e family was making a great success of
a negro part called "Jim Crow." A good deal of dancing and singing went
with it, and it was no time at all before little Joe could copy the man
perfectly. This made Rice, the friend, pleased enough, and he insisted
that Joe should go through the part in public. Rice was more than six
feet tall, and Joe was a tiny four-year-old child. You don't wonder, I
am sure, when the two stood on the stage, side by side, dressed exactly
alike, that the audience shouted with laughter. First the big Jim Crow
would sing a verse and dance, and then the tiny Jim would do the same.
The people in the audience kept clapping their hands for more and threw
silver coins on to the stage for the child, until stage hands, after the
curtain went down, picked up twenty-four dollars and gave them to Joe.

In spite of Joe's being most carefully trained by his parents to tell
the truth and say his prayers, he did, when he was small, let his fancy
run away with him sometimes, and to a dear old lady, always dressed in
stiffly starched frills, black gown and mitts, who kept a book and
notion store, he told stories of horrors that never really happened. No
doubt he liked to see her hold up her hands in dismay as he described
some imaginary runaway accident, and no doubt he liked to have her run
to bring him a nice, cool drink to "steady his nerves after such a
shocking sight!"

Belonging to an actor's family means, of course, living in many
different cities. Joe had known Philadelphia, Washington, and New York
well when the Jefferson family went to Illinois. As Springfield was the
capital of that State, and the men attending the legislature would swell
the audiences, Joe's father decided to build a theater there. Just as it
was finished, the ministers of the place began to preach against
allowing a theater there at all. They preached to such good effect that
the city council put a tremendous tax on the building, so big a tax that
poor Mr. Jefferson could not begin to pay it, for he had used every
dollar he had in building the theater. While he was wondering what he
would do, a young lawyer of Springfield came to him and said that, as he
thought the tax was out of all reason, he would agree to bring the
matter before the council, free of charge. Well--this lawyer made such a
strong plea, and got the members of the council into such gales of
laughter with his funny stories, that the tax was removed, and Mr.
Jefferson