es for a grand picture of Mt. Katahdin.
"That is," he explained, "Mr. Church painted, and I held the umbrella."

This describes the conversation which Mr. Sibley and I had. Mr. Sibley
talked, and I listened. He was a good talker, and I flatter myself that
I rather excel as a listener. On that occasion I did my best, for I knew
whom I was listening to. I was listening to the man who combined bold
and comprehensive grasp of thought, unerring foresight and sagacity, and
energy of action and power of accomplishment, in a degree not surpassed,
if it was equaled, among men.

Some years before, Mr. Sibley had created the Western Union Telegraph
Company. At that time telegraphy was in a very depressed state. The
country was to a considerable extent occupied by local lines, chartered
under various State laws, and operated without concert. Four rival
companies, organized under the Morse, the Bain, the House, and the
Hughes patents, competed for the business. Telegraph stock was nearly
valueless. Hiram Sibley, a man of the people, a resident of an inland
city, of only moderate fortune, alone grasped the situation. He saw that
the nature of the business, and the demands of the country, alike
required that a single organization, in which all interests should be
combined, should cover the entire land with its network, by means of
which every center and every outlying point, distant as well as near,
could communicate with each other directly, and that such an
organization must be financially successful. He saw all this vividly,
and realized it with the most intense earnestness of conviction. With
Mr. Sibley, to be convinced was to act; and so he set about the task of
carrying this vast scheme into execution. The result is well known. By
his immense energy, the magnetic power with which he infused his own
convictions into other minds, the direct, practical way in which he set
about the work, and his indomitable perseverance, Mr. Sibley attained at
last a phenomenal success.

But he was not then telling me anything about this. He was telling me of
the construction of the telegraph line to the Pacific Coast. Here again
Mr. Sibley had seen that which was hidden from others. This case
differed from the former one in two important respects. Then Mr. Sibley
had been dependent on the aid and co-operation of many persons; and this
he had been able to secure. Now, he could not obtain help from a human
being; but he had become able to act inde