se who loved her as
mother, wife, and friend.

This, then, was the family circle in which our Joseph Jefferson
passed his earliest years, the formative period of his life. There
were the kind-hearted, easy-going father, the practical, energetic
mother, a sister, and the half-brother, Charles Burke, whose
after-reputation as an actor lives in the pages of Jefferson's
autobiography enshrined in words of warm but judicious appreciation.
"Although only a half-brother," says Jefferson, "he seemed like a
father to me, and there was a deep and strange affection between us."
Nor must mention be forgotten of one other member of the family: Mary,
his foster-mother, as Jefferson affectionately calls her, "a faithful,
loving, truthful friend, rather than a servant, with no ambition or
thought for herself, living only for us, and totally unconscious of
her own existence."

Joseph Jefferson, the third of the name, and in whom the talent of his
grandfather was to reappear enriched with added graces of his own, was
born in Philadelphia in 1829. He tells us that his earliest
recollections are connected with a theatre in Washington. This was a
rickety, old, frame-building adjoining the house in which his father
lived as manager, the door at the end of the hall-way opening directly
upon the stage; and as a toddling little chap in a short frock he was
allowed full run of the place. Thus "behind the scenes" was his first
playground; and here, "in this huge and dusty toy-shop made for
children of a larger growth," he got his first experience. He was
early accustomed to face an audience; for, being the son of the
manager and almost living in the theatre, he was always pressed into
the service whenever a small child was wanted, and "often went on the
stage in long clothes as a property infant in groups of happy
peasantry." His first dim recollection of such a public appearance is
as the "child," in Kotzebue's play, "Pizarro," who is carried across
the bridge by Rolla. His next appearance was in a new entertainment,
called "Living Statues," where he struck attitudes as "Ajax Defying
the Lightning," or "The Dying Gladiator." At four years of age he made
a hit by accompanying T. D. Rice, the original "Jim Crow," as a
miniature copy of that once famous character, and the first money he
earned was the sum of $24 thrown upon the stage in silver from pit and
gallery, to reward his childish dancing and singing on that occasion.

Thus early wedded