216 SAMUEL FIN LEY BREESE MORSE. 



times, from daylight until eleven o'clock at night, 

 solving a simple problem. 



"How I do long to see that dear little girl of 

 mine, and to hear her sweet prattle ! Instruct her 

 early, my dear wife, in the most important of all 

 concerns ; teach her that there is a great Father 

 above, her obligations to him and to her Saviour. 

 Kiss her often for papa, and tell her he will come 

 back one of these days." 



So absorbed did he become in this picture, that 

 once he arose in the night, mistaking the light of 

 the moon for the day, and went to his work, and 

 another time attempted to enter the hall on Sun- 

 day, forgetting even the days of the week. When 

 the work was finished and exhibited, everybody 

 was too much interested in his own affairs to care 

 about congressmen, and the picture failed to attract 

 the public. It proved a loss pecuniarily, and was 

 purchased by an Englishman and taken to England. 

 Twenty-five years afterward, it was found in the 

 third story of a store in New York, nailed against 

 a board partition, and covered with dust. It had 

 been sent over from London by a house which had 

 advanced a sum of money upon it while in Eng- 

 land. The picture afterward became the property 

 of the artist Daniel Huntington. 



Morse now went to Albany, hoping to obtain 

 some patronage from public men. After long 

 waiting, he writes to his wife : " I have not as yet 

 received any application for a portrait. Many tell 

 me I have come at the wrong time the same tune 



