Job's was such a vinegar cruet."

It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to explain that F.O.J. Smith was
nicknamed "Fog" Smith, and that the "Scotch Itch" referred to the
telegraph of Alexander Bain, which, for a time, was used by the enemies
of Morse in the effort to break down his patent rights. The other
allusions were to the politics of the day.

Another good friend and business associate was Thomas R. Walker, who in
1849 was mayor of Utica, New York. Mr. Walker's wife was the half-sister
of Mrs. Griswold, Morse's mother-in-law, so there were ties of
relationship as well as of friendship between the two men, and Morse
thought so highly of Mr. Walker that he made him one of the executors of
his will.

In a letter of July 11, 1849, Mr. Walker says: "The course pursued by the
press is simply mercenary. Were it otherwise you would receive justice at
their hands, and your fame and merits would be vindicated instead of
being tarnished by the editorials of selfish and ungenerous men. But--
_'magna est veritas et prevalebit_.' There is comfort in that at any
rate."

It would seem that not only was the inventor forced to uphold his rights
through a long series of lawsuits, but a great part of the press of the
country was hostile to him on the specious plea that they were attempting
to overthrow a baleful monopoly. In this connection the following extract
from a letter to J. Fenimore Cooper, written about this time, is
peculiarly apt:--

"It is not because I have not thought of you and your excellent family