AFTERNOONS OR EVENINGS ABROAD.
When a class, club, or school has been studying a country, the work may
be brought to a close in a way that pupils and their parents and friends
will enjoy and remember, by giving _An Afternoon or Evening Abroad_.
This form of geography review would be appreciated more particularly in
villages, or in country districts, where entertainments, books,
pictures, and opportunities for study and social intercourse are rarer
than in cities.
At the conclusion of an afternoon talk or entertainment, any pictures
used may be placed on the chalk tray along the blackboard, that visitors
may examine them more closely.
If the entertainment is given in the evening, the teacher may be able to
use stereopticon views.
These will prove a very great attraction to both pupils and parents, and
should be secured if possible. The lantern with oil lamp may be easily
operated by the teacher while the pupils give the descriptions of the
pictures or give talks about the country.
The lanterns and slides may be rented for the evening or afternoon at
reasonable rates, and the cost covered by an admission fee of from ten
to twenty-five cents. In sending for catalogue and terms, ask for the
paper used to darken windows if the lantern is to be used in the
afternoon.
Two of the largest dealers in stereopticon views and lanterns are T. H.
McAllister, 49 Nassau St., New York, and the McIntosh Stereopticon Co.,
35 Randolph St. Chicago.
SUGGESTIONS.
For the afternoons abroad, given as geography reviews, or as a part of
the Friday afternoon exercises, invitations may be written out by the
pupils, or mimeographed, or hectographed, and carried to friends and
parents.
If given as an evening entertainment and illustrated by stereopticon
views, handbills may be printed and circulated, at least a week
beforehand. The following form may be used: -
* * * * *
SCHOOL ENTERTAINMENT.
A TRIP TO PUERTO RICO FOR TEN CENTS.
You are invited by the pupils of the _____________ school [or the
members of the Travel Class or Club] to spend _an evening_ [_or
afternoon_] _in Puerto Rico_.
The party starts promptly at 1.30 P.M. [or 8 P.M.], November 1st. Those
desiring to take this trip should secure tickets before the day of
sailing, as the party is limited. Guides are furnished free.
The proceeds of this entertainment are to be used in the purchase of a
library, and of pictures and stereopticon views for the school.
* * * * *
A PUERTO RICAN MARKET PLACE.
Decorate the room with ferns, potted palms and other tropical plants, or
pictures of them. (Exact reproductions in paper or other material can
now be procured at small cost.) On one side of the room have one table
devoted to Puerto Rican curios; another to fruits and vegetables; and a
third to other products from the island. (Or fit up one end or corner as
a market place in San Juan or Ponce.)
Explain your plan for the entertainment to your groceryman and other
merchants most convenient to your school, and enlist their aid. They
will usually be willing to lend products imported from or native to the
country.
For a list of the fruits and vegetables to be exhibited in the market
place, see the list given when on a visit to the market place at San
Juan. (See p. 22).
On the product-tables arrange pieces of sugar cane, samples of raw,
loaf, granulated, and powdered sugar, and of molasses. If possible to
secure the stalks of sugar cane, have short lengths to be sold for
consumption - as in Puerto Rico. Near the table, tack up pictures of
sugar plantations and mills. Have the coffee-berry and beans, ground
coffee, cups of coffee prepared as a drink, and pictures of the tree,
fruit, and coffee plantations; also secure specimens of the fruit of the
cacao tree, a cake of solid chocolate, chocolate candy, and a cake
containing chocolate layers. Cups of cacao or chocolate may be prepared
as a drink. Have near pictures of the cacao tree and fruit.
Secure, if possible, samples of rice, allspice, nutmeg, mace, cinnamon,
pepper, cloves, ginger and vanilla; bottles of clove oil and bay rum;
packages of the annatto and logwood dyes; sponges, tortoise-shell combs,
and articles made of cedar, ebony, or mahogany, or pieces of these
woods.
The tables and booths in the market places should be presided over by
pupils dressed as Puerto Ricans, and venders should go about the room,
after the entertainment is over, with native wares to sell.
Among these venders will be the bread man, the milk man, the fruit and
vegetable man, the dulce seller, and the vender of ices.
These venders should, if possible, carry their wares as the Puerto
Ricans do.
COSTUMES.
The girls may be costumed in very simply made white dresses.
Handkerchiefs may be tied about the head, for head coverings.
The boys may be dressed in loose white trousers, girdled at the waist by
a belt of leather, a white shirt, and a silk or cotton handkerchief
around the neck.
A broad brimmed hat may be worn.
The dulce seller carries guava, pieces of pineapple, preserved fruits,
chocolate candy, fresh cocoanut meat, grated cocoanut, etc.
The bread vender carries small rolls on his tray. The milk man carries
his can upon his head, ready to serve milk from tin cups which are tied
to the sides of the can.
REFRESHMENTS.
These may be served during an intermission or at the close of the
entertainment, and may consist of the national drinks, orangeade,
lemonade, chocolate, coffee, cocoanut milk, and of rolls, cheese, native
fruits and confectionery.
The pupils who serve these refreshments should be prepared to tell
something of the way in which these refreshments are prepared and served
in Puerto Rico.
