Elizabeth F. Guptill

“ There is no friend like an old friend and after all there are no songs we love quite so much as the old ones. This Cantata furnishes a beautiful medium for the introduction of the old songs which we all know and love. There is just enough libretto to the work to form a continuous chain of thought throughout, and we know of no Cantata that will afford such a pleasing entertainment at such a small expenditure of labor. ”

“ It’s what we call the Caller’s game. Betty made it up. Betty’s awful smart to think of new things. You see, Thursday afternoon is Christine’s day out. Say, aint it funny to call an afternoon a day? And Mamma don’t like to answer the bell herself, ’cause then she couldn’t be out if she didn’t want to see the one that rung it, so she made me and Betty do it, ’n course we hated to be bothered—you know callers are such a nuisance when you’re busy playing, and Betty shirked and made me do it most all. ”

“ So Daddy said if she didn’t do her share, he’d bring home candy, and give it all to me, ’n then Betty she made up this game. We’ve each got a little book, and we put down which caller we answer the bell to and get a piece of candy for each caller, and if there’s more candy than there is callers, we get two pieces for each one, and now Betty likes to answer it, and she gets the most candy every time.
Betty. (Returning.) That’s ’cause I’m smartest, Daddy says. He says, “Trust a woman to get the best of a man every time, be they ever so young.” ”