10 A SAGA OF THE SEAS 
whelming name to give such a frail baby, but formidable 
names based on Biblical and historical sources were common 
then. 
The baby, although delicate, soon showed that it was en- 
dowed with nervous energy. It was a favorite of the mother, 
perhaps for that reason. Throughout his life, Cyrus Field’s 
health was never robust but was sustained by enthusiasm and 
eagerness. In his mature years, he was sometimes called ruth- 
less and dictatorial when the animating purpose was really 
only an anxiety to make progress and get results. Something 
of the new spirit that was stirring the American republic, with 
the rise of Andrew Jackson into political power, seemed to 
enter into this baby in the Stockbridge parsonage. It was the 
age of the construction of the Erie canal and of early experi- 
ments with railroads. 
Life among the hills of Massachusetts during Cyrus’ child- 
hood was still cast in the puritanical tradition. Every morn- 
ing and evening the family came together for a religious serv- 
ice, each member with a Bible to read from. The father’s 
long prayers at these gatherings made a deep impression 
on the kneeling children although they did not always under- 
stand the obscure theological terms. One of the favorite ex- 
pressions of the father which puzzled the children was that 
“the Lord will overturn, overturn, overturn—until he come, 
whose right it is.” ‘There is something peculiarly moving in 
this picture of the devout family bowed down in the bare 
sitting-room listening to the Old Testament phraseology with 
its big words. Of the several boys who knelt down in this par- 
sonage among the hills, one was to become a leading figure 
at the American bar, one was to build bridges and railroads, 
one was to supply knowledge of the West to the highest court 
in the land, one was to conquer the Atlantic for the transmis- 
sion of intelligence, and one was to exert an influence for a 
more liberal interpretation of religion. 
This was still the age of theological argument—arguments 
