s greatly enjoyed by all in spite
of certain drawbacks incidental to the tropics, to one of which he
alludes in a letter to his sister-in-law, Mrs. Goodrich, who was then in
Europe. Speaking of his wife he says: "She is dreadfully troubled with a
plague which, if you have been in Italy, I am sure you are no stranger
to. '_Pulci, pulci._' If you have not had a colony of them settled upon
you, and quartered, and giving you no quarter, you have been an exception
to travellers in Italy. Well, I will pit any two _pulci_ of Porto Rico
against any ten you can bring from Italy, and I should be sure to see
them bite the dust before the bites of our Porto Rico breed."

His letters are filled with apothegms and reflections on life in general
and his own in particular, and they alone would almost fill a book. In a
letter to Mr. Kendall, of March 30, we find the following:--

"I had hoped to return from honors abroad to enjoy a little rest from
litigation at home, but, if I must take up arms, I hope to be able to use
them efficiently in self-defense, and in a chivalrous manner as becometh
a '_Knight_.' I have no reason to complain of my position abroad, but I
suppose, as I am not yet under the ground, honors to a living inventor
must have their offset in the attacks of envy and avarice.

"'Wrath is cruel, but who can stand before envy?' says the wise man. The
contest with the envious is indeed an annoyance, but, if one's spirit is
under the right guidance and revenge does not actuate the strife, victory
is very certain. My position is now such before the world that I shall
use it rather to correct my own temper than to make it a means of
arrogant exultation."

He and his family left the island in the middle of April, 1859, and in
due time reached their Poughkeepsie home. The "Daily Press" of that city
gave the following account of the homecoming:--

"For some time previous to the hour at which the train was to arrive
hundreds of people were seen flocking from all directions to the railroad
depot, both in carriages and on foot, and when the train did arrive, and
the familiar and loved form of Professor Morse was recognized on the
platform of the car, the air was rent with the cheers of the assembled
multitude. As soon as the cheers subsided Professor Morse was approached
by the committee of reception and welcomed to the country of his birth
and to the home of his adoption.

"A great procession was then formed composed of the car