The times., 1898-12-25

lobby of the theater at which he was
playing that week. what show is it2''
asked passer-by of Mr.. ONeill. 1t was
In the afternoon and there was no crowd.
The appearance of the man had attracted
the gaze of the actor. Evidently he did
not belong to this section. Mr.. O'Neill
gave the desired information.
Il reckon l never seen it, said the
stranger. Don't seem to be nobody goin'
in
THE play is tonight" said the actor.
Show paradin' / reckon-drummin up
customers
The stranger was informed that he was
mistaken; that there were no show par
AIDES in New York.
What kind of a piece is it?''
Mr.. O'Neill answered this and also an
inquiry regarding the number of theaterS
in Greater New York.
DO you know what's soin' on at all of
'em?' asked the countryman.
His vis-a-vis called off the list.
Il reckon the one I'm lookin' for amt
bein' done the Jay" remarked. Il spose
I've run up agin another shell game. I'll
tell you how ii was. They got up an eX-
cursion from our part of the county. 1
wasn't comm until l happened to think
that maybe I'd see the show here i saw
before the war. 1t was the first show
ever seen, an I've been readin' the papers
an the bills on the barns and fences in
the town where | live ever since. An so
l axed the excursion man If he thought /
could see it in New York and he said they
done everything here, an II ! didn't find it
an would call for it some of the theaters
would play it. So bought a round ticket
But / amt heard a thing about what
want to see"
What is the name of the piece"
'' Lady of Lyons -
Great old play. No. you won't see that
in New York this season.
You seen it. them
"Often, often. One of my favorites.'
Say, stranger. it does me a power o.
good to hear you say that But you never
saw our company play it. l reckon
what company is that-I have seen
several?-'
1T was Just called the Lady of Lyons
company. No highfalutin' words in front
of it. They used to show in the Odd Eel
/ lows Hall in my town. but before they
played they would give a parade. A four
horse wagon held the band and the COM
pany would ride behind in buggies unless
there was snow on the grounds, and if
there was they had sleds.''
Didn't the organization stage anything
else?''
81 should say not. What for? People
didn't want to see anything else-not for
long time. l reckon they'd been playin'
yet if Jim Churchill hadn't died.
"Who was Jim Churchill?"
'.Why, the sign painter in our town.
| Everybody in our country knowed Jim
Churchill
"In what way did Mr. Churchilrs death
interfere with the play?''
well, Jim Churchill was funnier thar
almanac. He had face like a monkey
and when he died the preacher had to
laff as he held Jims hand. Jim Churchill
wasn't one of your kind that hired his
| face out. He was always funny. He
| didn't dare to go to church cause ned a
made the congregation giggle. Well, jim
! Churchill was the hero in the Lady Oi
Lyons company, and people just went tc
see him. I remember once of hearin tha,
some of the crowd axed Col. Davis, editor
of the Cycle. why he didn't write some
| thin about the man that got up the play
and about the company, and Col. Davis
said the readers of the Cycle didn't cart
a damn about anybody but Jim Churchill
Jim always had more paintin than ht
| could do, and he took in a pardner named
| F'itton, who had come to our town from
London. But whenever Fitton seen jim
| come into the shop he'd begin to laff. 81
that 1t kept the work behind. and the firm
finally broke up. Jim would made none!
paintin' but the people wanted him in thu
show and 1t kind O. broke into both busi
nesses, and he didn't make money outer
neither one. For long time after he diet
the people incur town didn't laff any. jim
| Churchill had furnished the laffin for th'
| town SO long that it seemed as II it wa!
! his business. and when he died it wa