The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-05-14
EVA AND THE BLOOD
 HOUNDS.

Tom people are getting ready for the pike" To the uninitiated this ann biguous statement means little, but to those in the know it conveys the sen timent that the Uncle Toms Cabin" shows are getting ready for the annual tour. The fierce Siberian bloodhounds have been hauled from their winter kennels and treated by veterinarians for the dispemper and mango. and Elizas all over the country have been climbing stairs and skipping ropes to get rid of surplus tissue. A fat Eliza rolling over floating ice and chased by man-eating hounds at ten, twenty and thirty would be a violation of the con- ventions which no manager would stand for--not for minute.
 The biggest Uncle Toms Cabin show in the business is just now fit- ting out for the season in Minneapolis This Is headquarters for the Wilharts & Smiths Premier Uncle Toms Cab in Company" and it takes two cars to carry the hounds, Little Evas, Simon Legrees, Topsies. tents, seats and those who follow the thespian life and "dou- ble in brass" From people, travel in style. They have at their disposal a private sleeping and dining car. This car is the perambulating home of fifty two people, including the colored folks ! who wear white coats and silk tiles in the parade, peel potatoes and wash dishes, show up in cotton-p picking scene, act as chattels in the auction
 house, weep with gusto at the death of diminutive Eva, and cut pigeon wings at the concert which follows the big show. They also act as the gentle
 manly ticket-sellers who will now pass
 among you," and make themselves 1 generally pseful when not otherwise ! employed.
 1 Nothing but wind and water can
 beat the managers of an Uncle Toms
 Cabin" show out of getting the money.
 From the minute the band begins to play in the village street. people begin < to dig down In the weazel skin for the price of tickets. It is a show which never becomes old to the masses, and
 no matter how dull the theatrical sea-
 son may be, Tom people" are pros
 porous.
 There have been hustle and hustle
 about the railroad tracks at Fourth
 avenue, N. and Fifth streets this week
 The two big cars belonging to the
 Minneapolis promoters have been re-
 painted and scrubbed until they shine
 like Uncle Toms countenance. Trucks
 have been hauling in load after load of
 canvas for the big tents, and scenery,
 seats, dogs ponies. trombines, actors
 and actorines. and all that goes to
 make up the travelling village, have
 been in evidence The bloodhounds
 have consistently tried to bite the leg 1 of every loafcr they could reach, and
 the hetland ponies have tried to kick ] the sides out of the car. Marks came near meeting his finish while assisting
 to feed the pups, and Miss Ophelia sat on the car steps and made goo-goo- ized eyes at the manager.
 All was hurry and hustle. Seriously 1 speaking, the Uncle Tom business has come to be regarded as much of an in- vestment as the playing of stocks and
 bonds. City people smile at the old play, but it takes cold cash and lot of | it to put big show of the kind on the road, It is miniature circus these 1 days, and demands the same keen bus mess management required in any oth- ] CT line of business The show which
 has been outfitting in Minneapolis this week carries almost seventy-f1ve peo- pie, including actors, canvasmen, bus | mess agents and the ticket-sellers and l takers. The company will play North
 and South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin. Large crowds have
 watched the work from the Fifth street
 bridge, but the abusive language used by the dogs has prevented too large a crowd from interfering with the work