Directions for Playing

A Revolutionary's Visit to Boston in 1903

First take the sheets of paper in this envelope, and cut them to pieces on the dotted lines, so that only one name is on each slip. Select one person to act as reader. The reader distributes the printed slips evenly among the players. As the reader pauses at each blank ( ____ ) in the narrative, player in turn reads one of the slips, the slip thus read then being laid aside. The slips should not be looked over, an endless and always comical variation in the narrative is secured.

It is allowable to change the tense on a slip from single to plural, or vice-versa, where it will make better sense by doing so.

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Col. Weatherby was naturally of a restless disposition, and one hundred and thirteen years in one place had proved to be all and more than all he could endure. After permission to make a visit to the earth again had been granted him, he surprised his friends by suddenly and mysteriously leaving one dark night. How and when no one knew.

The fact is, he himself did not know how it happened. The first thing he remembered was finding himself on board ____ of the Boston and Albany Railroad. One can imagine his surprise at finding himself in ____ and still flying through ____ at a tremendously rapid speed.

After taking ____ to overcome his surprise, he plucked up ____ to put his head through ____ which seemed to have prevented him from gaining any knowledge as to his ____.

Everyone else on ____ had arisen, and as Col. Weatherby made his appearance, it is needless to say everyone’s attention was directed towards him. One man took in ____ at a glance. He saw that Col. Weatherby was ____ and very much at sea as to his ____, and he immediately undertook to explain ____ to him.

He told the Col. that he was on board ____, whose destination was Boston. After the Col. had grasped ____, and convinced himself as to the soundness of his friends’s ____, his joy at being able once more to visit Boston, hi former ____, knew no bounds.

To think he had been in ____ on this living, moving ____ somewhat addled the Col.’s mind, but when his friend proposed a got ____ in the next car, he was completely dazed. “What! Eat on board the train as well as sleep!” he said. Several of the passengers were “on to” the state of affairs, and sauntered in after the Col. and his friend to see ____. The all too-solictous ____ gave the Col.’s chair a shove a little too soon, and the Col. fell against ____, giving it such a jar, that everything on it went flying off. His ____ knew no bounds, but after everthing had been straigntened out and ____ had been served, he gradually recovered and started to eat.

____ was placed before him, and it was some time before he could be persuaded to tackle ____, as he called them. He was so well pleased, however, with ____ that he asked for a second dish. The entire breakfast seemed to go right to the spot, but the coffee particularly pleased him; he declared he never had tasted such a delicious cup or rather cups of coffee. On inquiry he found it was the celebrated Lion Coffee.

At twenty, ____ pulled into the New South Station, and to say that the poor Col. was surprised is putting it midly. The number of tracks, the wsize of the station, all completely astonished him. Here his friend, who had ____ to attend to, bade him good-bye, and the Col. started off to look up ____.

He had run across so many new and startling things since awakening on ____, that he, ??? this time, was quite accustomed to ____. Not knowing which way to turn, he asked ____, who stood on ____. He directed the Col. to take ____ and change to the subway. Could anything be more like Greek to the Col.? The steam cars, he thought had been “the limit”, but here ____ were moving along a track way up in the air above ____, without even one of those wonderful ____ pulling them. It was beyond belief. However, he scrambled up the steps with ____, bought his ticket and boarded ____. At a certain station he was hustled off with ____ and on to ____. This one was all by itself, and moved along without any pushing or pulling, now, he couldn’t tell, unless that stick on top in some way did the business. He had not settled this point, when he found that he was moving under ____. The car was an open one, and it was coold and delightful down there, but oh! How astonishing!

He had made up his mind to visit first the old Burying Ground, and ____ kindly directed him how to find it. He found it, but instead of walking along ____ to get to it, he was forced to walk on ____ between rows of ____, with a constant stream of ____ passing in and out. And among all these people, he could not find ____. When he finally reached ____, he found it encircled by ____ and ____ locked. He had to content himself with gazing throug ____. He received ____, upon seeing his own name engraved upon a stone. It pleased him to find that he way (was) lying among such celebrities as Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere and others.

Wandering down ____ a little further, he saw King’s Chapel, and just across the street ____ occupied, he was informed, by a dry goods store. He was at a loss for a moment to see what in the world ____ could want of so much room, but gradually it dawned upon him that there were a few more ____ to be supplied than there had been in his day. And did his eyes deceive him? No, there in ____ was a horse and carriage with a lady driving. On nearer investigation he found that they were only “make believe.”

As he walked on, his heart beat fast for joy as he saw the Old Corner Book Store. With ____ came visions of ____ spent on that corner, and memories of ____. But no one now seemed to have time for anything but hustling and pushing. Not far away, he recognized the Old South Meeting House, where he had participated in many stirring pre-revolutionary meetings. The next building he recognized was the Old State House. Imagine his surprise at being told that ____ was still being built under its historical old walls and foundations.

He couldn’t help but feel a little lonely when he looked around and instead of seeing ____ saw only ____. He was cheered up when he thought of how he would make ____ hum, when he got back, by telling all his ____ of the many and wonderful things that he was seeing. He knew they wouldn’t believe half of it. Faneuil Hall he hardly recognized, but after walking around and gazing at the ____ and ____, all of which he knew, he discovered ____ leading up into the hall. He was repaid for climbing ____ by seeing around the walls ____ of his fellow countrymen, and many other curiosities that he recognized. With sad, but pleasant memories, he wandered down ____ and out into the noisy, crowded streets, where his old fashioned appearance attracted attention, which he didn’t quite enjoy.

It was some time before he found the Old North Church, and in his mind’s eye, he could see, hanging in the steeple, ____ which Paul Revere had placed there on that memorable night. Wandering down Tremont Street, he was attracted by ____. On inquiry he found that it was ____ and he couldn’t resist going in to see what it was like. When he entered ____ was on the stage. His muscular development impressed the Col. But he was more than pleased at ____, which consisted of ____ executed by a young woman in a frightfully short and equally low gown. This quite shocked the Col., but as the music was good, he decided to forgive her for her la… gown, because perhaps the poor thing didn’t have money enough to buy any more goods. Feeling that he had seen enough “Vaudeville,” as they called it he left the theater.

When he stepped outside and started to cross the street, he ran into ____. For some reason or other he had not noticed ____ before and he all but had ____ before people had succeeded in explaining the two-wheeled affair. Hardly had he recovered from ____ when along came ____. He had concluded that in some way or other that stick on top of ____ helped them along, but how in the world this carriage without any pulling, pushing or a stick above got along, he couldn’t understand. After quite ____upon electricity, he concluded that it was all to startling and wonderful for him to try to understand.

A man, passing along at that time, became interested in the Col., because of his apparent ignorance of ____ and kindly offered to take him for ____ in his auto, and point out that chief places of interest in Boston. Riding dow Boylston, he saw Trinity Church, the New Old South Church, the Art Museum and the Library, all in a bunch, so he said. Their size and architecture impressed him, and he said he could scarely believe that when he was last there ____ had been grazing on that self-same spot. Speeding out Boylston, the Col. entertained his new friend by telling what used to stand in this and that place.

They crossed ____ over the Charles, and in the distance they saw the shaft of the Bunker Hill Monument, towering above everything else. It more than pleased the Col. to see this because he himself had taken part in ____ which it commemorates. Harvard College was a wonder to the Col. He could hardly be persuaded that this was the same Harvard which he had known. When shown Radcliffe College, he said, “Well, the women had to be ‘init’ too, did they?” The Col.’s joy was uncontrollable when he saw the Washington Elm.

On the way back to ____ his friend thought it might please the Col. to go through the Art Museum, so he stopped ____ and he and the Col. went in. On the first floor the statues both shocked and pleased the Col. But, on the whole, he enjoyed ____ very much. As they wandered through where the curios were the Col. recognized ____, and more than entertained his friend with ____ about them. The pictures on the next floor quite overwhelmed him and it was some time before he recovered from ____ and was able again to talk. In one room where there were many portraits of ____ the Col. felt as though he were standing among old friends. The Egyptian mummy had interested the Co. and he asked to see it once more before they left for ____. When he was finally persuaded that hundreds of years ago, it was a ____, he said, “Well, it beats all my first wife’s relations.”

They left the building and went across ____ to the Library. The mural decorations pleased the Col. more than ____ in the Art Museum had, because he said, that he thought it must be a great deal harder to paint on walls than it was on a piece of ____, that you could place anywhere you wanted to. So many books were quite astonishing to him, and he hardly believed that in one room, one could go and read ____ published in other towns beside their own.

After leaving the Library they rode down past the Public Gardens and the Common.

He told his friend that in his day the Common was used as a pasture for ____ and a training field. As he looked across the Common he saw a large gilt dome of ____. When he asked, what ____ it belonged to, his friend told him it was the State House.

He thought he would like to go through the State House, so they rode around that way.

The Col. got out and walked up ____ and into ____. After wandering around and admiring its marble interior, he heard some one say that one could get a fine view of Boston by taking ____ and riding to ____ and then climbing up to the top of ____. He decided that was the thing for him to do. After getting out of ____ he began to climb ____ leading up to the top of the dome.

He thought he would never reach the top but was finally rewarded by getting a splendid view of Boston.

The Col. was tired and decided that he had seen enough for ____ and would like to rest.

Once more in the auto, he was taken by his friend to the Touraine and the Col. was helped out by ____ and then shown into ____. As he looked around he could hardly believe he was in a hotel. It seemed more to him as if he were in some fairyland. And when he sat down at ____ to eat, ____ so attracted his attention that he with difficulty ordered ____. After dinner, he went to his room, tired but happy.

He awoke next morning to find himself back with his old friends, each one anxious to hear about what he had seen.