The first play, apparently, that David wrote was concocted later, after the family had removed to No. 174 Clara Street, and was entitled “Jim Black; or, The Regulator’s Revenge!” Another of his early pieces of dramatic writing (and, perhaps, it may have been the first) was called “The Roll of the Drum.” Belasco is very positive that he wrote this soon after the death of Abraham Lincoln (April 15, 1865),--at which time he was less than twelve years old. His recollection regarding this may be correct; there is no doubt that he was an extraordinarily precocious child, and such children do, sometimes, write astonishing compositions even at an earlier age than twelve. Belasco is equally positive that his play, while it was, at various times, acted outside of San Francisco, was never played in that city. A play of the same name was performed, by Mme. Methua-Scheller and associates, at Maguire’s Opera House, for the benefit of “Sue” Robinson, on November 26, 1869, announced as “The new military drama”; this was not Belasco’s play, but one wholly different from it. Belasco’s custom, as a lad, was to keep a table by his bedside, with writing materials, candle and matches upon it, in order to note at once any idea that might occur to him as likely to be of service in his theatrical work, and he was often rewarded for this precaution. In all my study of theatrical history I have not encountered a person more downright daft, more completely saturated in every fibre of his being, with passion for the Stage and things dramatical than was young David Belasco. SCHOOL DAYS IN SAN FRANCISCO. The following extract from a letter dated December 25, 1916, addressed to Belasco by one of his schoolmates, E. F. Lennon, Esqr., now (1917) City Clerk of Red Bluff, Tehama County, California, provides a glimpse of him as a schoolboy in San Francisco: