hs in
Philadelphia. Some of the best of these old rifles have been preserved
and are really beautiful weapons, with delicate hair triggers,
gracefully curved stocks, and quaint brass or even gold or silver
mountings. The ornamentation was often done by the hunter himself, who
would melt a gold or silver coin and pour it into some design which he
had carved with his knife in the stock.

The Revolution offered an opportunity after the Ulstermen's heart,
and they entered it with their entire spirit, as they had every other
contest which involved liberty and independence. In fact, in that period
they played such a conspicuous part that they almost ruled Philadelphia,
the original home of the Quakers. Since then, spread out through the
State, they have always had great influence, the natural result of their
energy, intelligence, and love of education.

Nearly all these diverse elements of the Pennsylvania population were
decidedly sectional in character. The Welsh had a language of their own,
and they attempted, though without success, to maintain it, as well as
a government of their own within their barony independent of the regular
government of the province. The Germans were also extremely sectional.
They clung with better success to their own language, customs, and
literature. The Scotch-Irish were so clannish that they had ideas of
founding a separate province on the Susquehanna. Even the Church of
England people were so aloof and partisan that, though they lived about
Philadelphia among the Quakers, they were extremely hostile to the
Quaker rule and unremittingly strove to destroy it.

All these cleavages and divisions in the population continue in their
effects to this day. They prevented the development of a homogeneous
population. No exact statistics were taken of the numbers of the
different nationalities in colonial times; but Franklin's estimate is
probably fairly accurate, and his position in practical politics gave
him the means of knowing and of testing his calculations. About the year
1750 he estimated the population as one-third Quaker, one-third German,
and one-third miscellaneous. This gave about 50,000 or 60,000 to each of
the thirds. Provost Smith, of the newly founded college, estimated the
Quakers at only about 40,000. But his estimate seems too low. He was
interested in making out their numbers small because he was trying
to show the absurdity of allowing such a small band of fanatics and
heretics