Part 40 (1/2)
”I only wish that I could have done more for our folks; and you, Ben--I can see you now as you were on that summer day--you have been true to your country.”
”Jenny, do you remember the old writing-school master, George Brownell?
You do? Well, I have a great secret for you. I used to tell my affairs to you many years ago. I am in favor of the _independence_ of the colonies; and when Congress shall so declare, I shall put my name, that the old schoolmaster taught me to write, to the Declaration.”
”Ben, it may cost you your life!”
”Then I will leave Uncle Ben's name in mine to the martyrs' list. I must be true to my country as you have been to your family--I must live for the things that live. I am Uncle Ben's pamphlet, Jenny. I know not what may befall me. This may be the last time that I shall ever visit Boston town--my beloved Boston--but I have found power with men by seeking their good, and my prayer is that I may one day meet you again, and have you say to me that I have honored Uncle Ben's name. I would rather have that praise from you than from any other person in the world: 'More than wealth, more than fame, more than anything, is the power of the human heart.'”
It was night. The camp of Was.h.i.+ngton was glimmering far away. Boston Neck was barricaded. There was a s.h.i.+p in the mouth of the Charles. A cannon boomed on Charlestown's hills.
”Jenny, I must go. When shall we meet again? Not until I have put Uncle Ben's name to the declaration of American liberty and independence is won. I must prepare the minds of the people to resolve to become an independent nation. My sister, my own true sister, what events may pa.s.s before we shall see each other again! When you were younger I made you a present of a spinning-wheel; later I sent you finery. I wish to leave you now this watch. The hours of the struggle for human liberty are at hand. Count the hours!”
They parted at the gate. The leaves were falling. It was the evening of the year. He looked back when he had taken a few steps. He was nearly seventy years of age. Yet his great work of life was before him--it was yet to do, while white-haired Jenny should count the hours on the clock of time.
Sam Adams had grasped the idea that the appeal to arms must end in the independence of the colonies. Franklin saw the rising star of the destiny of the union of the colonies to secure justice from the crown.
He left Boston to give his whole soul to this great end.
The next day they went out to Tuft's Hill and looked down on the encamped town, the war s.h.i.+ps, and the sea. It was an Indian summer. The trees were scarlet, the orchards were laden with fruit, and the fields were yellow with corn.
Over the blue sea rose the Castle, now gone. The smoke from many British camps curled up in the still, sunny air.
The Providence House Indian (now at the farm of the late Major Ben Perley Poore) gleamed over the roofs of the State House and its viceregal signs, which are now as then. Boston was three hills then, and the whole of the town did not appear as clearly from the hills on the west--the Sunset Hills--as now.
”Jenny, liberty is the right of mankind, and the cause of liberty is the cause of mankind,” said Franklin. ”Why should England hold provinces in America to whom she will allow no voice in her councils, whose people she may tax and condemn to prisons and death at the will of the king? I have told you my heart. America has the right of freedom, and the colonies must be free!”
They walked along the cool hill ways, and he looked longingly back at the glimmering town.
”Beloved Boston!” he said. ”So thou wilt ever be to me!” He turned to his sister: ”I used to tell my day dreams to you--they have come true, in part. I have been thinking again. If the colonies could be made free, and I were to be left a rich man, I would like to make a gift to the schools of Boston, whose influence would live as long as they shall last. Sister, I was too poor in my boyhood to answer the call of the school bells. I would like to endow the schools there with a fund for gifts or medals that would make every boy happy who prepares himself well for the work of life, be he rich or poor. I would like also to establish there a fund to help young apprentices, and to open public places of education and enjoyment which would be free to all people.”
”You are Silence Dogood still,” said Mrs. Mecom. ”Day dreams in your life change into realities. I believe that all you now have in your heart to do will be done. Benjamin, these are great dreams.”
”It may be that I will be sent abroad again.”
”Benjamin, we may be very old when we meet again. But the colonies will be made free, and you will live to give a medal to the schools of Boston town. I must prophesy for you now, for Uncle Benjamin is gone. I began life with you--you carried me in your arms and led me by the hand. We used to sit by the east windows together; may we some day sit down together by the windows of the west and review the book of life, and close the covers. We may then read in spirit the pamphlets of Uncle Ben.”
There was a thunder of guns at the Castle. War s.h.i.+ps were coming into the harbor from the bay. Franklin beheld them with indignation.
”The people must not only have justice,” he said, ”they must have liberty.”
They returned by the Cambridge road under the bowery elms. It would be a long time before they would see each other again.
In such beneficent thoughts of Boston the Franklin medal had its origin.
It was coined out of his heart, that echoed wherever it went or was destined to go, ”Beloved Boston!”
CHAPTER x.x.xVI.
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.--A MYSTERY.
THE fame of Benjamin Franklin now filled America. On the continent of Europe he was held to be the first citizen of America. In France he was ranked among the sages and philosophers of antiquity, and his name a.s.sociated with the greatest benefactors of the human race. It was his electrical discovery that gave him this solid and universal fame, but his Poor Richard's proverbs, which had several times been translated into French, were greatly quoted on the continent of Europe, and made his popularity as unique as it was general.