--Thoughts on art.--Picture of the Louvre.--Rejection as
painter of one of the pictures in the Capitol.--John Quincy Adams.--James
Fenimore Cooper's article.--Death blow to his artistic ambition.--
Washington Allston's letter.--Commission by fellow artists.--Definite
abandonment of art.--Repayment of money advanced.--Death of Lafayette.--
Religious controversies.--Appointed Professor in University of City of
New York.--Description of first telegraphic instrument.--Successful
experiments.--Relay.--Address in 1853.

It was impossible for the inventor during the next few years to devote
himself entirely to the construction of a machine to test his theories,
impatient though he must have been to put his ideas into practical form.
His two brothers came nobly to his assistance, and did what lay in their
power and according to their means to help him; but it was always
repugnant to him to be under pecuniary obligations to any one, and, while
gratefully accepting his brothers' help, he strained every nerve to earn
the money to pay them back. We, therefore, find little or no reference in
the letters of those years to his invention, and it was not until the
year 1835 that he was able to make any appreciable progress towards the
perfection of his telegraphic apparatus. The intervening years were spent
in efforts to rouse an interest in the fine arts in this country; in hard
work in behalf of the still young Academy of Design; and in trying to
earn a living by the practice of his profession.

"During this time," he says, "I never lost faith in the practicability of
the invention, nor abandoned the intention of testing it as soon as I
could command the means." But in order to command the means, he was
obliged to devote himself to his art, and in this he did not meet with
the encouragement which he had expected and which he deserved. His ideals
were always high, perhaps too high for the materialistic age in which he
found himself. The following fugitive note will illustrate the trend of
his thoughts, and is not inapplicable to conditions at the present day:--

"Are not the refining influences of the fine arts needed, doubly needed,
in our country? Is there not a tendency in the democracy of our country
to low and vulgar pleasures and pursuits? Does not the contact of those
more cultivated in mind and elevated in purpose with those who are less
so, and to whom the former look for political favor and power,
necessarily debase that cul