The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-09-14

might be. After New York enjoyed pretty continuous laugh for three days i or so, Barnum confessed
 1 T used the buffalo hunt as a sky l rocket to attract attention to my m't- seum," he says. Although some peo- pie cried 'Humbugr'I I had added to my | notoriety.'
 One morning a seedy individual walked , in on P. T. with a hard luck story and whined for a job-said anything would | suit, remuneration s1 per diem. Barnum made it sl.50. provided the seedy indi- vidual with five ordinary bricks and 1 said: Now go and lay a brick on the , sidewalk at the corner of Broadway and Ann street, another close by the mu- scum, a third diagonally across the way 1 at the corner of Broadway and Vesey ! street by the Astor house; put down the fourth on the sidewalk in front of St. Paurs church opposite; then, with the fifth brick in hand. take up rapid march from one point to the other, eX- l changing your brick at every point"
 TeetotaIly flabbergasted the fellow asked what in creation it was all about.
 No matter said Barnum. Wear a | serious countenance, answer no ques- tions pay attention to anyone, but attend faithfully to the work, and at the 1 end of every hour by St. Paul's clock show this ticket at the museum door, enter, walk solemnly through, pass out, and resume.
 OBSTRUCTED TRAFFIC 1 Within half hour at least 800 people l were watching. At the end of an hour the sidewalks were simply damned, and, out of the mutitudes attracted several thousand visited the museum. Days this continued. Then a large metropolitan po- l ceman got after P. T. for obstructing
 The sidewalks and the game was up, but
 not the laughter. This, with a hundred
 similar pranks, made Barnum the dar-
 ing of New York city, and expanded his
 fame until, he modestly owned, wis
 itors began to say that they would give
 more to see the proprietor of the mu-
 scum than to view the entire collection
 of curiosities.'
 The Ebert Hubbard of the Hoopskirt
 and Little Gray Shawl Period, Barnum remained an incomparable advertiser all , his life. Once his agent cabled from | England: Jumbo has laid down in the
 street and won't get up. What shall we do?" P. T. cabled back: Let him lie , 1 there a week if he wants to: it's the l best advertisement in the world.' The American museum was not Bar } ! num's originally, nor was Barnum a = money man when he offered to buy it, fl md the owner asked What wth?" H Brass" said Barnum. Silver and II yold have I none"
 II So with brass he began, and with brass H le continued, and if the advertising that Il ',ept his scheme afloat required brass II fairly frequently, he possessed the H Nherewith in rich and shining abun. II lance. Sublime cheek was the founda. III ion of his humor and likewise the cap III stone
 III Thanks to sublime cheek, he bam- HI booZled the President of the United H States into directing consuls the world III over to send curiosities to the Amer ino ox,I r rr took to exploit Tom Thumb he daunt. lessly arranged for the little fellow. II presentation to Queen Victoria ant III afterward to King Louis Philippe III Great head! Lords. viscounts, ear's HI marquises and dukes joined in a mai III scramble to meet the American dwarf M Throughout France and England, any. II body who set up to be anybody wa. III compelled to. And when the midse III returned home everyone had heard 0 III his European successes and itched tt Il behold him. " III Barnum was not the first to make N illboard of royalty Tn Eneland I hav. III repeatedly seen the announcement "Pur III veyor of Whiskey to his Majesty tn, III King" But no one before Barnum (ant III no one since) ever had the cool, glisten ing, steel-blue nerve to make royalt, M perform in circus
 II Back in 1874 when Barnum was run | Hawaii, visited New York. HI "I invited the king and his suite to at III tend. which they did on the afternoon o December 26th,' says Barnum. Som twelve thousand persons were present and when the exhibitions were abou King! the King.
 Turning to me, his majesty inquire' M the meaning of this.
 T replied: Your majesty, this vast aud = fence wants to give you ovation. Th
 building is so large that they cannot dis
 tinctly see your majesty from every par l and are anxious that you should rid l around the circle in order that they ma' l greet you
 King Kalakau appeared surprised, bu
 the crowds continued shouting, ''th II King! Barnum! the King, parnur!'' an
 Barnums open barouche drove into tn
 circle and approached.
 " Said Barnum, Your majesty woult | greatly gratify my countrymen if vol
 would kindly step into this carriage witt
 me and ride around. So his majesty did I Judge Sumner once addressed poen
 to Barnum in which he predicted that if he kept on the way he was going
 P. T. would ransack the universe fo T. stars"
 Hades crater,
 Put out the conflagration with his Fir II Annihilator,
 Exercise from the neighhorhood tn II cussed imps of evil,
 Nor rest till he had raised, reformed
 and then Engaged the Devil!'
 Barnum delighted in the wierd, out
 rageous, hulking absurdity in the i'm
 pudence with which he rubbed nose
 with earth's great ones. think he es
 pecially prided himself invitint
 Henry Ward Beecher to meet leigh
 living cannibals." Beecher side-steppet
 the affair (who wouldn't?) but relish
 ed the joke and played it up in his pa | per.
 II It is clear moreover. though, tha
 Barnum enjoyed lifelong secret laugl
 at his own fame. though it was certain ly tremenduous.
 He said to General Grant, Genera
 since your journey around the worl'
 you are the best-known man on tn II globe"
 "No," replied Grant. your names ia
 miliar to multitudes who never heard o
 me. Wherever I went. the fact that
 Twas an American led to constant in l quiries whether knew Barnum." And yet while Barnum relates thi