A Time to Dance-My America 3 (3 page)

Romeo and Juliet.

It ends terribly sadly, just like

King Lear I

Romeo and Juliet both die! Did Mr. Shakespeare write no plays in which everything turns out all right?

October 6, 1865

I am still worried that we will become poor. Pa had two more inquiries about music lessons

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this week, but that is all. I know Jed does not earn very much money from his newspaper writing. Jane Ellen cannot tutor children because of Baby Abe and her fragile health.

If Pa does not find more work soon, I worry that we will not be able to pay our rent.

October 9, 1865

I have started reading another play by Shakespeare. It is called A

Midsummer Night's Dream.

Jane Ellen has assured me that this one ends happily.

October 11, 1865

I have a job! A wonderful job at the Olympic Theatre!

Here is how it happened. Today Pa again took me with him on his rounds. We went first

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to Niblo's Garden Theatre, then to Wallack's Theatre. At both these theatres, the doormen were very rude and said their theatres still did not need any musicians. Then we went to the Olympic, where Mrs. John Wood is starring in

Pocahontas.

The matinee show had just finished and people were streaming out of the theatre. We waited until the crowd cleared, then Pa asked to speak with the stage manager.

The stage manager was very polite, but said they did not need any musicians. He said the only job they had available was for a girl to help dress Mrs. Wood in her costumes for the next play, which opens tomorrow.

I spoke up immediately. I said I was very interested in the theatre and would love a job dressing Mrs. Wood. Before Pa could say anything, the stage manager asked me how old I was -- and I did a dreadful thing. I lied

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about my age! Instead of telling him I was eleven, I said I was thirteen! Pa looked at me but still didn't speak. I think he was too shocked.

The stage manager asked if I had had any experience in the theatre. I told him I was currently studying all the plays of Shakespeare. I said I liked

Romeo and Juliet,

but

King Lear

was my favorite. I said I thought Shakespeare was an excellent writer.

The stage manager laughed and told Pa to bring me back at six o'clock to meet Mrs. Wood.

All the way home, I begged Pa to let me take the job. At first he said absolutely not, that the theatre was no place for a young girl. I reminded him that he had met my mother when she attended a theatre in Richmond and saw him play his violin onstage.

I told him working in the theatre was much

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better than working in the factories, where hundreds and hundreds of young girls work.

I told him it was a perfect job for me because most days I could still stay home and help Jane Ellen with Baby Abe.

I told him it was even more perfect because I really

am

interested in the theatre.

Before I could tell him anything else, he said I could accept the job.

Later

I have met Mrs. Wood. She is plump, proud, and very outgoing. She is not only the leading actress in the company -- she is the manager of the whole theatre!

I will work backstage, helping Mrs. Wood and the other actresses get dressed for their roles in a play called

The Streets of New York.

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She says I will not see much of the play, as all my work will be "behind the scenes." But I do not care! I will be working in the theatre! And I will earn five dollars a week!

October 12, 1865

I have had my first night as a dresser. The work is a bit more difficult than I had imagined. There are many costume changes, and little time to make them between scenes in the play.

It was also a bit of a chore fitting Mrs. Wood into her costumes. She kept whispering, "Hurry! Hurry!" as I struggled to fasten the tiny silver buttons on her dresses.

October 14, 1865

Late. Home. Can't write. Too tired.

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October 15, 1865

There are no performances of

The Streets of New York

today because it is Sunday. Thank goodness! I am afraid I have fallen a little behind in my lessons with Jane Ellen. I will try to use today to catch up.

October 17, 1865

My work at the theatre is still difficult but getting smoother. All the actresses are now arriving onstage in time for their scenes, with nearly all their costume pieces in place. I fear I am still behind in my schoolwork, however.

As I write this, I can hear Pa teaching Charles Edmonds in the front room. Mrs. Edmonds is watching the lesson, as she always does. Charles seems to be getting better.

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Pa once tried to teach me to play the violin, but was not successful. He was patient, but I am afraid I was not.

October 20, 1865

As Pa walked me home from the theatre last night, he talked about what a good student Charles Edmonds is. Pa knows I am a little behind in my lessons with Jane Ellen.

He told me that Charles is applying himself. "And that," Pa said, "is the secret of learning."

For goodness sakes, Pa! I intend to apply myself! I am just too busy and tired these days.

October 21, 1865

It is late at night. I have just finished another week at the Olympic Theatre. My

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fingers are red and sore from hundreds of buttonings and unbuttonings. My back aches from carrying dresses, coats, corsets, hats, shoes, boots, and scarves to and from the costume shop. I am very, very, very, very tired. But I am also very, very, very, very happy.

Mrs. Wood says I am doing "a fine job." She is not one to give compliments, so her words make me very proud. And I

love

working "behind the scenes." I can hear the whole play, and see some of it when I am not hurrying to get the actresses ready to go onstage.

I am beginning to think I might like a career in the theatre.

October 22, 1865

A beautiful autumn Sunday. Our whole family went on an outing this afternoon, even Jane Ellen and Baby Abe! They both seem

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much healthier now that the weather has grown cooler.

Jed took us to Central Park. The park is filled with lakes, lawns, bridges, and roads -- and so many people! Men walked about in their war uniforms. Women wore shawls and hats or kerchiefs. There were many small children being pushed about in strollers.

The leaves were changing, and the park was filled with beautiful reds, oranges, and yellows. It was like a piece of open country in the middle of the city.

I must confess that when we got home, I was a little bit homesick. We did not have to go to a park to see leaves change in Gettysburg.

October 24, 1865

Tuesdays have become busy, noisy days in our home. Pa now has four students. The

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sounds in the parlor are sometimes truly terrible! But Pa seems very happy teaching. He says Charles Edmonds has the most natural ability of the four.

Natural ability. I wonder what my natural ability is?

October 28, 1865

Last night as I was helping Mrs. Wood get dressed, I asked how she had come to be the manager of her own theatre. She said she had simply gotten tired of always waiting for someone else to hire her to perform. Now she hires herself!

November 6, 1865

This is the last week

The Streets of New York

will play at the theatre. A new play called

The

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Sleeping Beauty in the Wood

opens this Saturday. No one has said anything to me about staying on as a dresser for that play. I am worried that I will be without a job again soon.

November 8, 1865

Tonight when I was squeezing Mrs. Wood into her corset, I built up my courage and asked her what would happen when

The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood

came into the theatre. At first, she didn't seem to understand what I meant. When I told her I was worried about my job, she seemed quite surprised.

She said that I was a wonderful dresser, and of course she wants me to stay on and help the actresses in the new play! When Pa arrived to walk me home, I was floating on air.

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November 11, 1865

The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood

opened tonight. Things did not go smoothly.

There are many, many costume changes, and I am embarrassed to admit that not everyone arrived onstage fully dressed. Several actors forgot what they were supposed to say. Mr. Ponisi, the prompter, had to call out their lines in a loud whisper from offstage.

Still, the audience seemed to enjoy the show. I suspect most had no idea what was going on behind the scenes.

November 15, 1865

This morning, Jed and I had a discussion about plays. I said I thought

The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood

was silly and scant -- probably because it is meant mostly for children -- and

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that

The Streets of New York

was a bit overdone: The good people were too good, and the bad people were too bad. I told him that in my opinion, nothing I had seen at the Olympic Theatre came close to the writing of Mr. Shakespeare.

Jed laughed and said perhaps I should write his articles for the newspaper.

I know he was teasing, but I think I might actually enjoy that job.

November 20, 1865

Mrs. Edmonds stayed for tea after Charles's lesson this afternoon. Pa sent me to the market on the corner to fetch some cream and asked that I takes Charles with me.

On the way to the store, I asked Charles about his father. Charles said he was a

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lieutenant with a New York cavalry regiment. He was shot in the Battle of Williamsburg and died of blood poisoning in a field hospital.

Charles has a slight stammer. But he speaks very earnestly and seems to remember his father with much love. "It was a terrible, terrible tragedy," he said. I wanted to hug his skinny little body and comfort him.

When we got home, Pa and Mrs. Edmonds were sitting together on the settee in the parlor. I could tell that Mrs. Edmonds had been crying. I cannot say for sure, but I suspect she had been talking about Charles's father, too.

November 22, 1865

The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood

has been playing for over a week now, and several of the actors still do not know their lines!

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Mr. Ponisi has gotten quite cross about the situation. Tonight he was nearly shouting the lines to the actors from offstage!

November 28, 1865

Our lives are much more orderly these days. Pa now has seven students. I am doing much better with my lessons with Jane Ellen. We finished A

Midsummer Night's Dream,

and now I am reading As

You Like It.

December 4, 1865

I heard some exciting news at the theatre today. John Wilkes Booth's brother Edwin Booth is returning to the stage! People have convinced him that he should not have to pay for the crimes of his brother by giving up his career as an actor. So in January he will

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perform

Hamlet

by William Shakespeare at the Winter Garden Theatre.

Mrs. Wood says that Shakespeare is the greatest writer who ever lived, that

Hamlet

is the greatest play ever written, and that Edwin Booth is the greatest actor of our time.

I think I

must

find a way to see Edwin Booth in this play!

December 5, 1865

I asked Jed about going to see Mr. Edwin Booth play

Hamlet.

He said he would inquire at his newspaper about tickets.

December 9, 1865

Another show is opening at the theatre next week. Mrs. Wood asked if I could please come in early tomorrow to help organize the

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new costumes. I guess I am now an official dresser at the Olympic Theatre!

December 11, 1865

I asked Jed if he had had any success getting tickets for Edwin Booth's

Hamlet.

He said it had slipped his mind! I asked him to please try to remember, as everyone at the theatre is talking about this event.

December 14, 1865

I have saved enough from my wages to buy Christmas presents for everyone. I am giving Pa a pair of gloves; Jed, a new pen; Jane Ellen, a red scarf; and Baby Abe, a rag doll.