.SM.vr.EL FlNLEY B REESE MORSE. 285 



and finally went to his hotel, nearly prostrated 

 from disappointment. 



In the morning, as he came down to breakfast. 

 Annie Gr. Ellsworth, the daughter of his old friend, 

 the Commissioner of Patents, came toward him 

 with a bright smile, saying : " I have come to 

 congratulate you ! " 



" For what, my dear friend ? " 

 " On the passage of your bill." 



Morse could scarcely believe the good news, 

 that the bill had passed, in the last moments of the 

 session, without opposition. He was nearly over- 

 come with joy, and told the young lady that she 

 should send the first message over the first line. 



He at once proceeded to construct the first line 

 of his electric telegraph between Washington and 

 Baltimore. Ezra Cornell, later one of the most 

 successful constructors and largest proprietors of 

 telegraphs, and the founder of Cornell University, 

 was employed at a salary of one thousand dollars a 

 year. 



After many perplexities, the line was completed. 

 On May 24, 1844, Morse invited his friends to 

 assemble in the chamber of the United States 

 Supreme Court, where he had his instrument in 

 connection with Baltimore. Annie Ellsworth's 

 mother had suggested to her these words from the 

 Bible, for the first message : " What hath God 

 wrought ! " No words could have been more in 

 accordance with Morse's feelings. Taking his seat 

 at the instrument, he spelled out the words, and 



