General Pageant. It may be that both will have 
 to be adapted to local conditions for actual use. To facilitate 
 this the suggestions, with respect to the grounds, for instance, 
 have been made quite specific. Something should be said of 
 each outline. 
 
 The Celebration. The essential ideas that should be in- 
 cluded in a Fourth of July Celebration are common to the whole 
 country. They are : 
 
 51307
 
 38 
 
 1 . The official character of the day ; 
 
 2. Reminiscence of the occasion which is celebrated; 
 
 3. The national character of the idea of Liberty and of 
 
 the celebration; 
 
 4. An offering of joyous tributes in honor of the day; 
 
 5. The allegiance and loyalty to the nation as the embodi- 
 
 ment of Freedom, which is the be-all and the end- 
 all of the whole celebration. 
 
 It will be found that the Celebration consists of little more 
 than these five elements. In the fourth, The Tribute of the 
 People, a place in the Celebration is provided for the recognition 
 of the beautiful old-country customs of our newer citizens, and 
 for the festive exercises of our young people and children; and 
 also for the performance of original music in honor of the occasion, 
 as is suggested by Mr. Farwell. No greater use could be made 
 of this Celebration than the development of the sincere render- 
 ing and the original composition of good American music, both 
 instrumental and vocal. 
 
 The Celebration plan is the better suggestion of the two, in 
 the writer's opinion, for the reason that it better fulfills the 
 essential function of the day, by going straight back to the stately 
 colonial hall of 1776 and contemplating the spirit of the founders 
 of American Liberty. 
 
 The General Pageant. A pageant, nevertheless, is a natural 
 and an appropriate way to celebrate the Fourth of July. It 
 must be remembered, however, that as a pageant is essentially 
 local in character, a general pageant, i. e., a pageant that is 
 applicable to all communities, is the least forceful kind of page- 
 ant. The local source of the episodes and the local application 
 of their message give the true pageant a robust vigor and a 
 convincing artistic and popular quality that make it far surpass 
 anything that is generally available or adaptable. 
 
 However a general pageant may be good. An outline for 
 such a pageant is therefore herein offered. But to get what 
 value there is in it, it must be locally appropriate and adapted 
 not only to the local conditions of performance, but to the local 
 life; it must be essentially as local as possible, for the more so 
 it is made, the more artistic it will be dramatically, the more 
 inspiring civically; in a word, the better pageant it will become. 
 This outline is given therefore purely as a suggestion and as an 
 outline, with the idea that if used it will be locally written. The
 
 39 
 
 local requirements of the grounds alone will necessitate a fitting 
 of the outline to the grounds, a writing of the pageant into the 
 location of the performance.* In the Civil War episode a writing 
 of dialogue and incident reminiscent of the men who actually 
 went to the war from the town, for the conversation between the 
 lines, will double or triple the vitality of the episode. Especially 
 does this consideration apply to the episode of the present, which 
 will be quite empty and profitless unless it be distinctly local. 
 A general episode could not stand the stress of the accumulating 
 dramatic demand for climax and would fall flat. Indeed, it 
 would be little more than dramatizing other people's troubles 
 instead of one's own, and other people's struggle for freedom from 
 the slavery of conditions. Or if local conditions were dramatized 
 in this episode in a way that would be applicable to any place, it 
 would be doing it not vividly and with specific detail, but 
 vaguely. The more of mild application there might be to any 
 and all communities, the less there would be to the local com- 
 munity. 
 
 Attention should be called to one kind of treatment which 
 almost constitutes an exception to what has just been said. The 
 practical value of symbolism in pageant writing is to depict 
 general conditions. Therefore scenes of symbolism are more 
 generally applicaWe_and_praclicable than realisticjjpisTfdes. '" This 
 will readily be appreciated in rea3ifig'th"e Outline. Even so, the 
 symbolic scenes themselves gain greatly in vital power if they are 
 generalizations of familiar local conditions. Accordingly they 
 do not constitute an unqualified exception. 
 
 But for the city or town that wants to celebrate the Fourth 
 of July with a pageant the best way is to produce an original 
 really local pageant, if only a dramatist can be found to write and 
 direct the pageant who will do a sincere artistic piece of work and 
 be willing to suffer the penalty of failure for all the dramatic sins 
 he may commit through the ignorance of pageant writing with 
 which we are all amply endowed. Such a local pageant written 
 for the celebration of the Fourth of July should, of course, em- 
 phasize throughout the character of the town as an American 
 community, as a child of the United States, growing up through 
 its vicissitudes into an increasing measure of freedom and par- 
 
 *Additional suggestions, in more detail, if desired, may be found in the 
 chapter "How to Start a Pageant" in the writer's book, The Pageant in 
 America, published by Frederick W. Wilson, 37 East 28th Street, New York 
 City.
 
 40 
 
 ticipating in the struggle for a national achievement of Liberty. 
 It will be felt that this pamphlet has accomplished its highest 
 purpose if by its suggestions it leads to an original production of 
 a local pageant for the Fourth of July. 
 
 Even a general pageant, however, must have its present epi- 
 sode distinctly local in character. The focus of the past on the 
 present must be sharp and specific. This is frankly recognized 
 in the Outline and opportunity and place is thus provided for 
 the contribution of original work by a local artist. This coincides 
 with the suggestion made by Mr. Farwell for original local work 
 in music and drama. It is itself quite suggestive that Mr. Far- 
 well and the writer have arrived at the same point from different 
 directions, he from the desire to stimulate the best growth of 
 American art in music and in drama; the writer from the dra- 
 matic necessity of getting the utmost vitality and dramatic value 
 out of the episode of the present. 
 
 The purpose of this pamphlet does not make it appropriate 
 to enter to any length into the question of the proper methods of 
 organizing the celebration of the Fourth of July, except so far 
 as the considerations of art may render it fitting. For the best 
 development of the artistic ability of a town, however, it is 
 advisable, almost necessary, that the Fourth of July Committee 
 should hold over from one year to the next. If there is to be a 
 change in the personnel of the Committee, the new Committee 
 should be appointed immediately after the work of the outgoing 
 Committee is finished, so that the new Committee may have a 
 full year to perfect its plans and to encourage the local dramatic 
 and musical ability of the town to do its best in the preparation 
 of the next celebration. If the next celebration is to be an im- 
 provement on the last, or is to be a distinct departure, those who 
 have it in charge should have ample time to work out their ideas 
 after their appointment for the work, so that they may be striving 
 for a definite and assured opportunity to produce the finest 
 results of their art. 
 
 The best suggestion that has been made along this line, so 
 far as the writer has learned, is the suggestion made by Mr. Lee 
 F. Hanmer at the Brookline, Massachusetts, Institute of the 
 Playground Association, February, 1912, in which he recom- 
 mended a standing committee to have charge of the successive 
 holidays of the year, with sub-committees to direct the prepara- 
 tion of the celebration of each occasion. He said:
 
 "The question at once arises Who is to be responsible 
 for the right celebration of these occasions, and how can we 
 avoid their neglect and abuse? It is not now the custom 
 of municipalities to assume responsibility for such cele- 
 brations, it is usually left to public spirited citizens to form 
 committees, raise funds, develop plans and conduct the 
 celebrations. Might it not be well in cities where there are 
 civic leagues or recreation alliances to have a committee of 
 such organizations to be known as The Holiday Celebration 
 Committee, this Committee to have three sub-committees, 
 a committee on religious holidays, a committee on educa- 
 tional, and a committee on civic holidays, these sub-com- 
 mittees to be charged with responsibility for the proper 
 celebration of the holidays within their jurisdiction? The 
 Civic Holiday Committee would be expected to formulate 
 plans and present them to the city authorities for adoption. 
 A large committee of citizens might then be appointed by 
 the Mayor for the special holiday, Fourth of July for in- 
 stance, and such appropriations as were possible could be 
 made and such additional funds raised as might be necessary. 
 With standing committees there would be assurance that 
 the occasion would be definitely planned for in advance and 
 the celebration would not be left to such haphazard plans 
 as might be suggested at the last moment." 
 
 This address may be found printed in full in The Journal of 
 Education for April, 1912. By such a Committee is provided the 
 means for the nurture of a truly national art, of which Mr. Far- 
 well speaks. 
 
 A national art is the crystallization of the vital emotion of a 
 people. A national art has practical civic value of the highest 
 character, for it is the food of patriotism and public spirit. In 
 America national art lacks the necessary focus, a focus at once of 
 subject, of opportunity and of public demand. The Fourth of 
 July, properly regarded, and exalted by an appropriate and signi- 
 ficant celebration, would become such a clear focus and such a 
 vitalizing center for American patriotism and for the expression 
 of that patriotism in music and drama as is needed, and would 
 thus contribute powerfully to the upbuilding of a virile American 
 life.
 
 Music for the Fourth of July 
 
 BY ARTHUR FARWELL 
 
 Supervisor of Municipal Concerts, New York City, 1910-12 
 
 Music, music and again music! 
 
 This, after the Idea of Liberty itself, is the one idea which 
 recurs more persistently than any other as we read over the 
 speeches, the articles, the suggestions and plans, of those who are 
 leading the movement for a New Fourth. This fact has come 
 strongly to the front in a reading of the pamphlets on Independ- 
 ence Day celebrations issued by the Russell Sage Foundation. 
 Music appears in all these writings suffusing, linking, permeating 
 all the other ideas, as the glory of sunset suffuses and envelops 
 all the stretch of a spreading landscape. 
 
 In the past, ever since the birth of the nation, the Fourth of 
 July has meant two things, 
 
 THE IDEA OF LIBERTY AND NOISE 
 
 Does not every present sign indicate that the Fourth of July 
 in the future shall still mean these two things, but now become 
 THE IDEA OF LIBERTY AND MUSIC 
 
 This idea would seem to embody the essence of the entire 
 transmutation of the Fourth The Idea of Liberty comprising 
 all of the many dramatic or objective means by which it is pro- 
 posed to celebrate that idea, and Music, immensely expanded in 
 its significance and use, now to be the outlet for a national en- 
 thusiasm hitherto, but no longer, content to expend itself in 
 noise. The sound of the barbaric and doomed cannon-cracker is 
 to be reborn in the mighty vibrations of a new and powerful 
 music. 
 
 Thus far the musical suggestions which have been made, 
 while good in intent and nature, have been somewhat desultory 
 and diffuse. They have suggested a feeling of casting about in 
 despair for things to do and ways to do them, and have too often 
 contented themselves with merely suggesting "Patriotic Music," 
 or "Singing of National Songs." What is thus far lacking is a 
 synthesis of the musical ideas pertaining to the Fourth, and, of 
 
 42
 
 43 
 
 deeper import, the opening of a pathway forward and upward for 
 these musical ideas. First, they must be shaped; and second, 
 they must be shaped in such a way as to draw forth the best 
 and strongest musical resource and talent of each community. 
 
 At the outset we must disabuse our minds of the idea that 
 such feeble Fourth of July music as we have had in the past bears 
 any likeness to that which we are to have in the future. The 
 singing of national songs by children and grown people is cer- 
 tainly to be retained, and developed to a far better condition. 
 Aside from such singing, for the most part all too crude in the 
 past, the music of the Fourth has consisted chiefly in the music 
 of the military band. 
 
 The American has a warm spot in his heart for the brass band, 
 and with reason. He loved it as a boy; it has led him to many a 
 victory, martial and political ; it has glorified many an American 
 holiday; and it has been his most democratic and far-reaching 
 means of presenting music to the public. Nevertheless, we must 
 now realize clearly, because of the broader musical standpoint 
 to which our new need for the Fourth of July has driven us, that 
 the band and its music is in a worse state of degeneration than 
 almost any other form of music in America. 
 
 The American band is ruinously undersized, and does not 
 present the true full band instrumentation; its complement of 
 instruments is not that which affords the best sonority; its 
 available published literature (excepting popular songs) is hope- 
 lessly behind the musical progress of the day; it affords little 
 opportunity for the kind of progress that must be made in the 
 future; and, in the larger cities, it is commercialized to the point 
 where it has lost the power to voice spontaneously the ever 
 glorious spirit of the Fourth. 
 
 The military band in America today, except in the rare in- 
 stances of good amateur bands, is almost a thing apart from the 
 true musical resource, talent, and spirit of American communi- 
 ties, and it is precisely that total resource, talent, and spirit that 
 must go to the making of the music of the New Fourth. 
 
 The band, nevertheless, has two remaining virtues of first 
 importance: its use for marching, and its ability to play the 
 national airs, although in the latter respect the orchestra is su- 
 perior, especially where the instrumental music is to be used in 
 connection with singing. The band, even as it stands, can serve 
 admirably in these respects, but we must recognize that the
 
 44 
 
 music of the Fourth, in view of the present trend of the celebra- 
 tion of that day, is not to be restricted to those two aspects, and 
 can not be so restricted if a pathway is to be opened forward and 
 upward for the musical resource of a community as a fundamental 
 factor in our greatest national celebration. 
 
 What then, in any American city, is the total musical resource 
 that should go to the glorifying of the Fourth of July? Broadly 
 it comprises the following elements, which may be drawn upon 
 in whole or in part, according to local possibilities: 
 
 Choruses of school children 
 
 Singing societies and choral organizations, male and female 
 
 Church choirs 
 
 Bands 
 
 Orchestras, amateur or professional 
 
 Vocal and instrumental soloists, amateur and professional 
 
 The Audience 
 
 Composers 
 
 Here, at hand, is a musical legion which can be mustered in 
 whole by any American city or large town, and in part by almost 
 any smaller town, and directed to great ends unlimited in their 
 possibility of growth and expansion. The United States of 
 America, on the Fourth of July should ring from end to end with 
 all the mighty musical sound that these innumerable musical 
 hosts can outpour. 
 
 The Band. It is recognized that there are many towns which 
 may have nothing more than a brass band. The larger possi- 
 bilities of other places should not discourage such localities. In 
 such towns the bands are apt to be amateur organizations where 
 the members play for the love of it, and for this reason they will 
 play with more spirit than the city professional bands. These 
 towns should get the greatest efficiency out of such organizations 
 as they have. It is not enough to let such bands at a Fourth of 
 July celebration play merely what they happen to know. The 
 nature of the celebration should be planned well in advance, and 
 the bands should secure and rehearse the particular music that 
 is planned for the event. It should prepare special and appro- 
 priate music for pageant effects, processionals, entrances, and 
 interludes; and it should rehearse with school children or other 
 choral groups the songs and chorus that are to be sung. The 
 same procedure applies to still smaller communities which may
 
 45 
 
 not be able to provide anything more than a piano and a cornet 
 or violin. 
 
 The Orchestra. In all the cities and towns which are showing 
 the most active progress in popular celebrations, pageantry, and 
 the development of music for the people on a large scale, the or- 
 chestra is supplanting the band as the basis and standard of in- 
 strumental music, and for the accompaniment of voices. All the 
 great concerted music of the world is composed for the orchestra. 
 The orchestra is infinitely richer in tone color and variety than 
 the band. The band gives only "arrangements"; its instru- 
 ments cannot give the effects intended by the composer, but 
 only a representation of them in other terms, somewhat as a 
 photograph represents a painting in colors. The band is pri- 
 marily for military use, in marching, and for all concert purposes 
 is only a makeshift. As long as the organized Fourth of July 
 celebration consisted in the procession alone, and where the pro- 
 cession is still used, the band was and is in its right place. The 
 orchestra is the universally established standard of the music of 
 the concert. The central event of the Fourth of July celebra- 
 tion, as it is now shaping itself, i. e. as a ceremony given in a 
 particular place, and as exemplified in Mr. Langdon's suggested 
 plan, departs definitely from the procession idea and, in its 
 musical aspect, approaches the status of the concert. And here 
 the orchestra is immeasurably superior to the band. Its pub- 
 lished literature is immensely broader and is up-to-date. It is 
 much better adapted for accompanying voices than the band, 
 and especially for accompanying part singing by chorus, for 
 which the band is practically unavailable. Choral accompani- 
 ments are written for orchestra and not for band. Even for 
 the performance of the national airs, "Star Spangled Banner," 
 "America," "Hail, Columbia," "Dixie," "The Red, White 
 and Blue," etc., the orchestra, for stationary use (i. e. when there 
 is no marching, and especially with singing), surpasses the band. 
 The instruments which in the brass band blare out the melody, 
 chiefly cornets and clarinets, exist also in the orchestra, where 
 they serve the same purpose, while the greater variety of the 
 other instruments in the orchestra, especially the body of stringed 
 instruments, greatly enriches the general effect. The orchestra, 
 whenever it has been adopted, has proved itself thoroughly 
 satisfactory for use out-of-doors, requiring only a simply con- 
 structed sound screen or "shell" of wood to give its best effect.
 
 4 6 
 
 The work of amateur orchestras in rehearsing for Indepen- 
 dence Day celebrations will give these organizations new purpose 
 and stability, and lead to much desired permanent orchestral 
 organizations for this and similar celebrations in a community. 
 Beyond this, it will fundamentally develop local talent and 
 musical appreciation, and be one of the greatest possible forces 
 for the permanent musical betterment and advancement of 
 any community. 
 
 The Audience. Whenever possible, the audience should be 
 included as a music-producing factor, and in fact it would be 
 well to so plan a celebration as to provide definitely for the par- 
 ticipation of the people in some of the singing. The people can 
 be expected to join in the singing of the patriotic songs and the 
 favorites of Stephen Foster, "The Swanee River," "Old Ken- 
 tucky Home," etc., at least where such songs are not a part of 
 some dramatic action which would be disturbed by such par- 
 ticipation. 
 
 The people are far too little familiar with the words of even 
 our principal patriotic songs, as any attempt to get an average 
 crowd to sing them will quickly show. By printing and dis- 
 tributing the words of such songs as the audience is requested to 
 join in, two important ends will be gained: the public will be- 
 come familiar with the words of the songs, and a great uplift will 
 be given to the music of the ceremony. With the support of 
 band or orchestra, and whatever trained chorus may be present, 
 and with the words in hand, excellent results can be expected 
 from the singing of these songs by the people, though such results 
 cannot be expected without such preparation. 
 
 As it is very undesirable to announce the participation of the 
 people in the singing and to have it prove a failure, it is absolutely 
 necessary, if this feature is to be a success, to give the people 
 every possible aid and support. 
 
 The Composer. All musical art originates with the composer. 
 The music of a nation can come from only one source its com- 
 posers. America has a goodly company of famous composers, 
 some hundred and fifty of high standing, and innumerable com- 
 posers of ability throughout the cities and towns of the land. 
 
 What are they doing? They are busying themselves for the 
 most part, or entertaining themselves, with making pleasant 
 and clever imitations of a latter-day and over-refined European 
 musical art. They are in many cases wasting their high gifts
 
 47 
 
 and hard-earned technic, in making music which can never have 
 any broad meaning for the people of their own land. 
 
 Why are they doing this? Because their own country has 
 never yet asked anything of them. Their mind has never yet been 
 drawn away from the old world traditions that gave us our music 
 and musical system in the first place. The academies give them 
 nothing but European models to work by. They are sent to 
 Europe to study. They are not kept to the study of the song of 
 the people folksong the basis of all musical art. Their atten- 
 tion is directed wholly to the study of the highly developed and 
 highly refined musical forms the symphony and sonata. They 
 are taught that the popular taste is vulgar and should not be 
 appealed to. They are trained to be aristocrats of art when 
 America needs Democrats of art. They are told to "stand for 
 the ideal," when they are to face a nation for which the particu- 
 lar ideal meant is dingy and outworn. The young composer in 
 America today, in his ignorance and confidence, is lured into a 
 tragedy of evolution. He is trained to make a product which 
 will not be wanted. 
 
 Thus far, it must be said, America has done nothing to call 
 the composer from this old-world dream to make him useful to 
 his country. For America herself, musically, is just waking 
 up : she is still rubbing her eyes. The composer, on whose educa- 
 tion primarily as a composer much money has been spent, finds 
 himself in a perplexing situation; he discovers that his country 
 will accept and pay readily enough for his services as teacher, 
 performer, etc., but that it apparently has no use for him as a 
 composer, the very thing he has been educated to be. What he 
 has to give, his country does not want; and it does not tell him 
 what it does want. It asks no concrete thing of him it has not 
 known, perhaps, what to ask. 
 
 In fact there has been no connection at all, in a serious way, 
 between the American composer and his country. Hundreds 
 of forces are at work drawing the composer in America away from 
 his people, and there is not one force drawing him to his people. 
 In songs for the people above all, there must be an expectant 
 audience waiting before the singer can sing. The poet is not in- 
 spired to sing to a vacuum! It is little wonder that we have a 
 dearth of national songs of our own. "America," "The Star- 
 Spangled Banner," and "Yankee Doodle," are all foreign airs. 
 
 It is time for this condition to change, and the present move-
 
 4 8 
 
 ment for music for the Fourth of July is the pivot upon which it 
 should turn. William Orr, in the "Atlantic Monthly" for June, 
 1909, wrote in his article, "An American Holiday": 
 
 "Meantime our poets and composers may well concern them- 
 selves with increasing the number of our national songs compar- 
 able in quality with those of the old world peoples." 
 
 This suggestion is aimed in precisely the right direction, but 
 from a twelve-years' specific study of the composer and his 
 problem in America, and a wide and long personal acquaintance 
 with our composers from the Atlantic to the Pacific, I can say 
 assuredly that American composers will not, in fact, can not do 
 this of their own initiative; that they can not do it through mere 
 suggestion or "encouragement"; that they can not do it until they 
 MUST do it that is, until it is REQUIRED of them by the 
 American people; and that when it is so required of them they will 
 rise to the occasion and surprise the nation by their achievements. 
 
 Music, and all art, as Richard Wagner pointed out, must 
 spring from a Need. The nation now at last, in re-making the 
 celebration of the Fourth of July, feels the full force of the need 
 of national songs and other music of its own. This need must 
 now be sharply transferred to the composer. The composer in 
 America is asleep, dreaming of the musical art of the old-world 
 nations. We must shake him and call out Wake up! We 
 want songs songs of America's Glory and Freedom, and we must 
 have them for next Fourth of July/ 
 
 When the composer is thus called upon by his own town or 
 city, with a definite object and event in view, and finds that he 
 must do this thing, he not only can and will, but he will throw 
 himself into it with his whole soul. He would be ashamed to 
 fail. The all-creative Need will have come upon him. My 
 own "Hymn to Liberty," which was sung at City Hall, New 
 York, on last Fourth of July, would never have been written if I 
 had not been called in by the City Departments which have the 
 giving of public concerts, and brought into contact with the 
 preparations for the Fourth of July and the people's need of 
 songs. The little that one man can do alone, in an isolated cir- 
 cumstance, is as nothing to that which will be accomplished when 
 the people set the composers of the nation to work. 
 
 The composers in every city in America should be definitely 
 required to contribute to their city's Fourth of July celebration,
 
 49 
 
 in the form of songs, hymns, choruses, marches, pageantry music, 
 in any and all ways contributing to the nature and spirit of the 
 event. Their creative powers will prove astonishing, in virility 
 and imaginative quality, once they are given a definite task to 
 perform, and their best expected of them. In this way an entire 
 new order of American music will arise, larger in spirit than any 
 that has yet arisen, and the country will no longer lack the 
 national songs and hymns that it now so greatly needs. 
 
 This music should be obtained in one of two ways : either by 
 the annual appointment, by the committee, of a composer (local, 
 if possible) known to be capable of undertaking the task assigned 
 him; or by instituting a competition, open, when practicable, 
 only to local composers. The receiving or winning of this com- 
 mission or award should be held as a great honor, and the suc- 
 cessful one should be honored in some fitting manner during the 
 celebration. The same is equally true of poets or authors par- 
 ticipating. 
 
 With the making of a better and more glorious Fourth, prepa- 
 ration for it must be made much longer in advance. Stump 
 speeches can be made on the spur of the moment, but songs 
 cannot be so written, nor chorus and orchestra so rehearsed. All 
 commissions should be given, or competitions announced, here- 
 after, a year beforehand, immediately after the celebration in 
 hand. 
 
 Vocal and Instrumental Soloists. At the great annual out- 
 door Christmas Eve ceremony in San Francisco, where the au- 
 dience numbers one hundred thousand, Tetrazzini and Bispham 
 have sung, and Kubelik has played, with immense success. 
 (Choral and orchestral music are also features of this ceremony, 
 and the singing of hymns by the people.) A similar feature, by 
 local or visiting artists, might well form one of the most popular 
 and inspiring events of the Fourth of July celebration throughout 
 America. New York City adopted this idea at the 1912 celebra- 
 tion. 
 
 In what manner should this great tribute and use of music 
 be brought to the celebration of the Fourth? Local conditions 
 must finally determine this for each place. 
 
 By whatsoever names we may choose to call them, it is cer- 
 tain that the New Fourth is to rest upon two main elements 
 that which may be considered as the dramatic, and the musical ; 
 the dramatic element to present to the people the Idea of Liberty 
 4
 
 50 
 
 (whether it be by actual dramatic action, by pageantry, by 
 oratory, or by the freedom given to boys to cook a camp-fire 
 dinner!), and the musical element to glorify the idea. In dis- 
 cussing with Mr. Langdon his outline for a celebration, I have 
 suggested an alternative idea for the dramatic side of the event. 
 This would consist in a concentration of the dramatic elements 
 and an epitomizing of the dramatic idea, in a dramatic scene, or 
 little drama, elicited from local authors after the manner sug- 
 gested above for music, the theme of the action being every year 
 identical, for example, "The Triumph of Liberty," the place, 
 time, and character of the action (whether historical, allegorical, 
 etc.) being always different and left to the desire and imagination 
 of the author. This is the method which, through a number of 
 years of evolution, has brought the drama of the Midsummer 
 Forest Festival of the Bohemian Club of San Francisco to so 
 high and wonderful a character, the theme being always the 
 Slaying and Burial of Care. In such a dramatic scene for a 
 Fourth of July ceremony, music will find a legitimate and 
 natural place, its character being determined by the character of 
 the piece. 
 
 The musical aspect of the celebration, as I conceive it, en- 
 tirely aside from the various incidental musical features, should 
 provide a place in the ceremony sacred to the Idea of Music, in 
 and for itself, where it may grow year by year, where Music itself 
 is given Liberty, that it may each year reveal itself as a loftier and 
 mightier means for the praise of Liberty and for the inspiring of 
 exalted emotions in the people. My observation of many large 
 popular musical events in different parts of the country, and my 
 own experience with the Municipal Concerts in New York City, 
 have shown me that people in the mass, particularly under formu- 
 lated ceremonial conditions, will (independently of all intellectual 
 understanding) rise to the greatest heights of enthusiasm in re- 
 sponse to the best and greatest music. 
 
 Mr. Langdon has made a special point of the musical possi- 
 bilities of the celebration. The idea above expressed indicates 
 the way in which music can be brought to its highest condition 
 for this purpose. This distinctive and particular feature of the 
 celebration, dedicated to the highest expression of music per se, 
 might be called the Ceremony of Song. It could include one or 
 the other, or both, of two elements: Musical Contest, and 
 Tribute of Song.
 
 The Musical Contest would be similar in idea to all musical 
 contests, from the time when musicians competed with the flute 
 and lyre at the Olympiad Games of Greece, through the German 
 "Singer's Wars," down to the present day "Sangerfest." Ac- 
 cording to local conditions, this could present contests of 
 
 Choral Societies 
 
 Choruses from different schools 
 
 Amateur bands 
 
 Church choirs 
 
 Where there is an amateur orchestra, there might be a violin 
 contest to determine the concert master of the orchestra for the 
 ensuing year. There should be a committee of judges to make all 
 decisions. 
 
 The "Tribute of Song" would comprise the highest offerings 
 of music which the community could provide. Songs, hymns, 
 and choruses would be sung by the largest possible assembled 
 body of singers, unaccompanied, or accompanied by band or 
 preferably orchestra. Also the orchestra or band would give 
 special numbers. Vocal, violin, or other solos, as suggested, could 
 be interspersed. All the assembled people should join in well- 
 known hymns and patriotic songs. In instrumental concerted 
 music (e. g., Victor Herbert's "American Fantasie") orchestra 
 should supersede band wherever possible. 
 
 The paucity of great national American music of a patriotic 
 character, and the immense power of music, merely as music, to 
 inspire enthusiasm and exaltation, must lead all who understand 
 the need and love of the people for music on such an occasion to 
 see that, while as much as possible is to be made of our existing 
 national airs, the chief object of this part of the celebration is to 
 bring Music, at its greatest, before the people, as a means of 
 praise and exaltation. For this reason it is not essential that 
 this "Tribute of Song" should confine itself to "patriotic" 
 music, any more than a foreign folk dance in the "Tribute of the 
 People" in Mr. Langdon's outline expresses specifically the idea of 
 Liberty. The people will be immersed in a Fourth of July emo- 
 tion by virtue of attending the ceremony, and all great and mov- 
 ing music will but heighten that emotion. Great instrumental 
 and choral works from all the world should therefore be presented. 
 America is the heir of all races and nations. In places where 
 certain nationalities have a particularly large representation, a
 
 52 
 
 feature can be made of characteristic music from their own 
 nation. American composers, however, should invariably be 
 represented, and by their best work, in this "Tribute of Song," 
 which in the course of a few years could draw largely upon Fourth 
 of July music written by composers in different places for their 
 local celebrations. 
 
 The "Exaltation of Liberty" closing the "Ceremony of 
 Song" is offered as a possible and effective means of presenting 
 the prize song of the occasion, which will necessarily have a 
 direct bearing upon the Idea of American Liberty. If a plan 
 similar to that proposed by Mr. Langdon is adopted, "America" 
 with the thirteen original states, can take a prominent position 
 in which she is surrounded by the massed chorus, which sings the 
 song or hymn which has won the prize for the year. Or if it is 
 desired to give that in another part of the program, another work 
 can be chosen for this feature. It is essential throughout the 
 "Ceremony of Song" that choruses and soloists should be given 
 a central and prominent position in the space provided for the 
 celebration. 
 
 It is with the purpose of bringing the glory of music to bear 
 to its fullest possible extent upon the celebration of our glory 
 of Independence, that the above suggestions have been made. 
 America, in music, needs a new impulse, a new Vision. No less 
 does Music itself, weakened with European over-refinements, 
 need a new and sturdier Vision. That Vision and impulse are 
 latent in the deep springs of our greatest national enthusiasm 
 the enthusiasm for American Liberty. They wait only for the 
 nation to call them forth into living reality.
 
 Notes 
 
 THE ORCHESTRA 
 
 It must be understood that there are two kinds of orchestra, 
 the "grand" or "symphony" orchestra, and the "small" or- 
 chestra. The symphony orchestra is thoroughly standardized 
 as to its required instruments, and music written for it cannot be 
 played by the small orchestra. The grand orchestra contains 
 no piano. Thirty-five is about the minimum number of players 
 required for its organization, and these must conform to the 
 proper specification of instruments, the requisite proportion of 
 stringed instruments, flutes, oboes, horns, etc. The symphonies 
 of Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, etc., can be played on 
 such an orchestra, but modern composers have augmented it, 
 so that "modern" music, including the larger works of Wagner 
 and the music of later composers, requires about sixty players. 
 The great symphony orchestras contain about one hundred 
 players, and are based on the standard grand orchestra of Beet- 
 hoven. The printed music for grand orchestra will be of no use 
 for smaller groups of players. W. J. Henderson's "The Or- 
 chestra and Orchestral Music" (price, $1.25), and Daniel Gregory 
 Mason's "The Orchestral Instruments and What They Do" 
 (price, $1.25), give a full account of the constitution of the 
 symphony orchestra, and much other valuable information. 
 These are to be had of G. Schirmer, New York. 
 
 The small orchestra consists of anything from piano and 
 violin up. The piano and violin are its basis, the piano to give 
 the bass and harmony, and the violin the melody. The parts 
 for the other instruments are written in such a manner that they 
 will fit into the combination as they are added. Up to the num- 
 ber of five instruments (ist violin always necessary, 2nd violin, 
 flute or clarinet, cornet and piano not a precisely fixed arrange- 
 ment), the piano is absolutely necessary. Above five instru- 
 ments, the bass viol, commonly called " the bass," may be added 
 and the piano dispensed with if desired. There is no fixed or 
 standard arrangement of instruments for small orchestra. So 
 
 53
 
 54 
 
 long as the bass is present, the violin (with other " melodic" 
 instruments), and instruments to fill out the harmony com- 
 monly 2nd violin, viola, horns, etc. the published music for 
 small orchestra is so arranged as to "sound," i. e. to make a 
 proper and full musical effect, whatever the particular combina- 
 tion of instruments. As the orchestra grows, the "strings" 
 should preponderate well over wind instruments. 
 
 The following is a suitable basis for small orchestra with ten 
 instruments: 1st violin, 2nd violin, bass, 1st cornet, clarinet, 
 flute, trombone, viola, 2nd cornet, and drums. The next instru- 
 ments to add, in proper order, would be, 'cello, horns, 2nd 
 clarinet, oboe and bassoon. 
 
 A very wide range of music is published for small orchestra, 
 including adaptations of many standard works originally com- 
 posed for grand orchestra. 
 
 THE BAND 
 
 The specification of instruments for the smallest bands em- 
 ployed for municipal concerts in New York City, with fourteen 
 men (and leader), is as follows: E flat clarinet or flute, solo B 
 flat clarinet, 1st B flat clarinet, 2nd B flat clarinet, solo B flat 
 cornet, 1st B flat cornet, 2nd B flat cornet, 1st horn, 2nd horn, 
 trombone, baritone, E flat tuba, small drum, bass drum. For a 
 band of twenty-one and leader these are added: piccolo, 2nd 
 solo B flat clarinet, 2nd solo B flat cornet, 3rd horn, 2nd and 3rd 
 trombones, and 2nd tuba. The next instruments to be added 
 are trombones, flute, 3rd alto horn, oboe and bassoon. 
 
 Complete information about the band can be had from a book 
 recently published by Henry Holt & Co., New York, "The Wind- 
 Band and its Instruments," by Arthur A. Clappe. (Price, $i .60.) 
 
 National Songs for Band, Orchestra, etc. 
 
 The following can be had of G. Schirmer, 3 East 43rd Street, 
 New York City: 
 
 Patriotic Songs of the United States of America, as sung in 
 the Public Schools of New York. 5 cents, $4 per hundred. 
 
 Album of National Anthems, Hymns, and Patriotic Songs, 
 for orchestra. The same also for band. This collection 
 contains nine American songs and national songs of many 
 other nations. 
 
 Hymn to Liberty, by Arthur Farwell. For mixed quartet or
 
 55 
 
 chorus, with piano accompaniment. 10 cents. Special 
 rates in quantity. Edition for band, orchestra, and male 
 quartet or chorus in press. Band arrangement cannot be 
 used to accompany chorus singing in four parts, but can 
 accompany chorus singing melody alone. Orchestral 
 version can be used in either way. 
 
 The following can be had by C. H. Ditson & Co., 8 East 34th 
 Street, New York City: 
 
 American Patriotic Songs. A volume containing all the well 
 known songs and many others, variously arranged, as 
 accompanied and unaccompanied quartets, solo voice 
 with accompaniment, etc., 50 cents. 
 
 The World's Collection of Patriotic Songs and Anthems. 
 Contains eleven American songs and national songs of 
 many other nations. 50 cents. 
 
 Oliver Ditson Co. can provide all American patriotic songs 
 in individual band and orchestra arrangements, and also as 
 medleys and fantasies. 
 
 FOLK DANCE MUSIC 
 
 The music of folk dances of many nations will be found in two 
 books by Elizabeth Burchenal, published by G. Schirmer. The 
 first, "Folk Dances and Singing Games" (price, $1.50), contains, 
 besides, music, illustrations and descriptions of dances. This 
 music is for piano, and for band or orchestra requires special 
 arrangement. Information about such arrangements, which are 
 not yet printed, can be had by writing to the Parks and Play- 
 grounds Association, 1123 Broadway, New York. 
 
 G. Schirmer has in preparation a band arrangement of the 
 music in the Burchenal books.
 
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 style, which *cJflsisted of nothing but fireworks and firecrackers. 
 There is also a program for celebrating the Fourth in large cities. 
 (32 pages.) Price, 5 cents. 
 
 No. 62. FOURTH OF JULY INJURIES AND TETANUS. 
 
 The Seventh Annual Compilation by the Journal of the Amer- 
 ican Medical Association. It contains statistics of the number of 
 deaths and injuries for all the states, and for the largest cities, from 
 1903 to 1909. (27 pages.) Price, 5 cents. 
 
 No. 31. A SAFER, SANER FOURTH OF JULY. 
 
 An illustrated booklet of the proceedings of the Conference of 
 Municipal Representatives, at the Third Annual Congress of the 
 Playground Association of America. It contains a suggested 
 program and reports of how some of the cities celebrated previous 
 to 1909. (31 pages.) Price, 5 cents.