PT Barnum

     From the time he was a little boy, P.T. Barnum loved to look at strange things.  So when he grew up, he opened a museum in New Yourk. In his museum, he put all the strange things he could find.  There was a white elephant and a mermaid.  There were magicians and actors.  People came from all around to see the things in the museum.  Some things were  real, but some things were not.  Barnum was so clever, no one knew what was real and what was fake.

     The museum was a huge success.  But P.T. Barnum was unhappy.  He wished that even more people could see the show.  One day he had an idea.  Why not take the show to the people?  So he loaded everything onto a train.  It took 70 cars and three engines to move it all.  The circus would travel to different cities, set up a big tent, and put on the show.  In the show there were three rings with something different going on in each one.  It was a three-ring circus.  Barnum called it "The Greatest Show On Earth."  And it really was.