Solomon Franklin Smith (1801-1869) began his career as a theatre manager in Cincinnati in 1823, forming a partnership in 1835 to manage a traveling theatre company. This volume is autobiographical, but mainly consists of anecdotes, helpfully listed at the front in an index of nearly 80 “anecdotal sketches”. Smith explains in the Preface that when people took long journeys in stage-coaches, they often passed the time by singing songs or taking turns telling stories. As a member of a traveling theatre company, Smith probably spent plenty of time in coaches, and here he puts his vast stock of amusing stories on paper.