xecuting the commissions
which had been promised him the year before in New Hampshire. In all his
journeyings back and forth the road invariably led through Concord, and
the pure love of the young people for each other increased as the months
rolled by. I shall not profane the sacredness of this love by introducing
any of the more intimate passages of their letters of this and of later
years. The young girl responded readily to the religious exhortations of
her _fiance_ and became a sincere and devout Christian.

It will not be necessary to follow him in this journey, as the
experiences were but a repetition of those of the year before. He painted
many portraits in Concord, Hanover, and other places, and finally
concluded to venture on a trip to Charleston, South Carolina, where his
kinsman, Dr. Finley, and Mr. John A. Alston had urged him to come,
assuring him good business.

On January 27, 1818, he arrived in that beautiful Southern city and thus
announced his arrival to his parents: "I find myself in a new climate,
the weather warm as our May. I have been introduced to a number of
friends. I think my prospects are favorable."

At first, however, the promised success did not materialize, and it was
not until after many weeks of waiting that the tide turned. But it did
turn, for an excellent portrait of Dr. Finley, one of the best ever
painted by Morse, aroused the enthusiasm of the Charlestonians, and
orders began to pour in, so that in a few weeks he was engaged to paint
one hundred and fifty portraits at sixty dollars each. Quite an advance
over the meagre fifteen dollars he had received in New England. But for
some of his more elaborate productions he received even more, as the
following extract from a letter of Mr. John A. Alston, dated April 7,
1818, will prove:--

"I have just received your favor of the 30th ultimo, and thank you very
cordially for your goodness in consenting to take my daughter's
full-length likeness in the manner I described, say twenty-four inches in
length. I will pay you most willingly the two hundred dollars you require
for it, and will consider myself a gainer by the bargain. I shall expect
you to decorate this picture with the most superb landscape you are
capable of designing, and that you will produce a masterpiece of
painting. I agree to your taking it with you to the northward to finish
it. Be pleased to represent my daughter in the finest attitude you can
conceive."

Mr. Alsto