The Life of Phineas T. Barnum Part 12

"Captain," Barnum replied, "do you pretend to say you will not allow a respectable and well-known clergyman to offer a prayer and hold religious services on board your ship at the request of your pa.s.sengers?"

"That, sir, is exactly what I say. So, now, let me hear no more about it."

By this time a dozen pa.s.sengers were crowding around his door, and expressing their surprise at his conduct. Barnum was indignant, and used sharp language.

"Well," said he, "this is the most contemptible thing I ever heard of on the part of the owners of a public pa.s.senger ship.

Their meanness ought to be published far and wide."

"You had better 'shut up,' " said Captain Judkins, with great sternness.

"I will not 'shut up,' " he replied; "for this thing is perfectly outrageous. In that out-of-the-way forward cabin you allow, on week-days, gambling, swearing, smoking and singing till late at night; and yet on Sunday you have the impudence to deny the privilege of a prayer-meeting, conducted by a gray-haired and respected minister of the gospel. It is simply infamous!"

Captain Judkins turned red in the face; and, no doubt feeling that he was "monarch of all he surveyed," exclaimed in a loud voice:

"If you repeat such language, I will put you in irons."

"Do it, if you dare," said Barnum, feeling his indignation rising rapidly. "I dare and defy you to put your finger on me. I would like to sail into New York harbor in handcuffs, on board a British ship, for the terrible crime of asking that religious worship may be permitted on board. So you may try it as soon as you please; and, when we get to New York, I'll show you a touch of Yankee ideas of religious intolerance."

Turning on his heel, he walked over to Mr. Baird and told him how matters stood, adding, with a laugh:

"Doctor, it may be dangerous for you to tell of this incident when you get on sh.o.r.e; for it would be a pretty strong draught upon the credulity of many of my countrymen if they were told that my zeal to hear an orthodox minister preach was so great that it came near getting me into solitary confinement. But I am not prejudiced, and I like fair play."

The old doctor replied: "Well, you have not lost much; and, if the rules of this ship are so stringent I suppose we must submit."

The captain afterwards came to Barnum and apologized for the rude manner in which he had carried out the rules of the ship. Barnum was not at the time a teetotaler, and the two men "washed down"

their differences in a bottle of champagne, and were excellent friends from that moment.

CHAPTER XV. AT HOME.

PARTNERSHIP WITH TOM THUMB--VISIT TO CUBA--IRANISTAN, HIS FAMOUS PALACE AT BRIDGEPORT--AGRICULTURAL EXPERIENCES--BARNUM'S GAME-KEEPER AND THE GREAT GAME DINNER--FRANK LESLIE.

One of Barnum's princ.i.p.al objects in returning to America at this time was to insure the permanence of his "American Museum." He had a lease of the property, which had yet three years to run.

But he wanted to make sure of it after that term had expired. Mr.

Olmsted, the former owner, was now dead, and It was not certain that the new proprietor would renew the lease. If not, another home for the great show must be secured, and Barnum decided that in that event he would buy land on Broadway and erect a building to suit him. The new owner of the old property was persuaded, however, to renew the lease for a term of twenty-five years. The building covered an area of fifty-six by one hundred feet and was four stories high. Barnum agreed to pay for it a rental of $10,000 a year in addition to the taxes and all a.s.sessments.

Then, as the place was not large enough for his purposes, he rented and connected with it the upper floors of several adjacent buildings. The Museum was at this time enormously prosperous, and was thronged with visitors from morning to late at night.

Tom Thumb's European reputation was of course a great advertis.e.m.e.nt, and it was "worked for all it was worth." He appeared at the Museum daily for four weeks, and drew such crowds of visitors as had never been seen there before. He afterwards spent a month in Bridgeport with his kindred. To prevent being annoyed by the curious, who would be sure to throng the houses of his relatives, he exhibited two days at Bridgeport, and the receipts, amounting to several hundred dollars, were presented to the Bridgeport Charitable Society.

Barnum's contract with Tom Thumb had expired on January 1, 1845, while they were in England, and they had then formed a partnership, dividing equally between them the profits of their enterprise; excepting during the first four weeks of their return to New York, during which time the General waived his partnership rights and exhibited himself for a salary of $50 a week. Mr.

Stratton, Tom Thumb's father, was now a rich man, and he settled a handsome fortune upon his tiny son.

Soon a tour of America was arranged, the party consisting of Mr.

Barnum and Tom Thumb and his parents. They began at Washington, in April, 1847, where they visited President and Mrs. Polk at the White House. Thence they went to Richmond, to Baltimore, and to Philadelphia, where they took in $5,594.91 in twelve days. Next they visited Boston and Lowell; Providence, where they received nearly $1,000 in a day; New Bedford, Fall River, Salem, Worcester, Springfield, Albany, Troy, Niagara Falls, Buffalo and various other places. During the whole year's tour their receipts averaged from $400 to $500 per day, and their expenses only from $25 to $30. On their way back to New York they stopped at all large towns along the Hudson river, and then went to New Haven, Hartford, Portland and some other New England cities.

Absence did not make them forgotten in New York, however, but only increased public interest in them. When he returned to his Museum Mr. Barnum found that he himself had come to be regarded as one of its chief curiosities. "If I showed myself about the Museum, or wherever else I was known, I found eyes peering and fingers pointing at me, and could frequently overhear the remark, 'There's Barnum.' On one occasion, soon after my return, I was sitting in the ticket-office, reading a newspaper. A man came and purchased a ticket of admission. 'Is Mr. Barnum in the Museum?'

he asked. The ticket-seller, pointing to me, answered, 'This is Mr. Barnum.' Supposing the gentleman had business with me, I looked up from the paper. 'Is this Mr. Barnum?' he asked. 'It is,' I replied. He stared at me for a moment, and then, throwing down his ticket, exclaimed, 'It's all right; I have got the worth of my money;' and away he went, without going into the Museum at all."

In the fall of 1847 they went South, visiting and giving exhibitions at Charleston, Columbia, Augusta, Savannah, Milledgeville, Macon, Columbus, Montgomery, Mobile and New Orleans. At the last-named place they spent three weeks, including the Christmas holidays. After New Year's they went to Cuba, and were received at Havana by the Captain-General and the aristocracy of the city. For a month they gave exhibitions in Havana and Matanzas with great success. The only serious drawback was the hotels, which they did not find good; indeed, it was difficult for them to get enough to eat. The Washington House, at Havana, where they lived for some time, was characterized by Mr.

Barnum as "first-rate bad!"

From Cuba they returned to New Orleans, and thence to New York by way of the Mississippi river, St. Louis, Louisville, Cincinnati and Pittsburg. And then, in May, 1848, it was agreed that Barnum should travel no more with the little General. "I had," says Barnum, "competent agents who could exhibit him without my personal a.s.sistance, and I preferred to relinquish a portion of the profits rather than continue to be a travelling showman. I had now been a straggler from home most of the time for thirteen years, and I cannot describe the feelings of grat.i.tude with which I reflected that, having by the most arduous toil and deprivations succeeded in securing a satisfactory competence, I should henceforth spend my days in the bosom of my family."

Barnum had selected the city of Bridgeport, Conn., for his home, and thither he now repaired. He wanted to be near New York, and he considered the northern sh.o.r.e of Long Island Sound the most beautiful country he had ever seen. Bridgeport was about the right distance from New York, and was well situated. It was also an enterprising place, with the promise of a prosperous future.

Some three or four years before this time Barnum had purchased seventeen acres of land at the western side of the city, and for two years had been building a palace upon it, the famous "Iranistan," which was now nearly ready for him to occupy.

In telling how he came to erect this gorgeous and eccentric home, Barnum once said that in visiting Brighton, England, he had been greatly pleased with the pavilion built there by George IV. It was at that time the only specimen of Oriental architecture in England, and the style had not been introduced into America. "I concluded to adopt it, and engaged a London architect to furnish me a set of drawings after the general plan of the pavilion, differing sufficiently to be adapted to the spot of ground selected for my homestead. On my second return visit to the United States, I brought these drawings with me and engaged a competent architect and builder, giving him instructions to proceed with the work, not 'by the job' but 'by the day,' and to spare neither time nor expense in erecting a comfortable, convenient, and tasteful residence. The work was thus begun and continued while I was still abroad, and during the time when I was making my tour with General Tom Thumb through the United States and Cuba. Elegant and appropriate furniture was made expressly for every room in the house. I erected expensive water-works to supply the premises. The stables, conservatories and out-buildings were perfect in their kind. There was a profusion of trees set out on the grounds. The whole was built and established literally 'regardless of expense,' for I had no desire even to ascertain the entire cost."

Into this splendid place he moved on November 14, 1848, nearly a thousand fellow-citizens of Bridgeport, rich and poor alike, partic.i.p.ating in the "housewarming" as his guests. The estate was called, in reference to its Oriental appearance, Iranistan, which being interpreted means "a Persian home." This name was the subject of many a joke, as the place itself was of much wonderment and admiration.

The next two years were spent by Mr. Barnum chiefly at home with his family, though he paid frequent visits to his various places of business and amus.e.m.e.nt; business for him, amus.e.m.e.nt for the world. He had for several years a fine Museum in Baltimore, which was afterward the property of John E. Owens, the actor. In 1849 he also opened a Museum in Philadelphia, at the corner of Chestnut and Seventh streets. He spent some time in Philadelphia, until the Museum was profitably established, and then turned it over to a manager. Two years later he sold it for a good price.

While he was running it, however, his old rival, Peale, conducted a strong opposition show in Masonic Hall, near by. The compet.i.tion between them proved disastrous to Peale, who failed and was sold out by the sheriff. Barnum and his friend, Moses Kimball, purchased most of his effects and divided them between Barnum's American Museum in New York and Kimball's Museum in Boston.

Barnum took an active interest in the affairs of Bridgeport and of the State of Connecticut. In 1848, soon after settling in Iranistan, he was elected President of the Fairfield County Agricultural Society. He was not much of a practical farmer, although he had bought a hundred or more acres of farm land near his residence and felt a deep interest in agricultural affairs.

He had imported a lot of choice livestock, which he had at Iranistan, and had gone pretty deeply into fancy poultry raising.

So he was considered eligible to the office of President of the Agricultural Society.

In 1849 the Society insisted that he should deliver the annual address. "I begged to be excused on the ground of incompetency,"

he said, "but my excuses were of no avail, and as I could not instruct my auditors in farming, I gave them the benefit of several mistakes which I had committed. Among other things, I told them that in the fall of 1848 my head-gardener reported that I had fifty bushels of potatoes to spare. I thereupon directed him to barrel them up and ship them to New York for sale. He did so, and received two dollars per barrel, or about sixty-seven cents per bushel. But, unfortunately, after the potatoes had been shipped, I found that my gardener had selected all the largest for market, and left my family nothing but 'small potatoes' to live on during the winter. But the worst was still to come. My potatoes were all gone before March, and I was obliged to buy, during the spring, over fifty bushels of potatoes, at $1.25 per bushel! I also related my first experiment in the arboricultural line, when I cut from two thrifty rows of young cherry-trees any quant.i.ty of what I supposed to be 'suckers,' or 'sprouts,' and was thereafter informed by my gardener that I had cut off all his grafts!"

A friend of Barnum's, Mr. J. D. Johnson, had a fine place near Iranistan; and Barnum owned a couple of acres just beyond and adjoining his property. This plot Barnum presently converted into a deer park, stocking it with fine animals from the Rocky Mountains. From its location, however, everybody supposed it to be a part of Johnson's estate, and to confirm this notion--in a waggish spirit--a member of Johnson's family put up in the park a conspicuous sign, which every pa.s.ser-by on the street could read:

"All persons are forbid trespa.s.sing on these grounds, or disturbing the deer.

--J. D. JOHNSON."

Barnum "acknowledged the corn," and was much pleased with the joke. Johnson was delighted, and bragged considerably of having got ahead of Barnum, and the sign remained undisturbed for several days. It happened, at length, that a party of friends came to visit him from New York, arriving in the evening. Johnson told them that he had got a capital joke on Barnum; he would not explain, but said they should see it for themselves the next morning. Bright and early he led them into the street, and, after conducting them a proper distance, wheeled them around in front of the sign. To his dismay he discovered that I had added directly under his name the words "Game-keeper to P. T. Barnum."

Thereafter Mr. Johnson was known among his friends and acquaintances as "Barnum's gamekeeper."

Johnson had his revenge, however. Some time afterward Barnum became president of the Pequonnock Bank, and gave each year a grand dinner at Iranistan to the directors. In preparing for these banquets he would send to the West for some boxes of prairie chickens and other choice game. So, one day, Johnson saw a big case at the railroad station, addressed to Barnum, and marked "Game."

"See here," said he to the station-master, "I am Mr. Barnum's game-keeper, and I'll take charge of that!"

And he did so, taking it to his house, and then notifying Barnum that it could only be redeemed at cost of a new hat. He knew very well that Barnum would rather give him a dozen hats than lose the box; and he added that unless he got the hat very soon he would give a game dinner on his own account! Barnum sent an order for the hat in a hurry, and recovered his game, enjoying the whole joke as much as Johnson did.

In 1848, Mr. Frank Leslie, afterward famous as a publisher, came to America, bringing letters of introduction to Barnum from friends in England, and Barnum gave him a start in business by employing him to prepare an elaborate ill.u.s.trated catalogue of the American Museum. This he did in an admirable manner, and hundreds of thousands of copies of it were distributed throughout the country.

CHAPTER XVI. JENNY LIND.

DARING VENTURE--BARNUM'S AMBa.s.sADOR--UNPRECEDENTED TERMS OFFERED--TEXT OF THE CONTRACT--HARD WORK TO RAISE THE GUARANTEE FUND--EDUCATING THE AMERICAN MIND TO RECEIVE THE FAMOUS SINGER.

The next enterprise undertaken by Barnum was an entirely new departure. It was justly regarded by him as bold in its conception, complete in its development, and astounding in its success. To the end of his days he looked upon it with pride and satisfaction. Probably it did more than anything else in all his career to give him a permanent and supreme position in the esteem of the public.

This enterprise was the bringing of Jenny Lind to America for a concert tour.