238 The Franklin Bi-centennial 



chandler, who was brought in a blanket from his par- 

 ent's house just across the street on the very day of his 

 birth, January 6, 1706, received from the pastor's lips 

 the name of Benjamin Franklin, Mr. Winthrop thus 

 spoke : — 



"We may not forget that, while the history of Amer- 

 ican Arts and Sciences may fairly begin with our Bos- 

 ton-born apprentice, that history must turn to another 

 city and another state for the opening pages of its earliest 

 chapter. Old as we are, we cannot claim the distinction 

 of being the oldest of American scientific associations; 

 and we are rejoiced to recognize and to welcome among 

 our guests to-day a distinguished delegation from our 

 elder sister, the American Philosophical Society of 

 Philadelphia, which was founded by Franklin not a 

 great many years after he had run away, as a lad of 

 seventeen, from his apprenticeship and indentures here, 

 and had established himself in the City of Brotherly 

 Love. That noble city has a heritage of historic glory, 

 which may well be the admiration, if not the envy, of 

 all other American cities. But it is as the acknowl- 

 edged birthplace of the first American philosophical 

 Society that we hail it especially on this occasion, and 

 welcome the delegates from that city and from that 

 Society with an exceptional emphasis and fervor. We 

 welcome, indeed, most heartily on this occasion every one 

 of the delejgates who have honored us by their presence 



