profitable business....

I have just finished a most beautiful register with a _pen lever key_ and
an expanding reel. Have orders for six of the same kind to be made at
once; three for the south and three for the west.

I regret you could not, on your return from the west, have made us at
least a flying visit with your charming lady. I am happy to learn that
your cup of happiness is so full in the society of one who, I learn from
Mr. K., is well calculated to cheer you and relieve the otherwise
solitude of your life.... My kindest wishes for yourself and Mrs. Morse,
and believe me to be, now as ever,

Yours, etc.,
ALFRED VAIL.

Mr. James D. Reid in an article in the "Electrical World," October 12,
1895, after quoting from this letter; adds:--

"The truth is Mr. Vail had no natural aptitude for executive work, and he
had a temper somewhat variable and unhappy. He and I got along very well
together until I determined to order my own instruments, his being too
heavy and too difficult, as I thought, for an operator to handle while
receiving. We had our instruments made by the same maker--Clark & Co.,
Philadelphia. Yet even that did not greatly separate us, and we were
always friends. About some things his notions were very crude. It was
under his guidance that David Brooks, Henry C. Hepburn and I, in 1845,
undertook to insulate the line from Lancaster to Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania, by saturating bits of cotton cloth in beeswax and wrapping
them round projecting arms. The bees enjoyed it greatly, but it spoiled