gested the thought some twenty years ago, I might have had a quiet
residence in a big building in your vicinity."

The first part of this prophecy was actually realized, for in 1858, just
three years after the date of this letter, communication was established
between the two continents and was maintained for twenty days. Then it
suddenly and mysteriously ceased, and not till 1866 was the indomitable
perseverance of Cyrus Field crowned with permanent success.

More of the details of this stupendous undertaking will be told in the
proper chronological order, but before leaving the letter to Mr. Walker,
just quoted from, I wish to note that when Morse speaks of sitting in his
office and communicating by a touch of the key with the outside world, he
refers to the fact that the telegraph companies with which he was
connected had obligingly run a short line from the main line (which at
that time was erected along the highway from New York to Albany) into his
office at Locust Grove, Poughkeepsie, so that he was literally in touch
with every place of any importance in the United States.

Always solicitous for the welfare of mankind in general, he says in a
letter to Norvin Green, in July, 1855, after discussing the proposed
cable: "The effects of the Telegraph on the interests of the world,
political, social and commercial have, as yet, scarcely begun to be
apprehended, even by the most speculative minds. I trust that one of its
effects will be to bind man to his fellow-man in such bonds of amity as
to put an end to war. I think I can predict this effect as in a not
distant future."

Alas! in this he did not prove himself a true prophet, although it must
be conceded that many wars have been averted or shortened by means of the
telegraph, and there are some who hope that a warless age is even now
being conceived in the womb of time.

On July 18, 1855, he writes to his good friend Dr. Gale: "I have no time
to add, as every moment is needed to prepare for my Newfoundland
expedition, to be present at laying down the first submarine cable _of
any considerable length_ on this side the water, although the first for
telegraph purposes, you well remember, we laid between Castle Garden and
Governor's Island in 1842."

On the 7th of August, Morse, with his wife and their eldest son, a lad of
six, joined a large company of friends on board the steamer James Adger
which sailed for Newfoundland. There they were to meet the Sarah L.
Br