re the bill was placarded, Captain Claret, enacting the part of
censor and grand chamberlain ran over a manuscript copy of "_The Old
Wagon Paid Off_," to see whether it contained anything calculated to
breed disaffection against lawful authority among the crew. He objected
to some parts, but in the end let them all pass.

The morning of The Fourth--most anxiously awaited--dawned clear and
fair. The breeze was steady; the air bracing cold; and one and all the
sailors anticipated a gleeful afternoon. And thus was falsified the
prophecies of certain old growlers averse to theatricals, who had
predicted a gale of wind that would squash all the arrangements of the
green-room.

As the men whose regular turns, at the time of the performance, would
come round to be stationed in the tops, and at the various halyards and
running ropes about the spar-deck, could not be permitted to partake in
the celebration, there accordingly ensued, during the morning, many
amusing scenes of tars who were anxious to procure substitutes at their
posts. Through the day, many anxious glances were cast to windward; but
the weather still promised fair.

At last _the people_ were piped to dinner; two bells struck; and soon
after, all who could be spared from their stations hurried to the
half-deck. The capstan bars were placed on shot-boxes, as at prayers on
Sundays, furnishing seats for the audience, while a low stage, rigged
by the carpenter's gang, was built at one end of the open space. The
curtain was composed of a large ensign, and the bulwarks round about
were draperied with the flags of all nations. The ten or twelve members
of the brass band were ranged in a row at the foot of the stage, their
polished instruments in their hands, while the consequential Captain of
the Band himself was elevated upon a gun carriage.

At three bells precisely a group of ward-room officers emerged from the
after-hatchway, and seated themselves upon camp-stools, in a central
position, with the stars and stripes for a canopy. _That_ was the royal
box. The sailors looked round for the Commodore but neither Commodore
nor Captain honored _the people_ with their presence.

At the call of a bugle the band struck up _Hail Columbia_, the whole
audience keeping time, as at Drury Lane, when _God Save The King_ is
played after a great national victory.

At the discharge of a marine's musket the curtain rose, and four
sailors, in the picturesque garb of Maltese mariners