By all Stockbridge tradition he was the hero of another tale, although he himself always gave the credit of it to one of his brothers. A certain rat-trap (perhaps of new and efficient style) had been lost. After much search and questioning the minister gave orders that whenever found it should be brought at once to him. So one day at a service, when the sermon was in full progress, there came a clanging noise up the aisle, and the missing article was set down in front of the pulpit with the words, "Father, here is your rat-trap!" Another laughable reminiscence occurred at the burning of the parsonage, which took place about 1830. In 1822 or 1823 Dr. Field had bought a small house in the village and had moved there. The fire was first seen as the children were coming from school, and very soon after it was discovered all hope of subduing it was given up, and the first thought was to save the study furniture and books, and the study table was thrown from the window. Imagine the surprise of the crowd and the consternation of their pastor as the drawers of this, his private repository, came open, and a shower of playing-cards fluttered forth and whitened the grass. They had been found in the possession of his children and confiscated. It is remembered of Cyrus Field as a child that his dealings with his playmates were most exact. He paid punctually all that he owed, and required the same punctuality in return. He was the chosen leader in all the games, and he was the victor in a race around the village green, one of the stipulations being that a certain amount of crackers should be eaten on the way. His half-holidays were passed in roaming over the country-side, and he has often said that the meal he enjoyed the most in his life was one gotten on a Saturday afternoon when he had stopped, tired and hungry, at a farm-house, and was given a plate of cold pork and potatoes. He was obliged to be at home before sunset on Saturday, as every member of the family was required to be in the house by that time, and all work to cease; and as the children entered their father greeted them with the words, "We are on the borders of holy time." Sunset on Sunday was watched for most anxiously, for they were then again quite free to come and go. [Illustration: THE PARSONAGE, STOCKBRIDGE, MASS. (As rebuilt after the fire)] The simple life of the Massachusetts village was not without its pleasures. There lies before me a yellow programme, printed sixty years ago, which commemorates what was very likely at once the first appearance of Cyrus W. Field on any stage and his last appearance in his native village, and forms a fitting conclusion to the story of his childhood. =EXHIBITION.--STOCKBRIDGE ACADEMY=, MARCH 26-27, 1835. =THURSDAY EVENING.= ORDER OF EXERCISES. 1. MUSIC. 2. Prologue.--United States Speaker. JOHN HENRY ADAMS 3. Burr and Blennerhasset.--Wirt. ESSEX WATTS 4. Bernardo Del Carpio.--Mrs. Hemans. RALPH K. JONES