Part 22 (1/2)
A feords on the after years of this busy life, and I have done These years brought a rich reward for all the sacrifices of the past The first feeling was one of infinite relief that at last the victory on The terrible strain was taken off, and to hie to the quiet of his own happy ho separations He was now in his own country and under his own roof, but with a name that was known on both sides of the sea The coiven him an imgles of life were all over, leaving only its honors to be enjoyed
Whatthan the respect of his countryy and perseverance, and a name honored all over the civilized world as one of the world's benefactors?
The practical results of the cable were even greater than he had dared to anticipate In the space of a few ht a commercial revolution in Aht so near, that it entered into one's daily life Every , as Mr Field went to his office, he found laid on his desk at nine o'clock the quotations on the Royal Exchange at twelve! Lombard Street and Wall Street talked with each other as two neighbors across the way
This soon made an end of the tribe of speculators who calculated on the fact that nobody knew at a particular moment the state of the norance by which they profited by getting the earliest advices But now everybody got the of each day's sun, and the occupation of a class that did one
The same restoration of order was seen in the business of iuess-work A merchant ished to buy silks in Lyons, sent out his orders months in advance, and of course soht turn, so that when the costly fabrics arrived, he ht find that he had ordered too many or too few A China o of tea, which returned after a year's absence, bringing not enough to supply the public deht havetwice too much, in which case the unsold half reainst which he had to be insured, as ainst fire or shi+pwreck And the only insurance he could have was to take reprisals by an increased charge on his unfortunate custoreatly reduced, if not entirely reer send out orders a year beforehand, nor order a whole shi+p-load of tea when he needed only a hundred chests, since he could telegraph to his agent for what he wanted and no ence, the eleer did business at a venture Buying froe of low markets, he was able to buy cheaper, and of course to sell cheaper It would be a curious study to trace the effect of the cable upon the prices of all foreign goods A New York merchant, who has been hi to the American people cannot be less than many millions every year
But the slender cord beneath the sea had finer uses than to be a reporter ofroo houses; it was a link between hearts and hoes of life and death, of joy and sorrow, of hopes and fears One of its happiest uses was the relief of anxiety A shi+p sailed for England with hundreds of passengers, but did not arrive at her destination on the appointed day Instantly a thousand hearts were tortured with fear, lest their loved ones had gone to the bottom of the sea, when the cable reported that the delay was due simply to an accident to her machinery, that would keep her back for a day or two, but that the good shi+p was safe with all on board What arithe that relieves so raph stretched out its long arive assurance to both
Such a triuh to satisfy the pride and ambition of any man; but it was not in Mr Field's nature to rest content with any success, however great, and he was always reaching out for soive scope to his restless activity Such an opportunity he found in giving rapid transit to New York, a city which, though it has one of the finest harbors in the world, with approaches froe for commerce, is not so favorably situated landward, as it is built on a long and narrow island, between two broad rivers, which confine it on either side, so that it is stretched out to such distances that it is no easy matter to pass from one end to the other From the Battery to the Harlefro back again, a large inroad upon their hours of rest or domestic comfort The only means of transportation was by street cars, which moved slowly, and in winter, whenever the streets were blocked with snoere crowded to suffocation, and dragged at a snail's pace to the upper end of the island
This was the great barrier to the city's growth, and must be removed if it was not to be stunted and dwarfed by these limitations To furnish some relief, an elevated railroad, built on stilts, had been attempted on a sht the control of the whole concern, and took it in his own strong arh it had a charter, it was still obstructed in the legislature, and in the courts, so that it was a long tiet full possession But once rand scale, and pushed it with such vigor that in less than two years the road was in operation It has since been extended with the public demand, until now (in 1892) there are thirty-six miles of road, over which the trains sweep incessantly from the bay to the river, and from the river to the bay
The structures are not indeed theavenues of the city But these tall iron pillars, that line our streets for s of civilization, and have a so effect as they stretch away into the distance, with the fire-drawn cars flying swiftly over thelorified them by a historical parallel which could occur only to one full of the wonders of ancient tiination Going with him one day on an excursion, he stepped briskly (for his fraht as to offer little i stairway, and stood on the platform above the crowded street below, he exclai abreast on the walls of the city!”
But Babylonian or American, the success was enormous As soon as the public became familiar with these elevated roads, and felt that they were safe as well as swift, the people swar, till now they carry over seven hundred thousand passengers a day! On the day of the Columbus celebration (October 12th) it was a ered by nu stateures, that since these roads were opened, they have carried over eighteen hundred ers, lobe!
Nor should it be forgotten that, not only is the facility they afford the greatest, but the fares the lowest, for, thanks to Mr Field, they were reduced years ago to five cents at all hours and for the longest distance, the ten miles from the Battery to the Harlem river
The effect was immediate in the appreciation of real estate in the city, the assessed value of which has already advanced by the sum of five hundred h to pay for all the cost, while as a relief to the congested parts of the city, and as furnishi+ng a reat city as a free circulation of the blood is to the human body, it is not too much to say that the construction of the elevated railroads is the greatest material benefit that has ever been conferred on the city of New York
But busy as Mr Field was through all these years, much of his life was spent abroad He had interests on both sides of the Atlantic, but stronger than his interests were his friendshi+ps to attract hiland as in his own country: and his visits were so frequent that his sudden appearances and disappearances were a subject of alish friends
When Dean Stanley was in Aiven to him at the Century Club, where in a very happy address, he referred to the ties between the two countries, a which was ”the wonderful cable, on which it is popularly believed in England, that my friend and host, Mr
Cyrus Field, passes hisat one and the same moment in London and in New York!”
As Mr Field was thus brought near to his English friends, they in turn were brought near to him, for as no man in An guests, ht letters to hiht he could not persuade to cross the sea; but he had the pleasure to welcome his co-laborer in the repeal of the Corn-laws, Richard Cobden The house in Gramercy Park becaiven to the Marquis of Ripon and the other High Commissioners, who came a year or two after the war, as representatives of the British governton the treaty which settled the Alabama claims; and those to Dean Stanley and Archdeacon Farrar; and to ers happened to arrive in the summer time, they were entertained at his beautiful country seat on the Hudson, to which he had given the name of ”Ardsley,”
from the seat of John Field the astrono of Yorkshi+re o, and introduced the Copernican astronoland, and from whom the family are descended
In so point for excursions on the Continent, in which he visited almost every European country In 1874, in company with tell-known Ae to Iceland, as ten years before he had been to Egypt, as a delegate fro of the Suez Canal
In 1880-81 he took a still longer flight around the world Waiting till after the Presidential election, that he ht cast his vote for his friend General Garfield, the very next day he left with his wife in a special car for San Francisco, where after a few days, they took shi+p for japan, frohai, and froal to Calcutta, where he found the salish nobleman whom he had entertained in New York, the Marquis of Ripon, Governor-General of India Going up the country, the travellers visited Agra and Delhi, where the wonders of architecture showed the ul Empire The whole journey was one of infinite pleasure and instruction, and they were never weary of talking of the strange manners and customs of the people of Asia
When they returned to America, General Garfield was President of the United States, who, though a Western land, at Williaraduated twenty-five years before, and which he had a desire to revisit; and it was arranged that he should leave Washi+ngton in theof July 2d, with as overnment, and come on to New York and all be entertained at ”Ardsley,” and the next day proceed up the Hudson and across the country to Williaram at the station in Washi+ngton he had been shot, an event that instantly recalled the assassination of Lincoln At once there rose a cry of horror from one end of the land to the other, and for weeks the whole country atching by the bedside of the illustrious sufferer
Of course, the sympathy for the wife and children was universal, but Mr
Field was the first to give this sympathy a practical direction With his quick eye he saw the condition in which they would be left by the death of the President, as for them the law makes no provision His salary stops at the very day and hour that he ceases to live, nor is there a pension settled upon his fa be paid froress In this extremity it occurred to Mr Field that what the Governenerosity; and even before General Garfield's death he started a subscription, heading it with five thousand dollars, and taking it in person to his rich friends The self imposed task occupied him several months, in which he raised a fund of over three hundred and sixty thousand dollars, which was put into United States four per cent bonds, yielding an interest of over twelve thousand dollars a year, to be paid quarterly during the life of Mrs
Garfield, and then to go to her children It was a great satisfaction to have thus provided for those who bore the name of a President of the United States, so that they should be able to live in the conity that befitted the faovernment