=100. The Quakers prosper; Trials of Penn in his Old Age.=--We are not surprised that the Quaker settlers prospered. In two years there were six hundred houses; also schools and a printing press. Philadelphia had grown more in three years than New York City in half a century. After a few years the founder of the colony went back to England. He continued to watch over his far-away colony, sending out emigrants and in every way promoting its interest. After some time Penn returned to this country, but remained only two years. In his old age he met with sore trials. His son disgraced him by his riotous living, his trusted agent proved dishonest, and at length the good Quaker was financially ruined and was flung into prison for debt. Not long after his release he died at the age of seventy-eight. =101. Subsequent Prosperity of the Quaker Colony.=--When it once became known that in Penn's colony a man could worship God as he pleased, enjoy personal rights; that poor men could own their farms, and that there was no dread of the Indians, we are not surprised that colonists quickly flocked to Pennsylvania. This settlement surpassed all others in America in rapid growth, and was for many years more prosperous and comfortable than any other. About one-third of the inhabitants were Quakers, and these were always a thrifty and peaceful people. At the close of the Revolutionary war Philadelphia was larger than either Boston or New York. Among the thirteen colonies Pennsylvania ranked third in influence and population, being surpassed by none but Virginia and Massachusetts. CHAPTER VIII. THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS. =102. Prosperity of the Early Colonists.=--For fifty years or more after the colonists had established their homes in the wilderness of the New World, they were growing rich and strong. They cleared away forests, planted fields, traded with the Indians, and built for themselves more comfortable houses. Especially was this the case during the years when Cromwell and his party were in power in England, and until after Charles II was restored to the English throne. The settlers boldly pressed further and further on, crossing great rivers, climbing steep mountains, and building log cabins in far distant regions. The colonists in Pennsylvania and Virginia pushed westward into the valley of the Ohio, while the English settlers in New York made their way through the forest toward the Great Lakes. =103. The French in North America.=--More than seventy years before Jamestown was settled, a French explorer by the name of Cartier had entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence, sailed up the river of the same name, and taken possession of the country in the name of France. This same region became afterwards the great French stronghold in America.