dforncll Mntucraitg ffiihtarg 
 
 Stljata, SJem ^ork 
 
 UAKNIV, luuurAi unKtfm - 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 ALFRED C. BARNES 
 
 1889 
 
Cornell University Library 
 BV1472.G17 .07 
 
 Dramatic instinct in religious education 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 029 337 528 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029337528 
 
THE DRAMATIC INSTINCT IN 
 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 
 
THE 
 
 DR/VMATIG INSTINCT IN 
 RELIGIOUS EDUGATION 
 
 THOMAS WALTON GALLOWAY, Ph.D., Litt.D. 
 
 Association Director, Department of Education. 
 American Social Hygiene Association 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 ''The Use of Motives in Teaching Morals and TieUqion' 
 
 "■'Textbook of Zoology" 
 
 "Biology of Sex for Parents and Teachers," etc. 
 
 THE PILGRIM PRESS 
 BOSTON CHICAGO 
 
3,:2.G-|i 
 
 COPYBIGHT, 1922 
 
 By SIDNEY A, WESTON' 
 
 Printed in the United States of Amei 
 
 THE JORDAN & MORE PRESS 
 BOSTON 
 
This book is ajjeclionai.ely ilnliccilcd to a body of 
 religious workers, the most remarkable in organiza- 
 tion and spirit which the writer has known, — the 
 Second Presbyterian. Church, Decatur, Illinois. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PART I 
 
 First Principles 
 
 CHAPTEK PAGE 
 
 I. An Experiment in Dramatization 3 
 
 IT. Some Teaching Principles Involved 
 
 IN This Experiment 9 
 
 III. Dramatic Expression as a Means of, 
 
 Moral and Religious Education 20 
 
 IV. The Use op the Bible as a Source of 
 
 Dramatic Material for Church- 
 school Pupils 28 
 V. How to Construct a Biblical Drama 34 
 
 PART II 
 
 Specimen Biblical Dramas 
 The Good Samaritan. By Clara Baker. 49 
 
 The Wise and Foolish Virgins. By Fay 
 
 Fisher. 58 
 
 The Child Moses. By Clara Baker. 68 
 
 Naaman's Quest. By a Class of Girls. 79 
 
 Joseph and His Brethren. By Clara Baker, 
 Estella E. Bryant, Anna M. Boyd, Henri- 
 etta P. Eckhard, and a Class of Boijs. 94 
 
PART I 
 
 FIRST PRINCIPLES 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 .\X EXPERIMENT IN DRAMATIZATION 
 
 In a certain church school there was a teacher- 
 training class. It was studying about attention and 
 interest, the point of contact in teaching, natural 
 impulses and instincts, about motives, motivation and 
 other things that modern psychology has given the 
 teacher for his help and confusion. It was decided 
 that this class should organize and conduct an experi- 
 ment. It was believed that children like to act out 
 things that interest them; like to carry into effect 
 the impulses that move them. It was felt, further- 
 more, that we do not bring the Bible stories close 
 enough to the modern child to give him the training 
 in emotions and attitudes to which he is entitled. 
 
 The members of this class had heard of the wonder- 
 ful success which the ward-school teachers had been 
 getting by putting the literary stories of the grades 
 into dramatic form and allowing the children to play 
 them. Cinderella, Evangeline, the classic myths, 
 and many other stories had been treated in this way. 
 They noticed that the children liked these things, 
 would work hard at them, would enter very fully 
 into the spirit of them, and would give them as plays 
 and as pageants with great pleasure. They knew 
 
 3 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 also that the classes in history in the grades and in 
 high school had been allowed to dramatize and stage, 
 in play or in pageant, episodes in colonial historJ^ 
 It was currently reported that the children enjoyed 
 their history better and learned more about the spirit 
 of it than in the old way. They heard the public- 
 school teachers insist that these dramatizations gave 
 clearness to ideas; helped the timid, backward, sensi- 
 tive children by encouraging natural self-expression; 
 helped to develop the social and cooperative emotional 
 quality in the children; gave them better knowledge 
 of and taste for choice words and phrases; begot bet- 
 ter expression in oral reading; aided memory and 
 strengthened imagination, and even gave practice 
 in discrimination and judgment; gave more power, 
 therefore, and disposition to interpret whatever they 
 might read; helped mold moral standards. Most of 
 all, they heard that this device added to the joy and 
 satisfaction with which the children entered upon these 
 undertakings. It gave the emotional and spiritual 
 element so largely lacking in most history teaching. 
 They knew that little can be done in sound education 
 unless the child himself is satisfied and convinced. 
 
 These young teachers decided that in all probability 
 the beautiful parts of Hebrew life and literature could 
 be made more full of meaning to the children in the 
 church school in the same concrete way. It was 
 believed that a child who studied a Bible story with 
 the idea of making or acting a little play, such as 
 children are always staging and acting for one another 
 
 4 
 
Ai\ EXPEIIIMEN'I' 
 
 in their natural relaxations, would have a iiuicli 
 better idea of it, would assimilate it better, and would 
 be much more hkely to remember it helpfully and be 
 fond of it than is usually the case. They felt also 
 that even those children who did not take part in the 
 plays, Viut in.oiely saw them siven by others, would 
 find more meaning in them and come to appreciate 
 the Bible stories better than if the stories were merely 
 told or recited in class. Seeing them acted would re- 
 inforce the oral teaching thej'^ had received. 
 
 Reasoning in this way, the class appointed a com- 
 mittee to examine into the matter and to formulate 
 a plan for starting something of this kind as a part of 
 the work of that church school. They were asked to 
 select some suitable incident from the Bible and to see 
 whether or not they could get some class to present 
 it, either as a part of the opening exercises of the 
 church school or in connection with the church service 
 in the evening. The committee selected the stoiy 
 of Joseph for the purpose. In this first attempt they 
 themselves undertook to arrange the drama rathei- 
 than ask some class to do it. In doing this the 
 committee used, wherever possible, the stately words 
 of the King James version and undertook to make the 
 dialogue harmonize with this as far as practicable, 
 both in spirit and phraseology, so that the children 
 might keep the general atmosphere of the Bible even 
 in the play. The " stage business " was arranged; a 
 class was costumed and trained in the little drama 
 until they could enter into its spirit and give it in 
 
 5 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 such a way that they and their hearers might feel 
 that it was very well done. In all of this work it was 
 insisted that the purpose was in no sense to stage an 
 artistic performance. There was no desire to have 
 the audience compare the acting and appointments 
 with those seen in the theater, but rather to compare 
 them with the work done in an ordinary church- 
 school class at its lessons. The object was to get some 
 appreciation of the episode, faithful study of the whole 
 surroundings of it, and a free and genuine expression, 
 in dialogue and in act, of the pupil's idea of what was 
 meant by it, rather than a finished and artistic piece 
 of acting. The idea was to develop the boys rather 
 than the drama. 
 
 This little play, together with some special music 
 and an exhibition of some of the hand-work of the 
 various grades of the church school, furnished a 
 most interesting Sunday evening to a crowded house. 
 The parents of the children in the church school were 
 especially invited. It was accepted by most as a kind 
 of recitation by the class of boys upon this stirring and 
 impressive piece of biblical biography. It was con- 
 sidered a success. To be sure it involved quite an 
 unexpected amount of work on the part of the com- 
 mittee. The classes of larger boys were not quite 
 sure at first that it was not just an old-fashioned 
 " Children's Day " performance disguised, in which 
 it was rather beneath their dignity to participate. 
 But by getting a popular young man to take the part 
 of the aged Jacob, and some athletic young fellows to 
 
 6 
 
An Experiment 
 
 take the roles of some of the elder brothers, it became 
 possible to enlist a class of boys who would ordinarily 
 scorn it as a job for girls. 
 
 It is of course too much to expect that all those 
 boys got and retained all the spiritual meanings con- 
 tained in this story; but it is quite certain that few of 
 them will forget the main facts of Joseph's life as 
 long as they live; and there is no doubt that they 
 worked longer and harder at getting into the spirit of 
 the early biblical times than they had ever done before. 
 
 This experiment was conducted years ago and is 
 now an old story in that church. Out of it, in the 
 minds of those who have carefully observed, has come 
 the realization that this type of work has quite a 
 definite meaning and value in the child's appreciation 
 of the Bible and in his moral and spiritual growth. 
 Out of it came the offering of prizes for the best selec- 
 tion and dramatization of Bible incidents by classes 
 of boys and of girls in the church school; the present- 
 ing of numerous such stories in play form, and always 
 to crowded houses; the using of the play form fre- 
 quently in many of the younger classes as a method of 
 class exercise for the regular lesson. 
 
 It has been found that the constructing of the 
 drama is even more educative than the presenting of 
 it; that often older classes, which would not care to 
 appear publicly in the episodes, get pleasure and profit 
 in making the suitable dialogue and stage business for 
 younger pupils; that nothing else has ever secured 
 more thorough study of biblical situations, customs, 
 
 7 
 
The Dramatic Inhtiact 
 
 principles, Miid applications. The experiment has 
 broadened the whole idea of expressive work in that 
 school, and has emphasized its educational value. 
 
 Incidentally several members of this teacher-train- 
 ing class spent a good deal of time in laying out 
 dramatic incidents, in pohshing up the lines, in coach- 
 ing and otherwise wrestling with the exuberant young 
 actors. There is no question that they are better 
 teachers today because of their work in this experi- 
 ment and what grew out of it, nor that the boys and 
 girls are better off from their intimate contact with 
 these young teachers. After all, most of our success- 
 ful teaching devices get much of their value from the 
 increase of the personal contacts. The experiment 
 was a great educational success. It has made more 
 of the Sundays of the year " Children's Days " in a 
 very real sense of the word. 
 
 And out of this experience has come this book. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 SOME TEACHING PRINCIPLES INVOLVED IN THIS 
 EXPERIMENT 
 
 The great aim of our moral and religious teaching 
 is very easy to state, although very hard to secure. 
 We want to develop in our boys and girls the power 
 and the disposition and the habit of making right 
 decisions or choices, whatever may be the circum- 
 stances. Choice is the most important, the most 
 revealing, and the most educative thing that we ever 
 do. Everything that we believe or know or desire or 
 purpose focuses on this point; when we choose we 
 show just what it is that guides and controls our 
 actions. Choice is at the core of character. 
 
 1. The two great methods of reaching choice 
 Of course, choice is so deep in personality that we 
 cannot reach and mold it directly. The only way in 
 which it can be educated is for the individual himself 
 to choose. The act of choosing trains in choosing. 
 Clearly we cannot make a decision for another. If 
 we do, it ceases to be his choice and educates him only 
 to depend more completely upon us. There are, 
 however, two avenues whereby we may indirectly 
 aid in influencing choices without destroying the per- 
 
 9 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 son's active participation. In the first place, we may- 
 impress the personality on the receiving side, and thus 
 influence the springs of choice. That is, we may teach 
 the child or inspire him; we may appeal to his desires 
 and thoughts, standards and ideals, and thus furnish 
 him with more ample motives to choose in this or that 
 way. We do this by giving information, by suggestion, 
 by example, by exhortation. Most of our teaching 
 is of this kind. It is impression. Knowledge and 
 judgment, likes and dishkes, experiences and habits, 
 ideals and purposes, all influence our choices. Any- 
 thing we can do to modify any of these will help to 
 determine choice. They are all capable of being 
 modified and educated. They may be weakened, 
 strengthened, or refined. 
 
 On the other hand, we may educate and modify 
 choice through the results and the outcome of choices. 
 Choice results in action, and action is attended by 
 satisfaction or dissatisfaction, depending on what we 
 have done and on the effects of the act. No sort of 
 teaching or impression has so much influence on choice 
 as this. If we can encourage right action, and help to 
 insure the satisfaction that comes with right expression, 
 this is the more certain of the two ways of getting the 
 right action repeated, and thus of forming right habits 
 both of acting and choosing. We effectively educate 
 right choices through what the child does, if we can 
 provide the proper satisfactions or discomforts in 
 connection with these acts. This is the crucial point 
 in all pedagogy of attitude and character. 
 
 10 
 
Some Teaching Principles 
 
 2. The complete personal reaction 
 
 Right training, however, does not exalt either of 
 these methods of reaching choice at the expense of the 
 other. Perfect teaching involves presenting the truth 
 so as to stimulate the receiving side which leads up 
 to choice, using the proper desires and experiences 
 and ideas and ideals that minister to it, and then seeing 
 that all this impulse expresses itself in decision and 
 action, followed always by the satisfaction that flows 
 from the right expression and the discomfort that 
 attends the wrong. It is pernicious to teach and 
 inspire and not have the impression find its way on 
 into expression. It is just as bad for the child to be 
 denied the comfort and gratification that belongs to 
 right choices. It is equally wrong to protect the child 
 so that he may not experience the discomfort that 
 should follow his wrong choices. 
 
 It is by this natural round of stimulus, inner ap- 
 praisal, choice, action, and reward that we educate 
 the whole of personality. Impression without choice 
 is abortive. To expect choice and expression without 
 adequate stimuli for the springs of choice is the 
 height of unreason. Such action would be a mere 
 spasm of unrest with no adaptive meaning. 
 
 3. The use of expression in modern education 
 
 For many centuries formal education was almost 
 entirely a matter of instruction, which was supposed to 
 provide the pupils with knowledge. In the progress of 
 education we have learned at least three things: first, 
 
 11 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 that knowledge is by no means the most important 
 goal of education; second, that there are better ways 
 to knowledge than by instruction alone; and third, 
 that desires and satisfactions, which so profoundly 
 mold personahty and life, are highly educable. 
 Knowledge is but the first step in real education. 
 It may make a full man, but it alone cannot make 
 either a satisfied or an efiicient man. We must add 
 to the understanding of a situation the right inner 
 emotional response and the outward action which it 
 requires. 
 
 On the other hand, we have found, even if we are 
 seeking knowledge alone, that it is never quite our 
 own until we have given some sort of expression to it. 
 It is for this double reason — to make knowledge more 
 real, and to give us more than mere knowledge — that 
 we have put into our schools so many new activities 
 that make for satisfaction by way of practice. These 
 have exactly the same purpose in training for every- 
 day life as the laboratory and the " project " have in 
 teaching science, and as the hospital or clinic has in 
 connection with the medical school. 
 
 4. The principle applied to religious education 
 Where can we find a chnic in which we can secure 
 some really expressive work in connection with our 
 church schools? The tendency has been to do our 
 teaching there, and to leave the putting of our teaching 
 into practice chiefly to the unguided chances of the 
 pupil's life on the street, in the home, and at school. 
 
 12 
 
Some Teaching Principles 
 
 The instruction of the church school and the actual 
 situations of life must be brought closer together. 
 To help bring this about we can do two things: we 
 can make better use of the various forms of self- 
 expression which are possible in the church school 
 itself, devising and multiplying situations which have 
 some of the educative qualities of a laboratory "proj- 
 ect "; and second, we can accept life in the home and 
 school and street as the real laboratory, and in greatei' 
 degree than at present go with the pupil into these 
 situations and help and encourage him to try out our 
 teachings in the choices and decisions necessary in 
 every-day activities. 
 
 The essence of the teaching clinic is that one's first 
 expressive applications of his instruction are not left 
 to chance, but are somewhat limited and so directed 
 that there may not be failure because of meeting 
 difficulties which are too numerous or too great for 
 the student to cope with at his present stage of attain- 
 ment. The training for the medical profession and 
 the training for Christian living alike need supervised 
 expression and practice intermediate between the 
 instruction in the schools and independent life. 
 If we are to secure the union of appropriate behavior 
 and inner character with the stimuli we offer, we our- 
 selves must in some way follow the pupil of the 
 church school into his life, or we must secure the 
 intelligent cooperation of his family, his school- 
 teachers, the supervisors of his play, and his compan- 
 ions in securing right and satisfying choices. Some- 
 
 1.3 
 
The Dbamatic Instinct 
 
 thing is possible in all these directions, and must be 
 sanely worked out by teachers of religion. It is not 
 our purpose here to follow the application of this 
 principle further. 
 
 5. Expressive work which is possible in connection 
 with church-school teaching 
 
 Not all kinds of expression are equally valuable. 
 Some activities train the hand and eye primarily, 
 and the mind and spirit incidentally. Others call 
 forth immediately the mental and spiritual reaction. 
 But let us not mistake. Any choice and action that 
 plays on interest, enlists attention and appreciation, 
 guides to wholesome activity and gives the child 
 satisfaction, has its value to morals and religion. 
 
 Expression of what is taught may be of two kinds, 
 representative or original. In representative expres- 
 sion the pupil tries to portray or illustrate a truth or 
 relation which he has learned, with no direct reference 
 to actual life. In original expression the pupil applies 
 the lesson that he has learned to meeting the new and 
 concrete problems and demands of life that he faces, 
 both within the church school and without. To bi'ing 
 about sound original behavior is, of course, the cul- 
 mination of the teacher's work. His great task is to 
 imbed in the behavior of the pupil honesty, obedience, 
 fairness, self-control, and the other attitudes about 
 which we teach. Nor can these qualities be said to 
 have any place in character unless they show in 
 behavior. If our teaching does not modify conduct 
 
 14 
 
Some Teaching Principles 
 
 now, we cannot justly expect that in some mysterious 
 way it will come to do so in later life. 
 
 As a means of preparing the way for this most 
 vital and final part of the teacher's work, expression 
 which is merely representative serves a valuable 
 purpose. Representative expression is largely, though 
 not wholly, a use of imitation and repetition by which 
 we fix in personality, through action, the really 
 essential teachings. It may take three forms. The 
 first of these is handwork, in which the pupil gives 
 expression to his knowledge by constructive use of 
 materials such as clay, sand, paper and pencils in 
 building, modeling, drawing, map-making, etc. This 
 aids in fixing and impressing facts, and ministers 
 to physical skill, and to mental and moral exact- 
 ness. Again, representative expression may be by 
 words, as in recitation, essays, stories, etc. This is 
 used more than any other form of expressive work and 
 has real value. Its weakness lies in the fact that 
 expression of a truth by words alone does not neces- 
 sarily lead either to action or to conviction in harmony 
 with that truth; and if this form of expression is used 
 exclusively it increases the danger of divorcing knowl- 
 edge from conduct, and speech from experience. li 
 needs reinforcing by some deeper form of expression 
 which will both fix the words and verify them by 
 connecting them in consciousness and purpose with 
 that which they picture of attitude or of behavior. 
 
 In the third form of representative expression, 
 which is acting or dramatization, the pupil uses, in 
 
 1.5 
 
The Dkamatic Instinct 
 
 addition to words, the whole expressive equipment of 
 his own personaHty. Furthermore, if the acting is to 
 be well done, he must realize and reproduce within him- 
 self as far as is possible the very impulses and motives 
 which prompted the words and the actions of the per- 
 son whom he represents. Clearly it is a much more 
 vital and complete form both of appreciation and 
 expression than either handwork or speech, especially 
 in the extent to which it stimulates and expresses 
 motives. 
 
 6. The ■principle of molivation 
 
 In recent years there has come to teachers a greatly 
 strengthened realization that the value of any activity 
 is much increased if the thing done appeals powerfully 
 to some of the strong, natural desires and tendencies. 
 Things that we do half-heartedly and unsatisfyingly 
 leave little helpful impress upon character. This is 
 drudgery; and real drudgery is only and always 
 deadening in its effect. This statement does not imply 
 that disagreeable tasks are to be ignored either by 
 the young or by their parents and teachers; but that 
 it is the instructor's part to find a way to make a 
 thing that is worth doing appear worth while and to 
 furnish both zest and satisfaction to the pupil whom he 
 guides. 
 
 A strong internal motive for doing anything makes 
 us more certain to accomplish it; but, more important 
 still, what we do with such a motive influences our 
 character more than what we do with little interest. 
 
 16 
 
Some Teaching Principles 
 
 We do better work and we are left in better spirit. 
 After the primary essentials of method are mastered, 
 skill in teaching consists very largely in the practical 
 application of this principle. This does not mean 
 " soft teaching." One of the very motives to be 
 stirred may be the desire and the satisfaction of 
 mastering the weakness which prompts one to neglect 
 a task because it is unpleasant. " Motivation " 
 makes, not for little tasks, but for great incentives. 
 
 The appeal to motives in church-school work is not 
 a new thing. We have boosted interest with picnics 
 on July 4th and Christmas trees at the end of the year ; 
 with buttons and medals and prizes all along the way ; 
 with competition between classes, between boys and 
 girls, and between " red and blue " teams, with ban- 
 quets for the winners. But these crude attempts 
 have at best had little value in furthering our real 
 aims. Their pedagogical shortcoming is that they 
 center the motives almost entirely upon objects not 
 strictly a part of the church school itself and develop 
 states of spirit which should be very foreign to it. 
 The inducements are artificial and superficial, and 
 they frequently appeal to impulses in the child which 
 are of questionable character. For example, we often 
 appeal to personal greed and pride nnd rivalries in 
 order to produce results in the way of enrolment or 
 attendance in an institution whose very object ought 
 to be to help to eliminate or control these crass forms of 
 selfishness and competition. Our whole system of 
 encouraging and rewarding selfish competition in 
 
 17 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 material things is the greatest barrier to a possible 
 Christian civilization. Since we strengthen motives 
 by giving them play and satisfaction, would it not 
 much improve our pedagogical position and secure 
 better motivation in religious education if we should 
 drop our dependence on pride, greed, and rivalry, 
 mingled with fear for the hereafter, and substitute 
 for them the biggest, sanest use we can make of the 
 natural curiosity of the child, of his impulse to imitate, 
 of his native trustfulness and sympathy in and for all, 
 of his legitimate play instincts, of whatever respect for 
 authority he may have, of his desire to be doing some- 
 thing and to be producing results, and of his proper 
 liking for leadership in those things which he can do 
 best? 
 
 7. Dramatic action as a means 0/ motivation in 
 church-school ivork 
 
 In our church schools we are trying to make the 
 children able and willing to make right choices in life. 
 Knowledge of the great, inspiring teachings of the 
 Bible will help in this. But, in order to have it so, 
 we must make these incidents and teachings interest- 
 ing and appeaUng to the children. We must bring 
 the Bible to them in an attractive way, and we must 
 lead them to it through their natural desires and 
 impulses. The child is curious to know the truth of 
 life. He is fond of stories. Both these facts we use in 
 our ordinary efforts to make him acquainted with God 
 through the Bible. Another exercise, which appeals 
 greatly to most children, is this one of acting. They 
 
 18 
 
Some Teaching Principles 
 
 give themselves up to it with much zest. If we can 
 arrange bibhcal incidents for them in the form of Httle 
 plays we can supply a new and strong motive for study 
 and appreciation. Such performances are close to the 
 play instinct of children, are related to the talking 
 impulse, involve the impulses of imitation, of repeti- 
 tion, of social cooperation, and of leadership. In 
 addition to this, imagination is strongly called forth 
 and is brought to play about vital problems of life for 
 which we are seeking to prepare our children ; for any 
 story which lends itself to dramatization is of neces- 
 sity based upon the fruition in conduct and the out- 
 come of choices which have a deep significance and a 
 universal appeal. 
 
 The Bible is rich in material that the children can 
 put in dramatic form and act out conscientiously, and 
 with a surprising degree of understanding. There is 
 strong truth and broad appeal in its pictures of life. 
 Just as soon as one undertakes to dramatize a biblical 
 incident he comes to appreciate this anew. The 
 effort to get the incidents assimilated into the nature 
 of the child by way of the drama reveals how real and 
 human it all is. Such an approach makes the Bible 
 appeal to the belief of the child in a stronger way than 
 mere reading can do, and relates its teachings more 
 closely to his conduct. It is a method of teaching 
 which furnishes strong motives for careful study on 
 the part of the children, and which helps them to find 
 the truths and to assimilate them emotionally as ordi- 
 nary routine study could never do. 
 
 19 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 DRAMATIC EXPRESSION AS A MEANS OF MORAL AND 
 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 
 
 1. The acting impulse and its meanmg 
 We have already noticed how generally children 
 give attention to " acting " and " plays " at certain 
 periods of life. Doubtless most of us can recall in our 
 own childhood how we would make up situations and, 
 alone or with other children, act out our own ideas of 
 them. Doubtless we can remember the pleasure we 
 had in these plays of our childhood. It may be that 
 many of us in the quiet of our rooms even wrote little 
 dramas of our own, in which we poured out many of 
 our ideas of life and its early tragedies. 
 
 Possibly we maj'' have forgotten our own childhood. 
 If so, we have only to watch any little girl at play with 
 her dolls, or any boy with his soldiers or animal toys 
 to see the whole performance again. We shall soon 
 realize how much of the playing is organized into series 
 of little dramatic pictures of the real life that the child 
 knows. This very naturalness and commonness of the 
 impulse show the part it plays in normal development. 
 It shows that the child is interested in it, is pleased 
 and satisfied by the exercise. In just the degree in 
 which this is true it must be important in building 
 up the inner life of the child. This impulse motivates 
 
 20 
 
Dramatic Expression 
 
 very much of the natural behavior of children from 
 early childhood to middle adolescence. So much time 
 and attention could not possibly be given and fail to 
 minister to attitudes, points of view, and habits of 
 thought as well as to skill in expressing these states. 
 Possibly these fictitious situations are not as educa- 
 tive as are real ones; and yet it is not safe to be too 
 sure of this. As a matter of fact, they are not so 
 unreal to the child as we feel them; for it is certainly 
 true that the child has great power of giving actuality 
 to imaginary conditions. It is further true that the 
 child is more naturally himself in these situations 
 which he has manufactured than in those of actual 
 life which are often made for him and which may well 
 seem strange to him. There is really more of himself 
 in the plays. Without question he learns greatly 
 from them. Equally without question we might 
 learn more about the child by observing him under 
 these conditions than in what we are pleased to de- 
 scribe as real life. All this is said entirely in agree- 
 ment with the view that no child should be allowed to 
 live perpetually in the realm of imaginative expression. 
 
 2. The forms of dramatic expression in youth 
 In the illustrations used above of dolls and sol- 
 diers we have the first form of child drama. It is 
 individual. The child plays all the parts. He makes 
 all the transitions himself, even though he may do so 
 by giving life to his inanimate toys. A little later 
 these children add social plays in which each child has 
 
 21 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 its role. Each child of course hkes to play the lead- 
 ing r61e; and the acting is at first social in form rather 
 than in spirit. Every child insists on being a star. 
 They play school, church school, church, home life, 
 and other relations that they know or imagine. They 
 visuahze what takes hold of their imagination in what 
 they have heard or read. The boy plays soldier or 
 hunter or wild Indian or pirate or bear, as suits his 
 instincts. The girl plays fairy, neighbor, Red- 
 Cross nurse, church-school teacher, and the like. 
 Doubtless the emotional life in these is just as rich 
 and the expressions of it just as genuine as with their 
 elders in real life. Consequently they are really and 
 socially educative. 
 
 As the child matures the plays become more and 
 more social. The individual " stars," at least tem- 
 porarily, cooperate in true team play. Thus their 
 acting, which is at first a training in self-expression 
 and the egoistic submergence of the self in a fictitious 
 character, takes on more and more of the real social 
 attitude. In this case the self becomes submerged in 
 the general result in which all the actors share. This 
 marks progress in forgetfulness of self. The playing 
 establishes easy highways of habit from emotion, 
 through choice, to action and back again to attitudes. 
 What we need is not to accent the separateness of the 
 plays from real life, but sanely to connect them with it. 
 
 Somewhat later in life, when bo}'s and girls come 
 to give more attention to one another, there is another 
 period in which the drama again appeals with special 
 
 22 
 
Dramatic Expression 
 
 force. This is the period of amateur theatricals. 
 The motive becomes more social than before and 
 emphasizes this new attraction of the sexes. Usually 
 the ideals are sound and the expressions wholesome. 
 It is a period of impressionability to the great ideas of 
 chivalry, consideration, sympathy, appreciation of the 
 points of view of the other sex, and the like. Heroes 
 and heroines loom large in these plays; but the 
 impulses and the expressions are really social. They 
 may well be practiced in high dramatic activities as 
 a part of constructive and normal sex education. 
 
 3. Why does this appeal to the child? 
 
 It is easy enough to see that dramatic representa- 
 tion is pleasing to the child. It is easy also to see the 
 advantages in it. It is not so easy to be sure just 
 why it is so appealing. Somewhat the same thing is 
 true of the play instinct, of which indeed the acting 
 impulse is a part. We are not sure that we under- 
 stand exactly what it is that makes the young 
 animal and the child play. We know it contributes 
 much to the education of both; but this fact is not the 
 reason why it gives pleasure. They are not seeldng 
 education. Perhaps to say that it is natural to get 
 pleasure out of any spontaneous self-expression helps 
 some; but we still need to inquire what causes this 
 to be one of the agreeable forms of self-expression. 
 Possibly it is made up of the desire of the child to be 
 doing something, together with the impulse to imitate 
 what it sees and to repeat what has given pleasure, 
 
 23 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 colored throughout by imagination, which is so much 
 of the life and joy of the child. At any rate all of 
 these attitudes and impulses enter into acting, and 
 all of them are among the things that drive children 
 to do what they do, and all of them give pleasure. 
 
 4. The states to which' dramatic activity ministers 
 It is clear that all these native tendencies which 
 lead the child to act will be developed and modified by 
 the acting. The state of the actor in " forgetting 
 himself," which is essential in good acting, has a 
 distinct value in all social education. He must also 
 mastor the situation through actual knowledge or 
 through constructive imagination, so that he may 
 put himself temporarily in the place of the persons 
 portrayed. In doing such a thing as this he not 
 merely imagines, but must also comprehend, interpret, 
 appraise and reconstruct the states of mind and the 
 actions of those he is representing. He imagines him- 
 self as possessing these qualities and points of view. 
 To do this he must dispossess himself and go into 
 the part without reserve. This helps free the child 
 from self-consciousness in his actions. Briefly, dra- 
 matic action encourages the instinct of reading oneself 
 into situations and of expressing oneself in these situa- 
 tions. It cultivates the imagination in connection with 
 self-expression. We are too apt to suppose that 
 imagination is confined to apprehending and appreciat- 
 ing. It is receptive, to be sure; but expression has 
 just as really its imaginative aspects, and we need to 
 
 24 
 
Dramatic Expression 
 
 cultivate these. The preparation for such dramatic 
 work calls for a mastery and memory of the important 
 elements in situations as nothing else does. It in- 
 creases self-reliance, as well as respect for the rights of 
 others in the play. The drama is more convincing 
 than reading or recitation can possibly be; that is, 
 it more fully impresses the truth on the mind of the 
 pupils. It appeals to the mind both through the eye 
 and the ear of those who see and hear it, and, in addi- 
 tion, through the act of expression of those who play. 
 Furthermore, the acting-out of these states of mind, 
 which the child has temporarily made his own, helps 
 to establish an open connection between ideas and the 
 appropriate behavior. We are somewhat more free 
 to do the right thing in a play than in real life. This 
 connection, even in a play, helps just that much, 
 however, in stamping in the right links between men- 
 tal states and conduct, between theory and practice. 
 In other words, by using the play to help create habits 
 of right action, we are giving ourselves the advantage 
 of training along the lines of least resistance and 
 surest response. The child may be brought by these 
 events permanently to associate pleasure, satisfaction, 
 and uplift with carrying right ideas into righteous 
 expression. 
 
 5. Relation of such acting to moral qualities 
 The last sentences in the preceding paragraph will 
 suggest in what way this kind of expression has a 
 value in education in morals and religion. This whole 
 
 25 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 process of acting is full of emotional elements. It is 
 scarcely a rational matter. It deals rather with the 
 primitive instincts. The imagination and self-efface- 
 ment in the child's spontaneous acting are closely 
 related to the qualities on which faith, confidence, sym- 
 pathy, devotion, wonder, and worship depend. They 
 are closely alhed with our religious and spiritual states. 
 Religion has always made much of this imaginative 
 spirit in art and literature, and in music and ritual. 
 
 So far as expression is concerned, the act of doing 
 the right thing in imaginary situations, as has been 
 said, is an aid in forming the attitude and habit of 
 doing the right thing under actual conditions. By the 
 proper selection of characters and situations we can, 
 under the sweep of the play, teach the lesson and at 
 the same time secure the expression of the truth in 
 conduct, and, what is a matter of some importance, 
 without preaching or threats. To be sure, this action 
 is not original, is not strictly the child's own; but in so 
 far as it is right, his mind is more free and quick to 
 recognize its Tightness and appropriateness in a play 
 than in real life perhaps. This has not the moral 
 value that right choice and expression have in actual 
 life; but it does have a value. We are securing real 
 responses under conditions that we can control, and 
 are thus bringing the pupil much closer to real original 
 right conduct than we do when we stop with right 
 instruction. The play is a mild kind of clinic or 
 gymnasium in which right behavior is had under the 
 most favorable conditions. 
 
 26 
 
Dkamatic Expression- 
 
 Something of the strength of the appeal of the 
 drama to the sound moral sense in us is seen in the 
 heartfelt applause of the street urchins in the peanut- 
 gallery when the villain in the melodrama gets his 
 deserts. The artistic theater-goer regards this as 
 crude and naive; but it illustrates the aid the play- 
 gives to right association between situation and 
 I'esponse. xVs a means of moral instruction, such 
 representative performances are intermediate be- 
 tween mere instruction and the real choices in life. 
 They are better than mere teaching, but not so good 
 as actual, self-initiated action in real life. Even 
 seeing other people carry right actions into effect in 
 such a play is better than merely being instructed 
 about what is right. Both of these experiences are 
 good intermediate steps in our efforts to secure right 
 behavior. We should, of course, see to it that the 
 pupil does not end his right conduct at this half-way 
 point of make-believe action. Righteousness in the 
 drama is not the final goal of moral training! Social 
 spirit in playing is not the completed product; but 
 it is a possible stage, and an incentive. We should 
 use it to help the youth make the transfer to actual 
 situations. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE USE OP THE BIBLE AS A SOURCE OF DRAMATIC 
 MATERIAL FOB CHURCH-SCHOOL PUPILS 
 
 1. The dramatic quality of the Bible 
 
 The Bible itself furnishes a very real incitement in 
 respect to dramatization. It is full of very dramatic 
 material of a type peculiarly on the childhood plane, 
 and continually inspires to the dramatic use of it. 
 The historical books consist of a succession of stirring 
 episodes in the lives of the tribal and national heroes. 
 One can hardly doubt that the Hebrew children, 
 in the days when their history was being handed 
 down largely by word of mouth, played over and over 
 these heroic incidents related to them by their elders. 
 '■:% This dramatic characteristic in the Bible is doubt- 
 less due to the primitive and oriental type of mind 
 bothjin the writers and the hearers. These people 
 dehght in concrete pictures of events. They are full of 
 imagery, but it is always concrete, even when imma- 
 terial ideas are pictured. This is true even of as 
 spiritual a passage as the Twenty-third Psalm. This 
 consists of a series of images in a very concrete form, 
 full of dramatic suggestions. Yet there is no passage 
 in the Old Testament perhaps in which there is more of 
 spiritual content. This concreteness coupled with 
 imagery is just the thing that appeals to the child- 
 mind. It was intended to interest and to guide the 
 
 28 
 
The Bible as a Souhce 
 
 thinking and conduct of this oriental people. In many- 
 respects they had the point of view of children. Doubt- 
 less, too, the writers recognized the value of the dra- 
 matic appeal. They had not merely a truth to impart; 
 they realized that they must convey it in the most effec- 
 tive wayfortheaudiencetowhichthey werewriting. The 
 effectiveness in such instances is quite as much due to 
 the form as to the message. This is what we mean 
 when we refer to the literary effectiveness of the Bible. 
 
 2. The strength of the Bible stories 
 
 After making due allowance for the fact suggested 
 in the preceding paragraph, it must be recognized that 
 one of the most interesting points about the Bible 
 stories is their appeal to people of all ages. They pre- 
 sent a remarkable progressive revelation of truth, so 
 that they are used by us with different meanings and 
 appreciation as we pass through the stages to our 
 maturity. In childhood we get and enjoy the broad, 
 extravagant sweep of the • pictures. It kindles our 
 imagination and inspires our wonder. As we grow 
 older different view-points develop, until at last we 
 read into the episodes all the spiritual meanings that 
 we have mastered. They minister to all stages of 
 human growth of spirit. This is the great wonder of 
 them: they always contain and convey a suitable 
 message to most varied grades of insight. The mar- 
 vel is that they can successfully carry so many kinds of 
 freight. This means they are cosmopolitan, univer- 
 sal, true, inspired. 
 
 29 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 It is to the child, however, that the dramatic ele- 
 ment is at its maximum. We could not, as adults, 
 find satisfaction in acting out the story of the garden 
 of Eden. Our minds are busy with the allegory, 
 with the spiritual values, with the degree of success or 
 failure of the effort to explain the philosophy of 
 human conditions as we find them. The child, on the 
 contrary, would get the lesson which the story has 
 for him in the literal picture. To him it would be a 
 drama capable of being played. 
 
 3. The proportion and moral values in Bible incidents 
 The great gain which we have in the moral and 
 religious education of the child from using the Bible 
 episodes rather than other stories for dramatic pur- 
 poses is this: the episodes and incidents of the Bible 
 have, throughout, the moral view-point. They preserve 
 a sense of values, of balance, of proportion, which we 
 do not find in most bterature. We may have, to be 
 sure, the record of trivial human incidents, as the 
 falling of the traveler among thieves, or the taking of 
 the golden wedge by Achan. But the setting and the 
 interpretation of these incidents always bring them 
 out of the trivial into the universal. They are con- 
 sidered as related to the whole universe order and to 
 the spiritual movement of mankind. In this way they 
 are dignified and are made to represent the real rela- 
 tions of conduct to character and to God. The sense 
 of this makes them big and appealing. 
 
 It is just because the Bible has this fine sense of 
 30 
 
The Bible as a Source 
 
 proportion, which is pretty nearly what we mean by 
 rehgion, that its incidents are so convincing, in spite 
 of the bringing in of the supernatural elements. 
 Furthermore, the real significance of this superhuman 
 element will be more readily accepted without shock 
 in the imaginative process of acting than in mere cold 
 teaching. In thinking of it as a story, and in acting 
 the incidents, the problem as to the historic truth is of 
 little importance. The question is rather, " What is 
 the truth taught?" This is much the more important 
 question, and tends to postpone the historical one 
 until the child is better able to consider it. Any- 
 thing we can do to get the child to accept and assimi- 
 late the essential Scripture truths before the thought 
 of their particular method of transmission is raised 
 is most helpful. 
 
 4. The dramatic inethod as a method of mastery 
 If the biblical matter is really as valuable as we 
 claim to believe, if its message really may lay hold of 
 the spirit of man and open, inspire, and uplift it, it 
 becomes necessary that our young people shall do two 
 things. They must master the essence of the message, 
 and they must come to have a sympathetic accep- 
 tance of it. The test of mastery here is not memory; 
 it is assimilation. Assimilation means, as we have 
 seen, to take into one's personality and to work over 
 raw material of any kind until it is completely a part 
 of oneself. This process is peculiarly necessary in 
 all education that involves motives, choices, and 
 
 31 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 conduct. We can conceive that information might 
 be taken in and just remembered bodily, without this 
 intimate building-in process; but we cannot expect 
 information to mold choice and life and give moral 
 values without this deeper mastery which works back 
 into character through conduct. 
 
 The dramatizing and acting of these episodes in- 
 volve a kind of conduct, imitative and representative 
 to be sure, but still demanding personal attitudes, 
 choice, and expression. This exercise insures a fuller 
 assimilation than can be had from mere instruction 
 unless the pupil is peculiarly sensitive and tractable 
 and imaginative. The test of mastery in such dra- 
 matic work is power to do, to express adequately and 
 convincingly — and not merely knowledge or memory. 
 
 5. The securing of sympathetic acceptance and a 
 liking for the Bible 
 
 We all know that it is very important, in our use of 
 the Bible as a moral and religious stimulus to children 
 and young people, to get them to be interested in it and 
 to hke it. We also know that our efforts in this direc- 
 tion are usually not very successful. Too often, even 
 in the best instances, the attitude toward the Bible is 
 somewhat unenthusiastic, unconvinced, and strained. 
 There may be a certain respect and reverence, a 
 fair recognition of its human values; but we cannot 
 justly claim that we succeed in getting our children 
 really fond of the Bible, or so very enthusiastic about 
 it. This is in part because we have insisted that they 
 
 32 
 
The Bible as a Source 
 
 shall love it because it is the Bible rather than for 
 more vital, internal reasons. In part it is because we 
 have not discriminated as to the difference of appeal 
 which the different parts have for children and youth. 
 In insisting on the impossible, we have failed to get 
 the reasonable. Many parts of the Bible we cannot 
 rightly expect children and youth to become interested 
 in. 
 
 It is more important to get a sympathetic attitude 
 toward the Bible and a real fondness for portions of it 
 than to have a loveless knowledge of it all. The child 
 can be brought to an admiration for and interest in 
 its great heroic, imaginative, and dramatic pictures of 
 life. There is no better way to do this than through 
 the repetition of these as stories, dialogues, dramas 
 and pageants in the early life of the child. Its vivid- 
 ness and reaUty, the assimilation of it, and the in- 
 creased sympathy and liking for it make a good founda- 
 tion on which to build our later teaching. Presenting 
 it in a dramatic way forces us to select suitable ma- 
 terial, to deal with it in a way adapted to the apprecia- 
 tion of the child, and to emphasize it as his emotional 
 and expressive life will allow. In a word, it forces us 
 to a closer grading of the biblical material to the 
 development and the sophistication of the child, and 
 this is itself a good pedagogical result. Apart from 
 any possible public showing of the materials and 
 merely as a means of instruction, dramatization is 
 one of the best possible forms of class exercise. 
 
 .33 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 HOW TO CONSTRUCT A BIBLICAL DRAMA 
 
 In this chapter the writer wishes to bring to the 
 reader some of the practical features that were worked 
 out in the course of experiments in dramatizing the 
 Bible stories. It is not merely a matter of theory that 
 great truths can be put in form both attractive and 
 easily assimilated by means of the drama or pageant. 
 It has often been proved so in practice. In making 
 a start in such work as this there are three very practi- 
 cal considerations, all of which have educational value 
 for church-school workers: the selection of suitable 
 episodes; the making of the dramas; and, finally, the 
 presenting of the dramas. 
 
 1. Selecting the episodes 
 
 The selection of the episodes for dramatization 
 should, of course, be done with pedagogical perspec- 
 tive. The story should be adjusted to the general 
 development of the group; though in this connection 
 it must be borne in mind that the same episode may 
 well be used for different ages, if only the treatment of 
 it be specifically adapted to each. It will be adapted 
 to them if they have the chief part in dramatizing it, 
 as is advocated in the next section. 
 
 34 
 
How TO CONSTKUCT 
 
 It is not essentia] that all the incidents be taken from 
 the Bible, although it will be found a very rich source. 
 Missionary stories of the Christian heroes who have 
 spread the gospel from the first century onward; in- 
 spiring incidents from God's movements in human 
 history; great pictures from literature in which the 
 moral and religious truths show forth strongly: all 
 these mayfurnish material to illustrate the sametruths 
 set forth in the Bible and thus may reinforce and 
 supplement it. These will help convince the child 
 that the truths of the Bible can be depended upon to 
 reassert themselves through all the ages. Their 
 spirit and value are not limited to biblical times. 
 " Pilgrim's Progress," which few children would read 
 unless drawn to it by some such aid, will furnish many 
 episodes which can be presented dramatically, and 
 thus win the pupil to an interest in the whole story. 
 
 Special and appropriate dramatic incidents may 
 well be selected and worked up for special occasions, 
 as Rally Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, 
 Easter, Children's Day and July 4th. Similarly, if it 
 is the policy of the church school to emphasize for 
 several weeks in its opening worship elements sug- 
 gested by such words as faith, reverence, good-will, 
 communion and the like, it is possible to select inci- 
 dents in the Bible or elsewhere and so develop them 
 as to make both the actors and the hearers find the 
 appeal of the idea more real. 
 
 At the outset it is better to select some simple 
 incident which carries a single and obvious lesson 
 
 .3.5 
 
The Deamatic Instinct 
 
 with direct and readily traced movement, and thus 
 use it as a definite educative project. It will be more 
 easy to develop, and hence will not offer so many 
 possibiUties for discouragement and failure as a too 
 ambitious theme might offer. As experience in 
 dramatizing and in training comes, it will be easy 
 enough to develop more complex stories. Such an 
 incident as that of the Good Samaritan or the visit 
 of the shepherds to the manger will be suitable to 
 begin with. If it were desired to give as complex a 
 story as the hfe of Joseph, it would be better to begin 
 with one incident of it, as the selhng to the Ishmael- 
 ites, or the interpretation of Pharaoh's dream. Gradu- 
 ally a number of these scenes may be worked up, and 
 presented separately. Finally, they may be woven 
 into a continuous story and presented on one occa- 
 sion. Such a plan allows for a maximum of the 
 advantages with a minimum chance of discourage- 
 ment. The selection of suitable incidents demands 
 some ability to read between the lines and to imagine 
 or visualize the physical features of the incidents, so 
 that these in turn may be made to carry the lesson 
 naturally. In dramatic action, it is essential that the 
 thing to be taught shall be vitally connected with the 
 movement, and not be merely tacked on in words. 
 
 2. Building the dramas 
 
 This is, of course, the part of the work that gives 
 the teacher the greatest educative opportunity and 
 responsibility. If this is well done, the final presenta- 
 
 36 
 
How TO Construct 
 
 tion merely becomes the pleasant, natural climax of 
 the whole interesting experience. In order to make the 
 most of it, the teacher must cordially reahze the whole 
 remarkable opportunity, by means of the child's 
 play and dramatic impulses, to give him interest in 
 the sayings and actions of great characters; to inspire 
 him to analyze and study situations and to discover 
 the essential and striking elements in them; to enable 
 him to visualize from words the practical " business " 
 that will sincerely present a situation; to motivate, 
 as a step toward success, the mastery of many details 
 of surroundings, customs and the like; to cause him 
 to appreciate, beneath the words, the spirit that 
 makes the incident sincere and real, and thus enable 
 him to sense something of good and bad character 
 and motives back of action. The great and peculiar 
 pedagogical value of all this is that guidance in doing 
 all these things for the play can be made impressive 
 without the unwholesome reaction that often comes 
 in the individual when the moralizing and preachments 
 are directed toward him, in the way we are all familiar 
 with in church-school teaching. It has the advan- 
 tage which all indirect and informal education has 
 over the direct types. 
 
 Unfortunately, the method of making up the drama 
 in most cases is limited by the small amount of time 
 that can be given to it. The suggestions made below 
 will be based on the assumption that the teacher and 
 the class may somehow find all the time that is neces- 
 sary to get the best educational results in at least one 
 
 37 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 drama. This will mean for a brief period the whole 
 church-school time, and one or two hours a week 
 besides.^ 
 
 Let us assume that a class of boys with a dozen 
 members has been asked to present a ten-minute play 
 as a part of an opening service for the church school. 
 The teacher's task is to get the maximum motivation 
 of all the members of the class to enter into the task 
 and to do it well. How can this be done to the best 
 advantage? The following will suggest what is 
 possible for the teacher and the class to do together: 
 
 (1) Make the announcement, explain the oppor- 
 tunity, emphasize the situation in such a way as to 
 get the boj''S to want to do it. 
 
 (2) Ask each boy to look through what he knows of 
 his Bible and to talk with his parents, in an effort 
 to pick out what would seem to him a good story to 
 use, and then prepare himself to tell the story to the 
 class in such a way as to convince them of its value. 
 This will require quite a little careful work, and the 
 class will both learn a good deal of biblical matter and 
 get more interest in the problem by discussing the 
 merits of the different stories. Select the story after 
 full comparison and discussion. 
 
 ' The somewhat more ambitious and elaborate plans of Elizabeth 
 Erwin Miller, as described in TJie Dramatization of Bible Stories, 
 (University of Chicago Press) were carried out through the organiza- 
 tion of a dramatic club, which met for an hour each Sunday after- 
 noon for a number of years. Such dramatic clubs could well be made 
 a moat valuable auxiliary of both Junior and Intermediate depart- 
 ments. Good leadership will insure their success under any reason- 
 a))le conditions. 
 
 38 
 
How TO Construct 
 
 (3) Assume that the Parable of the Good Samaritan 
 has been selected. Let the teacher tell the story of 
 the parable in a dramatic way, with suitable emphasis. 
 Ask all the boys to study it during the next week, and 
 report at the following meeting on the number of 
 characters that ought to be provided, how many 
 scenes or pictures ought to be arranged to bring out 
 the sense, what should be shown in each scene and the 
 action necessary to do this effectively, and other things 
 of the sort that will determine the action and the 
 dialogue. All of this will furnish further opportunity 
 for study and discussion that will cover the condi- 
 tions and setting of the incident. 
 
 (4) At this meeting, if agreement can be reached 
 as to the characters to be represented, and similar 
 details, any one of several effective plans might then 
 be followed. Perhaps a good arrangement would be 
 to give each scene to a different committee, asking 
 each to be prepared to give a beginning of dialogue 
 and action at the next meeting. These could meet and 
 independently plan their scene in the interval. At 
 least three scenes may be arranged: (a) Preparation 
 for the journey, in which an introduction and anticipa- 
 tion of trouble will give expectancy; (b) the actual 
 attack by robbers; and (c) the significant behavior of 
 the Priest, Levite, and Samaritan. 
 
 (5) The building of the action and the dialogue is 
 the supreme occasion for the teacher to make the 
 incident educative. By encouraging the acting of the 
 scenes by members of the class, by inviting criticism 
 
 .39 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 of this coupled with illustrative action by the other 
 members, and by skilfully directed questions, the 
 teacher can bring out all the powers of appreciation, 
 interpretation, discrimination, and expression which 
 the boys have. He can develop interest in all neces- 
 sary geography, social customs and conditions, traits 
 of human nature, and the like, in the simple and 
 essential task of finding proper action and dialogue. 
 
 For example, shall we have the traveler confident 
 of his safety, or afraid that he will be robbed? What 
 about his friends? What kind of a conversation 
 would they have? How would they greet one 
 another? How can we make it most interesting and 
 still keep it true and probable? Would a report of a 
 robbery on the road yesterday do this? If the mer- 
 chant was compelled to go alone in spite of this, the 
 rumor would add dramatic interest. Even a little 
 bravado on his part might help. What would his 
 friends say on such an occasion? How would he 
 answer? Gradually it can be made clear that the 
 dialogue will depend on the general circumstances and 
 on the character of the parties. The boys will enter 
 with zest into the game of finding a suitable next 
 speech. Even though the lines may not be so good 
 as if an expert prepared them, it is a great loss of 
 opportunity not to give the boys a chance to do this 
 for themselves. 
 
 (6) During this preparatory stage, the play should 
 be presented many times, not with memorized words, 
 but rather spontaneously. Much shifting of the 
 
 40 
 
How TO Construct 
 
 members to the different characters should be tried. 
 The boys should be invited to comment on the 
 changes brought out in these shifts. Every boy should 
 be allowed to try his hand at several roles. 
 
 (7) After the class has done its best, the teacher or 
 some member of the school who has some gift in this 
 sort of thing can, if it is thought wise, polish up the 
 dialogue and adapt the words somewhat to the Bible 
 style. All such changes should be submitted to the 
 class, however. If the suggestions are really improv- 
 ing, the boys can be depended on to sense the fact. 
 The effort will be good practice for them, increase 
 their feeling of responsibility, and give a basis of com- 
 parison and estimate of their own efforts. 
 
 (8) The selection of those to present the various 
 characters in the final performance should be demo- 
 cratically made by the children themselves on the 
 basis of faithfulness and efficiency in the preliminary 
 work and of suitability to the parts. 
 
 (9) Very little staging or costuming is necessary, 
 though it will be found that a little attempt at both 
 will please the young actors. It may be nothing but 
 some straw, or a rug, or a rock; it still is an aid to the 
 imagination. A turban or a belt or some unusual 
 little piece of drapery to distinguish his particular 
 character will help the boy to " feel " his part. It 
 is better in every way, however, not to overdo the 
 accessories. 
 
 41 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 3. Presenting the drama 
 
 While the final presentation is, from one point of 
 view, merely one of a series, nevertheless the educa- 
 tional value of this final occasion will not be greatest 
 for the actors themselves unless they appreciate that 
 they are trying to produce a state of mind on the part 
 of the audience. This is to say that they must 
 believe in the sincerity of the story. Every child and 
 every word and action must be subordinated to hav- 
 ing the audience get, through them, the purpose and 
 effect of the story. They must feel that their success 
 consists, not in beauty and artistic production, but in 
 making everybody understand verj- clearly what it is 
 all about. Let each of them become for the time 
 being a preacher and an advocate through his presen- 
 tation. They want to convince their audience. This is 
 whj^ they must enter into their part, know it, and live 
 it very sincerely for those few minutes. That is why 
 they must know their lines and all the other things 
 they have learned, but will not say. All the outside 
 things they have learned are just to help them do 
 this one thing well. 
 
 In the interest of success in this, it seems best not 
 to drag out too long the practice and preparation. 
 Nothing is gained, and much of spirit is lost through 
 " going stale." This is one advantage in the short 
 episode over the complex one. 
 
 The educational value of these dramatizations for 
 those children who merely see them given must not 
 be forgotten. It is perfectly safe to say that any of 
 
 42 
 
How TO Construct 
 
 these biblical stories will make a more lasting impres- 
 sion on those children who merely see and hear it 
 given by other children than any amount of ordinary 
 teaching would secure. The publ c presentation is 
 both a good expressive device for those who play in 
 it and a good teaching device for others. 
 
 4. A suggestive list of Bible episodes suitable for 
 dramatic acting or for pageants: 
 
 The Story of the Fall and Banishment from the 
 Garden; The Story of Cain and Abel ; The Separation 
 of Abraham and Lot; Abraham's Plea for Sodom; 
 Abraham and Isaac; Isaac and Rebekah; The 
 Migrations of Abraham. (This would offer the 
 opportunity for a good spectacle illustrating the 
 nomadic life, the migrations, the domestic customs, 
 patriarchal customs, the educational and religious 
 practices of these early people as portrayed in the 
 Bible. Songs, plays, home and field life could be 
 introduced that would give a part to people of all ages. 
 This would require the whole end of the church, or the 
 church-school room, if it can be opened to the audi- 
 torium, as a stage; or it might be given as a summer 
 spectacle, out of doors); Esau and Jacob; History 
 of Joseph; Saving the Baby Moses ; The Incident of 
 the Golden Calf; Moses pleading with Pharaoh for 
 Israel to leave Egypt; The Spies and Canaan; The Sin 
 of Achan; Joshua and the Gibeonites; Gideon's Ex- 
 ploits; The Strength and Fall of Samson; The Story 
 of Ruth; The Call of Samuel; Samuel and David; 
 Saul Anointed King; David and Goliath; David and 
 Saul; David and Jonathan; Visit of the Queen of 
 Sheba to Solomon; Story of Esther; Naaman the 
 Leper; Elijah on Mount Carmel; Elijah and Elisha; 
 Elijah and the Shunammite AVoman; Ehsha and 
 
 43 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 Jezebel; The Twenty-third Psalm (Pantomime); 
 The Story of the Birth of Jesus; " The Other Wise 
 Man " (Van Dyke); Parable of the Good Samaritan; 
 Parable of the Ten Virgins; Parable of the Loving 
 Father (Prodigal Son); Parable of the Talents; 
 Parable of the Judgment. 
 
 In " Pilgrim's Progress " are many simple scenes 
 which may be given singly or in series: " Before the 
 Wicket-gate," " The Palace Beautiful," " Doubting 
 Castle," " At the Celestial Gate." 
 
 5. Conclusion 
 
 The writer wishes to repeat, in closing, that all 
 this is suggested merely as a means to an end. It is 
 believed that children have a natural inclination to 
 play and to act; that this inclination is good, and not 
 bad; that this impulse may be used to get the child 
 to study the biblical stories with more purpose and 
 emotional openness and enthusiasm than can be had 
 in any other way. The hearty attitude will mean 
 that he will do more work, will enter more fully into 
 the spirit of it, will remember it better, will assimilate 
 more of it in his life, and will have a fonder feeling 
 for the stories because he has got real pleasure and 
 satisfaction in connection with them. It means 
 more labor for everybody than routine teaching 
 requires; but it presents numerous points at which 
 personahty is more surely and more helpfully reached. 
 We need to work for variety, interest, and efficiency 
 in our moral and religious teaching beyond anything 
 we have yet accompUshed. This is one form of use of 
 the " project method " in developing character. 
 
 44 
 
PART II 
 
 SPECIMEN BIBLICAL DRAMAS 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 It is the purpose in this section to give the simple 
 dramatic treatment of a few of the shorter and longer 
 incidents that have been actually developed and used 
 in a church school. There is no thought that the 
 working out of these stories is the best possible or 
 even exemplary. They are merely offered as illustra- 
 tions of what may be done in any good church school, 
 by very busy people, and without any special organi- 
 zation or machinery. Of course, it does demand a 
 few teachers who are already sympathetically alert 
 to the needs of the children and who are consecrated 
 to the task of meeting these needs pedagogically, and 
 who have some imagination and ingenuity in securing 
 the full cooperation of the children. 
 
 It is conceived that even the obvious crudities 
 which any dramatic expert can readily find in them 
 are an asset rather than a liability. It is important 
 that the pedagogical end, rather than the artistic, 
 shall be put foremost. We are striving for the motiva- 
 tion of study and the appreciative acceptance of 
 truths of individual and social significance, and not 
 merely for artistic or literary training, though the 
 latter need not be ignored. For these ends, there is 
 more value in making the drama than in presenting it . 
 Presenting it in public is an additional pleasure- 
 premium for the children which aids in motivation. 
 
 47 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 Of course, any teacher is perfectly free to make any 
 use of these plays that may be found possible. It is 
 confidently believed, however, that the best possible 
 use is for the teacher to study them merely as an aid 
 in guiding the building up of original dramas by the 
 class or group that is to give them. Where time is an 
 object and division of labor is desired, an older class 
 may dramatize an incident for a younger class. In 
 such a case it is clearly necessary to hold the older 
 children continually close to the pedagogical needs of 
 the younger class. 
 
 48 
 
THE GOOD SAMARITAN 
 {Based on Luke 10 : 25-37) 
 
 BY CLAKA BAKER 
 
 Scenery 
 
 Act I. A street in Jerusalem. This may be left en- 
 tirely to the imagination, or the back of the stage 
 may be arranged with screens to represent 
 Eastern doorways. 
 
 Act II. The Jericho Road. This must be made as 
 steep and rough as possible. Rocks or a slope 
 must be simulated, against which Abiezer may 
 recline, and from behind which the robbers may 
 steal. 
 
 Costumes 
 Abiezer: Man's long robe and girdle, abba, turban, 
 
 sandals, staff and scrip. May wear a con- 
 
 spicious ring. 
 Kemuel, Elidad, Shammah: Men's long robes, white 
 
 or colored, with girdle; striped abbas or long 
 
 wraps; turbans or head cloths; sandals. 
 Priest: Man's long robe and outer wrap bound round 
 
 the head, both white; white girdle and white 
 
 sandals. Carries roll or parchment. Phylactery 
 
 ia bound on forehead. 
 49 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 Levites: Men's long robes, striped abbas, turbans and 
 
 sandals. 
 Abidan: Short, striped tunic, girdle, turban and 
 
 sandals. Carries scrip. 
 Robbers: Short, dark-gray or brown tunics, turbans, 
 
 girdles, and sandals. 
 
 Directions for Making Costumes 
 Men's long robe: Made like bathrobe; neck cut low 
 in back and front; no fulness on shoulders; reaches 
 to fett. If necessary for more freedom of motion, 
 side seams may be opened up one third of the way from 
 the bottom of the garment. Sleeves long and full, 
 coming down to wrist in front, six inches longer and 
 pointed in back. If this garment is made of striped 
 material, stripes always go around the sleeves. 
 
 Men's abba: Made of cambric, twenty-seven inches 
 wide; amount four times the length of figure from 
 shoulder to floor, with twelve inches additional for 
 hem. Cut into two equal pieces. Stitch two selvage 
 edges together, making a strip one and a half yards 
 wide and one half the original length. Fold across, 
 thus making the shoulders without seam. Cut round 
 opening for head, and slash nine inches down for 
 front. Bind or face. Stitch halfway up from bottom 
 on both sides; leave opening above for armhole. 
 The extreme width of the garment gives the effect of 
 sleeves. The abbas were usually striped — this 
 effect may be obtained by sewing widths of different 
 colored materials together. 
 
 50 
 
The Good Samaritan 
 
 Men's outer wrap (used interchangeably with abba). 
 Made of a strip of cloth about six yards in length, 
 and a yard and a half in width. Fasten on left hip, 
 carry up over right shoulder, over head (if desired), 
 holding it in place by binding cord around the fore- 
 head; carry back to left hip, catching loosely there 
 and leaving arm free; let end drop to hem of robe 
 behind. If not carried over the head, turban or short 
 head cloth should be worn. 
 
 Men's short tunic: Take three times the length of the 
 figure from shoulder to six inches below the knee of 
 material twenty-seven inches wide, and add nine 
 inches for hem. Cut in three equal parts. Cut 
 one part in four equal strips lengthwise. Stitch one 
 of these strips on each edge of the other two, giving 
 two strips of equal length, forty inches wide. Sew 
 across one end for shoulders. Proceed for opening 
 for head as in abba. Twelve inches down from 
 shoulder slash nine inches in from edge to form sleeve, 
 sloping section down to outer edge of bottom of tunic. 
 Hem bottom of sleeves, and turn up three inches on 
 bottom of tunic. Sew up sides of tunic and of sleeves. 
 If a striped tunic is desired, make same as striped 
 abba, using pieces of material not more than three 
 inches in width. To be worn with turban and girdle. 
 If tunic or long robe is plain in color, use striped abba, 
 outer wrap, turban and girdle, and vice versa. 
 
 Men's girdle: Nine inches in width, and long 
 enough to go around the waist and fasten comfortably. 
 
 51 
 
The Deamatic Instinct 
 
 Men's turban: One and one half yards of material 
 twenty-seven inches wide wound round the head. 
 
 Men's head-cloth: Made of a yard or more of cloth, 
 bound round the forehead by a cord, ends touching 
 the shoulders in the back. 
 
 Men's sandals: May be made of slipper soles or 
 heavy leather cut in shape of foot, pierced, with 
 thong inserted; this is brought up between first two 
 toes and around ankle, or across foot and around heel. 
 
 Scrip or wallet: A bag of khaki or skin, slung from 
 the shoulders by straps. 
 
 Phylactery: A case of dark leather, about two and 
 one half inches square, bound with thongs on forehead 
 just between the eyes. 
 
 CHABACTERS EEPEESENTED 
 
 Abiezer, a spice merchant of Jerusalem 
 
 Shammah 
 
 Kemuel ■ Friends of Abiezer 
 
 Elidad 
 
 Abidan, a Samaritan 
 
 Priests, Levites, Robbers 
 
 THE GOOD SAMARITAN 
 
 Act I 
 
 Jerusalem, street near city gate 
 Shammah, Kemuel, and Elidad stand talking. 
 Kemuel: Yonder cometh Abiezer the merchant. 
 Shammah: He hath the air of one who goeth on a 
 journej'. 
 
 52 
 
The Good Samaritan 
 
 Enter Abiezer 
 
 Abiezer: Peace be unto you. 
 
 All: And upon thee peace. 
 
 Elidad: Where goest thou so early, good Abiezer? 
 The sun is scarcely yet above the eastern hills. 
 
 Abiezer: The day is yet young, and that is well. 
 For I take the Jericho road this morning, and the 
 way is long and dusty. 
 
 Shammah: The Jericho road! 
 
 Elidad: Surely thou goest not down to Jericho alone? 
 
 Abiezer: Yea, verily. Wherefore not? 
 
 Kemuel: Hast thou not heard how Ibzau the Beth- 
 lehemite was set upon by thieves and murdered 
 as he was coming up from Jericho? Gershom, 
 his servant, alone escaped to bring the news. 
 The market rang with it but yesterday! 
 
 Abiezer: Nay, I heard it not. I was not in the market 
 yesterday. But that signifieth nothing! Belike 
 this servant him^self did slay his master, and 
 telleth a tale of robbers to cover his own guilt. 
 I fear not. 
 
 Elidad: Nay, my friend, I beg of thee, be not so rash. 
 There is without doubt a band of wicked men who 
 lurk on that lonely road! Some evil will befall 
 thee! 
 
 Abiezer: I have my trusty staff and cudgel, and my 
 arm is stout to wield them. Have I not traveled 
 this road in safety many times? Yea, and even 
 from Beersheba unto Dan. Shall ye in a 
 moment make of me a coward? 
 53 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 Shammah: But at least take thou a servant with thee. 
 
 Abiezer (impatiently): Abdul have I sent to Joppa, 
 and Malluch hath a sickness, and the rest I 
 cannot spare from the work to which I have 
 set them. Prithee detain me no longer. My 
 business is urgent and cannot wait. 
 
 Kemmuel: Stay, good Abiezer, let — 
 
 Abiezer (interrupts): Nay now, friend Kemuel, tell 
 me the rest on my return! Farewell, and may 
 peace remain with j^ou. 
 
 All: May the peace of Jehovah go with thee! 
 
 Exit Abiezek 
 Kemuel: I like it not. Jehovah grant him a safe 
 return! 
 
 All shake heads doubtfully, and exeunt. 
 Curtain 
 
 Act II 
 
 The Jericho road, mid-day, Abiezer sits by way- 
 side, eating and drinking. 
 
 Abiezer: Truly, Shammah and the rest were con- 
 cerned as to my journey! " Thieves! Robbers! 
 Murder! " they did croak, like frogs in the 
 marshes! Thieves and robbers, indeed! 
 First Robber steals in from back of stage, beckoning to 
 comrade. 
 
 54 
 
The Good Samaritan 
 
 Abiezer: Yea, friend Elidad, without doubt there be 
 thieves and robbers along this way! With my 
 own eyes I saw them — the httle foxes that steal 
 the grapes, and the cowardly jackals that flee 
 and hide! Ha, ha, ha! 
 
 Robbers advance noiselessly 
 When I return with my purchase of spices, how 
 I will laugh at them and their fears! Hark! 
 
 Turns, just as Robbers /a?Z upon him 
 Help! Murder! Help! 
 
 Struggles but is soon overpowered 
 
 First Robber: There! Now is he quiet enough. Make 
 haste, take off that robe! 
 
 Second Robber : A well-lined purse, indeed! Hetravel- 
 eth well stocked with gold. 
 
 First Robber: Yea, and here is a jeweled ring. Come 
 now, we have all that is worth the taking. The 
 sun will make an end of him! 
 
 Exeunt Robbers 
 
 Curtain 
 
 Act III 
 
 Scene: The same. Abiezer still lies unconscious 
 Enter Priest in white robes, reading as he walks 
 Lev. 19 : 18; Deut. 6 : 5 
 
 Priest: Ah! What have we here? {Draws back 
 robes.) Some prowhng vagabond, perchance, 
 hath met his just deserts. I will not soil my con- 
 55 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 secrated robes for him. The day groweth late, 
 and belike he is dead already. 
 Exit Peiest 
 Enter Levites 
 First Levite: See, yonder lieth a man, dead or dying. 
 
 Shall we not stop and see? 
 . Second Levite: Nay, haste thee on. He is naught to 
 
 us. Let us not defile ourselves. 
 First Levite: I like not to leave him so. Surely I 
 
 heard him groan! 
 Second Levite: Thou foolish one! The hills are full of 
 robbers. Shall we imperil our lives for a half- 
 naked wretch by the wayside? Besides, our 
 business brooketh no delay. Come! 
 Exeunt Levites 
 Enter Abidan 
 Abidan: What now? A man, and in a sorry plight, 
 methinks {kneels beside him). Ah, he hath been 
 cruelly beaten. But there is yet life in him. 
 Partly raises -him and gives him draught of wine. 
 Abiezek opens eyes, moans. 
 Abidan: Good friend, thou hast been grievously 
 
 mistreated. Canst tell by whom? 
 Abiezer: I was set upon by robbers. They took all I 
 had and left me here half dead. What doest 
 thou? 
 
 Abidan: See, I bind up thy wounds with healing oil. 
 Canst take another draught of wine? 
 56 
 
Thk Good Samaritan 
 
 Abiezer: May Jehovah reward thee! I lay here burn- 
 ing in the sun, I could not speak nor move, yet 
 I seemed to know that other men passed by, 
 and none would stop to give me aid. Who art 
 thou? 
 
 Abidan: I am of the province of Samaria, and like 
 thyself, a traveler. 
 
 Abiezer: Thou art a Samaritan! And thou hast had 
 pity on me, who am a Jew? 
 
 Abidan: Yea, verily. For though the Jews despise 
 the Samaritans and have no dealings with them, 
 still thou art in sore need and trouble, and mercy 
 is sweet to him who giveth, as to him who doth 
 receive. Come, let me help thee to the nearest 
 inn! 
 
 Curtain 
 
 57 
 
THE WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS 
 (Based on Matthew 25 : 1-lS) 
 
 BT FAY FISHER 
 SUGGESTIONS 
 
 Scenery 
 
 Scene I. Interior of Oriental House. A few Oriental 
 rugs; a divan formed of a mattress laid on the 
 floor and covered with a striped Bagdad and piled 
 with brightly covered cushions; a palm or two, 
 and any bit of brass work. 
 
 Scene II. Interior of Oriental House. Same as 
 Scene I, except that a general air of confusion 
 reigns. Some fancy-work has been dropped, a 
 garment is flung across the divan, and pillows are 
 on the floor. 
 
 Scene III. Entrance to Oriental House. Two 
 screens may be set at an angle across a corner of 
 the stage and covered with light-brown paper, 
 blocked off to represent a stone wall; an arch over 
 the entrance, entwined with flowers and decorated 
 with one or more brass lanterns is effective. 
 If possible, a door should open from the plat- 
 form, in the space concealed by the screens, so 
 that the bridal procession can pass through and 
 off the platform, without being seen again by 
 audience. 
 
 58 
 
The \\'ise A^'o Foolish Virgins 
 
 Stage Properticf; 
 Oriental lam'p: About four inches in length, oval in 
 shape; a small spout at one end, a handle curving 
 up and over on the other, usually made of pottery or 
 silver. Pictures or models can easily be obtained. 
 The lamps may be modeled of plasticene in dark blue 
 or green, to represent pottery — or in any shade, and 
 covered with silver paper to represent silver. 
 
 Costumes 
 
 Five Wise Virgins: Women's long robes, veils and 
 sashes, white or colored; thin, flesh-colored stockings 
 and white sandals. Colors should be delicate, and 
 great attention paid to details. 
 
 Five Foolish Virgins: Same as Wise Virgins, except 
 that the colors are gaudy, the whole effect untidy. 
 
 Other Maidens in Bridal Procession: Costumes same 
 as above. 
 
 Directions for Making Costumes 
 Women's robe: Made like a kimono, reaching to the 
 feet. Sleeves long and full, covering half the hand in 
 front, six inches longer in the back, coming to a point. 
 Amount needed, about seven yards of material twenty- 
 seven inches wide, six yards thirty-six inches wide. 
 
 Wo7nen's veil: One yard wide, two or more yards 
 long; sometimes caught in a little at the back of the 
 head; often reaching to the bottom of the dress. 
 
 Women's sash: Nine inches in width, and long 
 enough to knot on left side, with hanging ends. 
 
 59 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 Wovieii's satidals: The soles of bedroom slippers, 
 pierced and laced over foot with white thongs; or 
 white barefoot sandals; thin, flesh-colored stocldngs. 
 
 
 CHARACTEKS 
 
 REPEESENTED 
 
 Mary 
 Elizabeth 
 
 
 Tirzah 
 Martha 
 
 
 Philippa 
 
 ■Wise Virgins 
 
 Esther 
 
 ■Foolish ^'irgin 
 
 Huldah 
 Leah 
 
 
 Salome 
 Ruth 
 
 
 Other Maidens in Bridal Procession. 
 
 THE 'WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS 
 
 In One Act 
 
 A 
 
 Scene 1 
 house interior 
 
 neat and well 
 
 Bethlehem, 
 arranged. 
 
 The five Wise Virgins are discovered putting the 
 finishing touches on one another's costumes, and, later, 
 filling their lamps with oil. 
 
 Leah : It is well that we are early, in order that we 
 niay be in good time to walk in the bridal pro- 
 cession. 
 Hiddah: It is well, j'et I had a temptation to finish 
 the weaving I had begun this afternoon. The 
 design fascinated me, and I was loath to leave it. 
 But I took thought for you others, and made 
 mj'-self ready. 
 
 60 
 
The Wise and Foolish Virgins 
 
 Mary: Unselfish Huldah! Always she taketh thought 
 fov the others. 
 
 Huldah : Thou praiseth me too much, dear. 
 
 Leah (smiling) : Sisters, contend not over the matter, 
 but let us fill our lamps and be on our way. 
 
 Elizabeth: But need we fill our lamps before starting? 
 Surely we may find oil there. Yet — prudence — 
 (breaks off, undecided). 
 
 Philippa (quicldy and impatiently): Ay, prudence! 
 Always prudence! Wliy should we burden our- 
 selves when it is not needful? 
 
 Mary: But wei-e it not better, dear, to bear the slight 
 burden, than to cause trouble and vexation per- 
 haps, for some other, who must provide us with 
 oil? 
 
 Leah: It is possible, too, that we might not be able 
 to get oil there. Come, let us bear it with us. 
 
 Huldah : Ay, let us bear it along. 
 
 Philippa: If ye wish it, I will be content. 
 They busy themselves in bringing the lampn ami 
 
 filling then}, then file out, each bearing her lamp. 
 Curtain 
 
 Scene 2 
 Another house interior in Bethlehem. Rather slovenly 
 and in confusion. Three Foolish Virgins are dis- 
 covered. TiRZAH and Esther are making themselves 
 ready in leisurely manner, (L) and Martha, (R) is 
 busied with somejiand-work. 
 
 61 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 Tirzah: Is it not time, Martha, that thou shouldst 
 
 make thyself ready? 
 Esther: Urge her not to haste, Tirzah. 
 Martha {with a little frown) : I hke not leaving my 
 
 work. It fascinates me. I will not go until I 
 
 must. 
 Tirzah: It is true, we need not hasten. Salome and 
 
 Ruth will assuredly wait for us in the next street, 
 
 if we come not to our meeting-place at the 
 
 appointed time. 
 Martha: Ay, and surely the bridal procession will 
 
 await our coming. 
 Esther who has gone to the back of the stage while 
 Priscilla and Martha speak, stands at door in 
 listening attitude. 
 Esther: Hark! (cymbals). (Rushes foricard to grasp 
 
 Martha's veil and force it on her.) Sisters, it is 
 
 the cymbals of the bridal procession that I hear. 
 
 Oh, let us hasten, hasten! 
 Tirzah (who has taken Esther's place at door): Ah! 
 
 I can see the glare of the torches! Haste, haste! 
 Martha (rising in confusion and trying to adjust her 
 
 veil): Our lamps! Where are they? 
 Stands helplessly, while Tirzah rushes out after 
 them. 
 
 Tirzah: I will find them. 
 Esther: (in great haste and excitement) : And oil! Shall 
 
 we take oil? 
 
 62 
 
The Wise and Foolish Virgins 
 
 They stand parleying on threshold. Esther has 
 hand on door, is on point of departure. 
 Martha: I know not whether we have oil here. We 
 
 had not taken thought of that. But we have no 
 
 thne now. Why burden ourselves with it? 
 Esther: Ay, they may easily provide us oil there. 
 
 It will be given us. Why burden ourselves? 
 
 Let us be off! We must meet Ruth and Salome. 
 They start. 
 Tirzah (pokes head in at door): I have at last found 
 
 three old lamps. One is cracked, but it must 
 
 serve. We need take no oil. Come! I fear we 
 
 will not meet Salome and Ruth. 
 
 Exeunt 
 
 Scene 3 
 
 Singing behind scenes before curtain rises; double 
 mixed quartet. When curtain rises, the procession is 
 singing the closing lines, supported by quartet behind 
 scenes. 
 
 (Sung to the tune of " Jerusalem " by Henry Parker) 
 
 Behold the bridegroom cometh 
 Along the torchHt way, 
 
 With joy he leadeth homeward 
 A lovely bride this day. 
 
 Then let our shout triumphant 
 63 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 Be heard the hills along, 
 
 Come all ye friends who love them 
 
 And welcome them with song! 
 Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna! 
 
 Bridegroom, now as we meet thee. 
 
 Sing we hosanna. 
 Bride, now as we greet thee, 
 
 Welcome home! 
 Bridegroom, now as we meet thee, 
 
 Sing we hosanna. 
 Bride, now as we greet thee, 
 
 Welcome to thy home! 
 
 Scene: House entrance of bridegroom in same town. 
 A crowd of Virgins, as many as desired, may he 
 -passing in procession on to the stage (R) and off through 
 the supposed house entrance, with five Wise Virgins 
 foremost. Esther, Martha, and Tirzah, on the out- 
 skirts, single out two other girls also on the outskirts, 
 hut apart from the first three, E-uth and Salome. The 
 five come forward and form a group while the others pass 
 in. 
 Ruth: At last we have found you! Why came ye 
 
 not to the meeting-place? We tired of waiting 
 
 and passed on. 
 Tirzah: We were late, and must needs hasten in order 
 
 to walk in the procession. We had no oil, and our 
 
 lamps burned not. Had ye oil? 
 64 
 
The Wise and Foolish Virgins 
 
 Salome: Nay, we brought none, and our lamps burned 
 
 not. 
 Esther: But oil will be provided us. 
 Martha: Come, let us go in and slumber until the 
 bridegroom cometh. I am weary of all this haste 
 and confusion. 
 The others: Ay, let us go in. 
 They turn in direction of door. 
 Curtain 
 
 Scene 4 
 Same as Scene 3 
 
 Just before rise of curtain a loud cry is heard behind 
 the scenes, "Behold, the bridegroom cometh: go ye out 
 to meet him." As curtain rises, Virgins are seen 
 trimming lamps and making ready to go. Wise and 
 Foolish Virgins in separate groups in foreground, 
 Wise at right. Foolish left. 
 Esther: Whence shall we procure oil? Oil we must 
 
 have. 
 Tirzah: Let us ask the maidens there. I have seen 
 
 that they have abundance of oil. 
 Ruth (quickly): Ay! Ask, Tirzah. 
 
 Tirzah and Ruth, followed closely by the other 
 three, advance to Wise Virgins. 
 Tirzah: I pray ye, give us of your oil, for we have none. 
 
 6.5 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 Ruth {eagerly seconding Tirzah) : And our lamps must 
 be burning when the bridegroom cometh. 
 The Wise Virgins look at one another questioningly, 
 
 and appear to consult over the matter. At last Leah 
 
 steps forward. 
 
 Leah: Nay, we may not give you of our oil, for we have 
 not enough for ourselves and you. 
 
 Martha: But give, we pray you. 
 
 Mary (sadly) : Alas! We may not give. 
 
 Philippa: Sisters, we must go, for the bridegroom is 
 come. 
 
 The Wise Virgins pass in. 
 
 Salome: What now? We have no oil. There is no 
 
 time to go and buy it. 
 Esther: No oil, and we may not go in to the marriage! 
 
 They that were ready have gone in, and the door 
 
 is shut. 
 The others: Alas! Woe is me! 
 Ruth: Despair not. Perchance we may enter though 
 
 our lamps burn not. 
 Tirzah: Ay. Come, Ruth, go we to importune the 
 
 doorkeeper. {To the three others.) Remain ye 
 
 here. 
 Esther, Salome and Martha listen anxiously. 
 Ruth and Tirzah may be heard behind the scenes. 
 Ruth: Lord, I pray thee, let us pass in. We are 
 
 invited guests. 
 
 66 
 
The Wise and Foolish Virgins 
 
 Tirzah: And have delayed only for that our lamps 
 burned not. Open unto us. 
 
 Doorkeeper: The marriage is begun, and I know you 
 not. 
 
 Ruth: But open unto us. 
 
 Doorkeeper: Nay. (Weeping and wailing — and 
 
 gnashing of teeth if desired — from three on stage. 
 
 Ruth and Tirzah return.) 
 Tirzah: We may not enter. We must turn away. 
 Martha (cries out bitterly): Oh, why brought we not 
 
 oil in our lamps! 
 
 67 
 
THE CHILD MOSES 
 {Based on Exodus 2 : 1-10) 
 
 BY CLAKA BAKER 
 SUGGESTIONS 
 
 Scenery 
 
 Act I. Interior of Oriental House. Rugs on floor, 
 shabby. Divan formed by mattress laid on 
 floor, covered with dark shawl. Pillows. Chest 
 at one side, set out a little from wall. 
 
 Act II. Scene 1. 
 
 Light dim. Bank of Nile — a gentle inchne. 
 (Boards covered with green crepe paper with 
 undulating grassy effect may be utilized.) Bul- 
 rushes with long pointed leaves fashioned from 
 dark green crepe paper, stems stuck in bank; 
 intermingled with brown cattails if these are 
 obtainable. Several palms intermingled, with 
 the tubs in which they stand hidden by bulrushes. 
 The bank must be so arranged (as regards posi- 
 tion) that Moses may be hidden behind it. Ark 
 of bulrushes; a large oblong basket without 
 handles, woven of broad splints stained dark 
 green and thickly varnished, to represent pitch: 
 cushioned on the inside. 
 Scene 2. 
 
 Same as Scene 1, with brighter light. 
 68 
 
The Child Moses 
 
 Costutnes 
 
 The Mother of Moses: Women's robe, veil, sash, and 
 sandals. 
 
 Miriam: White tunic, sash, thin, flesh-colored stock- 
 ings, white sandals. 
 
 Moses: In Jewish swaddling clothes. 
 
 The Princess: Women's robes, purple, very rich; 
 embroidered sash and veil; thin, flesh-colored 
 stockings and white sandals; chains around 
 neck, coins across forehead, heavy bracelets. 
 
 Ladies-in-waiting to the Princess: Women's robes, 
 sash, veil and sandals; less sumptuous than the 
 Princess' but gorgeous in coloring and ornamenta- 
 tion. 
 
 Directions for Making Costumes 
 Womeyi's robe, veil, sash and sandals: As described 
 in The Wise and Foolish Virgins. 
 
 Girl's tunic: Measure three times the length of 
 figure from shoulder to six inches below the knee of 
 material twenty-seven inches wide, and add nine 
 inches for hem. Cut in three equal parts. Cut one 
 part in four equal strips lengthwise, stitch one of 
 these strips on each edge of the other two, giving two 
 strips of equal length forty inches wide. Sew across 
 one end for shoulders. Cut round opening for head. 
 Cut nine inches down from front of opening for head, 
 and bind or face. Twelve inches down from the 
 shoulder, slash nine inches in from the edge to form 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 sleeve, sloping section down to outer edge of bottom 
 of tunic. Hem bottom of sleeves and turn up three 
 inches on bottom of tunic. Stitch up sides of tunic 
 and of sleeves. 
 
 Girl's sash and sandals: Like women's sash and 
 sandals in preceding play, The Wise and Foolish 
 Virgins. 
 
 Infant's Swaddling Band: The babe is laid diagonally 
 on a piece of white cloth a yard square; one corner is 
 turned under its head, one over its feet, and two over 
 its body. The whole is then fastened by bands about 
 five inches wide and five yards long, starting under 
 the left arm and wound around and around, con- 
 fining arms and whole body, and tied in knot to make 
 firm. 
 
 CHARACTERS REPRESENTED 
 
 Moses, a child three months old. 
 
 The Mother of Moses. 
 
 Miriam, sister to Moses. 
 
 The Princess, Daughter of Pharaoh, Ruler of Egypt. 
 
 Iris 
 
 Masanath }■ Ladies-in-waiting to the Princess. 
 
 Nari, a7id others 
 
 the child MOSES 
 
 Act I 
 Interior of humble Hebrew dwelling. Mother 
 seated, with child. 
 
 Mother: Hush, my son, my httle one! Sleep, sleep, 
 sleep! She trots him on her knees and hums softly. 
 70 
 
The Child Moses 
 
 Now thou art quiet at last. Oh, my precious one, 
 
 how shall I save thee from the cruel Egyptians? 
 
 'Twas an evil day for Israel when Pharaoh de- 
 creed that every man-child of the Hebrews should 
 
 be drowned in the Nile! 
 Enter Miriam in great excitement. Noise of tramping 
 
 behind the scenes. 
 Miriam : Mother! The soldiers arc coming! 
 
 Mother starts up, dropping a little garment in 
 
 her haste, and conceals the Child behind a chest. 
 
 Miriam sees and snatches up the garment. 
 Miriam: Here, this too! 
 
 Mother hides it also, and both glance hastily 
 
 about to be sure that no other telltale thing is in 
 
 sight. 
 Miriam: O mother, is he asleep? 
 Mother: Yea, Jehovah be thanked! Pray, Miriam, 
 
 pray that he waken not, nor crjd 
 
 Both stand listening, tense with anxiety. 
 Mother: Jehovah grant that they come not in! 
 Miriam: Surely they are going by, the noise grows 
 
 fainter! 
 
 Miriam tiptoes to door, peeps out, runs back 
 
 joyously. 
 Miriatn: Be glad, mother! They are gone. He is 
 
 safe! 
 
 Mother lifts child out and gazes at him sadly. 
 Mother: Safe, Miriam! Ah no, never safe. Some 
 
 day, little daughter, they will not pass by. Some 
 71 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 day they will find him. And thy father, far away, 
 toihng under cruel taskmasters, will never see his 
 beloved son! 
 
 Drops into chair and hides face in hands. 
 Miriam, distressed, kneels at her side. 
 
 Miriam: But, mother, I will watch, oh, so faithfully! 
 Surely we can hide him — for three months now 
 we have kept him safe! 
 
 Mother: Yea, but he groweth strong and crieth 
 lustily. See now, Miriam, dost thou not re- 
 member how he wailed and fretted even now, as I 
 tried to soothe him to sleep? Had they chanced 
 to pass but a httle sooner, they must assuredly 
 have heard him. Only yesterday they snatched 
 the son of Adah from her very arms, and she has 
 been careful as have we! 
 
 Miriam: Oh, what shall we do? Will no one help us? 
 
 Mother : There is none to help us but Jehovah, God of 
 Israel. Come, let us beseech him again that he 
 will show us a way to save our little one! 
 
 Mother, still holding Child, slips to her knees, 
 and Miriam hows head and clasps her hands in 
 attitude of prayer. 
 
 Curtain 
 Act II. Sce7ie 1 . 
 
 Daybreak; a secluded spot on the batiks of the Nile. 
 Enter Mother carrying Child, and Miriam with the 
 ark of bulrushes. 
 
 72 
 
The Child Moses 
 
 Mother: This is the place. Here the princess cometh 
 in the mornings to bathe. 
 
 Miriam: Art thou sure? 
 
 Mother: Yea, I have been often told that it is a deep 
 pool by yonder twisted palm tree. 
 
 Miriam: How clear and still the water is! 
 
 Mother: And how thick the rushes grow! Lay the 
 ark here among them, daughter. And see, be- 
 hind yonder thick clump is the place for thee to 
 wait. 
 
 Miriam (half-sobbing as she lays basket down): Oh, 1 
 am sore afraid to leave him here! Mayhap the 
 Princess will not come, or if she cometh she may 
 not be kind. 
 
 As Miriam speaks, the Mother kneels on one 
 knee and arranges the Child's clothing preparatory 
 to placing him in the basket. 
 
 Mother: They say she is gentle and gracious, and she 
 hath indeed a Idndly face. I saw her once. 
 Moreover, she hath but to look at him, to know 
 that he is a goodly child! Only, do thou be 
 patient, and say what I have told thee. 
 
 Miriam: But there may come a poison serpent, or a 
 crocodile! 
 
 Kisses Child and holds him close for a second, 
 then lays him gently in the ark, pushes it out a little 
 way from the bank, and rises before she speaks. 
 Mother: We are in Jehovah's hand, my Miriam! Did 
 
 73 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 we not pray him long and earnestly? And shall 
 I doubt that my dream was indeed from him? 
 
 Clasps hands and raises her eyes to the sky. 
 
 I know that he will not forsake us! The God 
 of our fathers will save my son! 
 Curtain 
 
 Scene 2 
 
 Place: the same. Time: some hours later. Miriam 
 
 is crouched among the rushes. Enter Iris and Masa- 
 
 NATH, and stroll idly up and down. 
 
 Iris: The princess is late this morning. 
 
 Masanath: Doubtless some one hath delayed her with 
 a tale of woe, and thou knowest she is ever ready 
 to listen. 
 
 Iris: Truly she is a gracious mistress (stops sud- 
 denly to listen). I thought I heard — 
 
 Masanath: What? 
 
 Iris: I know not what it could have been — a faint 
 sound — like a child. 
 
 Masanath: I heard nothing. Ah, yonder cometh our 
 lady! 
 
 Enter Princess, ivith Nari and other maidens. 
 Iris and Masanath kneel. She motions them to 
 rise. 
 
 Princess: Ah, Masanath, Iris, I have kept you wait- 
 ing. Now we will make haste. The water 
 looketh cool and refreshing. 
 
 Unloose my sandals, Nari. Nari kneels to 
 obey. 
 
 74 
 
The Child Moses 
 
 Ms; There it is again! {Turns to Masanath.) Dost 
 hear it not? 
 
 Princess: What dost thou hear? 
 
 Iris: Only hearken, my lady. {All stand listening.) 
 There! Doth it not sound like a child crying? 
 
 Nari {still kneeling): Why, it is a child crying! 
 Where can it be? 
 
 Princess: Go and search quickly, all of you! How 
 should a child be here? This is my private place, 
 no one cometh here but myself and my maidens! 
 
 At her first words the Girls scatter and search 
 up and down the bank. 
 
 Masanath {parting rushes which conceal the ark): 
 Behold, princess, here is a babe, afloat in an 
 ark woven of bulrushes! 
 
 Princess {hastening to the spot): Fetch it hither, 
 Masanath. 
 
 {All watch eagerly while Masanath wades in a 
 few steps and brings the ark out.) 
 
 Princess (lifts Child out, and cuddles him): Come, 
 thou little one, now do not weep. Is he not a 
 proper child? See how plump and strong he is! 
 There, there! {Handles him tenderly.) See, 
 now he smileth at me! He is quite young. 
 Who can have left him here? 
 
 Iris: Some one who loved him, it is plain. See how 
 his garments are wrought with cunning needle- 
 work! And how cleverly this is fashioned, to 
 keep him dry! ( Holds up ark.) 
 75 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 Princess: This must be one of the Hebrews' children. 
 Thinkest thou not so, Masanath? 
 
 Masanath: Yes", my lady, I have heard that there is 
 great distress amongst them because of the edict 
 of Pharaoh. 
 
 Princess: It is indeed a cruel decree, that every man- 
 child of the Hebrevvs shall be slain. In vain have 
 I pleaded with my father to revoke it. But I 
 will save this child at least. See how he clutchcth 
 at my hand! 
 
 Nari: Thou hast a tender heart, princess! 
 
 Iris: But surely we shall need a nurse for him. 
 
 Masanath: Look, is not this a Hebrew girl? 
 
 All turn, to see Mihiam timidly approaching. 
 
 Princess: Speak, child, be not afraid. 
 
 Miriam (kneeling): O gracious lady, shall I not go 
 and call thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that 
 she may nurse the child for thee? 
 
 Princess: Yea, go. 
 
 Miriam darts off. The Princess looks after her 
 and smiles. 
 
 Now all is plain. They have counted on my 
 compassion, have they not? 
 
 Nari: Yea, doubtless she hath waited all the morning 
 to see what would be done to him. 
 
 7ns; She must have been hidden yonder. Strange 
 we did not see her. 
 
 Princess: The child claimed all our eyes. (Lifts a 
 Iccket which hangs about her neck and dangles it 
 before the Child to amuse him.) Aha, thou 
 76 
 
The Child Moses 
 
 lovest things that glitter, dost thou not! Sec, 
 I will call thy name Moses, because I drew thee 
 out of the water. 
 Nari: Here cometh the maid again, and a woman 
 
 with her. 
 Masanath: His mother, belike! 
 
 Enter Miriam and her Mother. Both kneel. 
 Princess: Rise, and fear not! 
 
 (She steps forward and lays Child in the 
 Mother's arms. 
 
 Woman, take thou this child away; nurse him 
 with all loving care, and I will give thee thy 
 wages. When he is grown enough, bring hin\ 
 unto me, and he shall be as my son. This is mj- 
 signet, — let it be a token to all who would do 
 him harm. 
 
 Takes locket from her neck and clasps it on the 
 Child's. 
 Mother: princess, I and mine are servants unto 
 thee forever! May the Lord Jehovah bless thee 
 most abundantly and reward thee all the days of 
 thy life! 
 Princess: Nay, thank me not. He is a goodly child. 
 It were a pity to let him perish. We will teach 
 him all the learning of the Egyptians, and, who 
 knoweth, mayhap he may prove a deliverer for 
 thy people! 
 
 (To her Maidens.) Come, we will return now 
 to the palace. 
 
 77 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 Mother: Jehovah will bless thee, for thou hast had 
 pity on them who are oppressed! 
 Exeunt Princess and Maidens. 
 Mother, Child, a?id Miriam take center of stage. 
 Miriam: O mother, thy dream, th}^ dream, — it is 
 all come true! He is safe now, we shall not need 
 to hide him more! 
 
 Mother, clasping Child close, draws Miriam 
 to her and gazes upward with joyful reverence. 
 Mother: I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the 
 Lord! In my affliction I cried unto him, and he 
 hath answered my cry. Happy is he that hath 
 the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in 
 Jehovah his God! 
 
 Curtain 
 
 78 
 
NAAMAN'S QUEST 
 (Based on 2 Kings 5 : 1-19) 
 
 BY A CLASS OP GIHLS 
 SUGGESTIONS 
 
 Scenery 
 
 Act I. Interior of Naaman's Plouse in Damascus. 
 Richly furnished. Oriental rugs and palms. 
 One or two divans, formed by mattress laid on 
 floor, covered with striped Bagdad and piled 
 with cushions. Some pieces of brass-work; 
 an open-work swinging lantern, if possible. 
 
 Act II. King Joram's Palace in Samaria. Rich 
 rugs; a platform at one end covered with rugs, 
 on which stands an armchair, gorgeously draped 
 for the king's throne. 
 
 Act III and Act IV. Door of Elisha's House. A 
 door leading from platform, if possible; wall 
 around should be covered with paper laid off to 
 simulate outside of Oriental house. A simple 
 arch should be constructed over door and lantern 
 hung therefrom. 
 
 Obeisance 
 The arms are folded on the chest, and, with head 
 well up and knees perfectly stiff, the body is bent 
 straight forward from the hips. 
 
The Deamatic Instinct 
 
 Costumes 
 Naavian: In Act I, — Men's short tunic, gorgeous; 
 
 girdle and sandals. In Acts II and III, — 
 
 Armor. 
 King Joram: Men's long, full robe of royal purple, 
 
 crown and scepter of gold. 
 Elisha: Men's long robe (white), girdle, outer wrap, 
 
 short head-dress, sandals. 
 Zahra: Women's long robe (orange), veU, sash, flesh- 
 colored stockings, white sandals, much jewelry. 
 Tirzah: Girl's tunic (white), striped sash, thin, flesh- 
 colored stockings, white sandals. 
 Servants to Joram, and Naaman: Men's short tunics 
 
 (dark red, blue, and green), turbans, girdles, 
 
 and sandals. 
 Messengers to Joram, Naaman, and Elisha: Men's 
 
 short tunics (gray, brown, or tan), bright girdles 
 
 and turbans, dark sandals, staffs. 
 Cupbearer to Joram: Men's short tunic (striped red 
 
 and green), red girdle and turban, dark sandals; 
 
 carries silver tray and goblets. 
 Guards in Joram' s Court: Armor. 
 Amariah andGehazi: Men's long robes, striped abbas, 
 
 headcloths bound with thongs, dark sandals. 
 
 Directions for Making Costumes 
 Men's short tunic: As described in play, The Good 
 Samakitan. 
 
 Men's long, fidl robe: Like men's long robe described 
 
 so 
 
Naaman's Quest 
 
 in play The Good Samaritan, except that fulness is 
 plaited in on shoulders and in back. 
 
 King's crown: Made of pasteboard and covered 
 with gold paper. 
 
 King's scepter: A slender vrand, wound smoothly 
 with gold paper. 
 
 Men's long robe, outer wraj}, abba, turban, short 
 head-dress, girdle and sandals: As described in play, 
 The Good Samaritan. 
 
 Women's long robe, veil, sash, and sandals: As 
 described in play, The Wise and Foolish Virgins. 
 
 Girl's tunic: As described in play The Child 
 Moses. 
 
 Girl's sash and sandals : Like women's. 
 
 characters represented 
 Naaman, captain of the Syrian army, but a leper. 
 Joram, king of Israel. 
 Elisha, the prophet of God. 
 Zahra, Naaman's wife. 
 Tirzah, a Hebrew maiden, taken captive bj^ the 
 
 Syrians — a servant to Zahra. 
 Servant to Naaman. 
 Messenger to Naaman. 
 Amariah, counselor to Joram . 
 Guards in Joram's Court. 
 Rehun, servant to Joram. 
 Cupbearer to Joram. 
 Messenger to Joram. 
 Gehazi, servant to Elisha. 
 Messenger to Elisha. 
 
 SI 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 naaman's quest 
 Act I 
 
 DAMASCUS A HOUSE INTERIOR 
 
 Tirzah (arranging the pillows on the divan): How 
 long a time it seemeth since first these Syrians brought 
 me here! And yet I remember it all as if it were but 
 yesterday. What a quiet, peaceful night it was, and 
 how happy were we all, for we expected my elder 
 brother home from the battles! Suddenly we were 
 awakened by the shouts of men, the tramp of horses' 
 feet, the crying of women and children — there was 
 noise and confusion everywhere. I was torn away 
 from my loved ones — Oh, would that I might see 
 them once again, if only once! Then came the long 
 journey to Damascus, the hard ride, the hot sun, the 
 cruel soldiers; but now must I be happy, for my mas- 
 ter and mistress are good. Therefore must I not 
 mourn. 
 
 Enter Zahra. Tirzah bows and remains standing. 
 Zahra reclines on divan. 
 Zahra: Ah, Tirzah, little thou knowest how sad I am. 
 
 Thou hast always been happy, hast thou not, 
 
 my little maid? 
 Tirzah: Nay, for I am sad when thou art sad. But 
 
 why art thou so unhappy, my mistress? 
 Zahra: Dost thou not know? Hast thou not heard? 
 
 Naaman hath the leprosy! 
 82 
 
Naaman's Quest 
 
 Tirzah: Thou canst not mean it! My master is a 
 
 leper? Nay, it cannot be! 
 Zahra: It is but too true. He will have to leave the 
 
 city and live among the outcasts, among the 
 
 accursed of the gods! 
 Tirzah: Restrain thyself, my mistress. When my 
 
 master cometh in, he will wish to see thee happy. 
 Zahra: Nay, I cannot be happy, Tirzah, and yet I 
 
 must seem so when he cometh. 
 Tirzah: Would God my lord were in Samaria, with 
 
 Elisha, the prophet of God who dwelleth there! 
 
 For he would cui'e him of the leprosy! 
 Zahra: There is no cure for leprosy, my child. 
 Tirzah: Thou mayest not think so, my mistress, 
 
 but this man, of all men in the world, can cure 
 
 him, through Jehovah, God of Israel. 
 Zahra: Dost thou say, Tirzah, that there is a man 
 
 in thy land who can do this great work? 
 Tirzah: Yea, my mistress. Well I remember him. 
 
 He was used to pass through our village, and 
 
 sometimes he would stop at our house. 
 Zahra: Tirzah, if only it were true! 
 
 Enter Naaman. 
 
 Naaman, I have somewhat to tell thee. My 
 
 little Tirzah saith that there is a prophet in Israel 
 
 who can recover thee of thy disease. Dost 
 
 think it can be true? 
 Naaman: Nay, it is but child's prattle. There is 
 
 none who can do that. I have had the greatest 
 
 healer in our kingdom. 
 83 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 Tirzah: My lord, he doth not heal as do your healers. 
 He is a man of God, who healeth in the name of 
 Jehovah. When I was a very little girl, he would 
 come to our village. The sick crowded the 
 streets and he healed them. I saw these miracles 
 myself. 
 
 Naaman: I believe not that he could do this. The 
 God of the Jews is no more powerful than Rim- 
 mon. Thou art a contrary little maiden, Tirzah, 
 to insist on worshiping thy God when thou art 
 out of the country over which he ruleth. 
 
 Tirzah: He ruleth over the Syrians as well as over the 
 Jews. 
 
 Naaman: What thinkest thou, Zahra? The Hebrews 
 are a superstitious people. Is it not some fancy 
 that lingereth in the little maiden's mind? 
 
 Zahra: I beg thee, go, Naaman. Think of thy king 
 and thy country. Thou knowest well 'tis thou 
 who hast these many times saved the hosts of 
 Syria from the hands of the enemy. And thinlc 
 of me, — if thou diest, I die. 
 
 Tirzah: Go, my lord, and thou shalt be made clean 
 of the disease. 
 
 Naaman: I would I might lead my army again. To 
 feel the spear at my side, and to hear the sound of 
 battle, and the noise of chariots! {To Tirzah.) 
 It cannot be that thou rememberest rightly. 
 
 Tirzah: I remember well. There was a woman who 
 lived not far from us, and one of her arms was 
 useless. One time when the man of God was in 
 84 
 
Naaman's Quest 
 
 our village, she went to him and implored of him 
 that he would cure it. This he did, and it was 
 good as was the other. She told my mother of 
 the miracle. And others were cured as wonder- 
 fully as she! 
 
 Naaman: Truly, that were the power of a God 
 greater than the gods of SjTia! 
 
 Tirzah: My lord, it is true. If thou couldst only talk 
 with this man of God, thou wouldst never wor- 
 ship more at Rimmon's altar. He telleth how 
 Jehovah loveth every one, is merciful and kind, 
 and is God of all the world, not only of our 
 land. When the prophet entereth the village, 
 all the people, even the little children, hasten to 
 receive from him his blessing, for they all love 
 him. 
 
 Naaman: Surely, he is a wonderful man, if all this be 
 true. 
 
 Zahra: Naaman, I sometimes wonder if this little 
 maid may not be right about their God, for thou 
 knowest Rimmon is a cruel god, and her 
 Jehovah, — I could love him! 
 
 Naaman: Thou must not talk in that way, and yet — 
 ah, well — What is this man's name, Tirzah? 
 
 Tirzah: He is called Ehsha. 
 
 Zahra: If only thou wouldst go, Naaman. Thou 
 
 knowest that the Jews have many ancient 
 
 secrets in their keeping, and perhaps they have 
 
 some knowledge of healing which we know not of. 
 
 85 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 Naaman: I wish I might believe 'twere true. It 
 would hurt nothing should I go to the land of 
 Israel, and seek this man. ( He thinks a moment.) 
 Tomorrow will I go to my lord, the king, and 
 gain permission to set out upon this quest. 
 Then will I journey to Joram, king of Israel, and 
 he will direct me to this man. 
 
 Zahra: Thou must be cured! Thou wilt be cured! 
 By my \-ery longing I could almost make thee 
 well! 
 
 Tirzah (joyously): My master dear, indeed thou wilt 
 be cured! 
 
 Curtain 
 
 Act II 
 
 Palace of the King of Israel. King Joram sur- 
 rounded by his court. 
 Cupbearer (with low obeisance): Wilt thou have thy 
 
 wine, my lord? 
 Joram: Nay, take it away. 
 
 Exit Cupbearer 
 {To Servant): Ho, Rehum, send the counselor, 
 Amariah, here. 
 Rehum {with low obeisance): Yea, my lord. 
 
 Exit Rehum 
 Joram: I like it not — this raiding by the Syrians. 
 Four towns sacked last week. 
 
 Enter Rehum ivith Amariah 
 86 
 
Naaman's Quest 
 
 Amariah (with low obeisance) : Thou didst call for me, 
 my lord? 
 
 J Oram: Yea, I called for thee. What thinkest thou 
 of these happenings on our northern border? 
 
 Amariah: I think, my lord, thou and thy land are 
 both disgraced. Thy father, Ahab, drove these 
 Syrians hence. Since thy accession to the 
 throne, they have returned in all their power, and 
 harried this country more than ever they did 
 before. I would we had an army worthy of the 
 name. 
 
 Enter Servant and Messenger 
 
 Servant {with low obeisance): A messenger for the 
 king. 
 
 Joram: What wilt thou? 
 
 Messenger (with low obeisence): O king, live forever! 
 I come from Naaman, captain of the hosts of 
 Syria, who wisheth to speak with thee on a mat- 
 ter of peace. 
 
 Joram (to Amariah): Captain of the hosts of Syria! 
 We needs must give him audience. 
 (To Messenger) : Tell Naaman we await him. 
 (Exit Messenger) 
 
 Joram: Dost thou think it is an errand of peace on 
 which he cometh? 
 
 Amariah: I know not that, but 'twill do no harm to 
 hear what word he bringeth. I know of him well. 
 He is the greatest captain of the Syrian hosts 
 for lo, these many years. 
 87 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 J Oram: I would I could make peace with Syria's 
 
 king! His hosts are strong, and mine are weak. 
 
 I know not what will come of it. 
 Enter Messenger 
 Servant {with low obeisance) : Naaman, captain of the 
 
 hosts of Syria. 
 
 Enter Naaman, with Servants 
 J 01 am: Thou art welcome. Wliat wilt thou? 
 Naaman: Benhadad, king of Syria, to Joram, king of 
 
 Israel, greeting. I bring a letter from my 
 
 master. 
 
 He hands it to Amariah. 
 Joram: Read thou the letter. 
 Amariah {reading): Now when this letter is come 
 
 unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman, 
 
 my servant, to thee, that thou mayest recover 
 
 him of his leprosy. 
 Joram: What? Cure him of the leprosy! Am I 
 
 God, to Idll and to make alive, that this man 
 
 doth send unto me to recover a man of his 
 
 leprosy? 
 (To Amariah): Wherefore consider, I pray thee, 
 
 and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me. 
 Amariah: I cannot tell. He seemeth to be seeking a 
 
 quarrel, and yet perhaps he thinketh we have 
 
 some art whereby the leprosy may be cured. 
 Joram: Nay, nay! It is a plot against me! I will 
 
 have him seized! 
 Amariah: Be not rash, my lord. 
 
 88 
 
Naaman's Que8t 
 
 Naaman {to a Soldier who is with him): Seest thou 
 
 how he keepeth me waiting? He wisheth not 
 
 to do me this favor. 
 Servant: Mayhap he knoweth not who can do this 
 
 deed. 
 
 Enter Servant 
 Servant {with low obeisance) : A messenger for my lord, 
 
 the king. 
 J Oram: Bid him enter. 
 
 Enter Messenger 
 Jorani: What wilt thou? 
 Messenger: I am from Elisha, the prophet, who 
 
 sayeth, " Let Naaman now come to me, and he 
 
 shall know there is a prophet in Israel." 
 Joram {to Naaman) : Dost thou hear? 
 Naaman {with awe): Yea, my lord. It is this man 
 
 whom I seek. To him I go. 
 Joram {to Messenger): Tell thy master Naaman 
 
 will come. 
 Exeunt Naaman, accompanied by Servants and 
 Messenger from Elisha. 
 
 Curtain 
 
 Act III 
 Doorway of Elisha' s House. 
 Naaman: Is this the dwelling-place of Elisha, the 
 
 prophet? 
 Messenger {with obeisance) : Yea, my lord. 
 Naaman: What thinkest thou? Can this prophet of 
 thy God cure me of the leprosy? 
 89 
 
The DitAMATic Instinct 
 
 Messenger: He can, my lord. More than once has'e 
 I seen him do such wonders. 
 
 Naaman: I understand not. How cometh this cure 
 without herbs or medicine? 
 
 Messenger: It is through faith in Jehovah, God of 
 Israel. 
 
 Enter Gehazi, from house 
 
 Naaman: Comest thou from Ehsha? 
 
 Gehazi: I do, my lord. He hath sent me to thee, 
 saying, " Go, and wash in Jordan seven times, 
 and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou 
 shalt be clean." 
 
 Naaman (impatiently): Behold, I thought. He will 
 surely come out to me, and stand, and caU on 
 the name of Jehovah, his God, and strike his 
 hand over the place, and recover the leper. Are 
 not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, 
 better than all the waters of Israel? May I 
 not wash in them and be clean? 
 
 Messenger: Nay, did I not tell thee that thy recovery 
 would be through faith? 
 
 Naaman: I have no faith in such a cure as that. 
 
 Servant of Naaman: My master, if the prophet had 
 bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not 
 have done it? How nmch rather then", when he 
 saith to thee, " Wash and be thou clean." 
 
 Naaman: Why should I go? He is only mocking me. 
 
 Gehazi: He is not mocking thee. Go, and thou shalt 
 have known a miracle. 
 90 
 
Naaman's (^uest 
 
 Naantaii: A miracle, — through bathing in tlie 
 Jordan! 
 
 Servant: Nay, my lord, but go. This thing cannot 
 
 harm. Mayhap it may cure. 
 Naaman: I would go if I thought it might cure me. 
 Servant to Naaman: Remember thy king and thy 
 
 country. For if thou be not cured, who will lead 
 
 the hosts of Syria on to victory? 
 Second Servant to Naaman: Remember Zahra, thy 
 
 wife. Thou knowest well her life is bound in 
 
 thine. 
 Naaman: For my king, my country, and my wife, I 
 
 go. If I be cured, then will I know that the God 
 
 of Israel is God indeed. 
 
 Curtain 
 
 Act IV 
 Scene: Same as Act III. 
 
 Naaman: I am cured! The leprosy is gone from me! 
 Behold, thou art a true prophet of the true God, 
 for now I know that there is no God in all the 
 earth, but the God of Israel. Now, therefore, I 
 pray thee, take a blessing from thy servant for 
 this great good which thou hast done. (Offers 
 gifts to Elisha.) 
 
 Elisha: As Jehovah liveth, before whom I stand, I 
 will receive nothing. I did it not for gold and 
 jewels and fine raiment. 
 91 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 Xaa7nan: But surely thou wilt receive this from the 
 hands of him for whom thou hast worked this 
 miracle? 
 
 Elisha: It is Jehovah's deed, and to Jehovah be the 
 glory. I will receive nothing. 
 
 Naaman: But think, — thou couldst do many 
 things with that which I would give thee. Thou 
 couldst feed and clothe the poor. 
 
 Elisha (interrupting) : Thou needst not urge me fnore. 
 My God doth not desire that I do good for pay, 
 and I take it not. I have the wherewithal to 
 feed men's souls. I would I might feed their 
 bodies also — but not with that which might be 
 gained through the miracles which Jehovah 
 doeth through me. But when thou reachest thy 
 home, give thou these things to the poor of thine 
 own city. 
 
 Naaman (to Elisha): That will thy servant do. 
 Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to 
 thy servant two mules' burden of earth from the 
 land of Jehovah? In Damascus will I build an 
 altar to his name. For thy servant will hence- 
 forth offer neither burnt-offering nor sacrifice 
 unto other gods, but unto Jehovah. 
 
 Elisha: Thou needest not this load of earth to build 
 a shrine for him, for Jehovah's altar is in every 
 loyal heart. Yet take the earth, and take my 
 blessing with it. Thou shalt prosper in thy land 
 for this thing which thou hast done. For Jeho- 
 vah doth give his servants blessing. 
 92 
 
Naaman's Quest 
 
 Naaman: In this thing pardon thy servant, that 
 when my master goeth into the House of Rimmon 
 to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, 
 and I bow myself in the House of Rimmon : when 
 I bow myself in the House of Rimmon, Jehovah 
 pardon thy servant in this thing. For I will not 
 worship Rimmon in my heart, only must I do 
 this thing for my king. 
 
 Elisha: Jehovah will pardon thee for that, if only 
 thou worship him in thy heart. 
 
 Naaman: For this great favor do I thank Jehovah 
 and the prophet of Jehovah. 
 
 Elisha {arms outstretched): The blessing of Jehovah 
 be upon thee. Go in peace. 
 
 Curtain 
 
 9S 
 
JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN 
 
 Based on Genesis, Chapters 37 and 4-1-45, inclusive 
 By a Committee composed of 
 
 CLARA M. BAKER, ESTELLA E. BRYANT, ANNE M. BOYD, 
 HENRIETTA P. ECKHARD, AND A CLASS OP BOYS. 
 
 SUGGESTIONS 
 
 Appropriate music behind the scenes may be used 
 between acts. It doubtless adds to the emotional 
 and artistic appeal. 
 
 The number of strictly necessary characters is 
 seventeen, but if desired more may easily be utilized 
 as guards, attendants, etc. If the number must be 
 limited, some of those acting as the twelve sons of 
 Israel may also appear, with slight changes of cos- 
 tume, as officers and wise-men of Pharaoh's court in 
 Act II. Joseph, in Acts II and IV, should have at 
 least two attendants besides the steward. The play 
 was prepared for boys of high-school age, and ma3' 
 prove too difficult for those much younger. 
 
 Scenery 
 Act I. Scene 1. Hebron. Tent of Israel, which 
 occupies the whole stage; several divans, covered 
 with striped Bagdads and cushions; if obtain- 
 94 
 
Joseph and His Brethren 
 
 able, a bag made of sheepskin (like an oriental 
 water-bag) hanging on the wall and a bunch of 
 staffs and crooks leaning up in one corner. 
 
 Scenes 2 and 3. The Plain of Dothan, which 
 occupies the whole stage. The floor should be 
 strewn with sand, and the back of the stage hung 
 with dark-green paper to simulate a landscape. 
 The doorway through which Joseph is dragged to 
 the pit should in some way be covered to give an 
 effect of natural exit. 
 
 Act II. Scene 1. Egypt. Palace of Pharaoh. 
 Oriental rugs on floor, a small movable platform 
 or dais covered with rugs at back of stage, on 
 which stands an armchair gorgeously draped for 
 king's throne. 
 
 Act III. Scene 1. Egypt, Palace of Joseph. Like 
 Pharaoh's palace in Act II, without throne. 
 
 Scene 2. Hebron. Tent of Israel. Like Act I, 
 Scene 1. 
 
 Act IV. Egypt, Palace of Joseph, like Act III, 
 Scene 1, with the addition of a richly covered 
 divan. 
 
 Costu7nes 
 
 Pharaoh: Men's long, full robe, crown and scepter, 
 sash and sandals. Should be richly adorned, and 
 have a ring and conspicuous gold chain to bestow 
 on Joseph. 
 
 Israel: Men's long, full robes, dark in color, black 
 sash, turban, and sandals. Has a long flowing 
 white beard and carries a staff. 
 9.5 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 Joseph: In Act I and in Act II when he makes his first 
 appearance before Pharaoh his costume is Uke his 
 brothers; man's short tunic, with " coat of many- 
 colors." In Act III and Act IV men's long, full, 
 flowing robe, less magnificent than Pharaoh's 
 but sufficiently resplendent to show high rank and 
 dignity; a gilt band around the head. The ring 
 and chain should be worn, and the addition of a 
 beard would help to indicate the years that had 
 passed since his brothers sold him into Egypt. 
 
 Eleven Sons of Israel: Men's short tunics of gray, tan 
 or brown material, with turbans and girdles of 
 some bright color; sandals. In Act IV they 
 carry gunny sacks filled with straw or excelsior. 
 
 Butler to Pharaoh: Men's short tunic gaily striped, 
 with girdle and turban of some plain color; 
 sandals. Should carry silver tray and goblets. 
 
 Guards to Pharaoh's Court: Men's short tunics in fight 
 silver gray; helmets, shields, swords, or spears. 
 Sandals covered with silver paper. 
 
 Steward to Joseph: Man's long tunic gaily striped, with 
 girdle and turban of some plain color; sandals. 
 
 Magicians or Wise-men: Long, full robes of rich colors; 
 gay turbans; sandals. They wear long beards 
 and carry rolls of parchment. 
 
 Servants to Pharaoh and to Joseph: Men's short, dark 
 tunics, striped turbans and girdles, sandals. 
 
 Two methods of salutation are made use of, the 
 simple bow and the prostration. The first is used in 
 
 96 
 
Joseph and His Brethren 
 
 the scenes between Israel and his sons, and by the 
 servants of Pharaoh and Joseph. To make the bow, 
 the arms are folded on the chest, and with head well 
 up and knees perfectly stiff the body is bent straight 
 forward from the hips. The prostration signifies 
 humble respect and abasement, as when the brothers 
 come into the presence of Joseph. First kneel, then 
 place the hands palm down on the floor in front, and 
 lastly touch the forehead to the floor between the 
 hands. 
 
 Directions for Making Costumes 
 
 Men's long full robe, King's crown and scepter: 
 As described in play Naaman's Quest. 
 
 Men's girdle, turban, and sandals: As described in 
 play. The Good Samaritan. 
 
 Men's short tunic: As described in play, The Good 
 Samaritan. 
 
 Joseph's coat of many colors: This may be made as 
 are the other striped garments, but with other color- 
 ings more striking and attractive. 
 
 CHARACTERS represented 
 
 Israel (or Jacob) patriarch of Canaan. 
 Joseph, Israel's favorite son. 
 
 sons of Israel 
 
 Reuben 
 
 Gad 
 
 Simeon 
 
 Asher 
 
 Levi 
 
 Issachar 
 
 Judah 
 
 Zebulun 
 
 Dan 
 
 Benjamin 
 
 Naphtali 
 
 
 97 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 Pharaoh, king of Egypt. 
 Butler to Pharaoh. 
 Magicians to Pharaoh's Court. 
 Guards to Pharaoh's Court. 
 Servants to Pharaoh. 
 Steward to Joseph. 
 Servant to Joseph. 
 Servant to Israel. 
 
 JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN 
 
 Act I 
 Scene 1 
 Hebron; the tent of Israel 
 The curtain rises on the Twelve Brothers, sitting 
 and standing in groups of three or four, conversing in 
 pantomime. Israel, followed by Servant bearing 
 coat of many colors, enters at back of stage. The 
 Brothers immediately rise and range themselves six on 
 a side, while Israel pauses at center back and raises 
 both arms high in blessing as he speaks. The Brothers 
 bow and then answer in concert. 
 Israel: Peace be unto you, my children. 
 Brothers: And upon thee, peace! 
 Israel {seats himself): Come hither, Joseph, my son, 
 the delight of my old age! Take thou this coat, 
 I pray thee, this coat of many colors, which marks 
 thee prince in all thy father's house and first 
 among thy brethren. My blessing goeth with it. 
 98 
 
Joseph and His Brethren 
 
 May it inspire thee to noble deed.s, so that thou 
 mayst bring honor and glory to the name of thy 
 fathers! 
 
 Joseph (kneeling) : I thank thee, my father, that thou 
 dost so honor me. 
 
 Rising, he puts the coat on. All the Elder 
 Brothers show signs of hatred and jealousy. 
 
 Simeon (aside) : See, our father loveth him more than 
 us! 
 
 Levi (aside) : Behold this favorite of our father! 
 
 Joseph: But hear, I pray you, this dream which I 
 have dreamed. For behold, we were binding 
 sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf arose and 
 also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves 
 stood round about, and made obeisance to my 
 sheaf! 
 
 Levi (aside) : Listen to this dreamer! 
 
 Judah (scornfully): Shalt thou indeed reign over us? 
 
 Simeon: Shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? 
 
 Joseph: Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and 
 behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars 
 made obeisance to me. 
 
 Israel (rises in astonishment) : What is this dream that 
 thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and 
 thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves 
 to thee to the earth? 
 
 Joseph: My father, I cannot now interpret these 
 dreams which the Lord hath given me. In his 
 own time he will reveal their ineaninp;. 
 99 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 The Beothees appear to discuss Joseph and 
 his dreams in angry pantomime. 
 Reuben (steps forward and bows) : Father, we would 
 
 now depart to feed thy flock in Shechem. 
 Israel: Even so, my sons. Farewell, and may peace 
 
 go with you! 
 Brothers (bowing): Peace be unto thee. Farewell. 
 
 Exeunt the Ten Elder Brothers, looking 
 hatefully at Joseph, who does not notice them. 
 Curtain 
 
 Scene 2 
 The plain of Dothan 
 The Ten Brothers are sitting and lying in careless 
 attitudes near front of stage. Simeon, shading his eyes 
 with his hand, seems to see something a great way off. 
 The others also look intently after he speaks. 
 Simeon: Behold, this dreamer cometh! 
 Asher: Yea, the dreamer in his gaudy robe! 
 Dan: Perchance he hath another dream to relate 
 
 wherein we all again shall bow before him! 
 Several (with scornful laughter) : Not I! 
 Naphtali: Or he cometh to spy upon us and bring 
 back an evil report to Israel our father. 
 
 Levi: Come now therefore, let us slay him and cast 
 
 him into some pit! 
 Dan (gleefully) : Then we will see what will become of 
 
 his dreams! 
 
 100 
 
Joseph and His Biibthren 
 
 Judah: But what then should we say to our father? 
 At our hands will he require the lad! 
 
 Simeon: We will say, some evil beast hath devoured 
 him. 
 Reuben, who has begun to look troubled at 
 Levi's speech, comes forward and speaks persua- 
 sively. 
 
 Reuben: Nay, now, my brethren, do not sin against 
 the child! 
 
 They turn on him fiercely. 
 
 Levi: Sinneth he not against us, with his dreams and 
 boastings? 
 
 Zebulun: His dreams, forsooth! Our sheaves doing 
 his sheaf homage! 
 
 Judah: Daily is he honored above us, his elders! 
 
 Simeon: We will endure his arrogance no longer! 
 
 Gad: Yea, and he also informeth against us. Come, 
 let us kill him! 
 
 Issachar: Kill him, and hide his body in the pit! 
 
 Reuben: Nevertheless, hear me, brethren! Let us 
 not kill the lad. We will shed no blood, but 
 cast him aHve into this pit, that is in the wilder- 
 ness, and lay no hand upon him. Lo, the pit is 
 empty, there is no water in it. Shall he not 
 doubtless perish? 
 
 Simeon: Thou sayest well. 
 
 Others: Ay, the pit! We will cast him aUve into the 
 pit! 
 
 101 
 
The Dramatic Ixstinct 
 
 A.sher {warningly) : He draweth nigh. 
 
 They hastily resume their former attitudes. 
 Enter Joseph, entirely unsuspicious. 
 Gad: Hail, Prince Joseph! What hast thou dreamed 
 
 today? 
 Joseph: Peace be upon you, brethren! Is it well with 
 you? 
 
 They seize him roughly and strip off the coat 
 of many colors. At first he is bewildered and does 
 not resist. 
 Joseph (struggles): What do ye, brethren? Lo, our 
 father hath sent me — Cease! Let me go! 
 
 They push and drag him toward the door at back 
 of stage. 
 Dan: Perchance in the pit he may dream another 
 dream! 
 
 They disappear laughing. 
 Reuben (follows slowly): Thus have I prevailed upon 
 them to do him no hurt? I will take him out of 
 this pit in secret and deliver him again to his 
 father. 
 
 Exit Reuben. 
 Curtain 
 
 Scene S 
 Scene: the same. 
 Enter the Beothers, except Reuben and Joseph. 
 Simeon carries Joseph's coat. 
 
 Simeon: Now will we kill a kid of the goats and dip 
 the coat in the blood. Then shall we say to oui- 
 102 
 
Joseph and His Brethren 
 
 lather, This have >ve found; know now whether 
 it be thy son's coat or no. 
 
 Issachar: Yea, then shall he say, Joseph is without 
 doubt rent in pieces by some evil beast. 
 
 Naphtali (points): Lo, yonder! A caravan of 
 Ishmaehtes from Gilead! 
 
 Zebulun: Yea, with camels bearing spicery and balm 
 and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. 
 
 Judah (starts up): What profit is it if we slay our 
 brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us 
 sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand 
 be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh. 
 And the price will we divide among ourselves! 
 
 Levi: I am content. 
 
 Simeon: Yea, and I also. 
 
 Others: We are content. 
 
 Judah: Reuben tendeth the flock by yonder water- 
 course, — let us make haste ere he return. 
 
 All: Yea, let us hasten. 
 
 Exeunt, toward pit. 
 Enter Reuben from opposite direction. 
 
 Reuben: Lo, they have departed! Now will I make 
 haste to lift up Joseph out of this pit, that he 
 may return in peace unto our father. 
 Starts out but stops suddenly. 
 But whither are they gone? The sun is yet 
 high! There is no sound — can it be that they 
 have slain the lad? 
 
 103 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 Rushes out to look into pit, and returns in dis- 
 tress. 
 The child is not, and I, whither shall I go? 
 Exit Reuben. 
 Curtain 
 
 Act II 
 Scene 1 
 Scene: Egypt. Palace of Pharaoh. 
 The curtain rises on Phakaoh, in attitude of dejec- 
 tion, seated on throne. Guards stationed behind and 
 at either side. Wise Men, loith scrolls or records, 
 consulting at the right. The Butler, kneeling before 
 Pharaoh, offering wine in gold or silver cup on salver. 
 Pharaoh (refuses it): Nay, I wish it not. My heart 
 
 is heavy within me. 
 Butler (bowing): My lord is troubled? 
 Pharaoh: I have dreamed a dream, and told it to all 
 the magicians and all the wise men of Egypt, and 
 there is none that can interpret it to me. 
 Butler: I pray thee, my lord, let thy servant speak, and 
 be not angry with thy servant. 
 
 (Pharaoh gives assent.) 
 There is a young man, a Hebrew, who was also 
 with me in prison; and lo, I dreamed, and he did 
 interpret me my dream, and it happened even as 
 he foretold. 
 Pharaoh: Where is this youth? Let him be brought. 
 Butler (bows): He was servant to Potiphar, the cap- 
 tain of the guard. 
 
 104 
 
Joseph and His Brethkkn 
 
 Pharaoh (to Servant) : Go, bring him hither quickly. 
 Servant bows, and exit. 
 
 Pharaoh {to butler) : What is he called? Hath he of a 
 surety power to interpret dreams? 
 
 Butler (bows): He is called Joseph, my lord. From 
 the land of the Hebrews was he stolen away and 
 sold into Egypt. And not only my dream did he 
 faithfully foretell, but that of the chief baker. 
 And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so 
 it was. Me, Pharaoh restored unto mine office, 
 and the baker he hanged! 
 
 E7iter Servant with Joseph. Servant bows. 
 Joseph kneels before throne and touches forehead 
 to floor. Pharaoh motions him to rise. 
 
 Pharaoh: I have dreamed a dream, and there is none 
 that can interpret it; and I have heard say of 
 thee that thou canst understand a dream, to tell 
 its meaning. 
 
 Joseph: It is not in me. God shall give Pharaoh an 
 answer of peace. 
 
 Pharaoh: In my dream, behold, I stood upon the 
 bank of the river, and there came up out of the 
 river seven kine, fat-fleshed and well-favoured; 
 and they fed in a meadow. 
 
 And, behold, seven other kine came up after 
 them, poor and very ill-favoured and lean-fleshed, 
 such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for 
 badness. And the lean and ill-favoured kine did 
 eat up the first seven fat kine, but lo, they were 
 still ill-favoured as at the beginning. 
 105 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 And I dreamed again, and lo, seven ears came 
 up in one stalk, full and good. 
 
 And behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and 
 blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them. 
 
 And the thin ears devoured the seven good 
 ears; and I told this to the magicians, but there 
 was none that could declare it unto me. 
 Joseph: Behold, what God is about to do he showeth 
 unto Pharaoh! The seven good kine are seven 
 years, and the seven good ears are seven years; 
 the dream is one. And the seven thin and ill-fa- 
 voured kine that came up after them, and the 
 seven empty ears, blasted with the east wind, 
 shall be seven years of famine. 
 
 Behold, there come seven years of great plenty 
 throughout all the land of Egypt, and after them 
 come seven years of famine; and the famine 
 shall be very grievous, and God shall shortly 
 bring all this to pass. 
 
 Now therefore let Pharaoh look out a man dis- 
 creet and wise, and set him over the land of 
 Egypt. 
 
 And let them gather up food in these good years 
 that come, and lay up corn in the cities under the 
 hand of Pharaoh, for a store to the land against 
 the grievous famine. 
 
 Phaeaoh turns and addresses group of Wise- 
 Men, Officers, etc., who consult before answering. 
 Pharaoh: What saj' ye? Hath he not spoken well? 
 
 106 
 
Joseph and His Bketheen 
 
 Officer (bows) : My lord, the thing is good in the eyes of 
 all thy servants; let Pharaoh do according as 
 he hath spoken, that the land perish not through 
 the famine. 
 Pharaoh: Can we find such a one ;is this, a man in 
 whom the Spirit of God is? 
 Turns to Joseph. 
 
 Forasmuch as God hath showed thee all this, 
 there is none so discreet and wise as thou art. 
 Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto 
 thy word shall all my people be ruled; only on 
 the throne will I be greater than thou! 
 
 Beckons to Joseph, who kneels while Pharaoh 
 puts ring on his finger and gold chain about his 
 neck. Pharaoh motions him to rise, and, himself 
 rising, extends arm toward group of Officers. 
 Pharaoh: Bow the knee! Bow the knee! For behold, 
 I have made him ruler over all the land of Egypt! 
 All immediately prostrate themselves. 
 Curtain 
 
 Act III 
 Scene 1 
 Egypt. Palace of Joseph. 
 Curtain rises on Joseph and Steward, standing in 
 conversation near right front of stage. Servant sta- 
 tioned at door. Enter Another Servant. 
 Servant (bows) : My lord, there stand without certain 
 Hebrews, from Canaan, come to buy corn. 
 107 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 Joseph [ivilh interest): Hebrews, saidst thou? Bring 
 
 them in. 
 Exit Servant. Enter the Ten Brothers and 
 
 prostrate themselves. Servant takes position by 
 
 door. Joseph gives start of recognition. 
 .Joseph (aside) : As the Lord Hveth, my brethren! 
 Controls agitation and speaks harshly. 
 Whence come ye? 
 
 Motions them to rise. 
 Reuben (bows): My Lord, we come from the land of 
 
 Canaan, to buy food. 
 Joseph: Ye are spies. To see the nakedness of the 
 
 land are ye come! 
 Reuben (bows): Nay, my lord; but to buy food are 
 
 thy servants come. 
 Levi (bows): We are all one man's sons; we are true 
 
 men; thy servants are no spies. 
 Joseph: Nay, ye are spies. Surely ye be not brethren! 
 Simeon (bows): Thy servants are twelve brethren, 
 
 the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and 
 
 behold, the youngest is this day with our father, 
 
 and one is not. 
 Joseph (eagerly) : Is your father yet aUve? Have ye 
 
 another brother? 
 Judah (bows): My lord, we have a father, an old man, 
 
 and a child of his old age, a little one. 
 Joseph (resumes harshness) : Again I say unto you, ye 
 
 are spies! By the life of Pharaoh, ye shall not 
 
 all go forth hence except your brother come 
 
 hither. 
 
 108 
 
Joseph and His Brethren 
 
 Simeon (bows): Nay, my lord, the lad cannot leave 
 his father; for if he should leave his father, his 
 father would die. 
 
 Joseph: Now hereby shall ye be proved. If ye be true 
 men, let one of you be bound and cast into prison. 
 And go ye the rest, carry corn for the famine of 
 your houses, and bring your youngest brother 
 unto me, that I may set mine eyes upon him. 
 So shall your words be verified, and ye shall not 
 die. 
 
 Levi (to Brothers): We are verily guilty concern- 
 ing our brother Joseph, in that we saw the anguish 
 of his soul, when he besought us and we would not 
 hear! 
 
 Judah: Yea, therefore is this disti'ess come upon us! 
 
 Reuben: Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin 
 against the child? and ye would not hear! 
 
 Joseph (sternly) : Why whisper ye among yourselves? 
 Verily, ye shall not see my face again unless your 
 youngest brother be with you. 
 
 Simeon (bows) : O my lord, I pray thee — 
 
 Joseph (interrupts): Bind me this man and take him 
 away! 
 
 Exeunt Servants with Simeon. 
 
 Joseph (to brothers): Take ye food for your house- 
 holds and be gone, and bring your youngest 
 brother unto me. Then shall I know that ye are 
 true men aund not spies; and I will deliver unto 
 you your brother that is bound. 
 
 Exeunt Brothers in great dejection. 
 109 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 Joseph (to Steward) : Fill now their sacks with corn, 
 and give them provisions and set them on their 
 way. And do thou privately restore every man 
 his money into his sack. 
 
 Steward bows, and exit. 
 Curtain 
 
 Act III 
 
 Scene 2 
 Hebron. Tent of Israel. 
 Curtain rises on Israel, Reuben, Levi and Judah. 
 
 They remain standing during the scene, moving about as 
 
 naturally as possible. 
 
 Israel: Behold, the famine is still sore in the land. 
 Go ye again into Egypt, buy us a httle food. 
 
 Reuben: My father, did we not tell thee aforetime how 
 that the man, the lord of the country, did sol- 
 emnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not see 
 my face except your brother be with you? 
 
 Israel: Yea, ye have told me; but I will send him not. 
 Some mischief will befall him. 
 
 Levi: If thou wilt send our brother with us, we will go 
 down and buy thee food. But if thou wilt not 
 send Benjamin we will not go down, for the man 
 is even as Pharaoh. 
 
 Israel: Nay, he shall not go down. Joseph is not, 
 and Simeon is not, and ye would takfr Benjamin 
 away! 
 
 Reuben: Without him we dare not go. 
 
 ■no 
 
Joseph and His Brethren 
 
 Israel {impatiently) : Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me 
 as to tell the man ye had yet a brother? 
 
 Judah: The man asked us straitlj' of our state and of 
 our kindred, saying, Is your father yet alive? 
 Have ye another brother? And so we told him. 
 Could we know that he would say, Bring your 
 brother down? 
 Israel shakes his head in distress and doubt. 
 
 Levi: I pray thee, send the lad with us, that we may 
 arise and go ; for without food we must die, both 
 we, and thou, and also our little ones. 
 
 Israel: Ye know that Rachel bare me two sons. 
 And the one went out from me, and I said. Surely 
 he is torn in pieces; and I saw him not since. 
 And if ye take Benjamin also from me, and evil 
 befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with 
 sorrow to the grave. 
 
 Judah (with great earnestness) : Behold, I will be surety 
 for him; of my hand shalt thou require him. If 
 I bring him not unto thee again, then let me bear 
 the blame forever! 
 Israel walks slowly across stage before replying. 
 
 Israel: If it must be so, now do this: take of the best 
 fruits of the land, and carry down the man a 
 present. And take double monej^ in your hand; 
 and the money that was found in the mouth of 
 your sacks, carry it again in your hand. Perad- 
 venture it was an oversight. Take also your 
 brother, and arise, go again unto the man. And 
 God Almighty give you mercy before the man, 
 111 
 
The Dramatic Instinct 
 
 that he may send away your other brother and 
 Benjamin! If I be bereaved of my children, I 
 am bereaved! 
 
 Brothers bow. Exeunt. 
 Curtain 
 
 Act l\ 
 Egypt. Palace of Joseph. 
 
 Between this and the preceding act the Brothers have 
 returned to Egypt, talcing Benjamin. Joseph 
 has released Simeon and feasted the whole party at 
 his house. They start home, still ignorant of his 
 identity, but are recalled at his order. The curtain 
 rises on Joseph seated at center back, Servants in 
 attendance. Enter Steward and bows. 
 
 Steward: My lord, I have done as thou didst com- 
 mand, and have concealed thy cup in the sack's 
 mouth of the youngest. 
 
 Joseph: And hast thou sent to overtake them ere 
 they reach the inn? 
 
 Steward (bows): Yea, my lord, and lo, they are even 
 now returned. 
 
 .Toseph: It is well. Bring them hither. 
 
 Exit Steward. Enter the Eleven Brothers, 
 and prostrate themselves. Each carries his sack. 
 They remain kneeling till the conclusion of the act. 
 
 Joseph (sternly): Wherefore have ye rewarded evil 
 for good, to steal my silver cup? Did I not 
 entreat you kindly, and give you to cat bread in 
 112 
 
Joseph and His Brethren 
 
 mine own house, and deliver you your brother 
 that was bound? And lo, this have ye done! 
 
 The Brothers look at one another in amaze- 
 ment and dismay. 
 
 Reuben: Wherefore saith my lord these words? God 
 forbid that thy servants should do according to 
 this thing. Behold, the money which we found 
 in our sacks' mouths, we brought again to thee 
 out of the land of Canaan; how then should we 
 steal out of thy house silver or gold? With 
 whomsoever of thy servants it be found, both let 
 him die, and we also will be my lord's bondsmen! 
 
 Joseph: Now let it be according to these words. 
 He with whom the cup be found shall be my 
 servant, but ye shall be blameless. 
 To Steward. 
 Open every man's sack and search, beginning 
 with the eldest! 
 
 Steward obeys, and finds the cup in Benja- 
 min's sack. A groan goes up from all the 
 Brothers. 
 
 Joseph: What deed is this that ye have done? Knew 
 ye not that such a man as I can certainly divine? 
 
 Judah (aside) : What shall we say unto my lord? 
 
 Levi (aside) : What shall we speak? 
 
 Simeon (aside) : How shall we clear ourselves? 
 
 Reuben (very humbly): God hath found out the in- 
 iquity of thy servants; behold, we are my lord's 
 bondsmen, both we, and he also with whom the 
 cup is found. 
 
 Its 
 
The Dhamatic Instinct 
 
 Joseph: Nay, but the man in whose hand the cup is 
 found, he shall be my servant; and as for you, 
 get you up in peace unto your father. 
 
 Judah: my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, 
 speak a word in my lord's ears, and let not thine 
 anger burn against thy servant ; for thou art even 
 as Pharaoh! 
 
 Joseph: Say on. 
 
 Judah: At thy command, my lord, we brought the 
 lad down from the land of Canaan; and, behold, 
 our father said unto us. If mischief befall him, 
 ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow 
 to the grave. For lo, his brother Joseph is dead, 
 and he alone is left of his mother, and his father 
 loveth him. And I thy servant became surety 
 for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him 
 not unto thee again, then let me bear the blame 
 forever. Now therefore, I pray thee, let me 
 abide instead of the lad a bondsman to my lord, 
 and let the lad go up with his brethren. 
 
 Half rises on the last sentence, with arms out- 
 stretched in supplication. 
 
 Joseph (to Steward) : Cause every man to go out 
 from me! 
 
 Exeunt Steward and other Servants 
 Joseph (rises) : 1 am Joseph; doth my father yet live? 
 They are dumbfounded and terrified. 
 I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into 
 Egypt. 
 
 Ill 
 
Joseph and His Brethhen 
 
 Levi {in awestruck whisper): Joseph! See how our 
 sin has found us out! 
 
 Others (also aside): Yea, our sin is upon us! Now 
 must we doubtless perish. 
 
 Joseph: Nay, my brethren, be not afraid, nor angry 
 with yourselves that ye sold me hither; for God 
 did send me before you to preserve your lives, 
 for there are yet five years of famine. So now it 
 was not you that sent me hither, but God, and he 
 hath made me ruler of all the land of Egypt. 
 And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in 
 Egypt, and all that ye have seen; and ye shall 
 haste and bring down my father hither, that I 
 may nourish him and you and all your households 
 throughout the grievous famine! 
 
 He stretches out his arms toward them as they 
 still hesitate. 
 
 Oh, my brethren, come near to me, I pray you! 
 Behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother 
 Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto 
 
 you! 
 
 Embraces Benjamin 
 Curtain 
 
 115