hnston. The boys had practiced industriously at several
airs in order to discover which would be best, and at last they supposed
they had fully agreed; but when seated Ned began the "Miserere" from
_Trovatore_, while Will started "The Old Folks at Home," and each was
sure the other was wrong, and would correct himself, which the other in
both cases failed to do, and finally both boys retired abruptly, amid
considerable laughter, and fought the matter out in the dressing-room.

Paul Grayson soon restored order, however, by his rendering of the
"Psalm of Life." He had a fine voice, and he spoke the lines as if he
meant them; so gloriously did his voice ring that even the boys in the
dressing-room kept silence and listened, though they had heard the same
verses a hundred times before.

Most of the performances that followed went very smoothly, although
Benny Mallow, who played the Hatter's part in _Box and Cox_, caused some
confusion by laughing frequently and unexpectedly, because Paul's
disguise as Mrs. Bouncer affected him powerfully in spite of the efforts
made by Sam Wardwell, as the Printer, to restrain him. The tableaux
pleased the audience greatly; even that of "Prometheus," with Ned
Johnston as the sufferer, and Mrs. Battle's big red rooster as the
vulture, brought down the house.

[Illustration: PAUL AS A CHIEF'S SON.]

But the great tableau of the evening was the teacher's "Civilization."
When Paul Grayson had understood fully what the scene was to be, he
refused so earnestly to have anything to do with it that the boys were
startled. They did not excuse him from taking the part of the young
Indian, however; they pleaded so steadily that at last Paul consented,
but in worse temper than any one had ever seen him before. No one could
complain of the manner in which he acted on the stage, however. When the
curtain was drawn he was seen standing beside his dead mother, and
shaking a fist at the soldiers; in color, dress, pose, and spirit he
seemed to be a real Indian, if the audience was a competent judge; then,
when the applause justified a recall, as it soon did, the drawn curtain
disclosed Paul clinging to the wounded brave as if nothing should ever
tear him away.

Napoleon Nott saw all this, although, as the Indian boy's mother, he was
supposed to be dead beyond recall. Suddenly he felt himself to be
inspired, and when the curtain was down he flew into the dressing-room
and exclaimed, "I've got it!"

"Be