in
foreign countries, and his best book of travel is _Innocents Abroad_. It
seems to me that even his father would have laughed over that book.
Speaking of his father again reminds me to tell you that the Tennessee
land never brought any luxuries to the Clemens family. It was sold for
less than the taxes had amounted to.

JOE JEFFERSON

Joseph, or as he was always called, Joe Jefferson was a great actor. And
there is never much talk of theaters, actors, and plays but some one is
apt to say: "Ah, but you should have seen Joe Jefferson in Rip Van
Winkle!" All Americans are very proud of the fact that this man was born
in the United States; that he lived and died here. There have been four
actors in the Jefferson family by the name of Joseph, but it was Joe
Jefferson Number Three who played the part of the queer old Dutchman,
Rip Van Winkle, for thirty years, whose life is told of now.

Joe was born in Philadelphia, but his parents went to Washington soon
after. They lived in a house whose back hall led right into the side
entrance of a theater. As soon as he could walk about by himself, little
Joe used to run through this hall and play all day long in the empty
theater, behind the scenes. Out in that part of the old building there
were all kinds of stage settings piled up behind the wings. There were
large pieces of canvas painted to look like an Italian lake, or an
English garden, or a Roman palace. There was a tiny cottage, with a real
door just big enough for Joe to squeeze through and slam behind him. He
used to pretend that he owned this cottage. There were throne chairs for
the make-believe kings and queens to sit in, a robber's cave, and a
lovely board and canvas bank, covered with moss and flowers. Two or
three children often joined Joe here, and they gave plays which they
made up themselves. Oh, it was such an odd, exciting place to play in!

In the dressing-room of this old theater was a large mirror, and Joe
loved to stand before this and act little bits of certain plays which he
had heard his parents recite. His mother was a singer, and his father
both an actor and manager, so Joe, being just across the hall, was often
carried on to the stage when some play called for a baby or small
child. Then, too, some evenings he would escape from his nurse, and, in
his night-dress, peep in through the door of the dressing-room and watch
the actors making up for their parts.

When Joe was four, a friend of th