NEW YEAR’S AND A LEAP YEAR PARTY.
MY earliest recollection of New Year’s day is of being awakened at
midnight by the clangor of the fire bells, and the ringing of the
church bells, as they swung and rocked in their high steeples and
cupolas, shouting, Happy New Year! from their brazen throats to all the
sleeping town. Not being thoroughly conversant with bell language, I
was very much alarmed because they seemed to say “Come, get up—Come,
get up—House on fire—House on fire!” but, upon opening my eyes, I was
assured that they were ringing in the New Year, and, as I again fell
asleep, the bells were saying distinctly, “Wish you Happy New Year—Wish
you Happy New Year.”
Next day the table was decked with flowers, and was laden with roast
turkey, fruits, salads, and mince-pies. Oh, my! what delicious
mince-pies they were! None since have ever tasted as good as those made
and baked by my grandmother.
I often wonder if the next generation of grandmammas will make such
cookies, mince pies, and doughnuts as ours did; but this was in
Kentucky, and you know that we still observed the old-fashioned
customs, and all day long the gentlemen came dropping in by twos and
fours, and such handshaking and laughing, and such courtly compliments,
and such a bowing and a wishing of Many Happy New Years, it does me
good to think of. Who knows but that so many kind wishes of a long and
happy life, sincerely given, may really help to bring it to pass.
Small as I was at the time, and little as I understood the customs or
conversation, the spirit of the whole day was intelligible and appealed
to the little child, perhaps more forcibly than to the grown-up people.
It is really too bad that the crowded states of our large cities tend
to lead to the gradual decline of the custom of New Year’s calls, so
that now many people confine themselves to sending and receiving cards,
making the always stiff and formal bits of engraved pasteboard, do all
the calling and receiving; but
=New Year’s Parties=
are not out of date, so we will have one on New Year’s Eve, because
then young and old are privileged to sit up all night, that is, until
after twelve o’clock midnight, and have all the fun possible. Let us
begin our frolic with a
=Pantomime of an Enchanted Girl.=
For this a damp sheet must be fastened up across the room or between
the folding doors of the parlor. First, fasten the corners of the
sheet, next, the centre of each of the four sides, in order that the
cloth may be perfectly smooth; then place a lighted candle on the
floor, about four or five feet from the centre of the curtain. When the
lights in the room occupied by the audience are turned out, leaving it
in total darkness, so the shadows of the actors behind the curtain may
be seen on the screen, someone, standing outside of the curtain and
facing the audience, should explain or relate the story of the play:
of how a young girl, while walking out on the last day in November,
meets Halloween, who presents her with three gifts to try her fortune,
and how, when she is about to do so, a witch enchants her, etc. After
the story is finished, and a lively overture has been performed on some
musical instrument, the pantomime is played as follows:
The young girl personating the enchanted one, comes gayly forward from
the side, when almost across the curtain she meets Halloween, who
approaches from the opposite side, arrayed in short dress, with wings
made of newspaper folded fan fashion, and fastened on the shoulders;
in her hand she carries a cane with a silhouette of a cat, or two or
three stars and a crescent cut of stiff, brown paper and pasted on the
end; the cane is so held that the profiles of the figures are kept
toward the curtain. Seeing this queer being the young girl clearly
demonstrates, by her actions, that she is alarmed. When Halloween
quiets her fears, by surely and plainly indicating with slow movements
of the head, and downward motions of the arms that no harm is intended,
they shake hands; then Halloween shows the maiden three gifts, an
apple, a hand-mirror, and an unlighted candle. Before presenting them
she illustrates by gestures, the use to be made of each. Holding the
mirror in front of her face, she bites the apple, then looks quickly
around, as if expecting to see someone, and, again holding up the
mirror in one hand and the candle in the other, she takes a few steps
backward, when a boy enters by jumping over the light, which gives the
appearance of his having fallen down from the sky, Halloween looks
around, and the boy quickly disappears in the same manner as he came.
All this time the girl stands transfixed, with her hands raised and
all the fingers spread out in astonishment; she receives the presents
which are given with many nods and gestures. As Halloween walks away
the fortune-seeker turns and watches her with a telescope made of
a roll of paper she finds at her feet on the floor. The maiden then
proceeds to examine the gifts; as she takes up the apple and mirror,
her hand is stayed by a witch with flowing hair, who has approached
unperceived, carrying under one arm a broom, and wearing on her head an
ordinary hat with a piece of newspaper rolled up and pinned on to form
a peaked crown. She motions to the girl to be seated; then stands over
her and makes passes in the air, and taking up her broom from the floor
makes grand flourishes and departs walking back towards the candle,
which causes her shadow to grow larger and larger. The poor girl looks
anxiously around and discovers she has been enchanted, for there are
three girls instead of one; this effect is produced by two more lighted
candles being placed on the floor on either side of the first candle,
and every movement the girl makes is mimicked by her other selves. The
candles are removed and the Old Year instantly appears, his figure
bent, a piece of fringed paper pasted on his chin for a flowing beard,
and carrying in his hand a cane with a piece of stiff paper fastened
on to represent a scythe. Discovering him the girl runs forward to
tell her sorrows, and finds that it is only when alone that she is
enchanted, for when she attempts to point out her other selves they
have disappeared; making many gestures she looks here and there for
them, but in vain, then as the Old Year leaves she bids him a sorrowful
adieu. Again alone, the facsimiles reappear and she grows desperate,
so do the other two selves, she throws her arms about, skips, jumps,
and dances wildly around, the other selves do likewise, and at the same
time they are made to pass and repass her, by two persons taking up the
two extra lights, and, keeping the lights facing the curtain, walking
back and forth, passing, and repassing each other but never stepping
in front of the candle on the floor. In the midst of the dancing the
two extra candles are taken away and immediately the little New Year
enters, crowned with a paper star and wearing wings of paper. The young
girl rushes to meet the New Year with a hearty greeting, she then tells
him of her enchantment, counting the three selves by holding up the
first finger of the right hand three times in succession, and while the
New Year makes gestures that indicate advice the maiden listens with
her hand to her ear, and, promising by signs to be a good girl, she
kneels down, and the little New Year raises both hands above her head,
then, kissing her hand to the maiden, departs.
The glad New Year has disenchanted her, she carefully looks this way
and that, but seeing all is well she tosses her head, dances around,
makes a courtesy, kisses both hands to the audience and disappears.
When the play is over, and just as the clock strikes twelve, the party
can instantly change its character if it is leap-year and become a
=Leap-Year Party=
for the remaining hour or so, thereby creating a great deal more
merriment and sport; the novelty of the fact that the girls exchange
places with the boys makes everything appear strange. And when the
music commences for dancing the girls look from one to another, no
one at first having the courage to invite a partner to dance, so
unaccustomed are they to even the thought of such a thing. The boys of
course laugh, and make no move to assist their timid, would-be partners
in the part they must play, but quietly await the expected invitation.
When, however, someone takes the initiative step, the others follow,
and all goes merrily.
The supper presents a new phase, but here the girls do their part
perfectly, providing all the boys with a plentiful repast, and each one
is made to feel that his presence is necessary to the success of the
party, thereby insuring a happy, pleasant time for all.
In giving a leap-year party it is very essential that all the guests
understand perfectly that the idea of the entertainment is to have
the girls take upon themselves all the duties and courtesies properly
belonging to the boys, and that the boys shall wait for an invitation
before dancing, promenading, or partaking of refreshments, and that
a boy should not cross the floor unattended, but wait for some fair
friend to escort him. The girls are at liberty to go and come as they
like, though they must remember not to leave a partner standing after
the dance is over, but politely conduct him to a seat, and the girls
must also endeavor to make the party pleasant and agreeable to all.
The chaperons, of course, should have charge of the boys during the
entertainment.
The leap-year party need not necessarily be a dancing party, as any
social gathering can take the form of a leap-year party.
When an entertainment is given on the eve of a new leap-year, with a
view to dancing the old year out and the new year in, just as the clock
strikes twelve the party can immediately change into a leap-year party
as described, or should the New Year be a common year, then as the time
flies and the hands of the clock approach the hour of twelve all are
on the qui vive to be the first to have the pleasure of greeting their
friends with a Happy New Year.
[Illustration]