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

had whetted publ curiosity TO keonest
edge. Out of the jammed tram came
the delegates piling, each anxious to be
fore most in sending abroad to friends
the inspritng news that fortune was
with Harry of the West. Aud. how
they were. finding in very
type before them the story they had
believed exclusively their own, Certain
ther were that no railroad train had
preceded their own. How but by
could the news have gained
such Roadway? "By telegraph" so
they read in the headlines of the jour
mails. by telegraph! That pestifer-
Gus Morse They had seen the wires
stretching along the track all the
way from Annapolis junction to Wash
ing; they had seen it, and they had
jokcd about It glibly. Phew! 1t was
hard to realize. But-but but what
can man do when he cant do any
thingP The doubters and scolfers be-
came enthusiastically dumb.
5. f. Il. Morse had won. When he
next appeared in public tho people
showered him with huzzas.
He was no longer dreamer; he was
4 door; and there were honors for him
unstinted. Yet he bore all meekly,
once in while the calm of that strong
face given way to n radiance seen there
but seldom in the later years.
A STRANGER,
who had been seated close to the little
company attentive TO this "reminiscences
arose rs Mr.. Kirk halted. offered his
hand, and said: This is great big
treat to me, sir, and | hope you'll par
don my intrusion Ny name is Plumb
Col Ralph Plump they call me out
home in Illinois, whore they elect me
to congress. | just want to add one
word to the story you've told. 1 know
sonnet ling of it myself. | WAS a dele
gate from OHIO to that Clay conven-
ion. | was on that first train to Wash
ington. | remember the little shed ut
Annapolis Junction, where we stopped
On our way. ! saw the man there who
was ticking away on II Little brass ma
chine; | saw him and | talked with
him. | wanted to know what strange
hing ho was doing. and he said he was
telegraphing to Morse in Washington
about our convention. and he pointed
toward the wires overhead running in
that direction. tho first wire ever put
~ for tel egraphing. In common W tn
all the rest of the real wise ones of the
lay, hailed the affair MS n huge joke.
ill. when we landed i'm the Washing
ton C " stat on, sure enough Morse had
had the news an hour or more ahead
Of us and the whole city was informed
Of the fact that we had put a dark
morse on the ticket with our hero Clay
The evidence couldn't be upset. of
course; the most prejudiced of us
couldn't presume to suggest that
MorSc's work was guessng-for no
man alive would have imagined that
Frelinghuysen could be male the NOM
ineo for vice president. Yes. I'm down.
right glad to havo met YOU, Mr.. Kirk;
YOU make me feel Young again with the
tale you've told. Now can't you come
Town to Washington before this winter
IS gone? I'd nightly like to buy YOU
Dne dinner"
When the gentleman from Illinois
had said goodnight, leaving behind
rather remarkable sensations, so
strange was the coincidence he had
pointed. Mr.. Kirk told something of
experiences connected with the early
advances of biography.
"When | went west from Washing
ton that spring" he said, 81 took
along with me samples of the indent-
ed strips of paper as they came from
the receiving instrument An enthu-
siast | talked of telegraph to every
body met In Columbus, G ncinnati,
indianapolis and other western CEN
ters | met college professors business
men. and other people ranked high for
intellect knowledge, and common
sense, and all, or nearly all, were pro-
nounced skeptics rs to the practicable
ity of Morse's ideas. And / am put
ting it a little IN LIT, think, in saying
that the impression wasn't long i'm
getting abroad that / was ~ little of.
meant well. but didn't know. The
last | remember of some of my friends
out there they were still plying me.
81 was in Indiana in the autumn af-
ter congress had made a thirty thou
sand dollar appropriation to Morse for
his experimental line. The congress-
man of that district was up for re-elec-
on. Poor, deluded man, he had UNI
fortunately voted for that appropra-
ton. He had been for years the
pol teal pride of the district The
people out there would give him any
thing he'd take if they had the giving
Of it. OF course he didn't doubt that
he would be reelected as if BY accla-
nation; but before election day he saw
things differently. Ayoung man whom
nobody had ever heard much of before
got an opposition nomination, and
went stump ng all over the district.
and before long the fight became very
warm. Il have not one word to say
against my opponent so the young
man always began his speech. He $
Il gentleman; his character cannot be
tmpeached; he is honest. reasonable,
well-informcd, good neighbor, and
real II CO man. But gentlemen. while
he was in congress he voted your
money away upon cap-trap things like
this, and the nominee, producing Il
congressional document, proceeded to
read the text of the bill which apprOpri-
ated the $50. 600 for Morse's expert
ments. Thirty thousand dollars!' he
would exclaim. Thirty thousand of
YOUR hard-earned dollars, gentlemen.
For what? WHY, TO settle-listen to