Intimate recollections of Joseph Jefferson . to show you my fathers nerve—atHobarton was the penal headquarters of Aus-tralia. It was there the officials were located,and apart from these nearly every other personin the place was an ex-convict; or ticket-of-leaveman. Well, father secured the opera houseand announced the play called The Ticket-of-Leave Man. It was a mad crowd Hobartoncontained when they read that thought a Yankee actor was insultingthem. The house was packed. Every one camevowing to mob the player. But when they sawthat Bob Brierly, the innocent man, was con-v
Intimate recollections of Joseph Jefferson . to show you my fathers nerve—atHobarton was the penal headquarters of Aus-tralia. It was there the officials were located,and apart from these nearly every other personin the place was an ex-convict; or ticket-of-leaveman. Well, father secured the opera houseand announced the play called The Ticket-of-Leave Man. It was a mad crowd Hobartoncontained when they read that thought a Yankee actor was insultingthem. The house was packed. Every one camevowing to mob the player. But when they sawthat Bob Brierly, the innocent man, was con-victed, and saw him work out the manifestationof his innocence, that crowd went wild. In-stead of throwing chairs and benches at him, itwas coins and flowers that fell on the stage allabout him. That play went on until father was wornout, and it was the greatest money-maker wehad. Instead of mobbing the Yankee mounte-bank, as they called him before seeing him inthe play, the whole town stood ready to danceattendance upon him at all JOSEPH JEFFERSON IN THE EARLY SIXTIES JOSEPH JEFFERSON 245 That was in 65. Father was gettinghomesick. His health had mended, and he waspractically a well man again. The ocean wasntdotted with steamers, as it is to-day, and when westarted for home we found it necessary to takea guano boat for Peru, hoping to catch some-thing there to take us to the United States. Wewere disappointed, but we played a number ofweeks in South America to good business. When we left Australia the war was stillgoing on in America, and we were anxious tohear some news about it. A rowboat with calk-ers came out to meet our sailing vessel, and uponit was a man who recognised my father. Theinstant he saw him he yelled out, Well, Illbe d—d if there aint Joe Jefferson! Why,Joe, where in the h—1 did you come from? Father asked him the news about the war,but the man wanted to know all about fatherand where he had been, and it was some timebefore he could be persuaded
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