The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1907-10-16
Ulcle Henry

NJ TY'nEA ia 9.,,. Henri,
TICKETS FOR THE GREAT PLAY, TWENTY-FIVE CENTS
Then we sold the tickets in advance. and as
every mothers son in the neighborhood had all
ready been engaged for the performance, we
raised by this means a sufficient sun to pay Dee
and purchase all of the false boards and noses
and such DISCUSSES as were necessary for a tip
top presentation. And say. it was a swell lot
of people that bought the tickets. and filled the
seats that night; the 0ery best in the city.
by the time these preliminaries were ar
ranged, Dee had finished the play and brought it
down to the barn-where we were hard at work
TO read it to us. We laid aside our hammers
and saws, and sat down with serious faces to con-
slider it. 1T acas simply immense!
1T was called "A Serious Love Affair." 1t did
not have a robber, but it had a counterfeiter.
which Ned said would suit me just as we'll; and
it had instead of a deep-eyed Gillian. a Secret De
tectiUe. which | thought would suit him to a dot.
Then there was the lover for Buck. and the
girl for Dacie, and the policeman for Boyle
Voolfolk, and a whole gang of counterfeiters for
all of the n~eighbor boys. Then we were to have
an orchestra of flies and drums, and tin pans
you understand-so as to use up all of our ma
terial.
"Of course we accepted the play and paid Dee
spot cash seventy-tive cents as agreed on. We
wanted a few changes made, but he said he would
charge extra for them, SO we let it go at that and
made the changes ourselves.
After this, we worked like beavers: we put
benches in the barn. some of them higher than
others, so that everybody could see. Then we
fixed a box On each side of the bins (our stage)
for the heightened persons who had paid extra to
sit in; and we pieced the stepladder SO it would
reach up to the loft.
las for the stage, we did not need much
scenery. the first act representing the interio" of
a counterfeiter's den, but we took a lot of old to-
mato cans, split them in half. and fixed a row
around the front with candles in them for foot
lights; the effect aUas great.
Then we had two of auntie's bedspreads
sewed together for the curtain. and we We're
ready. 1t is tue that we had been so busy work
ing out the details that we did not pay much at
knew what we had to do and could make up as We
went along.
When the time came we got our orchestra to-
sether and some lanterns and paraded the square
until we had drummed our spectators in. 1t was
a fine audience: the very cream of the West End.
remember that I looked at it through a slit in
the curtain, with great satisfaction, for it renre-
sented a good MANY nickels which had already
been spent in getting ready to produce the play.
"'Aunt emily nv aunties aeed colored maid.
occnnied the proscenium box. which we had made
on the left. while Thomas, the colored coachman,
occupied the one on the right. He was in livery
and made quite a striking feature. 1T seemed
that high-bred patrons after paving extra for the
boxes We're afraid to trust themselves in them.
and Aunt Emily and Thomas being verv desir-
Gus of witnessing the performance. and unwilling
to sit with the white folks had betaken them
selves tn the places of honor. Well, we didn't
care. The boxes were already paid for.
eat the appointed hour. as nearly as we could
assemble our cast. which was in fact almost on
hour later than the Amounted time. the orc'es-
ira crawled from beneath the feed troughs ""d
began. rather weak and inharmonious at first.