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THE STORY OF CYRUS FIELD

I

1. Cyrus Field was born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts , in the year 1819. His father was the pastor of a church there; and in his pleasant home amongst the hills the boy spent a happy childhood. After he left the village school, he was sent to be trained in business under a merchant in New York .

2. He was fortunate in the master under whom he was trained, and he gained a thorough knowledge of business, besides learning the value of industry and faithfulness in all work. His energy was so remarkable, that before he was twenty-one he went into business for himnone, and within twelve years he made a fortune, and decided to retire from business.

3. He spent the first year of leisure in travel; but he very soon felt the need of more definit work in his life, and began to look about for some enterprise to which he might devote his energy. At this time he met gentleman who had been engaged in an attempt to lay a telegraph cable across the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Newfound-land . The attempt had failed; but the eagerness of the unsuccessful engineer interested Mr. Field, and while thinking on the matter, the idea flashed upon him, “Why not carry a cable across the Atlantic？” Thus he was led to enter upon his life-work.

4. He knew that such a plan would seem foolish to many people, and therefore he made many preparations before he spoke of it in public. Two difficulties met him at once. The first was the difficulty of making a cable 2, 000 miles in length strong enough and yet not too heavy; the second, the fear that the electric current might not be able to travel so far under water. Experiments were made, and he was certain that these two difficulties could be overcome.

5. The next question was, How deep was the ocean at the place where the cable must lie？ Careful soundings were taken, and it was found that at the bottom of the sea between Newfoundland and Ireland there stretched a great plateau—now called Telegraph Plateau—on which the cable might be laid at a depth of from 1, 500 to 2, 000 fathoms; that is, from 9, 000 to 12, 000 feet.

6. After these experiments had been made, Mr. Field and some of his friends formed a small company to try to carry out the plan. The money required was got from England and America, and each country supplied a vessel. In 1857, half the cable was stowed in the English Agamemnon , half in the American Niagara , and these ships set forth on their great enterprise.

TELEGRAPHCABLE.

7. Three hundred miles of the line had been laid, when it broke, and the vessels were forced to return. In the following year a second attempt was made, on a different plan. Instead of starting from the Irish coast, the vessels sailed half-way over the sea; there they joined the two halves of the cable and separated, each sailing homewards. Only 100 miles were laid when the cable again broke. Several times the trial was repeated without success, and at last there came a great storm in which the Agamemnon was almost lost.

8. After this disappointment, most of those who had provided the money said that it was useless to try again. But the difficulty of the work had not discouraged Cyrus Field; he roused new hopes in the hearts of the others, and it was decided to make one more attempt.

9. The two vessels again set off, and on the 5th of August 1858 it was flashed across the ocean that the cable was laid. The first greeting that passed along theline was, “ Peace on earth, good will toward men.” Then gradually the current failed, the messages grew fainter, and at last ceased entirely.

10. For some years no more could be done, as America was distracted by civil war . Meantime, the science of electricity made progress; and when Cyrus Field and his friends were ready to begin work again, it was found that they could have the steamship GreatEastern to carry the new cable in one piece. This was a great advantage, for the joining of the wire in midocean had always been a matter of great difficulty. So this huge vessel, which had proved useless for ordinary purposes, found her proper work at last.

11. In July 1865, she set sail with her precious cargo. Twelve hundred miles had been crossed, and the hopes of all were high, when a sudden lurch of the vessel snapped the cable, and it disappeared in water two miles deep. Great grappling-irons were let down. and thrice they laid hold of the cable; but each time the chains proved too weak to drag it to the surface from such an immense depth. A month was spent in these attempts; then the discouraged band were forced to return to England and report another failure.

WORD SPELLING

WORD EXERCISE

1. Write a list of nouns ending in the termination -hood（like childhood）, and give their meanings.

2. Give a list of words with the prefi x over-（as overcome）, and give their meanings.

3. Give a few words ending in -eer, -er, and -or, meaning the agent or doer of a thing.