Owen Fawcett, the well known comedian, writes to The Detroit Free Press:

  The following ad. from the Ledger, Philadelphia, Pa., Tuesday, December 6, 1853—

  Norristown.—The original six act Uncle Tom's Cabin, with the great cast will be represented on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings of this week—at Norristown. See small bills.

  Tuesday, December 6, 1853.

  The Ledger at that time occupied the place in Pennsylvania that the Free Press does to-day in Michigan and that simple announcement was plenty for Norristown. It was long before the days of extensive printing and lithographs—a plain one-p sheet was often all that was used.

  It was on Wed, Dec 7, 1853 (just 43 years ago) that I made my first appearance on the stage, at Town Hall—Norristown, Pa. The play as above was "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and the cast as below:

  With the exception of W. H. Allen (now known as W. H. Bartholomew, pantomimist), I am the only one left of the cast. We played at Norristown, Lebanan, Lancaster, Burlington, Trenton, Harrisburg and Baltimore, Md. How many changes have taken place in the theater since that date. I have seen at least half a dozen revolutions in the manner of theatricals, and the thespians that have passed away that I have been in various companies with number hundreds. To name them all would take more than one column of the Free Press.