Signal-Copiahan. (Hazlehurst, Copiah County, Miss.) 1885-1888, 1886-03-04
THE BARD'S BIRTHPLACE
How Mr.. Barnum Was Instrument.
al In Saving It from Ruin.

There are very few Americans who
are aware Of the fact that but for Phin-
eas L. Barnum, the Snowman, Shakes
pearc's birthplace would not bc in cX-
islcncc to-day. By his birthplace do
not refer 10 the town Of the great
bard's nativity. but to the house in
which he was born.
The hundreds Of American tourists
who go to Stratforl-on-Avon every
year aud inspect the little house where
the immortal William first saw the
light never hear the most interest
inc of all stories about the place.
Perhaps it was my luck during
recent hasty trip abroad to
get this information. Perhaps IL was
my newspaper instinct that was always
prying into things and asking the most
absurd out-of.ihc-way questions. The
reason can not give. But the fact
came to me all the same. IL was one
of the nca, maiden ladies who have
cnargc of the Shakespeare birthplace
that impaired the information. feel
pretty sure She did not mean 10 impart
it. English men aud women are not
oycr.anxiou, to praise anything Amer
leans maydO for England or for any Of
England cherished heroes. The maid
en lady in question let the inform ton
slip out by mistake. She had kept her
sell in restraint hitherto TO Americans,
but she diyulgcd enough to arouse my
CURIOSITY. ~ once droppcd The char
actcr If tourist and became an inter-
viewer. even threw aside my pilgrim
phase iar enough To take ont pencil
aud notebook and jot down the story
rs she told il To me. 1t will certainly
be- of interest to all Americans.
II seems the old house in which
Shakespeare WAS born had begun to de-
CAY very fat after the first quarter Of
this century had passed. The people
OF Slratford were Indifferent TO the his.
torical value attached to the place. The
tourists who arrived from day to day
simply had the LOusc pointed out 10
them. and were then hurried on to
Hathaway cottage, where the sweet
William did his cOurting, or to the
church where the great dramatist is
buried. The Owncrof the property, who
got it from one Of the Shakcspearcan
descendants. viewed the estate merely
from financial standpoint. Its pos
session or sale was matter OF pounds
and shillings with him. Hc had no
other use for it. In 1915 hc advertised
the property for sale. Strange to say,
1t went bcCginS for a purchaser. For
over q ycav there WAS not even bid
der. 1t never struck the proprietor that
by fitting the house up, so that
1t WAS safe to enter, he could
capture many a shilling, or even half
crown, from the tourist and the
eager admircr of Shakespeare. All
Slrallori seemed to overlook the fact
that the most interesting relic OF all
relies that reminded people of the
towns chief citizen was the house
where h. was born, and in whose
shadow lie passed his boyhood and
most Of his youth. The bench on
which he sat and made love to Anne
Hathaway was preserved, but the room
in which his nativity occurred and the
bed in which he slept were allowed to
go to rack and ruin. The lines young
William wrote to the gentle Anne
Hathaway. every verse of which ended:
Same hath way. Anne hath way,
For making love, Aune hath way
were carefully kept framed and hung
on the wall in the old Hathaway cot
tagc. But the initials Nv. s." carved
by the boy with his knife or scrawled
in rough characters on the walls Of his
room ut home were permitted to die
out and be obliterated. II was
strange commentary on the English in
habitant of interesting towns. Gener-
ally he is eager to save all relics and
charge heavily for the sight of each
article Of interest.
II was in 1917 that p. Il. Barnum
went to England for the first time. He
was in search Of curiositics that would
add TO the fame he had already acquired
at home. While In London one day he
heard accidentally that Shakespcarc's
birthplace was for sale. He at once
saw q glorious opportunity. He would
buy the house, move II bodily to Am
erica, and exibit II as part OF the
"grcatcst show on earth" The next
day saw him at the Red Lion Inn at
Stratford, in search Of the owner.
Somehow he missed him, and left word
that he would give $4,000 for the prop
erty. So far rs material value was
concerned IL was ten times what the
house was worth. But tho proprietor
thought the property was greatly de-
sired by some one, from the price Of
fered, and he demanded Sl5,0O0 for 1t.
Bamum would willingly have paid
that sum, but before he had chance to
bid higher several wealthy Englishmen
learned Of tho American offer. hurried
70 SlraIord and paid the price asked,