diplomats this country has ever known. During his voyage over he made
observations relative to the Gulf Stream, and the chart he drew of it
nearly one hundred years ago, still forms the basis of maps on the
subject. As is well known, to Franklin more than all others, are we
indebted for the kindly interference by France in our behalf, whose
efforts, though ineffective in the field, helped the revolutionary cause
wonderfully in gaining prestige. At the close of the war Franklin was
one of the commissioners in framing that treaty which recognized
American independence. His simple winning ways won for him admiration in
any court of embroidery and lace, while his world-wide reputation as a
philosopher and statesman won for him a circle of acquaintances of the
most varied character. On the 17th of April, 1790, this great statesman
died, and fully 20,000 people followed him to the tomb. The inscription
he had designed read:

"The body of Benjamin Franklin, printer;
Like the cover of an old book--
Its contents torn out, and script 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 more beautiful edition, corrected and
amended by the Author. Truly, America has been rich in great men, of
which Franklin was not the least. Dr. Franklin, in his will, left his
native town of Boston, the sum of one thousand pounds, to be lent to the
young married artificers upon good security and under odd conditions. If
the plan should be carried out as successfully as he expected, he
reckoned that this sum would amount in one hundred years to one hundred
and thirty-one thousand pounds. It was his wish, and so expressed in his
will that one hundred thousand pounds should be spent upon public works,
"which may then be judged of most general utility to the inhabitants;
such as fortifications, bridges, aqueducts, public buildings, baths,
pavements, or whatever makes living in the town more convenient to its
people, and renders it more agreeable to strangers resorting thither for
health or temporary residence." It was also his wish that the remaining
thirty-one thousand pounds should again be put upon interest for another
hundred years, at the end of which time the whole amount was to be
divided between the city and the State. The bequest at the end of the
first one hundred years may not attain the exact figure he calculated,
but it is sure t