his ambitious father, were long and
bitter. He was beaten and turned out of doors by his angry parent, then
taken back by the erratic but kind-hearted father and sent to France to
be lured with gayety and dazzled with promises of wealth and
distinction; but William Penn had the courage of his convictions and
yielded not one whit of his religious ideas. Conscious of being right,
he was unmoved by either promises or threats, and he even withstood the
fires of persecution.

On one occasion he and another were tried on a charge of preaching in
the streets. The jury, after being kept without fire, food, or water for
two days and nights, brought in a verdict of "not guilty," for which
they were each heavily fined by the court and committed to Newgate
prison. Penn and his companion did not wholly escape, for they were
fined and imprisoned for contempt of court, in wearing their hats in the
presence of that body. At this time William Penn was only twenty-four
years of age.

[Illustration: William Penn.]

A great many Friends had emigrated to America, and two had become
proprietors of New Jersey. The first event that drew Penn's particular
attention to America was when he was called upon to act as umpire
between the two Quaker proprietors of New Jersey. Having the New World
thus thrust upon his attention, the young convert to the new religion
began to look with longing eyes across the Atlantic for a home for
himself and his persecuted brethren. Shortly afterward, he obtained
from the crown a charter for a vast territory beyond the Delaware. This
charter was given in payment of a debt of eighty thousand dollars due
to his father from the government. The charter was perpetual
proprietorship given to him and his heirs, in the fealty of an annual
payment of two beaver skins. In honor of his Welch ancestry, Penn
proposed calling the domain "New Wales;" but for some reason the
secretary of state objected.

Penn, while endeavoring to think up an appropriate title, suggested that
Sylvania would be an appropriate name for such a woody country. The
secretary who drew up the charter, on the impulse of the moment,
prefixed the name of Penn to Sylvania in the document. William Penn
protested against the use of his name, as he had no ambition to be thus
distinguished, and offered to pay the secretary if he would leave it
out. This he refused to do, and Penn next appealed to the king--"the
merrie King Charlie," who insisted that the provi