The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1872-04-26
PROFESSOR MORSE.

4 Aso4 41SSO AAS4soDs
The death Of this eminent man Sc
we'll known to Washington has ere
ated profound sensation. His life
service and character have offered
topics of conversation in sll the place:
of public resort in the city. The
birth, progress and wonders of the
telegraph are within the memory oil
nearly all, and many remember the
first model On exhibition in Washing
ton, when practical men shook their
sensible heads as they pronounced the
thing an impossibility and its pro.
jec'or mad. Then came the small
appropriation, and the modest line,
set on poles, reaching from the Capt.
tai to Baltimore, carrying messages
with success. And then it reached
out little, until the entire land oi
civilized life was netted by wires,
and the world of intelligence revolu-
lionized. Then came the crowning
glory of the ocean cable. All this
occurred in one mans life time
and now the brave, modest, able man
has passed away.
We happened to meet Colonel
Strother, the famous Porte Crayon,
and the talk turning as usual upon
Morse, tue Colonel said
81 knew him very well. tool
lessons under him in drawing and
painting. / first saw him when he
was competitor for the remaining
panel in the rotunda of the Capitol.
| thought then he ought to have had
it. l think SO yet. He was not q
great artist, but he was enough one
TO save us from ridicule. Tue job
was given to Mr.. Powell. General
Schenck did that. Toe General
probably did not know one picture
from another, but Mr.. Powell was his
his constituent, and he believed, did
Schenck, that something in the
way of art should bo done for the
Miami bottoms, SO he worked at it
till he got the commission
sand one day. said he, Congress
will give General Schenck permission
to remove that terrible product of the
Miami bottoms. But about Morse"
"Well, / engaged to become his
pupil. and subsequently went to New
York and found him in room on
University Place He had three
other pupils, and | soon found that
our professor had very little patron
age. l paid my fifty dollars; tnat
settled for Que quarters instruction.
Morse was faithful teacher, and
took as muci interest in our progress,
more indeed ttan we did ourselves.
But be was very poor. / remember
that when my second quarters pay
was due him it did not come as soon
as expected, and one day the profes
sor came in, and said courteously:
"Well, Strother, my boy, how are
We off Tor money -
"Why, Professor" l answered, 81
am sorry TO say / have been disap
pointed; but / expect a remittance
next week." -4 -- ---
"Next week. he repeated sadly
81 shall be dead by that time"
"Dead, sir p
"Yes, dead of starvation"
was distressed and astonished.
l said hurriedly, "Would ten dollars
be of any service 2"
"Ten dollars would save my life
that is all that it would do"
paid the money, all that had,
and we dIned together. 1t was a
modest meal, but good, and alter we
had finished he sait: . Il
"This is my first meal for twenty
four hours. Suother, don't be an
artist; it means beggary. Your liie
is dependent upon people who know
nothing of your art, and care nothing
for you. A house dog lives better,
and The very sensitiyeness that slim
ulates him to work keeps him alive
to suffering
/ remained with Professor Morse
three years, and then we separated.
Some time after / met him in Broad
way one day. He was about the same
as before, q trifie older, and perhaps
somewhat ruddier i asked him how
he was getting on with his painting,
and he told me that he had abandoned
it !; that he had something better, he
believed, and told me about his pro-
posed telegraph. | accompanied him
to his room, and there found several
miles of wiIe twisted about, and the
battery, which he explained to me.
HIS pictures, finished and unfinished,
were lying about covered with dust.
Shortly afterward Congress made
an appropriation, and Morse was on
the high road 10 wealth anu lmmor-
tality."
"Colonel, was he anything of an
artist p
mot a man oil genius. lie was
conscientious end accurate, but his
works lacked that something which
genius only can give.'
"Do you believe that he really
invented the telegraph 7"
"Yes, and no; Ne toiu MS tuas III
a voyage from Europe he had heard
talk on board ship between an Eng
llsbman and a Frerchman about the
possibility of such a thing and when
he found after that he must starve as
a painter, he took the hint and worked
out the telegraph. suppose this ia
really the history of all great inven-
tors. They are the result OF long
mental processes, experiments and
accident, snd generally are an
nounced IN tn ee or four quarters at
once. 1t was so with the steamboat,
and probably every other great dis
coyery. And this is becoming more
common every day"
The Colonel then gave Us curious
history of the first steamboat, invent
ed by Rumsey at Berkeley Springs.
that General Washington certihes 10
have seen paddling TO and fro in Sir