08

THE STORY OF CYRUS FIELD

II

1. Mr. Field had now gained the confidence of friendswho were willing to persevere as long as he would. The next spring, another cable, more perfect than any that had yet been made, was stowed in the GreatEastern , and she once more sailed westward.

2. For fourteen days she steamed on, laying down mile after mile of the electric wire. All on board watched as eagerly as did Columbus for the signs of the New World ; and they did not watch in vain, for on the 27th of July 1866, the anchor was cast in the little harbour of Heart´s Content in Newfoundland. Since then there has not been a single day without telegrams passing between the Old World and the New.

3. As soon as the shore end had been made fast, Mr. Field and the officers went in a body to a little churchand offered thanks to God for the success granted them. Then without delay they set off again to find thcable which had been lost the year before.

4. Several times it was caught and brought up within sight of the watchers; once it was alongside of the vessel, but broke away before it could be made fast. By unwearied effort it was at last secured, and splice to the half which had lain for a year in the hold of the Great Eastern . This cable was then successfully laid to Heart´s Content.

5. Thus not one but two cables, wore laid across the Atlantic Ocean in one year. But even two cables proved insufficient for the needs of the countries on either side of the Atlantic. There are now four laid from Valentia to Newfoundland, and one from Valentia to Nova Scotia ; two from the south of England, to St. Pierre in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and to Panama respectively; one from Lisbon to Pernambuco in South America, connected with one to London from Lisbon; and one from Brest to St. Pierre.

6. In writing of his work, Mr. Field says: “In looking back over these eventful years, I wonder how we had courage to carry it through in the face of so many defeats, and of almost universal unbelief. A hundred times I reproached mynone for persisting in what seemed beyond the power of man. And again there came a feeling that having begun I could not turn back; at any cost, I must see the work through. At last God gave us the victory. And now, as we see its results, all who had a part in it must feel rewarded for all their labours and their sacrifice .”

7. “Peal the clanging bell,

Thunder the brazen gun,

Over the earth in triumph swell

The notes of a victory won:

Not over field, and ditch, and corse

Not by musketry , cannon, and horse;

Not by skirmish and battle fell;

Not by the whiz of shot and shell, —

But men of will and thought,

Men of muscle and brain,

Have planned, and toiled, and suffered, and fought

And conquered the raging main.

8. “Far from an Eastern shore,

By the second ark is brought,

Spanning the dusky darkness o´er,

A line of glowing thought—

Dashing through ripples, and torrents, and waves,

Courting the gloom of mariners´ graves,

Hastily threading the ocean isles,

And bringing to naught three thousand miles.

For men of will and thought,

Men of muscle and brain,

Have planned, and toiled, and suf ered, and fought

And conquered the raging main.”

WORD SPELLING

WORD EXERCISE

1. Make sentences containing the words confi de, confi dentconfidence, confidential .

2. Rewrite in the third person the fi rst eight lines of section6— “Mr. Field says that he wonders, ” etc.

3. Give a list of adjectives in -en, meaning made of（like brazen）.