Chapter Nineteen 
THE WORLD MOVES ON 
AFTER THIs TRAGIC blow to his old age, Field presented a brave 
face to the world. He hesitated to curtail his family’s com- 
forts, and they continued to live much as before. They had 
come to rely upon him as an unfailing resource. It is difficult 
to curtail a large family’s standard of living, especially when 
the members are well known in social circles. 
The era was one of increasing luxuries and expansion. 
Leading citizens were expected to encourage advances in 
America’s fads and fashions. ‘The brownstone fronts of New 
York’s proud élite required a more and more pretentious out- 
lay of style. Automobiles had not yet appeared, but resplen- 
dent carriages and spanking teams of horses flashed along the 
avenues. The buildings were getting higher; the success of 
the Eiffel tower in Paris was encouraging the construction of 
“skyscrapers” supported by a steel skeleton. The pioneer 
epoch was drawing to a close; the nation had entered a stage 
in which the inventions and ground-work of the previous 
generation were taken for granted. 
Field had been a pioneer—one of the earnest band of early 
Americans who dreamed visions and worked earnestly to at- 
tain them. What they conceived that the country needed was 
improved means of communication and transportation, a 
prompter and more reliable linking together of isolated and 
straggling communities. Now that this aim was largely ful- 
filled, a more intense exploitation of the continent’s resources 
was under way. Sharp exploiters were coming to the front— 
men who understood how to grab, how to evade the law, and 
how to destroy. The age of innocence in America’s develop- 
ment was over; a gilded performance was now being staged. 
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