The States [he said in his famous letter to his daughter] should not only restore to them the _Omnia_ of their first Motto (omnia reliquit servare rempublicam) which many of them have left and lost, but pay them justly, and reward them generously. They should not be suffered to remain, with (all) their new-created Chivalry, _entirely_ in the Situation of the Gentleman in the Story, which their _omnia reliquit_ reminds me of.... He had built a very fine House, and thereby much impair'd his Fortune. He had a Pride, however, in showing it to his Acquaintance. One of them, after viewing it all, remark'd a Motto over the Door [Transcriber's note: The = represents a dash above the O] "[=O]IA VANITAS." "What," says he, "is the Meaning of this [=O]IA? It is a word I don't understand." "I will tell you," said the Gentleman; "I had a mind to have the Motto cut on a Piece of smooth Marble, but there was not room for it between the Ornaments, to be put in Characters large enough to be read. I therefore made use of a Contraction antiently very common in Latin Manuscripts, by which the _m's_ and _n's_ in Words are omitted, and the Omissions noted by a little Dash above, which you may see there; so that the Word is _omnia_, OMNIA VANITAS." "O," says his Friend, "I now comprehend the Meaning of your motto, it relates to your Edifice; and signifies, that, if you have abridged your _Omnia_, you have, nevertheless, left your VANITAS legible at full length." The determination of the enemies of America after the Revolution to have it that, in spite of all appearances to the contrary, America was going from bad to worse, brought out still another story: They are angry with us and hate us, and speak all manner of evil of us; but we flourish, notwithstanding [he wrote to his grandnephew, Jonathan Williams]. They put me in mind of a violent High Church Factor, resident some time in Boston, when I was a Boy. He had bought upon Speculation a Connecticut Cargo of Onions, which he flatter'd himself he might sell again to great Profit, but the Price fell, and they lay upon hand. He was heartily vex'd with his Bargain, especially when he observ'd they began to _grow_ in the Store he had fill'd with them. He show'd them one Day to a Friend. "Here they are," says he, "and they are _growing_ too! I damn 'em every day; but I think they are like the Presbyterians; the more I curse 'em, the more they _grow_." It was impossible for such an irrational thing as the duel to escape Franklin's humorous insight, and a story like the following tended far more effectively to end the superstition upon which it throve than any pains or penalties that law could devise: