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[Illustration: Portrait signed of Cyrus W. Field.]
CYRUS W. FIELD
HIS LIFE AND WORK
[1819-1892]
EDITED BY
ISABELLA FIELD JUDSON
ILLUSTRATED
[Illustration: colophon]
NEW YORK
HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
1896
Copyright, 1896, by ISABELLA FIELD JUDSON.
_All rights reserved._
[Illustration]
TO
MY FATHER'S FAMILY AND FRIENDS
THESE PAGES
Are Dedicated
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. PARENTAGE AND EARLY HOME LIFE (1819-1835) 1
II. EARLY LIFE IN NEW YORK (1835-1840) 14
III. MARRIAGE AND BUSINESS LIFE (1840-1853) 27
IV. OUT OF DEBT--A VOYAGE TO SOUTH AMERICA
(1853) 42
V. THE FIRST CABLE (1853-1857) 59
VI. THE FIRST CABLE (CONTINUED) (1857) 74
VII. A FLEETING TRIUMPH (1858) 86
VIII. FAILURE ON ALL SIDES (1858-1861) 122
IX. THE CIVIL WAR (1861-1862) 131
X. CAPITAL RAISED FOR THE MAKING OF A NEW
CABLE--STEAMSHIP "GREAT EASTERN"
SECURED (1863-1864) 154
XI. THE FAILURE OF 1865 182
XII. THE CABLE LAID--CABLE OF 1865 GRAPPLED
FOR AND RECOVERED--PAYMENT OF DEBTS
(1866) 199
XIII. THE RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD (1867-1870) 232
XIV. INTERNATIONAL POLITICS--RAPID TRANSIT
(1870-1880) 267
XV. THE PACIFIC CABLE--THE GOLDEN WEDDING
(1880-1891) 303
XVI. LAST DAYS AND DEATH--IN MEMORIAM (1891-1892) 321
ILLUSTRATIONS
CYRUS W. FIELD _Frontispiece_
SUBMIT DICKINSON FIELD _Facing page_ 2
DAVID DUDLEY FIELD " 6
THE PARSONAGE, STOCKBRIDGE, MASS. " 10
VALENTIA: LANDING THE SHORE-END OF
THE CABLE, 1857 " 94
CYRUS W. FIELD, 1860 " 124
LAST TWO PAGES OF LETTER FROM MR.
GLADSTONE, DATED NOVEMBER 17, 1862 " 148
ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH CABLE CHART, 1865 " 188
THE NIGHT-WATCH " 194
ARDSLEY, IRVINGTON-ON-HUDSON " 264
CERTIFICATE OF DISCHARGE FROM THE MERCANTILE
MARINE SERVICE " 296
THE ANDRÉ MONUMENT, TAPPAN, NEW YORK " 302
CYRUS W. FIELD
HIS LIFE AND WORK
CHAPTER I
PARENTAGE AND EARLY HOME LIFE
(1819-1835)
CYRUS WEST FIELD, the eighth child and seventh son of David Dudley
Field, was born in Stockbridge, Mass., November 30, 1819. He took his
double name from Cyrus Williams, President of the Housatonic Bank (in
Stockbridge), and from Dr. West, for sixty years his father's
predecessor in the pastorate of the old Church of Stockbridge. He was
the sixth in descent from Zachariah Field, the founder of the family in
this country, who was the grandson of John Field the astronomer.
Zachariah was born in the old home in Ardsley, Yorkshire, England. He
came over in 1630 or 1632, seemingly from Hadley, Suffolk, and settled
first in Dorchester, Mass., afterwards making his way through the
wilderness to Hartford, Conn. Then followed in the direct line his
oldest son Zachariah Junior, Ebenezer, David, and Captain Timothy, who
was born in the north part of Madison, Conn., in 1744. He served in the
Continental Army under Washington, and was in the battle of White
Plains.
David Dudley Field, Captain Timothy's youngest son, was born May 20,
1781. In 1802 he graduated from Yale, the next year was ordained a
minister of the Congregational Church, and a month later, October 31,
1803, was married to Submit Dickinson, daughter of Captain Noah
Dickinson, of Somers, Conn., who first served under Putnam in the French
War and afterwards in the War of the Revolution. Submit Dickinson was
called "The Somers Beauty."
[Illustration: SUBMIT DICKINSON FIELD
Born October 1, 1782
(From a Crayon by Lawrence)]
David Dudley Field was first settled in Haddam, Conn., and remained as
pastor of the Congregational Church for fourteen years. Seven of his
children were born while he lived there: David Dudley was the eldest;
then followed Emilia Ann, Timothy Beals, Matthew Dickinson, Jonathan
Edwards, Stephen Johnson 1st (who died when he was six months old), and
Stephen Johnson 2d. Cyrus West, Henry Martyn, and Mary Elizabeth were
the three children born in Stockbridge, Mass. Among the reminiscences of
his sojourn in Haddam is that it fell to him to preach the execution
sermon of Peter Long. The grim Puritanical custom still survived,
according to which a prisoner convicted of a capital crime, on the day
on which he was to be hanged was taken by a body-guard of soldiers to
church to be publicly prepared for his ending. He was placed in a
conspicuous pew, where he was obliged not only to listen to a long and
harrowing sermon, but when addressed by name to stand up facing the
preacher and receive the exhortation as he had received the sentence.
Dr. Field addressed the victim directly for some minutes, and closed
with these words: "Before yonder sun shall set in the west your
probationary state will be closed forever. This day you will either lift
up your eyes in hell, being in torment, or, through the rich,
overflowing, and sovereign grace of God, be carried by the angels to
Abraham's bosom. If in any doubt about your preparation, you may yet
find mercy. He who pardoned the penitent thief on the cross may pardon
you in the place of execution. Pray God, then, if perhaps your sins may
be forgiven you. Cry to Him, 'God be merciful to me, a sinner!' and
continue those cries till death shall remove you hence. May the Lord
Almighty support you in the trying scene before you, and through
infinite grace have mercy on your soul."
From the church the prisoner was led, clothed in a long, white robe, to
the scaffold. It is said that on this occasion the rope was cut by the
militiamen in attendance as a guard.
In May, 1819, Dr. Field accepted the call to the church in Stockbridge,
and on August 25th he was settled there as a pastor. In those days the
moving of a household from Haddam to Stockbridge was a formidable
undertaking. Teams were sent to Connecticut, a journey of several days,
to bring on the household furniture, and, most important of all, heavy
boxes piled with the volumes that comprised the pastor's library. The
clearest statement of the impression made upon the youth of his flock by
the ministry of Dr. Field is furnished in these words, written nearly
fifty years after his settlement in Stockbridge, and a fortnight after
his death, by the venerated president of Williams College:
"WILLIAMS COLLEGE, _April 30, 1867_.
"CYRUS W. FIELD, Esq.:
"_My dear Sir_,--On my return I comply at once with your request to
write out the remarks I made at your father's funeral. In writing
to me, Mr. Eggleston simply said he should like to have me take
some part in the services, but he did not say what, and under the
circumstances I did not think it best to attempt anything but a few
remarks bearing on my personal relation to him. I give them below
as well as I can.
"'On coming here I was not aware what the order of exercises was to
be, or what part I was expected to take in them; but as I am drawn
here by a deep personal regard to the departed, the few words that
I shall say will have reference to him chiefly in that relation
through which this regard was awakened.
"'It was under the ministry of Dr. Field that I first united with
the Christian Church. By him I was baptized in this place.
"'For a long period my mind was in a state of solicitude and
careful inquiry on the subject of religion, and during much of that
time I sat under his ministry. Well do I remember his sermons and
his prayers; we worshipped in the old church then, and the whole
town came together. His sermons were lucid, logical, effective, and
his prayers remarkably appropriate and comprehensive. One of his
texts I remember particularly. It was this: "Lord, to whom shall we
go? Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we believe and are
sure that Thou art that Christ, the son of the living God." From
these words he preached several discourses of great power showing
that Jesus was the Christ, and that there was no one else to whom
we could go. I regarded them then, and still do, as among the
ablest discourses I ever heard. They had a powerful effect upon my
mind.
"'In respect to feeling he was not demonstrative, and some thought
him cold. No mistake could have been greater. On sitting near him I
remember to have been struck by noticing the big tears rolling down
his cheeks when he came to the more touching parts of his
discourse, while there was scarcely a sign of emotion in his voice
or in the lines of his face. Perhaps intellect predominated.
Probably it did; but he was a man of deep feeling, and under the
impulse of it, as well as of principle, he was a faithful, earnest,
laborious pastor. It was in that relation that I feel that his
character and life and preaching and prayers were an important
formative influence with me for good, and I have never ceased to
regard him with affectionate veneration, and never shall.
"'And what he did for me he doubtless did for multitudes of others.
There is no higher educating power than that of a pastor thoroughly
educated and balanced, earnest by proclaiming God's truths from
Sabbath to Sabbath and dealing fairly with the minds of men. This
he did, and in doing it was eminent among a body of men who have
done more to make New England what it is than any other. In clear
thinking, in able sermons, and in earnest labors, he was altogether
a worthy successor of the eminent men who had preceded him.
"'I see some here who will remember those earlier times. I am sure,
my friends, you will verify all I have said, and that with me you
do now and will continue to cherish with respect and with love the
memory of our former pastor. It only remains to us now to emulate
all in him that was good, and in deep sympathy with these mourning
friends to aid in placing his dust where it will rest with so much
other precious dust that makes this a hallowed valley, and where it
will await the resurrection of the just.'
"In reading over what I have written I can only say that it seems
to me altogether inadequate as an expression of the sense I have of
your father's worth and of the benefit he was to me, but having
promised to do so I send it.
"With great regard, yours,
"MARK HOPKINS."
[Illustration: TABLET IN THE CHURCH IN STOCKBRIDGE]
[Illustration: DAVID DUDLEY FIELD
Born May 20, 1781
(From a Crayon by Lawrence)]
The recollection that his grandchildren have of him is of a quiet,
dignified old gentleman, who seemed quite lost when his call for "Mis'
Field" was not answered at once by his energetic wife, upon whom he was
very dependent. Occasionally he would gather his children's children
about him, and seemed to enjoy showing them how "the lady's horse goes,"
and the tumble that followed "and by-and-by comes old hobble-de-gee,"
was looked upon as great fun. He would also delight his youthful
audience by repeating a few of Mother Goose's Melodies, and they never
tired of hearing him.
Life in New England in those days, and especially the life of a pastor's
family, was earnest, with an earnestness that to the young, with the
eagerness of youth for enjoyment, may well have seemed repulsive. The
Puritanic rigor that has been so much relaxed during the past
half-century was then much what it had been in the earliest colonial
times.
+------------------------------------------+
| IN MEMORY OF |
| David Dudley Field, |
| Pastor of this Church. |
| |
| Born in Madison, Conn., May 20, 1781. |
| Settled in Haddam, 1804-1818. |
| In Stockbridge, 1819-1837. |
| |
| Recalled to his Charge, he Preached |
| again in Haddam till 1851, |
| When he returned here |
| To spend his last days. |
| |
| Died April 15, 1867, |
| Aged nearly 86 years. |
| |
| The Hoary Head is a Crown of Glory |
| when found in the way of |
| Righteousness. |
+------------------------------------------+
Morning and evening the entire family gathered in the sitting-room for
prayers, each one with a Bible, and all were required to join in the
reading. A chapter was never divided, and in turn the verses were read;
often comments were made. Afterwards came the long prayer, when all,
except Dr. Field, knelt; he stood, with his hands on the back of his
chair, and one of his favorite expressions, and one which greatly
impressed the younger members of his family, the more because they did
not understand it, was that the Lord would "overturn, overturn, overturn
... until he come, whose right it is."
That the Puritanic atmosphere was no harsh and unmirthful thing in this
parsonage is shown by the story told by one who was a boy in Stockbridge
at the time. A hen was sitting in a box in the woodshed; each morning
Cyrus looked for the little chickens. One day in an adjoining box he
found the family cat with a number of kittens. These he placed with the
hen, and then with a very straight face asked his father to come and see
the chickens.
The controversy as to the scriptural limitation of the Sabbath, whether
it began at sunset on Saturday or at midnight, was then very active.
When Dr. Field was questioned as to which evening was the one to be
observed, he always advised those in doubt to keep both.
Once in speaking of the curious texts that he had known clergymen of his
generation to choose, he instanced: "Parbar westward, four at the
causeway and two at Parbar"; but he failed to give the lesson that was
drawn from the words.
In those old days in western Massachusetts cooking-stoves were unknown.
The pots were hung above the fire, the meats were broiled over the
coals or before them, and the baking was done in a brick oven. Neither
were there ice-closets nor travelling butchers. The winter's stock of
meat was laid in with the first cold weather; the chickens were killed
and packed in snow in the cellar, to be brought out as they were needed;
and pies were made in large quantities, and frozen and put away for
future use; and the foot-stove was taken down from the shelf. This was a
small iron box with holes in the top, and into it were put live coals.
The box was carried in the hand, and used in place of a footstool in
"meeting"; but even with this mitigation the cold was felt intensely.
The conflict in a conscientious pastor's mind between his sense of duty
and his kindness of heart was often severe and painful. Mrs. Field used
to say that the most difficult act her husband was ever called upon to
perform was to refuse church membership to those who had accepted Dr.
Channing's views. She was naturally more pitiful than he. A revivalist
who had come to the village in the course of his mission took occasion
at a service publicly to arraign one of the prominent men of the town
for drunkenness. Mrs. Field strongly disapproved of the time and place
chosen for the rebuke, and on her way home from the meeting expressed
her disapproval, and when she reached her gate said, "Wait, Cyrus, and
when Mr. ---- passes bring him to me and I will pick his bones for him"
(Micah iii. 2). She would not have approved of the method adopted,
according to a story current in her son Cyrus's family, by a pious man
in Connecticut who, when he thought himself imposed upon by his
neighbors, would say, with a long drawl, "Leave them to the Lord, leave
them to the Lord--he'll smite them hip and thigh."
Her son always remembered, as one of the strongest impressions of his
childhood, the deep and lasting grief of his mother at parting with her
eldest daughter, who married and went to Smyrna, Asia Minor, as a
missionary, when he was but ten years old.
An old lady in Stockbridge tells to his niece this story of him at about
the same age. "Your grandmother had been very ill. I watched with her;
many of us watched. I thought to keep her from talking by coming up
behind her to give her medicine, but she found out who I was and talked
a great deal. After she was better she still needed some one to sleep in
her room, keep up the fire and give her medicine. Your uncle Cyrus did
this one whole winter when he was a little boy, I should think not ten.
It was lovely of him." And it was just like him. He always remembered
that during this same illness his mother called him to her and said,
"Cyrus, the doctor says I am very ill, but I shall be up to-morrow." And
he would add, "She was."
By all Stockbridge tradition he was the hero of another tale, although
he himself always gave the credit of it to one of his brothers. A
certain rat-trap (perhaps of new and efficient style) had been lost.
After much search and questioning the minister gave orders that whenever
found it should be brought at once to him. So one day at a service, when
the sermon was in full progress, there came a clanging noise up the
aisle, and the missing article was set down in front of the pulpit with
the words, "Father, here is your rat-trap!"
Another laughable reminiscence occurred at the burning of the parsonage,
which took place about 1830. In 1822 or 1823 Dr. Field had bought a
small house in the village and had moved there. The fire was first seen
as the children were coming from school, and very soon after it was
discovered all hope of subduing it was given up, and the first thought
was to save the study furniture and books, and the study table was
thrown from the window. Imagine the surprise of the crowd and the
consternation of their pastor as the drawers of this, his private
repository, came open, and a shower of playing-cards fluttered forth and
whitened the grass. They had been found in the possession of his
children and confiscated.
It is remembered of Cyrus Field as a child that his dealings with his
playmates were most exact. He paid punctually all that he owed, and
required the same punctuality in return. He was the chosen leader in all
the games, and he was the victor in a race around the village green, one
of the stipulations being that a certain amount of crackers should be
eaten on the way.
His half-holidays were passed in roaming over the country-side, and he
has often said that the meal he enjoyed the most in his life was one
gotten on a Saturday afternoon when he had stopped, tired and hungry, at
a farm-house, and was given a plate of cold pork and potatoes. He was
obliged to be at home before sunset on Saturday, as every member of the
family was required to be in the house by that time, and all work to
cease; and as the children entered their father greeted them with the
words, "We are on the borders of holy time." Sunset on Sunday was
watched for most anxiously, for they were then again quite free to come
and go.
[Illustration: THE PARSONAGE, STOCKBRIDGE, MASS.
(As rebuilt after the fire)]
The simple life of the Massachusetts village was not without its
pleasures. There lies before me a yellow programme, printed sixty years
ago, which commemorates what was very likely at once the first
appearance of Cyrus W. Field on any stage and his last appearance in his
native village, and forms a fitting conclusion to the story of his
childhood.
=EXHIBITION.--STOCKBRIDGE ACADEMY=,
MARCH 26-27, 1835.
=THURSDAY EVENING.=
ORDER OF EXERCISES.
1. MUSIC.
2. Prologue.--United States Speaker. JOHN HENRY ADAMS
3. Burr and Blennerhasset.--Wirt. ESSEX WATTS
4. Bernardo Del Carpio.--Mrs. Hemans. RALPH K. JONES
5. Death of the Princess Charlotte.--Campbell. HENRY W. DWIGHT, JR.
6. MUSIC.
7. "Hail to the Land."--Author unknown. PHINEHAS LINCOLN
8. Extract from Robert Treat Paine
on French Aggressions. DAVID L. PERRY
9. Parody of "The Young Orator."--Anonymous. GEORGE W. KINGSLEY
10. A Dandy's----What?--Independent Balance. WILLIAM STUART
11. MUSIC.
12. Patriotic Stanzas.--Campbell. THOMAS WELLS
13. Injustice of Slavery. JAMES SEDGWICK
14. Question Answered.--Ladies' Magazine. GEORGE LESTER
15. Fall of Missolonghi.--E. Canning. THEODORE S. POMEROY, Jr.
16. MUSIC.
17. The Rich Man and the Poor Man.--Khemnitzen. LEWIS BURRALL
18. Man, the Artificer of His Own Fortune. EDWARD SELKIRK
19. Pleasures of Knowledge. MARSHALL WILLIAMS
20. Extract from an Oration by Wm. R. Smith. EDWIN WILLIAMS
21. Running Dover, a Boaster.--Anonymous. GEORGE W. KINGSLEY
22. MUSIC.
23. Influence of Intemperance
on our Government.--Sprague. BRADFORD DRESSER
24. Bunker Hill Monument.--Webster. GEORGE W. PARSONS
25. Extract from Webster on the Slave Trade. JOHN ELY
26. Parody of "Lochiel's Warning."--Edward Selkirk.
Advocate of Temperance, {EDWARD SELKIRK
Vender of Ardent Spirits, {THEODORE WILLIAMS
27. A Wife Wanted.--A Bachelor EDWARD CARTER
28. MUSIC.
29. The Instability of Human Government.--Rutledge. JOHN VALLET
30. Parody of "Brutus's Address to the
Roman Populace."--Anonymous. GEORGE W. BURRALL
31. Peter's Ride to the Wedding.--New Speaker. GEORGE LESTER
32. Tragical Dialogue.--Columbian Orator.
Indian Chief, CHARLES POMEROY
American Officer, LEWIS FENN
Son of the Chief, CYRUS FIELD
Soldiers, {CHARLES DEMING
{JOHN VALLET
33. Petition of Young Ladies.--United States Speaker JOHN HENRY ADAMS
34. MUSIC.
FRIDAY EVENING.
ORDER OF EXERCISES.
1. MUSIC.
2. _"SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER."--Goldsmith._
A COMEDY IN FIVE ACTS.
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.
Sir Charles Marlow, S. G. JONES
Hardcastle, H. C. FAY
Young Marlow, H. TREMAIN
Hastings, E. ROCKWELL
Tony Lumpkin, H. GARDNER
Diggory, C. POMEROY
Jeremy, T. WILLIAMS
Stings, L. FENN
Mrs. Hardcastle, C. W. FIELD
Miss Hardcastle, F. FOWLER
Miss Neville, J. STEPHENS
Maid, J. ELY
Fellows of the Ale-house, Servants, etc.
ACT THE FIRST.
Scene 1.--A Chamber in an Old-fashioned House.
MUSIC.
Scene 2.--An Ale-house Room.
MUSIC.
ACT THE SECOND.
Scene 1.--A Room in Hardcastle's House, supposed by Marlow and
Hastings to be a Room in an Inn.
MUSIC.
ACT THE THIRD.
Scene 1.--A Room in Hardcastle's House.
MUSIC.
ACT THE FOURTH.
Scene 1.--The same Room.
MUSIC.
ACT THE FIFTH.
Scene 1.--The same Room.
MUSIC.
Scene 2.--The back of the Garden.
MUSIC.
Scene 3.--A Room in Hardcastle's House.
MUSIC.
3. Epilogue.--United States Speaker. THEODORE S. POMEROY, Jr.
MUSIC.
CHAPTER II
EARLY LIFE IN NEW YORK
(1835-1840)
It was on Wednesday, April 29, 1835, and only a few weeks after "She
Stoops to Conquer" had been performed in the village academy at
Stockbridge, that Cyrus Field, having persuaded his parents that he was
old enough to go out into the world and seek his fortune, left his home.
For three years before he had kept the family accounts, and had most
carefully entered every item of expense in a small paper book, and he
was well aware that it was only with strict economy that the eight
dollars given to him by his father at parting could be spared from the
family purse. Stockbridge in April lies bare and brown in the valley of
the Housatonic, and the tops of the mountains that are near are at that
season often still white with snow, and his heart was in harmony with
the scene as he looked back for the last sight of his beloved mother's
face. His first letter is dated
"NEW YORK, _May 12, 1835_.
"_Dear Father_,--I received yours, Henry's, and Mary's kind letters
of the 7th on the 9th by Jonathan, and I assure you that it did me
good to hear from sweet home.
"I stopped at Mr. Moore's, in Hudson, and they had not seen
mother's handkerchief.
"Your account of the Field family I was glad to receive, but I
wish to know also from whom we are descended on my mother's side.
"Tell Stephen, Henry, and Mary that I intended to write them all a
long letter, but as I have not been very well for the last two
days, and have a good deal to do to-day, it is impossible.
"The purse which Mary mentioned in her letter Jonathan says that he
did not bring.
"I have seen R. Maclaughlin, and he sends his love to Henry. Tell
George Whitney that the store boy sends his love to him. I do the
same, and also to Edwin Williams, Mr. Fay, S. and A. Hawkings, and
all the good people of old Stockbridge.
"Uncle Beales and his daughter arrived here last night.
"Mr. Mark Hopkins came from Stockbridge this morning. No letters.
"Take good care of mother, and tell her she must not get overdone.
"All send their love. Love to all.
"From your affectionate son,
"CYRUS."
He does not speak of his loneliness, although we know that it was great,
for his mother's last words to another son, who was going to New York a
few weeks later, were, "Bring Cyrus home if he is still so homesick."
It was on one of his first Sundays in New York that, after he had been
to church, and gone to his brother David's for dinner, his unhappiness
was apparent to the family and also to Dr. Mark Hopkins, their guest,
whose sympathy was never forgotten, nor his words, "I would not give
much for a boy if he were not homesick on leaving home." He has said
that many of the evenings during the long summer that followed his
coming to New York were passed on the banks of the Hudson watching the
boats as they sailed northward, and as he lay by the riverside he
pictured himself as on board of one of the vessels, and the welcome
that he would receive on reaching Stockbridge.
Towards the end of his life Mr. Field began the preparation of his
autobiography. From so much of this as serves the purpose of this
narrative, extracts will be made from time to time without express
credit.
In 1835 it took twenty-four hours to go from Stockbridge to New York,
and first there was a drive of fifty miles to Hudson on the river, and
then a long sail by boat.
Almost immediately on reaching the city he entered as an errand-boy the
store of A. T. Stewart, which had already a more commanding reputation
than any mercantile establishment possesses or perhaps can attain at
present.
His home was in a boarding-house in Murray Street near Greenwich, where
he had board and lodging for two dollars a week, a fact which is in
itself eloquent of the difference between life now in New York and life
sixty years ago. Stewart's was then at 257 Broadway, between Murray and
Warren streets. There the young clerk received for his services the
first year $50, and the second the sum was doubled. Even so, and with
what would now be the incredible frugality of his living, it is plain
that he could not have supported himself by his earnings. Of his life at
that time he said in after-years, "My oldest brother lent me money,
which, just as soon as I was able, and before I was twenty-one, I
returned to him with interest." The letter that follows tells how his
first money was spent:
"NEW YORK, _June 12, 1835_.
"_Dear Father_,--I received by Mr. Baldwin five nightcaps, a
pin-cushion, and some wedding-cake, for which I am very much
obliged to mother and Mary.
"Mary wrote to me to know of what color I would have my frock-coat;
tell mother instead of having a linen frock-coat that I would
prefer another linen roundabout, as they are much better in a
store; I am not particular about the color.
"When you write to me, direct your letters to Cyrus W. Field, at A.
T. Stewart & Co., No. 257 Broadway, New York; if you do so, they
will come to me quicker than in any other way. There is in the
store besides the firm twenty-four clerks, including two
book-keepers, one of whom is Mr. Smith, of Haddam; he says that he
remembers you, mother, David, Timothy, and Matthew very well. Give
my love to mother, brothers, sister, Mr. Fay, George Whitney, and
other friends.
"From your affectionate son,
"CYRUS.
"P.S.--On the other side you will find a list of my expenses.
From the 29th of April to the 12th of June.--Cyrus W. Field,
expenses.
From Stockbridge to New York $2 00
Paid to David for Penny Magazines 2 00
(I am not agoing to take them any longer.)
To hair cutting 12½
To one vial of spirits of turpentine (used to
get some spots out of coat) 6¼
To get shoes mended 18¾
To one pair of shoe-brushes 25
To one box of blacking 12½
To get trunks carried from David's to my
boarding-house 25
To two papers of tobacco to put in trunks to
prevent moths getting in 12½
To one straw hat (the one that I brought from
home got burned and was so dirty that David
thought I had better get me a new one.) 1 00
To one steel pen 12½
To small expenses, from time to time, such as
riding in an omnibus, going to Brooklyn,
etc., etc., etc. 1 25
------
Total, $7 50
"When I left home I had $8, $7 50 of which is expended, leaving in
my hands 50 cents. I do not know of anything that I want, but I
think you had better send to me $4 more."
In all his letters of this period he calls his eldest brother by his
first name, David, and it was not until many years later that his second
name, Dudley, is added.
At first Mr. Field was obliged to be at his work between six and seven
in the morning, and after he was promoted from errand-boy to clerk the
hours for attendance at the store were from a quarter-past eight in the
morning until into the evening. "I always made it a point to be there
before the partners came and never to leave before the partners left.
Mr. Stewart was the leading dry-goods merchant at that time. My ambition
was to make myself a thoroughly good merchant. I tried to learn in every
department all I possibly could, knowing I had to depend entirely on
myself."
In his simple country home a theatre had always been thought of and
spoken of as an entrance to hell, but being of an inquiring mind he
determined, as so many country lads have done before and since, upon
giving one of his first evenings in the city to finding out for himself
what hell was like. The kindred desire to see a large fire was also soon
gratified, and the ardor of his curiosity on this subject was at once
cooled, for, as he stood watching the blaze, the hose was turned for a
moment in the wrong direction, and he was drenched.
The subject of the next letter is the "great fire of 1835," which took
place on December 16th, and destroyed 600 warehouses and $20,000,000 of
property.
"NEW YORK, _December 25, 1835_.
"_Dear Father_,--Last week, on Wednesday night, a fire broke out in
a store in Merchant Street which proved to be the largest that was
ever known in this country. It burned about 674 buildings, most of
which were wholesale stores, and laid waste all of thirty acres of
the richest part of this city.
"I was up all night to the fire, and last Sunday was on duty with
David as a guard to prevent people from going to the ruins to steal
property that was saved from the fire and laying in heaps in the
streets.
"The awful state that the city was in can be better imagined than
described.
"Mr. Brewer has arrived, and will take to Stockbridge some parcels,
one of which is for Mrs. Ashburner.
"In haste, from your affectionate son,
"CYRUS.
"P.S.--I wish mother would make for me a black frock-coat (she
knows the kind that I want) and a plain black stock.
"Perhaps you had better send me the $6 that you were to let me
have.
"C. W. FIELD."
On July 25, 1836, he writes to his father:
"I shall leave New York on Thursday evening the 11th of August, in
the steamboat _Westchester_, which goes no further up the river
than Hudson, and be at that place on Friday morning, the 12th,
where I shall want to have some one to meet me and Mr. Goodrich
with a good horse and wagon to take us immediately to
Stockbridge.... I want to have some one be at Hudson rain or shine,
and I would like to have you write to me and let me know who is
coming, and where I shall find him if he is not at the wharf....
Mr. G. and myself will pay the expense of coming to Hudson."
And in another letter:
"The fare in the steamboat to Hudson is only 50 cents."
A month later, in a letter to his mother, dated New York, August 29th,
he says:
"I arrived here on Thursday morning with Goodrich, in good health
and fine spirits. I have sent to you by Mr. Platner, of Lee,
10 yds. of fine long cloth, at 25 cents per yd. $2 50
15 yds. not fine long cloth, at 12½ cents per yd. 1 87½
1 muslin collar -----
1 remnant of merino, 4½ yds., for 4 00
------
Total, $8 37½
"If Mary should like the merino for a cloak I will obtain another
remnant for a dress.
"Father has let me have $25 00 since I have been in New York, and
if he wishes me I will pay the above amount, and then I shall be
indebted to him $16 62½. I will send the balance in money or obtain
that amount worth of goods for him here at any time....
"I wish you would all write to me by every opportunity, and tell me
of anything and all things that happen at home and in good old
Stockbridge.
"Give my love to all friends. In haste.
"From your affectionate son,
"CYRUS.
"_To my dear mother._"
He wrote to his mother again on October 31, 1836, and in the postscript
says:
"Tell father that I have read through the _Pilgrim's Progress_
which he gave me when at home, and that I like it very much; and
also that Goodrich and myself take turns in reading a chapter in
the Bible every night before we go to bed, and that we have got as
far as the 25th chapter of Genesis."
His indebtedness to his father seems to have weighed heavily upon him,
for on November 25th he again alludes to it:
"I am now in debt to you $4 75, which I will pay to you at any time
you wish, or will obtain things for you here."
The thought that his home in Stockbridge is to be given up causes him
pain. On January 24, 1837, in a letter to his mother, he says:
"I am sorry that father is going to leave that beautiful place
Stockbridge, but when you do move to Haddam I hope that you will
take everything, even the old and good dog Rover."
In a letter written to his father on April 15, 1837, he mentions various
articles he has sent to him, and then adds:
"And also a silk handkerchief, which I wish you to accept for the
interest on the $25 you lent me."
Towards the end of the letter is this sentence:
"The election has closed and the Whigs have elected Aaron Clark
their candidate for Mayor by a majority of nearly 5000 votes.
Good."
His clothes were all of home manufacture. On May 1, 1837, in a letter to
his mother, he writes:
"I wish you would make for me, as soon as convenient, a black
broadcloth _coat with skirts_, and covered buttons, and as I wish
it for a dress-coat the cloth must be _very fine and made extremely
nice_. You cannot be too particular about it."
In his letter written from New York on July 15, 1837, he says:
"David arrived on Monday, July 10th, in the packet ship _Oxford_,
from Liverpool. He had a passage of thirty-seven days. He is in
very good health. The Ladies' Greek Association of Stockbridge held
their fair the 4th of July on Little Hill, and raised one hundred
and twenty-seven dollars ($127). Well done for old Stockbridge."
The Mercantile Library in Clinton Hall, at the southwest corner of
Nassau and Beekman streets, proved an attractive place to him, and
whenever it was possible he went there in the evening to read; and he
also joined an "Eclectic Fraternity," to which Mr. Jackson S. Schultz
belonged. The Fraternity met for debate every Saturday evening in a
fourth-story room over a leather store in the Swamp.
Mr. Stewart's rules were strict. One of them was that every clerk must
enter in a book the minute that he came in the morning, left for dinner,
returned from dinner, went to supper and came back; and if he was late
in the morning, at dinner over an hour, or required more than
three-quarters of an hour for supper, he must pay twenty-five cents for
each offence. The fines thus collected, Mr. Stewart told his clerks,
would be kept and given to any charity that they should select. This
went on until September 30, 1837, and then this paper was drawn up:
"NEW YORK, _September 30, 1837_.
"We, the undersigned, hereby nominate and appoint Cyrus W. Field
treasurer to receive the fines of the young men _paid_ during the
month of September to Messrs. A. T. Stewart & Co.:
EDWARD K. SHED,
J. R. MCELROY,
JAMES SHOND,
H. T. SELDEN,
CHARLES ST. JOHN,
WEBSTER THOMPSON,
C. ZABRISKIE, JR.,
JNO. K. WALKER,
E. B. WILLIAMS,
HENRY RUTGERS PRALL,
THOMAS H. SELBY,
JAMES BECK,
J. B. SMITH,
GEO. HAYWOOD,
D. R. PARK,
M. GOODRICH,
JOHN WM. BYRON,
A. MATTHEW,
T. JONES,
S. H. MAYNARD,
C. AUSTIN,
PAUL BURDOCK,
P. FELLOWS,
EDMUND S. MILLS,
JAMES MACFARLAN,
A. SAHTLER,
R. WHYTE."
The clerks were paid at the beginning of each month, and on the 1st of
October the paper was presented, and the cashier was asked for the
money, which he declined to give. An appeal was taken to Mr. Stewart,
who ordered it to be given to the young men.
"I took the funds, and all of the clerks left the store that night in a
body and proceeded up Broadway to the corner of Chambers Street. We then
agreed to go into a large, well-known oyster-saloon in the basement. The
clerks at once voted unanimously that we should have an oyster supper,
and that the treasurer should pay from this fund the expense of the
supper, which was done. Then there was a long debate as to what charity
the balance should be given to. At last it was unanimously resolved that
there was no such charity in the city or State of New York as the clerks
of A. T. Stewart & Co., and that Mr. Field, the treasurer, should return
to each clerk the exact amount of his fines, less his proportion of the
supper. This occupied until nearly or quite daylight.
"Some one of the clerks or waiters told Mr. Stewart of what had
occurred, and we were all requested to remain at the store the next
evening after business hours, when Mr. Stewart called me up and asked me
to give him an account of what had been done with the funds paid to me
the previous evening. I told him the exact truth in regard to the
matter, when he dismissed us, saying that in the future he should be
very careful that the firm selected the object of charity that this fund
was given to."
At a dinner at the Union League Club on October 26, 1881, Jackson S.
Schultz, the beginning of whose acquaintance with Mr. Field has just
been referred to, related this incident: "Perhaps I cannot do better
than tell you an anecdote that was told me by Mr. Stewart at the great
celebration which we had at the Metropolitan Hotel after the laying of
the Atlantic cable. He said to me, 'Perhaps you don't know that I have
taught Mr. Field all the art of telegraphing he knows.' 'No, I am not
aware of that, Mr. Stewart.' He said, 'It is quite notorious in our
house.' Mr. Field was for a long time a clerk in that establishment, and
Mr. Stewart said Mr. Field was in the habit of watching the old
gentleman, and by a sort of tick, tick, giving notice to his
fellow-clerks of the fact that he was coming, so that every man was in
his place, and from that simple idea Mr. Field got the idea of
telegraphing, which had made his fortune."
The first intimation we find of his having decided to leave Mr. Stewart
is in a letter to his father, written on January 8, 1838:
"I expect to go to Lee to live with Matthew on the 1st of March. He
will give me two hundred and fifty dollars ($250) the first year,
and my board and washing."
And again, on February 25th, he refers to the proposed change that he
intends making:
"I have been very busy for the last five or six weeks in the
evening attending Mr. Wheeler's school to obtain a thorough
knowledge of book-keeping by double entry, so as to be able to keep
Matthew's books when I go to Lee.... I have made arrangements with
Matthew so that I shall not commence my year with him until the 1st
of April."
He arrived in Lee, Mass., on Friday evening, March 30th.
It was early in this year that Mr. Stewart, having heard that Mr. Field
intended giving up his place as clerk after his three years'
apprenticeship to business, sent for him and urged him to agree to
remain with him for several years, and made him a very liberal offer if
he would do so. On the 2d of March Mr. Bunours, one of Mr. Stewart's
partners, sent him this note:
"_Dear Field_,--You will accept the accompanying trifle as a token
of esteem and sincere friendship, and whatever be your future
pursuits, to know that they are successful will be a source of much
gratification to
WILLIAM H. BUNOURS.
_March 2, '38._"
"The trifle" was a small diamond pin that the recipient of it wore for
over twenty-five years. Upon the same occasion this invitation was
received:
"The undersigned, anxious to show their respect and esteem for
their fellow-clerk, Cyrus W. Field, do hereby agree to give him a
complimentary supper on Friday evening, March 2, 1838.
HENRY RUTGERS PRALL,
JAMES MACFARLAN,
RICHARD MCELROY,
JOHN WM. BYRON,
PAUL BURDOCK,
R. WHYTE,
P. V. MONDON,
JNO. K. WALKER,
CHARLES B. ST. JOHN,
JAMES BECK,
W. THOMPSON,
M. GOODRICH."
A letter written on March 6, 1838, by his brother David to his parents
ends with these words:
"Cyrus has, as you will see from his letters, etc., left Stewart's,
with the best testimonials of esteem from all his employers and
associates. He is a noble young man--and I am proud of him."
His father had said on parting from him in 1835: "Cyrus, I feel sure you
will succeed, for your playmates could never get you off to play until
all the work for which you were responsible was done."
These few words tell us briefly how the following eighteen months were
passed:
"On leaving New York I went as far west as Michigan on business for my
brother Dudley. I went up the Hudson in a boat to Albany, from thence
to, I think, Syracuse in the cars, thence by stage to Buffalo, from
Buffalo by steamer to Detroit, and from there to Ann Arbor. On my return
East I went to Lee, Mass., as an assistant to my brother, Matthew D.
Field. He was a large paper manufacturer; he often sent me on business
to Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, and New York."
From this account of Mr. Field's beginnings in New York it is evident
that his subsequent success was not a matter of chance; the foundations
of it were laid in the character which commanded the confidence of his
employer and of his associates. This will be shown even more strikingly
in the pages that are to follow. His own narration of his early
experiences has an additional interest in the incidental and almost
unconscious disclosure of the vast difference between the conditions of
beginning a business career in New York now and sixty years ago. It
seems worth while to secure an authentic memorial of a life that already
seems so remote and is wellnigh forgotten.