spirit. I hope that this play does not
entirely fail to meet these requirements.

Worcester, Mass.

SHEPHERD KNAPP.

Introduction

Before the Play begins, MOTHER GOOSE comes out in front of the
curtain, and this is what she says:

Well, well, well, well, well, here we all are again. And what's more
important, Christmas is here again, too. Aren't you glad? Now I want
to tell you children something. Do you know what I enjoy most at
Christmas time? It's to come in here and see all you children sitting
in rows and rows, all your faces looking up at me, and a smile on
every one of them. Why, even some of those great big men and women
back there are smiling, too. And I think I know why you are all
smiling. There are two reasons for it, I believe. One is that you
think old Mother Goose is a good friend of yours, and loves you all
very much. And you're quite right about that, for I declare, I love
every one of you as much as I love--plum pudding. And the second
reason why you are all smiling, I guess, is because you think I am
going to show you a Christmas Play. And you're right about that, too.
I have a play all ready for you, there behind the curtain, and the
name of it is "The Christmas Dinner." Doesn't the very name of it make
you hungry? Well, you just wait. Now when the curtain opens, you'll
see the warm cozy kitchen of a farm house, where six people live. Two
of them are quite young, because they are just a boy and a girl, and
their names are Walter and Gertrude. And two of them are older, and
yet not so very old either: they are the father and mother of the two
children. And the last two are the oldest of all, and they are
really old, for they are the children's grandfather and grandmother.
It is late in the afternoon of the day before Christmas, the hour when
it has begun to get dark. The father is out cutting some good big
sticks of wood for the Christmas fire, and the two children are
playing outside of the house. So you'll not see them at first. But you
will see the mother, who is just finishing the day's work, and the old
grandfather and grandmother, who are sitting by the fire. Are you
ready, all of you? Be quiet, then, for now it is going to begin.

The Christmas Dinner

The First Scene

Now the Curtain opens, and you see a farmhouse kitchen, just as
Mother Goose promised. At the back, opposite to you, is a fire-place,
with a mantel shelf over it. A bright fire is burning. On the mantel