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THE
KINGSLEY CENTENARY.
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VILLAGE PAGEANT AT EVERSLEY.
While all England was reminded last week that the 12th June 1819, was
the birth day of Charles Kingsley. It was with especial pride that the
villagers of Eversley commemorated he centenary of that great
Englishman. They could not claim that Eversley was his birthplace, for
that honour belongs to the little parish of Holne, near Astburton,
Devon, where his father was curate. But it will ever be their boast that
it was in Eversley that Kingsley pasted the most fruitful years of his
busy life. It was in 1842, after ordination by Bishop Sumner, that
Kingsley took up a curacy at Eversley, where he remained till the
following year, when he accepted a curacy at Pimperne. Dorsetshire. His
stay there was short, for in 1844 - the year of his marriage - the
living of Eversley became vacant and was offered by it's Patron, Sir
John Cope, Bt., to the young curate. Thereafter Eversley Rectory was his
home until his death, on January 23rd, 1875 at the age of 55. Here it
was that during, these eventful years he gave the world the books that
made him famous as a writer of fiction.
Here it was that in many a controversy be proved himself a valiant
fighter for social righteousness, a champion of the downtrodden, a lover
of Nature and of his fellow men. And here, as long as reverence for what
is truly great abides in English hearts, will the name and fame of
Kingsley be honoured. The church, restored in 1876 at a cost of £1,200,
is itself a memorial of him. And now, by way of commemorating his
centenary, the villagers of Eversley have set before themselves the
praiseworthy object of building a Village Hall to be known as the
Charles Kingsley Hall. To raise funds for this purpose it was decided to
hold during the centenary week, namely, on the 11th, 12th and 13th June,
a "Village Pageant." The idea was conceived by Captain Arthur
Eliot, part author of the popular play, "The Better 'Ole," who
has recently become a resident of Eversley, and it was indeed a
fortunate circumstance that Eversley found this, gallant and versatile
gentleman one who was prepared to shoulder the chief burden of
organising and producing the pageant.
A committee was formed, -of which the Rev. M. Tanner, M.A., the present
Rector of Eversley, was the chairman, his daughter, Miss Tanner,
undertaking the post of hon. secretary, while their coadjutors were Mrs.
Delme Radcliffe, Mrs. Doxat, Mr. W. P. R. Ellis (hon. treasurer),
Captain Arthur Eliot, Miss Jubb, Mrs. Reeves, Miss Seed, Mrs. Tanner,
Mr. John Tindal, and Mrs. Verini. Miss Currie was the hon. librarian,
and Miss N. Eliot-Cornell was hon. secretary to the Pageant Master.
Though not all that could be desired from the point of view of some of
the spectators, the meadow facing the Rectory was all things considered,
the best site that could have been selected as the arena. The little
knoll at the back upon which swarmed the "gallery folk" was
the best of all view points, commanding an unobstructed view of the
pageant and partly shaded with. trees. The "pit" was placed at
the foot, of the knoll, and its occupants were not so fortunately
placed, as their view of the performances was partly hidden by the rows
of spectators in the guinea "stalls"so much so that many of
them left their seats and betook themselves to corners and points of
vantage whence then had a better sight of the show. The opening day of
the pageant was the hottest of the present summer, and the scene
altogether was one of radiant splendour. A few feet from the right-hand
corner of the stalls was the stand occupied by the band of the Coldsteam
Guards conducted Mr. Herman Finck, who shared with Mr. Philip Page the
responsibilities of Masters of Music. Sole musical director of the
Palace Theatre since 1900, and composer of a great number of comic
operas, musical sketches, orchestral and pianoforte pieces, Mr. Finck's
qualifications for the part he took in the production could not be
gainsaid. Much of the music he wrote himself, including "The
Pageant March" and the music incidental to "The Fish and Fly
Ballet," which formed one of the most attractive features in the
programme. Further out in the meadow was another bandstand occupied by
the band of the 11th Hussars, conducted by Mr. G. J. Crosbie, who played
before and after the pageant. So the vast audiences - were amply
refreshed with the most delightful music. The opening of the pageant was
signalised by the Hoisting of the flag of St. George on the
embattled and pinnacled tower of the church, and by the clanging of the
two bells -a reminder that, if a sufficient surplus of funds should
remain after the Kingsley Hall has been built, the belfry awaits a
further addition of bells to make the merry chimes which festive
occasions require.
GNOMES
AND OLD MEN.
The arena was next occupied by "The Eversley Gnomes,"
represented by the following boys of St. Neots' School (Eversley): L. C.
B. Ashburner, P. R. Ashburner, M. Delme Radcliffe, H. G. M. Dunn, J. W.
Fell, the Hon. J. Harbord, R. A. Harrison, J. E. Kennedy, A. Kennedy. H.
J. S. Llewellyn, W. S. Llewellyn, T. H. A. Llewellyn, J. C. Medlycott,
T. A. H. Medlycott, L. A. Simonds, J. L. M. Watson, J. M. White, and D.
A. D. Young. They were accompanied by "The old ,men of Eversley
woods," represented by J. D. Butler, A. R. Hill, N. Lovett, C. R.
Salisbury, A. C. Webb, C. A. S. Melvylle, and A. P. W. Baker. There were
also "The Wise Old Man" and "The Tired Old Man"
impersonated respectively by A. D. Hunter and J. D. R. T. Tilney.
THE
PROLOGUE.
Then came strolling across, the meadow a striking figure in
gold-embroidered black gown and cocked hat, no less distinguished a
personage than Mr. Arthur Bourchier, the cultured actor-manager, son of
Eton and Christ Church, whose activities and leadership in matters
theatrical date back to the time when he founded the University Dramatic
Society at Oxford and built the theatre there, with the co-operation of
the then Vice-Chancellor, the late Professor Jowett. Stopping
immediately in front of the first row of spectators the great actor
spoke in his beautifully modulated voice the prologue written for the
pageant by Mr. E. V. Lucas, the joint author with Mr. C. L. Graves of
"Wisdom While you Wait," of many travel tales, and other
literary work of excellent repute. In these couplets Mr. Lucas happily
sketched the salient characteristics of the hero whom the pageant was
commemorating-
"That valiant Fighter for the Right and Best Whose name is sweet in
every Hampshire breast."
Mr. Bourchier read, the lines from sheets written in large capitals, but
this precaution nevertheless did not save him from stumbling over the
last couplet
"Such was the Man to honour whom we're met,
The friend that Eversley will ne'er forget." Accompanied by the
applause of his audience the distinguished actor, after delivering these
lines, went to a seat at the right-hand side of the front row and became
one of the spectators of what followed. The prologue on Thursday was
spoken by another famous actor-manager, Mr. Gerald du Maurier, of
Wyndham's theatre, and on Friday by Mr. George Tully.
A
MEDIEVAL PROCESSION.
Now came the first episode of the pageant, illustrating an incident in
the church history of the parish. It is recorded that in the early'
years of the 14th century Bishop Woodlock journeyed from Winchester with
his suite and instituted a priest to Eversley on the presentation of
Nicholas Heigheman. About a hundred personages figured in this episode,
the cast being as follows:-
Party from Winchester.-Bishop Woodlock, Jose de Moraes; chaplain, E.
Hooker; Abbess, Miss Seed; clerks, John Hicks and Norman Hicks;
pardoner, Sergt. Ford, D.C.M.; doctor, C. Ward; musicians, Mrs.
MacNaghten, Miss Lushington, Mrs. Travers, and Miss Hewett; pages, C.
Champain Tanner, W. Challis, E. Cornish, G. Keely, and R. Mearing.
Nuns.-Mesdames Burford, Chapman, Collingwood, Coles, Ford, Hacker,
Higgs, Keely, Leversuch, Mearing, Pickersgill, and Rowe, and the Misses
Bunch, Cavendish, Chipchase, Cozens-Brooke, Damien, Edwards. Field,
Hadwen, Harmsworth, Higgs, Howell, Mansell, Tanner, Murray, Smith, St.
John, Shakespeare, Tapsfield, and White.
Followers.-Mesdames Oram,
Mearing, Ward, White, Summer, Marcham, Denton, Brown, Turner, Turner,
and Vivian.
Eversley Villagers.-Squire, W. White; keepers, G. Cottrell and E.
Sparvel; parson, R. Alington; friars, F. Chipchase, G. Edwards, C. T.
Carter, and J. Nash; ladies, the Misses Stilwell, D. Tindal, M. Tindal,
and Tanner; pages, E. Oram, J. Main, R. Main, and R. Oram; villagers,
Mesdames Brakspeare, Brown, Bond, Bushnell, Coster, Carter, Eatwell,
Denton, Dearlove, Dupree, Jarvis; Hooker, and Spencer, the Misses
Bourne, Burford, Barton, Chapman, Chandler, Cottlell, Gibbs, Hewitt,
Jarvis, Tyman, Howell, Bobbins, and Yeomans.
Approaching the centre, of the arena from one side of the ground came
the Bishop and his suite, several of them on horses with gay trappings,
and from the opposite direction came the procession of local worthies,
and, after due homage had been paid to the Bishop, the ceremony was
conducted in Latin and the book and keys were handed over to the
newly-instituted priest, after which the stately procession moved off.
The four friars returned, and after a game of bowls, in which they
showed more, alacrity than judgment, they sang "A Friar of Orders
Grey," arranged as a quartette by Dr. John Ivimey. The musical
director deemed one verse sufficient, but the friars either heeded him
not or were determined not to be cut short in this their "one hour
of glorious life." A joust between Red Knight (G. Eatwell) and Blue
Knight (A. J. Carter) helped us to imagine what the medieval tournament
was like. Attended by their respective heralds, musicians and pages, the
armoured knights pranced in with lances at rest and at the end of four
tilts, the Master at Arms (C. Leversuch) handed the banner of victory to
the Blue Knight. Red herald was represented, by F. Chipchase, blue
herald by H. Chipchase, red musician by R. Hooker, blue musician by E.
Hooker, red page by E. Scott, and blue page by R. White. Then followed
village games, a morris dance arranged by Miss Candlin being prettily
done by eight little girls-Misses, Susan and Joan Macnaghten, Cicely and
Millicent Hill, Susan and Pamela Simonds, Molly Walsh and Betty Reeves,
and a pretty picture they made in their dresses of pink and blue, yellow
and green, with jester caps and bells. The spectators were roused to
enthusiasm by the dainty scene and called back the performers, who, as
soon as they had bowed their acknowledgments, quickly ran off, leaving
the youngest of them all-a mere toddler of four or five - to make a solo
exit much to the general amusement.
According to programme, Archery by Miss E. Jubb, Miss E. L. Jubb and
Miss Campbell was to have been the next item, but this was omitted from
the first day's performance. A Musical Ride by Mrs. Travis, and the
Misses
Violet Lushington, S. Stilwell and D. Tindal showed some admirable
equestrian management, the ladies wearing jockey costumes of the gayest
hue.
THE FISH
AND FLY BALLET.
A fascinating scene was presented in the ballet entitled "The Fish
and Fly," which served to remind the spectators of a line in the
prologue which said of Kingsley- "No keener angler ever cast a
fly."
The ballet was performed by the John Tiller Dancing Academy, trained by
Madame Sismondi. It represented the four alreadymentioned friars in the
peaceful sport of angling. The warm day and the contents of thier
flagons have a soporific effect and they soon stretch themselves out to
sleep. A rainbow trout discovers the slumbering anglers and and, after
examining their fishing rods, calls to other trout to come and behold
their enemies. Fishing flies also arrive, and, forgetting their usual
enmity with each other, conspire with the trout to make sport with the
sleeping friars, whose rods they break, and whose flagons they fill with
water, whereupon they trip off to an imaginary pond in the wood. The
friars awaken, and discovering that they have been the victims of some
elfish mischief, hasten off, dismayed and bewildered. The leader of the
ballet, notwithstanding the rough ground, danced superbly, and the whole
performance, in which the dancers figured as silver trout and pink and
gold flies, was one that decidedly hit the popular fancy.
A PARTY
OF GIPSIES.
The next scene, described on the programme as "An
Interruption," was written for the occasion by Mr. Neil Lyons and
as one of the author's recreations is stated to be "driving a
waggon and sleeping in it" one may imagine him to have been quite
at home in conjuring up the scene. Mr. Stanley Logan, taking over for
the nonce the role of Pageant Master, is astonished by the appearance of
a caravan and a party of gipsies, hilariously obtruding themselves in
the arena. "I say, Eliot, what's this? This is all wrong!"
protests the Pageant Master's irate deputy. "Mr. Burtenshaw,"
the owner of the caravan, impersonated by Mr. Lewis Sydney, refuses to
go away, having very important and urgent business with the Rector.
" I want him to do a weddin' for me, if he'll do it
reasonable," exclaimed Mr, Burtenshaw, and a crowd of gipsy women,
resplendent in beads and feathers and coloured frocks, smilingly support
his demand, as also does the prospective bridegroom, a slim figure in a
grey suit profusely adorned with pearl buttons. While awaiting the
Rector's arrival Mr. Burtenshaw puts up for auction a tiny Shetland pony
for the good of the cause. It is sold for £21 to Mr. Masters, who
generously gives it back for re-sale, whereupon Mr. Burtenshaw's
persuasions induced further bids up to £15, making altogether a total
of £36 by this interlude. Furthermore, the same individual showed a
keen eye to business by directing the gipsy girls to " 'op it"
with baskets of carnations, 11 supplied by Messrs. Allwood Bros., of
Haywards Heath, with which the irresistible girls made havoc of the
purses of the spectators, giving no change. At length the Rector, in
grey flannels and clerical collar, appears upon the scene, and is
familiarly greeted by the proprietor of the caravan with a "Hullo,
Rec.!" The rev. gentleman good-naturedly shakes hands with the
whole party, and Mr. Burtenshaw comes to business about " the
weddin'." Exclamations of disappointment go up in chorus when the
gipsies are told by the Rector that the wedding cannot take place in
less than three weeks, Mr. Burtenshaw remarking that his daughter
Penelope, the expectant bride, could alter her mind in three minutes.
Penelope herself, impersonated with wonderful vivacity by Miss Iris Hoey,
presents her captivating face at the window of the caravan, and on
stepping down parades herself in all the splendour of purple velvet and
feathered hat of enormous diniensions. In her conversation with the
bridegroom she leaves no room for doubt that the latter is destined to
play second fiddle in their future matrimonial duets. "Where my
caravan has rested," sung by the Portuguese tenor, Jose de Moraes,
and "The Broken Doll," charmingly rendered by Miss Mabel
Russell (one of the gipsies), terminated the most enlivening episode of
the day, and with a "Good-bye, Rec.," Mr. Burtenshaw and his
party quitted the field. Among those who figured in the caravan scene
were the Misses Mears, Tanner, Locke, E. and N. Guggesberg, Cavendish,
Collingwood, St. John and Cay. On Thursday the part of Pageant Master in
this scene was taken by Capt. Eliot himself, and at one or other of the
performances violin solos were given by David de Groot and E. Vivian,
and a gipsy dance was performed by Miss Evelyn Porter.
MAYPOLE
DANCE AND HUMAN SCARECROW.
The departure of the gipsies was followed by the arrival of Maypole
dancers, the Misses Spencer, Silver, Taylor, Wheeler, Whitlock, Barker,
Coombs, Chapman, Pace, Leversuch, Lee, Chipchase, Burford, Harinsworth,
Yeomans and Scott executing the movements with charming prettiness.
"The Human Scarecrow " was an exceedingly grotesque
performance executed by Miss Freda Ford (by permission of Mrs.
Wordsworth). Brought on in a wheelbarrow by a farm labourer in smock
frock, the scarecrow was stuck up in the middle of he ground, and,
coming to life, performed in the manner of a mechanical toy the oddest
of dances, and having resumed its lifeless state was replaced in the
wheelbarrow and with stiffly extended arms and legs was trundled ,away
amid the applause of the spectators, who were astounded by the
cleverness of Miss Ford's extraordinary performance.
KINGSLEY'S
BOOKS
And what are those seven strange-looking objects in the background? They
have the shapes of closed volumes within which are enclosed living
persons. They move forward and as they draw near we are able to read the
titles of seven of Kingsley's books - "Westward Ho!" "Hereward
the Wake," "Alton Locke," "Two Years Ago,"
" WaterBabies," and "The Heroes." After the dance of
the Gnomes, which was arranged by Mrs. Wordsworth, the figure of Poetry,
represented by Miss Gabrielle Vallings, a granddaughter of Kingsley,
gloriously arrayed in a golden robe over a blue gown, was drawn forward
in a chariot. Miss Vallings thrilled her listeners with a rendering of
"The Three Fishers," infusing into the song that earnestness
and pathos so characteristic of Kingsley's best-known ballads. It was a
very fine performance and was beautifully accompanied by the strings.
The living persons who emerge from the volumes are now seen to be
principal characters of Kingsley's creation. There was the tragic figure
of Hypatia in her Greek robe, these also was Amyas Leigh, whose
adventures on the Spanish main have delighted our English youth ever
since his story was published. With these and with the chief characters
of the other volumes, Poetry held converse. These characters were
represented by B. G. W. Martin, G. L. Thornewill, Q. C. Craig, P. Delme
Radcliffe, J. A. Talbot Ponsonby, W. P. Serocold, and E. A. Bramwell.
A group of Kingsley's, Eversley contemporaries, now, of course, in
extreme old age, formed the last of this interesting series of local
associations.
HARVEST
HOME.
The last scene of all represented what in days gone by was a familiar
and joyous festival in Eversley- "The Harvest Home." There
were two great waggons on which the new hay was piled, there were the
lusty carters and farm hands, the big draught horses, the gaily attired
villagers, and foremost in the picture was the worthy farmer on
horseback and his good wife with her pannier basket. The farmer,
represented by Mr. Jose de Moraes, sang "My Litte Grey Home in the
West," a touch of domestic felicity which fitted well into the
scene. The gipsy's caravan and its saucy attendants reappeared and all
the rest who had taken part in the various episodes, grouped themselves
into the grand finale. The harvest hymn, "We plough the fields, and
scatter" was sung, the farmer singing a verse as a solo and all the
others joining in the glad refrain. Over the church in an aeroplane flew
Capt. F. C. Broome (Distinguished Flying Cross), and as he circled back
just over the heads of the spectators he sent out a shower of golden
rain and a number of miniature balloons. The Coldstream Guards played
the National Anthem the spectacle ended, and the spectator streamed out
of the exits to music played b the band of the 11th Hussars. |
