meeting held in Boston, May 25, of the same year, the donation was accepted, and a committee appointed to take necessary action. The Selectmen received the money early in 1791, and proceeded to put it in use, but they were somewhat disturbed by the fact that there was no Presbyterian Church in Boston then, young or old; however they joined to themselves the ministers of King's Chapel, the oldest Episcopal Church, and of the Old Brick Church, the oldest Congregational Church, now known as the First Church, and so formed a board of trustees. They drew up a form of bond to be given to applicants, bought a set of books and advertised for young married mechanics of twenty-five years or under. They had apparently a good many applications, and they did not accept all; they perceived some liability to slackness in making payments also, for after voting that punctuality was requisite, they ordered to be inserted in the Centinel and Independent Chronicle three weeks, this advertisement:

"FRANKLIN'S DONATION.

Those persons who borrowed monies from the Trustees of Franklin's donation are hereby reminded of the vote of the Trustees that punctuality is expected in their payments, as otherwise their bonds will be put in suit without delay. Payments must be made to THOMAS EDWARDS."

The first loans were made May 3, 1791, to a bricklayer, a cordwainer, and a silversmith, in sums of $266 to the first, and $200 to each of the others; twenty-seven persons in all received loans during the year, the latest being a distiller, in August. Of these persons two were bricklayers, two housewrights, one a tanner, one a cabinet-maker, one a silversmith, two hair-dressers, two founders, two coopers, one a glazier, three cordwainers, three blacksmiths, one a baker, two jewelers, one a saddler, one a tallow chandler, and one a distiller, so that a great variety of trades was represented. The whole amount loaned was $4,544, an average of about $168 to each person, the largest sum loaned being $266, and the smallest $67. In evidence of the caution with which application was received, it may be noted

that all the above loans were paid in full with two exceptions. It is not stated whether they were all paid by the applicants themselves or by their sureties; but the significant fact is given that up to a recent time seven-eighths of the repayments were made by the sureties. If any one chooses he may deduce from this that those who thought they needed such help were not the most industrious and capable, but the ne'er-doweels.

The most noticeable fact, however, is that Franklin's first intention in his investment was defeated, not so much by the inherent defect of providing aid for those who could not help themselves, but by the gradual disappearance of the class that came within the terms of the provision. At the outset, when the fund was only about $5,000, nearly the whole amount was loaned to twenty-seven persons. From 1791 to 1811 the number of loans was 164; in the twenty-five years following, it was 91; in 1836 there were thirteen bonds out; in 1866 when Boston had increased immensely in population and the fund was twenty times as large as at first, there was but one bond out, for $80. The number has indeed increased a little since that. Last year seven persons received assistance, this year nine. It is not impossible that ignorance of the fund prevents some from applying, but it is also true that, with the rapid increase of population there has yet been a decrease in the number of young married artificers, who have been apprenticed in Boston, and can produce two respectable sureties, if they would borrow the sum of two or three hundred dollars with which to set up in business. The ap prentice system has been dying out, partly through a wider social distance between master and pupil, forbidding the old fashioned mode of having the apprentice live with his master; partly through the breaking up of the trades by the introduction of machinery into subdivisions of trade; partly through trade unions which discourage apprenticeship; partly through a disinclination to enter mechanic life, since it offers less chance apparently for a rapid fortune, and partly through what some one has called "a constitutional aversion of the race to being

bound to anybody to do anything." No one can look back upon society as it existed when Franklin made his will, and compare it with the complex organization of the present day, with its over-crowded cities, and not feel that the old-fashioned simple relation of master and apprentice has a small chance of asserting itself. Franklin fancied he was providing for a large succession of young men who would repeat his experience; he could not foresee the rapid growth of society away from the old lines. Democracy, steam, quickly changing fortunes, public schools,-all these have rubbed out many marks which in his day seemed firmly set. I have my own notion as to how the evil of a decline of the apprentice system is to be remedied, but I will not speak of it here. Meanwhile, the secondary object of Franklin's investment seems more likely to be effected. The fund of a thousand pounds has had excellent care and has quietly rolled up for future use. The wise guardianship given it has both prevented loss from unsafe loans and has placed it where it could increase most steadily and securely. There have been but seven treasurers of the Fund since the beginning, and one of these, William Minot, an honored citizen of Boston, held the office for fifty-five years, without compensation and with such wise care that the Fund had increased from the sum of $9,000 to $111,000. The latest report, that for February 1, 1878, shows the amount at that date to be $229,726.40.

It is interesting to calculate what the chance is of the fund reaching in 1892 the amount which Dr. Franklin ciphered out a hundred years or so before. A writer in the Boston Advertiser in 1856 made a calculation that at the then rate of increase, the amount would fall short of Franklin's estimate by $151,200, which looked rather sorry; and he proposed that higher interest should be procured, and also that some public-spirited person other than himself should add a donation of $3,726 which would suffice, with its interest, to bring the amount to the desired point. But it has turned out better than the writer then feared, for there was a rapid increase in the principal investment at the close of the war; and now, if the

present rate of interest continues, and there is no loss of principal, the year 1892 will see the total about $525,000 or say $56,000 less than the amount calculated a hundred years before. There is little doubt that this deficiency would not have existed, but that the sum would have exceeded Franklin's calculation, if the managers had given, prior to 1816, the care which was bestowed on the investment after that date. Still, considering the chances that the whole fund would be frittered away early in the century, the present showing is not unfavorable.

What would have happened under mismanagement is clearly shown by the experience of Philadelphia. That city received precisely the same donation, under the same restrictions as Boston. Being a city while Boston was a town, Franklin named the corporation as trustees, and made the suggestion that the money at the end of a hundred years should be employed in bringing by pipes the water of Wissahickon Creek into the city; because, as he naively remarks, he has noticed that in old towns the drainage of the city finally renders the water in the wells impure. He makes this proposition in case the work is not done before. Philadelphia has long been supplied with water, but if it had waited until Franklin's fund was large enough, it would have had to wait a good while beyond 1891.

A report was made of the condition of the fund in 1837, from which it appears that up to that time, the fund had been borrowed by one hundred and ninety-three persons, against the two hundred and fifty-five in Boston, up to the same time. The fund was then in the hands of one hundred and twelve beneficiaries, "of whom nineteen," says the report, "have paid neither principal nor interest, although the accounts of some of them have been open for a period of thirty-four years. Ninety other persons stand indebted in sums from $21 to $292; and three, having borrowed within the year, were not, at the last mentioned date, liable to any demand by the trustees. Of these one hundred and nine cases of non-compliance with the terms of the will, fifty-eight bonds may be subject to a plea of the statute of limitation, and the rest are still

with flowers when she has company; she says I do it better than any florist, and Mrs. Gray has exquisite taste. Besides I have a cousin who lives in Paris, and I have just the choicest patterns of any woman in Blanktown, if I am not rich. I always like to lend, and help plan dresses and all that; so on the whole Mrs. Gray calls me her "very dear friend, Mrs. Busybody,-such a valuable person." I see through her well enough, but I like her in spite of her selfishness; she is so capable and shrewd, and can put anything through she undertakes just elegantly.

Mrs. Lesley is called peculiar. She does not go very much into society, although she entertains guests for weeks at her house, any quantity of them. She picks her friends just where she chooses. Her most intimate acquaintance in Blanktown is the Kindergarten teacher who lives next door to me, and she even invites shop-girls to tea!

Well, when we began to talk about the fair the difference in these two women showed itself plainly enough. I can't stop to tell you just how. You'll see when I get to that last evening. I, you must know, stood rather between them; and things went as I turned the scale, sometimes according to the President's wish, and sometimes according to the Secretary's. The truth is, I can get up the kind of enthusiasm for moral principles that Mrs. Lesley talks so much about as quickly as any one can; and always when she is making her splendid little speeches I believe every word she says. But when I find, as we did in this fair business, that being so particular takes off all the profits, and sometimes seems to block up the way entirely, I confess I veer round a little. I am quite apt in such cases to side with Mrs. Gray, who does always have common sense to rest on, and who said very forcibly, I thought, at our stormiest Committee meeting, that "when people were devoting themselves to a great patriotic or benevolent work they must waive some of their personal scruples if they wished success."

You see the great question was, Should we have raffles, and guess-prizes, and all that sort of thing? Mrs. Lesley said no, in her most emphatic manner. She claimed that

such things were gambling, and we should never be able to urge young men to be honorable in all their dealings, if we encouraged the gaming spirit in the community.

Mrs. Gray thought "her dear sister"-she always calls her sister-in-law that when she feels hateful toward her-" very much exaggerated the moral importance of the question. This was a practical matter of methods; and the legitimate enquiry was how could we raise the largest sum in aid of so and so, in the quickest and easiest manner. If we had a fair at all, and wished it to be successful, we must manage it as other great fairs had been managed. She herself had already begged a handsome sleigh, and a set of furniture, and other costly gifts which could not be disposed of except by raffle. Of course, if our President "— (I always did think Mrs. Gray thought she ought to have been made President, and I was sure of it now by the emphasis she put on President)—"vetoed raffling, she should be under the painful necessity of returning to the donors these valuable gifts."

Mrs. Lesley looked over at me and asked what I thought about it. I felt miserably undecided when she appealed to me. I really believed just as she did that we ought to set a good example in this business if we were going into it. But on the other hand, I had set my heart on making money at this fair, and I knew it would cripple us fearfully if Mrs. Gray should get offended. Besides she did seem right about the practical part, if not the moral. So I did what always makes me feel like a fool; just stood on the fence, mumbled over something about honoring our President's scruples, and sharing them, to some extent, but still feeling that our cause demanded money and we must sacrifice everything for it.

Mrs. Lesley looked over at me in her most piercing way and said, "So I understand Mrs. Busybody to mean that our cause demands of us the sacrifice of principles?"

Of course I said No; but still I rather threw my influence on Mrs. Gray's side.

Well, the Committee were at first about evenly divided. But Mrs. Gray talked them all pretty well over to her view, and we decided to have raffles. And we did have