The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph

"All the details connected with the manufacture and stowage of the cable are now completed, and the conclusion of the arduous labor was celebrated yesterday with high festivity and rejoicing. All the artisans who have been engaged upon the great work, with their wives and families, a large party of the officers, with the sailors from the Agamemnon, and a number of distinguished scientific visitors, were entertained upon this occasion at a kind of fete champetre at Belvidere House, the seat of Sir Culling Eardley, near Erith. The festival was held in the beautiful park which had been obligingly opened by Sir Culling Eardley for the purpose. Although in no way personally interested in the project, the honorable baronet has all along evinced the liveliest sympathy with the undertaking, and himself proposed to have the completion of the work celebrated in his picturesque grounds. The manufacturers, fired with generous emulation, erected spacious tents on the lawn, and provided a magnificent banquet for the guests, and a substantial one for the sailors of the Agamemnon and the artificers who had been employed in the construction of the cable. By an admirable arrangement, the guests were accommodated at a vast semi-circular table, which ran round the whole pavilion, while the sailors and workmen sat at a number of long tables arranged at right angles with the chord, so that the general effect was that all dined together, while at the same time sufficient distinction was preserved to satisfy the most fastidious.