1. Give an account of Franklin's bookish habits, and of his experiences on the journey from Boston to Philadelphia, when he ran away from home. 2. How do you explain the success in life of this poor boy? In making your explanation think of all his strong traits of character and of all his good habits. 3. What simple ways of living did Franklin adopt when he was trying hard to pay his debts? 4. Memorize the "Rules of Conduct" and the six homely maxims. 5. Tell about Franklin's experiment with the kite. What great discovery did he make at this time? 6. What did Franklin have to do with the following: the Stamp Act; the Declaration of Independence; securing aid from France? 7. How was he treated by the French people and their King? CHAPTER XVI George Washington the Virginia Planter and the Revolutionary Soldier [1732-1799] [Illustration: George Washington.] We left George Washington at Mount Vernon, his extensive plantation on the Virginia bank of the Potomac River. After his marriage with Mrs. Custis, who had large property of her own, Washington became a man of much wealth. He was at one time one of the largest landholders in America. As a manager of all this property, he had much to do. Let us delay our story a little to get a glimpse of the life led by him and other Virginia planters of his time. The plantations were scattered along the rivers, sometimes many miles apart, with densely wooded stretches of land lying between. Each planter had his own wharf whence vessels, once a year, carried away his tobacco to England, and brought back in exchange whatever manufactured goods he required. Nearly all his needs could be supplied at his wharf or on his plantation. His slaves included not only workers in large tobacco-fields, but such skilled workmen as millers, weavers, tailors, wheelwrights, coopers, shoemakers, and carpenters. Washington said to his overseers, "Buy nothing that you can make within yourselves." Indeed, each plantation was a little world in itself. Hence towns containing shops with goods and supplies of various kinds did not spring up much in Virginia. The mansion of the planter, built of brick or wood and having at either end a huge chimney, was two stories high, with a large veranda outside and a wide hall-way inside. Near by were the storehouses, barns, workshops, and slave quarters. These last consisted of simple wooden cabins surrounded by gardens, where the negroes raised such things as vegetables and water-melons for their own use. In fact, the mansion and all the buildings clustered about it looked like a village. Here we could have seen, at all hours of the day, swarms of negro children playing happily together.