peland
was a good actor, and he told me of having travelled with Edmund Kean,
the great tragedian. He was then about eighty years of age, and was
brimful of anecdote and humour about men and things on the stage. He
himself was an author of many MS. plays, and the most agreeable of
company, being an educated man. But we had to part company as I have
already stated, and I went home, pondering over his advice. Now, my pen
writes these lines descriptive somewhat of the breaking apart from those
noble hearts, and that still more noble art of the drama.

Thespis, O! Thespis, founder of that noble art,
Thou didst convey thy actors in a cart;
But here the simple Thespian has to pad,
And, though it makes his heart feel sad
To leave his friends so far behind--
Such friendship never more he'll find,
Yet adieu! a heart-warm fond adieu!
Companions noble, poor and few!

This, I think, marks the completion of my connection with the stage
world, and I cannot but feel that those who have scanned these few
recollections of mine will have found them something more than an
uneventful and cut-and-dried story.

CHAPTER VI

MARIONETTES AT INGROW--AN AMUSING STORY

By this time my appetite for "seeing the world" had got somewhat
satisfied, and I stayed at home for a while. I happened to become
acquainted with a man of the name of Howard, who went under the nick-name
of Harlequin Dick. By trade he was a wood-carver, and a first-class hand
at his job. He was a Liverpool man, and during his stay in Keighley he
did wood-carving for many firms in the district. Then he was taken into
tow by old James Illingworth (now deceased), who ran the Worth Valley
Chair Works, at Ingrow, opposite the Worth Valley Hotel. A new stone
building now occupies the place of the old structure. Now my friend
Howard's great hobby was making marionettes, and performing with them;
and of these Lilliputian mummers he made a set, and then discussed ways
and means for appearing with them in public. I was by him put into the
trinitarian post of scenic artist, advance agent, and stage manager. It
devolved upon me to draw up the advertisements. We had some capital wall
posters, each figure--its capabilities, recommendations, &c.--being
graphically described in rhyme; yes, it was a remarkable bill--so
remarkable that parties interested in other marionette shows appropriated
its contents for their own shows. When all the paraphernalia were