“Field to Glass.—We expect to land the cable at Heart’s Content to-morrow; all well.”
“Friday, July 27th.
“At 7 A.M. made the land off Heart’s Content. At 9 A.M. we sent the end of the cable to the Medway to be spliced. I left the Great Eastern in a small boat at 8.15 A.M., and landed at Heart’s Content at 9 o’clock.
“The shore end was landed at Heart’s Content at 5 P.M., and signals through the whole cable perfect.
“At 5.30 P.M., service held at the church at Heart’s Content.”
Nothing in this diary is so remarkable and characteristic as the tone of absolute confidence while the issue of the voyage was still in doubt. It was this confidence that not only sustained the projectors of the enterprise through all its mutations, but that infected his associates. Perhaps it was the moral effect of his mere presence, even more than the labor of which he took so large a share, that made them so often appeal for his return to England. Difficulties that looked insurmountable in his absence seemed to vanish when he appeared.
Hope had so often been deferred that his family hardly dared to think what a day might bring to them; and they went to church on Sunday, July 29th, and after the service it was suggested that before they return to their home (Plum Point, below Newburg) they should drive to the telegraph office. On their way there their attention was attracted to the day boat, then coming to her dock, gayly dressed with flags, and very quickly followed the news that the cable was laid, and that this message had been sent to Mrs. Field:
“Heart’s Content, Trinity Bay,
“Newfoundland, Friday, July 27, 1866.
“Mrs. Cyrus W. Field, Newburg, New York: