Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-09-26

WILSON BARRETT AS C~HATTERToN.
.lWhen Young Barrett was II he begged his
aster to let him leave work ut S o'clock for
he evening in each week in order that he
Hight attend evening school at a charge OF
'Eopence. This request the merchant granted
II him for about six weeks, but at the end Of
lat time, finding that the boy was too much
.lisSed, he withdrew the permission And
Lis was the extent Of the schooling Of Wilson
.arrett. But his mind vas developing rapidly
.ithout the aid Of teachers. He had been
wing his hand at little dramas, and on his
NV home from the store at night he fro
Ihcntly used TO slip into the theatre and see
he last part Of whatever play was on. Then
d would shin up" the water pipe and into
Is low bed room and undreSS Us quietly aS
.bSsible so as not to awaken his parents, who,
d knew, would not approve his conduct.
hnt this growing love for the stage became
.ironger and stronger in him.. One night he
NV Henry Neville, then the leading actor at
ile Olympic, in "Camilla's Husband" IL
as a very warm evening. Young Barrett
tt in the galleries and then ran all the way
iome after the play. He took a chill which
suited in Inflammation Of the lungs and
~.euriSy, and for a long time the poor child
avered between life and death. During
his sickness, the sum Of sixteen shilingS,
hich he had been saving up penny by
emmy as a starting fund for entering the
ramatic profession, and which he had al
tays kept in his pocket by day and in a little
AnvaS bag under his pillow at night, was
discovered and paid over 10 the doctor. Very
gently, when Mr.. Neville told Mr.. Barrett
nat English actors looked to him as the head
Il their profession, the latter said: That's
bod TO hear from YOU, as You nearly killed
he at the beginning"
After his c~OnyaleSceuce young Barrett
Fent bacGt TO the corn dealers, and shortly
fterward to a large bank note printing
hce. Here he rose rapidly, receiving at the
BART fifteen shillingS a week, and as the
iOurS of work were not 50 combining as with
.6s former employers he found time TO writo
lis first completed drama, "Robin Hood
10 was now - years old, and with some
ther lads Of about the same age accom-
liShed an extraordinary thing. He arranged
IN old shed in the back of n garden Us a
leatre, with stage and scenery, and in lieu
II gas or fOOtligEtS devised q scheme Of oil
Amus, whose wicks could DO turned up or
own all at the same time by pulling a wire.
For the boxes q board was painted and cut
ut in the shape Of curtains, 50 that a man
landing outside looked from the stage rs if
eated in a regular theatre box. There were
TX members in young BarrettS company,
md, after several rehcarSalS, tickets were
sued to fifty or sixty friends and relatives
{ the actors. The play was u great success,
md the amateur theatre was nightly crowded.
the actors did the scene shifting, and Mr..
Wilson Barrett's brother George, the now
.gellknOwn comedian of the Princess theatre,
iad for his inspiring portion Of the work to
Ii on a narrow board up over their heads in
he flies, the ladder by which he had mounted
icing taken down in order 10 make sure Of
is staying there till the end Of the play. 1t
has very hot ON his perch, and he sometimes
rot very tired, and had TO be pOkod with a
'ong stick in order TO DO kept up to business.
They purchased calico and stained and cut
Ind stitched their own costumes, young
Wilson doing all the deviSing, designing and
literary work. Their orchestra consisted Of
} violin, English concertina and flute. They
wanted a drum; but, the orchestra being too
W dllQAAALlQAlC lut AGAA HlAlAt, Iuo
Ian ives hit on of covering a small square
ox with thick brown paper, kept taut by a
|pirit lamp This was a fair drum If not hit
100 hard
About this time q very large robbery Of
bank notes occurred and detectives were fol-
owing every person connected with the
printers firm where young Barrett was en-
Dloyed. One night, being q little late, the
boy ran oil the way from the Office 70 his
theatre, which awakened the suspicious Of a
detective, who dogged him and marveled to
ZEE him slip in among q score Or two Of people
IN o back yard. Following in himself bS
stayed through the play, joined in tho up
plause, pronounced it capital fun end went
away convinced that Wilson Barrett was nos
the thief he was in quest Of.
Three years before ali this, when a lad Of
be, he stood one night in q pouring rain
storm, wrapped in Of old sack from the corn
dealer's and with his broken boots full Of
water, in front Of the Princess theatre, then
lin its best days under Keen's auspices, and
determined that he would manage
that play house before he died. And he lived
10 do so. Then, too, it WAS that he wouldpay
half a crow to the master carpenter to be
admitted to the flies, much to the perplexity
of the same master carpenter, who wondered
why the queer boy didn't save the six pence
and sit in the pit and hear the play. But
Wilson Barrett early felt that great success
in any profession depended upon q thorough
mastery Of every branch Of that profession.
In order to study the play free Of charge, he
learned the violin and got an engagement in
the orchestra; and in order to get on the
stage he took lessons in dancing whenever he
could pay for it; and it was as a dancer that
he made his first public appearance he per-
formed 50 well between acts that the come
dian whose benefit he enliyened took a fancy
to him and Taught him broadsword combat,
which Barrett practised in his wi room ON
Sunday mornings, thinking 1t might be Of
some uss to him sometime That Samo come
dian and his son are now members Of Mr..
BarTetts travelling company.
Young Barrott had now decided in his own
mind 70 abandon all other ~emPlOyments and