The beginner's American history . l make just the markshe wanted it should ; that meant that he had invented theelectric telegraph; for if he could do this over a mile of wire, then what was to hinderhis doing it over a hundred oreven a thousand miles ? 223. How Professor Morse livedwhile he was making his telegraph.— But all this was not done ina day, for this invention costyears of patient labor. At first,Mr. Morse lived in a little roomby himself : there he worked andate, when he could get anythingto eat ; and slept, if he wasnttoo tired to sleep. Later, hehad a room in the
The beginner's American history . l make just the markshe wanted it should ; that meant that he had invented theelectric telegraph; for if he could do this over a mile of wire, then what was to hinderhis doing it over a hundred oreven a thousand miles ? 223. How Professor Morse livedwhile he was making his telegraph.— But all this was not done ina day, for this invention costyears of patient labor. At first,Mr. Morse lived in a little roomby himself : there he worked andate, when he could get anythingto eat ; and slept, if he wasnttoo tired to sleep. Later, hehad a room in the he was there he paintedpictures to get money enough tobuy food ; there, too (1839), hetook the first photograph evermade in America. Yet withall his hard work there weretimes when he had to go hun-gry, and once he told a youngman that if he did not getsome money he should be dead in a week — dead of star-vation. 224. Professor Morse gets help about his telegraph; whatAlfred Vail did. — But better times were coming. A young. i7 in •lilt A Copy of the First PhotographMADE IN America. (The tower of the Church of the Mes-siah, in New York. The church isno longer standing.) PROFESSOR MORSE. 179 man named Alfred Vail ^ happened to see ProfessorMorses telegraph. He believed it would be persuaded his father, Judge Vail, to lend him twothousand dollars, and he became Professor Morses partnerin the work. Mr. Vail was an excellent mechanic, and hemade many improvements in the telegraph. He thenmade a model ^ of it at his own expense, and took it toWashington and got a patent ^ for it in Professor Morsesname. The invention was now safe in one way, for noone else had the right to make a telegraph like his. Yet,though he had this help, Professor Morse did not get onvery fast, for a few years later he said, * I have not a centin the world ; I am crushed for want of means. 225. Professor Morse asks Congress to help him build atelegraph line ; what Congress thought. — P
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