ARTISTS AND PRINTERS.
Dickey Spry kept his word, so far as having the timber for the seats
at the theatre was concerned; for so anxious was he to fulfil his part
of the contract that he devoted all the next afternoon and evening to
the work.
He made arrangements with Mrs. Green, whereby he could get into the
house during the afternoon while she was attending to her fruit-stand,
and by nine o'clock in the evening he had made seats enough to
accommodate at least two hundred boys, providing, of course, that they
were willing to stow themselves in snugly.
After the work was done, there was not a member of the firm but
thought they had a valuable acquisition in the person of Mr. Spry and
his timber, and they listened with more attention to his suggestions
than they had on the previous evening, when it was possible that he
would not carry out his portion of the contract as fully as they
desired.
When they stopped work that evening they surveyed their theatre with
a great deal of pride; for it was now so nearly completed that any one
could tell, at a very searching glance, what it was intended for. The
scenery was all in its place, and Nelly had made a quantity of
rosettes out of tissue-paper of various colors, which were to be
fastened as ornaments on the rough, unpainted boards.
All that remained to be done was to make the curtain, and hang it so
that it could be rolled up and down, and to arrange a place for the
candles that were to serve as foot-lights.
What that curtain should be made of had been a vexing question for the
partners to settle, and many and serious had been the discussions
regarding it. Ben had insisted that they ought to buy white cloth
enough to make a regular curtain; but, on considering that proposition
carefully, they had discovered that it would cost nearly three
dollars, and they hardly felt warranted in going to so much expense.
Finally, it was decided to buy large sheets of stout brown paper,
which could be both pasted and sewed together, in order to make sure
that they would not pull apart by their own weight, and then these
were to be ornamented in some artistic manner by each one of the
party.
By the time this important question was settled, it was so late that
no more work could be done that night; but before Dickey departed for
his hogshead home there was an emphatic demand made upon Mr. Dowd for
some particulars as to the play which he had promised to have in
readiness for the opening night. It was then Wednesday; and since the
first performance was to be given on the following Saturday evening,
it did surely seem as if the actors should know what they were to do
on that important occasion.
"It will be all right," Mopsey said, so decidedly that they would have
been obliged to be satisfied, even if he had not added, "Friday night
we'll all come here an' practise, an' then I'll tell you all about
it."
On the following day business was so good that it was very late before
any of the partners could get to work on their theatrical enterprise,
and if their profits had not been so large, they would have deeply
regretted the delay. But they worked the faster when they did get the
chance; and while the others were interested in putting together the
curtain, which bid fair to be a marvel of art, Ben labored
industriously at making the tickets.
An acquaintance of his had a large lot of card-board clippings, which
he had gathered from time to time as he delivered papers in a
printing-office, and these Ben had purchased, with the understanding
that he was to give free admission to the entertainment for them
during three evenings, providing, of course, that the theatre remained
open to the public that length of time. From these odds and ends Nelly
had cut about a hundred tickets during the afternoon while she was in
charge of the fruit-stand, and these Ben was converting into orders
for admission by printing on them, in rather a shaky hand, and with a
new lead-pencil he had bought for that express purpose, the following:
GRATE SHOW.
LeT WUN CUM iN
5 CeNTS
As it was proposed to charge eight cents for seats in the two front
benches, Ben printed, in addition to the above, twenty very unique
cards, similar to this:
PRESERVED CEAT.
FRUNT BENCH.
It was a long job, and he had bitten his tongue until it was sore in
his efforts to make the printing legible, while his fingers ached from
clutching the pencil so firmly; but he finished his task before the
curtain was completed, and was able to give his advice as to the
embellishment of it.
It was while working on the curtain that Johnny displayed his skill as
an artist, for he assumed the sole charge of it, insisting that the
others should proceed under his direction. It was spread on the floor,
and Hunter Jones was pursuing his work on his hands and knees, with
two candles stuck in bottles as his only light. But Johnny appeared to
be equal to the emergency, for he was dashing on the color rapidly,
not heeding the fact that one side of his nose was a beautiful green,
and the other a vivid red, while his chin was as black as if he had
been trying to paint a beard on it.
It was on the central figure of this intended work of art that Johnny
was expending the most of his labors, and to those who were watching
him it appeared something like an eccentric rainbow, or the interior
of a paint-shop, until Master Jones printed under it, to avoid any
possibility of mistake, "WiLD iNGuN," and then all could see the
resemblance at once.
[Illustration: ALL COULD SEE THE RESEMBLANCE AT ONCE.]
Johnny was proud of his work, and when at last it was completed, he
stood at some distance from it, transfixed with silent admiration of
what he had created, and quite regardless of the fact that the hot
tallow from the candle which he held in his hand was running down over
his fingers.
It had been decided to have a small painting in each of the four
corners, to prevent the Indian from looking lonely, and one of these
was to be done by each member of the firm.
Paul drew his entirely in black, in the right-hand lower corner, and
it was a very fair representation of two guns and a sword, although
the barrels of the guns were rather more crooked than they should have
been, while the edge of the sword was notched, as if it had had some
hard usage.
Dickey printed in red the same notice that the boys had seen in his
home, offering a reward for the apprehension of Tim Dooley; and
although his partners declared that it was not at all appropriate for
the curtain of a dramatic stage, he insisted that it should remain
there, citing as an argument the fact that he had contributed more
than the others to the general fund. It was an argument that could not
be disputed, and Dickey's notice was allowed to remain, although
Johnny contended that the audience would think his Indian had been
intended as a portrait of the missing Tim.
In the upper left-hand corner Mopsey painted, with all the colors at
his command, a picture of a schooner under full sail, with a row of
what was at first supposed to be guns showing over the rail, but which
he explained were pea-nuts, adding that she was represented as having
a full cargo on board.
Ben, with fingers still aching from severe exertion with the pencil,
drew a picture of his blacking-box and brush, which would have been
quite a correct likeness if he had not made the mistake of painting
the brush nearly three times as large as the box.
Then, in order that Nelly might do something towards beautifying this
wonderful curtain, she was allowed to print the name of each member of
the firm, as well as her own, around the border, giving more color to
the whole, even if it did not add to the artistic effect.
It was very late when all this was done, and the promoters of this
grand enterprise were obliged to go to their respective beds, much as
they would have liked to continue at their work all night.
The hundred and twenty tickets were divided equally among the five
partners, that they might sell as many as possible before the opening
of the doors on Saturday night, and thus lessen Mrs. Green's duties as
door-keeper.
It was also agreed before they separated that night, that Ben and
Dickey should not attempt to do any business the next day, but devote
all their time to banging the curtain and hunting up old bottles to
use as holders for the foot-lights, so that everything would be in
readiness for the rehearsal in the evening.
During the next forenoon, those of the partners who pursued their
regular business had all they could do to attend to those who wished
to buy papers and theatre tickets, and more particularly the latter.
There had been very much talk and speculation among this portion of
the news-selling world as to the theatre, and every one was anxious to
secure a ticket as early as possible, lest if they delayed until near
the time of the performance they should be unable to gain admission.
Of course where so much had been said about any one particular thing
as was said about this theatre, and where so many rumors were flying
around, exaggeration as to the size, furnishing, and general
appearance of the place could not be prevented. Some thought that an
army of carpenters had been at work fitting up and decorating the
whole theatre; others had it that it was upon the stage only that much
labor had been expended, and that that portion of the theatre was more
beautiful than any other that could be found in the city.
The more imaginative paid no attention to mere detail, but circulated
the most startling rumors as to the excessive amount of brain-work
Mopsey Dowd was doing on the new play, which was to be his
masterpiece, and to far surpass anything Buffalo Bill or
Sixteen-string Jack ever wrote.
Since Mopsey was found at his place of business with the same
regularity as before this gigantic scheme was planned, some of his
admirers insisted that he worked nights, spending the time when he
should have been asleep in bringing forth the most startling and
blood-curdling scenes, to be given with all their attendant horrors on
the night of the opening of the theatre.
With all these things to give an impetus to the sale of tickets, it
was little wonder that they were disposed of readily. When night came,
all had been sold save those which Ben and Dickey had, and the demand
was still very great.
Each member of the company was quite as much excited when they went
home that night as if the performance was to be given then, for the
rehearsal was to be held, and all had their parts to learn.
Ben and Dickey had worked faithfully, and performed all that had been
given them to do. The curtain was hung, a little awkwardly, to be
sure, on account of the uneven manner in which the stage was built;
but there it was, whether straight or crooked, where all the beauty
of its many-colored illustrations could be seen if the candles were
held near enough to it.
When called upon to hoist and lower it, Ben and Dickey showed evident
signs of nervousness; but they succeeded, after some considerable
time, in getting it up and down without tearing it, although it was
plain to be seen that they were relieved when it was up for the second
time, and Mopsey had ordered it left there.
The foot-lights had been arranged by nailing narrow strips of board on
the under side of the stage, and allowing them to project about six
inches beyond where the curtain would come when it was lowered. On
these strips the bottles, some large and some small, were to be
placed, each with a candle in it. Ben was confident that they would
remain there safely enough, provided no one walked very heavily on the
stage; he also suggested to Mopsey that he should have as little
fighting as possible in the play, because of the insecurity of these
bottle foot-lights. This piece of advice, however, caused the author
to frown severely, as if he felt that some of his best scenes would
thus be interfered with.
No one had thought of lighting the main body of the hall until Ben and
Dickey noticed the omission, and supplied it by tying candles around
two barrel-hoops, and hanging them up like chandeliers, which added
greatly to the general appearance and finish of the place. After all
these things had been inspected the party adjourned to dinner, in
order to fortify themselves for the trying mental labor before them,
and Dickey remained as the guest of his partners, having been
specially invited by them and Mrs. Green.