won the field, although a few minutes before the French
soldiers all along the line were momentarily expecting an order to
retreat.

"Well," said Barnum to a friend in 1841, "I am going to buy the
American Museum." "Buy it!" exclaimed the astonished friend, who knew
that the showman had not a dollar; "what do you intend buying it with?"
"Brass," was the prompt reply, "for silver and gold have I none."

Everyone interested in public entertainments in New York knew Barnum,
and knew the condition of his pocket; but Francis Olmstead, who owned
the Museum building, consulted numerous references all telling of "a
good showman, who would do as he agreed," and accepted a proposition to
give security for the purchaser. Mr. Olmstead was to appoint a
money-taker at the door, and credit Barnum towards the purchase with
all above expenses and an allowance of fifty dollars per month to
support his wife and three children. Mrs. Barnum assented to the
arrangement, and offered to cut down the household expenses to a little
more than a dollar a day. Six months later Mr. Olmstead entered the
ticket-office at noon, and found Barnum eating for dinner a few slices
of bread and some corned beef. "Is this the way you eat your dinner?"
he asked.

"I have not eaten a warm dinner since I bought the Museum, except on
the Sabbath; and I intend never to eat another until I get out of
debt." "Ah! you are safe, and will pay for the Museum before the year
is out," said Mr. Olmstead, slapping the young man approvingly on the
shoulder. He was right, for in less than a year Barnum had paid every
cent out of the profits of the establishment.

"Hard pounding, gentlemen," said Wellington at Waterloo to his
officers, "but we will see who can pound the longest."

"It is very kind of them to 'sand' our letters for us," said young
Junot coolly, as an Austrian shell scattered earth over the dispatch he
was writing at the dictation of his commander-in-chief. The remark
attracted Napoleon's attention and led to the promotion of the
scrivener.

"There is room enough up higher," said Webster to a young man
hesitating to study law because the profession was so crowded. This is
true in every department of activity. The young man who succeeds must
hold his ground and push hard. Whoever attempts to pass through the
door to success will find it labeled, "Push."

There is another big word in the English language: the perfection of
grit is the power of s