The Life of Phineas T. Barnum Part 11

"I'll sue him for damages, by thunder!" said Stratton.

"Oh, there would be no use in that," chimed in Mr. Pinte, "for you could get no satisfaction in this country."

"But I shall lose more than a hundred dollars by being two hours instead of one," said Stratton.

"They care nothing about that; all they care for is your eighty francs," remarked Pinte.

"But they have lied and swindled me," replied Stratton.

"Oh, you must not mind that; it is the custom of the country."

The party arrived in Brussels precisely two hours and a half from the time they left the farmer's house. Of course it was too late for the afternoon performance, and hundreds of people had been turned away disappointed.

CHAPTER XIV. IN ENGLAND AGAIN.

EGYPTIAN HALL AND THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS--THE SPECIAL TRAIN--OXFORD--STRATFORD-ON-AVON--GUY OF WARWICK RELICS--PURCHASE OF THE "HAPPY FAMILY"--RETURN TO AMERICA.

In London the General again opened his levees in Egyptian Hall, with increased success. His unbounded popularity on the Continent, and his receptions by King Louis Philippe, of France, and King Leopold, of Belgium, had added greatly to his prestige and fame. Those who had seen him when he was in London months before came to see him again, and new visitors crowded by thousands to the General's levees.

Besides giving these daily entertainments, the General appeared occasionally for an hour, during the intermissions, at some place in the suburbs; and for a long time he appeared every day at the Surrey Zoological Gardens, under the direction of the proprietor, Mr. W. Tyler. This place subsequently became celebrated for its great music hall, in which Spurgeon, the sensational preacher, first attained his notoriety. The place was always crowded, and when the General had gone through with his performances on the little stage, in order that all might see him, he was put into a balloon, which, secured by ropes, was then pa.s.sed around the ground, just above the people's heads. Some forty men managed the ropes and prevented the balloon from rising; but, one day, a sudden gust of wind took the balloon fairly out of the hands of half the men who had hold of the ropes, while others were lifted from the ground, and had not an alarm been instantly given, which called at least two hundred to the rescue, the little General would have been lost.

In October Barnum made a flying visit to America, remaining long enough to renew the lease of the Museum building, and to attend to various other business matters. When he returned he was accompanied by his wife and daughters. They took a furnished house, which, during all their three months' residence, was the scene of constant hospitality, all the distinguished people in London being entertained there.

When the engagement at Egyptian Hall expired they made an extensive tour through England and Scotland, going as far north as Aberdeen. The General's Scotch costumes, his national dances and the "bit of dialect" which he had acquired had long been a feature of the performance and was especially admired in Scotland. The party travelled much of the time in Barnum's own carriage, the General's carriage, ponies and other properties being conveyed in a huge van. They found this way of travelling more comfortable than the other, besides enabling them to visit out of the way places, where often the most successful exhibitions were given.

There was one occasion when their carriage broke down, and, as they had advertised a performance in Rugby that evening, they decided to take the cars; but on arriving at the station they found the last train gone. Barnum immediately looked up the superintendent and told him that they must have an extra train for Rugby, without an instant's delay.

"Extra train?" said he, with surprise and a half-sneer, "extra train? why you can't have an extra train to Rugby for less than sixty pounds."

"Is that all? well, get up your train immediately, and here are your sixty pounds. What in the world are sixty pounds to me, when I wish to go to Rugby, or elsewhere, in a hurry."

The astonished superintendent took the money, bustled about, and the train was soon ready. He was greatly puzzled to know what distinguished person--he thought he must be dealing with some prince, or, at least, a duke--was willing to give so much money to save a few hours of time, and he hesitatingly asked whom he had the honor of serving.

"General Tom Thumb."

The performance at Rugby netted L160, which not only covered expenses but left a handsome margin.

When they were in Oxford, a dozen or more of the students came to the conclusion that, as the General was a little fellow, the admission fee to his entertainments should be paid in the smallest kind of money. They accordingly provided themselves with farthings, and as each man entered, instead of handing in a shilling for his ticket, he laid down forty-eight farthings. The counting of these small coins was a great annoyance to Mr.

Stratton, the General's father, who was ticket-seller, and after counting two or three handfuls, vexed at the delay which was preventing a crowd of ladies and gentlemen from buying tickets, Mr. Stratton lost his temper, and cried out:

"Blast your quarter-pennies! I am not going to count them! you chaps who haven't bigger money can chuck your copper into my hat and walk in."

Mr. Stratton was a genuine Yankee, and thoroughly conversant with the Yankee vernacular which he used freely. In exhibiting the General, Barnum often said to visitors that Tom Thumb's parents, and the rest of the family, were persons of the ordinary size, and that the gentleman who presided in the ticket-office was the General's father. This made poor Stratton an object of no little curiosity, and he was pestered with all sorts of questions; on one occasion an old dowager said to him:

"Are you really the father of General Tom Thumb?"

"Wa'al," replied Stratton, "I have to support him!"

This evasive answer is common enough in New England, but the literal dowager had her doubts, and promptly rejoined:

"I rather think he supports you!"

Although Barnum was in Europe on business, he made the most of his opportunities for sight-seeing, and in his few leisure hours managed to visit nearly every place of interest both in England and on the continent.

While in Birmingham, with his friend Albert Smith, then author and afterwards a successful showman, he visited Stratford-on-Avon, where lived and wrote the greatest of English poets--Shakespeare.

While breakfasting at the Red House Inn, at Stratford, they called for a guide-book of the town, and to Barnum's great delight the volume proved to be Washington Irving's "Sketch-book." His pleasure was even more increased when he discovered, on reading the vivid and picturesque description of Stratford, that Irving had stopped at the very same hotel where they were awaiting breakfast.

After visiting the house as well as the church where is the tomb of the poet, they took a post-chaise for Warwick Castle, fourteen miles away.

The Earl of Warwick and his family being absent, the visitors were shown through the apartments. One guide took them over the Castle, another escorted them to the top of "Guy's Tower,"

another showed them the famous Warwick Vase. They were congratulating themselves on not being called upon for any more tips, when the old porter at the lodge informed them that for a consideration he could show them more interesting things connected with the Castle than any they had yet seen. They tossed him his fee, and he produced what purported to be Guy of Warwick's sword, shield, helmet, breastplate, walking-staff, etc.

The armor must have weighed two hundred pounds and the sword alone one hundred. Barnum listened, and gazed in silence at the horse-armor, large enough for an elephant, and a pot called "Guy's porridge-pot," which could have held seventy gallons, but when the old man produced the ribs of a mastodon which he declared had belonged to a huge dun cow, which had done much injury to many persons before being slain by the dauntless Guy, he drew a long breath, and feelingly congratulated the old porter on his ability to concentrate more lies than anyone had ever before heard in so small a compa.s.s.

"I suppose," said Barnum, "that you have told these marvellous tales so often that you almost believe them yourself."

"Almost," answered the old man, with a broad grin.

"Come now, old fellow," continued Barnum, "what will you take for the entire lot of these old traps? I want them for my Museum in America."

"No money would buy these priceless relics of a bygone age,"

replied the porter, leering.

"Never mind," exclaimed the showman; "I'll have them duplicated for my Museum, so that Americans can see them without coming here, and in that way I'll burst up your old show."

The porter was paralyzed with astonishment at this threat, and Albert Smith was convulsed with laughter. He afterwards told Barnum that he first derived his idea of becoming a showman from this day at Warwick, and Barnum's talk about his doings and adventures in the business.

They visited that same day Kenilworth and Coventry, in which latter place Barnum discovered the exhibition known as the "Happy Family," about two hundred birds and animals of opposite natures, dwelling in one cage in perfect harmony. He was so delighted with it that he bought it on the spot, and hired the manager to accompany the exhibition to New York, where it became a famous feature of the Museum.

Albert Smith afterwards published a chapter in Bentley's Magazine, ent.i.tled "A Day with Barnum," in which he said they accomplished business with such rapidity that, when he attempted to write out the accounts of the day, he found the whole thing so confused in his brain that he came near locating "Peeping Tom" in the house of Shakespeare, while Guy of Warwick WOULD stick his head above the ruins of Kenilworth, and the Warwick Vase appeared in Coventry.

With the exception of two brief trips to America, Barnum had been abroad with General Tom Thumb three years. The season had been one of unbroken pleasure and profit. They had visited nearly every city and town in France, Belgium, England, Scotland, and the cities of Belfast and Dublin in Ireland. After this truly triumphant tour, they set sail in February, 1847, for New York.

Barnum was a man who never could bear to see injustice done. On one of his business trips to America he took pa.s.sage on a Cunard steamer, commanded by a Captain Judkins. Among the pa.s.sengers was the celebrated preacher, Robert Baird. One Sunday after dinner Barnum asked Mr. Baird if he would be willing to preach to the pa.s.sengers in the forward cabin. The captain had read the Episcopal service that morning, but it was done as a mere matter of form, without the slightest suggestion of devotion in its observance.

Mr. Baird consented to preach, and Barnum, after mentioning it to the other pa.s.sengers, who were delighted at the prospect, went to the captain and said: "Captain, the pa.s.sengers desire to have Dr.

Baird conduct a religious service in the forward cabin. I suppose there is no objection?" The rest of the story may as well be told in Barnum's own words. To his inquiry, the captain replied gruffly:

"Decidedly there is, and it will not be permitted."

"Why not?"

"It is against the rules of the ship."

"What! to have religious services on board?"

"There have been religious services once to-day, and that is enough. If the pa.s.sengers do not think that is good enough, let them go without," was the captain's hasty and austere reply.