At the beginning of the contest which in Europe was the Seven Years' War, but in America a ten years' war, Franklin's pen and pencil were both employed in urging a cordial union of the colonies against the foe. His device of a snake severed into as many pieces as there were colonies, with the motto, "_Join or Die_," survived the occasion that called it forth, and became a common newspaper and handbill heading in 1776. It was he, also, as tradition reports, who exhibited to the unbelieving farmers of Pennsylvania the effect of gypsum, by writing with that fertilizer in large letters upon a field the words "_This has been plastered_." The brilliant green of the grass which had been stimulated by the plaster soon made the words legible to the passer-by. During his first residence in London as the representative of Pennsylvania he became intimately acquainted with the great artist from whom excellence in the humorous art of England dates--William Hogarth. The last letter that the dying Hogarth received was from Benjamin Franklin. "Receiving an agreeable letter," says Nichols, "from the American, Dr. Franklin, he drew up a rough draught of an answer to it." Three hours after, Hogarth was no more. A few of Franklin's devices for the coins and paper money of the young republic have been preserved. He wished that every coin and every note should say something wise or cheerful to their endless succession of possessors and scrutinizers. Collectors show the Franklin cent of 1787, with its circle of thirteen links and its central words, "_We are one_" and outside of these, "_United States_." On the other side of the coin there is a noonday sun blazing down upon a dial, with the motto, "_Mind your Business_." He made the date say something more to the reader than the number of the year, by appending to it the word "_Fugio_" (I fly). Another cent has a central sun circled by thirteen stars and the words "_Nova Constellatio_." He suggested "_Pay as you go_" for a coin motto. Some of his designs for the Continental paper money were ingenious and effective. Upon one dingy little note, issued during the storm and stress of the Revolution, we see a roughly executed picture of a shower of rain falling upon a newly settled country, with a word of good cheer under it, "_Serenabit_" (It will clear). Upon another there is a picture of a beaver gnawing a huge oak, and the word "_Perseverando_." On another there is a crown resting upon a pedestal, and the words "_Si recte facias_" (If you do uprightly). There is one which represents a hawk and stork fighting, with the motto "_Exitus in dubio est_" (The event is in doubt); and another which shows a hand plucking branches from a tea-plant, with the motto "_Sustain or Abstain_."