Life — April 19, 1883 — page 12: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

BIOGRAPHETTES. Ix. . PSALM TILDEN. HE early history of this remarkable personage is unfortu- nately involved in mystery. According to Herodotus (Lib. LXVIIL., 88, 903), he was born 44 years before the founding of Troy, N. Y., in Salamis. The historians Trinculian, Sobaster, Aromagambl, and Gibbons, however, fix the place of his birth at Karnak, Egypt, B. C. 744, while, according to Sarcophagus, Terra Cotta and other eminent writers, he was a contemporary of Confucius, having been born in Bankok, Cochin-China, dur- ing the reign of the famous Emperor Wan Lung, ten years after the flood, and, in their opinion, is undoubtedly the Psalm CIX. mentioned in Scripture, Be this as it may, it is certain that Psalmuel was excavated from the ruins of Golgol, in Cyprus, A.D. 1469, and, after having been carefully scraped and glued together, was shipped to this country,C.O. D. He subsequently was purchased by the Democratic Party, whose EE perty he now is. For some years he was on exhibition in the State Capitol, where, it will be remembered, during an earthquake he fell on and somewhat injured one William M. Tweed, who happened, by a curious coincidence, to be standing underneath, In 1876 an + almost irreparable accident occurred, by which this most valuable relic of prehistoric times was mutilated almost beyond recogni- tion, There was a double explosion in Florida and Louisiana, and when the smoke had cleared away it was found that Psalmuel had been there. The, fragments were at once gathered up and committed to the Metropolitan Museum for restoration upon the Golgot principle, and, as no expense has been spared for glue, Galvanteni or plaster, it is certain he will be at the Exhibition of 1884, c. x. P. T. BARNUM. F Phineas T, Barnum it is told, that when a malevolent person sent a couple of large snakes to destroy him in his cradle, the infant crawled toa bird-cage which was opportunely hung upon the floor near by,and opening the door induced the rep- tiles to enter and pasture upon the captive bird. Once in, he had them, and was found by his mother upon her return from the sew- ing circle, exhibiting his boas to the babes of the vicinity at one cent per babe. Although the bent of his genius exhibited itself thus early, it was not immediately recognized. Opportunities for following his instincts were rare, and for lack of a better opening he contem- plated, and for a time practiced literature as a profession. In imaginative wating lay his chief strength, and without unusual effort, he soon produced tales which at once took rank with Mun- chausen and the Arabian Nights. Then appeared the originality of his mind, for not content with the manner of publishing in vogue, he had his stories printed on great sheets of paper in parti- colored letters, illustrating them with pictures more astounding, if possible, than the text, and gave them to the public through the medium of paste and bill boards. Finding the cost of this to be too great for his resources, he went into the show business, which his great fame enabled him to conduct with such success that he became rich and universally respected, and was made Mayor of his native place. Dz Tue Czar of all the Russians is an knout-and-knout reformer. ‘THEOLOGICAL faculty—The faculty of speech. comicbooks.com