The story is told about a gathering of foreign ministers together for business and dinner a few years after the Revolutionary War. The British Ambassador presented his toast: “England—the sun, whose bright beams enlighten and fructify the remotest corners of the earth.”

Then the ambassador from France arose and gave his own toast: “France—the moon, whose mild, steady and cheering rays are the delight of all nations, controlling them in the darkness, and making their dreariness beautiful.”

After these two toasts, Benjamin Franklin rose from his seat and with his usual dignity and simplicity said: “George Washington—the Joshua, who commanded the sun and moon to stand still, and they obeyed him.”

Franklin did have a way with words!