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Page 18
Solomon John thought you might have "Hindoos"; the little boys could
color their faces brown to look like Hindoos. You could have the first
scene an Irishman catching a hen, and then paying the water-taxes for
"dues," and then have the little boys for Hindoos.
A great many other words were talked of, but nothing seemed to suit.
There was a curtain, too, to be thought of, because the folding doors
stuck when you tried to open and shut them. Agamemnon said the
Pan-Elocutionists had a curtain they would probably lend John Osborne,
and so it was decided to ask John Osborne to help.
If they had a curtain they ought to have a stage. Solomon John said he
was sure he had boards and nails enough, and it would be easy to make a
stage if John Osborne would help put it up.
All this talk was the day before the charades. In the midst of it Ann
Maria went over for her old bonnets and dresses and umbrellas, and they
spent the evening in trying on the various things,--such odd caps and
remarkable bonnets! Solomon John said they ought to have plenty of
bandboxes; if you only had bandboxes enough, a charade was sure to go
off well; he had seen charades in Boston. Mrs. Peterkin said there were
plenty in their attic, and the little boys brought down piles of them,
and the back parlor was filled with costumes.
Ann Maria said she could bring over more things if she only knew what
they were going to act. Elizabeth Eliza told her to bring anything she
had,--it would all come of use.
The morning came, and the boards were collected for the stage.
Agamemnon and Solomon John gave themselves to the work, and John
Osborne helped zealously. He said the Pan-Elocutionists would lend a
scene also. There was a great clatter of bandboxes, and piles of shawls
in corners, and such a piece of work in getting up the curtain! In the
midst of it, came in the little boys, shouting, "All the tickets are
sold at ten cents each!"
"Seventy tickets sold!" exclaimed Agamemnon.
"Seven dollars for the water-trough!" said Elizabeth Eliza.
"And we do not know yet what we are going to act!" exclaimed Ann Maria.
But everybody's attention had to be given to the scene that was going
up in the background, borrowed from the Pan-Elocutionists. It was
magnificent, and represented a forest.
"Where are we going to put seventy people?" exclaimed Mrs. Peterkin,
venturing, dismayed, into the heaps of shavings and boards and litter.
The little boys exclaimed that a large part of the audience consisted
of boys, who would not take up much room. But how much clearing and
sweeping and moving of chairs was necessary before all could be made
ready! It was late, and some of the people had already come to secure
good seats even before the actors had assembled.
"What are we going to act?" asked Ann Maria.
"I have been so torn with one thing and another," said Elizabeth Eliza,
"I haven't had time to think!"
"Haven't you the word yet?" asked John Osborne, for the audience was
flocking in, and the seats were filling up rapidly.
"I have got one word in my pocket," said Elizabeth Eliza, "in the
letter from the lady from Philadelphia. She sent me the parts of the
word. Solomon John is to be a Turk, but I don't yet understand the
whole of the word."
"You don't know the word and the people are all here!" said John
Osborne, impatiently.
"Elizabeth Eliza!" exclaimed Ann Maria, "Solomon John says I'm to be a
Turkish slave, and I'll have to wear a veil. Do you know where the
veils are? You know I brought them over last night."
"Elizabeth Eliza! Solomon John wants you to send him the large cashmere
scarf," exclaimed one of the little boys, coming in. "Elizabeth Eliza!
you must tell us what kind of faces to make up!" cried another of the
boys.
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