on his
armor ready to do battle to such foes, both within and without, as should
in the future assail him. Fatalist as we must regard him, he believed in
his star; or rather he went forward with sublime faith in that God who
had thus far guarded him from evil, and in his own good time had given
him the victory, and such a victory! For twelve years he had fought on
through trials and privations, hampered by bodily ailments and the deep
discouragements of those who should have aided him. Pitted against the
trained minds and the wealth of other nations, he had gone forth a very
David to battle, and, like David, the simplicity of his missile had given
him the victory. Other telegraphs had been devised by other men; some had
actually been put into operation, but it would seem as if all the nations
had held their breath until his appeared, and, sweeping all the others
from the field, demonstrated and maintained its supremacy.

From this time forward his life became more complex. Honors were showered
upon him; fame carried his name to the uttermost parts of the earth; his
counsel was sought by eminent scientists and by other inventors, both
practical and visionary.

On the other hand, detractors innumerable arose; his rights to the
invention were challenged, in all sincerity and in insincerity;
infringements of his patent rights necessitated long and acrimonious
lawsuits, and, like other men of mark, he was traduced and vilified. In
addition to all this he took an active interest in the seething politics
of the day and in religious questions which, to his mind and that of many
others, affected the very foundations of the nation.

To follow him through all these labyrinthine ways would require volumes,
and I shall content myself with selecting only such letters as may give a
fair idea of how he bore himself in the face of these new and manifold
trials, of how he sometimes erred in judgment and in action, but how
through all he was sincere and firm in his faith, and how, at last, he
was to find that home and that domestic bliss which he had all his life
so earnestly desired, but which had until the evening of his days been
denied to him.

Having won his great victory, retirement from the field of battle would
have best suited him. He was now fifty-three years of age, and he felt
that he had earned repose. To this end he sought to carry out his
long-cherished idea that the telegraph should become the property of the
Governmen