The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-07-03
P.T. BARNuM BEST
 LOVED MAN IN us. DECLARES MINISTER
Great Snowman is Eulogized at Universalist Church
 Memorial Service.

Phineas T. Barnum, famous show man and benefactor of Bridgeport. was eulogized yesterday ot the Bar mum Memorial service, held in the Universalist Church of the Redeemor. Rev. William Wallace Rose, pastor of the church, spoke on ''Barnum, Show man. A large audience appreciated his address. The church was decorat- ed with flowers. Mrs. George B. Heb- bard played Barnum,s favorite hymn, '"Old Hundrad." @
 Part of MT. Roses address follows:
 ''Th6 story is told that several of tho clericSl friends of Philips Brooks. the great divine, were once discussing him and his wonderful influence through 4 out America. One had just made the !statement that because of his remark I able Allowing among all classes Phil lips Bf6oks was the best loved man in iAmerica. pr. Brooks overheard this Ifaai zeznark and sreplie' to it some what Rs follows, sTo4my way of think ling tne best loved man in America must AhveS not only the loveSef the men &1d the women. but of a neces- sity 4A love of the children, too. !Therezx4s only one man who commands the ldyA of>men and women, and chill dFen @ this land sand thatsna Is P. T. Ba{Hum. /. 3GkEf
 "wssshave dnme tegethersson this lsabba6 nearest his birt te honor the nx3he- of Barnum. andsto mafk ] IagainfM our own mindsSS xnd for the obsery<fion of the people of this, city of hisAdreams, thes rare qualities which Icombiassd to spread hiss uanae and his l fame stpt only throughout America, II hut fI4~ o-<fra riy;1fzo6 xu0r1dL ia our scial privilege and our joy to lcelebr&te that name in the church: he 1 lovedE& x | "Myztheme today Is found in his own Autobiography. It is at once his I eulog& and the explanation of the ex- traord{nary tribute cf Philips Brooks.
 'T02 noblest art said Barnum, Is that Gmaking others happy l sTB was no idle theory of a man ' who ooke to hear the sound of his | own 84ice. It was the working plan ] of a, ng and useful life. It was a ! blue Efint from which was builded one @E the most extraordinary insti- ! tutioHH and one of the most astound-
 ling cS4racters that this young nation has f$duced. Five disastrous fires.
 one Eter anothet reduced his life worl&b ashes. and yet this was his lreply fhen 1t was intimated after the I nth A1e that he might as well quit: sf am mot in the show business alone 1 10 m&ke money. feel it my mission Las lot1G as I live to provide clean. lmoraE4nd healthful recreation to the I publi4n The noblest art ,ts that of | mokiIE others happy. This was the ! boyisE dream of the young Barnum. It w9gsthe seasoned reflection of the 1 old man So we discover back of the 1 complimentary tribute of Philip { Broker. there stood while philoso- l phy ok fife, which was responsible for the anazing popularity of P. T. Bar l mum.
 I 'Ph1heas Taylor Barnum was ! the great snowman. And as I read I his lifazin the perspective of these 25 years,%I am moved to say that the I worlds1ho knew him in the flesh did not re61ize how great snowman he
 was. see him in q greater and more | gIorios6 sense a Showman-a super
 Showrn4n If you please, who showed men H6k only marvels gathered from fl the ends of the earth; but who show ed men 4how to live; how to learn; how to VqFk; how to pray and how to know h&Shtness. Here was a show
 man indeed, ygprthy of a place with those showmen of old, the prophets. I xrho prcc}eimed,a- a-new truths and opened epewypaths to the feet of men.
 Hooking then from the perspective of the quarter century that has pass
 ed since the news went out to men in \ every quarter Of the globe that Bar
 mum was no more. we honor one who
 is ina different sense the Great Show f man Barnun1, the Person. who stood
 behind the naryels of his energy and
 imagination, a living apostle of a
 priceless gospel of happinesa
 And his secret of happiness was . simple one; a belief that all the l world was beautiful and all mankind
 true. With ! genial love and trust ir
 his fsJlowmen, a faith in the. good
 ness of God, and belief that there was good in evil, and nobility ir
 what seemed vile; MT. Barnum look I ed for nobility in a1lJmen.