Struggles and Triumphs by P.T. Barnum — Read

Death of My Grandmother -- My Father -- His Character -- His Death -- Beginning the World Barefooted -- Going to Grassy Plains -- The Tin Ware and Green Bottle Lottery -- "Chairy" Hallett -- Our First Meeting -- Evening Ride to Bethel -- A Novel Fur Trade -- Old "Rushia" and Young "Rushia" -- The Buyer Sold -- Country Store Experiences -- Old "Uncle Bibbins" -- A Terrible Duel Between Benton and Bibbins -- Fall of Benton -- Flight of Bibbins.

In the month of August, 1825, my maternal grandmother met with an accident in stepping on the point of a rusty nail, and, though the matter was at first considered trivial, it resulted in her death. Alarming symptoms soon made her sensible that she was on her deathbed; and while she was in full possession of her faculties, the day before she died she sent for her grandchildren to take final leave of them. I shall never forget the sensations I experienced when she took me by the hand and besought me to lead a religious life, and especially to remember that I could in no way so effectually prove my love to God as by loving all my fellow-beings. The impressions of that deathbed scene have ever been among my most vivid recollections, and I trust they have proved in some degree salutary. A more exemplary woman, or a more sincere Christian than my grandmother, I have never known.