energy to carry out its provisions. He decided, after consultation with
the Secretary of the Treasury, Hon. J.C. Spencer, to erect the
experimental line between Washington and Baltimore, along the line of
railway, and all the preliminaries and details were carefully planned.
With the sanction of the Secretary he appointed Professors Gale and
Fisher as his assistants, and soon after added Mr. Alfred Vail to their
number. He returned to New York, and from there wrote to Vail on March
15:--

"You will not fail, with your brother and, if possible, your father, to
be in New York on Tuesday the 21st, to meet the proprietors of the
Telegraph. I was on the point of coming out this afternoon with young Mr.
Serrell, the patentee of the lead-pipe machine, which I think promises to
be the best for our purposes of all that have been invented, as to it can
be applied '_a mode of filling lead-pipe with wire_,' for which Professor
Fisher and myself have entered a caveat at the Patent Office."

Vail gladly agreed to serve as assistant in the construction of the line,
and, on March 21 signed the following agreement:--

PROFESSOR MORSE,--As an assistant in the telegraphic experiment
contemplated by the Act of Congress lately passed, I can superintend and
procure the making of the _Instruments complete_ according to your
direction, namely: the registers, the correspondents with their magnets,
the batteries, the reels, and the paper, and will attend to the procuring
of the acids, the ink, and the preparation of the various stations. I
will assist in filling the tubes with wire, and the resinous coating, and
I will devote my whole time and attention to the business so as to secure
a favorable result, and should you wish to devolve upon me any other
business connected with the Telegraph, I will cheerfully undertake it.