on under
fair pretences." He was a humbug, but he was an honest upright man, and
no one called him an impostor or a cheat.

When the tickets for Jenny Lind's first concert in America were sold at
auction, several business-men, aspiring to notoriety, "bid high" for the
first ticket. It was finally knocked down to "Genin, the hatter," for
$225. The journals in Portland (Maine) and Houston (Texas,) and all
other journals throughout the United States, between these two cities,
which were connected with the telegraph, announced the fact in their
columns the next morning. Probably two millions of readers read the
announcement, and asked, "Who is Genin, the hatter?" Genin became famous
in a day. Every man involuntarily examined his hat, to see if it was
made by Genin; and an Iowa editor declared that one of his neighbors
discovered the name of Genin in his old hat and immediately announced
the fact to his neighbors in front of the Post Office. It was suggested
that the old hat should be sold at auction. It was done then and there,
and the Genin hat sold for fourteen dollars! Gentlemen from city and
country rushed to Genin's store to buy their hats, many of them willing
to pay even an extra dollar, if necessary, provided they could get a
glimpse of Genin himself. This singular freak put thousands of dollars
into the pocket of "Genin, the hatter," and yet I never heard it charged
that he made poor hats, or that he would be guilty of an "imposition
under fair pretences." On the contrary, he is a gentleman of probity,
and of the first respectability.

When the laying of the Atlantic Telegraph was nearly completed, I was in
Liverpool. I offered the company one thousand pounds sterling ($5,000)
for the privilege of sending the first twenty words over the cable to my
Museum in New York--not that there was any intrinsic merit in the words,
but that I fancied there was more than $5,000 worth of notoriety in the
operation. But Queen Victoria and "Old Buck" were ahead of me. Their
messages had the preference, and I was compelled to "take a back seat."

By thus illustrating what I believe the public will concede to be the
sense in which the word "humbug" is generally used and understood at the
present time, in this country as well as in England, I do not propose
that my letters on this subject shall be narrowed down to that
definition of the word. On the contrary, I expect to treat of various
fallacies, delusions, and deceptions in anci