rn,
so that his house for many days was filled with them. Besides these public
and private honors bestowed upon himself, Franklin experienced an
additional satisfaction also at this time on account of the distinction to
which his son was attaining. His son had been appointed Governor of New
Jersey just before his father left England, and he remained behind when
his father sailed, in order to be married to a very agreeable West India
lady to whom he had proposed himself, with his father's consent and
approbation. The young governor and his bride arrived in Philadelphia a
few months after Franklin himself came home. Franklin accompanied his son
to New Jersey, where he had the pleasure of seeing him warmly welcomed by
people of all ranks, and then left him happily established in his
government there.

Soon after this Franklin, who still held the office of postmaster for the
colonies, turned his attention to the condition of the post-office, and
concluded to make a tour of inspection with reference to this business in
all the colonies north of Philadelphia. He took his daughter with him on
this journey, although it was likely to be a very long and fatiguing one.
He traveled in a wagon, accompanied by a saddle horse. His daughter rode
on this horse for a considerable part of the journey. At the beginning of
it she rode on the horse only occasionally; but, as she became accustomed
to the exercise, she found it more and more agreeable, and on the journey
home she traveled in this manner nearly all the way from Rhode Island to
Philadelphia.

[Illustration: Travelling by Wagon.]

Not long after this time new Indian difficulties occurred on the
frontiers, which called for the raising of a new military force to
suppress them. A law was accordingly proposed in the Assembly for
providing the necessary funds for this purpose by a tax. And now it was
found that the question which Franklin had been sent to Europe to arrange,
namely, the question of taxing the proprietary lands had not, after all,
been so definitely settled as was supposed. The language of the law was
this: "The uncultivated lands of the proprietaries shall not be assessed
higher than the lowest rate at which any uncultivated lands belonging to
the inhabitants shall be assessed;" and on attempting to determine the
practical application of this language, it was found to be susceptible of
two interpretations. The Assembly understood it to mean that th