FIELD 



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FIELD 



the purpose of reforming and codifying the 

 laws of nations. 



Stephen Johnson Field (1816-1899) became 

 one of the most distinguished justices of the 

 United States Supreme Court. He was born 

 at Haddam, Conn., and, like his brother David, 

 was a graduate of Williams College. After 

 studying law in the latter's office, he became his 

 partner. In 1849 he made his way westward 

 to the gold fields of California, and after the 

 admission of the state into the Union he ren- 

 dered notable service as a member of the 

 judiciary committee in the legislature. In 1857 

 he became judge of the supreme court of 

 California, and two years later, chief justice. 

 Field was appointed Associate Justice of the 

 United States Supreme Court by Lincoln in 

 1863, and during his thirty-four years of service 

 he handed down opinions that are a valuable 

 contribution to American constitutional law. 

 He was a member of the Electoral Commission 

 of 1876, voting with the minority in favor of 

 Samuel J. Tilden. See ELECTORAL COMMISSION. 



Cyrus West Field (1819-1892), the man to 

 whom the laying of the first Atlantic cable is 

 chiefly due, was born in Stockbridge, Mass. 

 Giving up the idea of a college education, he 

 entered business life in New York City, and 

 after a career 

 which held for 

 him both failure 

 and success re- 

 tired at the age 

 o f thirty - three 

 with a fortune of 

 $250,000. In 1854 

 he became very 

 much interested 

 in telegraphic and 

 cable possibilities, 

 and in that year 

 organized a com- 

 pany, with Peter 

 J-, ' CYRUS W. FIELD 



Who shortened communica- 

 i president, to lay tlon with Europe from over a 



a cable from week to less than a mlnute ' 

 Newfoundland to Ireland. The first attempts 

 were failures, but in 1858 a cable was laid which 

 worked successfully for four weeks. See CABLE. 

 In the meantime Field's firm went into bank- 

 ruptcy in the financial panic of 1857, and the 

 enterprise was abandoned until the close of 

 the War of Secession. Field, who had never 

 lost faith in the success of the undertaking, 

 began his efforts anew in 1865, chartering the 

 Great Eastern, the largest steamship on the 



seas, to lay a new cable. The work was com- 

 pleted on July 27, 1866, and this effort proved 

 a triumphant success. 



In recognition of his services, Congress gave 

 Field a unanimous vote of thanks and awarded 

 him a gold medal. He thereafter devoted 

 much of his energies to railroad development, 

 and was one of the original promoters of the 

 elevated railroad system of New York City. 



FIELD, EUGENE (1850-1895), an American 

 author and humorist, one of the best-loved 

 writers of poetry for children. The Little 

 Boy Blue, who owned the "toy dog covered 

 with dust," the gingham dog and the calico 

 cat that ate each 

 other up in a ter- 

 rible duel and the 

 boy who was 

 always "seein' 

 things at night" 

 are familiar to 

 countless num- 

 bers of chil- 

 dren. Taken as 

 a whole, his work 

 reveals a man of 

 most engaging 

 personality, 

 whose boyish EUGENE FIELD 



gayety, enthusiastic love for children and ani- 

 mals and capacity for friendship are always in 

 evidence. 



The author of Little Boy Blue was born in 

 Saint Louis, Mo., on September 3, 1850. When 

 he was seven years old his mother died, and he 

 and his younger brother were placed in care 

 of a cousin, Mary Field French, who lived in 

 Amherst, Mass. There he was prepared for 

 Williams College, which he entered in 1868. A 

 year later he became a member of the sopho- 

 more class of Knox College at Galesburg, 111., 

 but he completed his education at the state 

 university of Missouri. In 1872 he visited 

 Europe, spending, to use his own words, "six 

 months and his patrimony in France, Italy, 

 Ireland and England." 



In 1873, after his return to America, Field 

 became a reporter on the Saint Louis Journal; 

 this was the beginning of a successful news- 

 paper career. For the next ten years he won 

 favorable notice for his work on various papers 

 in Saint Joseph and Kansas City and in Den- 

 ver, but his widest reputation was made as 

 writer of a humorous column in the Chicago 

 Morning News (later the Herald). This col- 

 umn, which was entitled "Sharps and Flats," 



