"Professor," said the young fellow, "I'm sorry to say I have been disappointed, but I expect the money next week."
"Next week!" cried his needy teacher, "I shall be dead by next week."
"Yes, dead by starvation," was the emphatic answer.
"Would $10 be of any service?" asked the pupil, now impressed with the seriousness of the situation.
"Ten dollars would save my life," was the answer of the poor man, who had been without food for twenty-four hours. You may be sure that Strothers promptly handed him the money.
But in spite of heavy trials and many discouragements he had by 1837 finished a machine which he exhibited in New York. Among those present was a gifted and inventive young man by the name of Alfred Vail. Greatly impressed, he told Morse that he believed the telegraph would be successful, and later he joined Morse in a business compact.
Alfred Vail's father and brother were wealthy men, the owners of large iron and brass mills, and he himself was skilful in working brass. Morse was therefore glad to accept him as a partner, especially on account of his good financial backing. Young Vail was full of hope and enthusiasm, and was of great assistance in devising suitable apparatus for the telegraph.
But in spite of this substantial and timely aid, a patent was not secured until 1840. Then followed a tedious effort to induce the government at Washington to adopt and apply the invention. Finally, after much delay, the House of Representatives passed a bill "appropriating $30,000 for a trial of the telegraph." As you may know, a bill cannot become a law unless the Senate also passes it, but the Senate did not seem inclined to favor this one. Many people believed that the whole idea of the telegraph was rank folly. They regarded Morse and the telegraph very much as people had regarded Fulton and the steamboat, and ridiculed him as a crazy-brained fellow.
Up to the evening of the last day of the session the bill had not been considered by the Senate. Morse sat anxiously waiting in the Senate chamber until nearly midnight, when, believing there was no longer any hope, he withdrew and went home with a heavy heart.
Imagine his surprise, therefore, next morning, when a young woman, Miss Annie G. Ellsworth, congratulated him at breakfast on the passage of his bill. At first he could scarcely believe the good news, but when he found that Miss Ellsworth was telling him the truth his joy was unbounded, and he promised her that she should choose the first message.