explained-of dots, spaces and dashes, and by a combination of these the whole alphabet is formed, the letters made into words, and the words into sentences. The electro-magnet is fitted with an armature, whose attraction and withdrawal gives motion to the lever. Instead of reading off from the strip of paper, operators in time trusted to sound.

But, though Professor Morse exhibited the model of his recording apparatus in 1835 and 1836, it was not until after some years' additional toil that he brought it to the above-described efficiency and its subsequent improvement and perfection. He made no efforts to bring the matter definitely before the public until the autumn of 1837, when, in its advanced state of completion, he exhibited to an appreciating and wonder-struck auditory, its marvelous operation. The announcement of the invention and its astonishing capacity, was for a long time the most prominent theme of public and private discussion, admiration being largely mingled with blank incredulity, and not a little ridicule. Even in congress, on the application of Professor Morse for government aid, to enable him to demonstrate the value of his invention by constructing a line between Washington and Baltimore, in 1838, there were not found wanting learned legislators who treated the idea as a mere chimera. It was the same congress of which Espy, the "Storm King," was asking assistance, to test his favorite theory, then so prominently discussed.

Both Morse and Espy, says a writer of that time and the event, became the butt of ridicule, the target of merciless arrows of wit. They were voted downright bores, and the idea of giving them money was pronounced farcical. They were considered monomaniacs, and as such were laughed at, punned upon, and made the standing staple for jokes. One morning, however, a gentleman rose from his seat in the house-quite to the astonishment of everybody, for he had never been known to speak before, unless it was to vote or to address the speaker,-and said,

"I hold in my hand a resolution, which I respectfully offer for the consideration of the house." In a moment a page was at his desk, and the resolution was transferred to the speaker and by him delivered to the clerk, who read as follows: "Resolved, That the committee of ways and means be instructed to inquire into the expediency of appropriating $30,000, to enable Professor Morse to establish a line of telegraph between Washington and Baltimore." The gentleman who offered it was Mr. Ferris, one of the New York representatives, a man of wealth and learning, but modest, retiring, and diffident.

This being merely a resolution of inquiry, it passed without opposition, and, out of regard to the mover, without comment. In time, it came before the committee, all the members of which had, by their public services and brilliant talents, acquired a national reputation. The clerk of the committee read the resolution. The chairman, Mr. Fillmore, in a clear, distinct voice, said, "Gentlemen, what disposition shall be made of it?" There was a dead pause around the table. No one seemed inclined to take the initiative. It was expected that, inasmuch as the mover of the resolution in the house was a democrat, the democratic side of the committee would stand god-father to it there. But not a bit of it. They felt that the whole thing was preposterous and deserving of no countenance. At length, one on the other side broke the ominous silence by moving that the committee instruct the chairman to report a bill to the house, appropriating thirty thousand dollars for the purpose named in the resolution.

This movement "brought them all up standing!" No speeches were made. The question was called for. The yeas and nays were taken alphabetically, and, as four had voted on the affirmative side, and four on the negative, it fell to the lot of Governor Wallace, of Indiana, whose name came last on the list, to decide the question. He, however, had paid no attention to the matter, and, like the majority of

people, considered it a great humbug. He had not the faintest idea of the importance to his country, of the vote he was to cast. But as fortune would have it, the thought came to mind that Mr. Morse was even then experimenting in the capitol with the "new-fangled invention," having stretched a wire from the basement story to the ante-room of the senate chamber. It was therefore in Governor Wallace's power to satisfy himself at once in regard to the question of feasibility, and he determined to try it. He asked leave to consider his vote. This was granted. He immediately stepped out of the committee room, and went to the ante-chamber, which was found crowded with representatives and strangers. Governor Wallace requested permission to put a question to the "madman" (Morse) at the other end of the wire. It was granted immediately. He

of the wire had more wit and force than the congressmen at the other-the laugh was turned completely upon the committee-man. But, as western men are rarely satisfied with one fall-not less than two failures out of three attempts forcing from them. any acknowledgment of defeat, the governor put a second question, and there came a second answer. If the first raised a laugh at his expense, the second converted that laugh into a roar and a shout. He was more than satisfied. Picking up his hat, he bowed himself out of the crowd, the good-natured shout following him as he passed along the passages and halls of the capitol.

As a matter of course, Governor Wallace voted in the affirmative of the motion then pending before the committee, and it prevailed. The chairman reported the bill, the house and senate concurred in its

passage, and thus was Professor Morse successful in this his last struggle to demonstrate the practicability of-as it has proved-the most amazing invention of the age, the electro-magnetic telegraph. If the committee had ignored the proposition, there is no telling what would have been the result. That the experiment would have been finally made, no one can entertain a doubt. But when or by whom is the question. It was not within the range of ordinary individual fortune to make it, and, if it was, none but Professor Morse would have hazarded it.

It appears, however, that Professor Morse came to the last stage of discouragement, in the prosecution of his appeal to congress, before light finally broke in upon him. On the very last day of the session, the bill relating to his case was the one hundred and twentieth on the senate docket, to be acted upon in course. Concerning this scene, a writer in Harper's Monthly states, that during the entire day Professor Morse watched the course of legislation from the gallery with nervous trepidation and the deepest anxiety. At length, worn out by the interminable discussion of some

senator who seemed to be speaking against time, and overcome by by his prolonged watching, he left the gallery at a late hour and went to his lodgings, under the belief that it was not possible his bill could be reached, and that he must again turn his attention to those labors of the brush and easel by means of which he might be enabled to prosecute appeals to congress at a future time. He accordingly made his preparations to return to New York on the following morning, and retiring to rest, sank into a profound slumber, from which he did not awake until a late hour on the following morning. But a short time after, while seated at the breakfast-table, the servant announced that a lady desired to see him. Upon entering the parlor, he found Miss Annie Ellsworth, the daughter of the Commissioner of Patents, whose face was all aglow with pleasure.

"I have come to congratulate you," she remarked, as he entered the room, and approached to shake hands with her.

"To congratulate me!" replied Mr. Morse, "and for what?"

The plans of Mr. Morse were now altogether changed. His journey homeward was abandoned, and he set to work to carry out the project of establishing the line of electro-telegraph, between Washington and Baltimore, authorized by the bill. His first idea was to convey the wires, inclosed in a leaden tube, beneath the ground. He had already arranged a plan by which the wires, insulated by a covering of cotton saturated in gum shellac, were to be inserted into leaden pipes in the process of casting. But after the expenditure of several thousand dollars, and much delay this plan was given up, and the one now in use, of extending them on poles, adopted.

By the month of May, 1844, the whole line was laid, and magnets and recording instruments were attached to the ends of the wires at Mount Clare Depot, Baltimore, and at the supreme court chamber, in the capitol at Washington. When the circuit was complete, and the signal at the one end of the line was responded to by the operator at the other, Mr. Morse sent a messenger to Miss Ellsworth to inform

"You must surely be mistaken; for I left at a late hour, and its fate seemed inevitable."

"Indeed I am not mistaken," she rejoined; "father remained until the close of the session, and your bill was the very last that was acted on, and I begged permission to convey to you the news. I am so happy that I am the first to tell you."

The feelings of Professor Morse may be better imagined than described. He grasped his young companion warmly by the hand, and thanked her over and over again for the joyful intelligence, saying

“As a reward for being the first bearer of this news, you shall send over the telegraph the first message it conveys."

"I will hold you to that promise," replied she; "Remember!"

"Remember!" responded Professor Morse; and they parted.

sage. She speedily responded to this, and sent for transmission the following, which was the first formal dispatch ever sent through a telegraphic wire connecting remote places with each other:

"WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT!"

The original of the message is now in the archives of the Historical Society at Hartford, Connecticut. The practicability and utility of the invention were now clearly and firmly established.

Of the subsequent history and triumphs of this invention, it is scarcely necessary here to speak. The lines of telegraphic communication which now, like a web, traverse the length and breadth of the republic, and which, indeed, connect and cover as with a net work the four continents of the globe,these attest the vastness, influence and power, of this amazing invention. Nor is it necessary to specify the details of those various mechanical improvements in the construction and

young man to proceed to England, upon business; and the lover accordingly arrived, on his route, in New York. In the meantime, the enamored young lady had got an inkling of her father's intentions, and wishing to frustrate them effectually, sent a message to that effect to her lover in New York, by the following expedient: She took her place in the telegraph office in Boston, and he did the same with a magistrate, in the New York office; and now, the exchange of consent being duly given by the electric flash, they were married by telegraph! Shortly after, the lady's father insisted upon her marriage with the gentleman he had selected for her; and judge of his amazement when she told him that she was already married -the wife of Mr. B., then on his way to England; adding an explanation of the novel way in which the ceremony was performed. And so the matter ended; adding another to the triumphs of love andelectricity!

During the revolutionary excitement in Europe, in 1848, the astounding report flashed across Europe, that the king of Prussia had abdicated! The statement originated with the electric telegraph, which sent the following dispatch: "The -King of Prussia-has-gone to Pot-." In another minute, the communication in this form was on its way to the newspaper bulletins, and was immediately telegraphed thence in every direction. Not long after, however, the dial was again agitated, and then "s-dam" was added; making the very quiet piece of news.

"The King of Prussia has gone to Potsdam."

In the early days of telegraphing, the competition for priority among the leading journals was very great, and feats were performed which, for that day of the art's infancy, were indeed marvelous. One instance will suffice:

An important speech by Mr. Clay was much looked for. It was delivered in Lexington, Ky., on a Saturday, and the proprietor of the New York Herald determined on beating his contemporaries. Express riders were ready, and in less than five hours a full report of the speech was in Cincinnati. Notifications had been sent along the line of telegraph to "look out;" and at four o'clock on Sunday morning, the publisher of the Herald had the speech before him in New York-the distance being more than eleven hundred miles. This was done during a heavy rain, and while a thunder shower was passing over a portion of both the eastern and western lines. At Cincinnati, where it was to be copied in passing, the telegraph suddenly ceased working, to the dismay of ` the superintendent. Being short of proper hands, he mounted a horse, and followed the line, through the pelting storm, until he found a break, caused by the falling of a tree, beyond Turtle Creek, a distance of twenty-one miles. He finished mending the break at dark, and then returned to the city, where, in the temporary absence of other competent operators, received the speech and sent it to New York, finishing it at four o'clock in the morning.

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