It was Mr. Field’s custom to give an annual supper to his clerks. That which took place in December, 1850, was signalized by the proceedings thus officially recited:
A meeting of the salesmen in the employ of Messrs. Cyrus W. Field & Co. was held December 20, 1850. S. Ahern was appointed to preside. After the objects of the meeting were made known by the chairman in a few brief and appropriate remarks, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted:
Resolved, That in consideration of the innumerable acts of kindness manifested towards us by Cyrus W. Field, Esq., we deem it expedient to acknowledge them, not alone in expressions of gratitude, but by tangible proof of our appreciation of them.
Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed to decide upon an appropriate testimonial of our esteem, to be presented to Cyrus W. Field; and that Augustus Waterman, John Seaman, and James Barry be appointed said committee.
Resolved, That Augustus Waterman, in view of his long services to Cyrus W. Field, be deputed in behalf of himself and fellow-salesmen to make such presentation as the committee shall decide on.
Resolved, That a copy of the foregoing resolutions accompany the presentation, and that said presentation and resolutions be presented on the occasion of the annual supper given by Cyrus W. Field to his employés, and that they be accepted by him as a faint token of our esteem.
Augustus Waterman,
James Barry,
Simeon J. Ahern,
Andrew Cahill,
John Cahill,
John Seaman (per A. W.).
The testimonial took the form of a silver pitcher suitably inscribed.
Early in June, 1851, Mr. and Mrs. Field left New York, and made quite an extended journey over the then Southern, Western, and Northern States. First to Virginia, where they had the pleasure of staying with Mr. and Mrs. Hill Carter at their plantation, Shirley, on the James River; then to the Natural Bridge, and it was while there that Mr. Field asked Mr. Church to make a sketch for a picture, and suggested that it would be wise to take a small piece of the rock back to New York. This Mr. Church did not think necessary, but Mr. Field was so intent upon having the color exactly reproduced that he put a bit in his pocket. When the oil-painting was sent to his house he found the piece, and there had been no mistake made in the color. From Virginia the party went to the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky. It was in the course of the trip either up or down the Mississippi, on one of the famous high-pressure boats of those days, that the stewardess coolly remarked, when some of the passengers expressed alarm at the racing, that it made no difference whether or not the boat they were on happened to blow up, since it was in any case her last trip. In the ardor of the race the fires were fed with any fuel available: even the hams that formed part of the cargo were sacrificed. At St. Paul they heard that a treaty was to be made with the Indians, and Mr. Field immediately hired a boat for $400 to take him to the scene. As many others were anxious to go he allowed the captain to sell tickets at $10 to as many people as the boat would accommodate, and the captain made a handsome profit, as he was required merely to reimburse Mr. Field for his outlay. The Indians were frightened at the advent of the party and at the noise of the whistle, and the treaty had to come to a standstill until the boat could be sent out of sight.
Mr. Field was again at St. Paul in 1884, when the changes he found seemed to him marvellous. Mr. F. E. Church, the artist, who had originally been of the party, but had left it before the arrival at St. Paul, wrote early in August: