A Unique Story of a Marvellous Career: Life of Hon. Phineas T. BarnumBenton, Joel
History
A Unique Story of a Marvellous Career: Life of Hon. Phineas T. Barnum
Benton, Joel
Barnum's American Museum; Barnum, P. T. (Phineas Taylor), 1810-1891; Circus owners -- United States -- Biography
About the middle of June Barnum visited Niagara Falls with Mrs.
Barnum and a party of English friends. Leaving the party at
Niagara, Mr. and Mrs. Barnum went to Akron, Ohio, where the
"Travelling World's Fair" was to exhibit. The Mayor of Akron
called upon them and invited them to a concert, where, in
response to loud calls, Barnum gave a short speech; they were
afterward tendered a reception and a serenade at the hotel. The
next day they were escorted to Buchtel College by the founder of
the institution, Mr. J. R. Buchtel, and the Reverend D. C.
Tomlinson. The students received Barnum enthusiastically, and he
gave them one of his delightful speeches.
Returning to Buffalo, they rejoined their friends, and also met
the Hippodrome. Early in the morning of the second day of the
exhibition Barnum despatched a special train to Niagara Falls,
with some hundreds of the Hippodrome Company, to whom he wished
to give the pleasure of viewing the cataract. The band which
accompanied them crossed Suspension Bridge playing "God Save the
Queen," and "Yankee Doodle," and returned to Buffalo in time for
the afternoon performance. In July, Barnum visited the Hippodrome
at St Louis and Chicago, and then returned to Waldemere for the
rest of the summer.
During the autumn of 1875, under the auspices of the Redpath
Lyceum Bureau, in Boston, Mr. Barnum found time to deliver some
thirty times, a lecture on "The World and How to Live in It,"
going as far east as Thomaston, Maine, and west to Leavenworth,
Kansas. When the tour was finished the Bureau wrote him that "In
parting for the season please allow us to say that none of our
best lecturers have succeeded in delighting our audiences and
lecture committees so well as yourself."
The National Jubilee year was celebrated by the Hippodrome
Company in a very patriotic manner. It was said, that they gave
the people, a Fourth of July celebration every day. The
establishment traveled in three trains of railroad cars; they
took along a battery of cannon, and every morning fired a salute
of thirteen guns. Groups of persons costumed in the style of
Continental troops, and supplemented with the Goddess of Liberty,
a live eagle and some good singers, sang patriotic songs,
accompanied with bands of music, and also with cannon placed
outside the tents and fired by means of electricity. The
performance was closed by singing "America," the entire audience
rising and joining in the chorus. At night there were fireworks
in which Revolutionary scenes were brilliantly depicted. The
street parade was a gorgeous feature. It began to move when the
salute was fired, and the town bells were always rung to aid the
effect of the National Jubilee.
Barnum's official term as Mayor of Bridgeport, expired April 3,
1876. Preferring to travel part of the time with his Centennial
show, he refused a renomination. The last meeting of the Common
Council under his administration, met March 29.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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