the last telegram was sent recently across Western Unions system. An era of communication has closed. The international Morse code systems is also gone.
Here is an important aspect of history from BBC:
The telegram which informed the world that Orville Wright had successfully flown misspelled his name as "Orevelle". See here
This is great stuff, because, I am from the Old Skool of spelling. In our modern world perfection can run rough-shod over character and charm. Perfection are required in many places and instances. Spelling out side of legal contracts isn't one of those places. As a sloppy speller, I like this.
My friend and colleague Graeme told me that mis-spellers who transpose letters are considered to have creativity, boy I hope he is right. 
Another interesting aspect of spelling is that, perfection and conformity are modern concepts. A great book I finished called Undaunted Courage, where they showed that spellings was acceptable as long as it was phonetically comprehensible by the recipient. Please consider this when reading these blogs.
Undaunted Courage is a fascinating read about true adventurers, their courage, fear, deceits, concerns and persistence. Amazing stories about how Thomas Jefferson's Secretary, Merriwether Lewis led one of the biggest adventures of his time. In 1804 St. Louis was filled with 1,000 fur trappers of iffy moral and precarious situation on the edge of the western territories. Jefferson had just made "the Louisiana" purchase for roughly $0.04 per acre. Amazingly this was considered too high a price by some. This of course during a period in time when the White house had laundry hanging to dry in one wing, because there was nothing else to do with so much space.
Anyway great book, fascinating piece of history and important to revisit the United States government of the past, if only to appreciate its strengths and follies of today.
And now for the great part of the book and history of the time. There were 5 million Americans as of 1800, with low literacy. For all practical purposes, the US of the 1800's was a mirror image of a 3rd world country today, an unstable democracy, facing yet another war in 1812 and threats internally.
The emergence of democracy, stability etc. was not easy or simple. Many instances, of greed, pettiness, genocide, poor policy and of course fate played a part in creating the US of today. The primary drivers, power, a desire for security and in many instances a wish to do the right thing are best appreciated when understood in the light of prior attempts at the same. Nothing is more important for the future than acting in the present with an appreciation for the past.
