A YOUNG MAN IN NEW YORK 23 
East Seventeenth street, where they lived for ten years. 
Brother David believed this location to be too far out in the 
country but later he moved to a house near by. So assiduously 
did Cyrus devote himself to his business that he breakfasted 
by lamplight and took dinner and supper downtown near his 
office on Cliff street. His children, who were beginning to 
come, saw him only on Sundays. The intense, grinding work 
gave him a restless manner, and his health declined. Fortu- 
nately a period of expansion and national prosperity suc- 
ceeded the devastating years of the depression. New gold 
from California began coming in to stimulate trade. 
Cyrus’ arrangements with the creditors of E. Root & Com- 
pany had been in the nature of a compromise that had re- 
leased him from legal obligations by part payment of the full 
amounts due. His own feeling, however, was that he should 
repay these debts in full, even though he had had little to do 
with contracting them. By 1853, when he was thirty-three 
years old, he had prospered so successfully that he was worth 
over a quarter of a million dollars, which had a large buying 
power in those days. He looked up the old debt records and 
computed the unpaid portions with interest at seven percent. 
To each creditor he sent a check for this full amount. 
They had never expected to be paid after ten or more years, 
as there was no legal obligation; consequently they were 
overjoyed. Some were elderly men in poor circumstances, 
others widows. It was a noble act typical of a generous and 
conscientious nature. As an example of how the interest 
had mounted during the years, an original debt of $1500 in 
1841 had been compromised in 1845 by Field’s paying 
$942.07, a full discharge being then granted. In 1853 the 
creditor unexpectedly received a check of $1142.49 for the 
balance with interest. Obviously this amount was larger than 
the sum accepted in 1845 for the full payment, and was in 
fact not much smaller than the entire original debt. 
“TI now wished,” Field wrote, ‘‘to retire from business alto- 
