Chapter VII.
ARTISTS AND PRINTERS.
Dickey Spry kept his word, so far as having the timber for the seats at the theatre was concerned; for so anxious was he to fulfil his part of the contract that he devoted all the next afternoon and evening to the work.
He made arrangements with Mrs. Green, whereby he could get into the house during the afternoon while she was attending to her fruit-stand, and by nine o’clock in the evening he had made seats enough to accommodate at least two hundred boys, providing, of course, that they were willing to stow themselves in snugly.
After the work was done, there was not a member of the firm but thought they had a valuable acquisition in the person of Mr. Spry and his timber, and they listened with more attention to his suggestions than they had on the previous evening, when it was possible that he would not carry out his portion of the contract as fully as they desired.
When they stopped work that evening they surveyed their theatre with a great deal of pride; for it was now so nearly completed that any one could tell, at a very searching glance, what it was intended for. The scenery was all in its place, and Nelly had made a quantity of rosettes out of tissue-paper of various colors, which were to be fastened as ornaments on the rough, unpainted boards.
All that remained to be done was to make the curtain, and hang it so that it could be rolled up and down, and to arrange a place for the candles that were to serve as foot-lights.
What that curtain should be made of had been a vexing question for the partners to settle, and many and serious had been the discussions regarding it. Ben had insisted that they ought to buy white cloth enough to make a regular curtain; but, on considering that proposition carefully, they had discovered that it would cost nearly three dollars, and they hardly felt warranted in going to so much expense.
Finally, it was decided to buy large sheets of stout brown paper, which could be both pasted and sewed together, in order to make sure that they would not pull apart by their own weight, and then these were to be ornamented in some artistic manner by each one of the party.