ay on which the last curtain had just fallen. It was on the
stage of Daly's theatre at Thirtieth Street and Broadway, and from his
velvet box at the prompt-entrance Daly stood gloomily watching their
fooling. When they had finished the mock scene Richard went over to
Daly and said, "How bad do you think I am as an actor, Mr. Daly?" and
greatly to my brother's delight the greatest manager of them all of
those days grumbled back at him: "You're so bad, Richard, that I'll
give you a hundred dollars a week, and you can sign the contract
whenever you're ready." Although that was much more than my brother
was making in his chosen profession at the time, and in spite of the
intense interest he had in the theatre, he never considered the offer
seriously. As a matter of fact, Richard had many natural
qualifications that fitted him for the stage, and in after-years, when
he was rehearsing one of his own plays, he could and frequently would
go up on the stage and read almost any part better than the actor
employed to do it. Of course, he lacked the ease of gesture and the
art of timing which can only be attained after sound experience, but
his reading of lines and his knowledge of characterization was quite
unusual. In proof of this I know of at least two managers who, when
Richard wanted to sell them plays, refused to have him read them the
manuscript on the ground that his reading gave the dialogue a value it
did not really possess.

In the spring of 1880 Richard left the Episcopal Academy, and the
following September went to Swarthmore College, situated just outside
of Philadelphia. I fear, however, the change was anything but a
success. The life of the big coeducational school did not appeal to
him at all and, in spite of two or three friendships he made among the
girls and boys, he depended for amusement almost wholly on his own
resources. In the afternoons and on holidays he took long walks over
the country roads and in search of adventure visited many farmhouses.
His excuse for these calls was that he was looking for old furniture
and china, and he frequently remained long enough to make sketches of
such objects as he pretended had struck his artistic fancy. Of these
adventures he wrote at great length to his mother and father, and the
letters were usually profusely decorated with illustrations of the most
striking incidents of the various escapades. Several of these
Swarthmore experiences he used afterward in s