The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-10-27
RIVER "sHOW BOATS"

Not the least interesting feature of the Mississippi River and its main tributaries is the show boat" Several scores of cabin boaters with Thespian ing theatres. The Eisenbarth-H Hender- son is probably the best known troupe of river cabin boat actors to-day They have houseboat more than 100 feet long and 20 feet wide, on which they render popular and classic plays in style, So large and profitable is this boat that a full tiedged river steamer, the Enos Taylor,, is employed to tow 1t from landing to landing, The play CTS live on the boat, and of all the actors who travel probably none have more comfortable quarters. There is no packing up or unpacking of stage furnishings, for the theatre goes everywhere with them.
 ? The river shows are of various kinds, ranging from ambitious efforts to render Shakespeare down through plain modern comedy, vaudeville, minstrelsy, buffoonery, sleight-of finland and musical entertainments. The larger companies show only at the river towns such as New Madrid, Luxora, Hickman, Lake Providence, Tiptonville and places of similar size where patronage Is liberal at the prices charged-from dollar down to 10 cents. The largest floating theatre on the river will seat nearly three hundred persons, while some shows are given in ordinary cabin boats holding at the most twenty or thirty persons. The Poole- Marion combination in a 32-foot boat claims to make from $15 to $30 week from an entertainment consisting of "oldtime fiddling,' slefght of hand, balyhoo and Punch and Judy arrangement When they cannot get money, they accept chickens, coon skins, junk or anything else which is salable.
 In the old days before railroads had built up the river towns and given rapid and sure transportation between cities the leading actors of the day were at times obliged to have recourse to the show boat" for opportunity to be seen by the public Some of the old "show boat combinations were fa- mous from St. Louis to New Orleans, and not Do have seen the Chapmans on their ark in the nearly sos spelled one out of select society on the Ohio and Mississippi
 William Chapman ST., was born in England in 1794, and grew up among the vans of Richardsons travelling theatre. In 1927 he came to America, where he formed company which was called the Chapman Family" Chap man went through the woods to Pitts burg, where Captain Brown, an Ohio ! River shlpbiulder, constructed a float ing theatre for him while he and his troupe were occupying the dining room of the Old Red Lion Hotel with such plays as "The Stranger" Cinderella" etc. The Chapman family consisted of William Chapman, ST, William Chap man, Jr,, George, Caroline, Harry and Therese Chapman.
 Although the river actors are seldom ! more than passable, the river musicians are often worth going to hear. The concerts are usually given by pairs of river nomada, or tramps, who need the money. They have no schedule or itinerary, seeking a stand only when they have reached the limit of their re- sources. These men often send hours over the fiddle and the bow or picking a guitar. Their music is a strange combination of classical and popular strains, al modified to meet the river spirit, often haunting the memory with strains of melancholy and loneliness The river musician asserts that life on the Mississippi "softens a fellers mus l ic."-NewYork Tribune.