Struggles and Triumphs by P.T. Barnum — Read

A Trap Set for Me -- I Catch the Trappers -- I Become Proprietor of the American Museum -- History of the Establishment -- Hard Work and Cold Dinners -- Additions to the Museum -- Extraordinary Advertising -- Barnum's Brick-Man -- Exciting Public Curiosity -- Incidents and Anecdotes -- A Drunken Actor -- Imitations of the Elder Booth -- Pleasing My Patrons -- Securing Transient Novelties -- Living Curiosities -- Making People Talk -- A Wilderness of Wonders -- Niagara Falls with Real Water -- The Club That Killed Cook -- Selling Louis Gaylord Clark -- The Fish with Legs -- The Fiji Mermaid -- How It Came Into My Possession -- The True Story of That Curiosity -- Japanese Manufacture of Fabulous Animals -- The Use I Made of the Mermaid -- Wholesale Advertising Again -- The Balcony Band -- Drummond Lights.

My newspaper squib war against the Peale combination was vigorously kept up; when one morning, about the first of December, I received a letter from the Secretary of that company (now calling itself the "New York Museum Company,") requesting me to meet the directors at the Museum on the following Monday morning. I went, and found the directors in session. The venerable president of the board, who was also the ex-president of a broken bank, blandly proposed to hire me to manage the united museums, and though I saw that he merely meant to buy my silence, I professed to entertain the proposition, and in reply to an inquiry as to what salary I should expect, I specified the sum of $3,000 a year. This was at once acceded to, the salary to begin January 1, 1842, and after complimenting me on my ability, the president remarked: "Of course, Mr. Barnum, we shall have no more of your squibs through the newspapers" -- to which I replied that I should "ever try to serve the interests of my employers," and I took my leave.