he
jibes and jokes became more and more insulting.

Jealousy, that canker that eats and festers at the hearts of actors as
it does at those of no other humans, was the motive for their actions.

Alfred had introduced a bit of acrobatic comedy in the closing farce
that was the laughing hit of the minstrels. Owing to the lack of acts,
the stage manager ordered Alfred to put on a single turn. This act
preceded the turn of the song and dance men. The singing of Alfred took
with the oil men greatly. The two who followed were not even fair
singers, their efforts fell flat; they had the stage manager change them
on the bill. The change put them just before Alfred. When advised of the
change he reminded the stage manager that he went on only for
accommodation in the olio and flatly refused to follow the song and
dance men. The angel ordered the two song and dance men on in their
usual position, following Alfred. Alfred rehearsed a dance secretly. He
finished his singing turn with this dance, introducing all his known
acrobatic stunts. This rough dance simply set the oil men wild and the
two worthies fell flatter at every performance.

No philanthropist of the "Coal Oil Johnny" sort had discovered the
minstrels as yet, but the path of their travels was one of nightly
carousals. The two dancers were assisting the manager-angel in
scattering the money that came in. The people were hungry for
amusements; hence the tour thus far had been one of profit.

The manager and his companions never went to bed when there was another
place to go. It was one of the pass-times of the two dancers to enter
Alfred's room noiselessly, pull him violently out of bed and steal out
in the darkness. In one of their playful moods they carried Alfred's
wearing apparel to another part of the hotel.

Alfred warned the stage manager that he intended to resent this
treatment. However, there was no cessation to the indignities the two
put upon the young minstrel.

But like all so-called ladders, they could not stand the gaff. After a
particularly keen onslaught upon Alfred with their tongues, in which
several of his weaknesses were commented upon, Alfred got back at them:
"I don't have to cater to the manager to hold my job; I'm drawing my
wages on my work, not on my cheek," was Alfred's retort.

* * * * *

At Titusville, a banquet was tendered the minstrels by the landlord of
the hotel.

Many speeches were delivered,