238 SAMUEL FIN LEY B REESE MORSE. 



telegraph to see William.' And, full of emotion, 

 she left the office." 



All these years Morse was longing for a home. 

 In 1845 he wrote his daughter, who was now mar- 

 ried and living in Porto Rico, in the West Indies, 

 " I do long for the time, if it shall be permitted, 

 to have you, with your husband and little Charles, 

 around me ; I feel my loneliness more and more 

 keenly every day. Fame and money are, in them- 

 selves, a poor substitute for domestic happiness : 

 as means to that end, I value them. Yesterday 

 was the sad anniversary (the twentieth) of your 

 dear mother's death, and I spent the most of it in 

 thinking of her." 



Two years later he purchased two hundred acres 

 on the Hudson Elver, near Poughkeepsie, calling it 

 " Locust Grove," and built a handsome and spacious 

 Italian villa for his residence. With the telegraph 

 in his library, he could now converse with men in 

 all parts of the world. Here he gathered his chil- 

 dren and grandchildren around him. He was now 

 fifty-six years old. Fame and money had come 

 late in life. The next year he married Miss Sarah 

 E. Griswold, the daughter of his cousin, a lady 

 thirty years his junior. 



His life here was peaceful and happy, most of 

 the day being spent in reading and writing. He 

 was very fond of nature. One of his daughters 

 writes : " He loved flowers. He would take one in 

 his hand, and talk for hours about its beauty, its 

 wonderful construction, and the wisdom and love of 



