Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 118 — page 4: what you’re looking at

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4 wages, but this was not exactly what he desired. He professed to use his wits in speculation, for with a fortune to make in five years his wits must be his paymaster. Boarding at the hotels was at present too ex- pensive, and so he rented a room over a little rocery on Race street, for four dollars a month, urnished witha bed and a chair. Here he slept at night, and picked up his meals Wherever he could get them. Little by little his money dribbled away, and still no way of adding to his stock. Finally, one day he bought a small stock of tobacconist’s goods, at auction, for five dollars, rented a stall in Washington market for three dollars more, and ‘‘ went in business.” But, it didn’t pay, and he sold out within a week for fifteen dollars. With this he purchased a pack of goods, and started out on a tramp through the country; but this he found to be a very disagreeable and a poor paying avocation. ‘he first of January saw him upon the streets of Erie, Pennsylvania, footsore, with only fifty dollars in pocket as the result of over two months’ irksome labor. While eating supper in a restaurant he picked up a Buffalo daily paper, when his eye fell upon the following advertisement; ‘*WantTieD: A manager with a little capital, totake a minstrel concert company upon the road. A rare phen aay to the right party. Call at Continental He resolved to go to Buffalo, N. Y., and see the advertiser. The idea struck him as good, so he took the cars for Buffalo, _ On arrival there he applied at the Continental Totel, and found the advertiser, a man by the ame of Worley, who claimed that he was a omedian of no mean ability, who had met with ‘everses, but was willing to travel cheap. His ‘ompany embraced five performers besides him- solf, all of whom were out of employment, and desired to travel. In alittle room on Mill street the company gave a rehearsal, and Jack was satisfied that the en- terlainment would ‘‘ take,” so he resolved to run them on.a trip paronan the oil regions of Penn- sylvania, then in the hight of their excitement. Borrowing a hundred dollars from one of the rformer’s friends, and securing printed bills y ahalf advance payment, he sent a man in advance to announce the show, which of course he christened with a high-sounding title. The first trial was to be Erie. Tn the meantime, Jack, who had assumed an- other name for the occasion, drilled his company . twice daily, added several. musicians, and finally had his “ troupe” organized with ten members. The pay of these amounted to ten dollars per day, besides their hotel bills and car fares, which he calculated would average thirty more. After that he had the opera-house bill to pay, and the expenses of his advance agent, so that upon figur- ing it all up, he counted his total expenses at one hundred dollars per day. Seven days after his advance man had gone, he started for Erie with his troupe, having bare- ly enough money to pay the car-fare. Arrived at Erie, he found the prospects any- thing but flattering. The town was esd most intensely with cold weather; from off the lake a furious snow- storm was blowing, and the people were secure- ly housed. On inquiry he found that very little interest had been aroused concerning the show, and there were no prospects of a “‘ house” at all. CHAPTER IMI. HOW JACK GOT A HOUSE. “You will do well if you get fifty cents to- night,” the er of the opera-house said, when Jack approached him on the subject. “A little one-horse troupe went to smash here, a fow nights ago, on account of the poor veather.” ‘Tt looks dubious,” Jack was forced to ad- 1it, ‘* but my company shall play if every seat ; vacant, provided you will Not me have the all, “Yes, you can have it, if you will give me swenty per cent of the gross receipts. I may possibly get enough to pay for fire and light.” And so it was arranged. After dinner Jack raked together enough motiey out of the company to hire pend res ; aud about sunset the storm abated sufficient for a@ parade in the principal streets. All of his own company ye or sung well, and their music attracted attention. | After this parade, Jack spruced’himself up and called upon Mrs. L——, one of the society “leaders” of Eri ——— = oe SN — ~ DE ee ee —_—_-——-_—--- -- | —————_—_—XSS—_—-___—_—___.? aa NR a J ack Hoyle. The lady received him in some surprise, and with some hesitation he made known his er- rand: ‘*T am manager of the minstrel troupe thatis to appear at the opera-house to-night, and I came to learn if it was your intention to attend?” he said, ial gsioben! 6 “Tt is not,” was the reply. ‘The weather is rather too cold for amusements.” ‘“Very true. But I would be willing to pay you to come to-night, as where you go others will go, and I can thus blag get enough of a house to pay my expenses. Otherwise, I shall have to disband my troupe in the outset. This will be very hard indeed on my excellent men.” “You are very complimentary, sir, but I care not for that. If my presence will in any way affect your receipts, it will give me pleasure to attend.” ‘Thanks, lady. Your kindness I shall not forget. Here are tickets for four of the choicest seats. Then Jack took his leave, wondering what his experiment was likely to amount to. On arriv- ing at the hotel, he told Worley of it, and the comedian laughed heartily. “You have cheek enough to succeed in any enterprise!” he declared. ‘‘If the lady comes, we'll do the best we know how.” From that time until dusk Jack had a squad of boys distributing dodgers around the city, thus keeping the subject of the show fresh in the people’s minds. en the hour for the doors to open arrived Jack entered the reserved seat office to look ab the diagram. His landlord was also there, look- ing it over, with evident satisfaction. ‘Tam zlad I consented to take twenty per cent of the gross,” he said, smiling, “‘ for over a hundred seats are sold—the fattest sheet, by all odds, we’ve had for a month! But what mys- tifies me, is, what brings the elite out to-night? I should sooner have expected to see Lake Erie thaw up.” Jack smiled, but did not reply. Evident it was that his little maneuver was to work him profit. The opera-house owner took charge of the ticket office, while Jack attended to the door and it was with a thrill of joy that he watched the first customer purchase a ticket and enter. It was a new undertaking, and had looked very dubious, but his pulses began to throb once more when he saw that there was prospect of a good house. The band gave a rehearsal before the opera- house, and despite the wintry blasts attracted a large crowd; then the performers went into the ete, and the people. began to crowd the oors. Not in ones or twos, but in dozens, of both sexes and all stations in life, A dozen or more private iages halted be- fore the hall and were unfreighted of well- dressed ladies and gentlemen—others came by the cars, or on foot, and paid their way into the show that had a few hours before promised to be a dire failure. A short time before the curtain raised, Mrs. L—— and her suite entered, and she smiled tri- umphantly as she caught Jack’s eye, as much as to say: ‘‘I am the cause of all this assem- bling of people.” ) She was a royally beautiful woman, and Jack felt that it was an honor to have her attend. At last the curtain rolled up on the handsome- ly-set first part, in the presence of a very large audience, The opera-house proprietor. stepped in from the box-office, and looked over the assemblage with an approving nod of his head: ‘Good house,” he said—‘‘good house, but. it’s miraculous, sir—miraculous!” ‘‘How much are the receipts?” asked Jack, well pleased at the success. **Don’t know. Somewhere nigh seven hun- dred dollars, I reckon. Here’s a package that was left for you at the box-office,” Jack tore open the dainty envelope, and his surprise knew no bounds when he read the fol- lowing: “Erie, Pa., January —, 18—, MANAGER— Dear Str: The presence of yourself and compan is respectfully invited at Mrs. L——’s, at the conchu- sion of the entertainment, this evening. “By OrpER OF COMMITTEE.”’ Whatever might have been Jack’s elation be- fore, it was a hundredfold increased, now. After the first was finished, he took op rtunity to go behind the scenes and show the vitation’ to the company, and they were greatly pleased. The entertainment was a success, and heartily applauded by the audience, and after the show had dismissed, Jack found himself the possessor of five hundred and fifty dollars as his share of the receipts; he felt that he had struck the right road to fortune. With his reine, pa he then resorted to Mrs. L——’s, and found a banquet awaiting them, and also a crowd of the elite to do honor to the oc- casion. To his satisfaction his company carried them- selves with perfect decorum, and although a trifle bashful, he managed to carry his own part as became him. rs, L—— was his chap- erone for the evening, and he had the pleasure of an introduction into the first society of Erie. wound up the festivities, and when Jack went back to the hotel with his company he was satisfied that he and his company had established their reputation from the start, The morning papers favorably noticed the show, and the banquet; and, wide awake to business, Jack purchased a whole edition of these, and sent them on for free distribution in the towns they were to visit. From Erie they struck down into the oil country, visiting Corry, Titusville, Meadville, Oil City and Pittsburg, and drawing full houses in each place. The oil towns at that time were ‘red-hot ” show-towns, and turned out liberally to patronize his entertainment. On the termination of their engagement in Pittsburg, Jack was taken sick with typhoid fever, and sold out his management to orley for two hundred dollars. The show went to pieces a few weeks later, in Ohio, Worley hav- roe soee with the receipts! ut of this speculation Jack had cleared seventeen hundred dollars, which was an ex- traordinary success. For two weeks he lay very ill in the smoky city, and when he was able to get around, he left for Ohio, finally bringing up in Cleveland. His illness had consumed over a hundred dol- lars of his money, and he began to look around for a place to invest the remainder, lest that too, should go. The first week of his stay in Cleveland, he wrote to and received an answer from Bessie Bond, By it he learned that detectives were looking into the matter of his father’s property d that Addison Tremaine was talking of quitting Lowell. , “The scoundrel,” Jack muttered; ‘ that fact betrays his guilt. Thope that my friend will not let him escape.” Bessie went on to say how the Lorne’s had id two hundred dollars for a cat in Boston, hat had since manifested its ‘‘ Belgian ” breed- ing, by clawing Miss Lillian in the face, going through a great mirror, and killing all of Mr. Lorne’s choicest birds. Jack was se 2 poate to poor, over this news although he could but feel guilty about his cat speculation, One day he fell, and both sprained his ankle, and seriously bruised his body. He had to be carried to his hotel. A doctor was called who applied a liniment that in three days put Jack on his feet again. The liniment had wrought miracles! “What will you take for the receipt for that liniment?’ the young speculator asked, as he was paying his bill. “Twenty dollars, reserving the privilege to use it in my practice,” the man replied. ‘‘Agreed. Give me the receipt, and here are your twenty dollars,” and Jack was soon in pos- session of his liquid bonanza. So, paceing his trunk, he took the cars for New York at once. It was now in the latter part of March, and being an early spring, the weather was getting pleasant. On arriving in New York, he rented a couple of rooms, and furnished the one with a cosey bedroom set, while he fitted the other up as a laboratory. Then he purchased a couple of hundred dol- lars’ worth of materials, such as was required to manufacture his liniment. Now to get his liniment a name! He went to a well-known physician with a sample of his preparation, and offered a partnership, in consideration that the doctor would permit the liniment to be named after him, would take charge of the sales and advertising business, furnish half of the capital ne in the manufacture, and take half the net profits. r some deliberation the man of medicine, who was shrewd enough to see money in the adventure, consented, and gave Jack access to his bank account. ! 7 Once more, accordingly, Jack found himself on the road to fortune. | Contracting with a noted glass manufaetory EComichbooksseo