A Unique Story of a Marvellous Career | Page 3

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A UNIQUE STORY OF A MARVELLOUS CAREER. LIFE OF Hon.
PHINEAS T. BARNUM. ---- COMPRISING HIS BOYHOOD,
YOUTH, ...
By JOEL BENTON.

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.

IN THE BEGINNING. Family and Birth--School Life--His First Visit
to New York City--A Landed Proprietor--The Ethics of Trade--Farm
Work and Keeping Store--Meeting-house and Sunday-school--"The
One Thing Needful."
CHAPTER II.
EARLY YEARS AT BETHEL. Death of his Grandmother and
Father--Left Penniless and Bare-footed--Work in a Store--His First
Love--Trying to buy Russia--Uncle Bibbin's Duel
CHAPTER III.
BUSINESS LIFE Removal to Brooklyn--Smallpox--Goes Home to
Recover His Health--Renewed Acquaintance with the Pretty
Tailoress--First Independent Business Venture--Residence in New
York--Return to Bethel--Anecdotes
CHAPTER IV.
TRYING MANY VENTURES. Visit to Pittsburg--Successful Lottery
Business--Marriage--First Editorial Venture--Libel Suit--Imprisonment
and Liberation--Removal to New York--Hard Times--Keeping a
Boarding House
CHAPTER V.
BEGINNING AS A SHOWMAN. Finding His True Vocation--The
Purchase of Joice Heth--Evidence as to Her Age--Her Death--Signor
Vivalla--Visit to Washington--Joining a Travelling
Circus--Controversies with Ministers--The Victim of a Practical Joke
CHAPTER VI.
INCIDENTS OF A CIRCUS TOUR. Beating a Landlord--A Joke on
Turner--Barnum as a Preacher and as a Negro Minstrel--A Bad Man
with a Gun--Dealing with a Sheriff--"Lady Hayes"--An Embarrassed

Juggler--Barnum as a Matrimonial Agent
CHAPTER VII.
HARD TIMES. Advertising for a Partner--"Quaker Oats"--Diamond
the Dancer--A Dishonest Manager--Return to New York--From Hand
to Mouth--The American Museum
CHAPTER VIII.
THE AMERICAN MUSEUM. Advertising Extraordinary--A
Quick-witted Performer--Niagara Falls with Real Water--Other
Attractions--Drummond Light
CHAPTER IX.
INCREASED POPULARITY OF THE MUSEUM. The American Flag
and St. Paul's--St. Patrick's Day--The Baby Show--Grand Buffalo
Hunt--N. P. Willis--The First Wild West Show
CHAPTER X.
GIANTS AND DWARFS. Science for the Public--Mesmerism
Extraordinary--Killing off a Rival--The Two Giants--Discovery of
"Tom Thumb"--Seeking Other Worlds to Conquer--First Visit to
England
CHAPTER XI.
TOM THUMB IN LONDON. An Aristocratic Visitor--Calling at
Buckingham Palace and Hobnobbing with Royalty--Getting a Puff in
the "Court Circular"--The Iron Duke--A Great Social and Financial
Success
CHAPTER XII.
IN FRANCE. Arrival in Paris--Visit to the

Tuilleries--Longchamps--"Tom Ponce" all the Rage--Bonaparte and
Louis Phillipi--Tour through France--Barnum's Purchase
CHAPTER XIII.
IN BELGIUM. Presented to King Leopold and the Queen--The
General's Jewels stolen--The Field of Waterloo--An Accident--An
Expensive Equipage--The Custom of the Country
CHAPTER XIV.
IN ENGLAND AGAIN. Egyptian Hall and the Zoological
Garden--The Special Relics--Purchase of the Happy Family--Return to
America
CHAPTER XV.
AT HOME. Partnership with Tom Thumb--Visit to Cuba--Iranistan, his
Famous Palace at Bridgeport--Barnum's Game-Keeper and the Great
Game Dinner--Frank Leslie
CHAPTER XVI.
JENNY LIND. A Daring Venture--Barnum's
Ambassador--Unprecedented Terms offered--Text of the
Contract--Hard Work to Raise the Guarantee Fund--Educating the
American Mind to receive the Famous Singer
CHAPTER XVII.
ARRIVAL OF JENNY LIND. First Meeting with Barnum--Reception
in New York--Poems in Her Honor--A Furore of Public Interest--Sale
of Tickets for the First Concert--Barnum's Change in Terms--Ten
Thousand Dollars for Charity--Enormous Success of the First Concert
CHAPTER XVIII.

CONTINUED TRIUMPH. Successful Advertising--The
Responsibilities of Riches--Visit to Iranistan--Ovations at Boston,
Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington--Visit to Mt.
Vernon--Charleston--Havana--Fredericka Brerner
CHAPTER XIX.
HAVANA. Conquest of the Habaneros--The Italian and his Dog--Mad
Bennett--A Successful Ruse--Return to New Orleans--Ludicrous
Incident--Up the Mississippi--Legerdemain
CHAPTER XX.
THE TRIALS OF AN IMPRESSARIO. St Louis--The Secretary's
Little Game--Legal Advice--Smooth Waters Again--Barnum's Efforts
Appreciated--An Extravagant Encomium
CHAPTER XXI.
CLOSING THE GRAND TOUR. April Fool Jokes at Nashville--A
Trick at Cincinnati--Return to New York--Jenny Lind Persuaded to
Leave Barnum--Financial Results of the Enterprise
CHAPTER XXII.
A FEW SIDE ISSUES. The Expedition to Ceylon--Harnessing an
Elephant to a Plow--Barnum and Vanderbilt--The Talking Machine--A
Fire at Iranistan--Mountain Grove Cemetery
CHAPTER XXIII.
SOME DOMESTIC ENTERPRISES. Putting a Pickpocket on
Exhibition--Traveling Incognito--The Pequonnock Bank--The New
York Crystal Palace--A Poem on an Incident at Iranistan
CHAPTER XXIV.

THE JEROME CLOCK COMPANY. Founding East
Bridgeport--Growth of the City--The Jerome Clock Bubble--A Ruined
Man--Paying Honest Debts--Down in the Depths
CHAPTER XXV.
THE WHEAT AND THE CHAFF. False and True Friends--Meeting of
Bridgeport Citizens--Barnum's Letter--Tom Thumb's Offer--Shillaber's
Poem--Barnum's Message to the Creditors of the Jerome Clock
Company--Removal to New York--Beginning Life Anew at Forty-six
CHAPTER XXVI.
IDLENESS WITHOUT REST. Annoying Persecutions of
Creditors--Summer on Long