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Sketch Of The Life, Personal Appearance, Character And Manners Of Charles S. Stratton, The Man In Miniature, Known As General Tom Thumb, And His Wife, Lavinia Warren Stratton; Including The History Of Their Courtship And Marriage, With Some Account Of Remarkable Dwarfs, Giants, & Other Human Phenomena, Of Ancient And Modern Times, And Songs Given At Their Public Levees

Creator: n/a
Date: 1863
Publisher: Press of Wynkoop & Hallenbeck, New York
Source: Robert Bogdan Collection
Figures From This Artifact: Figure 1  Figure 2  Figure 3  Figure 4  Figure 5  Figure 6  Figure 7  Figure 8  Figure 9  Figure 10  Figure 11  Figure 12

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Miss WARREN is perfectly developed, she enjoys excellent health, and is entirely free from deformity and every drawback that would give pain to the spectator. Having lived at her quiet home, under the parental roof where kind friends have watched over her welfare, she has no remarkable events to record, no startling incidents to relate -- she is a living wonder, and needs no marvelous history to kindle public curiosity. While we look upon giants with awe, perhaps admiration, we approach this petite piece of humanity with love, and make a pet of her, in spite of ourselves. Her personal beauty, her brilliant conversation, her modest deportment, win their way to the heart, however ascetic may be the temperament. We look at her, and we know that her diminished stature does not arise from compression or mutilation, but from natural causes alone, and we are led to exclaim, "How rare and remarkable the phenomena."

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TERESIA, the "Corsican fairy," called so in consequence of the place of her birth (which occurred in 1743), was noted for physical beauty and intellectual sprightliness. Like Miss WARREN, she was charming in conversation, indeed she spoke several languages. She was exhibited in London, and created a furor of curiosity at that time, in the great metropolis; but she was two inches taller than Miss WARREN. It may not be amiss here to refer to the opinion of the Press respecting Miss WARREN.

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.

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The N. Y. TRIBUNE, of Dec. 23, 1862, says of her:

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"Yesterday we saw a very pretty and intelligent little lady at the St. Nicholas Hotel, in this city. This woman in miniature is 21 years of age, weighs 29 pounds, and measures 32 inches in height. She enjoys excellent health -- has a symmetrical form, and a perfect physical development. She has a full, round, dimpled face, and her fine black eyes fairly sparkle when she becomes interested in conversation. She moves about the drawing-room with the grace and dignity of a queen, and yet she is entirely devoid of affectation, is modest and lady-like in her deportment. Her voice is soft and sweet, and she sings excellently well. This charming little woman was born in Middleboro', Plymouth County, Mass. Her parents are of ordinary size and stature. Miss Warren dresses richly and with exquisite taste. She is receiving, in her private parlor, visits from some of the more prominent families in this city."

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The New York Times, of same date, says:

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"We attended Miss Warren's reception yesterday at the St. Nicholas. It was a festive gathering. All were paying court to a very beautiful, an exceedingly symmetrical, a remarkably well developed, and an absolutely choice specimen of feminine humanity, whose silken tresses beautified and adorned a head, the top of which was not quite thirty-two inches from the floor. In other words, we saw a miniature woman -- aye, and the queen of them. Her face is bright and sweet, her eyes brilliant and intelligent, her form faultless, end her manner that of the woman of the world. What more could we desire?"

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The New York Sun, of same date, also says:

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"There is a little lady at the St. Nicholas Hotel who bids fair to throw the career of Tom Thumb, and the efforts of the great Barnum himself, in dwarf operations, entirely in the shade. This miniature Queen of the Lilliputs is but 32 inches high, 21 years old, and of excellent form. Her dresses are magnificent, being clothed at the rate of $2,000 per outfit, and sparkling with jewels and splendor. Many would deem it a show to see the dress, but dress and contents together are a little ahead of anything which tiny hoops have inclosed for man a year."

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The New York COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER says:

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"They found Miss Warren to be one of the most extraordinary little ladies at any time seen in this age of extraordinary beings. She is twenty-one years old, is beautifully developed in physical form, and has great mental aptitude. Her size is so small that a baby-chair is quite large enough for her to sit upon! She has rich, dark, waving hair, large, brilliant, and intelligent eyes, and an exquisitely modeled neck and shoulders. Her bust would be a study for a sculptor, and the symmetry of her form is such that, were she of the average size, she would be one of the most handsome of women. She is now -- but in a miniature form."

BARNUM REBUFFED.

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Little Lavinia Warren, who has been for several days past holding levees at the St. Nicholas Hotel, has received from Barnum an offer of one thousand dollars per week to exhibit in the Museum. The little lady -- certainly an astonishing specimen of minute humanity -- declines the offer in the following piquant epistle:

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"ST. NICHOLAS HOTEL, December 26, 1862 "P. T. BARNUM, Esq. -- Dear sir -- In reply to your note of this morning, I beg to say, that in consequence of Messrs. Ball & Black not being able to complete all the jewels that I ordered so soon as they expected, my departure for London will be delayed a week or two. I, however, visit Boston to-morrow, and as I do not contemplate giving public exhibitions until I have appeared before the Courts of Europe, and perhaps not even then, I must respectfully decline your offer. "Your obedient servant, "LAVINIA WARREN" -- New York Tribune

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