Allan, the son of George W. Allan,
received a similar statement from Mr. Lovering, a short time before the
latter's death, which occurred June 13, 1848, at the age of eighty-nine
years and nine months.

Mr. Lovering appears to have been the youngest person connected with
this affair, of whom we have any knowledge. His boyish curiosity led him
to accompany the party to the scene of operations at Griffin's wharf,
and on the following morning he was closely questioned and severely
reprimanded by his parents, for being out after nine o'clock at night,
as they were strict in their requirement that he should be in bed at
that hour.

His son, Mr. N.P. Lovering, now seventy-seven years of age, resides in
Boston, and is treasurer of the Connecticut and Passumpsic River
Railroad Company. To this gentleman, and to his grand-daughter, Mrs.
C.D. Bradlee, Boston, we are under obligation for the copy of a
photograph from Mr. Lovering's oil-painting of his father.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

Was born in Boston, 1706; died in Philadelphia, in 1790, and was buried
in Christ Churchyard. A small marble slab, level with the ground, marks
the spot. "No monumental display for me," was his request as expressed
in his will.

Some years before his death he wrote his own epitaph. His usefulness to
his country during the Revolutionary period will warrant us in giving it
place in our "Tea Leaves:"

A.O.C.

The body of
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, PRINTER,
Like the cover of an old book,
its contents torn out,
And stript of its lettering and gilding,
Lies here, food for worms.
Yet the work itself shall not be lost,
For it will (as he believed) appear once more
in a new
and a more beautiful edition
corrected and amended
by the Author.

It is believed that Benjamin Franklin was made a Freemason in St. John's
Lodge, of Philadelphia, early in the year 1731. In 1734 he printed and
published the first Masonic book ever issued in America, being the work
known as "Anderson's Constitution of 1723." Copies are now exceedingly
rare, and readily sell for fifty dollars each. One is now in the library
of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, in an excellent state of
preservation.

SERENO D. NICKERSON,