Bridgewater State University - Alpha Yearbook (Bridgewater, MA)

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24 NORMAL OFFERING come, more than five hundred stout hearts sank at the thought of losing the glory of out-door color and space. But the reward of sunshine and successful performance was ours, as several thousand spectators can say. Do you care to have the story retold? The main theme was this: the Spirit of Enlightenment shows that page from the book of time which deals with the inception of normal schools, and with the past growth and present strength of the Bridgewater School. Enlighten- ment was the first pageant character to enter, in stately blue, then the Hours danced gracefully, sounding all the notes of the color-scheme, and leaving the little years in place to keep the dates before us. With Massachusetts, Enlightenment saw the normal-school experiment argued, tried, and proved, under the pioneers, -Carter, Dwight, Brooks, and Mann. The climax-of the first episode was the dedication of the first normal-school building in America at Bridgewater. B. N. S., clothed in rich maroon, then summoned her early princi- pals, Mr. Tillinghast and Mr. Conant, with students, all in old-time cos- tume, to show that earnest devotion to duty characteristic of the form- ative period. The Alumni Association joined the graduates in a circle of friendship about the School. The meaning of this period was expressed in the lovely interlude dance Consecration. In quiet colors, the dancers came with ceremonial step, bearing gifts which they laid on the dais. As the dial showed 1861, the third episode opened with boom of guns, and Patriotism came appealing to Enlightenment. Before the altar of the Union loyalty was pledged. The young men came runningg we saw them armed and march to warg we saw the girl students doing for them through the years, and singing songs together. At length Victory, with reversed torch, brought in the Roll of Honor, and the episode ended with the Battle Hymn. A short musical motif introduced Service, in rose-color, who gave the School its motto, and urged study of the child. We saw the school- building growg we saw many students and graduates gather for the fiftieth anniversary, we saw many states and countries interested. We saw all bow in silent tribute to the memory of the third principal, Mr. Albert G. Boyden. Then the wide reach of the school was symbol- ized by the beautiful seven-armed Wheel of Influence, pivoting about B. N. S. In the spirited interlude dance Attainment, the dancers,

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NORMAL OFFERING 23 Uhr Svtnrg nf the Pageant. UR dearly loved Miss Brown asked the writer, in Cctober, 1914, to serve on the Pageant committee for the Seventy-fifth. Varying opinions of the dramatic material in the history of the School were expressed by the committee. Then came Miss Brown's sad illnessg there was talk of giving up the Pageant. On the eve of the spring vacation, Mr. Boyden reorganized the committee, and it was necessary to put the historic material into text at once, and submit it to some one of experience. That vacation held no leisure and little rest for the new chairman, and its pace was prophetic of that attained later by the committee, and gradually by faculty and students. For, when the scenario was read to and accepted by the committee and the direc- tor, Miss Clark, it was but ten weeks to the date of performance. How well the machinery worked, once it was set in motion, how freely all responded, giving time and strength, is well known, and makes the achievement one worthy the traditions of the School. Miss Clark's only change in the scenario was the addition of the Dance of the Hours to strengthen the time-motive. It was decided to transform the ice-house into the time-dial needed, and to center the action about the south of Campus Pond, with the pond, the dial, and the trees as background. 'In quick succession followed choice of leaders, of danc- ers, of color-scheme, work on properties and costumes, rehearsals, and more rehearsals! It would be a pleasure to give credit to each and allg to note how many willing hands made the handsome banners and shields, the grassy dais, and all the numberless propertiesg how cleverly patterns for cos- tumes were evolved from pictures and suggestions, how many yards of cloth were measured, and how many thousands of loyal stitches taken. The achievement of Miss Burnell and her aids in borrowing, distributing, and returning intact scores of old fashioned costumes is worth a chronicler. How admirable was the music of the Glee Club, and the Orchestra, and what a credit the smooth finished performance of the Pageanters was to Miss Moflitt's dramatic training! So we might go on and fill a volume, if the full tale of loyal service were told. It must suffice to say that it proved a line school spirit. When June 19 dawned fog-laden, although we were ready for the rain which happily did not

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NORMAL OFFERING 25 in warm tones, took up the gifts brought by their sister-dancers and scattered them broadly, as if using powers attained. With 1915, the procession of the School of Today began. With few exceptions, the ideas expressed by the department groups were evolved by the heads of departments, and the phases of the newer education illustrated by the grades of the Training School were the choice of the teachers, all plans came to the committee, and the color-scheme deter- mined the order of appearance. The largest group was the Kinder- garten-Primary, which showed little children growing as do flowers in a garden, in response to rain and sun, visited by birds, bees, and but- terflies, this was one of the fine things of the Pageant. But it is so manifestly unfair to mention a few, where all these groups were so well done, that we must refrain. After the stirring salute to the flag, as the last of the grades joined the massed group of the present, B. N. S., as a surprise to Mr. Arthur Boyden, called for the leader of to-day, and he was made to take a place on the dais only a little lower than the guiding spirits, and how the Alumni applauded! A dimmed time-dial, and veiled Hours dancing, suggested the future. Patriotism led in a group of foreign-born children, and B. N. S. pledged to train all for individual efficiency and for service to the state, that America, the beautiful, may live forever. Then we sang America, with quickened imaginations. From their stations came the notables of the past, the patriots, the graduates, the states and countries, down the Pageant path to the east, to the north, then past the dial up toward the school. The Pageant moved off in the order of its appearance, only the chief spirits being left on the dais. Then they walked up the Pageant path, between lines of dancers, until Enlightenment was the last figure to pass from sight, and the Pageant of the Bridgewater Normal School was over. To the author, it was a dream made to liveg a vision realized in color, action, music, and dance. To us all it proved that a Pageant is a gathering of many talents, a fusing of many arts into one vivid, beautiful whole, which, though it passes, yet lives on in the enriched experience of all whom it has touched. ' FLoRA T. LITTLE.