Home school of American history; embracing the growth and achievements of our country from the earliest days of discovery and settlement to the present eventful year .. . ss withtheir j)lea for an appro-priation. Ezra Cornell,founder of Cornell Uni-versity, gave assistance,and, finally, in the very closing days of the session of Congress in 1844, an ap-propriation of $30,000 was made to defray the expenses of a line between Bal-timore and Washington. The invention, like most others of an important nature, was subjected tomerciless ridicule. A wag hung a pair of muddy boots out of a window inWa
Home school of American history; embracing the growth and achievements of our country from the earliest days of discovery and settlement to the present eventful year .. . ss withtheir j)lea for an appro-priation. Ezra Cornell,founder of Cornell Uni-versity, gave assistance,and, finally, in the very closing days of the session of Congress in 1844, an ap-propriation of $30,000 was made to defray the expenses of a line between Bal-timore and Washington. The invention, like most others of an important nature, was subjected tomerciless ridicule. A wag hung a pair of muddy boots out of a window inWashington, with a placard announcing that they belonged to a man who had justarrived by telegraph ; another placed a package on the wires, and called to hisfriends to see it whisked away by lightning; while many opposed the apparentexperimenting with the electric fluid, which they believed would work all sortsof mischief Nevertheless, the patient toilers kept at work, often stopped byaccident, and in the face of all manner of opposition. The first line was laidunderground, and, as has been shown, carried the news of Polks nominationfor the presidency to THE SPEEDWELL IRON WOEKS, MOEHISTOWW, N. J. Here was forged the shaft for the Savannah, the first steamship which crossed theAtlantic. Here was mauiifactured the tires, axles and cranks of the first Americanlocomotive. Shop in which Vail and Baxter constrncted tlie first telegraph appa-ratus, invented by Morse, for exhibition before Congress. THE FIRST TELEGRAM. 237 Professor Morse was in Washington, and the first message was dictated byAnnie Ellsworth, Marcli 28, 1844, and received by Alfred Vail, forty miles awayin Baltimore. It consisted of the words, What hath God wrought? and thetelegram is now in the jiossession of the Connecticut Historical Society. It maybe said that since then the earth has been girdled by telegraph lines, numbersof wliich pass under the ocean, uniting all nations and the uttermost extremiti
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