The Battery and the Boiler | Page 9

look at
his comrade, on resuming his perch.
"Time's up, or nearly so," replied the comrade, with an anxious look at
the clock:
"The witching hour which sets us free To saunter home and have our
tea--
"approaches."
"D'you know that that is Cyrus Field?" said the first clerk.
"And who is Cyrus Field?" demanded the second clerk.
"O ignoramus! Thy name is Bob, and thou art not worth a `bob'--
miserable snob! Don't you know that Cyrus Field is the man who
brought about the laying of the great Atlantic Cable in 1858?"
"No, most learned Fred, I did not know that, but I am very glad to know

it now. Moreover, I know nothing whatever about cables--Atlantic or
otherwise. I am as blind as a bat, as ignorant as a bigot, as empty as a
soap-bubble, and as wise as Solomon, because I'm willing to be
taught."
"What a delicious subject to work upon!" said Fred.
"Well then, work away," returned Bob; "suppose you give me a
discourse on Cables. But, I say--be merciful. Don't overdo it, Frederick.
Remember that my capacity is feeble."
"I'll be careful, Bob.--Well then, you must know that from the year
1840 submarine cables had been tried and laid, and worked with more
or less success, in various parts of the world. Sir W. O'Shaughnessy, I
believe, began it. Irishmen are frequently at the root of mischief!
Anyhow, he, being Superintendent of Electric Telegraphs in India in
1839, hauled an insulated wire across the Hooghly at Calcutta, and
produced what they call `electrical phenomena' at the other side of the
river. In 1840 Mr Wheatstone brought before the House of Commons
the project of a cable from Dover to Calais. In 1842 Professor Morse of
America laid a cable in New York harbour, and another across the
canal at Washington. He also suggested the possibility of laying a cable
across the Atlantic Ocean. In 1846 Colonel Colt, of revolver notoriety,
and Mr Robinson, laid a wire from New York to Brooklyn, and from
Long Island to Correy Island. In 1849--"
"I say, Fred," interrupted Bob, with an anxious look, "you are a walking
dictionary of dates. Haydn was nothing to you. But--couldn't you give
it me without dates? I've got no head for dates; never could stomach
them--except when fresh off the palm-tree. Don't you think that a
lecture without dates would be pleasantly original as well as
instructive?"
"No, Bob, I don't, and I won't be guilty of any such gross innovation on
time-honoured custom. You must swallow my dates whether you like
them or not. In 1849, I say, a Mr Walker--"
"Any relation to Hookey?"

"No, sir, none whatever--he laid a wire from Folkestone to a steamer
two miles off the shore, and sent messages to it. At last, in 1851. Mr
Brett laid down and successfully wrought the cable between Dover and
Calais which had been suggested by Wheatstone eleven years before. It
is true it did not work long, but this may be said to have been the
beginning of submarine telegraphy, which, you see, like your own
education, Bob, has been a thing of slow growth."
"Have you done with dates, now, my learned friend?" asked Bob,
attempting to balance a ruler on the point of his nose.
"Not quite, my ignorant chum, but nearly. That same year--1851,
remember--a Mr Frederick N. Gisborne, an English electrician, made
the first attempt to connect Newfoundland with the American continent
by cable. He also started a company to facilitate intercourse between
America and ireland by means of steamers and telegraph-cables.
Gisborne was very energetic and successful, but got into pecuniary
difficulties, and went to New York to raise the wind. There he met with
Cyrus Field, who took the matter up with tremendous enthusiasm. He
expanded Gisborne's idea, and resolved to get up a company to connect
Newfoundland with Ireland by electric cable. Field was rich and
influential, and ultimately successful--"
"Ah! would that you and I were rich, Fred," interrupted Bob, as he let
fall the ruler with a crash on the red-ink bottle, and overturned it; "but
go on, Fred, I'm getting interested; pardon the interruption, and never
mind the ink, I'll swab it up.--He was successful, was he?"
"Yes, he was; eminently so. He first of all roused his friends in the
States, and got up, in 1856, the `New York, Newfoundland, and
London Telegraph Company,' which carried a line of telegraph through
the British Provinces, and across the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to Saint
John's, Newfoundland--more than 1000 miles--at a cost of about
500,000 pounds. Then he came over to England and roused the British
Lion, with whose aid he started the `Atlantic Telegraph Company,' and
fairly began the work, backed by such men as Brett, Bidden,
Stephenson,