comfortable, and wholesome for all who have to live. In ; a word, the service of his fellow-men was his constant aim and he so served them that those public official functions which are euphemistically called 'public services' seemed in his case almost an interruption of the more direct and far-reaching services which he was intent upon rendering to all civilized peoples. ... "As a patriot none surpassed him. Again it was the love of the people that induced this feeling, which grew from no theory as to forms of government, no abstractions and doctrines about the rights of man.' During the struggle of the States no man was more hearty in the cause than Franklin; and the depth of feeling shown in his letters, simple and unrhetorical as they are, is impressive. All that he had he gave. What also strikes the reader of his writings is the broad national spirit which he manifested. He had an immense respect for the dignity of America; he was perhaps fortunately saved from disillusionment by his distance from home. But be this as it may, the way in which he felt and therefore genuinely talked about his nation and his country was not without its moral effect in Europe. 66 Intellectually there are few men who are Franklin's peers in all the ages and nations. He covered, and covered well, vast ground. The reputation of doing and knowing various unrelated things is wont to bring suspicion of perfunctoriness; but the ideal of the human intellect is an understanding to which all knowledge and all activity are germane. There have been a few, very few minds which have approximated toward this ideal, and among them Franklin's is prominent. He was one of the most distinguished scientists who have ever lived. Bancroft calls him 'the greatest diplomatist of his century.' His ingenious and useful devices and inventions were very numerous. He possessed a masterly shrewdness in business and practical affairs. He was a profound thinker and preacher in morals and on the 1 1 Bancroft, History of the United States, ix. 134. conduct of life; so that with the exception of the founders of great religions it would be difficult to name any persons who have more extensively influenced the ideas, motives, and habits of life of men. He was one of the most, perhaps the most agreeable conversationist of his age. He was a rare wit and humorist, and in an age when 'American humor' was still unborn, amid contemporaries who have left no trace of a jest, still less of the faintest appreciation of humor, all which he said and wrote was brilliant with both the most charming qualities of the human mind. He was a man who impressed his ability upon all who met him ; so that the abler the man and the more experienced in judging men, the higher did he rate Franklin when brought into direct contact with him; politicians and statesmen of Europe, distrustful and sagacious, trained readers and valuers of men, gave him the rare honor of placing confidence not only in his personal sincerity, but in his broad fairmindedness, a mental quite as much as a moral trait. "It is hard indeed to give full expression to a man of such scope in morals, in mind, and in affairs. He illustrates humanity in an astonishing multiplicity of ways at an infinite number of points. He, more than any other, seems to show us how many-sided our human nature is. No individual, of course, fills the entire circle; but if we can imagine a circumference which shall express humanity, we can place within it no one man who will reach out to approach it and to touch it at so many points as will Franklin. A man of active as well as universal good will, of perfect trustfulness towards all dwellers on the earth, of supreme wisdom expanding over all the interests of the race, none has earned a more kindly loyalty. By the instruction which he gave, by his discoveries, by his inventions, and by his achieve ments in public life he earns the distinction of having rendered to men varied and useful services excelled by no other one man; and thus he has established a claim upon the gratitude of mankind so broad that history holds few who can be his rivals.” CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF FRANKLIN. Begins to write for the "New England Courant" 1719 Runs away to New York, and finally to Philadelphia 1723 Goes to England and works at his trade as a journeyman Assists in founding a hospital Constitution printer in London. Returns to Philadelphia. Marries Establishes the "Philadelphia Gazette " First publishes "Poor Richard's Almanac " versity of Philadelphia Carries on the investigations by which he proves the identity of lightning with electricity Is appointed Postmaster-General for the Colonies Is sent by the Assembly of the Province of Pennsylvania as an emissary to England in behalf of the colonists Receives the degree of LL. D. from St. Andrews, Oxford, and Procures a repeal of the Stamp Act Is elected F. R. S., and receives the Copley Gold Medal for his Is elected to the Continental Congress Is employed in the diplomatic service of the United States, Is President of the Pennsylvania Supreme Council Dies at Philadelphia. Establishes the American Philosophical Society and the Uni 1744 1746-52 1751 POOR RICHARD'S ALMANAC. [IN Franklin's lifetime the almanac was the most popular form of literature in America. A few people read newspapers, but every farmer who could read at all had an almanac hanging by the fireplace. Besides the monthly calendar and movements of the heavenly bodies, the almanac contained anecdotes, scraps of useful information, and odds and ends of literature. Franklin began the publication of such an almanac in 1732, pretending that it was written by one Richard Saunders. It was published annually for twenty-five years. "I endeavored," says Franklin, "to make it both entertaining and useful; and it accordingly came to be in such demand, that I reaped considerable profit from it, vending annually near ten thousand. And observing that it was generally read, scarce any neighborhood in the province being without it, I considered it as a proper vehicle for conveying instruction among the common people, who bought scarcely any other books; I therefore filled all the little spaces that occurred between the remarkable days in the calendar with proverbial sentences, chiefly such as inculcated industry and frugality as the means of procuring wealth, and thereby securing virtue; it being more difficult for a man in want to act always honestly, as, to use here one of those proverbs, it is hard for an empty sack to stand upright."" In the almanac Franklin introduced his proverbs by the phrase Poor Richard says, as if he were quoting from Richard Saunders, and so the almanac came to be called Poor Richard's Almanac. "These proverbs," he continues, "which contain the wisdom of many ages and nations, I assembled and formed into a connected discourse, prefixed to the almanac of 1757, as the harangue of a wise old man to the people attending an auction. The bringing all these scattered counsels thus into a focus enabled them to make greater impression. The piece, being universally approved, was copied in all the newspapers of the continent [that is, the American continent]; reprinted in Britain on a broadside, to be stuck up in houses; two translations were made. of it in French, and great numbers bought by the clergy and gentry, to distribute gratis among their poor parishioners and tenants. In Pennsylvania, as it discouraged useless expense in foreign superfluities, some thought it had its share of influence in producing that growing plenty of money which was observable for several years after its publication." Franklin's example was followed by other writers, - Noah Webster, the maker of dictionaries, among them; and one can see in the popular almanacs of to-day, such as The Old Farmer's Almanac, the effect of Franklin's style. When the king of France gave Captain John Paul Jones a ship with which to make attacks upon British merchantmen in the war for independence, it was named, out of compliment to Franklin, the Bon Homme Richard, which might be translated Clever Richard. The pages which follow are the connected discourse prefixed to the almanac of 1757.] COURTEOUS READER: I have heard that nothing gives an author so great pleasure as to find his works respectfully quoted by other learned authors. This pleasure I have seldom enjoyed. For though I have been, if I may say it without vanity, an eminent author of Almanacs annually, now for a full quarter of a century, my brother authors in the same way, for what reason I know not, have ever been very sparing in their applauses; and no other author has taken the least notice of me; so that did not my writings produce me some solid pudding, the great deficiency of praise would have quite discouraged me. I concluded at length, that the people were the best judges of my merit; for they buy my works; and besides, in my rambles, where I am not personally known, I have frequently heard one or other of my adages repeated, with as Poor Richard says at the end of it. This gave me some satisfaction, as it |