BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
1706-1790
One day early in the eighteenth century an observer Itenide a pond in Boston could have seen a strange sight. A boy, swimming, had fastened to his wrist the string of a kite. The kite, soaring in the sky, pulled him through the water. Writing about it later, the boy told how his kite "carried me quite over without the least fatigue, and with the greatest pleasure imaginable.”
The resourceful swimmer was Benjamin Franklin. A few years later he invented flippers for hands and feet, anticipating modem frogman equipment. And the kite he used in Boston was a forerunner of the famous one he flew in Philadelphia, years later, in a thunderstorm. On that day, from a metal key attached to the kite string, he drew bright static sparks against his knuckles, proving for the first time what a few men had guessed, that
lightning was electricity.
Bom in Boston in 1706, Benjamin Franklin went to Philadelphia as a young man and began his career as a printer. Some of John Woolman’s writings.(see page 17) were among the first to issue from his press. Success came early to Franklin. His weekly newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette (later the Saturday Evening Post) grew quickly to a circulation of 10,000—by far the greatest of any publication in America at that time. From 1732 to 1758, he wrote and published his famous Poor Richard’s Almanac, an annual collection of proverbs. It soon became the most popular book of its kind, largely because of Franklin’s shrewd humor, and first spread his reputation.
Business enterprise alone could hardly absorb Franklin’s energies. While still a young man, he founded the Junto, a club for informal discussion of scientific, economic, and political ideas. The club was also responsible for a number of practical civic improvements. In Philadelphia, Franklin established America’s first circulating library. Later he founded the college that was to become the University of Pennsylvania.
Benjamin Franklin’s scientific achievements won international acclaim, and he was elected to learned societies in England and France. His energy and versatility were remarkable. His many inventions, besides the lightning rod, included the Franklin stove, bifocal glasses, a miniature printing press, and even a strange musical instrument called an “armonica,” which employed combinations of tuned glasses. He contributed to the theories of
electricity and first applied the terms “positive” and “negative” to electrical
charges. He was also one of the first men to study and map the Gulf Stream.
Successful in business, renowned in science, this most modem-spirited of early Americans also served his nation brilliantly. He developed and im-proved the postal system, making it run at a profit after years of losses. As a representative of the Colonies, he tried in vain to counsel the British toward policies that would let America grow and flourish in association with England. When this aim became hopeless, he supported the cause of independence, served in the Continental Congress, and aided Jefferson in writing the Declaration of Independence. He conducted the difficult negotiations with France that brought financial and military support for America in the war. In 1787 he was a delegate to the convention that wrote our Constitution.
It is easy to forget, in the glory of his public achievements, that Franklin was our first major writer. If he had never been a scientist or a statesman, he would still command respect in the field of literature. His own statements about the art of writing reveal some of the qualities that make his work valuable:
The words used should be the most expressive that the language af- fords, provided that they are the most generally understood. Nothing
should be expressed in two words that can be expressed in one... The whole should be smooth, clear, and short, for the contrary qualities are displeasing.
In the following pages you will read selections from Franklin’s most famous works, his Autobiography and Poor Richards Almanac. Among his other important writings are two satirical essays, “An Edict by the King
of Prussia” and “Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a;
Small One.”
When Franklin died in 1790, at the age of eighty-fou*, he was an honor
figure, nioumed by many nations. One of hi$ fellow Americans said, ‘ H; shadow lies heavier than aiiy other inan’s on this young nation.” Over fift}
years after Franklin’s death, Henry David Thoreau, the famous New Eng. land essayist, had some interesting thoughts about niyths and Benjamin®
Franklin, Thoreau wrote:
Mythology, far from being false or fabulous... contains only endur® ing and essential truth. We modems... collect only the raw material* of biography and history... which itself is but materials to serve foS a mythology... And Franklin—there may be a line for him in thw future classical dictionary, recording what that demigod did, and referring
him to some new genealogy, “Son of- and--------. He aided thqj
Americans to gain their independence, instructed mankind in economy!
'">'1 flrnw down lightning from the clouds.”
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN door, saw me, and thought I made, as I certainly did, a most awkward, ridiculous appearance. Then I turned and went down Chestnut-street and part of Walnut-street, eating my roll all the way, and, coming round, found myself again at Market-street wharf, near the boat I came in, to which I went for a draught of the river water; and, being filled with one of my rolls, gave the other two to a woman and her child that came down the river in the boat with us, and were waiting to go farther.
Thus refreshed, I walked again up the street, which by this time had many clean-dressed people in it, who were all walking the same way. I joined them, and thereby was led into the great meeting house of the Quakers near the market. I sat down among them, and, after looking round awhile and hearing nothing said, being very drowsy thro’ labor and want of rest the preceding night, I fell fast asleep, and continued so till the meeting broke up, when one was kind enough to rouse me. This was, therefore, the first house I was in or slept in, in Philadelphia.
Project of Arriving at Moral Perfection
It was about this time I conceived the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection. I wished to live without committing any fault at any time; I would conquer all that either natural inclination, custom, or company might lead me into. As I knew, or thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the other. But I soon found I had undertaken a task of more difficulty than I had imagined. While my care was employed in guarding against one fault, I was ofteh surprised by another; habit took the advantage of inattention; inclination was sometimes too strong for reason. I concluded, at length, that the mere speculative conviction that it was our interest to be completely virtuous was not sufficient to prevent our slipping; and that the contrary habits must be broken, and good ones acquired and established, before we can have any dependence on a steady, uniform rectitude of conduct. For this purpose I therefore contrived the following method.
In the various enumerations of the moral virtues I had met with in my reading, I found the catalogue more or less numerous, as different writers included more or fewer ideas under the same name. Temperance, for example, was by some confined to eating and drinking, while by others it was extended to mean the moderating every other pleasure, appetite, inclination, or passion, bodily or mental, even to! our avarice and ambition. I proposed to myself, for the sake of clear-!
from his Autobiography
Franklin’s Autobiography, an account of his life up to 1757, portrays hi? weakness frankly and his strength without false modesty. The first section, written in the form of a letter to his son, is especially direct, simple, and interesting. It shows clearly the difference between Franklin, the great disciple of common sense, and his Puritan forebears. The devout New Eng* landers of earlier generations searched the Scriptures and listened anxiously to long sermons in the attempt to discover whether they were among the chosen of God. But Franklin calmly decided for himself what virtues were desirable and, with the coolest practical judgment, laid out a daily course of action that would develop those qualities in himself.
Entrance into Philadelphia
I have been the more particular in this description of my journey, and shall be so of my first entry into that city, that you may in your mind compare such unlikely beginnings with the figure I have since made there. I was in my working dress, my best clothes being to come round by sea. I was dirty from my journey; my pocjcets were stuff’d out witli shirts and stockings, and I knew no soul nor where to look for lodging. I was fatigued with traveling, rowing, and want of rest; I was very hungry; and my whole stock of cash consisted of a Dutch dollar and about a shilling in copper. The latter I gave the people of the boat for my passage, who at first refus’d it, on account of my rowing; but J insisted on their taking it. A man being sometimes more generous when In? has but a little money than when be has plenty, perhaps thro’ fear iif being thought to have but little.
Then I walked up {he street, gazing about till near the market house I met a boy with bread. I hat} made inany a njeal on bread, and, inquiring where he got it, I went immediately to the baker’s he directed me to, in Second-street, and ask’d for bisket, intending such as we had in Boston; but they, it seems, were not made in Philadelphia. Then I.iskdd for a three-penny loaf, and was told they had none such. So not ■ 'insidering or knowing the difference of money, and the greater cheapness nor the names of bis bread, I bade him give me three-penny worth • 'I any sort. He gave me, accordingly, three great puffy rolls. I was itu priz’d at the quantity, but took it, and, having no room in my pi» ki'ts, walk’d off with a roll under each arm, and eating the other. Urns I went up Market-street as far as Fourth-street, passing by the ilooi of Mr. Read, my future wife’s father; when she, standing at the
ness, to use rather more names, with fewer ideas annexed to each, than a few names with more ideas; and I included under thirteen names of virtues all that at that time occurred to me as necessary or desirable, and annexed to each a short precept, which fully expressed the extent I gave to its meaning.
These names of virtues, with their precepts, were:
1. TEMPERANCE
Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
2. SILENCE
Speak not but what may benefit others Or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
3. ORDER
Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
4. RESOLUTION
Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
5. FRUGALITY
Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
6. INDUSTRY
Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
7. SINCERITY
Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly; and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
8. JUSTICE
Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
9. MODERATION
Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
10. CLEANLINESS
Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation.
11. TRANQUILLITY
Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
12. CHASTITY
13. HUMILITY
Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
of spots, I supposed the habit of that virtue so much strengthened and
its opposite weakened, that I might venture extending my intention to
include the next, and for the following week keep both lines clear of
spots. Proceeding thus to the last, I could go through a course complete
in thirteen weeks, and four courses in a year. And like him who, having
a garden to weed, does not attempt to eradicate all the bad herbs at
once, which would exceed his reach and his strength, but works on
one of the beds at a time, and, having accomplished the first, proceeds
o a second, so I should have, I hoped, the encouraging pleasure of
seeing on my pages the progress I made in virtue, by clearing succes-
sively my lines of their spots, till in the end, by a number of courses,
1 should be happy in viewing a clean book, after a thirteen weeks’ daily examination....
The precept of Order requiring that every part of my business
should have tts allotted time, one page in my little book contained the
following scheme of employment for the twenty-four hours of a natural day.
The Morning Question. What good shall I do this day? |
The Morning Question. What good shall I do this day? |
The Morning Question. What good shall I do this day? |
Rise, wash, and address Pow- |
Rise, wash, and address Pow- |
Rise, wash, and address Pow- |
Rise, wash, and address Pow- |
The Morning
Question. What good shall I do this day? Rise, wash, and address Pow-erful Goodness! Contrive day’sbusiness, and take he resolu-tion of the day; prosecute thepresent study, and breakfast.
Noon
Work.
Read, or overlook
1 J counts, and dine.
Put things in their places.
Supper. Music or diversion, or
conversation. Examination of
the day.
Дата добавления: 2015-11-04; просмотров: 22 | Нарушение авторских прав
| <== предыдущая лекция | | | следующая лекция ==> |
| Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706 – April 17, 1790) was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, | | | Жизнь Бенджамина Франклина 1 страница |