Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-10-05
THEIR TREAT

eff poor Jack Haverly had been buried
anywhere within reasonable distance OF
the District of Columbia know one cit
izen thereof who'd have placed the finest
wreath of memory and gratitude purchas-
able for money on his grave, remarked
well-known young real estate man couple
of days after the announcement of the
death of the famous minstrel man who had
won and lost dozen fortunes. And there
are a couple Of men In business IN TINS
town of my own age who'd doubtless have
been glad to chip in for the purchase of
the wreath.
'You remember what noble, preternat-
urally gorgeous beings the boys of a couple
of decades or more ago considered minstrel
men to be- don't you? Well, had that,
and had 1t bad. The circus was not In II
with the mfnstrels, so far as l was con-
cerned. I used to lie awake O. nights and
dream Of one day wearing cream-colored
suit. with frock coat, and a cream-colored
plug hat and patent leather SHOES, ana
with big yellow diamond stuck In my
shirt 'front.' and of marching along IN the
hollow square of a Ministries street pro-
cession. I didn't want to be President of
the United States, but 1 did sure long to
be a black-face artist, and L USED TO or
ganize and put through three or four min
strel shows per vacation in the shed back
of my folks house, in which L was inter-
locutor, end man, silver tenor and good
deal of the rest of the whole thing. never
missed a minstrel show when l was boy
around this old town,ud do anything to
get hold of the necessary quarter to pay
for a seat in the gallery to see the min
strels. Say, I've swiped the Ids OH my
mothers kitchen stove to add weight to
the bunch of old iron junk I've collected
to sell to the junk man to get the price of
a minstrel ticket.
well, when Haverly's Mastodon Min
strels were billed to show a. Ford's Opera
1at n seventies
in the eighties there didn't seem to De
much doing in the way of my getting the
price of a gallery seat. The ground was
covered with snow, and so there was no
chance of picking up enough iron junk to
make the thing stick, and none OF the
schemes that l thought out looked IN any
way promising. The very day the MIN
strels were due to open came along, and
still 1 was minus the price, and l was
p1 city desperate. With two other KIDS or
my own age l was on hand OUTSIDE the
hotel at which the Ministries stopped early
on the morning of their arrival, and when
the gorgeous business manager of the out
fit stepped out in front and asked US three
kids If we wanted to distribute handplils
for ticket each to see the snow that
evening you can figure how we 1eit. Dlo
we!
well, we clomped all over Washington
from 8 o'clock that morning until D O'Clock
in the afternoon. without ever going nome
for mouthful to eat, scattering those
Hayerly handbills around In basement area
ways and handing EN- to pedestrians Eat!
Who wanted to eat with such BEATING an
ticipations as free seats at the perform
ance TO Haverly's Mastodon MINISTRIES.
However as a concession to our mothers
we all did sneak home and grab something
to eat off the supper table after wed got
through scattering the handouts, put IL
was merely a matter of form, and we were
all three of hanging around the old
theater long before o'clock, waiting Tor
the appearance of that business manager
who had hired US as advertising agents for
one admission each.
He showed up about half-past Z, and
we nailed him as soon as we saw him for
those three passes. Now, that man was
mean dog, and I'd tell him so If he was
nine feet high and / saw him this minute.
He was a mean dog and nothing else. He
looked at us three anxious kids for only
about half a second, and then he passed
on, telling us to git out We told him
that we'd been peddling bills for him until
our shoes were worn out, but he wouldn't
listen to u.s. Git out! said he, booting us
out of the theater and almost all the way
down the front steps, blame his Internal
mean hide.
well there we were, and the other kids
out in front that were waiting to fall into
line to buy gallery tickets when the door
opened at I:30 gave US the boot. There
we were. after our wearsome day in the
SHOW and slush. with wet feet, and now
with well nigh broken hearts. We stood
out there in the cold in front of old Ford 8
until all of the boys had gone in bowling
with joy. Well, we could listen to the
band playing on that portico, anyhow, and
we did but that wasn't much consolation.
We had about given up all hope when We
saw coming along at a saunter from the
avenue the man whose face has perhaps
been as much pictured as that Of any man
that ever lived-Mr. Jack Haverly himself.
We waited until he came up the steps and
then we just got together and tod him our
little story, explaining how we'd worked
and how we'd been treated for our work
wait a minute, youngsters said this
man, whose heart was as big as a fire
bucket and he went inside and we could
hear him asking the business manager
who had employed us. and who was in the
box Office, il he had sent three kids out
that day to distribute handbills. The bust
ness manager replied that he had, but that
he couldn't identify them. Haverly came
to the door and beckoned us in, and, pass
ing his arm around the three Of u.s. he
said to the business manager, who poked
his head out of the box office window
"'Are these three the boys?
Yes, 1 think they. are, replied that
mean dog, knowing that we could prove It.
ANY boxes left?' inquired Haverly,
carelessly, Of the business manager
'Yes-one.' replied the fellow.
"'Give me the coupons, said Haverly.
and when he got them he said. Come
along, boys, and, passing the ticket taker
and the ushers, escorted us right square
into one of the upper boxes the only one
left. linen HaVerly pulled out Wad of
bills, stripped off three twos and handed
each Of us one of them, and. with a kind
ly pat on the head and a still kindlier
smile, he went out of the box. and none CT
us ever saw him after that
But we've never forgotten it. and I'd
like to see the weather fierce enough to
keep us from going to his tomb with some
flowers If he were buried within reason
able distance from Washington"
he KRf NJ
From the London Chronicle