I have said in the preceding chapter that order was gradually emerging from chaos in telegraphic matters, but the progress towards that goal was indeed gradual, and a perusal of the voluminous correspondence between Morse and Kendall, and others connected with the different lines, leaves the reader in a state of confused bewilderment and wonder that all the conflicting interests, and plots and counterplots, could ever have been brought into even seeming harmony. Too much praise cannot be given to Mr. Kendall for the patience and skill with which he disentangled this apparently hopeless snarl, while at the same time battling against physical ills which would have caused most men to give up in despair. That Morse fully appreciated the sterling qualities of this faithful friend is evidenced by the letter to Dr. Gale in the preceding chapter, and by many others. He always refused to consider for a moment the substitution of a younger man on the plea of Mr. Kendall's failing health, and his carelessness in the keeping of their personal accounts. It is true that, because of this laxity on Mr. Kendall's part, Morse was for a long time deprived of the full income to which he was entitled, but he never held this up against his friend, always making excuses for him. Affairs seem to have been going from bad to worse in the matter of dividends, for, while in 1850 he had said that only 509 miles out of 1150 were paying him personally anything, he says in a letter to Mr. Kendall of January 8, 1855:-- "I perceive the Magnetic Telegraph Company meet in Washington on Thursday the 11th. Please inform me by telegraph the amount of dividend they declare and the time payable. This is the only source on which I can calculate for the means of subsistence from day to day with any degree of certainty. "It is a singular reflection that occurs frequently to my mind that out of 40,000 miles of telegraph, all of which should pay me something, only 225 miles is all that I can depend upon with certainty; and the case is a little aggravated when I think that throughout all Europe, which is now meshed with telegraph wires from the southern point of Corsica to St. Petersburg, on which my telegraph is universally used, not a mile contributes to my support or has paid me a farthing. "Well, it is all well. I am not in absolute want, for I have some credit, and painful as is the state of debt to me from the apprehension that creditors may suffer from my delay in paying them, yet I hope on." Mr. Kendall was not so sensitive on the subject of debt as was Morse, and he was also much more optimistic and often rebuked his friend for his gloomy anticipations, assuring him that the clouds were not nearly so dark as they appeared. Always imbued with a spirit of lofty patriotism, Morse never failed, even in the midst of overwhelming cares, to give voice to warnings which he considered necessary. Replying to an invitation to be present at a public dinner he writes:--