Chapter VII: Act V: Betsy Trotwood’s garden. David finds a home with his good

Aunt Betsy and gentle old Master Dick.

At the same time that Charles Dickens was writing _David Copperfield_ and other stories about the people he knew, several clever artists were making drawings of the same people. You probably know many of the amusing pictures they drew, especially those of Cruikshank, Tenniel, and Du Maurier. If you wish to know how David and Pegotty and Betsy Trotwood and little Emily really looked, ask your librarian to show you some of the illustrations that these artists made. Because these pictures give the very best idea of how the people of Dickens’ time looked, you might copy them for your marionettes. Their faces have a great deal of character, their clothes are those of that time, and they are so quaint and characteristic that they will never be uninteresting.

Probably the most beautiful marionette plays that one can imagine could be done from the great stories in the Bible. Just as in the early days of Christianity, when marionettes helped the people to see and feel the great scenes in their new religion, so, it would seem, that a time might come again when the little figures might return to their earliest uses. This could well be done in Christmas and Easter plays for the church and Sunday school. Imagine the story of Joseph and his brethren with scenes showing:

1. The tent life of Israel.

2. The kind old father.

3. The cruel brothers.

4. The selling into bondage.

5. The court life in Egypt.

6. Joseph among his new friends.

7. The famine.

8. The visit of the brothers.

9. The remorse of the brothers.

10. Joseph’s forgiveness in the last scene.

Parables, such as that of the Good Samaritan, are full of dramatic possibilities.

How many beautiful plays appropriate for Christmas, Easter, and saints’ days could be made from the lives of the saints! If you are interested in a play for your Sunday school or your parochial school, read and make into a play the life of Saint Christopher, Saint George, Saint Patrick, Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Agnes, Saint Genevieve, Saint Catherine of Sienna, or Saint Joan of Arc.

If you love fairy tales you will, no doubt, wish to make a fairy marionette play. You probably know many of the books listed here:

_Mother Goose_
_Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales_—Tr. Lucas
_The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales_—Tr. Crane.
_The Arabian Nights_—Ed. Colum
_Adventures of Nils_—Lagerlöf
_Gulliver’s Travels_—Swift
_The Blue Bird_—Maeterlinck
_Water Babies_—Kingsley
_The Little Lame Prince_—Craik
_Old Peter’s Russian Tales_—Ransome
_Æsop’s Fables_—Ed. Jacobs
_Undine_—La Motte Fouqué
_Story of the Rheingold_—Chapin
_Japanese Fairy Book_—Ozaki
_Wonder Tales of China Seas_—Olcott
_Tales of Wonder_—Wiggin and Smith

Here are a few familiar poems that may be turned into marionette plays:

_Hiawatha_—Longfellow
_Evangeline_—Longfellow
_Story Telling Ballads_—Olcott
_Lady of the Lake_—Scott
_Lays of Ancient Rome_—Macaulay

Many other stories will, no doubt, occur to you, and many ways of turning them to your needs.

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