Barnum, having received $1,200 as his share of the profits, separated from his partner after a few months, and organized his own traveling circus, consisting of Vivalla, musicians, and a negro singer and dancer. With these performers, his horses and wagons and a small canvas tent, Barnum started on a tour of the South. On this tour he exhibited a personal versatility that is interesting in the light of the later triumph of his personality. When his company reached Rocky Mount Falls, North Carolina, on a Sunday, Barnum delivered an inspiring sermon before the population of the town, after its regular clergyman had finished his services. He assured the congregation, “We cannot violate the laws of God with impunity, and he will not keep back the wages of well-doing.... Diamonds may glitter on a vicious breast, but the soul’s calm sunshine and the heartfelt joy is virtue’s prize.” In Camden, South Carolina, the negro singer, Sandford, left Barnum without notice, just before the show. The audience must not be disappointed, and so the Barnum who had played the clergyman the previous Sunday blacked his face thoroughly and sang the songs advertised, including “Zip Coon,” “The Raccoon Hunt, or Sitting on a Rail,” and “Gittin’ Up Stairs.” Many of the congregation came up after the prayer meeting to congratulate the impromptu preacher, some even to take down his name; and the coon songs were encored vigorously. Aaron Turner disbanded his circus soon after Barnum left him, and Barnum bought some of its equipment for his own show. He also hired another negro singer to relieve him of the part, which he had taken every day since the departure of the original, giving the impression successfully to most of his audiences in Southern territory that he was a real negro. Barnum added Joe Pentland, clown, ventriloquist, comic singer, and legerdemain artist, to his company, and the enlarged show was known as “Barnum’s Grand Scientific and Musical Theater,” the first traveling show to carry the name of P. T. Barnum. In May, 1837, Barnum’s company disbanded at Nashville, Tennessee, because of poor business. After a short trip to New York, he took his circus into Kentucky and down the Mississippi, to New Orleans, where it was finally disbanded; Barnum returned to New York, disgusted at the lack of opportunities to make money with a traveling show. IV