. Bell telephone magazine . to speak with was greeted by the smiling faceof Miss Annie Ellsworth, daughterof his friend the Commissioner ofPatents. To his surprise, she said: I have come to congratulate you. Indeed, for what? asked theperplexed Morse. On the passage of your bill, wasthe girls beaming reply. It was difficult for Miss Ellsworthto convince Morse that what she had 1944 A Century of Electrical Communication 45 told him was true. Finally he saidYou are the first to inform me, andnow I am going to make you a prom-ise : the first dispatch on the com-pleted line shall be yours.
. Bell telephone magazine . to speak with was greeted by the smiling faceof Miss Annie Ellsworth, daughterof his friend the Commissioner ofPatents. To his surprise, she said: I have come to congratulate you. Indeed, for what? asked theperplexed Morse. On the passage of your bill, wasthe girls beaming reply. It was difficult for Miss Ellsworthto convince Morse that what she had 1944 A Century of Electrical Communication 45 told him was true. Finally he saidYou are the first to inform me, andnow I am going to make you a prom-ise : the first dispatch on the com-pleted line shall be yours. More than a year was occupied inthe construction of the line, but hedid not forget his promise. Thewords selected bv Miss Ellsworth for tion in the affairs of men, to bringabout what the facts had repeatedlysaid was impossible. Morse must have had an equallyfirm faith that events would provethat there was a need for his inven-tion—as they were to do. Thismoment of success could hardly havebeen timed more fortunately. The. x:^^,^^.9?i^^^ the dispatch, as has been said, were:What hath God wrought I In hishour of success, following twelveyears of disappointment and appar-ent failure, they must have seemedparticularly appropriate to was a faith, not alone in himselfand in the soundness of his idea, butin the possibility of divine Interven- era was ripe for some new and swifterform of communication. Nationalnecessities demanded it. During thenext century, these necessities wereto become more and more urgent, andwould demand still more effectivemeans of speeding the written word,and the spoken word as well. Some of these needs were eco- 46 Bell Telephone Magazine SPRING nomic. The pressure of populationwas accelerating the pace of the con-quest of the continent. For all ex-cept the most conservative, life alongthe eastern seaboard was becomingtoo crowded. Men wanted elbow-room, and sought it in the traveled. Little bands, at first,and then great caravans, began
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