September 30: The sun rose clear this morning, and so did I and finished all my little affairs by breakfast. It was then resolved to wait on the ladies on horseback, since the bright sun, the fine air, and the wholesome exercise all invited us to it. We forded the river a little above the ferry and rode 6 miles up the neck to a fine level piece of rich land where we found about 20 plants of ginseng, with the scarlet berries growing on the top of the middle stalk. The root of this is of wonderful virtue in many cases, particularly to raise the spirits and promote perspiration, which makes it a specific in colds and coughs. The colonel complimented me with all we found in return for my telling him the virtues of it. We were all pleased to find so much of this king of plants so near the colonel’s habitation and growing too upon his own land.... I carried home this treasure with as much joy as if every root had been a graft of the Tree of Life, and washed and dried it carefully. Life in a City Benjamin Franklin’s life is too well-known to need summarizing here. The story of his life should be on the reading list of every American, and the best account of it is the one he wrote himself. Unfortunately, he never finished his autobiography, so we do not have in his own words the story of his diplomatic mission to France during the Revolution, or his activities in America at the time of the Declaration of Independence and later during the Constitutional Convention. His early career, however, is well described. The following selection from the Autobiography tells of Franklin’s arrival in Philadelphia at the age of 17 after running away from home in Boston. From Benjamin Franklin’s _Autobiography_ I was in my working dress, my best clothes being to come round by sea. I was dirty from my journey; my pockets were stuffed out with shirts and stockings; I knew no soul nor where to look for lodging. I was fatigued with traveling, rowing, and want of rest; I was very hungry; and my whole stock of cash consisted of a Dutch dollar and about a shilling in copper. The latter I gave the people of the boat for my passage, who at first refused it, on account of my rowing; but I insisted on their taking it, a man being sometimes more generous when he has but a little money than when he has plenty, perhaps through fear of being thought to have but little.