taring me in the face all day, and on them were
emblazoned in large capitals the names of COOPER and FINN, who were to
play together that evening in one of SHAKSPEARE'S comedies. When we
arrived at the play-house, DICK took me aside, and pointing to the little
window in the office, proposed that I should go and purchase the tickets;
'because,' said he, 'the box-keeper knows me.' I couldn't exactly
comprehend why the fact of his being known to the box-keeper should
prevent his purchasing the tickets himself. However, I supposed it was all
right, and so I crowded up to the little window, and after awaiting my
turn, obtained two pit-tickets, for which I had to pay out of my own
pocket, of course. Dick took them from me when I returned, and then again
resuming the lead, he conducted me into the lobby of the play-house. Here
he handed the tickets to the door-keeper, at the same time nodding his
head toward me, in order to intimate to that gentleman that I was under
his special patronage, and that the other admission was intended for me.
Once seated in the centre of the pit, DICK seemed to be in his glory. He
ogled the ladies in the boxes, and whistled and shouted and stamped, and
cried 'Physic!' until I thought he would split his throat. But when at
last the gloomy curtain rose and the stars of the evening stood glittering
before us, he clapped and shouted so much louder and longer than all the
rest, that the whole audience gazed at him with admiration. He would have
gone on applauding, I verily believe, until the end of the play, had not a
tall gentleman, with a red handkerchief round his throat, and carrying a
long pole, rapped him over the head, and peremptorily shouted 'Silence!'
From that moment DICK was as mute as a Quaker, until the end of the play;
when rushing out and dragging me after him, he proposed that we should go
and finish the evening at a celebrated coffee-house, kept by 'a particular
friend of his,' and where he had agreed to meet some half-dozen
fellow-apprentices. Here we stayed until a very late hour, drinking and
smoking, telling stories and singing songs. As it grew later, our
companions one by one walked or reeled out of the bar-room, until we two
were left the only tenants, save the landlord. The latter then commenced
closing the house, and hinted pretty strongly that it was high time we
were going. I turned to DICK, who had been remarkably silent for some
time, when to my utter dismay I discovered tha