is like the pendulum ever swinging from one extreme to the other. Formerly every thing printed was believed, because it was in print: now things seem to be disbelieved for just the very same reason. 4. THE EPHEMERA. AN EMBLEM OF HUMAN LIFE. [In inclosing to a friend a copy of the following charming little allegorical sketch, Franklin wrote: "To understand it rightly you should be acquainted with some few circumstances. The person to whom it was addressed is Madame Brillon, a lady of most respectable character and pleasing conversation; mistress of an amiable family in this neighborhood [Passy, now a part of Paris], with which I spend an evening twice in every week. She has, among other elegant accomplishments, that of an excellent musician. The Moulin Joly is a little island in the Seine, about two leagues hence, part of the country-seat of another friend, where we visit every summer. At the time when the letter was written, all conversations at Paris were filled with disputes about the music of Gluck and Picini, a German and Italian musician, who divided the town into violent parties."] You may remember, my dear friend, that when we lately spent that happy day in the delightful garden and sweet society of the Moulin Joly, I stopped a little in one of our walks, and stayed some time behind the company. We had been shown numberless skeletons of a kind of little fly, called an ephemera,2 whose successive generations, we were told, were bred and expired within the day. I happened to see a living 1 You may remember... behind the company. Period or loose sentence? 2 ephemera: from Greek epi, for, and hemera, a day; hence, literally, a fly that lives for a day only. company of them on a leaf, who appeared to be engaged in conversation. You know I understand all the inferior animal tongues.1 My too great application to the study of them is the best excuse I can give for the little progress I have made in your charming language.2 I listened, through curiosity, to the discourse of these little creatures; but as they, in their natural vivacity, spoke three or four together, I could make but little of their conversation. I found, however, by some broken expressions that I heard now and then, they were disputing warmly on the merit of two foreign musicians, one a piping gnat, the other a mosquito, in which dispute3 they spent their time, seemingly as regardless of the shortness of life as if they had been sure of living a month. 4 "Happy people!" thought I; "you are certainly under a wise, just, and mild government, since you have no public grievances to complain of, nor any subject of contention but the perfections and imperfections of foreign music." I turned my head from them to an old gray-headed one, who was alone on another leaf, and talking to himself. Being amused with his soliloquy,5 I put it down in writing, in hopes it will likewise 1 the inferior animal tongues. Change to a neater form of expression. 2 your charming language: that is, French, the language of the lady he was addressing, and in which this letter was originally written. 3 dispute. See Glossary. 4 subject of contention. It must be understood that all this has oblique reference to the condition of the French people at this time. 5 soliloquy: from Latin solus, alone, and loqui, to speak; a talking to one's self. amuse her to whom 1 I am so much indebted for the most pleasing of all amusements, her delicious company and heavenly harmony. "It was," said he, "the opinion of learned philosophers of our race, who lived and flourished long before my time, that this vast world, the Moulin Joly, could not itself subsist 2 more than eighteen hours; and I think there was some foundation for that opinion, since, by the apparent motion of the great luminary that gives life to all nature, and which in my time has evidently declined considerably towards the ocean at the end of our earth, it must then finish its course, be extinguished in the waters that surround us, and leave the world in cold and darkness, necessarily producing universal death and destruction. "I have lived seven of those hours,-a great age, being no less than four hundred and twenty minutes of time. How very few of us continue so long! I have seen generations born, flourish, and expire. My present friends are the children and grandchildren of the friends of my youth, who are now, alas! no more. And I must soon follow them; for by the course of nature, though still in health, I can not expect to live above seven or eight minutes longer. avails all my toil and labor, in amassing honey-dew 3 on this leaf, which I can not live to enjoy? What the 1 her to whom, etc. No one ever possessed in a higher degree than Franklin the fine art of turning a graceful compliment to a lady; and this he was always ready to do, even in the midst of his most seri What now ous scientific and political preoccupations. 2 subsist exist. 8 honey-dew. Give the meaning (as applied to man) of this allegorically used word. political struggles I have been engaged in, for the good of my compatriot inhabitants of this bush, or my philosophical studies for the benefit of our race in general? For, in politics, what can laws do without morals? Our present race of ephemera1 will in a course of minutes become corrupt,2 like those of other and older bushes, and consequently as wretched. And in philosophy how small our progress! Alas! art is long, and life is short. 66 My friends would comfort me with the idea of a name they say I shall leave behind me; and they tell me I have lived long enough to nature and to glory. But what will fame be to an ephemera who no longer exists? and what will become of all history in the eighteenth hour, when the world itself, even the whole Moulin Joly, shall come to its end, and be buried in universal ruin?” To me, after all my eager pursuits, no solid pleasures now remain, but the reflection of a long life spent in meaning well, the sensible conversation of a few good lady ephemeræ, and now and then a kind smile and a tune from the ever-amiable Brillante.3 5. SOWING THE WIND. [This noteworthy prophecy is recorded in a letter of Franklin (May 15, 1771), to the Massachusetts "Committee of Correspondence," consisting of Thomas Cushing, James Otis, and Samuel Adams. Ori 1 ephemera: a plural of epheme ra, devised by Franklin. 2 corrupt. See Glossary. 8 Brillante: a play on the name of the lady (Brillon) to whom the letter was written. ginally sent to London to represent the interests of the Pennsylvania colonists, Franklin was subsequently invested with the agency for several other American colonies, Massachusetts among the number; and this letter to his home-friends is only one of the many evidences of his extraordinary vigilance and foresight. Each successive step of this prophecy was verified by the event.] I THINK one may clearly see, in the system of customs to be exacted in America by Act of Parliament,1 the seeds sown2 of a total disunion of the two countries, though as yet that event may be at a considerable distance.3 The course and natural progress seems to be: first, the appointment of needy men as officers, for others do not care to leave England; then their necessities make them rapacious, their office makes them proud and insolent, their insolence and rapacity make them odious, and, being conscious that they are hated, they become malicious; their malice urges them to a continual abuse of the inhabitants in their letters to administration, representing them as disaffected 5 and rebellious, and (to encourage the use of severity) as weak, divided, timid, and cowardly. Government believes all; thinks it necessary to support and countenance its officers: their quarreling with the people is deemed a mark and consequence of their fidelity; they are therefore more highly rewarded, and 1 Parliament. In 1767 the Brit 2 seeds sown. What is the fig 8 distance: i.e., in time. ish Parliament passed an act put-ure of speech 4 to administration: that is, to the British government. 5 disaffected, alienated and disloyal. |