The farmers' union. (Memphis, Mo.) 1891-1895, 1891-04-16
HAS FOLDED HIS TENT.
PHINEAS r. BARNUM GONE TO
HIS REST.


saw-He Was a Thoroughly Typical |
American.
Phineas Taylor Rarnum. the great |
Snowman, died at Marina, Conn after |
an illness Of twenty. one weeks. He had |
during that whole period firmly insisted |
that his sickness was only temporary, |
and that he would soon be out again.
MIR. Barnum was without doubt the |
greatest Snowman on earth. Very early |
in life he took the measure OF average |
human nature and proiitcd by the accu- |
racy of his gauge. He found it both
curious and crodnlous, and he catered to
it accordingly. Nearly forty years ago
h. wrote his biography. for h was
even then famous, and did not scrnple to
show the manner in which he had i'm
posed upon a public anxious to sec
the marvellous. Artcmus Wards pea
green OK, tho history of which
he told thirty years ago. was 4
pale reflection of Barnum'S wColly horse,
and various other devices with which
he was not unwilling to admit he had
amused the public withal. The pea gi cen
OK fell into a Jersey canal and lost its
peculiar color, reSumnS thereafter, as
Ward explain, d. agricultural pursuits.
As he advanced in years Barnum fo' nd
| it more profitable to satisfy ordinary
| curiosity than to attempt to play upon
credulty The mcnagcric formed Il
nevcr-fai'ing source of public interest,
and liking for the hippodrome, the ring
master. tho clown, the little lady who in
abbreviated skirts jumped through the
hoops. the intelligent dogs. and the PER
| forming elephants never tagged. Bar
mum soon came to look upon himself as
| curiosity and as such made in coach and
four the circuit of the ring. Far moro
| attractive than the foot,ights, the can
vas yielded an immense fortune to the
| man who could show what he described
| as the greatest aggregation on earth.
| Barnum had long been a millionaire, and
| though he affected public spirit the trail
| of the Sawdust was over it all. He had
| no capacity for politics, no real under
| standing of great public questions. IIo
| was cvermore the pubic's obcdient scr
want, taking the public's cash at the
| box Office. First and last he was show
man, with something bizarre in his char
| actcr. He was man of the ring and
| the band wagon. No one in his profess
| sion has achieved equal fame or fortune.
| He was master of his art, because he pur-
| sued his profession with undertaking
| ardor and profound knowledge of human
| kind.
| Phineas Taylor Barnum, the most
| widely known, unique, yet thoroughly
| typical American of the time, was born
| in the little town of Bethel, Conn, on
the 9Th of July, 1910. His grandfather,
| Ephram Barnum, had been a continent
| al captain in the rcvout onary war, and
his father, PhiIo Karnum, took turns at
! tailoring. innkecping and farming.
| phincas boyhood passed uncventfuly in
his native town. where he showed in
| school and on the fam the traits Of
| thrift and shrewdness which SO strongly
| marked his character in after life
| About 1880, Mr.. Parnum became
deeply Interested in politics. and, pub
i alton having been denied certain COM
| mUnicationS of his t. a Hanbury paper
on the dangers of Scctarilu interference
| in 10 .tiral affairs. with Characteristic
| drtcrm nation he started, in Octob +,
1881. paper OF his own--the Hcrdtd Of
Fro,Is,In. The vehrmencc Of his youth
ful editorials secured for the paper a
large subscription list at once and sew
| cral litcl suits very shortly, in one of
ich he was imprisoned for sixty days.
lie c 'ntinucd to edit his paper from jail,
aud the uotorety he acquired still fur
ther swclled its circulation.
1t was in 1885 that T. T. Barnum at
last struck his life's path. lie had heard
1
negro nurse, then at the advanced age of
lG1 years, and. selling out his business
again. he bought the right to exhibit her
for loco. and commenced his career a ;
| q Snowman His success was immediate
! and ell, Certifying.
| About this time he obtained control of
the defunct American Museum. New
York. Wildly improbable as were tho
promises held ont by his advertisements,
interchangeable as he was in devising
schemes to humbug the public for their
own anus 'ment and his profit, there
was never time when his entertained
victims did not gladly acknowledge that
| they had got more than their money 5
worth ont OF the show" A list of tho
FRANKS he played with his patrons, the
undrcamed of monStrosit;eS he exhibited,
would read like the catalogue of tho
| ships in tho Had. Here was to be seen
| the "club that killed Captain Cook, :"
"Niagara Falls with real water" the
"woolly horse" the "Eceice mermaid, ="
| the fish with legs" mechanical toys and
antomatonS. He inaugurated the baby
contests" which since have become
features in fairs the word around. lie
placed powerful calcium lights on the
top of his museum, giving an unheard
OF illumination of lower Broadway pre-
cursors of the electric lights of to day.
OF all the adventures with which tho
| name Of Rarnum was ever connected.
= the most successful was his engagement
of Jenny Lind, the Swedish Nightingale,
| for n series of concerts in America and
| Havana in 1919. For these concerts he
was to pay the cantatrice the then UNI
heard of sum of $1,000 night Far
NUNS gross receipts from the ninety five
Jenny Lind concerts amounted to about
thrcn-quarters of million dollars.
In 1871, during his first visit to Eng
land. the great Snowman exhibited to the
British public sixteen Indians, including
squawS, thus antcdating the recent enter
| prizes of Buffalo Bill.
From that time to the day of his death
Mr. Barnum led all rivals in the show
busine $ Millions of Americans will