American
girls and boys. Probably they would make a failure of so ambitious an
effort, yet it would be worth while to see.

The first arrivals among the audience found several hundred chairs
placed in more or less orderly array upon one side of a stream that
ran straight as a ribbon along this part of the countryside.

Upon an elevation a small platform had been constructed with a table
and a chair so banked with golden rod and Michaelmas daisies and green
boughs that the wooden outlines were concealed.

On the further side of the water was an ingenious structure, half
palace and half tent.

The walls were of a heavy white canvas, the roof had been made of
narrow lattice and this covered with green branches.

In front was the court yard of the palace. The furnishings were
severely simple, a long bench and a table, a few straight chairs,
little more than stools, and painted white to suggest marble.

No other paraphernalia of the approaching performance was visible.

Now and then a figure appeared from the background of trees, never one
of the players, only some assistant bent upon an errand.

Not upon the shore-line supposed to represent ancient Greece, but
immediately facing the audience waved a giant American flag. On either
side were the Scout flags, one bearing the imprint of an eagle's wing,
the insignia of the Girl Scouts, the other an elm tree, the flag of
the boys.

At four o'clock in the afternoon the pageant began.

Before that hour not only were the seats filled but a number of people
were standing.

A guest of honor of the occasion was one of the distinguished men who
originated the Scout movement for boys in the United States. Another
guest of honor was a member of the National Girl Council, who had come
up from the headquarters in New York for no other reason than to be
present at the pageant.

With simple Scout ceremonies the entertainment opened.

A few moments after the applause had subsided, a beautiful resonant
voice read aloud the first lines describing the Odyssey:

"Sing us the song of the hero, steadfast, skilful and strong,
Taker of Troy's high towers who wandered for ten years long
Over the perilous waters, through unknown cities of men,
Leading his comrades onward, seeking his home again.
Sing us the song of the Wanderer, sing us the wonderful song."

A moment later slowly rowing down the stream appeared a solitary
figure, Odysseus, seated upon a raft to which