ed by the following letter:--

Mr. D.C. DeForest's compliments to Mr. Morse. Mr. DeForest desires to
have his portrait taken such as it would have been six or eight years
ago, making the necessary calculation for it, and at the same time making
it a good likeness in all other respects.

This reason is not to make himself younger, but to appear to children and
grandchildren more suitably matched as to age with their mother and
grandmother.

If Mr. Morse is at leisure and disposed to undertake this work, he will
please prepare his canvas and let me know when he is ready for my
attendance.

NEW HAVEN,
30th March, 1823.

Whether Morse succeeded to the satisfaction of Mr. DeForest does not
appear from the correspondence, but both this portrait and that of Mrs.
DeForest now hang in the galleries of the Yale School of the Fine Arts,
and are here reproduced so that the reader may judge for himself.

[Illustration: MR. D.C. DE FOREST MRS. D.C. DE FOREST
From "Thistle Prints." Copyright Detroit Publishing Co.
From a painting by Morse now in the Gallery of the Yale School of the
Fine Arts]

On the 17th of May, 1828, the first number of the New York "Observer" was
published. While being a religious newspaper the prospectus says it
"contains also miscellaneous articles and summaries of news and
information on every subject in which the community is interested."

This paper was founded and edited by the two brothers Sidney E. and
Richard C. Morse, who had abandoned respectively the law and the
ministry. It was very successful, and became at one time a power in the
community and is still in existence.

The editorial offices were first established at 50 Wall Street, but later
the brothers bought a lot and erected a building at the corner of Nassau
and Beekman Streets, and that edifice had an important connection with
the invention of the telegraph. On the same site now stands the Morse
Building, a pioneer sky-scraper now sadly dwarfed by its gigantic
neighbors.

The year 1823 was one of mingled discouragement and hope. Compelled to
absent himself from home for long periods in search of work, always
hoping that in some place he would find enough to do to warrant his
bringing his family and making for them a permanent home, his letters
reflect his varying moods, but always with the underlying conviction that
Providence will yet order all things for the best. The letters of the
young wife are pathetic in their expressions of