The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph

And here is Mr. Glass, the managing director of the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company, which has undertaken by contract to manufacture this cable and lay it safely across the ocean; and Mr. Gooch, chairman of the company that owns the Great Eastern--two gentlemen to whom the Atlantic Telegraph is under the greatest obligation, since it was they who, six months before, when the project seemed in danger of being given up or postponed for years, took Mr. Field by the hand, and cheered him on to a last effort. Blessings on their hearts of oak! Mr. Gooch accompanies the ship, while Mr. Glass, keeping Mr. Varley at his side as electrician, remains on shore, to receive reports of the daily progress of the expedition, and to issue his orders. What a post of observation was that telegraph house on the cliffs of Valentia! It commanded a far broader horizon than the top of Fiesole, from which Galileo looked down on the valley of the Arno, and up at the stars. Was there ever a naval commander favored with a power of vision that could sweep the boundless sea? What would Nelson have said, if he had had a spy-glass with which he could watch ships in action two thousand miles away, and issue his orders to a fleet on the other side of the ocean? With such a long range, he might almost have fought the Battle of the Nile from his home in England. Standing on such a spot, and surrounded by such men, representing the capital, the science, and the skill of England, with all those gallant ships in sight, one's heart might well beat high. But there were other reflections that saddened the hour, and caused some at least to look once more on the rocks of Valentia with deep emotion. Some of their old companions-in-arms had fallen out of the ranks, while the battle was not yet won. Brett, Mr. Field's first friend in England, was in his grave. Beyond the Atlantic, Captains Hudson and Berryman slept the sleep that knows no waking. They were not forgotten by their survivors, who mourned that those who had toiled with them in former days, were not here to share their triumph.