he
subject of any original fable."

Dr. Franklin seemed to be very thoughtful for a time.

"What is your opinion, doctor?" asked the literary gentleman.

"You are wrong, sir. The opportunity to produce fables is limitless.
Almost every event offers the fabric of a fable."

"Could you write a fable on any of the events of the present time?"
asked the lord curiously.

"If you will order pen and ink and paper, I will give you a picture of
the times in fable. A fable comes to me now."

The lord ordered the writing material.

What new animals or birds had taken possession of Franklin's fancy? No
new animals or birds, but old ones in new relations.

Franklin wrote out his fable and proceeded to read it. It was a short
one, but the effect was direct and surprising. The lord's face must
have changed when he listened to it, for it was a time when such things
struck to the heart.

The fable not only showed Dr. Franklin's invention, but his courage. It
was as follows: "Once upon a time an eagle, scaling round a farmer's
barn and espying a hare, darted down upon him like a sunbeam, seized him
in his claws, and remounted with him to the air. He soon found that he
had a creature of more courage and strength than a hare, for which,
notwithstanding the keenness of his eyesight, he had mistaken a cat.

"The snarling and scrambling of his prey were very inconvenient, and,
what was worse, she had disengaged herself from his talons, grasped his
body with her four limbs, so as to stop his breath, and seized fast hold
of his throat with her teeth.

"'Pray,' said the eagle, 'let go your hold, and I will release you.'

"'Very fine,' said the cat; 'I have no fancy to fall from this height
and be crushed to death. You have taken me up, and you shall stoop and
let me down.' The eagle thought it necessary to stoop accordingly."

The eagle, of course, represented England, and the cat America.

Dr. Franklin was a lover of little children and animals--among pet
animals, of the American squirrel.

When he returned to England the second time as an agent of the colonies,
he wished to make some presents to his English friends who had families.

He liked not only to please children, but to give them those things
which would delight them. So he took over to England for presents a cage
full of pranky little squirrels.

Among the families of children whom he loved was Dr. Shipley's, the
bishop, who had a delightful little daughter, and to