THE MUSEUM. 



83 



.«K 



A Typical Scene in South Dakota. 



in the pale transparent sky. "Long 

 black V-shaped trains of wild geese 

 cleave the air, shooting over the gla- 

 cier-crowned top of Kinchinjhow, and 

 winging their flight in one day, per- 

 haps from the Vrau to the Ganges, 

 over five hundred miles of space and 

 through twenty-two thousand feet of 

 elevation. " 



-- -;f- -.'r -Jf -^ 



Now that we have geese on the 

 table, it might be well to repeat the 

 somewhat ancient story of how Bar- 

 num bought the Honk, which may be 

 new to some of the readers of The 

 Museum. Barnum, the irrepressible, 

 figured in a story at which nobody 

 laughed more heartily than himself. 

 He was riding on a Long Island rail- 

 road, and overheard two passengers 

 talking in a way that caused him to 

 prick up his ears: "Yes," said one of 

 them, "Ed. Smith has the best honk 

 on Long Island." "Never knew any- 

 thing to equal it. When I was down 



on the Chesapeake there was nothing 

 there to beat it," rejoined his compan- 

 ion. "Yes, I guess Ed. has the fine.st 

 honk in the United States." All this 

 was caviare to Barnum. When the 

 men got off at Patchogue he asked the 

 conductor if he could tell him who 

 they were. Yes, one of them was Si 

 Hawkins and the other was his cousin, 

 but he didn't know his name. Down 

 went the names of the men and of the 

 railroad station inBarnum's note-book. 

 He was going to have that honk for 

 his "greatest show on earth;" if money 

 could buy it. On his return to New 

 York he sent for his agent, told him 

 what had occurred, and sent him with 

 carte blanche to Patchogue to secure 

 the curiosity. 



The agent was as ignorant as his 

 employer of what the "animal" was. 

 But he faithfully hunted down Si 

 Hawkins and inquired in turn for Ed. 

 Smith's whereabouts. 



