The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1921-05-08
Home of Wonders That Was Barnum's


struct for him that paradise OF his boy
hood, Barnum's Museum. have in
ouired OF several other boys who cannot
have birthday cakes now on account OF
tho number Of candles necessary to be
lighted on them whether it Is incumbent
on me to do this and they assert that
I have got to. Wherefore I comply /;
promising that being the happy pos
SCISSOR, thanks to Mr.. Barnum, of q
yearly pass to what he used to call that
Wilderness of wonderful. instructive and
amusing realities" 1t so fell out that
when not engaged in eating or sleeping
or being cruelty driven to Trinity School
practically lived there
I suppose that all grandfathers know
that 1t was a white stone edifice, some
five stories high. on the corner OF Ann
street and Broadway, OF the site after
ward occupied by THE New YORK HER
AID and now by the st. Paul Building.
Its front, between the windows. was
decorated with painted panels display
Ing animals and birds, an architectural
establishment subsequently pirated. with
some notifications by the University
Club.
Over the entrance door was balcony
which supported huge transparencies
depicting the wonders on exhibition and
scenes from the current moral dramas
presented in the lecture room, for Bar
mum, out Of Difference to the supposed
prejudices Of his patrons. never would
call that temple of Thespis a. theatre,
although in fact it was one. Over the
door was the legend 1--WE study to
please" Admission to grownups. twenty
five cents; children. which included any
body who could unblushingly lay claim
to being less than Is years old, If
teen cents. Boys always sat through all
the performances, and every night after
the last curtain some of them were moro
or less forcibly removed by irate and
long suffering parents.
You entered lobby and continued
rearward to small room. In the walls
of which were peepholes with lenses.
through which you observed brilliantly
colored views Of THE Eruption Of We
suvius." 1.-THE Great Fire Of 1897" flames
in both cases exactly alike also Wash
ngton's Headquarters" somewhere and
Lake Como by Moonlight" with identi-
cal landscapes, and numerous other ar
tistic efforts, all bearing strong family
resemblance in the blueness of the skies
and greenness of the vegetation. After
that you might descend into the cellar
and inspect Grizzly Adamss trained
bears. one Of whom was pointed out as
having eaten man. Mr.. Adams. at
tired in trapper costume. youched for
this and other interesting facts in the
intervals of making them stand on their
heads. Or at an earlier period you
might contemplate the efforts Of a very
small white whale to get out Of tank,
and incidentally note the disparity in
size between the actual animal and his
picture on the transparency outside,
which represented him as biting in two
steamer as large as the Great Eastern,
then on public exhibition at the foot of
Hammond street, North River.
Then you went upstairs to the second
floor, where>shere were three long rooms
side by side, into the middle one of
which you emerged to be suddenly
confronted with a stuffed elephant of
inflated or lumpy shape. painted olive
green and vanished. There was no
Zoo in Central Park, or anywhere else
for that matter, and even the circuses
seldom had elephants; so that this
effigy, elevating Its trunk In a menacing
way, sometimes caused a shock to ner-
vous visitors almost as great as real
live elephant il painted green and var
nished would give to their grandchil-
dren now.
Next In line was the glass blower.
who before your very eyes melted his
material and made toys from 1t, which
you could purchase at from to 25
cents each. Such was the primitive
taste of society In those days that
these artistic productions had place on
many an etagere in the parlors around
Washington Parade Ground, beside
daguerreotypes, china scent bottles and
punches Of alum preserved pampas
grass. This was before the era OF
skeletonized leaves. homemade wax
flowers. spatter work and air castles OF
perforated cardboard. and ages before
the present invasion of antiques.
The sides Of the middle room were
lined with glass cases containing vari-
Gus curiosities which, on account Of the
cavernous darkness of the interior, II
was useless to look at even IL you
wanted to. which nobody ever did. be-
cause attention was Immediately fixed
upon the living wonders--Barnum never
called them freaks--which. at rapidly
recurring intervals. were lectured about
on the platforms at the ends of the
apartment.
Easily first OF these was the What
Is 1t? The outdoor pictures showed a
terrific monster some ten feet high in
luxuriant forest. where, having
slain a husband. he was making off
with two wives. The annexed legend
both?" and nothing better proved Bar
NUNS timely enterprise. for this was
exactly the epoch when Darwin's
Origin OF Species" first appeared. and
of course the What Is 1t? was pre-
scented az tho missing link in the chain
of evolution, having been duly discov-
cred by agents of tho great Snowman
in "the painless forests Of Borneo."
He alternated with Professor Hutchin-
son, the lightning calculator. who in
stantly added on a blackboard the long
est column OF figures you could write
there. meanwhile waving his arms wildly
and shouting the sums.
The Living Skeleton was a personal
friend OF mine. ] lent him books from
my fathers library, and admired great
ly his rendering of Hamlet's soliloquy