It never has been interrupted up to the present day, for, as I am pursuing my pleasant task of bringing these letters together for publication, in the year of our Lord 1911, the newspapers are agitating the question of a fitting commemoration of a hundred years of peace between Great Britain and the United States. Further on in this same letter the mother makes this request of her son: "When you return we wish you to bring some excellent black or corbeau cloth to make your good father and brothers each a suit of clothes. Your papa also wishes you to get made a handsome black cloth cloak for him; one that will fit you he thinks will fit him. Be sure and attend to this. Your mama would like some grave colored silk for a gown, if it can be had but for little. Don't forget that your mother is no dwarf, and that a large pattern suits her better than a small one." The letter of April 28, from which I have already quoted, has this sentence at the beginning: "Your letters suppose me in Paris, _but I am not there_; you hope that I went in October last; I intended going and wished it at that time exceedingly, but I had not leave from you to go and Mr. Bromfield advised me by no means to go until I heard from you. You must perceive from this case how impossible it is for me to form plans, and transmit them across the Atlantic for approbation, thus letting an opportunity slip which is irrecoverable." CHAPTER IX MAY 3. 1815--OCTOBER 18, 1816 Decides to return home in the fall.--Hopes to return to Europe in a year.--Ambitions.--Paints "Judgment of Jupiter."--Not allowed to compete for premium.--Mr. Russell's portrait.--Reproof of his parents.--Battle of Waterloo.--Wilberforce.--Painting of "Dying Hercules" received by parents.--Much admired.--Sails for home.--Dreadful voyage lasting fifty-eight days.--Extracts from his journal.--Home at last. It was with great reluctance that Morse made his preparations to return home. He thought that, could he but remain a year or two longer in an atmosphere much more congenial to an artist than that which prevailed in America at that time, he would surely attain to greater eminence in his profession.