Place on same table twelve large candles and twelve small baskets, a basket beside every candle. 5. Place on another table in drawing-room horns, tin-pans, trumpets, harmonicas, piccolas, accordions, whistles, Jews-harps, etc., one for each guest. The Social. As a guest enters drawing-room, he receives slip of paper and pencil and is asked to select a candle, and to name it with name of person dearest to his heart, and whose constancy he wishes to test. He writes name of person on slip of paper, folds slip and puts into basket at foot of chosen candle. After all guests have named their candles, etc., hostess selects twelve ladies to light the candles simultaneously. After candles are lighted guests do not remain at this table, but pass on to the character card" table, returning to this table when candles have nearly burned out. The candle that burns longest signifies that the names in the basket nearest it are true and constant. After the last candle dies out, the names in the lucky basket are read. guests desire, the names in the other baskets are also read. 66 If At "character card" table each guest selects a card from hat or reticule, according to sex, and holds it unopened. Guests are arranged according to numbers on outside of "character cards" No. 1, No. 2, etc. Then all are requested to open cards, and No. 1, the king, begins by reading verse on his card, each guest in turn following suit. After reading of verses the king, who is declared king of the Twelfth Night for the coming year, leaves room and all guests sit in a semicircle. The king taps on door. A guest says, "The king is coming," whereupon all guests try to change seats. Meanwhile the king enters and tries to get a seat. The person left without a seat goes outside, and taps on the door. A guest shouts, "The queen is coming," or "The page is coming," or "The earl is coming," and then all scramble for new seats as before. After this has been played for awhile hostess may suggest a "Guessing Game." Men guests leave room and the ladies arrange chairs in a semicircle. Each lady has a vacant chair next her which she names for one of the absent gentlemen. At signal men enter. Each sits on chair he thinks has been named for him. If wrong, he is clapped at by the lady on whose chair he sits, and he is compelled to leave room. The men that sit on right chairs remain. The empty chairs are again named, and the men outside try again and again until each chair is filled. The last man to get a chair has to wear a booby-cap. The couples go to refreshment room, king and queen together, the others following in order of their rank. Each guest receives a dainty menu. Among other things, a small roast pig with a corncob in its mouth, apple sauce and pumpkin pies may be served. After the regular refreshments, the newlyelected king cuts the king cake, a piece for every guest. The king selects his piece; each guest in turn selects his piece in order of his rank. The guest that gets the china doll or silver piece will have a lucky year. The table is cleared and the "Twelfth Night Cake" is placed on it and is cut by the king into as many parts as there are guests. Each guest selects as before. The guest getting the wedding-ring will be the first to wed. The engagement-ring winner will be the first engaged; the dime winner will have great riches; the quill winner will marry a lawyer or a blue stocking; the bag of flour winner will live on a farm or be a farmer; the black piece of cloth winner will marry or will be a clergyman; the blue cloth winner will be or marry a soldier; the white cloth winner will be an old maid or an old bachelor. After hostess discloses meaning of everything found in cake, loving-cup is passed around. After refreshments and when guests are in drawing-room, a blindfolded violinist discloses the future of the guests. Sitting near a lady designated by the hostess, he is asked to tell whom a certain person is going to marry. As soon as asked, he bows low over the lady for a moment and then answers. His answers are considered oracular, and during the year he is known as the "headless fiddler." After the fortune-telling each guest receives a muscial instrument from table. Guests seek partners and form in couples, each one playing on the instrument while the couples march around room. Instruments are placed on table and Sir Roger de Coverly is danced. All succeeding dances are rollicking and old-fashioned. Other games may be introduced, such as forfeits, family coach, the music-master, etc. BEN-HUR, PRELUDE-APPEARANCE OF THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM TO THE WISE MEN IN THE DESERT. There seems no light on this marvelous stage-picture save that radiating from the star itself. So peaceful, far away, mysterious is the effect that the on-looker, if he can command his critical ability to an endeavor to explain effects, fancies the picture is seen through one or more bluish gauze curtains dropped between the picture and the audience. The perfection of this tableau, its "atmosphere,' its religious mystery, transfers the thoughts and hearts of the audience from the feelings and beliefs of every day to a sympathy ready to appreciate, understand, and accept with reverence what follows. BEN-HUR, ACT I.-ROOF-TERRACE OF THE PALACE OF HUR AT JERUSALEM. THE LITTLE FAMILY-CIRCLE, BEFORE THE BUGLE OF GRATUS SOUNDS THE TRAGEDY WHICH CONDEMNS BEN-HUR TO THE GALLEYS AND HIS MOTHER AND SISTER TO A LEPROUS DUNGEON. MOTHER OF HUR-" Messala is gone, and Judah hath lost a friend. But what if the world forsake us, so that this little circle remains unbroken?" The central figure, the mother, speaks. Notice the art in grouping, whereby the massiveness of the son emphasizes the delicacy of the mother, whose tender dignity still dominates; the brilliant hues of the girl's costume blending into the softer hues of the mother's, Ben-Hur's white robe setting off both. BEN-HUR, ARRESTED THROUGH PRAYS THE HOUR OF HEAVEN'S VENGEANCE HIS MAY HAND ΤΟ IT UPON In about the same position, stage right, the mother is held by two In the background, to the right, seen between the Ben-Hur and the mother groups, Messala stands well forward at the stage left (the right as the audience looks). Note the fine Balancing her position, Amrah (the figure appearing over Messala's shoulder in the picture) is seen to stage left. in the hands of two guards, occupies the center. soldiers. Ben Hur, the daughter crouches. swing and balance of Ben-Hur's pose BEN-HUR, ACT IL-BETWEEN DECKS OF THE ROMAN TRIREME, "ASTREA." |