poor relieved, her sick healed. The blind, the dumb, the crippled, the aged, the insane are not without friends and providers among us. Our works of positive achievement-our parks, libraries, churches, museums, banks, theaters, shops, and factories-compare favorably with those of any city of similar age and size. The Boston of to-day, encircling its beautiful harbor and reaching back among the hills and rivers of the interior, is a monument of human achievement, a great symbol erected by ten generations of builders to bear witness to their labors and the spirit that ruled them. It is better than the struggling townlet of two hundred years ago, as fulfillment is better than promise and the ripe fruit and flower superior to the seed. one It is fitting that Boston should commemorate the birth of Franklin because Boston was the scene of that memorable event. That he did not forget his birthplace and the home of his boyhood is evident from his liberal bequest of funds for the benefit of his former townsmen of them long devoted to the award of prize medals in our public schools, the other soon to be consecrated to some great measure of social improveThis great benefactor of our city and of his race was one of seventeen children ment. the son of a poor soap-boiler and himself by occupation a printer. He made the most of his opportunities - perhaps I ought to say he made his opportunities and became rich, wise, powerful and famous. But riches, wisdom, and power were merely instruments which he used to benefit his fellowman. He beheld the pomp of courts, the glories and frivolities of London and Versailles, with unmoved composure, and wore the homespun garments woven by his wife into the presence of ministers and kings. He was our first great Democrat - his whole biography a perfect illustration of the simple life. We do not think of Franklin as a patriot or statesman mainly, although he bore a part second to none but Washington in the creation of our Union. He was delegate to the Continental Congress, Minister to Paris throughout the war of Independence, and a member of the convention which framed the Constitution. But he did not owe his reputation to these activities, or to any part which he took in public life or the wars of the young colonies. In the group of brilliant soldiers and statesmen whom the need of that great hour wakened to high achievements, he stands a figure apart, calm, reflective, and mature. He belonged, in fact, to an earlier generation. In the year of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Franklin was a venerable sage of seventy. Washington himself was but forty-four, Jefferson thirty-three, and Hamilton nineteen. The others had their reputations to make; Franklin was already successful in commerce, a household word in literature, renowned throughout two continents in science and invention. And, although he added to the luster of his fame by his conduct in the trying period that followed, still it is not as a diplomat that he is remembered to-day. We think of him in his more characteristic pursuits, as the inventor of the lightning-rod, the founder of a public library, the organizer of a fire department, the industrious experimenter in all directions that promised practical advantage to his fellowman. If Franklin were alive to-day, it is easy to believe that, with all the changes in our civilization, he would yet devote himself to the same ends and in the same spirit. I doubt if he would strive for that sort of success which puts some men of our day on pinnacles elevated to such dizzy heights that they seem separate from the rest of humankind. Franklin's nature was social, his ambition involved service. In these days of feverish and reckless speculation, the youth of our city could not have a better model than this printer's apprentice who by frugality and industry rose out of want and made himself the third figure in our national history, surpassing even Washington and Lincoln as a philosopher and a practical humanitarian, and falling behind them mainly in the fact that he never knew the responsibilities of leadership before the whole nation. Of them also it might have been written, that they took away the scepter from tyrants; but of Franklin alone it can be said that he drew down the lightning from heaven. He cannot be called, like Washington, first in war or first in the hearts of his countrymen; but he may dispute even with the father of his country himself the honor of being the first American in the arts of peace. CABLE MESSAGE TO THE PRESIDENT OF FRANCE The Mayor's quick response to Ambassador Jusserand's suggestion bespeaking the good wishes of the audience for the newly elected President of the French Republic was as spontaneously and heartily seconded by the Governor, who, when the singing by the chorus of Eichberg's hymn, "To thee, O Country," was ended stepped again to the front of the stage. He said it had been mutually agreed to broaden the scope of the cable message to the President of France so that it should reflect the sentiment, not only of the city of Boston, but of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as well. He then read the following message, which was duly signed and soon after was sent by cable to Paris: BOSTON, January 17, 1906. PRESIDENT FALLIÈRES, Paris: Massachusetts and Boston, celebrating in Franklin's birthplace the two hundredth anniversary of his birth, unite in congratulation and wishes for happy fortune to the chosen chief of America's first friend among the nations, led to our aid by Benjamin Franklin. Vive la République Française! CURTIS GUILD, JR., Governor of Massachusetts. JOHN F. FITZGERALD, Mayor of Boston. |