On May 24, 1844, American inventor Samuel F.B. Morse saw his latest creation come to life. He had been working to perfect an idea he had first gleaned from a French inventor 12 years earlier: an electric telegraph instrument.

During that time, while refining and improving his models, he also composed a set of signals that could represent language in telegraph messages, which became known as the Morse Code. He also convinced Congress to finance a Washington-to-Baltimore telegraph line to transmit the signals of his yet-to-be-completed invention.

When at last it was ready to be tested, Morse arranged with Alfred Vail — an engineer who had partnered with Morse to turn the concept into reality — to receive a message in Baltimore that would be sent by Morse from the U.S. Capitol in Washington. The message he chose was a four-word line from the Old Testament:

“What Hath God Wrought?”
– Numbers 23:23

Within another decade, more than 20,000 miles of telegraph cable criss-crossed the United States. And the rest, as they say, is . . . well, you know . . . history.

But I can’t help wondering whether Morse had an inkling of just what he and God had indeed wrought when they opened up the lines of communication across, not just one continent, but the entire world. And if they could have foreseen the next 182 years, would they have had second thoughts about launching their marvelous toy onto an unsuspecting world?

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
5/27/26