MORSE, SAMUEL F.B. Autograph letter signed ("Sam. F.B. Morse") to Mary Pattison, New York, 24 September 1836. 4 pages, 4to, autograph address leaf, tear at seal. MORSE COUNSELS ON THE MERITS OF TRAVELING. "I have traveled much over the world, as you know, and the general result of my experience can be told in few words. Traveling undoubtedly has a tendency to enlarge the mind, for books alone will not give us that enduring knowledge of mankind which is so much more surely obtained by contact with Society in its ten thousand varied forms. We may read of the effects of different systems of government or of religion, of climate or local situation upon the human character, yet we do not fully realize these effects until we see them actually passing before our eyes." Explaining the patriotic effects that traveling has had on him, Morse continues: "One of the effects...has been to create a more ardent love of my country and its institutions. I have seen the oppressions of a people groaning under tyranny, and my heart bled to see their apparently hopeless condition." Changing the subject, Morse discloses his plans to "visit West Point to examine the Drawing Department in the Military Academy, in order to organize this winter a similar department in the University [New York University]."