IN a large theatre of a populous Midland town of England, a man who went by the name of Horace Harland occupied, and had long occupied, the somewhat humble position of property man. Perhaps the reader need scarcely be told that the duties of a property man are to take charge of the furniture and other portable things used on the stage, and provide everything required in the various pieces, such as purses, daggers, pistols, cups, goblets, letters, books, vases, flowers, and articles of a kindred nature.
In a good theatre the property master will have two or three assistants, and in such theatres as Drury Lane and Covent Garden he may have quite a little army of men under him, all of them more or less skilled in the making of masks and other pantomime and burlesque properties. Harland’s pos
