propounded his plan to Mr. Heron, not
confessing, however, that he meditated a first attempt, but speaking as
an old and practised lecturer.

"What can you give 'em, sir? They 're horny-handed and flat-footed folk
down here, but they 'll not take an old hen for a Bucks county chicken,
I tell _you!_"

"I am a little in your friend Poll's line," said Layton, good-humoredly.
"I could talk to them about history, and long ago; what kind of men
ruled amongst Greeks and Romans; what sort of wars they waged; how
they colonized, and what they did with the conquered. If my hearers had
patience for it, I could give them some account of their great orators
and poets."

Heron shook his head dissentingly, and said Poll told 'em all that, and
nobody wanted it, till he came to them chaps they call the gladiators,
and showed how they used to spar and hit out. "Was n't it grand to see
him, with his great chest and strong old arms, describin' all their
movements, and how much they trusted to activity, imitating all from
the wild beast,--not like our boxers, who make fighting a reg'lar man's
combat. You couldn't take up that, could you?"

"I fear not," said Layton, despondingly.

"Well, tell 'em something of the old country in a time near their own.
They 'd like to hear about their greatgrandfathers and grandmothers."

"Would they listen to me if I made Ireland the subject,--Ireland just
before she was incorporated with England, when, with a Parliament of her
own, she had a resident gentry, separate institutions, and strong traits
of individual nationality?"

"Tell 'em about fellows that had strong heads and stout hands, that,
though they mightn't always be right in their opinions, was willing and
ready to fight for 'em. Give 'em a touch of the way they talked in their
House of Parliament; and if you can bring in a story or two, and make
'em laugh,--it ain't a'ways easy to do,--but if you _can_ do it, you may
travel from Cape Cod to the Gulf of Mexico and never change a dollar."

"Here goes, then! I 'll try it!" said Layton, at once determined to
risk the effort. "When can it be?"

"It must be at once, for there 's a number of 'em a-goin' West next
week. Say to-morrow night, seven o'clock. Entrance, twelve cents; first
chairs, five-and-twenty. No smokin' allowed, except between the acts."

"Take all the arrangements on yourself, and give me what you think fair
of our profits," said Layton.

"That's reasonable; no man can say i