y desire of those who love the open air. The
wind was light--a nice sailing breeze--and the sun was not too warm. Few
words were spoken, save inconsequent remarks now and then on some
passing sail. The monotony of the situation was finally broken by the
manager, as he proceeded to unburden himself of his intentions for the
next entertainment.

"Our next move will be to play Saturday night, that is, to-morrow, in
one of these little towns near by on the Long Island shore, and with
that performance bring our tour to a close, return to the city, get a
few more good people and lay out a new route. We have done fairly well,
all things considered, on this trip, and we can afford to strengthen our
organization and give the public something better, if not stronger. The
pieces we have been presenting are rather ancient,--almost too
classic,--though I must admit we offered them in a somewhat original
manner. We must, however, keep pace with the times--be up to date. The
simple life is all very fine in books, but, my friends, 'tis the
strenuous life that produces the stuff. Excuse slang, but it is much
employed nowadays, and vigorous emphasis is used even by the most
refined. If we don't get new attractions I am afraid we may have to
resort to giving away souvenirs. Souvenirs have, in their day, had all
the potency of a bargain counter in a popular department store well
advertised. Personally, I do not take kindly to the souvenir business.
It isn't professional."

"That's all right," conceded Smith, "but an old piece frequently becomes
new when you subject it to unique treatment. Now, for example, I don't
think anyone has any kick coming at the original manner in which we gave
'Uncle Tom's Cabin' and 'Humpty Dumpty.' No one ever saw them so
presented before. Of course, if we had one of these modern Shakespeares,
that the commercial managers keep on tap, we could have a piece written
for us while we were under way to the next night stand. But that's out
of the question. I would like, in common with the rest of the push, to
know what is going to be our next offering."

"Let me see. Just a moment's pause," replied Handy thoughtfully. "We
might do a bit of a tragedy if we had the props, but we haven't got
them. Besides, the trouble with most tragedies, as a rule, is the long
cast, and in addition they do not give a compact all-star organization
such as ours a chance to show what we really can do. We gave them our
version of _Uncle