[Copy, from the _Virginia Missionary_ of August 12th, 1880.]
A correspondent of the _Inter-Ocean_ not long since sent the following
comment upon Ingersoll's claim that Benjamin Franklin was an infidel:
"As Col. Ingersoll appears to be trying to appropriate our old and
esteemed friend, Benjamin Franklin, as a recruit for his infidel
doctrine, let me call his attention, through your widely circulated
journal, to the following epitaph, written by himself for himself:
"'The body of
Benjamin Franklin,
Printer,
Lies here food for worms,
Like the cover of an old book,
Its contents torn out and stripped
Of its lettering and gilding;
But it will
(As he believed)
Appear again, in a
New and more beautiful
Edition, corrected and
Amended by
THE AUTHOR.'"