Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1888-02-16

wild with envt. But finally they ranged
themselves rs CLOSELY AS they dared be-
side the animated eectr clan aud
AWAITED HIS EXPERIMENTS.
"Now, gentlemen. what shall we
send over the wres?' calculated the
old man. "Pick out your own message
and I'll show you how simple this
whole thing is and how ii accompIishes
everything that I've claimed.
The gentlemen were hardly expect
ing challenge like this. but finally
congressional genius asserted itself.
and one of the party proposed that
this startlingly orig nal information be
flashed along:
Mr.. Brown of Indiana is here.
Prof. Morse bent over his instru-
ment and pegged away. Tick. tick.
tick -tick-tick went the electric tapping,
and then moment later came the
same rafting line of signals upon an
adjoining machine-the indentation
Morse register.
The old man grabbed the slip of pa
per as it came released from the instru-
ment, scanned it eagerly. and then
with the mir of an emperor whose
crown is self-won, he thrust the ilutter
ing white scrap forward. What to the
congressmenIappeared Il cofused collec-
{ on of unintelligible dots and dashes
stretched along the paper. 1t was the
Geographic alphabet, explained the
enthusiast.
"Seew-and he displaced another
sheet on VIII ch his dot and dash sign
manual appeared-"S See! Take this
for Il guide aud you'll find printed
there the very words you asked trans
melted.
The delegation did rs directed, and
sure enough they spelled out the SEN
sational goings-on of ''Mr. Brown of
Indiana"
Converted? Those congressman con-
vertedP Well. hardly. This is the re-
collection of Mr..K rk: Zone I'd them
hunched me and winked in superior
and knowing sort of way, VIII le
another whispered: That's what / call
pretty thin!' and third remarked
right out loud: 1T won't do! That
doesn't prove anything Poor Morse'S
heart was almost broken. His triumph
was turned all to bitterness. Every
one of his visitors went AVA
The public or so small portion as
took any interest ia the matter,
generally attr buiGd the results that
Morse obtained 10 diaboliSm, or (when
the more intelligent and scientific
minds considered iD to mere legcrde-
main.
Everybody" continued Mr. Kirk.
Thought it a good joke on me and |
had to stand lots of chatting around the
cap tol. 1t WASH long before | saw
that Assistant Postmaster General Bry-
mn had pretty level head rs polili-
clan in not wanting to BE- mixed up
with what he called 'Morse's foolish
ness. But | held on. Tho truth s.
had fallen in love with that resolute
old man battling against such odds rs
prejudice kept piling up against h m. "
Morse worked only the harder after
his failure to convince the wise men
from congress by the test of his five
mile loop. Day BY day more poles
were set and more wire was stretched,
and Annapolis junction-half way to
Baltimore-was Just about reached
when the wing nat onal convention of
May, 1874, opened in baltimore. Here.
at the suggestion of Mr.. Kirk, Morse
saw Opportun ties beyond any that had
come to him before. On the morning
that the convention organized he was
able, by dnt OF work bv night as well
as by day, to get connection through to
Annapolis junction from his little
Washington machine-shOp. He had
placed bright yonng fellow Mt the An.
napolls junction. and with instruct Ons
to get information of what the conven-
ton had done just rs soon rs the after
noon Baltimore train arrived at the
junction and telegraph il ut once to
Washington.
OF course the capital was i'm for
ment; every citizen was anxious for the
news from Baltimore; but till trains
should arrive from the scene it was re-
cognized that nothing could be known.
THE EARNEST OLD FELLOW
spent that eventful afternoon all alone,
save for the companionship of John
Kirk. Anxious even to excitement, he
had fully succeeded in gett ng asatsfy-
ing message from the junction that all
was right at that end of the line and
ready for the transm ssion Of the news
as soon rs the expected train should ar
rive. 1t was an experience to leave life
long Impressions. and it isn't wonderful
that Mr.. Kirk still wildly recalls that
strange, remote room in it's fOrlorn
trappings OF wire and pots aud chem
icals. set in its center with tho old man.
nervous, eager, vertably gasping. for
the realization of his LIES chief hope.
Suddenly there came an animated
clicking He who was most Interested
bent forward as If intent on fairly con-
suming the strip of paper that crept
out from the register. There was almost
agony in his face. as snail-like. the pa
per halted an1 hesitated. spurted II
little. stood still, made false starts and
then spurted moru till--thG message
complcted-Morse rose erect, looked
proudly about him, and said rs graudly
as though he were distributing king
doms:
"Mr. Kirk, the convention has adj.
journed. The train for Washington
has just left Annapolis junction. And
the tcket-"he hesitated, holding fin
ally proof of his victory beyond all dis
puting-"the ticket--the ticket is
CLAW and Frelinghuysenr'
oYOu are ouizzinO us ~ uoS tho