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Home Memories on Parade Meet the Family A Town is Born The Growing McCullough Family A Church Becomes a Reality A Closing Word The Man Called Guelcksie A is for Arthur The Coffin House Poet and Philosopher -- Aged Seven The Two Room School House Open the Windows and Open the Doors Sixteen Girls in White Four Girls and Five Boys The Poet in Hot Water Windows Open for Edith The Great Decision Bo Peep Epilogue Notes |
SIXTEEN GIRLS IN WHITE Typical of the programs Lizzie directed was "Sixteen Girls in White" which was presented in the church one Easter season. Sixteen girls in white dresses formed a cross by standing in formation, one behind the other, hands at their sides, so that each was exactly one head higher than the girl in front of her. As they took their places each girl said four lines of an Easter poem. The first girl had to be very small and I was chosen for the part. I was told to walk down the middle aisle of the church until I reached the front pews, turn to face the audience, repeat my lines, and sit down cross-legged on the floor, fold my arms and look. My lines introduced the theme of the tableau:
My heart weakened with stage fright. It was my first appearance before an audience. I did not understand the words "symbol" and "atonement", and did not like to say things I did not know. The second girl came, said her lines and took her place directly behind me kneeling, so that her head was directly above mine. Then the third girl came, then the fourth and fifth, and so on until there were ten, all selected for height, the tallest standing last. Then six girls, all the same height, formed the cross bar, standing to the right and left of number eight in the first line. Signalled by a chord from the organ, and joined by the audience, we sang the well-known hymn "In the Cross of Christ I Glory". All the girls in the cross wore white stockings, provided by my mother. They reached above our knees and were held in place by round garters. We wore no shoes and walked silently. Our dresses were long enough to cover the garters. The girls in the cross could not see the effect but we felt that we had rendered a special service. |