for fifteen miles they were side by side, and when a man finished his
hole, he ran with all his might to get ahead. But finally, on the 24th,
we passed them about eighty miles from here, and now we are about
twenty-five miles ahead of them without the loss of a drop of blood, and
we shall be able to beat them to Nashville, if we can get the wire in
time, which is doubtful."

There were many such stirring incidents in the early history of the
telegraph, and the half of them has not been told, thus leaving much
material for the future historian.

But, while so much that was exciting was taking place in the outside
world, the cause of it all was turning his thoughts towards matters more
domestic. On June 13, he writes to his brother: "Charles left me for
Utica last evening, and Finley and I go this evening to be present at his
marriage on Thursday the 15th."

It was at his son's wedding that he was again strongly attracted to his
young second cousin (or, to be more exact, his first cousin once
removed), the first cousin of his son's bride, and the result is
announced to his brother in a letter of August 7: "Before your return I
shall be again married. I leave to-morrow for Utica where cousin (second
cousin) Sarah Elizabeth Griswold now is. On Thursday morning the 10th we
shall (God willing) be married, and I shall immediately proceed to
Louisville and Frankfort in Kentucky to be present at my first suit
against O'Reilly, the pirate of my invention. It comes off on the 23d
inst. So far as the justice of the case is concerned I am confident of
final success, but there are so many crooks in the law that I ought to be
prepared for disappointment."