Mrs. Barnum's health continued to decline, and in the summer of 1867 her doctor commended her to live on the seashore. Accordingly her husband sold Lindencroft, and they removed for the summer to a small farm-house adjoining Seaside Park. So delighted were they with life by the water during the hot days of the summer that they determined thereafter to spend every summer on the very shore of Long Island Sound. Finding it impossible to prepare a house of their own in time for the next season, they spent the summer of 1868 in a new and handsome house which Mr. Barnum owned but which he had built for sale. In the fall of 1868, however, he purchased a large and beautiful grove of hickory trees adjoining Seaside Park, and decided to build a permanent residence there. But there was a vast deal to do in grading and preparing the ground, in opening new streets and avenues as approaches to the property, and in setting out trees near the proposed site of the house; so that ground was not broken for the foundation till October. He planned a house which should combine the greatest convenience with the highest comfort, keeping in mind always that houses were made to live in as well as to look at, and to be "homes" rather than mere residences. So the house was made to include abundant room for guests, with dressing-rooms and baths to every chamber; water from the city throughout the premises; gas manufactured on the ground; and that greatest of all comforts, a semi-detached kitchen, so that the smell as well as the secrets of the cuisine might be confined to its own locality. The stables and gardens were located far from the mansion, on the opposite side of one of the newly-opened avenues, so that in the immediate vicinity of the house, on either side and before both fronts, stretched large lawns, broken only by the grove, single shade-trees, rock-work, walks, flower-beds, and drives. The whole scheme as planned was faithfully carried out in less than eight months The first foundation stone was laid in October, 1868; and they moved into the completed house in June following, in 1869. On taking possession of this new residence, Barnum formally named it "Waldemere." Literally this name was "Wald-am-Meer," or "Woods-by-the Sea," but Barnum preferred the more euphonious form. On the same estate he built at the same time two beautiful cottages, called "Petrel's Nest," and "Wavewood," the homes of his two daughters, Mrs. Thompson and Mrs. Seeley--the latter his youngest. Here Barnum decided to speed five months of every year, and for his home during the other seven months he purchased a splendid mansion on Murray Hill, in New York City, at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 38th Street. CHAPTER XLI. HONORS AND ADULATIONS. SECOND MARRIAGE--THE KING OF HAWAII--ELECTED MAYOR OF BRIDGEPORT--SUCCESSFUL TOUR OF THE HIPPODROME--BARNUM'S RETIREMENT FROM OFFICE.