foot-lights flared and flickered as
if they were conscious of the wonderful display of talent they were
there to illumine, while the barrel-hoop chandeliers cast even a more
brilliant light than one would have supposed. The flower decorations
on the wall, forming the word that meant quite as much as if it had
been spelled correctly, stood forth in all their beauty, even more
prominently than if the light had been stronger.

That Mrs. Green had never acted in the capacity of door-keeper of a
theatre before, was shown by the trouble she was having. It had been
her purpose to open the street-door, and then go in advance of the
crowd to the door of the hall, where she could receive either the
money or the tickets of those who entered. But one look at the noisy
throng was sufficient to convince her that more than half of them
would distance her in the race up-stairs. She therefore changed her
plan, and by exerting all her strength she was able to keep the door
closed so far as to prevent more than one from entering at a time. By
this means she succeeded in collecting tickets from nearly all who
entered. As soon as she thought she could do so with safety, she ran
up to the attic-door, where she could act the part of door-keeper with
more comfort and dignity.

At least fifteen minutes before the advertised time for the
performance to begin, every one of Dickey's board-seats were filled
with a noisy, perspiring crowd of boys, who found considerable
amusement in swaying back and forth on the not very secure seats,
until one of them would go down with a crash. This seemed to afford
the greatest amount of amusement to those who were thus thrown to the
floor.

Good Mrs. Green was thoroughly astonished by the amount of patronage
bestowed that night; for after she thought that the audience was
complete, boys of all sizes continued to pour in, until she had quite
a pile of five-cent pieces in her apron, besides the tickets, and
nearly one-half of those present were obliged to stand.

Although it was not eight o'clock, the audience suddenly came to the
conclusion that it was time for the performance to begin, and they
announced that fact by piercing whistles, furious stamping of the
feet, and such gentle admonitions to the managers as, "Hurry up,
Mopsey," "Give it to us now, Shiner," as well as other phrases
betokening extreme familiarity.

The managers of this theatre were not unmindful of the fact that their
audience must be o