Evening star. [volume], December 17, 1905, Page 5, Image 33

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
Franklin's Bicentenary
Philadelphia to Celebrate Two H
dr edth Anniversary of the Sage's Birth
By RENE B ACHE.
Creat-Great-Great-Orandson of Benjamin Fran Klin
Benjamin FrunKlin
From a Rare and Little
flnown Steel-Engr?vin^
EVERY effort is to be made to render the cele
bration of the bicentenary of the birth of
Benjamin Franklin, in Philadelphia next
month, an affair of sufficient importance to draw
the attention of the world. Delegations of scien
tific societies from all of the civilized countries
will attend; President Roosevelt is expected to be
present, and to deliver an address at a banquet
given in honor of the foreign guests; and three days
are to be devoted to ceremonies, for the carrying
out of which the Legislature of Pennsylvania has
appropriated twenty thousand dollars.
It is greatly regretted that the house on Market
st. in which Franklin spent the last years of his life,
covering the period between his final return from
the court of France and his death, should not have
been preserved as a historical relic. It stood on a
patch of land that ran nearly through to Chestnut
st. between Second and Third, and in front of it
was a large garden, with gravel walks and old
fashioned flower-beds. There was also an unusually
large mulberry-tree, under which the sage, who
during his long residence in France had acquired
the habit of sitting much out of doors, loved to re
pose himself in an easy-chair on summer afternoons,
while receiving the many people who came to see
him and to listen to his quaint and interesting
talk.
It happens, fortunately, that this scene, in which
one beholds the philosopher during his last days,
surrounded by his family and resting from the
labors of a long and somewhat stormy life, has been
preserved in a remarkable way by the pen and
brush of contemporaries. At that period every
stranger of distinction who visited Philadelphia
went as a matter of course to see Doctor Franklin,
and one such, a Frenchman, who must have been
a painter of mark, transferred to canvas his im
pression of the scene beneath the mulberry-tree
with so much faithfulness and vividness that,
having looked upon it, one feels as if he himself had
beheld that little household on a summer's after
noon. on the lawn in front of the
quaint old Market-st. dwelling. To
day nobody knows who the painter
was, and the picture itself seems to
have disappeared; but luckily an
engraving was made from it, of
which two copies are still ex
tant. From one of these, which
bears the title, "Franklin Chez
Lut," or "Franklin at Home,"
the accompanying photograph,
here published for the first time,
has been made.
It is obvious that the painter,
whoever he was, must have vis
ited the place himself. The pic
ture, indeed, bears all the marks
of verity, while corresponding
closely in its details to the de
scriptions of that scene given in
writing by more than one of the
philosopher's contemporaries. For
example, Manasseh Cutler, who
went to see the doctor at the
Market-st. house in 1787, says:
?'We found him in his garden,
sitting upon a grass-plot under a
From an
very large mulberry, with several other gentlemen
and two or three ladies. There was no curiosity
in Philadelphia which I felt so anxious to see as
this great man. But a man who stood first in the
literary world, and had spent so many years in
the courts of Kings, I conceived, would not be
of very easy access, and must certainly have much
of the air and grandeur of majesty about him.
Common folks must expect to gaze at him at a
distance and answer such questions as he might
choose to ask. But how were my ideas changed
when I saw a short, fat old man, in a plain
Quaker dress, bald pate and short white locks,
sitting without his hat under a tree, who rose
from his chair, took me by the hand, expressed
his joy to see me. and begged me to seat myself
close to him. . . . The tea-table was spread
under the tree, and Mrs. Bache, who is the only
daughter of the doctor and lives with him, served
it out to the company. She had three of her chil
dren about her, over whom she seemed to have no
kind of command, but who appeared to be excess
ively fond of their grandpapa."
It is Mrs. Bache (Sally Franklin) who in the picture
is shown pouring out the tea. She and her husband,
with their six children, lived with Doctor Franklin,
whose wife had been dead for some years. After
many years of exile abroad, he enjoyed his home life
greatly. Writing to a friend at that time, he said:
"The companions of my youth are almost all
departed, but I find an agreeable society among
their children and grandchildren. I have public
business enough to preserve me from ennui,
and private amusement besides in conversa
tion, books, my garden and cribbage. Cards
we sometimes play here in long winter evenings.
I have, indeed, now and then no little com
punction in reflecting that I spend time so idly;
but another reflection comes to relieve me,
whispering: 'You know that the soul is im
mortal; why, then, should you be such a niggard
of a little time, when you have a whole eternity
before you?' So, being easily convinced, and
like other reasonable creatures, satisfied with
a small reason, when it is in favor of doing what
Old Painting Showing Franhlin on His Lawn
Daughter Serving Tea
Sarah Franhlin fiache,
Daughter of Benjamin FranKlin
Copied From an Old Print
I have a mind to, I shuffle the cards again and
begin ahother game."
Much as he was accustomed to preach of economy
and the advantages of saving, Franklin was an
extremely generous man. During these last years
of his life he indulged a lavish hospitality, and
frequently as many as twenty-five or thirty people
were gathered about his table. He was accustomed
to entertain every distinguished stranger who came
to Philadelphia, being himself, as Manasseh Cutler
implies, one of the principal sights of the city.
Though abstemious in both eating and drinking,
he keenly enjoyed a little conviviality, and on
occasions would even contribute a song. Two or
three drinking-songs composed by him are still ex
tant, as well as a versified recipe for the manufacture
of punch. Punch in those days meant rum-punch,
and the good doctor was not unskilled in brewing
it. The receptacle used by him for the purpose
was a curiosity in its way?a small cask of china
held horizontally in a wooden frame. The in
gredients were introduced at the bung-hole on top,
and a spigot served for drawing the beverage into
tumblers.
It was at this period that Franklin was visited
by Sir Samuel Romilly, who, in describing the in
cident, wrote: "Of all the celebrated persons
whom in my life I have chanced to see, Doctor
Franklin, both from his appearance and his con
versation, seemed to be the most remarkable. His
venerable, patriarchal appearance, the simplicity
of his manner and language and the novelty of his
observations impressed me with an opinion of him
as one of the most extraordinary men that evex
existed."
At that period the philosopher's health had
failed him to a considerable extent. He suffered
from gout and the stone, which, with complications,
eventually carried him off. But he was always
exceedingly cheerful, even when suffering, and as one
of his friends has recorded, "full of anecdotes and
learning." Even at this time in his life he added
to the already extensive list of hia
inventions, contriving among other
? things a most curious chair which,
when desired, could be converted in
to a stepladder for the purpose of
reaching the higher shelves in a li
brary. As far as known, only one
of these chairs was ever actually
constructed for his own particular
use, and this is owned at present
by the Philosophical Society of
Philadelphia.
Benjamin Franklin, if he was
alive to-day, would be called a
Unitarian. Like his friend Thomas
Paine, he was, while a free-thinker,
exceedingly religious, having firm
faith in an overriding Provi
dence and in the immortality
of the soul. These beliefs he
has put on record in many
of his writings. During the last
years of his life, in Philadelphia,
he went regularly to Christ
Church, where Washington also
worshiped when as President he
came to the Quaker City to five.
and His