Charles City intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Floyd County, Iowa) 1864-1866, 1864-07-14

the other day-whose combined alti
tude was in the neighborhood of thir
ty-three feet. When he organized a
grand Aquarial exposition, (and by
the way, the Aquaria are about the
most delightful, and at the same time
instructive things to be seen at the
Museum, he is not satisfied with col
iectlng rare and beautiful fish easily
obtained near home, even though col
lossal trout of four to five pounds
weight are among them but he mus
go to the tropics and procure the gor
geous angel fish, and then to the coas
OF Labrador to catch genuine whale
spending more money in such adven
tnrous projects than one would think
could ever come back to him. The
angel fish may sicken--it is replaced
with something still more strange
the whale may die--and he immedi.
ately goes to work to obtain another.
Even Mt this present time he has but
just completed an immense glass res
ervoir to be supplied Through pipes
laid under the streets, at an expense
OF seven thousand doIlars) with salt
water from the bay, in which a gigan-
tic whale, which he is daily expecting
to arrive here from the northern seas,
Is TO disport itself this present sum.
mer The cost of such an undertak.
ing is enormous but Mr.. Barnnm
says it pays, and he unquestionably
ought to know. A simple enumera.
tlon OF the lesser curiosities with which
the Museum is crammed, and in which
changes are going on from day to day
almost from hour to hour would oc-
cupy too much space. They comprise
such an infinite variety and appeal to
such endless phases of popular fancy
as to defy any attempt at detailed de.
scription. But there is one depart
ment of the Museum deserving and re-
curing particular mention and abun-
dant eulogy. This is the system of
Dramatic Entertainments offered eve
ry afternoon and evening in the Lee.
ture Room. The management of this
department involves the production of
u constant succession OF new and cf.
fective plays, meritorious original
pieces, written expressly for the es.
tablishment, and of the very pick of
such dramas, comedies and farces, as
have already made their mark on the
English or American Stage. All of
these are brought out in splendid style
with fine scenery aud handsome ap-
pointments, and are performed by a
complete and talented company of ac-
tors. 1t is moreover Mr.. Barnum's
special care to see to it that in what.
ever is played no words or situation
that could offend the tase Of the most
refined and fastidious should appear.
In too many of our theatres the ear
and eye are too apt to be shocked by
illusions and actions that are prorane
and improper, if not positively inde-
cent. This never occurs at the Muse
um. The thousands of ladies, children
and gentlemen who throng this popu-
lar establishment from the basement
to the sixth story, every week day in
the year, are themselves a study and
wonder. The Museum is so favora-
bly, known throughout Europe that no
foreigner of responsibility, coming to
this country, fails to visit it. Indeed,
this was the only place of amusement
attended by the Prince Of Wales and
suite while in the United States, and
the prince had the good taste to en-
quire for Barnum himself. at the same
time facetiously remarking that he
considered him the most extraordina-
ry curiosity in the establishment. Mr..
Barnnm has recently taken his two
sons-in-law into the museum to assist
him in the details of its management,
but this arrangement, although it re-
lieves him from some cares, by no
means induces him to relinquish any
portion of his personal attention TO
business. His smiling countenance
is to be seen in the Museum every
day, surrounded by his other curiosi-
ties, (many visitors, like the Prince of
Wales, considering him one of the
greatest wonders, and as he declares
he is nowhere SO happy as when he is
in the Museum, catering for the pleas.
ure of his patrons, we have no reason
to doubt that he will "dic in harness"
#.rr.5 ~----=---------------------
John Bell, who ran for President in
A IL ~