Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1890-01-29
THEATRlcAL TOURISTS.
Hardships Endured by Company
Travelling Across Illinois.


Hardships Endured by Company in
Travelling Across Illinois.
In going to Galena my fathers COM
pany travelled across the prairies in open
wagons. Our seats were the trunks that
contained the wardrobe = those old
fashioned hair trunks made from the
mottled skins of defunct circus horses:
ITO what base uses we may return!"
These trunks, with geometrical prob
lens in brass tacks ornamenting their
surface, would have made slippery seats
on macadamized road, so one may i'm
agine the difficulty we had in holding on
while jolting over a rough prairie. Moth
ing short of severe pressure ON the brass
tacks and a convulsive grip of the
handles kept US in position; and when
ever handle gave way our company
was for the time being one member
short.
AS we were not an express train we
were allowed more than twenty minutes
for refreshments; the only difficulty was
the refreshment. We stopped at farm
houses on the way for this uncertain me-
cessity, and they were far apart. froads
were heavy and horses iaded those ac-
tors who had tender hearts and tough
limbs jumped out and walked to ease the
poor brutes.
Often have seen my father trudging
ahead of the wagon, smoking his pipe,
and 1 have no doubt, thinking of the
fortune he was going to make in the
next town, now and then looking back
with his light blue eyes, giving nv
vf,,1
said: I'm all right This Is splendid;
nothing could be finer" If it rained,
he was glad it was not showing; If it
showed he was thankful it was not
raining. This contented nature was his
only inheritance; but it was better than
fortune, for nothing could rob him of
it.
We travelled from Galena to Dubuque
on the frozen rivers in sleighs-smoothe
work than the rough roads Of the prai.
rte; but 1t was a perilous journey, for q
warm spell had set in and made the ice
sloppy and unsafe. We would some
times hear it crack and see it bend un-
der our horses feet, now long breath
OF relief as we passed some dangerous
spot. then convulsive gasping of our
nearest companion as the ice groaned
end shook beneath us. Well, the pas.
sengers arrived safe, but, horror to re-
late, the sleigh containing the baggage,
private and public, with scenery and
properties. green curtain and drop,
broke through the ice and tumbled into
the Mississippi. My poor mother was in
tears, but my father was in high spirits
at his good luck, as he called it, because
there was sand bar where the sleigh
went in, so the! things were saved at
least, though in forlorn condition.
The opening had to be delayed in
order to dry the wardrobe and smooth
the scenery. The halls of the hotel
were strung with clothes-lines and cos.
tunes Of all nations festooned the doors
OF bedrooms, so that when an unsus-
picious boarder came out suddenly into
the entry he was likely to run his head
into damp Roman shirt, or perhaps
have the legs of a soaking pair of red
tights dangling around his neck. Mil.
dew filled the air. The gilded paste
board helmets Jared the worst. They
had succumbed to the softening infiu:
ences of the Mississippi. and were as
battered and out of shape as if they had
gone through the pass of Thermopylae,
Limp leggings of scale armor hung wet
and detected from the lines, low spirited
cooked hats piled up in corner, rough
dried court coats stretched their arms
as If in the agony of drowning, as il
they would say: "Help me. Cassius, or
| sink" Theatrical scenery at best
looks pale and shabby in daytime, but
worn set, after six hours bath in
river, presents the most woe-bogone an,
pearance; the sky and water Of the
marine had SO mingled that the horizon
line had disappeared. My father had
painted the scenery, and he was not q
little crestfallen as he looked ON the
ruins; wood scene had amalgamated
with Roman street painted on the
hack of 1t, and had SO run into stains
and streaks that he said 1t looked like a
map OF South America, and, pointing
out the Andes with his cane, he humor.
ously traced the Amazon to it's source
Joseph Jefferson, in Century.