s that the Indians had been accustomed
to sit around them upon the edges, with their feet below, near the fire.

The building and arming of such a fort, and the other military
arrangements which Franklin made on the frontier produced such an
impression upon the Indians that they gradually withdrew, leaving that
part of the country in a tolerably secure condition. Soon after this
Franklin was summoned by the governor to return to Philadelphia, as his
presence and counsel were required there. He found on his arrival that he
had acquired great fame by the success of his military operations. In fact
quite a distinguished honor was paid to him, soon after this time, on the
occasion of his going to Virginia on some public business. The officers of
the regiment resolved to escort him out of the town, on the morning when
he was to commence his journey. He knew nothing of this project until just
as he was coming forth, when he found the officers at the door, all
mounted and dressed in their uniforms. Franklin says that he was a good
deal chagrined at their appearing, as he could not avoid their
accompanying him, though if he had known it beforehand he should have
prevented it.

[Illustration: Departure.]

While Franklin was thus acquiring some considerable military renown in
America, he was becoming quite celebrated as a philosopher on the
continent of Europe. It seems that some years before, the library society
of Philadelphia had received some articles of electrical apparatus from
England, and Franklin had performed certain experiments with them which
led him to believe, what had not been known before, that lightning was an
electrical phenomenon. He wrote some account of his experiments, and of
the views which they had led him to entertain, and sent it to the person
from whom the library society had received the apparatus. These papers
attracted much attention, and were at length laid before the Royal Society
of London, and soon afterward published in the transactions of the
Society. In this form they were seen by a distinguished French
philosopher, the Count de Buffon, who caused them to be be translated into
the French language and published at Paris. By this means the attention of
the whole scientific world was called to Franklin's speculations, and as
the correctness of his views was fully established by subsequent
investigations and experiments, he acquired great renown. He was elected a
member o