The Wishing Stone A PLAY FOR JUNIORS by A. M. H. Burrows Author of Princess Merry Heart and The Light Fairies SUGGESTIONS. 1. This play may be lengthened by the addition of more games at the parties, and more wishes in act III. Any simple hymn in which spiritual gifts are asked for may be used as a wish. 2. The scholarships named are those of the Juniors of Western New York. They may be omitted, and the story of other work substituted. When used, each scholarship may be illustrated by a procession, in cos¬ tume, from the school mentioned, passing slowly across the front of the stage with music. Copies cf the play may be obtained at 25 cents each (five copies for $1.00,) from Mrs. G. S. Burrows. 22Q— -QmuuL t ?--iUj eafr, <^c> No r t h Tonawan d-a? New York. I 1916 The Wishing Stone By ANGIE M. H. BURROWS Characters Mother Miss Grace Ellen Ruth Lizzie Edna Alice Susie Elsie Older Sisters, ■—-Louise, Rose and Esther. Fairy Godmother Dream Fairy Missionary Nurse Missionary Teacher Missionary Deaconess Chinese Girl Slaves from India Japanese Girl Other Girls at the Parties. ACT 1. THE BIRTHDAY GIFT (Children at party, finishing their ice¬ cream and cake.) LIZZIE:—I think this has been a perfect¬ ly lovely party. ELLEN:-—I’m glad you like it. EDNA:—I’m going to have a party when my birthday comes. RUTH:—When does it come. EDNA:—The thirtieth of T une. ELSIE:—Are you going to have ice¬ cream at your party? EDNA:—Of course. And mother says I can have three kinds of cake at my party. CHILDREN:—Oh, my! EDNA:-—And I’m going to have more girls at my party. ALICE:—Mother says I can have a party next year. I can’t have ice-cream, but Fath¬ er makes sugar, and mother says we can have maple sugar on snow. CHILDREN:—Oh, how nice! (Enter Mother) MOTHER:—Was the ice-cream good, children? CHILDREN:—Yes, ma’am. RUTH:—The best I ever ate. SUSIE:—1 never had any sliced ice¬ cream before. LIZZIE:-—It’s been a lovely party. ELSIE:—The party’s all over now, ’cause the ice-cream’s all gone, and the cake’s all gone. OLDER CHILDREN:—Sh— MOTHER:—No, it isn’t quite over. El¬ len’s fairy Godmother is coming to bring her a gift. LIZZIE:—The fairy Godmother? Oh, Mrs. Mason, may we stay and see her? MOTHER:—Yes, indeed. CHILDREN:—Oh, goody! LIZZIE:—I never saw a fairy Godmother. (Enter Fairy Godmother. Children Rise) F. G.:—Well, here’s your chance, for here she is. Where’s my girl Ellen? ELLEN:—Here I am, Godmother. F. G.:—You’re Ellen, are you? Well, El¬ len, you’re getting to be a pretty big girl, and it’s time you had a little responsibility. So I’ve brought you a little present. (Takes wishing-stone From Bag.) F: G.: — Take this stone and guard it well. All it’s value, who can tell? Wish and touch it, each of you. Then will every wish come true; But what you wish for, give good heed, Or sorry you will be indeed. You who to happiness aspire Must start your lives with right desire. ELLEN:—Oh, Godmother! Can I really have anything I wish for? F. G.:—Anything you wish for, if you touch the wishing-stone. ELLEN:—And can all the other girls, too? F. G.:—Anybody who touches the wish¬ ing-stone. ELLEN:—Thank you, dear Godmother! (Kisses her hand as she takes the stone.) And you will see what perfectly lovely things we shall wish for! F. G.:—See that you do! See that you do! Take heed! (Exit F. G, Children gather around Ellen.) LIZZIE:—Oh, Elien, what are you going to wish for? ELLEN:— I wish this house were made of gold, And full of gold inside. Then I would go where toys are sold, And all my wants provide. There’s nothing .nothing in the world But that my go’d would buy— French dolls with real hair that’s curled And dolls that talk and cry, And piles and piles of other things; THE WISHING STONE And people would bow down And say, “That little Mason girl’s The richest girl in town.” (Touches Stone.) CHILDREN—Who’s going to wish next? LIZZIE:—Oh, please let me! I want a party every day, With lovely things to eai, And lots and lots of games to play, And flowers that smell so sweet, And lots of rooms to wander through, And nooks for hide-and-seek, And fairy stories that come true And last a whole long week. (Touches Stone.) EDNA:-—May I wish next? I wish for dresses of silk and lace And velvet and satin, with veils for my face, Gold watches and bracelets and beads and chains, And silk umbrellas for when it rains, And pearls and diamonds and other bright things To set in my watches and pins and rings • (Touches Stone.) ALICE: — I want a voice for singing so sweet and strong and high That never any nightengale can sing as well as I; Then every single place I go I shall be asked to sing, And all who hear will clap and clap and clap like anything (Touches Stone.) RUTH:— Oh, dear! I’d rather be a poet, writ¬ ing things for books; And everyone’d admire me so. I’d know it by their looks; And how I’d love to see in print the things that I had writ And hear the people talking of my wisdom and my wit! Touches Stone. SUSIE: — I wish I could dance like a fairy And never get tired at all. I’d dance all day, like the sunshine, All over the floor and wall; And when people looked and wondered, I’d dance on the ceiling, too, And they all would look and wonder again, And wouldn’t know what to do. (Susie touches the stone, and than dances. Ellen, Lizzie, Ruth and Edna sit down at the-back of the stage in the middle, leaving space behind chairs for the Dream Fairy to pass around later.) ELLEN:— It’s your turn to wish, Elsie. ELSIE: — What shall I wish for? ELLEN:— Whatever you want most of all. ELSIE: — I want a little pussy-cat, All soft and warm and dear, So tame and nice and cuddley That I can hold her here. She’ll have some pretty yellow eyes And whiskers very long. And she will sing and sing to me The dearest little song. (Helds arms as if holding pussy, and liuraj “The song of the pussy-cat.” The other chil¬ dren join in, drop, one or two at a time, into the tableau with the four sitting girls at the back, and fall asieep. Enter dream-fairy with wand, which she waves over the sleeping children as she passes around them, saying:) DREAM FAIRY: — Dream, dream, dream, dream. Things are never what they seem. Little humans, in your youth See them as they are in truth. Passing pleasures all are shallow—- Little candles made of tallow. Real joys are like the sun, Shedding light on everyone. Dream, dream, dream, dream, dream. (Curtain.) ACT II. THE DREAM. (The children dressed as old ladies in olack or grey with white caps, aprons and spectacles, sewing.) SUSIE:—Ah me! how dreary it is to be old! How long and lonesome the days are, and nothing pleasant to think about! ALICE:—How true! T have been thinking today about our happy childhood, and worn dering why we are all so unhappy now. I was thinking of Ellen’s birthday narty, and her fairy Godmother, and the wislnng-stone. Do you remember? ELSIE:—I remember! 1 was offered any¬ thing I wished for, and I wished for a pus¬ sy-cat! ■ LIZZIE:—It wasn’t a very wise wish, was it? But then, you were not very big. And what didn’t you suffer because of that an¬ imal! She killed your canary, and she caught all the gold fish, and she stole the cream. Finally she began catching the neighbors’ chickens, and then she herself came to a sad THE WISHING STONE end. I remember we had thirteen funerals under the grape-vine because of that cat. RUTH:—Yes, my dear, even you made a wiser choice than Elsie did. LIZZIE:—I! Why, I could think of nothing better to wish for than parties: And how I enjoyed them for the first few days! Then I began to get tired, but they never stopped. Then I grew cross and naughty, and had to be punished, and cried myself to sleep every night. Then my eyes were so red and swollen that I locked like a fright; and I grew so tired of games that I wouldn’t play, and no¬ body liked me. Then eating so many good things made me sick, and I was very unhap¬ py. Finally I borrowed Ellen’s stone and wished never to go to a party again as long as I live; and it was a far better wish then the first one! SUSIE:—And 1 wanted to do nothing but dance! Well I did dance and dance and dance. But new' 1 have rheumatism and can’t dance any more, and all I can do is to sit and wonder when dinner will be ready. But Alice chese wisely. ALICE:—A voice—to be used in showing off? Of course, it would not have been so bad if I had used it differently. RUTH:—I knew what you mean, for I made the same mistake. I chose a good gift, but I used it just to make myself famous, and it was a failure. Edna, at least, had some¬ thing to show for her wish. She used to look lovely in her pretty clothes. EDNA:—Did I? Well, I wasn't lovely. I didn’t love a single person except myself, nor a single thing except my cloches. And as I grew older, they didn’t even make me look lovely. I stopped wearing them because my own little grand daughter asked me if I did- n t think I would look more grandmoth- ery if I didn’t wear so many shiny things! Dear child! If I had only made Ellen’s wish I would have been able to give her more ad¬ vantages. ELLEN:—A wish for gold? Don’t think it! I thought gold would buy anything in the world, and it has never bought me anything of value. It made me worldly, and it made my children vain and ever-bearing and extrav¬ agant; and if they don’t waste it all, it will snoil my grandchildren. My only real hap¬ piness is found in the love of my few real friends: anp this w°s not bought with gold. I do believe Elsie’s kittie gave her more hap¬ piness than the gold gave me. EDNA:—It looks as if the wishing-stone were a. failure, doesn’t it? ALICE:—It was a failure; but mightn’t it have been a success if we had wished dif¬ ferently? ELLEN:—I wonder. LIZZIE:—Why, what was it that the fairy Godmother said at the time? “Ycu who to happiness aspire, Must start your lives with right desire.” SUSIE:—What a pity that we did not all take heed! ALL: — (Singing) Our hearts are cold and sad and weary, We’re old, and our lives are very dreary. We did no good in the sunny past. The joys we chose, they did not last, They did not last! And our lives are sad and weary. And our lives are very dreary! (Curtain.) ACT III THREE GOOD WISHES. (Children asleep, as at the end of Act 1. Enter Mother.) MOTHER:—Why, children, are you all asleep? Wake up, Ellen. For shame—to let your little guests have such a dull time that they all fall asleep! Couldn’t you think of a nice game? (Children sit up and rub their eyes.) RUTH:—It wasn’t that, Mrs. Mason, but Elsie was making believe that her pussy was purring, and it made us all sleepy. Children rise.) ELLEN:—And I dreamed the queerest dream, mother! I dreamed that we were all old, old women. CHILDREN:—Why, so did I! MOTHER:—Strange—that you all dream¬ ed the same thing! ELLEN:—And I dreamed that none of the thinvs we wished for made us happy. MOTHER:—That is not so strange. ELLEN:—Why, mother, didn’t you think those things are good to have? MOTHER:—I knew they wouldn’t last, and I doubted if they would make you hap¬ py. ELLEN:—What things do last, Mother? MOTHER: — Why, such things as— FAIRY:-— IBehind the curtain) Love that is merciful, hearts that are pure, Joyful self-giving shall ever endure; Service and worship in spirit and truth— The®--' a’-e the blessings for age and for youth. CHILDREN:—What was that? LIZZIE:—Oh. I th’’nk it was a fairy! I wish she would sing it ae-am so we*could learn it! (Song repeated twice. The second time the children join in.) ELLEN:—If that is true, our first wishes weren’t any good. Here is the stone, girls. Let s wish things back as they were, so we can begin over again. THE WISHING STONE (The girls form a circle and march around Ellen, each touching the stone as they pass, and all singine:—) ALL: — Silks and satins and jewels and gold, Pussies and parties and wealth untold, Pomps and vanities, empty fame, We wish you out of our wishing-game. ELLEN:—There, girls! Now let us make a good, worth-while wish, all together. What shall it be? LIZZIE:—Why not make the fairy song in¬ to a wish? Love that is merciful, hearts that are pure, Joyful self-giving shall ever endure. Service and worship in spirit and truth— We wish for these blessings in age and in youth. (All march around, singing it, and each touches the stcne.) ALICE:—I like to wish. Let’s wish some more things. (Alice sings any child’s hymn, in form of a prayer.) . SUSIE:—I’ve thought of a wish, too: If anyone in sadness be And need a smile, dear Lord, send me. If any be in want or need. Send me to give them help indeed. If any seek the Father’s face, Send me to help them with Thy grace. If anybody know not Thee, At home or over land and sea, Send me, dear Lord, send me! Send me! CHILDREN:—Say it again! (Susie repeats it, and the children join in the l-.st half of the second line, and the whole of the 4th, 6th and last lines.) ELLEN:—Oh, girls, we have found the right wishes! I know they would please the fairy Godmother. But I feel like doing some¬ thing to help make them come true—don’t you? EDNA:—Well, we can all try, and then we can talk about it again when we meet at my party. (ALL SING:) Bright little sunbeams, Lord, let us be, Shining afar o’er land and sea; Shedding our light about us, so It shall be brighter where we go. Far in the land of darkest night, May our livnt make it bright, Leading Thy children all to see And to follow Thee. (Curtain) ACT IV. Scene 1. THE CALL. (Children assembled at Edna’s party, play¬ ing a game. Enter Ruth and Alice, with older sisters). EDNA:—How do you do, girls? I’m glad to see you. RUTH:—Alice and I brought our big sis¬ ters, Edna. Do you know them? This is Rose, and this is Lou'se. ALICE:—And this is my sister Esther. EDNA:—I am glad to see you all. ESTHER:—Mother thought that perhaps we could help with the serving, you are giv¬ ing such a large party. EDNA:—Yes, indeed! Mother will be glad to have your help. RUTH:-—I’m sorry we are so late. What have you been playing? SUSIE:—Drop the handkerchief. Come on, let’s play it again. ELLEN:—Oh, let’s not play just now. Let’s talk about how to make our wishes come true. (All sit down.) ALICE:—Oh, let’s! I haven’t thought of a single thing to do except smile. I smile and smile and smile and smile, until I’m smiling all-the while. Do tell me something else that I can do. EDNA:—Of course we all help our moth¬ ers and try to be kind to our friends; but mere seems to be nothing that we can do for our neighbors farther away—nothing that would really make much difference. RUTH:—Girls, I’ve thought of something! We made our wishes all together. Now, why can’t we undertake some worth-while thing and do it all together? Then we could do something big enough to matter. OTHERS:—Good! What shall we do? ELLEN:—That’s just it. If we could only think! (Enter Fairy Godmother.) F. G.:—The wish is father of the thought, The thought is mother of the deed. Now look and listen as you ought. Take heed! Take heed! Take heed! (Waves wand. Curtain.) SCENE 2. (Children still sitting in the back-ground. F. G. standing near. Trained nurse standing. Enter Chinese girl.) CHINESE GIRL: — My dear little brother is very sick,— It is this I have come to tell. We took him off to the wooden god, But he could not make him well. If we bring him here to your hospital bed, Will you drive the bad spirit away And cure his sickness and ease his pain, And make him well some day? NURSE:-—Alas, dear child, it is hard in¬ deed THE WISHING STONE To refuse the thing you ask. To care for the sick and the suffering Is our God-appointed task; But our beds are full and oar nurses few, And no money comes for more. We cannot take more patients in—- We must turn them from our door. CHINESE GIRL:— (Weeping) Poor little brother! (Exit.) (F. G. waves wand. Curtain) SCENE 3. (Children in back-ground. Missionary dress¬ ed as deaconess, sitting by a table. Enter one or more little slaves from Lidia. Deacon¬ ess rises as she answers, and stands near them.) SLAVE GIRL: — We’re only poor little run-away slaves; But our master beats us so That we cannot stay with him any more, And we have no place to go. Is there room for us in your orphanage. Dear Missionary friend.? Will you take us and teach us what you know, And make us good in the end? DEACONESS:—Our orphanage, dear little girls, Is full as it can be. There’s not a corner anywhere Where we can shelter thee. When money from the church at home Is sent across the sea, Then we can build and make nrore room, And you shall welcome be. SLAVE GIRLS:—- (Weeping) But what shall we do now? (Exit slave girls F. G. waves wand. Curtain) SCENE 4. (Children in back-ground. Missionary teach¬ er writing at a table. Enter Japanese girl, who comes close to the teacher. Teacher- puts her arm around her.) JAPANESE GIRL: — Dear teacher, you made me a Christian And taught me how I must live. I have learned to read the Bible and pray And love and serve and give; But my father and mother and sisters and brothers, And all of my friends and a great many others At home in the province from which I came. Do none of them trust in the blessed Name. Dear Teacher, please beg our good Bishop to send A kind missionary to be their friend, And tell them the truth that will make them glad, And cheer the hearts that are heavy and sad. TEACHER:— Our Bishop, dear child, does constantly pray That the Board of Missions may see a way To send enough money and send enough men. He will have them in every province then; But the people at home in my native land Are slow to give—they do not understand. And so the Bishop must wait and wait And pray that help may not come too late To save the souls that he longs to win, And gather the goodly harvest in. JAPANESE GIRL:—(Weeping) I hope it will not be too late to save father and moth¬ er! (Bows her head on the teacher’s shoul¬ der, and children sing:) Hear them weeping, Hear them sobbing. All the world around; Hear them calling, calling, calling,— ’Tis a doleful sound— “Come knd heal us, come and teach us, Come and set us free.” Night and morn and all day long I hear them calling me. (F. G. waves wand. Curtain.) SCENE 5. (Girls seated as before, without thp Fairy Godmother.) ALICE:—Girls, I can never be happy again unless I can think of a way to help those poor little girls! RUTH:—Neither can I! LOUISE:—Wiiy, girls, why can’t you have a Junior Auxiliary? My cousin Agnes be¬ longs to one in the town where she lives. I’ve heard her talk about it, but I neve” thought much about it before. ESTHER:—Yes, they have one in Buffalo, where I used to live. LIZZIE:—-What do they do? LOUISE:—Oh, they sew for a missionary box, and give money for missions; and sometimes they have a sale or a play to earn money. RUTH:—Oh, let’s do it! We could send some of our money to help those poor little girls! CHILDREN:—Oh, let’s! ALICE:—Yes, let’s start it right away. Our Sunday School teacher w-ill help us. Then if the fairy Godmother comes lo ray party next spring we can tell her what we have done. CHILDREN:—Bo we can! ROSE:—And we older girls will find a way to help, too. THE WISHING STONE LIZZIE:—Oh, I’m so glad our wishes are going to come true! OTHERS:—So am I! ELSIE:—Isn't it time now for the ice cream and cake? EDNA:—Yes, Mother says we’re to come into the dining room now. ELSIE:—Oh, goody! (Exit ail. Curtain.) ACT V. THE FAIRY GODMOTHER’S WISH. (Children assembled at Alice’s party, play¬ ing “Ring around the rosy," or some other game. Enter Miss Grace.) MISS GRACE:—How do you do, children? LIZZIE, SUSIE AND EDNA:—Oh, here is Miss Grace! (All flock around her.) ALICE:—I’m glad you have come, Miss Grace. RUTH, ELLEN AND SUSIE:—Oh, Miss Grace, we’re so glad you have come! ALICE:—Do you think the fairy God¬ mother will come, Miss Grace? MISS GRACE:—Yes, indeed, I’m sure she will! LIZZIE:—What makes you sure, Miss Grace? MISS G.:—I know she could not resist the wishes of such earnest little workers as you! RUTH:-—Shall we tell her what we have done, Miss Grace, or would it be boasting? MISS G.:—Tell her all about it. It will not be boasting, because it is her work as well as yours. She gave you the wishing-stone, you know. ELLEN:—Of course! We mustn’t forget that it was the wishing-stone that made our wishes all come true. I wish she would hur¬ ry and come. (Enter F. G.) SUSIE:-—Why, here is your wish come true, and you didn’t touch the wishing-stone! F. G.:—Wishes get a habit of coming true, little girl, when you have wished three good wishes with the wishing-stone. ELLEN:—Oh, dear Godmother, we do love you so for your beautiful gift! It has made us all so happy! F. G.:—H’m! It has, has it? It didn’t make you very happy after your first foolish wish¬ es, did it? RUTH:-—No, but that was our own fault. F. G.:—Then the wishing-stone alone didn’t make you happy? EDNA:—Oh, of course we had to use it wisely. ALICE:—And we had to have Miss Grace to show us how. F. G.:—Who’s Miss Grace? ALICE:—Excuse me, Godmother! This is Miss Grace, our Sunday School teacher, who helped us start our Junior Branch. Miss Grace taught us all we know about our sis¬ ters far away, and showed us how to do ev¬ erything that we did. F. G.:—You're lucky girls to have her. I might have a Junior Branch in every parish, if every parish only had a Miss Grace. SUSIE:—See. Miss Grace, the fairy God¬ mother likes you! F. G.:—Now, Children, what have you done beside learn about your sisters far away? ELLEN:-—Well, Godmother, after we had learned about tnem, we felt so sorry for them that we prayed the good Father every day that He would send them help and com¬ fort, and that Ho would let us help. F. G.:—Good! But I hope you didn’t stop with that. ALICE:—No, indeed! Miss Grace brought a United Offering box, and we put pennies in it as often as we could, as a thank-offer¬ ing because we are happy Christian girls. F. G.:-—Good! Anything else? LIZZIE:—Yes, we made some clothes for the little black babies down South, and then we dressed dolls for the Indian girls’ Christ¬ mas tree. Oh, it was such fun! PUTH:-—Oh. but we haven’t told you about the big girls’ branch. What do you call it? FATHER:—The Intermediates. RUTH:—Oh, ;ves! Intermediates. 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