Struggles and Triumphs: or, Forty Years' Recollections of P. T. BarnumBarnum, P. T. (Phineas Taylor)
General
Struggles and Triumphs: or, Forty Years' Recollections of P. T. Barnum
Barnum, P. T. (Phineas Taylor)
Barnum, P. T. (Phineas Taylor), 1810-1891; Circus owners -- United States -- Biography
A reference to the journals of that day will show, that never before had
there been such enthusiasm in the City of New York, or indeed in
America. Within ten minutes after our arrival at the Irving House, not
less than twenty thousand persons had congregated around the entrance in
Broadway, nor was the number diminished before nine o’clock in the
evening. At her request, I dined with her that afternoon, and when,
according to European custom, she prepared to pledge me in a glass of
wine, she was somewhat surprised at my saying, “Miss Lind, I do not
think you can ask any other favor on earth which I would not gladly
grant; but I am a teetotaler, and must beg to be permitted to drink your
health and happiness in a glass of cold water.”
At twelve o’clock that night, she was serenaded by the New York Musical
Fund Society, numbering, on that occasion, two hundred musicians. They
were escorted to the Irving House by about three hundred firemen, in
their red shirts, bearing torches. There was a far greater throng in the
streets than there was even during the day. The calls for Jenny Lind
were so vehement that I led her through a window to the balcony. The
loud cheers from the crowds lasted for several minutes, before the
serenade was permitted to proceed again.
I have given the merest sketch of but a portion of the incidents of
Jenny Lind’s first day in America. For weeks afterwards the excitement
was unabated. Her rooms were thronged by visitors, including the
magnates of the land in both Church and State. The carriages of the
wealthiest citizens could be seen in front of her hotel at nearly all
hours of the day, and it was with some difficulty that I prevented the
“fashionables” from monopolizing her altogether, and thus, as I
believed, sadly marring my interests by cutting her off from the warm
sympathies she had awakened among the masses. Presents of all sorts were
showered upon her. Milliners, mantua-makers, and shopkeepers vied with
each other in calling her attention to their wares, of which they sent
her many valuable specimens, delighted if, in return, they could receive
her autograph acknowledgment. Songs, quadrilles and polkas were
dedicated to her, and poets sung in her praise. We had Jenny Lind
gloves, Jenny Lind bonnets, Jenny Lind riding hats, Jenny Lind shawls,
mantillas, robes, chairs, sofas, pianos--in fact, every thing was Jenny
Lind. Her movements were constantly watched, and the moment her carriage
appeared at the door, it was surrounded by multitudes, eager to catch a
glimpse of the Swedish Nightingale.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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