The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-12-20

Samuel Finley Brcesc Morse was born
at Charlcstown. Mass, April %, 1871.
lis father, Jcdcdiah was militant
,rrgyman of the congregational
Church. who suffered professionally in
the fight for orthodoxy "at a tim, when
-nitariInism was beginning to UNDER
rhine the foundations of the old austere,
sulildlikc faith" He was author of an
carly American geography and gazetteer
and tn re- are Indications in the story
that tho work was 4 very respectable
financial success. Mrs. Jcdedah was
Elizabeth Ann Brecsc. Her sons three
chapter name cam from her and her
andfathcr the /, V. pr. Samuel Fin
ley, firth president t76l-6 of the COL
Il 20 of New Jersey. now Princeton Uni
VNrsity. Young Morse, Finley as the
f,mily seems always to have called HIM.
went to Phillips Andover Academy and
then to Yale. His letters in these years
snow him to have been a good deal Of
boy with the Implication. inevitable
I'm the cas-" Of caiow II or is, of some
i.iggishn 50
In his college days he showed, as the
great do often hut not always in the
vars # adolescence. those qualities
watch were to distinguish his mature
career: an attractive manner and a
GOOD strong dash OF quick temper: fond
rNss for drawing and painting, and in
trrest in science: lack of intellectual
e. nccntrdtion. natural Conconitant of
Ills diversity of interest. and "A certain
not displcasirg desire FOR tn" good
things and good times Of life. with
re- tdncss to pay for them as he went:
nply an attractive. clever but rather
crratic chap. not more than ordinarily
promising" and not at all aloof from
h = follows.
The customary period Of financial
pport of "A son through the years OF
d., academic education was literally
e, tended toy The elder Morse over tho
W Lndcr years of postgraduate profess
si1ndl training and even the first years
of practice. In response to maternal
EDMONTON we find him writing, from
London. in April. 1915:
Vow rs to The young mans living for
40. kuoV who t. is Of whom YOU speak
f. IL Dr. pa-kman, who made 1t his bods,
wat he would live for that sum; but yod
III not inquire how he lived. lie never
r. fused an invitation to dine breakfast ~
to-. which he used to obtain often hy push
it; himself into evorybody's company.
r. ne failed Ia getting a meal at any Of these
r'lccs he either used 20 go without. or
To-, OF bread answered tho purpose uu;il ;h'
reHt meal. In his dress he shabby
aui uncouth thai any decent person woulI
lie ashamed 20 walk VITA him in ;he street
Nnove all his notorious Weanness in his
rooney matters. his sticking with his poo
NlrhcrWoman for hdlfpenny and wiz
others Tor 4 farming. and his uniform stlngi
rtss on al occasions rendered him notof
ally disgusting to an his acduaintances ant
az ords | should imagine. but poor eN
rple for imitation.
With sound sense. he adds that h,
uld live ON fifty pounds "A year II h'
h d to, or could spend a thousand If M
n d il, without extravaganza. in obtain
!v, gr, atcr advantages in his art work
rs 1t was his virtuous endedvor was I,
q commod.tc his ends TO his aetna
~ ,ans. overlapping the debate in all is
y rim ter was a fine loyalty and affec
t,un. The Puritan New England char
a, ter Of l2j years ago showed its qull
~ nowhere better than in its ab!lit!
to fight zestfuily with its nearest an,
d, arrest without rupturing the tender re
In lions cherished in the concealmen
% It's Vitdls
While at college Finley Morse di,
iulf Il nuSlll'ST IN III lltlt hI'N VA ~ VI y
at IS apiece; and when, after his @rddu
o ion, the cid r. vetoed his fondost as
u ration and decrecd a business career
y lcing him IN "A booksellers shop a
4 ,rk. he Still devoted his hours an
d lys orr to painting. In 1911 his hi:
Clauce came, and he took it. From tia
year to 1915 he studied in London unde
tie able tutcldge of Washington Ais
ton. Whi!o a student he had displaye
u irkcd interest in the study of elec
t:loity, then little more than hler
scientific diversion or academic curios
ljy: and. as he himself long afterwar
(, -ted on the margin of one OF N
rly letters it Initiates the appetit
fr the picturesque COlnCdental to fin
IN longing for means To flash certa!
h Of good news to his friends at hom
without having to wait upon the SloN
voyage of transatlantic mail steamer.