42 FuRNESS: Franklin 



taught him exactly what to do. He gathered all the 

 money he could command, amounting to three or four 

 thousand pounds, certainly of five times the purchasing 

 value that it is at present, and lent it all to the govern- 

 ment. This tangible proof, by so cautious and thrifty 

 a man, of confidence in the stability of the government, 

 afiforded untold encouragement to his fellow-citizens 

 to follow his example. 



Language would be deemed extravagant that should 

 describe the admiration, the adulation, and the respect 

 wherewith Franklin was welcomed in France. 



Ah, that name, France, can it be ever spoken by an 

 American, mindful of our early struggles, without bring- 

 ing " the crimson to the forehead and the lustre to the 

 eye," as the kindled flush of gratitude starts from our 

 heart of heart! I care not for motives. Gratitude recks 

 not of them. The fact remains that under God, we owe 

 to France the success of our Revolution! When above, 

 below, and on every hand, there was naught but gloom 

 and black despair, that dear, dear land rose to us, on the 

 horizon, like a constellation on the brow of night. 



It has been happily said that the thought of future 

 applause is like the majestic sound of the distant ocean; 

 present applause is like that same ocean dashed in 

 the face, and requiring a rock to stand it. But nigh 

 a decade of such applause as has never been lavished 

 on living man had no effect on Franklin's granitic. 



