w; I got to hold him down or he'll queer the fake."
I don't know what he meant, only he meant me.

Jake made some awful blunders but Gideon said it was like Palmer
to put him in to play "Christian." Tomorrow's Sunday and I'll
write you the full purceeding. I know the whole thing by heart
and if Pap can paint a Pilgrim's Progress I can show it, exhibit
it. Palmer will make a million. Lin could go along and play the
organ like Mrs. Palmer. I tell you she can put in the music
right, she fills out the thing just grand. Lin would have to
learn to play with both hands and she must learn music. Mrs.
Palmer won't play without the notes to lead her. I will take the
whole Sunday to write you the full history of the first night.
You better read "Pilgrim's Progress." Did you borrow Uncle
Tom's?

Does Uncle Ned feel hard towards me? If anything happens to me
and I get ruined it's their doings because I could have been
with a minstrel troupe. You have to lie more here in a day than
I did all the time I was with a minstrel show.

Your very affectionate son,
ALFRED GRIFFITH HATFIELD.

P. S. I looked at the dictionary. A "gilly" is a man attendant
in the Scottish Highlands. A "kid" is a young goat. It don't
tell what a "fake" is. Now I know Palmer will have to raise my
wages. If Pap agrees to paint a panorama and take Lin along you
can get Sis Minks to work for you.

[Illustration: "Oh! My Dear Hearers!"]

Palmer began the exhibition with a lecture:

"Ladies and Gentlemen: John Bunyan, the author of that wonderful work,
'The Pilgrim's Progress,' was an English religious writer, soldier and
Baptist preacher. He enlisted in the Parliamentary army very young. He
was so strongly impressed with the glimpse he caught of war that all his
writings, even things sacred, were strongly illustrative of fortresses,
camps, marching men, guns and trumpets. Bunyan was but seventeen years
old when he entered the army, hence the lasting impressions his
military life made upon his mind. He became famous as a Baptist preacher
and was flung into Bedford jail under order of the Restoration. He was
frequently offered his liberty on condition that he would desist from
preaching. This he refused; therefore, for twelve years he suffered
imprisonment for his conscience's sake.

"While in Bedford jail he began the book that has immortalized him. It