September 3, 1843. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann and children: "Idleness is to the human mind like rust to iron." October 28, 1843. Correspondence concerning trench digging and pipe laying machine. October 29, 1843. describing telegraph pipe laying; Ezra Cornell's "flattering" business offers; settlement of Ithaca affairs; completion of plow business in Maine: "I can assure you my Dear that I breathe freer and deeper than I have done for some time past. I feel as though Old Dame Fortune was bestirring herself to make amends as far as may be for her past neglect, but I am cool." December 27, 1843. Authorization from Samuel F.B. Morse detailing plan of action for Ezra Cornell's role in the test laying at a salary of $1000 per year. January 19, 1844. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell: "?I have an invention in Embrio that my opperations here has suggested that will open the Eyes of the world, it will be far in advance of anything of the day, and it astonishes me that it should have been overlooked so long." Topics: Family correspondence; advice and admonition concerning the children, particularly regarding their education; descriptions of travel in Maine, including an account of a rough trip by steamer to New York; character of the Maine people; phrenology; business and finance; Ezra Cornell's "new enterprise"; a proposal including a description of manufacturing possibilities in the South, and an offer by Ezra Cornell to manage a company if $100,000 were invested; plows; Wool factory (Ithaca); fires in Ithaca; the laying of the test telegraph pipe between Washington D.C. and Baltimore; rejection of Ezra Cornell's initial patent claim for trench cutter, the Patent Office suggesting amendments; description of sights in Washington D.C., including extensive discussion of the Capital. Personal names: Lincoln, A.B.; Cornell, E.B.; Bristol, Eliza; Smith, F.O.J.; Morse, Samuel F.B.; Cornell, Mary Ann Geography: Augusta, Me.; Baltimore; Washington, D.C.; Ithaca, N.Y.