and I ſuſpected it might be the ſubject of their meeting. So when they came out I accoſted my merchant. Well, Hans, ſays I, I hope you have agreed to give more than four ſhillings a pound." " No," ſays he, "I cannot give ſo much, I cannot give more than three ſhillings and ſixpence." I then ſpoke to ſeveral other dealers, but they all ſung the ſame ſong, three and ſixpence, three and ſixpence. This made it clear to me that my ſuſpicion was right; and that whatever they pretended of meeting to learn good things, the real purpoſe was to conſult how to cheat Indians in the price of beaver. Conſider but a little, Conrad, and you muſt be of my opinion. If they meet ſo often to learn good things, they would certainly have learned ſome before this time. But they are ſtill ignorant. You know our practice. If a white man, in travelling through our country, enters one of our cabins, we all treat him as I do you; we dry him if he is wet, we warm him if he is cold, and give him meat and drink, that he may allay his thirſt and hunger; and we ſpread ſoft furs for him to reſt and ſleep on: we demand nothing in return[1]. But if I go into a white man's houſe at Albany, and aſk for victuals and drink, they ſay, Where is your money; and if I have
- ↑ It is remarkable, that in all ages and countries, hoſpitality has been allowed as the virtue of thoſe, whom the civilized were pleaſed to call Barbarians; the Greeks celebrated the Scythians for it. The Saracens poſſeſſed it eminently; and it is to this day the reigning virtue of the wild Arabs. St. Paul too, in the relation of his voyage and ſhipwreck, on the iſland of Melita, ſays, "The barbarous people ſhewed us no little kindneſs; for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, becauſe of the preſent rain, and becauſe of the cold." This note is taken from a ſmall collection of Franklin's papers, printed for Dilly.
