[Footnote 11: When the button at Chicago is pressed down, the electricity passing over the wire to Denver presses the point there down on the paper, and so makes a dot or dash which stands for a letter on the roll of paper as it passes under it. In this way words and messages are spelled out. The message on the strip of paper above is the question, _How is trade?_] 228. Summary.--Professor Morse invented the Electric Telegraph. He received much help from Mr. Alfred Vail. In 1844 Professor Morse and Mr. Vail built the first line of telegraph in the United States, or in the world. It extended from Washington to Baltimore. The telegraph makes it possible for us to send a written message thousands of miles in a moment; by the telephone, which was invented after Professor Morse's death, we can talk with people who are several hundreds of miles away and hear what they say in reply. Tell how they sent the news of the completion of the Erie Canal. What did Samuel Morse say to himself? Tell about Morse as a painter. What did he want to find? What was he talking about on his voyage back to America? What is a telegraph? How can you make a small wire telegraph? What did Professor Morse make? How did he live? What did he do in 1839? How did he get help about his telegraph? What did he ask Congress to do? What did some men in Congress say? What news did Miss Annie Ellsworth bring him? What was the first message sent by telegraph in 1844? How many miles of telegraph are there now in the United States? Is there a telegraph line under the sea? What is said about the telephone? GENERAL SAM HOUSTON (1793-1863) 229. Sam Houston and the Indians; Houston goes to live with the Indians.--When General Jackson whipped the Indians in Alabama,[1] a young man named Sam Houston[2] fought under Jackson and was terribly wounded. It was thought that the brave fellow would certainly die, but his strong will carried him through, and he lived to make himself a great name in the southwest. Although Houston fought the Indians, yet, when a boy, he was very fond of them, and spent much of his time with them in the woods of Tennessee. Long after he became a man, this love of the wild life led by the red men in the forest came back to him. While Houston was governor of Tennessee (1829) he suddenly made up his mind to leave his home and his friends, go across the Mississippi River, and take up his abode with an Indian tribe in that part of the country. The chief, who had known him as a boy, gave him a hearty welcome. "Rest with us," he said; "my wigwam is yours." Houston stayed with the tribe three years. [Illustration: SAM HOUSTON.] [Footnote 1: See paragraph 216.] [Footnote 2: Sam Houston (Hew'ston): he always wrote his name Sam Houston; he was born near Lexington in Rockbridge County, Virginia.]