Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1885-11-12
A CHAT WITH BARNUM.
HOW He MANAGES TO ENJOY SUCH
VIGOROUS HEALTH.
His Fatal Disease-Personal Habits-Tem
perance Sixty Years Ago-A Cast-Iron
viii What the Snowman Has
Done for bridgeport.


sun and my head was heavy with too mucl
OF sea ,ide dissipation which We call rest.
Into the smoking-car strolled for an empty
seat TO lounge la. As sat down a CHEEKY
voice salutel me from the next seat-it was
T. T. Barnum had not seen him looking
SO we'll in twenty years, and told him So
his eye bright, his step elastic, the grasp OF
his hand firm.
"No.n he protested Al am far from well
have caught disease which daily grove
worse. The doctors have given me up, and
tell me it j. incurable."
He placed his hand over the cardiac re-
gion and looked at me for sympathy. J
thought Of malaria, softening Of the brain,
and the aiiiiction through the medium of
which the late DR.. Bright succeeied in i'm
mortalizing himself But I knew he had
none of those.
FATAL DISEASE.
"I've got il bad" he continued, smiling
"all over me. II has, suppo.e some Latin
name, but common folks call it old age.
It's got me. It's going 70 carry me off. Old
age is the disea o that has got it, claws on
me and is going to fetch me in the end.
Yes as you say, I'm making a good fight OF
it, I'm 10 years old. | have frst-rate di-
gestion. | sleep we'll | have recovered
from the effects OF the s1nstroSe OF five
years ago, and am in perfect health"
asked him about his personal habits.
"Well. he said, leaning back in the ssa'
snd refleafing, lets see. / am economical
Of my life forces. try to go to bed at 10
every night In the morning answer my
correspondence and attend to my tenants
AMI communicate with my partners by tele-
phone ana telegraph, finishing up everything
before dinner. which take in the midile oi
the day. After dinner | generally dozs in
my chair for n moment. IL ! can lose cJn.
sciousness for i've minutes 1t is just rs re
freshing To me as a genuine sleep. | take q
drive mornings nd afternoons In the even.
iny we read or have music. or play cribbage
or whist. | am up at in the morning.
never drink nor smoks."
WHEN HE WAS YOUNG.
As expressed some curiosity about those
habit, he said:
~When | was young man i'm Danbury,
rybody drank. Csder brandy, called
'gumptior.' WI ths favJrite drink. Every
occasion was the occa ion for a horn.
Parties and weddings. AM christenings and
house raising aai hu skiing bees; AMI even at
funerals the cIergymen and mourners all
bottle of liquor ia his hand and when bid
ding WI, slow he would cry out, A dram TO
the next bidderr lifting his bottle to EN-,
phasizs the offer Up would 20 the bid.
aud the bidder would take his deadhead
dram. Everybody drank. Those who
think that the world has degenerated and
is fast going % the dogs would not think so
IL they cJuld remember the times as they
were in 1872 as I can. drank a good deal
in those days. for il was the fashion. II
this year wa, 1926 Instead Of 1855, thi,
smoking-car, instead Of being quiet, would
be full Of noisy roysterer, drinking and
carousing. Only there wouldn't be any car
then-wouli thereP
No NEW SCHEMES.
askei Mr. Barnum il he intended ever
o. 20 into any new scheme.
~No.' he sail; anything new would
worry me | think can see dozen new
ways in which / could make piles of money,
il | were twenty. or even ten years younger
but what's the usel l have "a much money
a. / can properly use, and am increasing il
all the time. | shall leave my children and
grandchildren more than viii be good for
them
@You have executed a cast-lron will"
said
YES; there i so much contesting Of viii:
on the ground Of incompetency, that have
done what | could to prevent it. provided
that il any legatee makes contest he shall
by that act forfeit his bequest. and | lef
500. 0OO t. the executors TO fight any con
testant Then ! had three physicians wit
ness my win. who made oath that was o
sound mind.
We left the cars at Bridgeport, and sepa
rated-he for Waldemere on the west, l Il
find friend with whom ! had business
Next morning he took me out riding I've
'riding" not ''driving'-at any rate ldidn't
drivel. Bridgeport has doubled si1cs l wa
there last. and from being the fourth city
in the state, has grown TO be the second.
told my friend, a We rode. about the tall
with Barnum on the way down from New
port
AT BRIDGEPORT.
.lie's remarkable characterl' he con-
tinuei "Is i, making more money thi
year taan he ever did before in any one
year He'll take, ii is estimated, Si50, 90,
out Of the biz show Us lis share. he get:
81, 900 a year as the rent of the big build
ing at Broadway and Houston in New York
He will get ZOO in rents here, and q
much more in the rise CT real estate here.
Everything b, touches turns to greenbacks
Even his greatest schemes Of beuevolencS
have poured money into his pockets. III
gave the city more than 100000 worth oi
swamp land for park which had been re
covered from the sea by dyke ON the ives
OF town Then he naturally and prudently
bought all the ad joining land and cut it VI
into town lots. This row of cottages is his.
/ And that row over yonder. He owns nearly
200 cottages, and has helped workingmer
build as many more.
This end Of Bridgeport has been so mucl
made by Barnum that it ought to be called
I Barnumv.lle, or Phineasia, OF something
suggestive. There was great old grave
| yard up here. Barnum got bill through
| the legislature authorizing him To remove
/ the dead to new cemetery. He CAV
| thousands Of new lots, and superintendeS
| the transfer, cleaned out the old buria
/ ground and cut streets through il, AMI it i
now one Of the most attractive spots in thu
city-that street over thsre, with prim cot
tages the whole length
4