THE sciEN'ribr. 
wisliiii;^ she coukl hear of my arrival 
and thiiikhig of thousands of accidents 
which may have befallen me. I wish 
that in an instant I could communicate the, 
information, but three tliousand miles are 
not p'.isscd ovei- in an instant and we 
must wait lor long- weeks before we can 
he:ir Irom each other." 
Soon after liis arrival in London lie 
took up his studies under Benjamin 
West. Upon his first visit to AVest's 
studio he found him nt work retoucliing 
a portrait of King George JIT. West 
said: i he King was sitting to me for 
this portrait when the box containing the 
American Declaration of Independence 
was placed in his hands.'' Indeed! said 
Morse, and what appeared to be the 
emotions of the King! What did he say? 
All he said, replied West, was ''If they 
can be happier under the Government 
they have chosen than under mine, I shall 
be happ3\" Morse remained with West 
until 1815 during which time he applied 
himself diligently to his work and made 
good progress. He here foi-med a lasting 
friendship with the Poet Coleridge, Wm. 
Wilberforce and Henry Thornton, both 
Members of Parlimeht; Zachary Macau- 
lay, (father of the historian,) and others 
that helped him greatly on his w^iy to 
fame as an Artist. In 1813 he finished 
his famous picture of the "Dying Hercu- 
les" foi- which he received a gold medal 
and honorable mention from the Duke 
of N"orfolk, upon the picture being ex- 
hibited in the Koj^al Exhibition at So- 
merset House. 
In 1815 he returned to America in the 
ship Ceres, and landed in Boston after a 
voyage of fifty-eight days, and an absence 
of more than four years. Soon after his 
return he invented a pump to which he 
humorously gave the name of '"Morse's 
Patent Metallic, Double Headed Ocean 
Drinking, and Deluge Spouting Valve 
Pump," He obtained patents on this de- 
vice for Fire Engine purposes, and it was 
quite extensively and successfully used 
as such in various New England towns. 
The New Hampshire Patriot of April I t, 
1818 has this notice: 
"An additional fire Engine has been 
purchased by the inhabitants of this 
towMi. It is a new invention of JNir. IMorse 
the celebrated Artist, and is procured for 
about half the usual cost, say two hun- 
dred dollars. It requires much less man- 
ual labor, and tlirows the w^ater a greater 
distance, and in larger quantities than 
the old ones, etc. etc. (I believe these En- 
gines throw aboui three barrels of water, 
eight feet in five seconds by the com 
bined efforts of eight men.)" ' 
On Oct. 1st, 1818, Mr. Morse married 
MissLucretia Pickring Walker, daughter 
of Charles Walker Esq. of Concord, N. IT. 
Three children were born to them, Snsan 
Walker, 1819; Charles Walker, 1821 and 
James Edward Finley, 1823. Susan mar- 
ried Edward Lind, a wealthy planter of 
Arroyo, Porto-RIco, West Indies, where 
she lived for forty years, and after be- 
coming a widow, was lost at sea while 
en-route to Havana from Poito-Pico in 
company with the writer in 1886. Chas. 
Walkei", (my father,) mari-ied Mannete 
Antil, daughter of B. B. Lancing Esq.. of 
Utica,N. y. He was a Civil and Topo- 
graphical Engineer, and made the origi- 
nal survey of Denver, Colorado an'd the 
neighboring country. Was one of the 
oi'ganizers of the band that brought fn- 
capadusa to justice for the Spirit Lake 
Massacre, and was otherwise indentified 
with the early settlement of the far west. 
In later years he resided at Say Brook, 
Conn, where he died in 1887. 
James Edwards is still living a 
bachelor. 
Soon after his marriage in 1818 Morse 
went to Charleston, S. C, where he met 
with much success. While here he 
painted among others the portraits of Dr. 
Finley, Commodore Perry, President 
Moin-oe, Maj, Gen. Pinckney, Col. Dray- 
ton and many other notables. In 1820 he 
fomided the South Carolina Academy of 
