In 1842 he rented a house in East Seventeenth Street, No. 87, and his brother Dudley questioned the wisdom of his living so far up-town, and said that he must not look for frequent visits from him, that he could only go to him on Sunday. He lived in this house for ten years, and in the interval his brother Dudley moved to one immediately in the rear, and Mrs. Robert Sedgwick and Mrs. Caroline Kirkland were near neighbors and dear friends.
For many years Mr. Field took his breakfast by lamplight, and his dinner and supper down-town. His children saw him only on Sunday. At this time, he wrote long afterwards, “I was an ardent admirer of Henry Clay, and in politics a Whig,” and accordingly he took a warm interest in the election of 1844.
“In 1844 I was not worth a dollar. What money I had made had all gone to pay the debts of the old firm. My business was conducted on long credit; we did a general business all over the country. I built up a first-rate credit everywhere. All business intrusted to me was done promptly and quickly. I attended to every detail of the business, and made a point of answering every letter on the day it was received.”
Mr. Schultz said of him at the dinner already referred to:
“But, sir, I do recall the early days of Mr. Field. I remember him when he was first a clerk and then a merchant.... He had peculiarities then as he has always had. One I recollect was, he had over his desk ‘Are you insured?’ For no one that was not insured could get credit of him. He could not afford, he said, to insure himself and others too. Thus in all his transactions he had ideas and principles to carry out, but always good principles and ideas. I well remember when he came into the Mercantile Library Association; he had his own ideas, which did a great deal to add to the dignity and usefulness of that institution. In all his early life he was what he has been since—useful, practical.”
It seems odd now to be reminded by the sight of old letters that at this time envelopes were not in use. The sheets of paper were large, of letter size; three sides were closely written on, and then it was folded into nine, and it was not permitted to enclose even a slip of paper in this sheet; the postage was usually thirteen cents. The currency was puzzling; there was the short or “York” shilling of eight to the dollar (that is, twelve and a half cents), and the New England or long shilling of six to the dollar (sixteen and two-thirds cents). So rooted was each kind of currency in its own section as often to cause travellers annoyance and confusion.
The first and part of the second page of the New York Tribune for August 26, 1844, is most interesting. There is given an account of “The Berkshire Jubilee,” held at Pittsfield, Mass., on August 22d and 23d. The paper mentions among those present, Dr. Orville Dewey, of New York, William Cullen Bryant, Miss Catherine Sedgwick, Dr. Mark Hopkins, Mr. Macready, the actor, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Mrs. Fanny Kemble, Dr. D. D. Field, and David Dudley Field. This “Jubilee” lasted for two days. There were forty-four vice-presidents appointed, and forty-four tables were laid to accommodate the three thousand people who dined together. On the first day, at two o’clock in the afternoon, Dr. Hopkins preached a sermon on Jubilee Hill, west of the village, and Dr. D. D. Field “offered up an eloquent prayer.”
After dinner on the 23d there were speeches and singing.
“A young lady, as amiable as she is beautiful, and as intelligent as she is both amiable and beautiful, gave the following sentiment by proxy:
“ ‘You scarce can go through the world below
But you’ll find the Berkshire men,
And when you rove the world above
You’ll meet them there again.’