SAMUEL FINLEY BREESE MORSE. 227 



" Not one of all the brilliant scientific men who 

 have attached their names to the history of electro- 

 magnetism had brought the means to produce the 

 practical registering telegraph. Some of them had 

 ascended the tower that looked out on the field of 

 conquest. Some of them brought keener vision 

 than others. Some of them stood higher than 

 others ; but the genius of invention had not recog- 

 nized them. There was needed an inventor."^! 



As soon as Morse left the ship Sully, and met 

 his brothers Richard and Sidney, he told them that 

 he had made an important invention, " one that 

 would astonish the world, and of the success of 

 which he was perfectly sanguine." He became an 

 inmate of Richard's house, living there several 

 months. 



From this time onward for twelve years he 

 labored to give his telegraph to mankind; labored 

 in the midst of distressing poverty, the ridicule of 

 acquaintances, and the indifference of the world. 

 Three motherless children were dependent upon 

 him, but he could do little for them. 



On the corner of Nassau and Beekman Streets, 

 in the newspaper building erected by his brothers, 

 they were the editors and proprietors of the 

 " New York Observer," in the fifth story, a room 

 was assigned to him which he used for studio, 

 sleeping-room, kitchen, and workshop. On one 

 side was his cot, on the other his tools and crude 

 machine. He whittled the models, and then made 

 the moulds and castings. Here, from day to day, 



