On the morning of the 4th of March he came down to the breakfast-table gloomy and despondent. Taking up the morning journal, he ran over it listlessly. Suddenly his eye rested upon a paragraph which caused him to spring to his feet in complete amazement. It was an announcement that, at the very last hour of the session of the previous night, a bill had been passed by Congress appropriating the sum of thirty thousand dollars for the purpose of enabling Professor Morse to construct an experimental line of telegraph between Baltimore and Washington. He could scarcely believe it real, and, as soon as possible, hastened to the Capitol to seek authentic information. The statement was confirmed by the proper authorities, and Morse's dearest wish was realized. The hour of his triumph was at hand, and his long and patient waiting was rewarded at last.
Work on the telegraph line was immediately begun, and carried on actively. At first, an insulated wire was buried under ground in a lead pipe, but this failing to give satisfaction, the wire was elevated upon poles. On the 27th of May, 1844, the line was completed, and the first trial of it made in the presence of the Government officials and many other distinguished men. Professor Morse was confident of success; but this occasion was a period of the most intense anxiety to him, for he knew that his entire future was staked upon the result of this hour. Among the company present to witness the trial was the Secretary of the Treasury, John C. Spencer. Although very much interested in the undertaking, he was entirely ignorant of the principles involved in it, and, therefore, very apprehensive of its failure. It was upon this occasion that he asked one of Professor Morse's assistants how large a bundle could be sent over the wires, and if the United States mail could not be sent in the same way.