Chapter Seventeen 
A NATIONAL BENEFACTOR 
Cyrus W. FIELD WAS now a well-known man. His deeds, his 
wealth, and the essentially American qualities of his success 
had made him a favorite subject for sermons on perseverance 
and for articles about the applications of science. A genera- 
tion of children had read the jingly stanzas of “How Cyrus 
Laid the Cable,’ as printed in the Sanders fourth readers 
that were used in hundreds of schools. ‘Thousands of shrill- 
voiced youngsters had declaimed the verses that originally ap- 
peared in Harper's Weekly: 
Twice did his bravest efforts fail, 
And yet his mind was stable; 
He wan't the man to break his heart 
Because he broke his cable... . 
Once more they tried—hurrah! hurrah! 
What means this great commotion? 
The Lord be praised! the cable’s laid 
Across the Atlantic Ocean. 
Loud ring the bells—for, flashing through 
Six hundred leagues of water, 
Old Mother England’s benison 
Salutes her eldest daughter. 
O’er the land the tidings speed, 
And soon in every nation 
They'll hear about the cable with 
Profoundest admiration. 
Because of, or despite, this country-wide notoriety, Field 
was recognized as a public-spirited capitalist of unusual or- 
ganizing ability who was unlike the typical New York pro- 
moter or Wall Street operator. There was genuine affection 
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