194 



THE HISTORY OP 



afterwards to England, and obtain for me -what 1 wa't gel 

 here, you see." 



" Capital ! — hexellent ! " responded John. 



" And I '11 call it the — the — what ? " said Barnum, 

 stopping for an appropriate title to this anticipated 

 exhibition. 



" I donno," said John, puzzled. 



" Well — then — the National Show," continiied Phin- 

 eas. "How '11 that do? The first exhibition, of the 

 ' National Poultry Society.' I think that 's good. You 

 see that includes all quarters of the country ; and we shall 

 know no north, no south, no east, no west ! A quarter 

 admission — Museum included — capital ! " 



"Yes — just the thing!" chimed in his friend. Anr. 

 shortly afterwards advertisements and circulars found their 

 way into the hands of all the hen-men in the country, who 

 were thus invited to visit New York, in February, 1854, 

 to contribute to the grand show of the " National Poultry 

 Society," of which P. T. Barnum, Esq., was President. 



A long string of names was attached to this call, and 

 the list of " Managers " embraced one or more representa- 

 tives from every State in the Union — my own humble name 

 appearing among the Vice-presidents for Massachusetts. 



The whole thing was clearly one of Bamum's dodges to 

 fill his Museum for a few days ; and probably not a single 

 individual except himself had any knowledge of the forma- 



