ruined with you,
if you are ruined," I see Benjamin Franklin, in the Congress of 1776,
already past his seventieth year, prosperous, famous, by far the most
celebrated man in America, accepting without demur the difficult and
dangerous mission to France, and whispering to his friend, Dr. Rush, "I
am old and good for nothing, but as the store-keepers say of their
remnants of cloth, 'I am but a fag-end, and you may have me for what
you please.'"

Here is a man who will illustrate and prove, perhaps better than any
other of those who stood with Washington, the point at which I am
aiming. There was none of the glamour of romance about old Ben Franklin.
He was shrewd, canny, humorous. The chivalric Southerners disliked his
philosophy, and the solemn New-Englanders mistrusted his jokes. He made
no extravagant claims for his own motives, and some of his ways were not
distinctly ideal. He was full of prudential proverbs, and claimed to be
a follower of the theory of enlightened self-interest. But there was not
a faculty of his wise old head which he did not put at the service of
his country, nor was there a pulse of his slow and steady heart which
did not beat loyal to the cause of freedom.

He forfeited profitable office and sure preferment under the crown, for
hard work, uncertain pay, and certain peril in behalf of the colonies.
He followed the inexorable logic, step by step, which led him from the
natural rights of his countrymen to their liberty, from their liberty
to their independence. He endured with a grim humor the revilings of
those whom he called "malevolent critics and bug-writers." He broke with
his old and dear associates in England, writing to one of them,

"You and I were long friends; you are now my enemy and I am Yours,
B. Franklin."

He never flinched or faltered at any sacrifice of personal ease or
interest to the demands of his country. His patient, skilful, laborious
efforts in France did as much for the final victory of the American
cause as any soldier's sword. He yielded his own opinions in regard to
the method of making the treaty of peace with England, and thereby
imperilled for a time his own prestige. He served as president of
Pennsylvania three times, devoting all his salary to public
benefactions. His influence in the Constitutional Convention was
steadfast on the side of union and harmony, though in many things he
differed from the prevailing party. His voice was among those who hail