largest ever founded on private credit, and this in no spirit of undue pride or self-applause. “In seven years,” he writes, “with the help of God and of my noble companions, I will show you a province that shall rival our neighbors’ growth of forty years.” Nor did he leave any stone unturned on his part to make good this prophecy. One of his chief desires was to provide some means for the education of the colonists’ children that they might not grow up rude and ignorant—a state of things most undesirable among a people who were to govern themselves. This was no easy matter, for the hard-working settler, struggling to wrest a home from the wilderness, needed the help of his children as soon as they were old enough to be of any use. He himself was little disposed after the day’s labors to devote the evenings to teaching his children, even did his own education warrant it, nor could he spare the time to send them to a school. Any regular form of tuition, moreover, could only be possible to those living in Philadelphia. For those who had settled many miles, sometimes a whole day’s journey to the westward, it would have been impossible to make paths through the trackless wilderness for their children, even had there been a school within reach. Nevertheless Penn made every exertion to accomplish this end, and as early as December, 1683, even before the site of Philadelphia was entirely cleared of trees, he had a certain Enoch Flower open a school in a wretched wooden cabin which was divided into two rooms. Instruction was confined, however, to reading and writing, for the former of which a charge of four shillings, the latter six shillings, a quarter, was made, to form a school fund. Arrangements were also made by which the children of distant settlers could be provided with board and lodging at a cost of ten pounds a year. This primitive institution was gradually improved and enlarged till in six years’ time the position of head master was assumed by Penn’s friend, George Keith. By the efforts of a certain William Bradford who had come over from England on the _Welcome_, a printing press was also set up in Philadelphia, the first product of which, of any note, was a calendar for the year 1687. Another of Penn’s special cares was the maintenance of friendly relations with the Indians, for which Colonel Markham had already paved the way. He made it a personal duty to win their confidence and to this end mingled with them as much as possible, roaming about with them through the forest, wholly unarmed, sharing their meals, and even joining in the games and sports of the young men, at which he sometimes displayed skill or agility equal to their own. In this way he also learned their language and became so familiar with their habits and manner of thought that it became as easy for him to communicate with them as if he had been one of themselves. [Illustration: _PENN AND THE INDIANS_]