A Unique Story of a Marvellous Career | Page 6

of travel to the edge of my property. I
waded on. In about fifteen minutes more, after floundering through the
morass, I found myself half-drowned, hornet-stung, mud covered, and
out of breath, on comparatively dry land.
" 'Never mind, my boy,' said Edmund, 'we have only to cross this little
creek, and ye'll be upon your own valuable property.'
"We were on the margin of a stream, the banks of which were thickly
covered with alders. I now discovered the use of Edmund's axe, for he
felled a small oak to form a temporary bridge to my 'Island' property.
Crossing over, I proceeded to the centre of my domain. I saw nothing
but a few stunted ivies and straggling trees. The truth flashed upon me.
I had been the laughing-stock of the family and neighborhood for years.
My valuable 'Ivy Island' was an almost inaccessible, worthless bit of
barren land, and while I stood deploring my sudden downfall, a huge
black snake (one of my tenants) approached me with upraised head. I
gave one shriek and rushed for the bridge.
"This was my first and last visit to 'Ivy Island.' My father asked me
'how I liked my property?' and I responded that I would sell it pretty
cheap."
The year 1822 was a memorable one in his childhood's history. He was
then about twelve years old. One evening, late in January, Daniel
Brown, a cattle-drover, of Southbury, Connecticut, arrived at Bethel
and stopped for the night at Philo Barnum's tavern. He had with him
some fat cattle, which he was driving to the New York markets; and he
wanted both to add to his drove of cattle and to get a boy to help him
drive them. Our juvenile hero heard him say this, and forthwith made

application for the job. His father and mother gave their consent, and a
bargain was quickly closed with the drover.
"At daylight next morning," Barnum himself has related, "I started on
foot in the midst of a heavy snow-storm to help drive the cattle. Before
reaching Ridgefield I was sent on horseback after a stray ox, and, in
galloping, the horse fell and my ankle was sprained. I suffered severely,
but did not complain lest my employer should send me back. We
arrived at New York in three or four days, and put up at the Bull's Head
Tavern, where we were to stay a week while the drover disposed of his
cattle. It was an eventful week for me. Before I left home my mother
had given me a dollar, which I supposed would supply every want that
heart could wish."
His first outlay was for oranges. "I was told," he says, "that they were
four pence apiece, and as four pence in Connecticut was six cents, I
offered ten cents for two oranges, which was of course readily taken;
and thus, instead of saving two cents, as I thought, I actually paid two
cents more than the price demanded. I then bought two more oranges,
reducing my capital to eighty cents. Thirty-one cents was the charge for
a small gun which would 'go off' and send a stick some little distance,
and this gun I bought. Amusing myself with this toy in the bar-room of
the Bull's Head, the arrow happened to hit the bar-keeper, who
forthwith came from behind the counter and shook me, and soundly
boxed my ears, telling me to put that gun out of the way or he would
put it into the fire. I sneaked to my room, put my treasure under the
pillow, and went out for another visit to the toy shop.
"There I invested six cents in 'torpedoes,' with which I intended to
astonish my schoolmates in Bethel. I could not refrain, however, from
experimenting upon the guests of the hotel, which I did when they were
going in to dinner. I threw two of the torpedoes against the wall of the
hall through which the guests were passing, and the immediate results
were as follows: two loud reports--astonished guests--irate
landlord--discovery of the culprit, and summary punishment--for the
landlord immediately floored me with a single blow with his open hand,
and said:

" 'There, you little greenhorn, see if that will teach you better than to
explode your infernal fire-crackers in my house again.'
"The lesson was sufficient if not entirely satisfactory. I deposited the
balance of the torpedoes with my gun, and as a solace for my wounded
feelings I again visited the toy shop, where I bought a watch, breastpin
and top, leaving but eleven cents of my original dollar.
"The following morning found me again at the fascinating toy shop,
where I saw a beautiful knife with two blades, a gimlet, and a
corkscrew--a whole carpenter shop in miniature, and all