A Unique Story of a Marvellous Career | Page 4

Management--Enthusiastic Reception--His Speech--Two Poems
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE STORY OF "GRIZZLY ADAMS." Barnum's Partnership with the Famous Bear Hunter--Fooling Him with the "Golden Pigeons"--Adams Earns $500 at Desperate Cost--Tricking Barnum out of a Fine Hunting Suit--Prosperity of the Museum--Visit of the Prince of Wales
CHAPTER XXXIII.
BUILDING A CITY. At Home Once More--Growth of East Bridgeport--Barnum's Offer to Men Wanting Homes of Their Own--Remarkable Progress of the Place--How the Streets were Named
CHAPTER XXXIV.
A GREAT YEAR AT THE MUSEUM. Capturing and Exhibiting White Whales--Newspaper Comments--A Touching Obituary--The Great Behemoth--A Long "Last Week"--Commodore Nutt--Real Live Indians on Exhibition
CHAPTER XXXV.
GENERAL AND MRS. TOM THUMB. Miss Lavinia Warren--The Rivals--Miss Warren's Engagement to Tom Thumb--The Wedding--Grand Reception--Letter From a Would-be Guest, and Dr Taylor's Reply
CHAPTER XXXVI.
POLITICAL NOTES. Barnum Becomes a Republican--Illuminating the House of a Democrat--The Peace Meeting--Elected to the Legislature--War on the Railroads--Speech on the Amendment
CHAPTER XXXVII.
BURNING OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM. How Barnum Received the Tidings--Humorous Description of the Fire--A Public Calamity--Greeley's Advice--Intention to Re-establish the Museum--Speech at Employees' Benefit
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
POLITICAL LIFE. In the Connecticut Legislature--The Great Railroad Fight--Barnum's Effective Stroke--Canvassing for a United States Senator--Barnum's Congressional Campaign--A Challenge that was not Accepted
CHAPTER XXXIX.
FIGHTING A NEWSPAPER. Disposing of the Lease of the Museum Site--The Bargain with Mr. Bennett--Barnum's Refusal to Back Out--A Long and Bitter War with "The Herald"--Action of the Other Managers--The Return of Peace
CHAPTER XL.
BRIDGEPORT. The Fight for the Establishment of Seaside Park--Laying out City Streets--Impatience with "Old Fogies"--Building a Seaside Home--Waldemere--A Home in New York City
CHAPTER XLI.
HONORS AND ADULATIONS. Second Marriage--The King of Hawaii--Elected Mayor of Bridgeport--Successful Tour of the Hippodrome--Barnum's Retirement from Office
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."
Among the names of great Americans of the nineteenth century there is scarcely one more familiar to the world than that of the subject of this biography. There are those that stand for higher achievement in literature, science and art, in public life and in the business world. There is none that stands for more notable success in his chosen line, none that recalls more memories of wholesome entertainment, none that is more invested with the fragrance of kindliness and true humanity. His career was, in a large sense, typical of genuine Americanism, of its enterprise and pluck, of its indomitable will and unfailing courage, of its shrewdness, audacity and unerring instinct for success.
Like so many of his famous compatriots, Phineas Taylor Barnum came of good old New England stock. His ancestors were among the builders of the colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut. His father's father, Ephraim Barnum, was a captain in the War of the Revolution, and was distinguished for his valor and for his fervent patriotism. His mother's father, Phineas Taylor, was locally noted as a wag and practical joker. His father, Philo Barnum, was in turn a tailor, a farmer, a storekeeper, and a country tavernkeeper, and was not particularly prosperous in any of these callings.
Philo Barnum and his wife, Irena Taylor, lived at Bethel, Connecticut, and there, on July 5, 1810, their first child was born. He was named Phineas Taylor Barnum, after his maternal grandfather; and the latter, in return for the compliment, bestowed upon his first grandchild at his christening the title-deeds of a "landed estate," five acres in extent, known as Ivy Island, and situated in that part of, Bethel known as the "Plum Trees." Of this, more anon.
In his early years the boy led the life of the average New England farmer's son of that period. He drove the cows to and from the pasture, shelled corn, weeded the garden, and "did up chores." As he grew older he rode the horse in plowing corn, raked hay, wielded the shovel and the hoe, and chopped wood. At six years old he began to go to school--the typical district school. "The first date," he once said, "I remember inscribing upon my writing-book was 1818." The ferule, or the birch-rod, was in those days the assistant schoolmaster, and young Barnum made its acquaintance. He was, however, an apt and ready scholar, particularly excelling in mathematics. One night, when he was ten years old, he was called out of bed by his teacher, who had made a wager with a neighbor that Barnum could calculate the number of feet in a load of wood in five minutes. Barnum did it in less than two minutes, to the delight of his teacher and the astonishment of the neighbor.
At an early age he manifested a strong development of the good old Yankee organ of acquisitiveness. Before he was five years old he had begun to hoard pennies and "fourpences," and at six years old he was able to exchange his copper bits for a whole silver dollar, the possession of which made