CHAPTER III. THE COMPANY ORGANIZED. And so the young New York merchant set out to carry a telegraph across the Atlantic Ocean! The design had in it at least the merit of audacity. But whether the end was to be sublime or ridiculous time alone could tell. Certain it is that when his sanguine temper and youthful blood stirred him up to take hold of such an enterprise, he little dreamed of what it would involve. He thought lightly of a few thousands risked in an uncertain venture; but never imagined that he might yet be drawn on to stake upon its success the whole fortune he had accumulated; that he was to sacrifice all the peace and quiet he had hoped to enjoy; and that for twelve years he was to be almost without a home, crossing and re-crossing the sea, urging his enterprise in Europe and America. But so it is, that the Being who designs great things for human welfare, and would accomplish them by human instruments, does not lift at once the curtain from the stern realities they are to meet, nor reveal the rugged ascents they are to climb; so that it is only when at last the heights are attained, and they look backward, that they realize through what they have passed. But could he find anybody to join him in his bold undertaking? Starving adventurers there always are, ready to embark in any Quixotic attempt, since they have nothing to lose. But would men of sense and of character; men who had fortunes to keep, and the habit which business gives of looking calmly and suspiciously at probabilities; be found to put capital in an enterprise where, if it failed, they would find their money literally at the bottom of the sea? It seemed doubtful, but he would try. His plan was, if possible, to enlist ten capitalists, all gentlemen of wealth, who together could lift a pretty heavy load; who, if need were, could easily raise a million of dollars, to carry out any undertaking. The first man whom he addressed was his next-door neighbor, Mr. Peter Cooper, in whom he found the indisposition which a man of large fortune--now well advanced in life--would naturally feel to embark in new enterprises. The reluctance in this case was not so much to the risking of capital, as to having his mind occupied with the care which it would impose. These objections slowly yielded to other considerations. As they talked it over, the large heart of Mr. Cooper began to see that, if it were possible to accomplish such a work, it would be a great public benefit. This consideration prevailed, and what would not have been undertaken as a private speculation, was yielded to public interest. The conference ended by a conditional agreement to engage in it, if several others did, and, as we shall see, when the Company was organized, he became its President.