The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1904-05-15

every other one of the stockholders had fetched his
near and dear ones in free, too.
Everyone of EN- had passed in from eight to seven
teen persons. about thirteen on an average; and some
of EN- had brought their kin from the country. and
Others had paid small debts with free admissions.
Then there were the eighteen band boys who played
outside before the show. and their girls and girls sis
tiers, twenty-four in all, and the furniture-dealer. who
lent the stage-settings, and his family, nine; the con-
stable fetched along himself and five special officers.
and the wives of three of EN-, not to speak of the
eleven ANONYMOUS persons who had lent the props. and
the G ng from the depot, and the landlord and dining
room gr 5, and the mayor and family, and the press
them editors seem to have a craze for big families,-
and the clergy and their wives and little olive branches,
mixing Together, including the bsggage-man and his
folks, the ushers and their best girls. the bows that
passed bills. and some others that | don't recollect, a
matter of between four and five hundred dead
heads.
y show manager on earth or in the waters under
the earth would stand for anything like that, and this
one hoped onto Lysander Gees wishbone like a
hyena- Lysander hoped onto key Chscobs, and
Ikev grinned more like a dried lemon than ever. and
sid he'd been instructed by the stockholders to pass
them and their folks, and sposed it was all right b'cuz
Lysander had passed in his'n. The mani ger of the
show belched forth fire and smoke. and stayed over
the next day to sue Manager Gee for the money that
ort 10 have been taken in.
"Lysander tried to get the rest of EN- to pungle up
pro-ratty. but they refused. and all jumped onto him
for his Encouragement. He jumped back onto them
for all butting in free, and they wanted to know how
1t arrived that he had RIPARIAN rights that they didn't
have.
THE show manager held him to his contract,
which key Chacobs had made sure was a good one.
and Manager Gee had to claw out the money.
Then Gee ~haughtily told the rest of the stockhold-
ers that as they knew so much better how 10 run the
thing than he did he'd turn the management over to
anyone of them; but they declined the honor. Next.
he tried to ~repudiate his contract with key, but key
and a lawyer showed him that he was bound with fet-
tiers OF brass. and the rest OF the joint-stock company
with him. And, ever since, b'cuz there Is no lawful
way out. without paving a good deal more. they have
been giving key rent for an opery house that they
don't Use.
Although the nineteen best citizens had declined
the management, they each soon decided to make the
best of a bad matter. In the three weeks following
the opening date, nearly everyone OF the twenty man.
ayers had given time to various entertainments: they
had promised the house to four church festivals, nine
elocutionists. a fair by the band BOYS. the fremen's
ball. SIX lectures by preachers. three temperance out
bursts. a school commencement. four public installa-
tons by lodges, and one thing and another-amount-
ing TO nearly forty dates, all in the first three
weeks.
Everybody wanted a whack at the new opery house.
None of the managers consulted with each other. and
so everybody got dates.
We'll, then-Aw. YOU can guess how il went. The
managers fell out with each other. Everybody who
had dates got mad at the people who had the same
dates.
The trouble got into the churches and the news
papers. The band broke up. and the fire COM
panv went to slaves. Nearly everybody in town was
mixed up in it but me and key Chacobs. | was an
innocent bystander. and Ikev Just went on wearing his
There were s~quabbles all the while, and fights now and