He writes of it to his brother on July 30: "On Monday last I had the misfortune to fall, into one of those mantraps on Broadway, set principally to break people's legs and maim them, and _incidentally_ for the deposit of the coal of the household." Vail refers jestingly to this mishap in a letter of August 21: "I trust your unfortunate and unsuccessful attempt to get down cellar has not been a serious affair." And Morse replies in the same vein: "My _cellar experiment_ was not so unsuccessful as you imagine.

I succeeded to my entire satisfaction in taking three inches of skin, a little of the flesh and a trifle of bone from the front of my left leg, and, as the result, got one week's entire leisure with my leg in a chair.

The experiment was so satisfactory that I deem it needless to try it again, having established beyond a doubt that skin, flesh and bone are no match against wood, iron and stone.

I am entirely well of it and enjoyed my visit to the western lines very much." It was characteristic of Morse that the first money which he received from the actual sale of his patent rights ($45 for the right to use his patent on a short line from the Post-Office to the National Observatory in Washington) was devoted by him to a religious purpose.

From a letter of October 20, 1846, we learn that, adding $5 to this sum, he presented $25 to a Sunday School, and $25 to the fund for repairs.
The attachment of the three Morse brothers to each other was intense, and lasted to the end of their lives.