Dramatic Send-Off, 1890s Style

What do you do to celebrate the graduation of a friend or family member from grade school to high school? At the gatherings I’ve attended lately, the focus is on getting the right time, the right location, the right guest list, and stocking up on plenty of food and refreshments.

Oh yeah. And there’s that long, tedious ceremony out in the June sunlight (or maybe in the poorly-ventilated multi-purpose room inside), waiting for the moment when the right name gets announced. Then lots of applause and cheers.

As we’ve already seen, the graduation events of bygone years—like 1895—weren’t always just that way. A program from Lily Tully’s closing exercises at Saint Anne’s School in Chicago shows a different scenario. Tucked away among her younger sister Agnes Tully Stevens’ belongings, the memento discloses proceedings that included many displays of musical talent—and a play. In three acts.

The drama featured in this 1895 production was drawn from a book of the same name—Coaina, the Rose of the Algonquins—written by Anna Hanson Dorsey in 1867. Thankfully, a copy of the original publication is currently available through Google Books, but it can also be accessed through several libraries in both Canada and the United States. Incredibly, a publishing house has recently released a reprint of the volume—making me wonder about pursuing the rabbit trail of seeking out the reasons for revival of interest in this story.

As I mentioned before, my intention in posting a copy of the school’s program is to make electronically accessible a bit of ephemera from a bygone era—the time when my husband’s Tully roots thrived in south Chicago. Though my sole purpose is to share such insignificant documents as these so others tracing their roots may stumble upon additional resources detailing a microscopic part of their ancestors’ lives, I find myself pulled in the direction of these strands of history, myself. Such stories of bygone eras are a sore temptation.

For once, I’ll resist following yet another rabbit trail—though consider yourself welcome to do so if you are so inclined.

But don’t claim you haven’t been forewarned.

Programme

(continued.)

Recitation,  …………..John Cleary

            …....…..John Fitzgerald

Duet, “Pills at Poughkeepsie”

Lilly Tully

 

COAINA, THE ROSE OF THE ALGONQUINS,

A Drama in three Acts.

Coaina—The Rose of the Algonquins…........Mary Sherlock

Armatha—Aunt of Coaina…………………Josephine Egan

Winona—Cousin of Coaina………………………Kitty Casey

Makee—The Old Indian……………………………Lulu Cottin

Kittie—Friend of Coaina………………………….Margaret Maher

Siouska—Chief of the Iroquois………………..Lilly Tully

Ahdeck—Friend of Siouska………………………Margaret Corrigan

Oramaika………………………………………………….Alvina Delaney

Eureka……………………………………………………..Florence O’Grady

Indian Children

            Marie……………………………………………Esther Edwards

            Toney……………………………………………Kittie Maher

            Piquet……………………………………………Isabel Croke

            Kawee……………………………………………Agnes Ruane

            Starbeam……………………………………….Mary Reynolds

Madame Deanville—Teacher of Children………Angela Kerwin

Programme

(continued.)

Duet…………………………..Malmene.

    Florence Shehan, Alice Shehan.

“Mammy’s Lil Baby Boy”

    Blanche Moore.

Drill “Delsarte”…………..Senior Boys.

    Acc’d by Lilly Archibald

Recitation

    Joseph Hallowed.