III.

The stage should contain a table, a little at one side, opposite the
fire-place, and five chairs, one for each of the family, and the fifth
for Nurse Mary when she arrives. On the table a lighted lamp. For
safety, it may be lighted by an ever-ready electric torch. The lighting
of the stage must, of course, be otherwise provided for.

There should be two doors on opposite sides of the stage, and a
practicable window at the back, through which in the last scene a view
of houses or landscape is visible, and the Waits at the close.

As the fire-place is at the side, it is easy to arrange steps by which
the elf and the children appear to climb up and down the chimney. A box
or small step ladder, just out of sight on the side toward the front,
will serve the purpose.

The Carol of the Friendly Beasts may be sung to the following tune:

[Illustration: Music]

There is also another tune composed by Clarence Dickinson. A different
carol may, of course, be substituted, if desired.

SCENE II.

The Shrinking Machine stands at the back of the stage, and must be
accessible from behind, for the changing of the doll and the soldier.
There should be doors in front which can be opened wide. At one side
should be the crank. For this an ice cream freezer will serve, well
secured in place, only the handle showing through the cambric side wall
of the Machine. The sound is effective, even though the children in the
audience will announce its identity at once.

For painting the soldier's cheeks, cranberry juice is both brilliant and
harmless.

If gifts or candies are to be distributed, Mother Goose may enter again
immediately after the final curtain, and say something like this:

Well, my dear children, it is all over, and I hope it has pleased you.
I heard you laugh once or twice, and that makes me think that you must
have liked it. But there is one more thing to tell you, and this you
are sure to like very much indeed. You will remember that they had only
looked at the first things, in the very top of their stockings. Well,
after the curtain closed, they had time to look at what was left. And
what do you suppose Father found in the bottom of his stocking, down in
the very toe of it? A little note from Santa Claus, telling him that
if he would look into the fire-place he would find there some boxes of
candy, one for every child in this audience: And sure enough, there they
were: and if you will sit very still, the curtain