In the Days of Poor Richard
CHAPTER XXV
THE PAGEANT
Jack began to assist Franklin in his correspondence and in the manybusiness details connected with his mission.
"I have never seen a man with a like capacity for work," the youngofficer writes. "Every day he is conferring with Vergennes or otherrepresentatives of the King, or with the ministers of Spain, Hollandand Great Britain. The greatest intellect in the kingdom is naturallyin great request. To-day, after many hours of negotiation with theSpanish minister, in came M. Dubourg, the most distinguished physicianin Europe.
"'_Mon chere maitre_,' he said. 'I have a most difficult case and asyou know more about the human body than any man of my acquaintance Iwish to confer with you.'
"Yesterday, Doctor Ingenhauz, physician to the Emperor of Austria, cameto consult him regarding the vaccination of the royal family of France.
"In the evening, M. Robespierre, a slim, dark-skinned, studious youngattorney from Arras, wearing gold-rimmed spectacles, came forinformation regarding lightning rods, he having doubts of theirlegality. While they were talking, M. Joseph Ignace Guillotin, anotherphysician, arrived. He was looking for advice regarding a proposed newmethod of capital punishment, and wished to know if, in the Doctor'sopinion, a painless death could be produced by quickly severing thehead from the body. Next morning, M. Jourdan, with hair and beard asred as the flank of my bay mare and a loud voice, came soon afterbreakfast, to sell us mules by the ship load.
"So you see that even I, living in his home and seeing him almost everyhour of the day, have little chance to talk with him. Last night wemet M. Voltaire--dramatist and historian--now in the evening of hisdays. We were at the Academy, where we had gone to hear an essay byD'Alembert. Franklin and Voltaire--a very thin old gentleman ofeighty-four, with piercing black eyes--sat side by side on theplatform. The audience demanded that the two great men should comeforward and salute each other. They arose and advanced and shook hands.
"'_A la Francaise_,' the crowd demanded.
"So the two white-haired men embraced and kissed each other amidst loudapplause.
"We are up at sunrise and at breakfast, for half an hour or so, I havehim to myself. Then we take a little walk in the palace grounds of M.le Ray de Chaumont, Chief Forester of the kingdom, which adjoins us.To the Count's generosity Franklin is indebted for the house we livein. The Doctor loves to have me with him in the early morning. Hesays breakfasting alone is the most _triste_ of all occupations.
"'I think that the words of Demosthenes could not have been more soughtthan yours,' I said to him at breakfast this morning.
"He laughed as he answered: 'Demosthenes said that the first point inspeaking was action. Probably he meant the action which preceded theaddress--a course of it which had impressed people with the integrityand understanding of the speaker. For years I have had what DoctorJohnson would call 'a wise and noble curiosity' about nature and havehad some success in gratifying it. Then, too, I have tried to order mylife so that no man could say that Ben Franklin had intentionally donehim a wrong. So I suppose that my words are entitled to a degree ofrespect--a far more limited degree than the French are good enough toaccord them.'
"As we were leaving the table he said: 'Jack, I have an idea worthy ofDemosthenes. My friend, David Hartley of London, who still has hope ofpeace by negotiation, wishes to come over and confer with me. I shalltell him that he may come if he will bring with him the Lady Hare andher daughter.'
"'More thrilling words were never spoken by Demosthenes,' I answered.'But how about Jones and his _Bonne Homme Richard_? He is now a terrorto the British coasts. They would fear destruction.'
"'I shall ask Jones to let them alone,' he said. 'They can come undera special flag.'
"Commodore Jones did not appear again in Paris until October, when hecame to Passy to report upon a famous battle.
"I was eager to meet this terror of the coasts. His impudent courageand sheer audacity had astonished the world. The wonder was that menwere willing to join him in such dare devil enterprises.
"I had imagined that Jones would be a tall, gaunt, swarthy, raw-boned,swearing man of the sea. He was a sleek, silent, modest little man,with delicate hands and features. He wished to be alone with theDoctor, and so I did not hear their talk. I know that he needed moneyand that Franklin, having no funds, provided the sea fighter from hisown purse.
"Commodore Jones had brought with him a cartload of mail from capturedBritish ships. In it were letters to me from Margaret.
"'Now you are near me and yet there is an impassable gulf between us,'she wrote. 'We hear that the seas are overrun with pirates and that noship is safe. Our vessels are being fired upon and sunk. I would notmind being captured by a good Yankee captain, if it were carefullydone. But cannons are so noisy and impolite! I have a lot of Britishpluck in me, but I fear that you would not like to marry a girl wholimped because she had been shot in the war. And, just think of thepossible effect on my disposition. So before we start Doctor Franklinwill have to promise not to fire his cannons at us.'
"I showed the letter to Franklin and he laughed and said:
"'They will be treated tenderly. The Commodore will convoy them acrossthe channel. I shall assure Hartley of that in a letter which will goforward today.'
"Anxious days are upon us. Our money in America has become almostworthless and we are in extreme need of funds to pay and equip thearmy. We are daily expecting a loan from the King of three millionlivres. But Vergennes has made it clear to us that the government ofFrance is itself in rather desperate straits. The loan has beenapproved, but the treasury is waiting upon certain taxes not yetcollected. The moment the money is available the Prime Minister willinform us of the fact.
"On a fine autumn day we drove with the Prince of Conde in his greatcoach, ornamented with costly paintings, to spend a day at his countryseat in Chantilly. The palace was surrounded by an artificial canal;the gardens beautified with ponds and streams and islands and cascadesand grottos and labyrinths, the latter adorned with gracefulsculptures. His stables were lined with polished woods; their windowscovered with soft silk curtains. Of such a refinement of luxury I hadnever dreamed. Having seen at least a thousand beggars on the way, Iwas saddened by these rich, lavish details of a prince'sself-indulgence.
"On the wish of our host, Franklin had taken with him a part of hiselectrical apparatus, with which he amused a large company of thefriends of the great _Seigneur_ in his palace grounds. Spirits werefired by a spark sent from one pond to another with no conductor butthe water of a stream. The fowls for dinner were slain by electricalshocks and cooked over a fire kindled by a current from an electricalbottle. At the table the success of America was toasted in electrifiedbumpers with an accompaniment of guns fired by an electrical battery.
"A poet had written a _Chanson a Boire_ to Franklin, which was read andmerrily applauded at the dinner--one stanza of which ran as follows:
"'Tout, en fondant un empire, Vous le voyez boire et rire Le verre en main Chantons notre Benjamin.'
"To illustrate the honest candor with which often he speaks, even inthe presence of Frenchmen who are near the throne, I quote a few wordsfrom his brief address to the Prince and his friends;
"'A good part of my life I have worked with my hands. If Your Gracewill allow me to say so, I wish to see in France a deeper regard forthe man who works with his hands--the man who supplies food. He reallyfurnishes the standard of all value. The value of everything dependson the labor given to the making of it. If the labor in producing abushel of wheat is the same as that consumed in the production of anounce of silver, their value is the same.
"'The food maker also supplies a country with its population. By 1900he will have given to America a hundred million people and a power andprosperity beyond our reckoning. Frugality and Industry are the mostfruitful of parents, especially where they are respected. When luxuryand the cost of living have increased, people have b
ecome more cautiousabout marriage and populations have begun to dwindle.'
"The Bourbon Prince, a serious-minded man, felt the truth of all thisand was at pains to come to my venerable friend and heartily expresshis appreciation.
"'We know that we are in a bad way, but we know not how to get out ofit,' he said.
"The Princess, who sat near us at table, asked the Doctor forinformation about the American woman.
"'"She riseth while it is yet night and giveth meat to her household,and a portion to her maidens,"' he quoted. 'She is apt to be moreindustrious than her husband. She works all day and often a part ofthe night. She is weaver, knitter, spinner, tailor, cook, washerwoman,teacher, doctor, nurse. While she is awake her hands are never idle,and their most important work is that of slowly building up the manhoodof America. Ours is to be largely a mother-made land.'
"'_Mon Dieu_! I should think she would be cross with so much to do,'said the Princess.
"'Often she is a little cross,' Franklin answered. 'My friend, JamesOtis of Massachusetts, complained of the fish one day at dinner whenthere was company at the table. Mrs. Otis frankly expressed heropinion of his bad manners. He was temperamental and himself a bitoverworked. He made no answer, but in the grace which followed themeal he said:
"'"O Lord, we thank Thee that we have been able to finish this dinnerwithout getting slapped."
"'But I would ask Your Highness to believe that our men are mostlyeasier to get along with. They do not often complain of the food.They are more likely to praise it.'
"On our way back to Paris the Doctor said to me:
"'The great error of Europe is entailment--entailed estates, entailedpride, entailed luxury, entailed conceit. A boy who inherits honorwill rarely honor himself. I like the method of China, where honorascends, but does not descend. It goes back to his parents who taughthim his virtues. It can do no harm to his parents, but it can easilyruin him and his children. I regard humility as one of the greatestvirtues.'"