38 FuRNESS: Franklin 



Province. In every emergency, it was to Franklin that 

 his fellows-citizens appealed for counsel, in absolute 

 trust that in his discerning sagacity, in the fertility of 

 his resources, in his promptitude and unwearied self- 

 sacrifice, they would find all needed aid. And never 

 did they appeal in vain. Did Philadelphia happen to 

 be in danger from privateers of France and Spain at 

 war with Great Britain, it was Franklin, the private 

 citizen, who lulled all fears by organizing bands 

 for defence and by raising money to build and equip a 

 battery. Were the Indians threatening the frontiers, 

 it was Franklin, the citizen, who was deputed to 

 confer with the British general on the means of de- 

 fence, and in so doing, in order to purchase sup- 

 plies for the soldiers, he advanced his own hardly 

 earned money to the extent of a thousand pounds, — 

 equivalent at the present day to at least five times as 

 much, — which should the English Government fail to 

 repay, meant his financial ruin. 



Thus it was, that, in the eyes of his fellow-citizens, 

 towering above all, in his sterling combination of the 

 qualities of a good citizen, he verily anticipated his own 

 electrical discoveries, and, like a lightning-rod, dissi- 

 pated every ominous cloud that threatened the serenity 

 of the Commonwealth. Under his benign protection 

 there dwelt safety and secure repose. 



