THE SCENERY
Daddy Brown looked at his two children, and then, as he glanced across
the table at the actor who made believe he was George Washington and
other great men, Daddy Brown laughed.
"These youngsters of mine will be giving a real show before I know it,
with scenery and everything," he said.
"Well, a show isn't much fun unless you have some scenery in it," said
Mr. Treadwell, "and the scenery I spoke of, which was part of our show,
can be bought cheap, I think."
"Say, Daddy, is the sheenery in a show like the sheenery in a automobile
or one of your motor boats?" asked Sue.
"Oh, she's thinking of wheels and things that go around!" laughed Bunny.
"That's _ma_-chinery, Sue, and _scenery_ is what we saw in the Opera
House--make-believe trees, and the brook, you know."
"Oh!" exclaimed Sue. "Well, can we have that--that _sheenery_ for our
play?" she asked her father.
"I'll see about it," he answered, and Bunny and Sue looked happy, for,
like their mother, whenever their father said "I'll see," it almost
always meant that he would do as they wanted him to.
"I'm afraid, though," said Mr. Brown, "that getting up a show in town
will be harder, Bunny and Sue, than getting up a circus. In the circus
you could use your dog Splash and some of the animals from Grandpa's
farm. But a theater show, or one like it, hasn't many animals in it. You
ought to do more acting than you do trapeze work."
"Oh, we can do it!" cried Bunny Brown. "They're going to help, aren't
you?" and he looked over at Lucile and Mart.
"We'll help all we can," Mart promised. "That is, if we're here, and I
don't see how we can get away, for we haven't any money to pay our fare
on the train."
"That's my trouble, too," said Mr. Treadwell, with a smile. "I'd offer
to help too, if I thought I was going to be here."
"Oh, then we'll be sure to have a show!" declared Bunny. "You can be
General Washington and maybe some soldier, and we'll pretend you came
down to the farm to see us. Then I'll turn somersaults and Sue can bring
me out some cookies to eat, 'cause I get hungry when I turn somersaults.
And you can do tricks like those you did in the Opera House," he added
to Mart.
"What do you want me to do?" asked Lucile, with a smile.
"Oh, you--you can help Sue bring out the cookies for Mart and me,"
decided Bunny. "And--oh yes--you can sing--those songs you sang in the
show we went to see, you know."
"All right, I'll help all I can--if I'm here," said Lucile.
"Well, suppose we talk a little about the trouble you good theater folks
are in," suggested Mr. Brown. "The show Bunny and Sue are going to give
can wait for a while. Now what do you want to do--get back to New York,
all three of you?"
"Well, New York is the place almost all show people start from," said
Mr. Treadwell, "but I don't know that there's much use going back there
now. All the places in other shows will be taken. If I could get some
sort of work here for the winter I'd stay."
"So would I!" declared Mart. "I like to stay in a place two or three
weeks at a time, and not have to move to a new town every night, like a
circus. Have you any work you could let me do?" he asked Mr. Brown.
"I was going to speak of that," replied the father of Bunny and Sue.
"One of the young men in my office is going on leave, and I could hire
you in his place. The wages aren't very big," he said, "but it would be
enough for you to live on and take care of your sister."
"I suppose I could board here in Bellemere," suggested Mart.
"You can stay right here--you and Lucile!" cried Mrs. Brown. "Our house
is plenty large enough, and there's lots of room. Do stay here--at least
until you locate your uncle and your aunt."
"That's very kind of you," said Lucile softly, and she reached over and
stroked Sue's curls.
"Oh, goodie!" cried Bunny, when he understood that his father was going
to hire Mart Clayton to work in the office at the dock. "Then you can
help us get up the show."
"Well, I'll do all I can," promised Mart.
"And I'll help, too," added Lucile.
"If you can find a place for me, Mr. Brown, I'll make the same promise,"
said Mr. Treadwell. "I don't care much about going back to New York, and
if Mart and Lucile stay here I'd like to stay, too, and sort of look
after them. I'll try to help them find their missing folks."
"I guess I can find work for you," said Mr. Brown. "Do you know anything
about the fish or boat business?"
"Very little, I'm afraid. I once worked as a bookkeeper in a piano
factory, though, if that would help any," he said.
"Keeping books is just what I want done," said Mr. Brown. "So you can
have a place in my office. The man I have is going to leave, and you may
take his place. He also has a room with Mr. Winkler and his sister, and
you could get board there."
"That suits me all right, and thank you very much," said Mr. Treadwell.
"I'll send over to Wayville and get what little baggage I have. But
will it be all right for me to board at Mr. Winkler's?" he asked.
"Oh, yes. They'll be glad to have you."
"And you can see Mr. Winkler's monkey Wango and the parrot all the
while!" cried Bunny Brown.
"That will be a treat!" laughed Mr. Treadwell.
So it was settled that both Mr. Treadwell and Mart would work for Mr.
Brown. The man who pretended to be George Washington and other great men
would board with the old sailor and his sister, while Mart and Lucile
would live with the Browns.
"And we'll have lots of fun!" said Sue to Lucile.
"And will you show me how to make flipflops?" asked Bunny of Mart.
"Yes," answered the boy actor and acrobat, "I will."
While Lucile remained at Mrs. Brown's house, Mart, with Mr. Brown and
the impersonator went over to Wayville to get the baggage of the
theatrical folk. Mr. Brown was going to pay the board bills. Bunny and
Sue wanted to go also, but their father said:
"I'll take you along when we go to look at the scenery. You'd only be in
the way now, and wouldn't have a good time."
That night Lucile and Mart stayed at the Brown house, which was to be
their home for some time, and Mr. Treadwell went to board with the
Winklers.
"And when you come over in the morning tell us all about the monkey and
parrot!" begged Bunny, as the actor started for his boarding place that
evening.
"I will," was the promise.
"When are we going to get the scenery for our play, Daddy?" asked Bunny
Brown, as he and his sister Sue were getting ready for bed that night.
"I'll take you over to-morrow after school," was the promise. And you
can well imagine that the two children could hardly wait for the time to
come.
The air was clear and cold, and it seemed as if there would be more snow
when Mr. Brown brought around the automobile in which the trip to
Wayville was to be made. Bunny and Sue, Lucile and Mart were to sit in
the back, while Mr. Brown and Mr. Treadwell sat in front. They were
going to the place where the theatrical scenery had been stored since
the time the vaudeville troupe had got into trouble.
"I'm glad winter is coming, aren't you?" asked Bunny of Mart, as they
rode along the roads which were still covered with snow from the first
storm.
"Well, yes, I like winter," was the answer. "It's always the best time
for the show business--'tisn't like a circus--that does best in the
summer time."
"We had our circus in summer," said Sue. "Now we're going to have a real
theater show in the winter."
The automobile was going down a snowy hill into Wayville, and Mr. Brown
had put on the brakes, for, once or twice, the machine had slid from
side to side.
"I ought to have chains on the back wheels," said the fish merchant to
Mr. Treadwell. "But if I go slowly I guess I'll be all right. Do you
think we need any more scenery than the three sets you spoke of--the
barnyard, the orchard and the meadow?"
"No, I think that will be enough," said the actor. "The children only
want something simple. You can tell when you see it."
"Can we pick apples in the orchard?" asked Sue.
Before Mr. Treadwell could answer something happened. Mr. Brown turned
out to one side of the road to let another automobile pass, and, a
moment later, his machine began sliding to one side at a place where
there was a deep gully.
"Oh!" screamed Lucile. "We're going to upset!"