to it can
be applied '_a mode of filling lead-pipe with wire_,' for which Professor
Fisher and myself have entered a caveat at the Patent Office."

Vail gladly agreed to serve as assistant in the construction of the line,
and, on March 21 signed the following agreement:--

PROFESSOR MORSE,--As an assistant in the telegraphic experiment
contemplated by the Act of Congress lately passed, I can superintend and
procure the making of the _Instruments complete_ according to your
direction, namely: the registers, the correspondents with their magnets,
the batteries, the reels, and the paper, and will attend to the procuring
of the acids, the ink, and the preparation of the various stations. I
will assist in filling the tubes with wire, and the resinous coating, and
I will devote my whole time and attention to the business so as to secure
a favorable result, and should you wish to devolve upon me any other
business connected with the Telegraph, I will cheerfully undertake it.

Three dollars per diem, with travelling expenses, I shall deem a
satisfactory salary.

Very respectfully, your ob't ser't,
ALFRED VAIL.

Professor Fisher was detailed to superintend the manufacture of the wire,
its insulation and its insertion in the lead tubes, and Professor Gale's
scientific knowledge was to be placed at the disposal of the patentees
wherever and whenever it should be necessary. F.O.J. Smith undertook to
secure a favorable contract for the trenching, which was necessary to
carry out the first idea of placing the wires underground, and Morse
himself was, of course, to be general superintendent of the whole
enterprise.

In advertising for lead pipe the following quaint answer was received
from Morris, Tasker & Morris, of Philadelphia:--

"Thy advertisements for about one hundred and twenty miles of 1/2 in.
lead tube, for Electro Magnetic Telegraphic purposes, has induced us to
forward thee some samples of Iron Tube for thy inspection. The quantity
required and the terms of payment are the inducement to offer it to thee
at the exceeding low price here stated, which thou wilt please keep _to
thyself undivulged to other person_, etc., etc."

As iron tubing would not have answered Morse's purpose, this decorous
solicitation was declined with thanks.

During the first few months everything worked smoothly, and the prospect
of an early completion of the line was bright. Morse kept all his
accounts in the most businesslike manner, an