'You know that the soul is immortal; why, then, should you be such a niggard of a little time, when you have a whole eternity before you?' So, being easily convinced, and, like other reasonable creatures, satisfied with a small reason, when it is in favor of doing what I have a mind to, I shuffle the cards again, and begin another game.

"As to public amusements, we have neither plays nor operas, but we had yesterday a kind of oratorio, as you will see by the enclosed paper; and we have assemblies, balls, and concerts, besides little parties at one another's houses, in which there is sometimes dancing, and frequently good music; so that we jog on in life as pleasantly as you do in England; anywhere but in London, for there you have plays performed by good actors. That, however, is, I think, the only advantage London has over Philadelphia."

On the Fourth of July, 1786, he wrote to his sister:

"You need not be concerned, in writing to me, about your bad spelling; for, in my opinion, as our alphabet now stands, the bad spelling, or what is called so, is generally the best, as conforming to the sound of the letters, and of the words. To give you an instance. A gentleman received a letter, in which were these words: Not finding Brown at home, I delivered your meseg to his yf. The gentleman, finding it bad spelling, and therefore not very intelligible, called his lady to help him read it. Between them they picked out the meaning of all but the yf, which they could not understand. The lady proposed calling her chambermaid, because Betty, says she, has the best knack at reading bad spelling of any one I know. Betty came, and was surprised that neither Sir nor Madam could tell what yf was. 'Why,' said she, yƒ spells wife; what else can it spell ?' And, indeed, it is a much better, as well as shorter method of spell

ing wife, than doubleyou, i, ef, e, which in reality spells doubleyifey.

"There is much rejoicing in town to-day, it being the Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, which we signed this day ten years, and thereby hazarded lives and fortunes. God was pleased to put a favorable end to the contest, much sooner than we had reason to expect. His name be praised.”

From her, about a fortnight after, came a letter, informing her brother of the public celebration of the opening of the new bridge on Charles River; "it was thought" she said "the toll-gatherers received yesterday, being Commencement day, five hundred dollars." She added, that she had sent "the soap." Again in August, the good sister wrote, that she hoped there might be efficacy in blackberry jelly to help her brother. She added, with a burst of pious gratitude:

"Oh, if it is, how shall I enough bless that merciful, compassionate Being, who has directed to such a medicine for your relief."

She informed him also that,

"The North Church folks are repairing their steeple, and it was thought the electrical wire was too small to conduct a large stroke of lightning. I felt uneasy about it, and got Mr. Collas to inquire about it, and he tells me they have made it three times as big as it was before."

In December she thanked him for "a charming barrel of flour," which he had sent her, and gave him some particulars of a great snow-storm in Boston;

"The snow has been so deep, and we no man in the

house, that we might have been buried alive were it not for the care of some good neighbors who began to dig us out before we were up in the morning, and Cousin William came puffing and sweating, as soon as it was possible, to see how we were, and if we wanted anything; but, thank God, we had no want of anything necessary, if we had been shut up a fortnight, except milk."

Early the next year, 1787, he wrote to a friend in England:

"I often think with great pleasure on the happy days I passed in England with my and your learned and ingenious friends, who have left us to join the majority in the world of spirits. Every one of them now knows more than all of us they have left behind. It is to me a comfortable reflection, that, since we must live forever in a future state, there is a sufficient stock of amusement in reserve for us, to be found in constantly learning something new to eternity, the present quantity of human ignorance infinitely exceeding that of human knowledge.

"B. FRANKLIN (in his eighty-second year)." To a friend in France he wrote, not long after:

"Sitting or lying in bed, I am generally quite easy, God be thanked; and, as I live temperately, drink no wine, and use daily the exercise of the dumb-bell, I flatter myself that the stone is kept from augmenting so much as it might otherwise do, and that I may still continue to find it tolerable. People who live long, who will drink of the cup of life to the very bottom, must expect to meet with some of the usual dregs, and when I reflect on the number of terrible maladies human nature is subject to, I think myself favored in having to my share only the stone and the gout.”

Speaking of "the prejudice in Europe, which supposes a

family dishonored by the punishment of one of its members, as very absurd," he adds, "on the contrary," as his opinion, "that a rogue hanged out of a family does it more honor than ten that live in it."

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CHAPTER XXXIX.

Plunged into Public Business."-Member of the Convention that Framed the Constitution. Major Forman. — Washington. Franklin.

Speech on Prayers in the Convention. - Divine Providence. - Contest between the Larger and Smaller States. — Ineligibility of the President to a Second Term. - Power of the President. -James Madison. - Anecdote of Franklin. — Picture of a Rising Sun.-Franklin's Activity.

Bigelow.- Diary of Manasseh Cutler.— His Visit to Franklin in 1787.— Letter to Mrs. Mecom.-How to Build Fire-proof Houses. His Kindness. Letter from Mrs. Mecom. - Letter from his Niece.- What is Known in Heaven of Earthly Things.- Letter to his Sister. — Letter to a Friend. - Relief from Public Business. Meetings of Societies at his House. His Domestic Life.

Remedy for Deafness. Abolition of Slavery." Plan for Improving the Condition of the Free Blacks.” — Abolition Memorial to Congress. Last Sickness.His Cheerfulness. ·Relates Anecdotes. - His Sickness Increases. His Patience. Grati

tude to God. His Death. - Dr. Jones.

Dr. Rush. Mrs. Hewson's Account of his