(or imperfect) swell
again, despite the fact that my wardrobe did not amount in value to more
than 5s of lawful British money.

FROM THEATRE TO POLICE COURT

The theatre had been completed in my absence, and, indeed, temporarily
opened. Of course, I took part in the performances. We could usually draw
full "houses," which were largely made up of colliers and their wives and
children. But very soon some of the boys and girls of colliers wanted to
go to the theatre oftener than their parents wished, and to this end, it
was surmised, carried on a series of petty thefts to enable them to raise
the admission fee. In fact, thieving in the town got to such a pitch that
the police authorities interfered, and when the licensing sessions were
held they opposed the renewal of the theatre license. The proprietress of
the theatre, and the company, along with myself, had to appear at the
sessions. I had not been in the court very long when my kind benefactor,
the policeman from Clayton West, came up to me and shook me by the hand.
His sudden intrusion on my confused senses somewhat upset me, for I was
afraid of the sight of him;--his parting words to me, after the fire at
the barn, that I might be charged with "wandering abroad without any
visible means of subsistence," crossed my scattered thoughts. But it was
needless fear, for he soon showed me that he was still my friend, not my
foe. After we had exhausted the usual preliminaries, I questioned him on
the subject of the fire at the barn. "Oh," said he, "You needn't be at
all afraid about the fire. When Mr Norton came home he took it all in
very good part. He was especially pleased when we told him that no lives
had been lost. You were mentioned as having worked half-a-day at the
mill, and he said he would much rather that you had gone on with your
work." But a stop was put to our conversation, for our "case" was called
on. Superintendent Burke--I mark him now--stood up and denounced the
theatre in the interests of the community. He instanced several cases of
petty thefts committed by juveniles for the purpose of raising money to
go to our theatre. The presiding magistrate--Mr Taylor, I believe his
name was--heard all the evidence which was brought against us, and then
said that he was very sorry that anyone should go to the expense of
putting up a theatre in Barnsley and then be unable to get a license to
carry it on. He said he would allow us to continue our performances a