[Dr. Beall, of Greensboro, N.C., was one of young Porter’s
      dearest friends.  Between them there was an almost regular
      correspondence during Porter’s first years in Texas.]

LA SALLE COUNTY, Texas, December 8, 1883.

Dear Doctor:  I send you a play—­a regular high art full orchestra, gilt-edged drama.  I send it to you because of old acquaintance and as a revival of old associations.  Was I not ever ready in times gone by to generously furnish a spatula and other assistance when you did buy the succulent watermelon?  And was it not by my connivance and help that you did oft from the gentle Oscar Mayo skates entice?  But I digress.  I think that I have so concealed the identity of the characters introduced that no one will be able to place them, as they all appear under fictitious names, although I admit that many of the incidents and scenes were suggested by actual experiences of the author in your city.

You will, of course, introduce the play upon the stage if proper arrangements can be made.  I have not yet had an opportunity of ascertaining whether Edwin Booth, John McCullough or Henry Irving can be secured.  However, I will leave all such matters to your judgment and taste.  Some few suggestions I will make with regard to the mounting of the piece which may be of value to you.  Discrimination will be necessary in selecting a fit person to represent the character of Bill Slax, the tramp.  The part is that of a youth of great beauty and noble manners, temporarily under a cloud and is generally rather difficult to fill properly.  The other minor characters, such as damfools, citizens, police, customers, countrymen, &c., can be very easily supplied, especially the first.

Let it be announced in the Patriot for several days that in front of Benbow Hall, at a certain hour, a man will walk a tight rope seventy feet from the ground who has never made the attempt before; that the exhibition will be FREE, and that the odds are 20 to 1 that the man will be killed.  A large crowd will gather.  Then let the Guilford Grays charge one side, the Reidsville Light Infantry the other, with fixed bayonets, and a man with a hat commence taking up a collection in the rear.  By this means they can be readily driven into the hall and the door locked.

I have studied a long time about devising a plan for obtaining pay from the audience and have finally struck upon the only feasible one I think.

After the performance let some one come out on the stage and announce that James Forbis will speak two hours.  The result, easily explainable by philosophical and psychological reasons, will be as follows:  The minds of the audience, elated and inspired by the hope of immediate departure when confronted by such a terror-inspiring and dismal prospect, will collapse with the fearful reaction which will take place, and for a space of time they will remain in a kind of comatose, farewell-vain-world condition.