Part 46 (2/2)
”Jenny, your hair is gray now, and mine is white. I have been reading over again this letter from Was.h.i.+ngton.”
”Read it to me while I rest, then we will talk of old times.”
He read the letter.
”Here are the resolutions of the a.s.sembly of Pennsylvania pa.s.sed on my return.”
”Read them to me, brother, for I must rest longer before we talk of old times.”
He read the resolutions.
”Jenny, let me uncover this. It is not vanity that makes me wish to do it now, but on account of what I wish to say.”
He uncovered the portrait of the French king. The last light of the sun fell into the room and upon the frame, causing the four hundred diamonds to gleam.
”That was presented to me by the court of France.”
”I never saw anything so splendid, brother. But what is the other picture under the cover?”
He drew away the screen.
”It is my portrait, Jenny.”
”But, brother, what are those words written under it?”
Franklin read, ”_Eripuit coelo fulmen, sceptrumque tyrannis._”
”Brother, what does that mean?”
”'He s.n.a.t.c.hed the thunderbolts from heaven, and the scepter from the tyrants.'”
”Who, brother?”
”Jenny, let us talk of these things no longer. Do you remember Uncle Ben?”
”He has never died. He lives in you. You have lived out his life. You have lived, Ben, and I have loved. Brother, you have done well. He who does his best does well.”
”Jenny, can you repeat what Uncle Ben said under the tree on the showery day when the birds sang, nearly seventy years ago?”
”Let us repeat it together, brother. You have made that lesson your life.”
”'More than wealth, more than fame, or any other thing, is the power of the human heart, and it is developed by seeking the good of others. Live for the things that live.'”
”Jenny, my own true sister, I have something else to show you--something that I value more than a present from a throne. I have here some 'pamphlets,' into which Uncle Ben put his soul before he sought to impress the same thoughts upon me. I want you to have them now, to read them, and give them to his family.”
He went to his secretary and took from it the pamphlets.
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