"The land uv Tell! I shel never forgit Tell--Willyum, the Swiss wat shot a apple offen his boy's head. It wuz way back in 1844, when I was runnin' my great aggregashun in the West. We had a minstrel sideshow in the afternoon, and a regler theater for a sideshow in the evenin'. Our leadin' man wuz Mortimer de Lacy, from the principal European and Noo York theaters--his real name was Tubbs; he wuz the son uv a ginooine Injun physician, which hed stands about the country suthin' like a circus--who wuz very fond uv playin' Tell. De Lacy wuz one uv the most yooseful men I ever hed. He rid the six hoss act, the "Rooshun Courier uv Moscow," and did the stone-breakin' act, where he bends over on his arms and hez stuns broken on his breast with sledges, and he did the cannon ball act, and in the afternoon wuz the interlocootor in the minstrel show, playin' the triangle--anybody kin play the triangle, and he alluz sed he wood give anything ef he cood manage a banjo or even a accordeon so ez to git up in the perfesh--and in the evenin' he did the classical in high tragedy. The afternoon minstrel show wuz for the country people, but the play in the evenin' wuz to ketch the more refined towns folks. Well, one day De Lacy cum to me, and sez he:-- "'Guvnor, I hev a idear.' "'Spit it out,' sez I. 'Idears is wuth money in our biznis.' "'I kin make Tell more realistic. You know the way we do the shootin' uv the apple off the boy's head is to shoot an arrer into the wings and the boy comes runnin' out with a split apple in his hand.' "'Yes, that's the way it alluz hez bin done. It's a tradishn uv the stage.' "'I perpose to hev the boy stand on the stage in full view uv the awjence, and to shoot the apple off his head under their very eyes. It's a big thing.' "'Big thing! I should say so. But you can't shoot an apple with an arrer. You couldn't hit the side of a barn.' "'Very good, but this is my idear. We only play Tell at night. We stretch a wire across the stage jes the height of the boy, and the wire runs through the apple on the boy's head. Then I hev a loop fixed onto the arrer, and when I shoot it runs along the wire--see?--and knocks the apple into smithereens. It's a big notion.' "It occurred to me that it wood be a good piece of biznis and I agreed to it. My youngest boy, Sam, alluz played the boy, and De Lacy and I fixed the riggin' and hed it all right. To make it more realistic De Lacy hed a very broad-headed arrer made so that the awjence should see it wuz reel, and everythin' wuz ready. When that scene come on, the boy come out walkin' very keerful--we hed the apple fixed tight upon his head so that ef he walked in a strate line it wooden't be moved, and he wuz placed. After the speeches De Lacy sprung the bow, and let the arrer drive with all the force it hed." "It must have been a thrilling scene."