sit to Porto Rico was a most delightful one to him in many ways,
and I shall have more to say of it further on, but I digress for a moment
to speak of two events which occurred just at this time, and which showed
him that, even in this land of _dolce far niente_, he could not escape
the griefs and cares which are common to all mankind.

Mr. Kendall, in a letter of February 20, announces the death of one of
his early associates: "I presume you will have heard before this reaches
you of the death of Alfred Vail. He had sold most of his telegraph stocks
and told me when I last saw him that it was with difficulty he could
procure the means of comfort for his family."

Morse had heard of this melancholy event, for, in a letter to Mr.
Shaffner of February 22, he says: "Poor Vail! alas, he is gone. I only
heard of the event on Saturday last. This death, and the death of many
friends besides, has made me feel sad. Vail ought to have a proper
notice. He was an upright man, and, although some ways of his made him
unpopular with those with whom he came in contact, yet I believe his
intentions were good, and his faults were the result more of ill-health,
a dyspeptic habit, than of his heart."

He refers to this also in a letter to his brother Sidney of February 23:
"Poor Vail is gone. He was the innocent cause of the original difficulty
with the sensitive Henry, he all the time earnestly desirous of doing him
honor."

And on March 30, he answers Mr. Kendall's letter: "I regret to learn that
poor Vail was so straitened in his circumstances at his death. I intend
paying a visit to his father and family on my return. I may be able to
relieve them in some degree."

This intention he fulfilled, as we shall see later on, and I wish to call
special attention to the tone of these letters because, as I have said
before, Morse has been accused of gross ingratitude and injustice towards
Alfred Vail, whereas a careful and impartial study of all the
circumstances of their connection proves quite the contrary. Vail's
advocates, in loudly claiming for him much more than the evidence shows
he was entitled to, have not hesitated to employ gross personal abuse of
Morse in their newspaper articles, letters, etc., even down to the
present day. This has made my task rather difficult, for, while earnestly
desirous of giving every possible credit to Vail, I have been compelled
to introduce much evidence, which I should have preferred to omit, to
sho