Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1878-08-15
Boston Herald.

h1lnie warren.
Boston Herald.
The recent death, at the home of her
parents in Middleboro, Mass, Of Min
ME Warren" the brightest and sweetest
member ofthe little family of lliputians
which Barnum introduced to the sight
seeing world, has drawn anew to those di-
minutive people the af1ectionate and
sympathizing gaze, through " the minds
eye," of thousands who In years past
have viewed their tiny figures and
listened to their clever stage perform
ences with ever-increasing interest
and delight; and the question has
been so frequently heard since the an
nouncing of Minnie'S death, What
have Tom Thumb and his company
been doing, lately, and now is he getting
along ?''-that representative of the
Herald, a day or two since, found him
self slowly moving out of one of our
city railroad stations, towards the Md
die of a breezy, sunny afternoon, with
a ticket for MiddlebOrO tucked IN his
hat-band, bound for the home Of the
diminutiye general, " with view to
obtaining from him such information
regarding himself and his little friends
as could be gained from an hours con-
yersation. Z : Before pulling the
bell, and while the writer was taking a
brief exterior view of the handsome
house and neatly trimmed lawn, short
stout little vest pOCket edition of an or
binary man, wearing q clean starched,
light brown linen coat, and q round,
flat-crowned cap, trotted rather than
walked around the corner of the house,
upon the PIAZZA, and bestowed a cues
tioning glance upon the reporter. 1t
was Tom Thumb; not the slim-fgm ed,
boyish little fellow whom the ladies
used to pet SO much thirty years ago or
so, but stouter, brOader-chested, more
manly looking person. with u closely
clipped moustache and goatee, though
still of the same dimuntiye stature
which has made him an object of so
great interest to thousands of people all
over the world. An explanation of the
writer's indemnity and the object of his
call elected q hearty welcome, and an
invitation to step indoors, where in the
parlor, were found Major Newell, the
late husband of Minnie Warren, and
Mr. Sylvester Blocker, who for fifteen
years has been Tom Thumbs business
manager.
"Of course everybody knows n good
deal about me already, so I'll Just give
you what may be, perhaps, new to
most of your readers, without going
INTO any detailed statement of my life
experiences, which would fill Il dozen
books, said the general, sitting on q
lounge IN the parlor. 81 might say,
however, that | was born in Bridgeport,
Conn.,, january 4, 1888, being the third
of four children-twO boys and two girls
all but myself being of ordinary stature
| weighed nine pounds when | was
born, within half 81 pound of one of my
sisters, who has since attained q weight
IN the neighbOrhOod of two hundred
pounds; SO you can see how the gap
has widened between us. My father,
Sherwood Il. Stratton-my name is
Charles S.-was carpenter by trade
until after Mr.. Barnum began to ex-
hibit me, when he travelled with us.
My mother is now alive, at the age of
81, | think, and is residing at West
Haven, Conn. My eldest sister died
two years ago, but my other brother
and sister are both married and have
families. 1t was in the latter part Of 10
that Mr.. Barnum first began to exhibit
me. AT that time | was really but 4
years DID, instead of IL, as | was called
! az that time. During all these thirty
SIX years have been almost constantly
travelling. On Januery Is, 1874, Mr.
Barnum and | sailed for Europe, and
our great successes there are matters of
history which you would hardly be in
terested III my detailing to YOU"
81 have often wondered how YOU re-
ceiyed your famous nicllname-ify you
Will excuse the term--of General Tom
Thumb"
Well" said the general, iocosely,
| suppose that Mr.. Barnum and Queen
Victoria divide the honors. Previous
to my presentation to the queen, at
Buckingham palace, III n, | had been
known simply as Tom Thumb, but The
queen, when | had been presented to
her in that form, said with smile:
You ought to have title. | think |
shall have to call you General Tom
Thumb. The Duke of Wellington and
several others of the nobility were pres
cnt ut the time, and of course her
majesty's words were instantly adopted;
and became n general from that time
forward Speaking of the duke" said
the general, breaking off, reminds me
of the time when he first came to see
me at one of my public levees in Egypt
ian hall, Picadilly, London, in 40. /
was personating Napoleon Bonaparte
at the time of his entrance to the hall,
marching up and down my little plat
form, and apparently, taking snuff and
meditating deeply. The great duke,
his attention probably drawn by my
costume-my coat was of the we'll
known regulation dark green, with red
trimmings and brass buttons-and my
preoccupied air, asked me what | was
thinking of For Il moment [ knew
not what to reply, but almost immedi-
ately a happy thought occurred TO me,
and L replied gravely: 4 am thinking
of the loss of the battle of Waterloo"
This neat retort was. of course, too good
to keep, and the duke WAS not slow in
laughingly describing the scene and our
conversation to some of his friends,
who in turn spread 1t all over England
and the continent. And even now"
said the general, complacentiy, when
| look back to the scene, | can't help
thinking that it was pretty cute thing
for me to have said to him BY the
way; | guess can show you the identi-
cal coat | wore at the time;" and, trot-
ting briskly out of the room and up
stairs, the general quickly came back
with tiny coat, which he held out to
his visitors with: "There! that's the
same one. It's a little faded now, and