even painted the scenes. The piece was rehearsed till it was absolutely
faultless.

I took an active part in all these matters during my entire residence at
the institute, and we three Ebers brothers had the reputation of being
among the best actors, though Martin far surpassed us. We had invented
another variety of theatrical performances which we often enjoyed on
winter evenings after supper, unless one of the teachers read aloud to
us, or we boys performed the classic dramas. While I was one of the
younger pupils, we used the large and complete puppet-show which belonged
to the institute; but afterwards we preferred to act ourselves, and
arranged the performance according to a plan of our own.

One of us who had seen a play during the vacation at home told the others
the plot. The whole was divided into scenes, and each character was
assigned to some representative who was left to personate it according to
his own conception, choosing the words and gestures which he deemed most
appropriate.

I enjoyed nothing more than these performances; and my mother, who
witnessed several of them during one of her visits, afterwards said that
it was surprising how well we had managed the affair and acted our parts.

For a long time I was the moving spirit in this play, and we had no lack
of talented mimes, personators of sentimental heroes, and droll
comedians. The women's parts, of course, were also taken by boys. Ludo
made a wonderfully pretty girl. I was sometimes one thing, sometimes
another, but almost always stage manager.

These merry improvisations were certainly well fitted to strengthen the