After the Lander engagement, the house closed for a few nights, to give the Stock company a chance to prepare for the approaching October conference. The management could always count on packed houses during these conferences, and it was like giving money away to engage any stellar attractions at these times, so the Stock company was up against their work once more. On October 3rd they opened and played through conference, to the 9th. On the 10th Robert McWade made his first bow to a Salt Lake audience, in "Rip Van Winkle." McWade had a very good reputation through the west in this character, and drew a very good house for his first night. If we had never seen "Jim Hearne" as "Rip Van Winkle" we might have thought more of McWade, but the impression Hearne made in the character was so strong and still so fresh in the public mind that McWade's "Rip" did not become a favorite. He played some five nights and then the Stock had to go alone again for a while, so on the 16th they resumed and played up to November 7, only relieved a little by the Japanese jugglers, who put in an hour each evening for a week, from October 23rd to 28th. On November 9th, Johnny Allen and Alice Harrison opened a four nights' engagement, closing on the 13th. On the 15th the Stock resumed the even tenor of its way, and played unassisted up to December 10th, when J. M. Ward came in with "Through by Daylight," and got through by gaslight in two nights. Jim Ward was a very versatile and capable actor with a racy Irish brogue, that was suggestive of the "ould sod." He has had rare experiences in theatrical life, and they would make a volume of interesting reading, but as he is still having them, being yet upon the stage, it is too early to add his experiences to the general history of the stage, especially his matrimonial ones. An entire troupe of juvenile actors followed Jim Ward's advent into Salt Lake City. Whether Jim was in any way accountable, we are not advised; they were called "The Nathan Juvenile Troupe," and put in one week from the 15th to the 20th.