Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-17

assertion, He that hath trade, hath an
estate
Franklin did not pretend to invent these
wise maxims, but he ransacked the pro-
verbs and saws of all ages and set them
Derore the people Of his day In the sim
gotten
:. That stored-up fund of the ages Frank
IN made the Inheritance OF the American
i.auo ION ana our generation as well as his
IS richer for ii. In our copy books and
almanacs, and in our daily counsel 10 chill
dTeh and friends the homely wisdom of
the past. framed In Franklin's phrases.
guides the conduct of our own generation
But If FRANKLIN has greatly influenced
our everyday life he has even more left
nus mark upon our public life OF all the
ldInous revolutionary fathers. his name
alone isNfound alike beneath the DecIara
ton of Independence. beneath the treaty
OF alliance with France, beneath the
treaty OF peace which ended the reyoIu-
ton and at the foot of the CONSTITUTION
under which we now live. Great was the
part winch he had in bringing them ALI To
Irultlon, but In none does his wonderful
personality stand out more vividIy than
In his errand of diplomacy to France y-ban-
ne won the hearts of the French people
and made them heartily approve the kings
action when he allied France with amer
lea WIN Ni'el
his very appearance in France was greet
ed with the greatest enthusiasm. Adams
declared that his reputation was more uni
VersaI than that Of Newton, VoItafre or
Frederick the Great. OF love ana esteem,
too, he had more than they.
NOT only was his name familiar to nobiJ-
ity' clergy and philosophers, but there was
scafcely peasant, or citizen, a valet
de chambre, coachman or footnan a
lady chambermaid or a sculIion I'm n
Kitchen who was not familiar with IL and
who did not consider him a friend TO I'M
mankind" - ~"
HIS venerable and patriarchal apnear
ance, and the novelty of his Thoughts ey-
pressed in words as simple and graceful as
were his manners, caused discerning men To
declare him one of the most extraordinarv
men that ever existed. He was simple as
Rousseau and witty as Voltare vet II was
not an ideafsm, but I'm good sense thar his
genius lay. The wise, the enthusiastic and
the frivolous were all drawn to him nv
some trait that won them. To the common
people he was the restorer of the golden
age, TO the polite world he was PHILOSOPHER.
patriot and apostle of liberty
Paris lost it's head over him. 1T enter
tainments beautiful women Wed with each
other TO place his white head a crown
of laurels, and kisses on his cheeks! He
grew weary of sitting for busts and por-
traits and medals On every Jewellers
counter his benign features were set in
innumerable rings, watches, snuff boxes
and bracelets.
His very singularity served to keep him
in the public eye. Contrast could go no
further than Franklin's appearance I'm
court. Amid the lace and embroidery the
powder and the perfume walked tbs
farmer figure. with brown coat round hat
and unpowdered hair. He did not ape
French manners, but, as Jefferson express
ed 1t, he subjected France 10 American in
fuence.
= Franklin's whole diplomatic policy was
simple. II is my intention, while | stay
here. to procure what advantages | can for
our country by endeaVofing to please the
court" Adams, when he came year later,
wanted the court to know its place and as
a result ii refused to have anything more
to do with him.
That stern Coriolanus of diplomacy would
not hatter the French monarch for all his
power but Franklin, seeing that the king
had a pleasure In rejecting on his generous
beneyolence in assisting an oppressed peo-
pie, and that he regarded it ''as part OF
the glory of his reign" thought it wise TO
increase that pleasure by grateful acknowl-
edgmerts-
to bind the French people IN a firm friend
ship with the new nation In America, a
sx5rnpathy not wholly lost today, though the
conduct of Louis Napoleon during our civil
war being regarded the will of the
French people, did much to estraBge US
from them.
for his own age. and note the influence he
has had upon our own, il Will be seen that
his life is not only the most interesting
and the most uniformly successful yet lived
BY an American but 1t must seem on the
whole to have been the most useful TO all
classes and conditions of men except per-
hans. the lives of Washington and Lincoln.
and theirs. possibly, We're nobler, but not sc
useful
Copyright, 1905. BY MeCs..e. PhHlps 4 csl