The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1878-08-15
A Talk with Tom Thumb.

A Talk with Tom Thumb.
A reporter of the Boston Herald has
had talk with Tom Thumb at his home
in Middleboro, Mass, and from his re-
port we make the following extract:
"Of course everybody knows good
deal about me already, SO Pll just give
you what may be, perhaps, new to most
of your readers, without going into any
detailed statement of my life expert
ences, which would fill a dozen books" !"
said the General, sitting on a lounge in
the parlor. al might say, however,
that 1 was born in Bridgeport, Conn.,,
January 4, 1885, being the third of four
children-two boys and two girls-all
but myself being of ordinary stature.
l weighed nine pounds when was born,
within half pound of one of my sis
ters, who has since attained weight in
the neighborhood of two hundred
pounds; SO you can see how the gap was
widening between us. My father, Sher-
wood E. Stratton-my name is Charles
S.-was a carpenter by trade, until after
Mr.. Barnum began to exhibit me, when
he travelled with us. My mother is now
alive, at the age of about sixty-seven, 1
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 1842 that Mr.. Bar
mum first began to exhibit me. At that
time / was really but four years old, in
stead of eleven, as / was called at the
time. During all these thirty-six years
I have been almost constantly travelling,
ever since then"
az have often wondered how you re-
ceived your famous nickname of Gen
eral Tom Thumb" .0t
"Well," said the General loosely,
suppose that Mr.. Barnum and Queen
Victoria divide the honors. Previous
to my presentation, to the Queen, at the
Buckingham Palace, in 1874, I bad been
simply known as Tom Thumb, but the
Queen, when 1 had been presented to
her in that form, said with smile !:
You ought to have title. I think I
shall have to call you General Tom
Thumb The Duke of Wellington and
several others of the nobility were pres
ent at the time, and of course Her Ma
jesty's words were instantly adopted,
and became General from that time
forward.
"Speaking of the Duke" said the
General, breaking off, I" reminds me of
the time when he first came to see me at
one of my public levees in Egyptian
Hall, Piccadilly, London, in AS. was
personating Napoleon Bonaparte at the
time of his entrance to the hall, march
ing up and down my little platform,
and, apparently, taking snuff and medi-
tating deeply. The great Duke, his at
tention probably drawn to my costume
my coat was of the well-known regu-
lation dark green, with red trimmings
and brass buttons-and my preoccupied
air, asked me what I was thinking of.
For moment knew not what to reply,
but almost Immediately happy thought
occurred to me, and l replied gravely
Il 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 it all
over England and the continent. And
even now." said the General. compla-
Gently, "when lsok back to the scene,
can't help thinking that it was a pretty
cute thing for me to have said to him.
By the way, guess I can show you the
identical coat wore at the time," and
trotting briskly out of the room and up
stairs, the General quickly came back
with tiny coat, which he held out to
his visitor, with, "There! that's the
same one. It's little faded now, and
the brass buttons are tarnished; but ]
can see it Just as it was the first time
put it on.
"Why, good gracious, look at this, u
cried Tom, as he tried in vain to thrust
one of his chubby fists into the coat
sleeve, "I used to slip into this easy
enough, but now-why I don't believe
an ordinary-sized man could more than
squeeze two of his fingers in there
Those were the days when / was little
chap, and no mistake. I used to weigh
only about twenty pounds, and meas
ured an even eighteen inches high; but
now," slapping his thigh, "Pm a portly
old fellow of seventy q mean seventy
pounds, not years., and l guess Pm {
little rising forty inches. stopped
growing tall-queer to speak about my
growing tall, isn't it?-when 1 wal
about twenty-five years old. Sine
then I've been maturing, as my manage
calls it, and getting stout"
Z" have understood that you wer,
high in Freemasonry, GeneralT'
"Oh, yes; am. / have taken thirty
two out of thirty-three degrees, ant
always carry my regalia, sword, etc.
with me when I travel. / am a mem
Der of st. Johns Lodge, No. 8, Jeruss
lem Royal Arch, Chapter No. 13, AM
Hamilton Encampment No. 5, Knight
Templar, all of Bridgeport, Conn.,"
"Did you ever have any familyf'
eyes; a little girl was born to us i
Brooklyn, New York, ten or eleve
years ago-I am very poor at remember
ing dates. 1t died when only two yeal
and eight months old, at Norwich, Ems
land.''
"I have often wondered how you an
your wife managed about gloves and th
like. You have them made especiall
for you, I presumeT'
eyes; we are obliged to do so on OF
gloves and underwear. Why, no thre
year old child could wear my wife
gloves. The articles 1 have mentione
are imported expressly for us. o,
boots and shoes are made on speci
lasts, as also are, of course, our clotl
ing, ETC."
Shoot High.