six, joined a large company of friends on board the steamer James Adger
which sailed for Newfoundland. There they were to meet the Sarah L.
Bryant, from England, with the cable which was to be laid across the Gulf
of St. Lawrence. The main object of the trip was a failure, like so many
of the first attempts in telegraphic communication, for a terrific storm
compelled them to cut the cable and postpone the attempt, which, however,
was successfully accomplished the next year.

The party seems to have had a delightful time otherwise, for they were
fêted wherever they stopped, notably at Halifax, Nova Scotia, and St.
Johns, Newfoundland. At the latter place a return banquet was given on
board the James Adger, and the toastmaster, in calling on Morse for a
speech, recited the following lines:--

"The steed called Lightning (say the Fates)
Was tamed in the United States.
'T was Franklin's hand that caught the horse,
'T was harnessed by Professor Morse."

To turn again for a moment to the darker side of the picture of those
days, it must be kept in mind that annoying litigation was almost
constant, and in the latter part of 1855 a decision had been rendered in
favor of F.O.J. Smith, who insisted on sharing in the benefits of the
extension of the patent, although, instead of doing anything to deserve
it, he had done all in his power to thwart the other patentees.
Commenting on this in a letter to Mr. Kendall of November 22, 1855,
Morse, pathetically and yet philosophically, says:--

"Is there any mode of arrangement with Smith by which matters in
partnership can be conducted with any degree of harmony? I wish him to