House. Gustave
scratched his head. Then he turned quickly on the group of stage folk
and said:

"I've got some one for you. I'll wire my brother Charles to come on and
be advance-agent."

Thus it came about that from a little Iowa town there flashed back to
New York on a memorable morning in January, 1877, the following telegram
from Gustave to Charles Frohman:

_Your time has come at last. Am wiring money for ticket to St.
Paul, where you begin as agent for John Dillon. Will meet you 2
A.M. at Winona, where you change cars and where I will instruct._

Charles happened to be at home when this telegram came. It was the first
he had ever received. With trembling hands he tore it open, his rosy
face broke into a seraphic smile, and the tears came into his eyes. He
rushed to his mother, threw his arms around her, and gasped:

"At last I'm in the business!"

He lost no time in starting. With a single grip-sack, which contained
his modest wardrobe, the eager boy started on his first railroad journey
of any length into the great West. It was the initial step of what, from
this time on, was to be a continuous march of ever-widening importance.

Begrimed but radiant, the boy stepped from a day-coach at two o'clock in
the morning at Winona. No scene could have been more desolate. Save for
the station-master and a solitary brakeman there was only one other
person on hand, and that individual was the faithful Gustave, who
advanced swiftly through the gloom and greeted his brother
enthusiastically.

Charles was all excitement. He had not slept a wink. It was perhaps the
longest and most irksome journey he ever took. He was bubbling with the
desire to get to work.

The two brothers went to a hotel where Gustave had a room, and there
they sat for four hours. It is a picture well worth keeping in mind: the
pleased older boy, eager to get his brother started right; the younger
lad all ears, and his eyes big with wonder and anticipation. There was
no thought of food or rest. Gustave was enthusiastic about the company.
He said to his brother:

"Why, Charley, we've got real New York actors, and our leading lady,
Louise Dillon, has a genuine sealskin coat. That coat will get us out of
any town. You've got no 'Ghost Show' amateurs to handle now, but real
actors and actresses."

Then came an announcement that startled the boy, for Gustave continued:

"Your salary is to be twenty-five dollars a week and hotel bil