speare very well; perhaps I can learn
something about it from him."

It was decided to consult Frank and Charlie, and secure their company if
possible. Both of them yielded to the proposition, though Charlie
suggested,

"That many people would think they were hurrying to ruin if they should
hear of their going."

"Perhaps they will," said Nat, "and I have no doubt that many persons
have been ruined by going; but they did not go for the same object that
we go. I am not going just for the pleasure of witnessing the play, by
any means; I want to see how the actors personate the different
characters. To read Shakspeare well, it must be read just as it is
spoken."

"No one will stop to consider your motive in going, nor mine," said
Charlie. "They think that the theatre is a bad place, and see not why it
will ruin one and not another."

"Well, I shall do as I think it is best for myself," answered Nat, in
that spirit of independence and self-reliance for which he was known; "I
shall go once to see, and if I think I can learn any thing to my
advantage, I shall go again, and stop when I have obtained what I want."

"That's cool enough," said Frank; "you would make a good refrigerator in
dog-days. Perhaps you intend to be an actor?"

"No, I don't fancy the business. I shall be satisfied to _see_ one."

Some of their friends propounded objections to this project, but they
were overruled by a full and clear statement of their object in going.
Then, too, the general good character which they bore, and their usual
prudence in avoiding bad company, combined to remove more easily all the
objections propounded.

The evening of the entertainment was pleasant, and it was indeed a new
step for them, as we see them standing at the entrance of the theatre.
To how many it has been the turning point of life! "Entrance to the
Pit," they read in capitals, with a hand pointing thither,--and to how
many it has been emphatically _the entrance to the pit_, in a most
appalling sense! It was a hazardous experiment for Nat and his
companions,--even more dangerous than the attempt to swim four rods
under water. But they entered with the multitude who were pouring in,
drawn thither by the popularity of the actor announced. The play
commenced, and scene after scene passed before the eyes of Nat, every
word of which he had read over and over again; but now, for the first
time, he beheld the characters in living persons. To him it was putting
t