doors with the
Governor and his Secretary shouting a proclamation through its keyhole,
declaring it to be dissolved. The meeting proceeded to its end, and
when the citizens filed out, they had invited the thirteen colonies to
a General Congress in Philadelphia.

It was Solomon Binkus who conveyed the invitation to Pennsylvania and
Virginia. He had gone on a second mission to Springfield and Boston
and had been in the meeting at Salem with General Ward. Another man
carried that historic call to the colonies farther south. In five
weeks, delegates were chosen, and early in August, they were traveling
on many different roads toward the Quaker City. Crowds gathered in
every town and village they passed. Solomon, who rode with the
Virginia delegation, told Jack that he hadn't heard so much noise since
the Injun war.

"They was poundin' the bells, an shootin' cannons everywhere," he
declared. "Men, women and childern crowded 'round us an' split their
lungs yellin'. They's a streak o' sore throats all the way from
Alexandry to here."

Solomon and his young friend met John Adams on the street. The
distinguished Massachusetts lawyer said to Jack when the greetings were
over:

"Young man, your pen has been not writing, but making history."

"Does it mean war?" Jack queried.

Mr. Adams wiped his brow with his handkerchief and said; "People in our
circumstances have seldom grown old or died in their beds."

"We ought to be getting ready," said Jack.

"And we are doing little but eat and drink and shout and bluster," Mr.
Adams answered. "We are being entertained here with meats and curds
and custards and jellies and tarts and floating islands and Madeira
wine. It is for you to induce the people of Philadelphia to begin to
save. We need to learn Franklin's philosophy of thrift."

Colonel Washington was a member of the Virginia delegation. Jack wrote
that he was in uniform, blue coat and red waistcoat and breeches; that
he was a big man standing very erect and about six feet, two inches in
height; that his eyes were blue, his complexion light and rather
florid, his face slightly pock-marked, his brown hair tinged with gray;
that he had the largest hands, save those of Solomon Binkus, that he
had ever seen. His letter contains these informing words:

"I never quite realized the full meaning of the word 'dignity' until I
saw this man and heard his deep rich voice. There was a kind of
magnificence in his mann