rosper,
and the soldier became collaborator, "abandoning, as it were," wrote
the manager in his autobiographical date-book and diary, "the sword
for the pen, and the glow of the Champ de Mars for the glimmer of a
kerosene lamp." And yet not with the inclination of Burgoyne, or other
military gentlemen who have courted the buskin and sock! On the
contrary, so foreign was the occupation to his leaning, that often a
whimsical light in his eye betrayed his disinclination and modest
disbelief in his own fitness for the task. "He said the way I laid out
an act reminded him of planning a campaign, with the outriders and
skirmishers before; the cavalry arrayed for swift service, and the
infantry marching steadily on, carrying with them the main plot, or
strength of the movement."

No sooner were the Salt Cellar and Pepper Box reunited, and the Pewter
Spoon clasped in the arms of the loving Cruet, with the curtain
descending, than Barnes, who like the immortal Alcibiades Triplet
could turn his hand to almost anything, became furiously engaged in
painting scenery. A market-place, with a huge wagon, containing
porkers and poultry, was dashed off with a celerity that would have
made a royal academician turn green with envy. The Tiddly Wink Inn was
so faithfully reproduced that the painted bottles were a real
temptation, while on the pastoral green of a rural landscape grazed
sheep so life-like that, as Hawkes observed, it actually seemed "they
would eat the scenery all up." But finally sets and play were alike
finished, and results demonstrated that the manager was correct in his
estimate of such a drama, which became a forerunner of other pieces of
this kind, "The Bottle," "Fruits of the Wine Cup," "Aunt Dinah's
Pledge," and "Ten Nights in a Bar Room."

In due time the drama was given in the town hall, after the rehearsals
had been witnessed by a committee from the temperance league, who
reported that the play "could not but exercise a good influence and
was entertaining withal ... We recommend the license to be issued and
commend the drama to all Good Templars." Therefore, the production was
not only well attended, but play and players were warmly received. The
town hall boasted a fairly commodious platform which now served the
purpose of a stage, and--noteworthy circumstance!--there were gas jets
for footlights, the illuminating fluid having at that early date been
introduced in several of the more progressive villages. Betwee