But it was in France, his adopted country, where the expressions of grief and loss were most tumultuous. The National Assembly proclaimed a period of three months of national mourning for the “benefactor and hero of humanity.” “Antiquity would have raised altars to this mighty genius,” cried the revolutionary leader Mirabeau. Splendid orations in his honor were delivered by the Jacobins, the Friends of the Constitution, the Academy of Science, the Royal Society of Medicine, the National Guard, the Masonic lodges, the printers of France, and uncounted other societies. All over the country, women wept for him. It is said that one enterprising businessman became rich by selling statuettes of him, made from the stones of the Bastille. Franklin’s contributions to his country, to science, to better understanding between nations and peoples were immense. His maxims on thrift and moral virtues have been extolled to generations of school children. His wit and wisdom have added to the world’s riches. He was many men in one—statesman, scientist, inventor, writer, humorist, philosopher, and a friend of humanity who shared himself with all around him. “Who that know and love you can bear the thoughts of surviving you in this gloomy world?” cried out Jane Mecom, his beloved sister, shortly before his death. Posterity would provide her answer. Because Benjamin Franklin lived and enjoyed life, the world would be a little less gloomy and a little more pleasant for all who came after him. SUGGESTED READING Aldrich, Alfred Owen, _Franklin and His French Contemporaries_. New York, New York University Press, 1957. _The American Heritage Book of the Revolution._ By the Editors of American Heritage. New York, Simon & Schuster, 1958. Augur, Helen, _The Secret War of Independence_. New York, Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1955. Burt, Struthers, _Philadelphia Holy Experiment_. New York, Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1945. Clark, William Bell, _Ben Franklin’s Privateers_. Baton Rouge, La., Louisiana State University Press, 1956. Fäy, Bernard, _Franklin, the Apostle of Modern Times_. Boston, Little, Brown, and Company, 1929. Ford, Paul Leicester, _The Many-Sided Franklin_. New York, The Century Company, 1899. _Franklin’s Wit & Folly—the Bagatelles_, edited by Richard E. Amacher. New Brunswick, N.J., Rutgers University Press, 1953. _A Benjamin Franklin Reader_, edited by Nathan G. Goodman. New York, Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1945. _Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiographical Writings_, selected and edited by Carl Van Doren. New York, The Viking Press, 1945. _The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin_, with postcript by Richard B. Morris. New York, The Pocket Library, 1954. Van Doren, Carl, _Benjamin Franklin_. New York, The Viking Press, 1938. Van Doren, Carl, _Jane Mecom_. New York, The Viking Press, 1950. INDEX