know, a bill cannot become a law unless the Senate also passes
it. But the Senate did not seem friendly to this one. Many believed that
the whole idea of the telegraph was rank folly. They thought of Morse and
the telegraph very much as people had thought of Fulton and the steamboat,
and made fun of him as a crazy-brained fellow.

Up to the evening of the last day of the session the bill had not been
taken up by the Senate. Morse sat anxiously waiting in the Senate Chamber
until nearly midnight, when, believing there was no longer any hope, he
left the room and went home with a heavy heart.

Imagine his surprise the next morning, when a young woman, Miss Ellsworth,
congratulated him at breakfast upon the passage of his bill. At first he
could scarcely believe the good news, but when he found that she was
telling him the truth his joy was unbounded, and he promised her that she
should choose the first message.

By the next year (1844) a telegraph-line, extending from Baltimore to
Washington, was ready for use. On the day appointed for trial Morse met a
party of friends in the chambers of the Supreme Court at the Washington
end of the line and, sitting at the instrument which he had himself placed
for trial, the happy inventor sent the message selected by Miss Ellsworth:
"What hath God wrought!"

The telegraph was a great and brilliant achievement, and brought to its
inventor well-earned fame. Now that success had come, honors were showered
upon him by many countries. At the suggestion of the French Emperor,
representatives from many countries in Europe met in Paris to decide upon
some suitable testimonial to Morse as one who had done so much for the
world. These delegates voted him a sum amounting to eighty thousand
dollars as a token of appreciation for his great invention.

In 1872 this noble inventor, at the ripe age of eighty-one, breathed his
last. The grief of the people all over the land was strong proof of the
place he held in the hearts of his countrymen.

SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

1. Tell all you can about John Fitch's steamboats.

2. Give examples which indicate young Fulton's inventive gifts. Imagine
yourself on the banks of the North River on the day set for the trial of
the Clermont, and tell what happened.

3. What and where was the National Road?

4. In what ways was the Erie Canal useful to the people?

5. Describe the first railroads and the first trains.

6. Tell what you can about Mo