Headed, perhaps by the boys with fife and drum, or by the
members of the cast if a play was to be given, the whole community,
young men and maidens, old men and children, went singing from one end
of the place to the other, that is from the Hive near the entrance to
the Amphitheater near the far side of the grove.
When a high festival was to be celebrated, the procession took on the
picturesque dignity of a pageant. A real pageant we dearly loved, but
the show was too expensive to be offered more than once or twice
annually. We had to hire musicians as our own were too busy to serve.
Then the costumes and banners and hangings took a good bit of money,
though artistic ingenuity helped out amazingly. Where all the
magnificence came from was a mystery, the splendors of purple and gold,
of rich draperies, fine furbelows, shining garments and glittering
adornments being really splendid. Bonico and I, as Heralds, for example,
once were superbly arrayed in white tabards emblazoned with red dragons
and gold embroidery, cut from paper and pasted on white muslin.
Pages:
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99