AFTERWORD
In the original production of this masque, referred to in the Foreword, the sanctuary stage was devised by Mr. Joseph Lindon Smith in two planes—the natural and the supernatural, harmoniously blended.
The natural plane, in the foreground, was a leaf-strewn plot of earth; the supernatural, in the background, was a constructed stage some eighteen inches higher, sloping slightly upward toward the back, covered with smooth canvas, practical for dancing, so painted as to suggest a weathered outcropping of rock, overgrown in places by moss and greensward.
This constructed stage was divided from the foreground earth by the trunk of a felled maple tree, straight in line and inconspicuous in color.
In front of this dividing line, SHY and Alwyn remained always in the natural plane; behind it, Ornis and Tacita remained always in the supernatural. Their scenes together were enacted near or beside the fallen tree trunk.
In the scene of his conversion, Stark was lured into the higher plane by Tacita; while Quercus alone among the characters skipped back and forth from one plane to the other.
As audience, the non-participating spectators sat in dominoes of brown, flanked on either side by the bird-participants in their pied bird costumes. These latter watched the performance until, at the finale, they were summoned by Quercus upon the constructed stage.
There, when all had been marshalled, entered the Cardinal Bird [enacted by Mr. Herbert Adams, the sculptor], accompanied by two small scarlet-tanager acolytes [boys], bearing great candles, to light a crimson cushion held by the Cardinal. On the cushion lay an open scroll.
This scroll, itself a sheet of parchment-like paper from the original press of Benjamin Franklin, had been inscribed by Mr. Stephen Parrish with a Sonnet-Epilogue,
Cardinal Bird and Hummingbird
composed by the author of the masque and signed by all of its participants, with their real names opposite the species of birds they severally impersonated.
Moving slowly forward to music till he stood before President and Mrs. Wilson, where they sat near the centre of the first row of the audience, the Cardinal Bird, with simple dignity, read from the scroll this
EPILOGUE
And sign ourselves
Having thus presented the scroll, the Cardinal Bird with his Acolytes retired to the stage, where the final dance and procession of the bird-participants then took place.
The Programme of the performance [omitting that part of the Prelude already printed on pages xix and xx] was as follows:
MEMBERS OF THE MERIDEN BIRD CLUB JOIN WITH RESIDENTS OF CORNISH, NEW HAMPSHIRE, AND THEIR FRIENDS, TO PRESENT A MASQUE IN THE INTEREST OF AMERICAN WILD BIRD PROTECTION
| QUERCUS | FAUN | JOSEPH LINDON SMITH |
| ALWYN | POET | PERCY MACKAYE |
| SHY | NATURALIST | ERNEST HAROLD BAYNES |
| TACITA | DRYAD | JULIET BARRETT RUBLEE |
| ORNIS | BIRD SPIRIT | ELEANOR WILSON |
| STARK | PLUME HUNTER | WITTER BYNNER |
| ATTENDANT | LEONARD COX |
| THE CARDINAL BIRD | HERBERT ADAMS |
| FIRST ACOLYTE | ROBIN MACKAYE |
| SECOND ACOLYTE | PAUL SAINT-GAUDENS |
| BLUEBIRD | MRS. HERBERT ADAMS |
| CARDINAL GROSBEAK | MR. HERBERT ADAMS |
| OWL | MISS CHARLOTTE ARNOLD |
| BALTIMORE ORIOLE | MISS FRANCES ARNOLD |
| OWL | MISS GRACE ARNOLD |
| RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD | MR. LEROY BARNETT |
| GOLDFINCH | MISS BIGELOW |
| DOWNY WOODPECKER | MRS. ERNEST HAROLD BAYNES |
| DOWNY WOODPECKER | MRS. EDSON BEMIS |
| DOWNY WOODPECKER | MR. EDSON BEMIS |
| GOLDFINCH | MR. JOHN FARNUM CANN |
| BLUE JAY | MISS LOUISE CONVERSE |
| BLUE JAY | MISS VIRGINIA CONVERSE |
| KINGBIRD | MRS. KENYON COX |
| CROW | MR. KENYON COX |
| FLICKER | MISS CAROLINE COX |
| SCARLET TANAGER | MR. ALLYN COX |
| BLUEBIRD | MISS ANNIE H. DUNCAN |
| HOUSE WREN | MISS ELIZABETH EVARTS |
| RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET | MR. PRESCOTT EVARTS |
| OWL | MR. ELWIN FEY |
| SCARLET TANAGER | MR. CHARLES FULLER |
| GOLDFINCH | MRS. CONGER GOODYEAR |
| RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET | MISS LENA HARDY |
| WOOD THRUSH | MISS RUTH HALL |
| EVENING GROSBEAK | MR. WILLIAM HOWARD HART |
| HAWK | MR. GRISWOLD HAYWOOD |
| KINGBIRD | MISS KING |
| KINGBIRD | MISS CLARA KING |
| BLUEBIRD | MRS. HERBERT LAKIN |
| YELLOW WARBLER | MISS ELEANOR LAKIN |
| YELLOW WARBLER | MISS HETTY LAKIN |
| BLUEBIRD | MISS BELLE LAVERACK |
| SNOW BUNTING | MRS. PERCY MACKAYE |
| SWALLOW | MISS HAZEL MACKAYE |
| HUMMINGBIRD | MISS ARVIA MACKAYE |
| SCARLET TANAGER | MASTER ROBIN MACKAYE |
| GOLDFINCH | MISS ALICE MCCLARY |
| BLUEBIRD | MISS ANNE PARRISH |
| CARDINAL BIRD | MR. STEPHEN PARRISH |
| RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD | MISS MARIE PARKER |
| HERMIT THRUSH | MRS. MAXWELL PERKINS |
| GOLDFINCH | MR. ROGER PLATT |
| SCARLET TANAGER | MR. WILLIAM PLATT |
| RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD | MISS EDNA RAPALLO |
| GOLDFINCH | MISS HADLEY RICHARDSON |
| BLUE HERON | MR. GEORGE RUBLEE |
| LOVE BIRD | MRS. LOUIS SAINT-GAUDENS |
| SCARLET TANAGER | MR. PAUL SAINT-GAUDENS |
| WOOD THRUSH | MISS SCUDDER |
| BLUEBIRD | MISS ELLEN SHIPMAN |
| INDIGO BUNTING | MASTER EVAN SHIPMAN |
| WOODPECKER | MISS FRANCES SMITH |
| WOODPECKER | MISS REBECCA SMITH |
| BALTIMORE ORIOLE | MISS CORDELIA TOWNSEND |