The little daughter of that early correspondent, Elizabeth Brooke (Ellicott), was treated to strawberries and cake, during informal visits at the White House. And she gave "Jimmie" no rest until he ordered the release of "Debby" Pleasants' (Stabler) son, when he was imprisoned because of conscientious scruples against bearing arms in the war of 1812. In 1830 she wrote Elizabeth Brooke Ellicott, "it would give me great satisfaction to meet you both again, and sometimes the hope of doing so comes over my mind." But this hope was probably never realized, as the years were leaving their impress on them all. Philip E. Thomas, the first president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, another cousin, often called and talked about "old times;" and his daughter, Mary Thomas Wethered, in turn became a favorite visitor. It was on the 24th day of May, 1844, that Prof. Morse was ready to make the final test of his electric magnetic recording telegraph, and the wires between Washington and Baltimore were finally completed. The Baltimore end was set up at the Mt. Clare shops of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and the Washington end in the Supreme Court room of the Capitol, where the many friends of the inventor had assembled to see the first message sent. He had promised his young friend, Miss Annie Ellsworth, that she should indite the first message over the wires. Her choice was the words of Scripture (Numbers 23: 23): "What hath God wrought."[66] [Illustration: St. John's Church, Washington, D. C.] In Baltimore a little company were likewise assembled to receive the message. It was received there and repeated back to Washington with entire success. Prof. Morse then turned to Dolly Madison, and asked if she wished to send a message, and a few moments later the first real message was flashed over the wires. Its wording was: "Message from Mrs. Madison. She sends her love to Mrs. Wethered." John Wethered was at this time representative in Congress, from Baltimore city. The original printed slip of what is now called the "Dolly Madison message" is carefully preserved in the Thomas family, as is also that first copy of the message, "What hath God wrought." The return copy was given by Miss Ellsworth to General Seymour of Connecticut, and by him deposited in the Hartford Museum, as Miss Ellsworth was from Connecticut. For years Dolly had attended the Episcopal church of St. John's, half a square from her house, of which her sister Anna had become a member. It was shortly before her death that its rector, Mr. Hawley, "persuaded her of her wish" to become a communicant, and she was accordingly baptized with considerable ceremony. She lived to be eighty-one years old, and during her later years lived much in the past, amongst the old friends, of whom her family knew nothing.