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Show mum J V ' "'"H-: 'B THE GREAT PAGEANT Such studying as went on for the examinations. Such learning of dates of battles, and names of generals and spelling of words and reviews of all they had studied. The little Mothers and Daddies had their parents to hear them recite what they knew so as to be sure they wouldn't fail in their examinations. They might pretend to each other that they hadn't studied and that they were sure they would fail, but they were, every single one of them, hoping hop-ing for high marks. They all did quite exceptionally well. The parents were proud of them. Examination Ex-amination marks counted for more than mere report cards. The great pageant and exercises were to take place in the big assembly hail of the school, which was decorated deco-rated in bunting and greens and flags and flowers for the event. Of course the teacher was going to stand back of the curtain to prompt any who made mistakes in the pageant or in their pieces. But otherwise the children were going to lie the only ones on the stage. At last, after great excitement, when the parents, sitting down in the audience au-dience thought their hearts would soon be beating aloud like the measured beating of a drum, the curtain was pulled back. It stuck at first and didn't seem to be willing to work, but in a few moments mo-ments it was all right, and the performance per-formance began. All the little Mothers and Daddies were assembled on the platform and sang the school song, and together recited re-cited their ideals of their school. How beautiful a sight It was I The parents kept their eyes mostly on their own. How their own stood out as more wonderful than any others. Then came the speaking of pieces and Daddy Fenwick was first on the program. He got along beautifully, even though he didn't seem to know where to put his arms, but he finally seemed to realize he couldn't get rid of them, so before he had finished his recitation recita-tion he had stopped moving his arms. Just before the end of his poem he skipped a whole paragraph. He stuttered a little and went back-to back-to the place where he had left off, but still he couldn't remember. So he simply bowed and stopped. Everyone clapped as though there hadn't been any mistake, and while everyone had heard the teacher try- Prizes Were Given. lng to prompt him, and had heard him, stutter and fumble, they didn't mind a small part left out. He had remembered most of It, after all. Little Mother Fenwick played so well. She made only three mistakes, and they weren't so very bad. All the others did well, too. The pageant was really quite remarkable. As many parents said: "They couldn't have acted better on the stage than our little ones did." Oh, how proud the parents were. It seemed as though they would burst with pride. Prizes were given, high marks were read out. Everyone was good at something. some-thing. It was one of the happiest days Reven-Saw had ever known. How pleased, too, were the little Mothers and Daddies that they had so delighted their Parents and that their Parents were willing to praise ! them over and over again. For this was In Reven-Saw, where the Parents and children had changed places for a time ! |