Over 20000 Saw the Village Episodes and Arrival of Winthrop
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OVER 20,000 SAW THE VILLAGE EPISODES AND ARRIVAL OF WINTHROP Pageant Depicting Typical Puritan Day, Arrival of the “Arbella” and Charter Witnessed by Gov. Allen, Dignitaries The Salem Evening News, 1930-06-13, page 1, jumps to page 14 Salem paid a glorious tribute yesterday to the foundation of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the foundation of free civil government in New England in the re-enactment at Forest River park of the scene which took place three centuries ago when the good ship “Arbella” arrived in the colony presided over by John Endecott, bringing to these shores a new governor — John Winthrop — and the charter of his authority granted by King Charles I. Fully 30,000 persons not only from this city but from all parts of the state including the governor of the commonwealth and other dignitaries on the outskirts of the Pioneer village erected as a colorful background for the pageant which portrayed with historical accuracy the day, June 12, 1630, when the royal governor made his appearance, and witnessed scenes which depicted the life of the Puritan founders of this colony, their daily tasks, their simple pleasures, their crude methods of punishment, their social intercourse with the Indians and culminating in the feature of the tercentenary, the coming of Winthrop. A fact of real interest and of utmost importance, lost sight of by many, was the coincidence of the greeting between Endecott and Winthrop which designed as a re-enactment of an historical truth was actually the repetition of this event by men bearing the same names and in whose veins coursed the same blood for Gov. John Winthrop of 1630 was impersonated by none other than Frederic Winthrop of Boston, ninth in descent from that eminent Puritan worthy and Gov. John Endecott found a counterpart in the person of George Endicott of Topsfield, also ninth in descent from the doughty captain who ruled with a strong hand the infant colony of three centuries ago. Combined with the pageant, “The Village Episodes” was the starting out for Boston of the Charter cavalcade, the procession designed as a glorification of the progress of the charter from this colony to the new found colony of Boston, in which three floats with military escort, bands, and a following of the Puritan settlers, wended their way from the Pioneer Village to the city line and beyond to Beacon Hill. And as a fitting climax of the state tercentenary celebration came the banquet in the evening held at the state armory in which speakers of state-wide prominence extolled the founding fathers in the presence of some 400 interested spectators. A display of fireworks and a guard mount by the 102d field artillery together with a band concert rung down the curtain on Salem’s program of tribute to the valiant men and women who made the commonwealth of Massachusetts a possibility and who planted the seeds of democracy in a forest wilderness three thousand miles from the homeland three centuries ago. —————— CONCERT PRECEDED PAGEANT Salem Cadet Band with A. N. Weiscopf as Leader, Rendered Program While Crowd Secured Seats The opening of the festivities was furnished by the Salem Cadet band in a concert given between 1 and 2 o’clock, the band being on an elevated platform on the easterly side of the caretaker’s house near the entrance of the park. The band was composed of 30 pieces and gave a fine program of popular and classical numbers. A. N. Weiscopf was the leader. As the band played the crowd began to swarm into the open air amphitheater for the greater part were eager to secure the choice seats offered to view the Village Episodes and later the arrival of the good ship “Arbella” and the landing of Gov. Winthrop and the members of his company. The 5000 seats that made up the viewing stand were quickly filled. When the episodes began hundreds were compelled to stand on the hillside back of the seating accommodations. The crowd continued to increase long before the arrival of the “Arbella” and it was estimated that 30,000 people were present. To judge the enormous throng one had to be in the Pioneer Village itself, or directly in front of the grandstand. There was a quarter of a mile of faces extending from near the enclosure on the westerly side right to the water’s edge. Never has there been such a throng at the park, showing that this city’s part of the tercentenary was the big feature for it drew from all over the state. The heavy showers of the past few days failed to damage the village or the park and everything was “cozy and rosy” for the event. The threatening weather of yesterday morning, at first threatened the program but late in the forenoon the sun came out and dried the grass and outside of a few bad spots where it was moist and the footing bed things were shipshape. The park department was right on the job with a crew of 25 men and the muddy spots were made safe and dry by the laying of strip logs over them. —————— ARRIVAL OF GOV. ALLEN Promptly at 2 o’clock the pageant of “The village episodes” got under way and during its progress His Excellency, Gov. Frank G. Allen, accompanied by his staff, Col. Walter M. Pratt, Capt. Theodore Lyman Storer and Capt. Roland A. Manginn put in appearance. He was escorted from his car to the grandstand by Lieut. Harold Wilson of the state police and a state police officer. His appearance was missed by a great number, especially those who occupied seats in the front rows of the grandstand. Upon entering the grandstand he was escorted to a special reservation occupied by Mayor Bates and the members of the city government and officers of the destroyers “Kane” and “Brooks.” The governor took a seat next to Mayor Bates and remained throughout the arrival of the “Arbella” and the landing of Gov. Winthrop and members of his party. In the special reservation beside Gov. Allen and Mayor Bates were: Payson Smith, state commissioner of education; Robert H. Mitchell, chairman of the Essex County Commissioners; Col. Walter M. Pratt; Capt. Theodore Lyman Storer; Capt. Roland A Manginn; Lieut. Commander W. D. Taylor of the U. S. S. “Kane;” Lieut. Commander W. G. Greenman of the U. S. S. “Brooks”, Lieut. J. D. McDermott of the “Kane” and Councillors Fitzgerald, Theriault, Dolan, O’Connell, Irzyk, and McGrath. —————— THE VILLAGE EPISODES Scenes Depicted a Day in Old Salem With Arrival of “Arbella” Bringing Winthrop and Charter Salem village of 300 years ago has a state-wide interest, if one is to judge from the great crowd which Salem village of 300 years ago has a state-wide interest, if one is to judge from the great crowd which viewed the pageant, as the opening event in the city’s celebration of the Bay Colony tercentenary. There were people from all parts of the state, many descendants and relatives of the early settlers of the village, interested in seeing enacted the scenes which were familiar in the first day of the colony and especially that scene which is probably the most important in the history of the state, the arrival of the “Arbella,” which brought from England the charter of the Bay Colony. The village was not only picturesquely reproduced but laid out with a remarkable degree of accuracy. The groupings of the buildings were very interested and served as an artistic background for the various episodes presented. The home of Gov. Endecott, of course, was as authentic in its reproduction as interesting. The costuming was a credit to the time that has been spent on its preparation, being not only true to the period but artistic and planned with care to the color effects and artistic qualities of the general settings. Not dull and drab, as many picture the scenes of long ago, but the simple white-fichued gowns of the women and the knee breeches and full skirted coats of the men were rich in coloring, althought not the brilliant tones of modern scenes. The Daily Life of the settlers was interestingly pictured in the 30 episodes, which made up the pageant. Starting at day break with the day’s work for both the men and the women of the village, the respective episodes introduced some interesting phase of the life of those early years. The return of the men and boys of the village from a hunt recalled that in those days one could not phone the day’s order to the grocer and butcher and another episode in which a group of women were shown churning butter and one showing the salt-making works, further emphasized this point. The shoemaker, the blacksmith, women spinning, men at work thatching a roof, women washing the family clothes in the pond and spreading them to dry in the grass and bushes all recalled a way of living foreign to the 20th century. Even the pleasures and punishments were in marked contrast, as one watched the children at play, and witnessed a man put in the stocks for drinking, and the punishment of a woman as a common scold in the ducking pond. From the very start of the Episodes, as the “Puritan residents” of the little village came from their houses, “early in the morning,” ready for their day’s toil, when only a few of the cleverly costumed participants could be seen, to the climax, the arrival of the “Arbella,” and the landing of its distinguished passengers with the Bay Colony charter, when practically every member of the cast grouped around the shore of the village, eagerly awaiting a glimpse of them, it was easily seen that the “Village Episodes” were going to be enjoyable and well worth seeing.