A Time to Dance-My America 3 Read Free Page B

student.
    [Image: Two American flags.]
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    Jane Ellen got another letter from Becky Lee in Gettysburg. Becky Lee says times there are very hard, for whites and Negroes alike. Many freed slaves have moved north. There is not enough work. Jed says times are hard all over the country.
    October 3, 1865
    I have finished
    Romeo and Juliet.
    It ends terribly sadly, just like
    King Lear I
    Romeo and Juliet both die! Did Mr. Shakespeare write no plays in which everything turns out all right?
    October 6, 1865
    I am still worried that we will become poor. Pa had two more inquiries about music lessons
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    this week, but that is all. I know Jed does not earn very much money from his newspaper writing. Jane Ellen cannot tutor children because of Baby Abe and her fragile health.
    If Pa does not find more work soon, I worry that we will not be able to pay our rent.
    October 9, 1865
    I have started reading another play by Shakespeare. It is called A
    Midsummer Night's Dream.
    Jane Ellen has assured me that this one ends happily.
    October 11, 1865
    I have a job! A wonderful job at the Olympic Theatre!
    Here is how it happened. Today Pa again took me with him on his rounds. We went first
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    to Niblo's Garden Theatre, then to Wallack's Theatre. At both these theatres, the doormen were very rude and said their theatres still did not need any musicians. Then we went to the Olympic, where Mrs. John Wood is starring in
    Pocahontas.
    The matinee show had just finished and people were streaming out of the theatre. We waited until the crowd cleared, then Pa asked to speak with the stage manager.
    The stage manager was very polite, but said they did not need any musicians. He said the only job they had available was for a girl to help dress Mrs. Wood in her costumes for the next play, which opens tomorrow.
    I spoke up immediately. I said I was very interested in the theatre and would love a job dressing Mrs. Wood. Before Pa could say anything, the stage manager asked me how old I was -- and I did a dreadful thing. I lied
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    about my age! Instead of telling him I was eleven, I said I was thirteen! Pa looked at me but still didn't speak. I think he was too shocked.
    The stage manager asked if I had had any experience in the theatre. I told him I was currently studying all the plays of Shakespeare. I said I liked
    Romeo and Juliet,
    but
    King Lear
    was my favorite. I said I thought Shakespeare was an excellent writer.
    The stage manager laughed and told Pa to bring me back at six o'clock to meet Mrs. Wood.
    All the way home, I begged Pa to let me take the job. At first he said absolutely not, that the theatre was no place for a young girl. I reminded him that he had met my mother when she attended a theatre in Richmond and saw him play his violin onstage.
    I told him working in the theatre was much
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    better than working in the factories, where hundreds and hundreds of young girls work.
    I told him it was a perfect job for me because most days I could still stay home and help Jane Ellen with Baby Abe.
    I told him it was even more perfect because I really
    am
    interested in the theatre.
    Before I could tell him anything else, he said I could accept the job.
    Later
    I have met Mrs. Wood. She is plump, proud, and very outgoing. She is not only the leading actress in the company -- she is the manager of the whole theatre!
    I will work backstage, helping Mrs. Wood and the other actresses get dressed for their roles in a play called
    The Streets of New York.
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    She says I will not see much of the play, as all my work will be "behind the scenes." But I do not care! I will be working in the theatre! And I will earn five dollars a week!
    October 12, 1865
    I have had my first night as a dresser. The work is a bit more difficult than I had imagined. There are many costume changes, and little time to make them between scenes in the play.
    It was also a bit of a chore fitting Mrs. Wood into her costumes. She kept whispering, "Hurry! Hurry!" as I struggled to