The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1863-02-09


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Barnum and she Miniature Mar
riage.
The American press and public have been
exceedingly lenient with Barnum. They have
allowed him to make money by humbugging
innocent people, and more money by selling a
book telling how well his humbugs have sue
ceeded. Recently, however, he has taken alto
gether too bold an advantage Of this leniency.
Having secured dwarf woman he has been
exhibiting her at bis Museum for some time
past as the betrothed of another dwarf called
General Tom Thumb. How this match was ar
ranged we do not care to know; but we are in
formed that it is. to be contaminated at Grace
church tomorrow with all the display Of q
jections to the marriage, and no desire to forbid
the banns. Miss Warren is woman and Tom
Thumb is man, no matter how small they may
be, and they have as good right to be welded
as any other man and woman. This will be by
no means the first time that dwarfs have been
married and lived happily ever after. We do
object, however, to Barnum's share in the
transaction and particularly to his attempt to
make money by the public exhibition of the in
tended bride and all the paraphemalia Of the
affair
We are aware that Barnum has no very great
respect for the public. He considers it goose
which lays golden eggs, and is not very parti-
cular where he tickles it, so that the eggs drop
into his treasury. A long while ago he pro-
duced an old colorcd woman whom he called
Joyce Heth, and advertised her as the nurse of
General Washington. Crowds came to SEQ this
Barnum had her dissected, and would undoubt-
eddy have hung up her skeleton in his Museum
had not the surgeons exposed the humbug by
pronouncing her only about sixty OF seventy
years old Then some ingenious fellow tinkered
together the head and body of q monkey and
hcralded as the great Fejee mermaid and dis
played beautiful pictures Of handsome women
with fishy extremities in order to allure silly
folk to pay quarter and see the curiosity
And then came the woolly horse which had
been captured on the Rocky Mountains. and
which had two Of its legs miraculously shorten
ed so that 1t might run around its native hills
safely and expeditiously, but which, upon inspec-
ton, turned out to be q combination of little
wool and US poor specimen of horschcsh as
had ever been rejected by the knockers as unfit
even for the glue factory. These and a hun
dred other such successful swndles, more curl
Gus than those Of poor Greeley have earned
Barnum his proud title Of the Prince Of Hum
bugs, and reputation which, if not enviable. is
at least worldwide.
1t is an old saw that humanity loves to be
cheated. and Barnum's experience is no contra.
dicton to the saying. The people seem to have
q sort OF affection for him, and he is always
shrewd enough TO take advantage of this aiec-
ton to get at the peoples pockets. When he
came to grief by turning clock pedler on a
large scale, and lost almost all the money he
had SO easily acquired, the public sympathized
with him most cordially and laughed heartily
over the book in which he boosted Of his ex-
plots in making money by false pretences No
sooner had he secured dollars enough to con-
duct the Museum in his own name again than
ut tulHt Uftl liOiu anu IeDulu us lOT
our sympathy by exhibiting poor, little, de-
formed and idiotic negro boy as ''the What Is IT,
a connecting link between man and the brute Gre
alton, captured on the coast of Africa and 80
on od natseam Everybody had become so ac-
TO Barnnm by this time that no one
could be induced to expose this deception.
Indeed. it would be a task worthy of Hercules
himself TO clean Barnum's Museum of all its
humbugs, from the moral ''lecture ROOM
where ministers, deacons and members OF coun-
try churches, who would not 20 to theatre for
he world, sit and gaze entranced upon theatre
cal performances, down to the sewing machine
exhibited a. a curiosity but paid for as an ad-
vertisement. But there is so much really
valuable and interesting in the Museum that
'uch an expose would be unkind. just az Bar
lum did the public a real service by introducing
Jenny Lind, so his Museum collection is not all
lumbug aud deception. Why is he not satisfied
o get rich little less quickly and eschew false
,retenccs altogether.
BY his connection with this miniature mar
iage, Barnum has injured himself sadly in the |
hing rs going little too far even with patrons
o indulgsnt as the Americans. The marriage
,ows ought not TO be trihed with for the interest |
Il Snowman. The exhibition Of Miss Warren
It the Museum, the display Of Miss War
ems wedding dress, Tom Thumbs we'd
ling shirt. Miss warrens wedding shoes
nd Tom Thumbs wedding stockings in store
windows on Broadway, and ell the other
etails Of Barnum's management Of this matter,
re offensive to delicacy, decorum, modesty
nd good taste. Why should men and women
g so much more eager to see Miss Warren
ftsr she was engaged to Tom Thumb than
eforeg What class of ideas did Barnum appeal
, when he advertised her engagement so
One had only to listen to the
conversation OF silly countrymcn aud country
omen as they stood gaping at the little
,,..n az Reauty" or 10 omen bis ears 10 tha