UT UP FOR.]

For nearly a year after that the telegraph was free to all who wished
to use it; then a small charge was made, a very short message costing
only one cent. On the first of April, 1845, a man came into the office
and bought a cent's worth of telegraphing. That was all the money
which was taken that day for the use of forty miles of wire. Now there
are about two hundred thousand miles of telegraph line in the United
States, or more than enough to reach eight times round the earth,
and the messages sent bring in over seventy thousand dollars every
day; and we can telegraph not only clear across America, but clear
across the Atlantic Ocean by a line laid under the sea. Professor
Morse's invention made it possible for people to write by
electricity; but now, by means of the telephone, a man in New York
can talk with his friend in Philadelphia, Boston, and many other
large cities, and his friend listening at the other end of the wire
can hear every word he says. Professor Morse did not live long enough
to see this wonderful invention, which, in some ways, is an
improvement even on his telegraph.

[Illustration: HOW A MESSAGE BY TELEGRAPH IS SENT.[11]]

[Footnote 9: Telephone (tel'e-fone): this name is made up of two
Greek words, the first of which means _far off_, and the second, _a
voice or sound_. The telephone was invented by Professor Alexander
G. Bell of Boston; he completed it in 1876. Professor Bell now lives
in Washington.]

[Footnote 10: See Num. xxiii. 23.]

[Footnote 11: When the button at Chicago is pressed down, the
electricity passing over the wire to Denver presses the point there
down on the paper, and so makes a dot or dash which stands for a letter
on the roll of paper as it passes under it. In this way words and
messages are spelled out. The message on the strip of paper above
is the question, _How is trade?_]

228. Summary.--Professor Morse invented the Electric Telegraph. He
received much help from Mr. Alfred Vail. In 1844 Professor Morse and
Mr. Vail built the first line of telegraph in the United States, or
in the world. It extended from Washington to Baltimore. The telegraph
makes it possible for us to send a written message thousands of miles
in a moment; by the telephone, which was invented after Professor
Morse's death, we can talk with people who are several hundreds of
miles away and hear what they say in reply.

Tell how they sent the news of the completion of the Erie Ca