INTEREST IN PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS--OLD PARK PROJECTS--OPPOSITION OF OLD FOGIES--THE SOUND SHORE AT BRIDGEPORT--INACCESSIBLE PROPERTY--THE EYE OF FAITH--TALKING TO THE FARMERS--REACHING THE PUBLIC THROUGH THE PAPERS--HOW THE LAND WAS SECURED FOR A GREAT PLEASURE-GROUND--GIFTS TO THE PEOPLE--OPENING OF SEA-SIDE PARK--THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GROUND BETWEEN NEW YORK AND BOSTON--MAGNIFICENT DRIVES--THE ADVANTAGES OF THE LOCATION--MUSIC FOR THE MILLION--BY THE SEA-SIDE--FUTURE OF THE PARK--A PERPETUAL BLESSING TO POSTERITY,......758 CHAP. XLVII.--WALDEMERE. MY PRIVATE LIFE--PLANS FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT IN BRIDGEPORT--OPENING AVENUES--PLANTING SHADE-TREES--OLD FOGIES--CONSERVATISM A CURSE TO CITIES--BENEFITING BARNUM’s PROPERTY--SALE OF LINDENCROFT--LIVING IN A FARM-HOUSE--BY THE SEA-SHORE--ANOTHER NEW HOME--WALDEMERE--HOW IT CAME TO BE BUILT--MAGIC AND MONEY--WAVEWOOD AND THE PETREL’S NEST--MY FARM--THE HOLLAND BLANKET CATTLE--MY CITY RESIDENCE--COMFORTS OF CITY LIFE--BEGGING LETTERS--MY FAMILY--RELIGIOUS REFLECTIONS--MY FIFTY-NINTH BIRTHDAY--THE END OF THE RECORD,......768 CHAPTER I. EARLY LIFE. MY BIRTH--FIRST PROPERTY--FARMER-BOY LIFE--GOING TO SCHOOL--EARLY ACQUISITIVENESS--A HOLIDAY PEDDLER--FIRST VISIT TO NEW YORK--LEARNING TO “SWAP”--MISERIES FROM MOLASSES CANDY--“IVY ISLAND”--ENTERING UPON MY ESTATE--CLERKSHIP IN A COUNTRY STORE--TRADING MORALS--THE BETHEL MEETING-HOUSE--STOVE QUESTION--SUNDAY SCHOOL AND BIBLE CLASS--MY COMPOSITION--THE ONE THING NEEDFUL. I was born in the town of Bethel, in the State of Connecticut, July 5, 1810. My name, Phineas Taylor, is derived from my maternal grandfather, who was a great wag in his way, and who, as I was his first grandchild, gravely handed over to my mother at my christening a gift-deed, in my behalf, of five acres of land situated in that part of the parish of Bethel known as the “Plum Trees.” I was thus a real estate owner almost at my very birth; and of my property, “Ivy Island,” something shall be said anon. My father, Philo Barnum, was the son of Ephraim Barnum, of Bethel, who was a captain in the revolutionary war. My father was a tailor, a farmer, and sometimes a tavern-keeper, and my advantages and disadvantages were such as fall to the general run of farmers’ boys. I drove cows to and from the pasture, shelled corn, weeded the garden; as I grew larger, I rode horse for ploughing, turned and raked hay; in due time I handled the shovel and the hoe, and when I could do so I went to school.