e interior.

In the year 1753, Franklin visited every post-office excepting that
of Charleston. His wisdom introduced reforms, some of which have
continued to the present day. A newspaper was charged nine pence
a year, for a distance of fifty miles, and eighteen pence for
one hundred miles or more. In the large towns a penny post was
established, and all letters left remaining in the office were
advertised.

A mail was conveyed from Philadelphia to New York once a week in
summer, and once in two weeks in winter. Franklin started a mail to
leave each of these cities three times a week in summer, and twice in
winter. It generally required six weeks to obtain an answer from a
letter sent to Boston. Most of the roads, into the interior, consisted
of narrow passages, cut through the forest, called Bridle Paths,
because the pack horses were led through them, in single file by the
bridle.

CHAPTER VIII.

_The Rising Storms of War._

Aristocracy--Anecdote--Conflicting laws of
Nations--Franklin's scheme of colonization--Proposal of the
British Court--The foresight of Franklin--Braddock's
campaign--Remonstrances of Franklin and
Washington--Franklin's interviews with Braddock--Franklin's
efficiency--Confidence of Braddock--The conflict with the
Proprietaries--The non-resistant Quakers--Fate of the
Moravian villages--The winter campaign--The camp of
Gaudenhutton--Anecdote--Renewal of the strife with the
Proprietaries--Franklin recalled to assist the
Assembly--Destruction of the Fort--Claim of the
Proprietaries--The great controversy.

With increasing wealth the spirit of aristocratic exclusiveness gained
strength in the higher circles of Philadelphia. Some of the more
opulent families planned for a series of dancing entertainments during
the winter. It was proposed among other rules that no mechanic, or
mechanic's wife or daughter, should be invited. The rules were shown
to Franklin. He glanced his eye over them and pithily remarked,

"Why these rules would exclude God Almighty!"

"How so?" inquired the manager.

"Because," Franklin replied, "the Almighty, as all know, is the
greatest mechanic in the universe. In six days he made all things."
The obnoxious article was stricken out.

The following incident, narrated by Franklin, illustrates a very
important principle in political economy, which those are apt to
ignore, who denounce all the elegancies