nce one hundred and fifty years before.

The bells rang, and the influence of the old man who slept beside the
flower-crowned grave of Josiah Franklin and Abiah Franklin was in the
joy; the chimes of Nottingham were ringing again. Good influences are
seeds of immortal flowers, and no life fails that inspires another.

Franklin Park, Boston, which will be one of the most beautiful in the
world, will carry forward, in its forests, fountains, and flowers, these
influences for generations to come.

CHAPTER XLIII.

A LESSON AFTER SCHOOL.

IT was the day of the award of the Franklin medals in the old Boston
Latin School, a day in June, and such a one as James Russell Lowell so
picturesquely describes. We say "old" Boston Latin School, not meaning
old Boston in England, but such an association would not be an untrue
one; for the Boston Latin School in Boston, Massachusetts, which was
founded under the influence of Governor John Winthrop and Rev. John
Cotton, and that numbers five signers of the Declaration of Independence
among its pupils, was really begun in Boston, England, in 1554, or in
the days of Queen Mary. It has the most remarkable history of any school
in America; it has been the Harrow of Harvard, and for five or more
generations has sent into life many men whose character has shed luster
upon their times.

To gain the Franklin medal is the high aim of the Boston schoolboy. It
is to associate one's name with a long line of illustrious men, among
them John Collins Warren, Wendell Phillips, Charles Sumner, Phillips
Brooks, S. F. Smith, and many others.

But one of the boys who had won the Franklin medal to-day had done so
amid the ridicule of his people at home and after very hard work. Boston
Latin boys are too well bred to laugh at the humble gifts of any one,
but those of this period could hardly have failed to notice the natural
stupidity and the strong, silent purpose and will of this lad. His name
we will call Elwell--Frank Elwell. He came from a humble home, where he
was not uncommonly taunted as being the "fool of the family."

He first attracted attention at this school of brilliant pupils by a
bold question which he asked his teacher one day that commanded instant
respect. After hard study he had made a very poor recitation. He was
reproved by his teacher, who was a submaster, but a kindly, sensitive,
and sympathetic man. He lifted his eyes and looked into the teacher's
face, and said:

"W