Scanned by Charles Keller with OmniPage Professional OCR A UNIQUE STORY OF A MARVELLOUS CAREER. LIFE OF Hon. PHINEAS T. BARNUM. ---- COMPRISING HIS BOYHOOD, YOUTH, ... By JOEL BENTON. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. IN THE BEGINNING. Family and Birth--School Life--His First Visit to New York City--A Landed Proprietor--The Ethics of Trade--Farm Work and Keeping Store--Meeting-house and Sunday-school--"The One Thing Needful." CHAPTER II. EARLY YEARS AT BETHEL. Death of his Grandmother and Father--Left Penniless and Bare-footed--Work in a Store--His First Love--Trying to buy Russia--Uncle Bibbin's Duel CHAPTER III. BUSINESS LIFE Removal to Brooklyn--Smallpox--Goes Home to Recover His Health--Renewed Acquaintance with the Pretty Tailoress--First Independent Business Venture--Residence in New York--Return to Bethel--Anecdotes CHAPTER IV. TRYING MANY VENTURES. Visit to Pittsburg--Successful Lottery Business--Marriage--First Editorial Venture--Libel Suit--Imprisonment and Liberation--Removal to New York--Hard Times--Keeping a Boarding House CHAPTER V. BEGINNING AS A SHOWMAN. Finding His True Vocation--The Purchase of Joice Heth--Evidence as to Her Age--Her Death--Signor Vivalla--Visit to Washington--Joining a Travelling Circus--Controversies with Ministers--The Victim of a Practical Joke CHAPTER VI. INCIDENTS OF A CIRCUS TOUR. Beating a Landlord--A Joke on Turner--Barnum as a Preacher and as a Negro Minstrel--A Bad Man with a Gun--Dealing with a Sheriff--"Lady Hayes"--An Embarrassed Juggler--Barnum as a Matrimonial Agent CHAPTER VII. HARD TIMES. Advertising for a Partner--"Quaker Oats"--Diamond the Dancer--A Dishonest Manager--Return to New York--From Hand to Mouth--The American Museum CHAPTER VIII. THE AMERICAN MUSEUM. Advertising Extraordinary--A Quick-witted Performer--Niagara Falls with Real Water--Other Attractions--Drummond Light CHAPTER IX. INCREASED POPULARITY OF THE MUSEUM. The American Flag and St. Paul's--St. Patrick's Day--The Baby Show--Grand Buffalo Hunt--N. P. Willis--The First Wild West Show CHAPTER X. GIANTS AND DWARFS. Science for the Public--Mesmerism Extraordinary--Killing off a Rival--The Two Giants--Discovery of "Tom Thumb"--Seeking Other Worlds to Conquer--First Visit to England CHAPTER XI. TOM THUMB IN LONDON. An Aristocratic Visitor--Calling at Buckingham Palace and Hobnobbing with Royalty--Getting a Puff in the "Court Circular"--The Iron Duke--A Great Social and Financial Success CHAPTER XII. IN FRANCE. Arrival in Paris--Visit to the Tuilleries--Longchamps--"Tom Ponce" all the Rage--Bonaparte and Louis Phillipi--Tour through France--Barnum's Purchase CHAPTER XIII. IN BELGIUM. Presented to King Leopold and the Queen--The General's Jewels stolen--The Field of Waterloo--An Accident--An Expensive Equipage--The Custom of the Country CHAPTER XIV. IN ENGLAND AGAIN. Egyptian Hall and the Zoological Garden--The Special Relics--Purchase of the Happy Family--Return to America