The writer had made some progress in the company, and at the next benefit got seventy-five dollars for his pro rata; this was less than a dollar a performance during the season of seven months, but then we were doing good missionary work, in the way of amusing the people, and this company were engaged in a labor they delighted in; while they were assisting in a great measure to pay for the great Thespian temple in which they were performing, they were enjoying the labor immensely and gave the same enthusiastic efforts to it they would have done to a mission, had they been called to go and preach the gospel. Moreover, they were gaining an experience in art that would have been perhaps impossible for them, had not this splendid theatre been erected in the home of the Saints. Brigham Young's comprehensive mind had grasped the advantage to his people of blending art with religion, and relieving the monotony of arduous pioneer toil with innocent and refreshing amusements. CHAPTER VI. SEASON OF '64-'65. _A Metropolitan Theatre in the Wilderness_. The Salt Lake Theatre was a source of wonder and admiration to all strangers visiting it. Considering the time and the place of its erection, the isolated condition of the people, the meagre facilities within reach for so big a project, the quadrupled cost of everything that had to be imported, such as glass, nails, paints, cloth for scenery and everything in the shape of decorations, it was then, and remains today, a monument to the liberality, foresight and enterprise of Brigham Young. Since its erection, forty-three years ago, theatrical architecture has been vastly improved, and in many respects the Salt Lake Theatre is old-fashioned, but few theatres in the country, with all the improvements which have been introduced, surpass it in point of comfort and convenience, especially behind the curtain. When it is considered that not only the architectural designs, the mechanical construction, but all the interior decorations and the scene-painting was done by local talent, it speaks highly for the artistic and mechanical skill that was centered in Salt Lake even at that early period of its history. William H. Folsom was the architect and personally superintended its construction. He was also the architect of the big Tabernacle with its turtle-shaped roof spanning a stretch of 150 feet without a supporting column. The first installment of scenery was painted by W. V. Morris and George M. Ottinger, both clever artists, and with their assistants they gave the theatre stage a very nice investiture in the way of scenery. As the seasons rolled around the stock of scenery was continuously growing, for every new play had to have something done for it in the way of scenery, so that the painters were always working, and as a consequence the Salt Lake Theatre has probably a larger stock of scenery than any theatre in the country. The same may be said in regard to the stage properties.