ding the Cunard Line. Aided by the
British government, he drove all competitors from the field, till
Congress came to the aid of the Collins Line, whose steamers made the
first trip from New York to Liverpool in 1850. The rivalry between these
lines was intense, and each did its best to make short voyages. In 1851
the average time from Liverpool to New York was eleven days, eight
hours, for the Collins Line, and eleven days, twenty-three hours, for
the Cunard. This was considered astonishing; for Liverpool and New York
were thus brought as near each other in point of time in 1851 as Boston
and Philadelphia were in 1790.

%416. The Atlantic Cable%.--But something more astonishing yet was at
hand. In 1854 Mr. Cyrus W. Field of New York was asked to aid in the
construction of a submarine cable to join St. Johns with Cape Ray,
Newfoundland. While considering the matter, he became convinced that if
a cable could be laid across the Gulf of St. Lawrence, another could be
laid across the Atlantic Ocean, and he formed the "New York,
Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company" for the purpose of doing
so. The first attempt, made in 1857, and a second in 1858, ended in
failure; but a third, in 1858, was successful, and a cable was laid from
Valentia Bay in Ireland to Trinity Bay in Newfoundland, a distance of
1700 geographical miles. For three weeks all went well, and during this
time 400 messages were sent; but on September 1, 1858, the cable ceased
to work, and eight years passed before another attempt was made to join
the Old World and the New.

%417. Condition of the Workingman%.--Every class of society was
benefited by these improvements, but no man more so than those who
depended on their daily wages for their daily bread. Though wages
increased but little, they were more easily earned and brought richer
returns. Improved means of transportation, cheaper methods of
manufacture, enabled every laborer in 1860 to wear better clothes and
eat better food than had been worn or consumed by his father in 1830.
New industries, new trades and occupations, new needs in the business
world, afforded to his son and daughter opportunities for a livelihood
unknown in his youth, while the free school system enabled them to fit
themselves to use such opportunities without cost to him. When our
country became independent, and for fifty years afterwards, a working
day was from sunrise to sunset, with an hour for breakfast and another
for dinn