oticed Morse went
up to him and said:

"There is no use in your staying here. The Senate is not in sympathy
with your project. I advise you to give it up, return home, and think
no more about it."

The inventor went back to his room, with how heavy a heart we may
well imagine. He paid his board bill, and found himself with but
thirty-seven cents in the world. After many moments of earnest prayer
he retired.

Early next morning there came to him Miss Annie Ellsworth, daughter of
his friend the Commissioner of Patents, and said, "Professor, I have
come to congratulate you."

"Congratulate me!" replied Morse. "On what?"

"Why," she exclaimed, "on the passage of your bill by the Senate!"

The bill had been passed without debate in the closing moments of the
session. As Morse afterward stated, this was the turning-point in the
history of the telegraph. His resources were reduced to the minimum,
and there was little likelihood that he would have again been able to
bring the matter to the attention of Congress.

So pleased was Morse over the news of the appropriation, and so
grateful to Miss Ellsworth for her interest in bringing him the good
news, that he promised her that she should send the first message
when the line was complete. With the Government appropriation at his
disposal, Morse immediately set to work upon the Washington-Baltimore
line. Professors Gale and Fisher served as his assistants, and Mr.
Vail was in direct charge of the construction work. Another person
active in the enterprise was Ezra Cornell, who was later to found
Cornell University. Cornell had invented a machine for laying wires
underground in a pipe.

It was originally planned to place the wires underground, as this was
thought necessary or their protection. After running the line some
five miles out from Baltimore it was found that this method of
installing the line was to be a failure. The insulation was not
adequate, and the line could not be operated to the first relay
station. A large portion of the $30,000 voted by Congress had been
spent and the line was still far from completion. Disaster seemed
imminent. Smith lost all faith in the enterprise, demanded most of the
remaining money under a contract he had taken to lay the line, and a
quarrel broke out between him and Morse which further jeopardized the
undertaking.

Morse and such of his lieutenants as remained faithful in this hour of
trial, after a long consultation, decided t