On the last day of the convention he rose to urge a spirit of compromise, a willingness to yield something of one’s own opinion; to avoid the spirit of “a certain French lady, who, in a dispute with her sister, said, ‘I don’t know how it happens, sister, but I meet with nobody but myself that is always in the right.’” When at the end, signatures of the members were appended, numerous enough to make it likely that the Constitution would be accepted by the people, Franklin looked at the sun painted behind the President’s chair, and made a comment which is as applicable to his own reputation as it was to the new Federal Constitution. “I have often and often in the course of the session, and the vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that sun behind the President without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting; but now at length, I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun.” This was the end of Franklin’s public life; three years later he died, full of years and honor, with the established reputation of a man of learning, power, and statesmanship. Possessed of a calm dignity that impressed even the frivolous court of France, he added a love of fun such as no other great American public man has shown, except Abraham Lincoln. His Autobiography abounds in delightful pictures of the gawky youth and the serene statesman. His vast powers belong to his country; his great endeavors went into federal government, which he helped to found, to protect, and to restate in the immortal Constitution of 1787. That is his best monument. [Illustration: GRAVE OF FRANKLIN IN THE CHRIST CHURCH BURIAL GROUND, PHILADELPHIA The stone nearest the fence covers the bodies of both Franklin and his wife] _SUPPLEMENTARY READING_ AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, WITH NOTES BY JOHN BIGELOW. An attractive edition in Everyman’s Library. SELECTIONS FROM THE WRITINGS OF FRANKLIN POOR RICHARD’S ALMANAC BENJAMIN FRANKLIN SELF-REVEALED _By W. C. Bruce_ THE TRUE BENJAMIN FRANKLIN _By S. G. Fisher_ SCENES FROM THE LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN _By L. C. Holman_ ⁂ Information concerning the above books may be had on application to the Editor of The Mentor. _THE OPEN LETTER_ [Illustration: BENJAMIN FRANKLIN From a pastel drawing made in Paris in 1783 by Duplessis, New York Public Library]